kwitt703

So I booked the 4 night specialty dining package for my upcoming Allure trip, but the wording was very odd. Does RCCL pick the restaurants or do I, and if I do, when/how do I choose the restaurants?

Any resolve on this? I just booked the 4 night for my December Allure cruise, but got no information. Do we pick the restaurants or does RCI?

Wow! You got a steal. I just went and looked as this is our Spring Break as well, and the cheapest interior is now back up to $2100! Dang it!

Yes! I don't know why they are cheaper than regular balconies! (Shhh. I like it that way!). I had one on the Breeze, and absolutely LOVED it. Was talked into getting a regular balcony a year later on the dream, and the whole time I was wishing I was down on deck 2 in a cove balcony. Wise wise decision. Don't be talked out of it!!

My favorite memory this year was on the Liberty, getting to watch my cousin experience cruising, and traveling out of the country, for the first time. Living through his eyes made the cruise feel almost like it was my first!

Hi Kwitt703, we are going on Enchantment in November for a 3 night cruise. We have never done this before, most of our cruises have been much longer.

 

I was curious about the stop in Nassau. Since the ship doesn't sail until 11:59 pm, did you find that many guests decided to stay ashore for the evening or did they come back for dinner?

 

We are just wondering how crowded dinner would be that night.

 

I realize that all cruises are different, as people vary in their activities, but what did you experience?

Not sure about MDR. Since we knew we would be staying on the ship that day, we booked dinner at chops. If you plan on not getting of at Nassau and want to try chops, it's a perfect night to do it. Overall the ship may have felt a little less crowded, but not anything significant.

Friday August 6 Disembarkation

Woke up this morning, took a shower, grabbed our bags as we were self assist, and walked right off. Our inside cabin (4579) was 30 or so steps from the centrum where you disembark. WONDERFUL a location for a room. Far enough from centrum (In terms of noise) but close enough to not have to walk down the endless hallways! Literally walked right off, went through customs, and we're in the car in 15 minutes. Now for the 12 hour drive back to Nashville! Glad I could share our journey with you and hope to get some return readers next summer and christmas for allure. And maybe another short one in between now and then!

Thursday August 5 - Sea Day

Slept late again today but awoke just in time not to miss breakfast in the WJ. Ate and went out on deck just in time to see the belly flop contest! Good 15 minutes and then off to a more quiet spot at the front of the ship to read! Sat and read for a couple of hours and went to the solarium to swim where we met some Nashvillians in the pool! Had another good relaxing day as it was basically our day 2 at sea! I will say this is also the slowest speed we have gone while on a sea day. Averaged about 8 knots the whole day. Never felt the ship move at all! Was very surprised for this being a "smaller" ship. We had dinner tonight in the MDR and met some people from North Dakota! Apparently is was 50° when they left! No thank you! After dinner we went to the chubby bunny challenge in the centrum. Very funny because they chose the perfect contestants. I think it completely depends on who they choose. Went to the production show after and it was a take it or leave it kind of deal. Although I may have been preoccupied by the GOP debate that was happening. (I run a Twitter acct. for one of the candidates). My phone went off over 500 times during the show. Thank goodness for vibrate! Then back to the room to pack :(

Wednesday August 4 - Nassau

So some bad news! My go pro has failed me at just the worst time! So no underwater videos like I had planned or anything like that. Anyways, this is my third time at Nassau, and first time not going to Altantis. Actually, we slept in till 10 and ate lunch in the windjammer. We decided while eating lunch, we'd get off and walk around a little. That lasted all of 30 minutes before we were ready to come back! It was HOT! So today was spent on the ship. Sat by the pool and read and relaxed all day! Around 4 the first of 4 other ships in port started leaving so we watched them pull out, and before we knew it, it was time to get ready for Chops! This being my first time on RCI means it was also my first time to chops and boy was it good. I had scallops for the appetizer, French onion soup (best I've ever had) and some spicy jumbo shrimp for the main course. No! I didn't eat steak! Not a big beef fan, but I did try a bite, it was very tender. For desert, I got mud pie and was pleasantly surprised because it came with fresh strawberries and blueberries my favorite sweets. Again, not a big sweets and sugar fan, but will devour some strawberries! Oh and the mud pie was good too. Could only eat about half! Very rich! Finally, we went to the ventriloquist. He was on the first season of Americas got talent. He was very very good! Had the crowd laughing the entire show! Also went to the love and marriage show immediately after and let's just say, this is a show not to miss! Oh and at some point during the day, we booked a cruise on the Allure for next summer! That means 2 allure cruises to look forward to. After all that, We went to bed and at somepoint without waking me up! Left Nassau around midnight. Tomorrow- Seaday!

Tuesday August 3 - Cococay

This is my first time at Cococay and I really enjoyed it. Only got burnt slightly! So I say it was a success. We got off of the ship around 10 and stayed until 2. We ate the food provided by royal Caribbean for lunch and were disappointed. Lack of flavor on everything. Other than that, Cococay was a wonderful beach stop! We came back to the ship around 2 and I immediately got something else to eat! That should hold me over until our 6 o'clock dinner time. I don't know if I've mentioned yet, but we have MTD for the first time. We are very pleased with it for this short cruise. With a longer cruise or more people, I'd still choose a set dining time. We have made reservations for dinner each night for 6 o'clock and have been seated immediately! Dinner tonight was formal night and to my surprise, most of the people dressed up. Not because I Carnivals passengers didn't, just on a 4 day cruise I'd think it'd be about 50/50 but, much to my liking, it was more like 80/20! Anyways, for dinner tonight I had lobster bisque and shrimp ravioli for the main course. Very good on both. After dinner we went to the 70's and 80's show and it was very good. Theater was full and the audience seemed to love it. Now it's time to go get some late night pizza! See you tomorrow in Nassau! Oh and I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow!

A little off topic but I just finished purchasing Grand Ole Opry tickets (Rascall Flatts) for our trip in Sep. and was working on hotel options before popping on this site. Hoping to also get to the Bluebird if we don't have to stand in line too long.

Will also be on the Enchantment in Nov so interested in the Compass and your experiences.

Nice! Ill get the compasses up this weekend or early next week. Have you been to Nashville before?

Hi! This is not only my first review here on cruise critic, but it's my first live review. A little intro. This is my 6 cruise, but first with Royal Caribbean. We usually cruise with the same people, and they've chosen Carnival. I see absolutely nothing wrong with Carnival, except after the last two, I felt as if I was wanting something different. So we decided to try RCI. We live in Nashville, TN and prefer to drive to the port so Miami or Fort Lauderdale is a little to long for that. So we chose Enchantment for a nice little 4 day before school starts back, this is the shortest cruise we have ever done. I'm planning on booking another onboard and I already have a Christmas sailing booked on the Allure for 2016. Ok background over!

Day 1 -Saturday August 1

We left Nashville at 6am and got on the road headed for Orlando. We decided to go south on I-65 through Alabama instead of going through Atlanta! We've done that many times (on the way to cruises and not) and we ALWAYS get stuck. Let's just say, us Nashvillians don't like Atlanta! We knew this route could be longer but we ended up making it in 12 and a half hours (including stops!). I actually think this is a record for me! We arrived at the Doubletree at sea-world and stayed for two nights.

Day 2. - Sunday August 2nd - Disney's Hollywood Studios

We bought a 1 day 1 park pass to Disney's Hollywood Studios and spent the day there. We couldn't have had a better day! What I mean by that is that this was our only day there so we didn't want to spend it in lines. Well needless to say it poured down rain most of the day which made lines almost nonexistent. We didn't care about getting wet and it's a good thing, because we were soaked! We ended up riding Rock'n Roller Coaster a mere 13 times! We enjoyed the day there but we're tired once we got back to the hotel. Disney is not the relaxing vacation we were about to embark upon.

Day 3 - Embarkation Day August 3rd

We headed out of Orlando around 9 with an hour drive to Port Canaveral. We were on the ship at 11! We drove, filled the gas tank up, parked, and went through "the process" all In under 2 hours! Very impressive Royal! I boarded and immediately noticed the more upscale feel of Royal over Carnival. Needless to say, the Breeze is still my favorite ship, but Royal is my new favorite Cruise Line! (After less than a day!). I immediately noticed the difference in the crew members, not that either is more accommodating than the other, but that way more are American, Canadian, Western European, or Australian. Where on Carnival, almost everyone is from the Philippines . We went to the windjammer immediately and got some soup and salad. About on par with carnivals buffet. We then heard the announcement that our rooms were ready! Much better than carnivals system of "Let's not announce anything and just let people figure out that their rooms have been open for the last hour". Picky, I know, but it's things I'm noticing! We checked out our interior room, first since our first cruise on carnival. It's nice, but I miss my balcony! We unpack and are hungry. I suggest park cafe so we don't have to deal with the late arrivers! I had a quesadilla and it was ok. Cold in some spots, but hey, it was food! We just relaxed in the solarium for a bit along with exploring the ship and its time for the Muster drill. Wow! Royal Caribbean really blows away Carnival on this one! Well at least what I could tell. Carnival you show up at your muster station, they go through the motions, it's over. Never understood how they made sure everyone showed up. Royal Caribbean however made you check in by stateroom and then read off each stateroom who hadn't checked in to make sure they were there while we all stood in single file lines. Much better system in my book, and it took all of 15-20 minute. We then sat on deck 5 aft and watch sail away. This never ceases to amaze me! And all of the sudden we see it is 5:30. We have MTD but we made reservations for 6! Off to get dressed. We made it right on time. Dinner for me tonight was escargot, a Caesar salad, and Salmon. Very good on all three. Oh and desert, was the chocolate explosion or something like that. Very good as well! We went to the welcome aboard show. Very nice cruise Director and hilarious comedian. Don't remember either of their names, I'll update later with that information. I had an after dinner, dinner in the windjammer. Just had some kind of Japanese soup. Very good! Early night tonight (10pm) as we have a full day tomorrow in Cococay. Actually we have nothing planned, but I got a GoPro and I'm very eager to try it out! I'll get some pictures up, but for tonight, this is it! At the end of the week, if anyone wants the cruise compasses uploaded, I'll scan them. Just let me know!

I highly second the suggestion to try the Carnival Dream Class of ships (Dream, Magic, and Breeze). I also think that the Breeze (newest and most kid friendly) is moving to Galveston (closer than FL to you?). The Breeze is a wonderful ship and the perfect 1st cruise for a young family. And yes, try to stay in 1 cabin! Easier with young ones running around!

Ew! Haha! No to Tandoori for me! If you like Indian food, I'm sure you'll like it. A thing I love about the Dream class (Dream, Magic, Breeze) is the outdoor area on deck 5 promenade. Much less crowded and noisy than Lido and it still has the lounge chairs, food, and hot tubs. Only downside is no pools!

I think you should try carnival, maybe out of NOLA, since it is the cheapest line. You can see if cruising is for you without shelling out a lot of cash. It Worked for us and now we are jumping ship (pun intended!) to royal Caribbean. Not because carnival was bad, actually just the opposite. Carnivals been great, but we want to see what else is out there in terms of ships and destinations! Just be warned. Theirs a 90% chance you'll get addicted to cruising!

Ok great! Starboard it is. Surely on the 2 weeks were aboard, we'll dock both on port and starboard side. Best of both worlds!

Doing our first B2B on Adventure next year and was wondering whether to book a Port or Starboard Balcony cabin. Thanks!

Don't have any information about the suites but were doing our first B2B on Adventure in June 2016! S. Caribbean here we come!

Thanks for posting the pics. Holiday was my first Carnival cruise. My girlfriend and I had a blast. I have a picture somewhere that she snapped of me walking down the stairs with multiple paper umbrellas stuck in my pony tail. lol Ahh, to be young again. :)

No problem! Although I never got to sail on the holiday or any in that class, I was still super excited when I saw the whale tail and I knew exactly what class of ships it was from!

No, but it is one of the main factors I booked Allure. You'll have to tell me how it is! My sailing is so far away!

The Holiday was our second cruise in 1991. Loved the ship. I remember they announced the "new" Fantasy class ships had just been launched and we were all amazed how big they were going to be. Gained 15 pounds on that cruise. The food was great.

The Fantasy class was big! Just think what the ships will be like in 10 or so years!:eek: :rolleyes:

I know you can change the cruise once, but can you still cancel?

First of all, one of my favorite ports I have ever been to (Geiranger might have an edge on it) so I know you are having a fantastic cruise. I would love to do Norway again. Enjoy!

 

 

 

I have been in port with the new "Holiday" twice now. Both times were leaving from Barcelona. It was funny to see her sail off past us. I still remember her docked on that other pier in Cozumel. From behind she always looked slanted and kind of leaning.

 

 

 

She looks pretty good now.

[emoji16] not on a cruise! Just in Norway visiting family. But I think I've gotta plan a Norwegian cruise now too! Here for 12 days and I've gotta say, it's the most beautiful place I've ever seen.

If anyone is wondering how the Holiday/Grand Holiday/Magellan is doing at CMV, she was at Flåm, Norway today and looked well! I was really excited to see her and thought some of you would be too!

Agree, Bergen is a very walkable city!