Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Trip Review: Enchantment of the Seas 10/7/13

UTVolsFan4Life
 Share

Recommended Posts

UTVolsFan4Life

UTVolsFan4Life

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Its sail away day and I woke up super refreshed and ready to go. I checked with watch to find that it was only midnight. I headed back to bed where I fell back asleep until about 2:30 AM. I just could not sleep any longer. I laid in bed and played with my phone for about an hour before I was sleepy again and I fell off to sleep. I woke up again about 6:00 AM. I jumped up, through on my clothes, and out the door I went hopeful to see our ship come into port. My original plan was to go to Jetty Park, but I decided not to pay those high prices for just 30 minutes or so in the park. I am glad that I did not choose this option because I think I would have missed seeing the ship. The night before I scouted out a location that was a little bit to the left of Rusty’s that was an open parking lot. It had a great view of the cruise terminals and where I could get some pictures of the ship. I missed turn for the parking area so I went down to the dock parking and made the quick walk over to my picture shot. As I was pulling up around 6:15 AM, the Carnival Ecstasy was already past my location and pulling to the terminal. I snapped a few pictures and then I anxiously awaited the arrival of the Enchantment of the Seas.

 

IMG_1261.JPG

 

IMG_1264.JPG

 

After a few minutes of waiting I started to check her location on a marine traffic website and I found that she was close by somewhere between Jetty Park and Fishlips. I looked as far down as I could and I saw her in the distance.

 

IMG_1262.JPG

 

IMG_1267.JPG

 

IMG_1269.JPG

 

IMG_1271.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites
UTVolsFan4Life

UTVolsFan4Life

Posted
  • Author
Posted

IMG_1273.JPG

 

IMG_1276.JPG

 

IMG_1278.JPG

 

IMG_1279.JPG

 

IMG_1281.JPG

 

She was beautiful! I was in awe and filled with excitement to board her later in the day. Since my camera is not that great with low lighting situations, I decided to go get my car and move it closer to where I was taking pictures. After a couple of Facebook posts and a call home to check on things I was back out taking a few more pictures.

IMG_1284.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites
UTVolsFan4Life

UTVolsFan4Life

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

IMG_1285.JPG

 

IMG_1288.JPG

 

Look at that beautiful sunrise coming up!

 

IMG_1290.JPG

 

While I was taking pictures this cat crossed my path. My Granny had a bad superstition when it came to all black cats. I forget what she would say but I think she would have canceled the cruise right then and there as it was a bad omen. LOL

 

IMG_1293.JPG

I made it back to the hotel where Cynthia was up and getting ready for the day. I finished getting ready and we headed for breakfast. Our original plan was to go back over to the Grills but we decided that we did not want to drive over there so; we walked over to Zachery’s Family Restaurant. I really liked this restaurant; it sort of reminded me of an old style IHOP. The food was good and they had a gluten free menu where my wife had a wide range of items to select. We timed our arrival perfectly as they started to get busy after we placed our order. The service was on target although; it slowed down a bit while we waited for our check.

 

We made the walk back over to the hotel and went directly to our car and moved it over to the Cruise Parking area. We also grabbed our other luggage and took it back to our room. We had about an hour until we needed to be in the lobby for our shuttle over to the port. We needed to make some packing adjustments and I needed to contact customer service for our card to inform them of the vacation travel. With everything completed we made a final double-check of the room to ensure nothing was missed and we headed for the lobby.

 

When we reached the lobby, it was almost completely packed. We almost did not have a place to sit. Cynthia and I quickly moved to the only place available and she sat there with our luggage while I went to check-out of the hotel and check into the shuttle service. I was quickly greeted and the check-out process was very swift. The person that was handling the shuttle services was conveniently located at the desk so, I checked in with her and was surprised to find that we were only the second group to check in for Royal Caribbean and that we would be on the first Royal Caribbean bus I went to sit down with Cynthia and realized that I needed to attach our baggage tags. I asked for a stapler and one was quickly provided. I finished that process and was able to hand the stapler off to someone else who was requesting to use it for the same purpose. As we were waiting, we met several couples and some of them were from Georgia so we struck up a conversation. Before I realized it, it was close to time for our shuttle to arrive and it would be my luck that I needed a bio break. When I got back to Cynthia, we decided that since the bus should be arriving soon, that we would walk outside to wait. Within a short time, the first bus arrived but it was for the Carnival terminal. Once that bus was almost done loading up a second bus arrived and it was for Royal Caribbean. Since we were close, we were the first group on the bus and made our way to the back of the bus. We loaded up fairly quickly and by 10:45 AM we were on our way to the port.

 

IMG_1296.JPG

Our trip was uneventful and our excitement was building as we could see the ship as we were making our way to the terminal. We were dropped off at the porters and we secured our carry-on luggage and made sure that the porters had our bags in good hands and that everything was all set. I typically tip $2 per bag for the porter service.

We were really to make the short easy walk to the port. We got up to the door and I got our paperwork and documentation ready. We walked into the terminal and there was immediate confusion as to which line to stand in. I really don’t think anybody was following the signs that this point. We had a quick wait to be checked by security and then on to the security screening. It was quite painless; I did not even have to take off my belt or shoes. In no time we were going up to the next level for our check in. As soon as we got off the escalator I started looking at the signs as to where we went next. Also, I saw a lot of people waiting ahead of us to get on the ship. There was a lady that greeted us and she looked at our SetSail Pass and quickly directed us to the correct line. We walked directly to a check-in person where he quickly checked us in and provided our SeaPasses. We then made our way to another lady that greeted us and showed us where to sit and wait to board the ship. The only complaint that I have is that they really don’t space those chairs out for big people. The lady that sat next to me was kind enough to leave a seat between us. We struck you a conversation with the families around us one of which was a cute little boy that was going on his 3rd cruise. We cooled off a second and took a Facebook picture and the next thing I knew they started letting people get on the ship. I was surprised that our row was called so quickly. We made our way to take our sail-away picture and the line was extremely long but we quickly realized that the long line was for people that did not want a sail-away picture (We pre-purchased the unlimited photos plan, more on that later.). We walked up to a waiting photographer that took our picture and on we went. This is the point where I felt like we were being herded like cattle. It was jam packed getting to the ship, but we were finally on board and relaxing. The total time from posting on facebook that we were waiting to posting that we were on the ship was about 15 minutes. We were on the ship about 11:45 AM.

Let me just stop here for a minute to say that I cannot fully compare this experience to Carnival as we purchased FasterToTheFun and basically skipped all the lines while people were waiting and was in our stateroom around 11:15 AM. What I will say is that I thought the terminal layout that Carnival had was a little friendlier as to how to navigate the terminal. One the flip side, I did not like walking up steep gangways to get on the ship. While it was a bit of a hassle to handle escalators with luggage I liked the fact that I could walk across a level gangway.

 

The Centrum was all decorated for Halloween, and we took a moment to rest. I was so thirsty and remembered that I had pre-purchased the unlimited soda package. I found the closest bar and asked if water was included in the package and I was told no, which I expected and quickly received a Coke and headed back to Cynthia. The area we were sitting at the time was super-hot as the sun was blazing down through the windows. We moved to another location that was much cooler. As I finished about half my Coke, I realized that it was almost noon and that Park Café was going to open soon. I finished off my drink and we headed over to Deck 9 to see what was happening over there. We found the Solarium and Park Café with ease. Cynthia picked a table and I went over to see what selections was available. I was so disappointed when I asked the chef if anything was gluten free and I was told that it was not. There was also no gluten free salad dressing on the build your own salad bar. Luckily, Cynthia had a big breakfast and snacked on some fruit and I slipped her some potato soup from Park Café. (A little back history, Cynthia does not yet has an official diagnosis after two years, but we do know that removing gluten from here diet has drastically improved all her symptoms. At this point, it’s not life threating for her to have a little gluten from time to time.) For my lunch, I choose the roast beef sandwich and a build your own salad. Each was excellent and I was surprised to find baby shrimp as an option. I will compare the food and dining experiences a little later.

 

One thing that Cynthia always likes to do is to tour the Spa and of course enter in the free raffle. We were in the perfect location as the Spa is located behind the Solarium. We walked in and were quickly greeted. We asked about the Spa tour and we were directed right outside the Spa area to get our raffle ticket. The staff seemed to not be very organized at the time. We started for a tour that lasted just about as long as it started and we were done.

 

Carnival Comparison: The Spa tour on Carnival was much more elaborate. When we walked in we were greeted with sample neck and shoulder massages as we were given an introduction to the Spa and filled out our raffle ticket. Then we moved to each area where someone spoke about their specialty and in we saw the inside of treatment room and were able to sample some of the items used for treatment on our hands. Well, I was able too as Cynthia is allergic to shellfish. The tour lasted about a good 20 minutes and presented very well.

 

Since we did not use any of the spa services I will just go on to say that the prices and products looked the same as I believe the same company manages the spa for both cruise lines. We did find that we liked the health seminar that we attended better on Royal Caribbean than on Carnival. It was the same topic and material.

 

Overall, I have to give the Spa area to Carnival.

 

Carnival 3 Royal Caribbean 1

 

We explored the ship a bit and then realized that it was close to 1:30 PM so we made our way to Deck 2 to wait about 5 minutes for the cabin doors to open. There was a little crowd forming but we made our way to our room with no trouble, except we took a wrong turn and received a scenic tour of Deck 2. On our way to our room we saw that our checked luggage had made it on board was getting ready to be delivered to our stateroom. After a few minutes of walking we were in our room.

 

Carnival Comparison: We had already prepared that the room would be smaller than our room was with Carnival. The Carnival Room felt and appeared wider and the Royal Caribbean room felt longer. I could feel that the room was a bit smaller but it was better than what I expected. The biggest two things that I wished were different in the room was that the bed did not block the window and that the TV was positioned higher up. It was a bit of a pain to need to crawl and get on your knees to look out the window. The one thing that I did like about the room is that it had a loveseat and coffee table which we used a good bit.

 

Overall, it’s a tie and I have awarded a point for each.

 

Carnival 4 Royal Caribbean 2

 

We unpacked our carry-on and about the time we were done our checked luggage arrived. I proceeded to get everything set up for the week. I was completely exhausted once I was done and so I tried to lay down for a quick 30 minute to hour power nap, but I could not quite fall asleep. After we fought sleep for about 30 minutes, I decided that I wanted to try the Coke FreeStyle machine and get some pictures of the port from the ship. Cynthia decided to stay in the room and try to rest some more.

 

Carnival Comparison: I am by no means a big soda drinker; I did not purchase the Unlimited Bubbles package when we went on Carnival. Cynthia is majorly allergic (hospital required) to caffeine and carbonation so, a soda package is unless to her. Carnival as the last that I heard does not offer the Coke FreeStyle machines on-board its ships. The FreeStyle machines are what interested me to the unlimited fountain drink package. Since it’s more than just soda as PowerAde and Dasani flavored water was also offered with some other selections. There were 4 machines located on the ship with three of them being near the Windjammer. I found that the selection of drink that I wanted was always available from one of the machines. On occasion, a drink would be out on a machine near the Windjammer at peak times but the next machine had the selection that I was looking to drink. The only catch to the unlimited refills from the machine is that you could only refill the cup once every 15 minutes.

 

Awesome kudos to Royal Caribbean on putting these machines on their ships.

 

Carnival 4 Royal Caribbean 3

 

IMG_1297.JPG

Edited by UTVolsFan4Life
Link to comment
Share on other sites
CruiserJul

CruiserJul

Posted
Posted

Thanks for doing the review! We are going on Enchantment in December and it will be our first RCI cruise. We usually sail on Carnival so when we get back I will do a review with some comparisons. We have stayed at the Radisson before and we like to eat at Grills at Port Canaveral and watch the cruise ships.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
UTVolsFan4Life

UTVolsFan4Life

Posted
  • Author
Posted

IMG_1318.JPG

 

Last chance, to hop on board!

 

IMG_1320.JPG

 

After a few pictures and letting the time slip-away from me it was time to head back to the room to meet Cynthia and go to our Muster Station. We were assigned Muster Station 6 which faced the terminal. We were good shipmates and made sure that we were on-time as no one likes to get stuck waiting on people to show up. We did have a few last minute people but they arrived before the start of the Drill. It was about this time that it started to rain and some people got soaked during the drill. We were lucky and did not get wet.

Once the Muster Drill was over we made our way up to the Viking Crown Lounge for sail away where we met up with a few people from our Cruise Critic Roll Call. Our original plan was to meet on the Pool Deck but the weather had different plans. We waited for Sail Away and Cynthia was wondering if we would win anything at the Spa raffle so I ran down there and it was a big scam to tell you about the services which they could have done during the tour.

 

A few pictures from the Viking Lounge:

 

IMG_1321.JPG

 

Rain Rain Go Away!

 

IMG_1322.JPG

 

IMG_1323.JPG

 

IMG_1324.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites
UTVolsFan4Life

UTVolsFan4Life

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Back up to the Viking Crown Lounge, we sat for a while and then decided to back to the room and get ready for dinner. We went and had pictures made before we headed to dinner. We were both fairly hungry. We arrived to the My Fair Lady Dining room at around 6:00 PM. We had a couple or two ahead of us and then we were able to speak with the hostess. We had requested for a table for two but we were told that there were no table for two’s available at the moment, but that there was only shared seating currently available. We were ready to eat so we decided not to wait for our requested table and were lead to a table with three other families.

 

One of our views:

 

IMG_1328.JPG

 

Our head waitress came over and specifically addressed Cynthia by name and let her know that she would bring her some gluten free bread. After consulting with the menu and our waitress Cynthia made the choice of the salmon with fresh vegetables and I selected the Prime Rib with vegetables. We personally though that the fish was a little dry (it was our least favorite fish all week). I found Prime Rib to be excellently prepared just has I had read the reviews on Cruise Critic.

 

Food Porn Alert

 

IMG_1326.JPG

 

IMG_1327.JPG

 

For desert, Cynthia selected a Mango Raspberry dish.

 

IMG_1330.JPG

 

I decided on the Carrot Cake. I remembered why I don't like it now...raisins...yuck.

 

IMG_1329.JPG

I don’t quite remember what we did after dinner but our plan was to go to the pool and watch the Falcons play on the big screen, but I was just so exhausted that I ended up turning the game on in room and dosing off and on during the game.

 

That’s a wrap for Day 1. I will be back hopefully tomorrow for Day Two. Don’t miss CocoCay and the formal night disaster.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
UTVolsFan4Life

UTVolsFan4Life

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Thanks for doing the review! We are going on Enchantment in December and it will be our first RCI cruise. We usually sail on Carnival so when we get back I will do a review with some comparisons. We have stayed at the Radisson before and we like to eat at Grills at Port Canaveral and watch the cruise ships.

 

You're welcome! I would love to see how your experience compared to mine as you have been on a lot more Carnival cruises than I have.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
UTVolsFan4Life

UTVolsFan4Life

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Thanks for all the pictures. Loved the ones of the ship coming into port.

 

Thanks! I really enjoyed going and taking these pictures. The times of the ships coming into port have varied so much that really did not know if I would even get to see the ships come in at all. I really thought I had missed it because as I was driving to the photo spot, I could see the whale tail coming into port and I was just hopeful that ship did not beat me there. It was almost perfect timing and loads of fun.

 

I am going to try to do this on every cruise from now on!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nivek82

nivek82

Posted
Posted

Great review. One question about the coke machines. You mentioned 4 but I only remember seeing two before (one on deck 6 by the coffee store and the other inside the windjammer). Where are the other two? Are three inside the windjammer or is there one out on the deck?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Clarea

Clarea

Posted
Posted
Great review. One question about the coke machines. You mentioned 4 but I only remember seeing two before (one on deck 6 by the coffee store and the other inside the windjammer). Where are the other two? Are three inside the windjammer or is there one out on the deck?

I remember seeing two machines in Windjammer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...