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

[sailingawaysoon]

Oh no! So sorry to hear that your money was stolen. I hope you can get it resolved. That's most important right now. Good luck and we all look forward to picking up where you left off on your review. Love your pictures too!

[UTVolsFan4Life]

Oh no! Hate to hear that & hope you can get it resolved quickly. I just finished dealing with having one of my CC numbers stolen so I feel your pain.

 

It's kind of funny in a way because I don't take my card with me internationally so that it's not stolen and look what happened to me. LOL :D

[UTVolsFan4Life]

Oh no! So sorry to hear that your money was stolen. I hope you can get it resolved. That's most important right now. Good luck and we all look forward to picking up where you left off on your review. Love your pictures too!

 

Thank you so much.

[UTVolsFan4Life]

Alright, it’s great to be back and I am happy to report that my account is back in good standing and I worked with some wonderful people getting it all sorted out. Oh my…the paperwork…:eek:

 

Let’s kick this comparison off by talking about, food. I will start out by saying that this is a very subjective area and that everyone’s palate is not the same. Truthfully, I think that my wife has a better palate. As long as it’s tender and seasoned, I am good to go. I will break the areas down as best as I can and please keep in mind that this rating as nothing to do with service. I’ll get to the service aspect a little later.

This is where my wife and I have completely different experiences as guests and I will be rating for the both of us and I will be noting her experience.

Park Cafe

 

I may be wrong, but I was thinking that Park Café was supposed to be a place for a “light fare” and more health featured meals. This was a place that both Cynthia and I could not wait to try and we avoided the long Windjammer lines by eating there during embarkation. The roast beef sandwich was as good as advertised and I really liked the build your own salad. I thought that having baby shrimp as an option was a great choice. I did not see that on the Carnival salad bar. We were highly disappointed to find out that there were no gluten free options at Park Café. I even asked the chef for confirmation.

Windjammer

 

We ate in the windjammer once for breakfast and once for lunch. It was a total nightmare. There were so many people going in so many directions. For me, there was a wide range of food to choose from and everything thing that I tasted was good. Poor Cynthia on the other hand was a different story. Breakfast was the easiest meal but lunch was horrible and she had to end up eating some items that she should not have eaten. I will say this; I thought that there were a good number of gluten free dishes. If you’re a vegetarian, the selection goes down a bit but I think it was manageable. Having all the allergies that Cynthia has it was just a personal choice for us to use the MDR so we knew she was getting food that she could safely eat.

 

On formal night, we took a look around the windjammer and I was surprised to see a small area that is kind of out of sight that had some sushi available. I was able to try some new rolls that were good. On Carnival, there is a fee for sushi.

 

Main Dining Room

 

The first difference that I saw is that Royal Caribbean has gluten free bread that they bring fresh to the table. On most nights, the gluten free bread was warmer than the regular bread. I really liked that Royal Caribbean had a new feature menu each night but sometimes that brought challenges in making a dinner selection. I thought the fanciest meal of the cruise was the prime rib and it was served on the first night. Also, I was surprised to see that a lobster tail was extra, even on formal night. It was not worth the price, and I heard several comments about going to Red Lobster for cheaper price. What I liked about Carnival is that they had two menus. One is the everyday menu and the other menu changed nightly. This really helped Cynthia as there were already a few dishes on that menu that she could select so she would look on the menu that changed nightly and if she did not see anything then she went with the everyday menu. There was two nights where she got the vegetable curry so she was expecting the same dish. The chef surprised her and made the dish with a different curry and vegetables than from the previous dinner.

As a side note, I was disappointed that there was not a show in the MDR that was led by the wait staff. We loved those on Carnival.

 

At breakfast, Royal Caribbean had a self-serve fruit area that Carnival did not have. I cannot really compare lunch in the MDR as we did not eat lunch in the MDR while with Carnival.

Now for the overall ranking, it’s a tough decision and I have to keep in mind the challenges that my wife faced with her food selection. While for me, I thought Royal Caribbean had a great selection and I want to try foods that I don’t normally eat at home. The selection that Carnival provided appealed to me more than Royal Caribbean. My wife said to me on more than one occasion that she thought that she had an easier time finding food with Carnival.

 

Carnival 7 Royal Caribbean 6

 

Up Next: Service

[hansolosmom]

Glad to hear you got it worked out! I ended up having to report mine twice, the first time they couldn't fix the charges because they were still pending - at least that's what they told me the 2nd time I called. Part of me thinks they did that to see if I'd follow up and make sure everything got taken off.

 

Anyway that's a shame about the food. I am excited to try the Park cafe. I'm surprised they didn't have a daily menu. When we were on Celebrity this summer, the left side was a daily menu - same every night I know shrimp cocktail and French onion soup were on there since they were popular at our table, then the entrees, were plain chicken breast, plus beef and fish. Then the right side of the menu were the daily menu which changed nightly.

[UTVolsFan4Life]

One of the main talking points from all my friends that have sailed Carnival and Royal Caribbean was the difference in service. I was told about all the little touches that were different and so much better then Carnival. For the record, my line of work directly deals with providing excellent customer service so, I understand the different levels of great/good/bad/horrible customer service.

 

Check-In Staff:

 

The check-in staff was very friendly and helpful. Especially, navigating what I thought was a confusing check in area. The staff member that we came into contact with quickly recognized the confused look on my face and took a look at our SetSail Pass and directed us to the appropriate area. The person checking us in was very efficient and within 5 minutes or less we were being directed by the next staff member on where to wait.

 

We were off to a great start.

 

Stateroom Attendant:

 

The room was cleaned and I really don’t have any complaints but I really felt that the service was more of a hotel than a cruise ship. We never met our attendant! I was quite shocked as we were in our room for a while on the first day but there was never an introduction. I would have at least liked a sorry I missed you note with a name and how he or she could be reached. I am glad that we did not need anything during the trip. The other thing that I noticed is that most of the time we had to say, “Hello” or “Good Morning” to most the attendants before they would say anything back. None of them seem to know our name and we were never called by name.

 

Towel Service:

 

This in my personal opinion was a major fail for Royal Caribbean. Why could they just not leave my beach towels in my room? That’s the way it’s done on Carnival, with a sign that says the charge if they are not in the room at the end of the cruise. Another nice perk is that our room attendant would see that they had been used and make sure that we had fresh ones each night for the next day. I think that this is a sore point for me as this is where I encountered the worst customer service all cruise. I don’t know what was happening to the young lady. Maybe she was upset that she had the towel station all by herself on a very busy CocoCay day but she was downright rude.

 

Bar Service:

 

Twice I used the bar that was at the Solarium and the service was average. Once day it was rather busy but I did not wait very long. The bartender was good about multitasking.

 

Windjammer:

 

I thought that the service was good. The one thing that was different that I liked was that not only would they come clean up your plates but that they would offer to get you a drink or a refill. I thought it was a nice touch. I am not really sure what section of service this falls under but, I am highly disappointed that with all the planning that was done with informing Royal Caribbean about my wife’s allergies that we were not directed to the head chef in the Windjammer for more options. It’s a shame that we did not find this out until the last night of the cruise. This piece of information would have made our entire food experience so much better.

 

Main Dining Room:

 

I have previously shared some of my comments on the service in the MDR. Overall, I just thought the service was average. The first night was great, the second night was awful but it continued to get better until we received excellent service on the last night. I was surprised that no one ever called us by name. The other thing that really showed a lack of customer service was when we were pre-ordering for Cynthia each night. The head waiter would make a recommendation and it would always have something in it that she does not eat or is allergic too. It seemed like the only thing they keyed off of all week was the gluten free. We gave the list to Royal Caribbean and it was confirmed to us on several calls and it was discussed in the dining room on the first day. With Carnival, we had one conversation with the MDR on the first day, they wrote it down and every night they made selections that were spot on or they told us how a dish could be altered to meet her requirements. In addition, on Carnival, the assistant wait staff remembered our names the first night and was so friendly when we saw them around on the ship.

 

Overall, the service effort was average at best. At first, I thought it might have been my fault for setting the bar to high based on what my friends have experienced. On the last day, we met several couples who had sailed Royal Caribbean 6 or 7 times and they confirmed for me that the service on the Enchantment of the Seas was the worst that they had seen on any of their cruises. They apologized and said that they hated that this was our first experience with Royal Caribbean.

 

Carnival 8 Royal Caribbean 6

 

Overall, this was a very nice trip and we did not let these items get in the way of having a great time. This is a ship that I would take again if the time and price was right. I think that the insight that we gained on this trip would help make for a much better dining experience the second time around.

 

I will try Royal Caribbean again in a few years as I bought a NextCruise Certificate. Let me clarify, I miss-read the paperwork so I bought two of them for two people. LOL I would love to try Freedom, Allure, and Oasis of the Seas. My Sister-In-Law will turn 16 in a few years and we would love to take her on her first cruise on one of these ships.

[UTVolsFan4Life]

Well, I kept telling my wife to really enjoy this cruise because we are going to try not to spend any cruise money in 2014 but that we would go big in 2015. Her response was, “Don’t say that as you never know what might happen”. Boy, was she right! As many of you may have noticed we have booked the Carnival Dream for a Western Caribbean in February 2014. I know you are asking yourself, “How did this happen?” Well, we arrived home from the cruise and we had a letter in the mail from Carnival. We had received past guest and VIFP promotions before and they were not all that great of a deal and were quickly tossed into the shred pile. So, this letter was not a top priority on the list as I went through the mail and I just laid it back into the pile. The next day, I went looking for another piece of mail and saw the Carnival letter again. This time I wanted to see what it had to say as I was already cruise withdrawals. I was quite surprised when I saw that I was part of a limited time VIFP Exclusive Offer.

Select winter sailings from December 1st – February 28th could receive the following rates:

Interior Stateroom - $15 per person per day

Ocean View Stateroom - $20 per person per day

Balcony Stateroom - $25 per person per day

I thought about it and started thinking that we have a weekend conference in Tampa in January. We could potentially take that whole week off and combine with a cruise. I found the perfect cruise that matched our schedule on the Carnival Paradise. Cruise starts on Saturday and ends on Thursday. Conference starts Thursday evening and goes through Saturday. It seemed like a perfect match. I thought about it most the day and that night I started to wonder about specials on the Carnival Dream. We really wanted to sail the Dream especially after Cynthia’s aunt raved about her trip back in April. It would be a little more difficult for us to accomplish once the Dream moved to New Orleans. I was guessing there was not any since there was none for the Sunshine and the Breeze. I was wrong! I found a sailing for $175 per person for a balcony. I was using my iPad and I could not see the deck plan from my browser. I had a funny feeling that these prices would not be there much longer so I was smart and put the reservation on a 24 hour hold. As soon as I woke up the next morning I checked the deck plan and thought that the room was in a good location. I was read to book. I brought the cruise up again and found that all the discounts were gone. The same type balcony just a few doors down the hall was now $699 per person. I was so happy that I placed a hold on my reservation and I immediately completed the transaction. These are all ports that we have never been to so I have got to get going on some research. We are so excited!

[UTVolsFan4Life]

This completes the review and comparisons. I have had so much fun and I cannot wait to complete another review after we get off the Carnival Dream.

 

Please feel free to ask questions and I will answer them as best as I can. If there are other topics you would like to know about please let me know that as well and I will be happy to review them.

 

Thanks for coming along on this journey with me.

 

Kenyon

[roccomom1]

This completes the review and comparisons. I have had so much fun and I cannot wait to complete another review after we get off the Carnival Dream.

 

Please feel free to ask questions and I will answer them as best as I can. If there are other topics you would like to know about please let me know that as well and I will be happy to review them.

 

Thanks for coming along on this journey with me.

 

Kenyon

 

Thanks for the great review. We will be on that same cruise in Feb. 14. I was wondering about the Nature Trail on Coco Cay. RCI has a shore excursion for this, but I was wondering if it is something we could do ourselves. If you have any ideas that would be great.

Thanks again.

[cathykb]

Really enjoyed your cruise commentary and picture. Thanks for posting.

 

Cathy

[sailingawaysoon]

Thanks again for the wonderful review. We've only been on Carnival once, and it was the Dream. Enjoy your upcoming vacation in Feb 2014. Maybe you can have some fun w/Christmas presents and buy little cruise natured things. Have a great time and I look forward to reading your review when you return.

[MrBanana1240]

I did not like the service either. I went during Hurricane Sandy and we missed CoCo Cay, even though we passed it the previous while another ship was tendering. We got to Nassau at 1pm and we (and Majesty) missed Coco Cay that day. I was sad, as it was the new port and reason we chose Enchantment over Pride for our Thanksgiving. We later found out that it is hurricane season in November so we booked a cruise to the Western Caribbean. Considering Royal again. May cruise next summer/spring break. Glad you had a good cruise. I had the option of Dream or Glory, but I liked Glory's itinerary better and it was cheaper. Have a great time on the Dream. I have heard great reviews!

 

-Thanks for your photo review.

[WWbytheSEA]

Hi Kenyon -- First off I wanted to thank you for taking the time to do this review and sharing your wonderful pictures. Enchantment was the first RC cruise that my wife and I did back in February of 2007. Brought back some great memories....

 

Is there certain settings that you utilized on your Canon camera that you liked better than others. Any pics at all taken with your smartphone??

 

PS - as I can tell your a fan of the pigskin, when I saw the Giants/Bears in one of your photos, I instantly connected as I was on a business trip in NYC watching this Thursday night game in a bar and you were probably somewhere in the North Atlantic heading back to Florida..

[UTVolsFan4Life]

Thanks for the great review. We will be on that same cruise in Feb. 14. I was wondering about the Nature Trail on Coco Cay. RCI has a shore excursion for this, but I was wondering if it is something we could do ourselves. If you have any ideas that would be great.

Thanks again.

 

You're welcome, I am not real sure about the Nature Trail as we did not venture over in that area. I kind of wished that we had now, but may we can on our next trip to the island. I saw someone else post some wonderful looking pictures from that area.

[UTVolsFan4Life]

Really enjoyed your cruise commentary and picture. Thanks for posting.

 

Cathy

 

You're welcome! :D

[UTVolsFan4Life]

Thanks again for the wonderful review. We've only been on Carnival once, and it was the Dream. Enjoy your upcoming vacation in Feb 2014. Maybe you can have some fun w/Christmas presents and buy little cruise natured things. Have a great time and I look forward to reading your review when you return.

 

You're welcome, I am sure we will find a way to sneak some cruise related stuff in a Christmas. :D We have not told our family that we are going on another cruise. They already think we are crazy enough and spending way too much money. They would be shocked to know how little we are paying for the next cruise, but it's none of their business. ;)

[UTVolsFan4Life]

I did not like the service either. I went during Hurricane Sandy and we missed CoCo Cay, even though we passed it the previous while another ship was tendering. We got to Nassau at 1pm and we (and Majesty) missed Coco Cay that day. I was sad, as it was the new port and reason we chose Enchantment over Pride for our Thanksgiving. We later found out that it is hurricane season in November so we booked a cruise to the Western Caribbean. Considering Royal again. May cruise next summer/spring break. Glad you had a good cruise. I had the option of Dream or Glory, but I liked Glory's itinerary better and it was cheaper. Have a great time on the Dream. I have heard great reviews!

 

-Thanks for your photo review.

 

You're welcome, I am starting to get the feeling that RCCL goes all out on the bigger, fancier, and more expensive ships and the service is just OK on all the smaller ships.

 

I was a little nervous sailing during hurricane season, but what what I have read on all the message boards is that as long has you can go with the flow and not worry about the ports of call to much then the cruise line will keep you out of harms way.

 

We have not gotten brave enough to try to make the trip down to Miami. I am sure we will have to one of these days. I like Port Canaveral and I hope that Freedom of the Seas will still be there when we get ready to sail her in a few years.

[MrBanana1240]

You're welcome, I am starting to get the feeling that RCCL goes all out on the bigger, fancier, and more expensive ships and the service is just OK on all the smaller ships.

 

I was a little nervous sailing during hurricane season, but what what I have read on all the message boards is that as long has you can go with the flow and not worry about the ports of call to much then the cruise line will keep you out of harms way.

 

We have not gotten brave enough to try to make the trip down to Miami. I am sure we will have to one of these days. I like Port Canaveral and I hope that Freedom of the Seas will still be there when we get ready to sail her in a few years.

 

 

We are considering the 5 night Liberty OTS or the 5 night Vision OTS from Fort Lauderdale. Can you make the trip down there?

 

The Explorer of the Seas, a larger ship, almost as big as Freedom will be in Port Canaveral from Nov 2014 to Feb 2015. That's as far as bookings go. It will be sailing 4 and 5 night cruises to the Bahamas and Mexico. That could maybe be a winter getaway cruise :rolleyes:

[UTVolsFan4Life]

Hi Kenyon -- First off I wanted to thank you for taking the time to do this review and sharing your wonderful pictures. Enchantment was the first RC cruise that my wife and I did back in February of 2007. Brought back some great memories....

 

Is there certain settings that you utilized on your Canon camera that you liked better than others. Any pics at all taken with your smartphone??

 

PS - as I can tell your a fan of the pigskin, when I saw the Giants/Bears in one of your photos, I instantly connected as I was on a business trip in NYC watching this Thursday night game in a bar and you were probably somewhere in the North Atlantic heading back to Florida..

 

You're welcome, that's so awesome. Most of the pictures were taken from my camera, a few were from my wife's Canon and one or two may have been from my smartphone which is a Motorola Razar. My favorite setting is a secret...LOL I am just kidding. Most of these pictures were taken with the Auto setting. I thought the camera did a good job of choosing the correct settings. There were a couple of times that I thought it used the flash when it did not need it so I just took another picture with the flash off and it looked better.

 

Yes, I am a pigskin fan and I was so wanting to kick myself for not going down and watching the Falcons game on Monday night. I did get to see a few minutes of the Giants/Bears game and it was awesome seeing it on that huge screen.

[UTVolsFan4Life]

We are considering the 5 night Liberty OTS or the 5 night Vision OTS from Fort Lauderdale. Can you make the trip down there?

 

The Explorer of the Seas, a larger ship, almost as big as Freedom will be in Port Canaveral from Nov 2014 to Feb 2015. That's as far as bookings go. It will be sailing 4 and 5 night cruises to the Bahamas and Mexico. That could maybe be a winter getaway cruise :rolleyes:

 

I have been to Fort Lauderdale once but I did not do the driving. :D I would think that it would be better than going all the way down to Miami. Of course, I could make myself go to Miami if I really wanted to sail on a ship that was sailing from there. I would might leave two days early instead of one and stop half way.

[MrBanana1240]

I have been to Fort Lauderdale once but I did not do the driving. :D I would think that it would be better than going all the way down to Miami. Of course, I could make myself go to Miami if I really wanted to sail on a ship that was sailing from there. I would might leave two days early instead of one and stop half way.

 

Oh okay (: Well we are discussing future cruises, and Enchantment did come up. I sailed on it before drydock and missed Coco cay so there is stuff in it for us. We aren't sure. What ports are you visiting on Dream?

[UTVolsFan4Life]

Oh okay (: Well we are discussing future cruises, and Enchantment did come up. I sailed on it before drydock and missed Coco cay so there is stuff in it for us. We aren't sure. What ports are you visiting on Dream?

 

It's our first 7 day cruise to the Western Caribbean.

 

Cozumel, Mexico

Belize

Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan

Costa Maya, Mexico

[FireEater]

I wonder if that Bahamas Navy ship there in Nassau ever moves? All 3 or 4 times I have been there that ship has been tied up there. LOL

 

Looks like it always needs some rust grinding and a coat of paint.

Edited November 2, 2013 by FireEater

[UTVolsFan4Life]

I wonder if that Bahamas Navy ship there in Nassau ever moves? All 3 or 4 times I have been there that ship has been tied up there. LOL

 

Looks like it always needs some rust grinding and a coat of paint.

 

We have been there twice and it's there everytime. :D

[smeck]

It's our first 7 day cruise to the Western Caribbean.

 

Cozumel, Mexico

Belize

Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan

Costa Maya, Mexico

 

While in Costa Maya may I suggest Maya Chan all inclusive resort. We went and loved it, they limit the number of people and very friendly. Google maya Chan or check tripadvisor you'll get a sense of what I'm talking about.