Enchantment of the Seas – January 17-20 – Nassau and Coco Cay Weekend Cruise Review

[mpoole3]

My favorite thing about Royal Caribbean’s private islands is they offer something for everyone. Perhaps you are not a beach bum, like myself then they have snorkeling, kid’s areas, or just spend the day reading in a hammock. We manage to do all the above in Coco Cay, well maybe not play in the kids area but there were a few times we thought we were still kids.

 

9am and every seat is open - Pays to go early

 

Kids area - I believe the cost is $20/Hr. Probably worth the money for a few hours of adult time in the sun.

[mpoole3]

In Coco Cay I recommend going over to Barefoot Beach, which is all the way to the right side. Funny story, when we arrived the beach I told my girlfriend that shoes were not allowed on the beach, hence the name “Barefoot Beach” Okay I know I’m awful! About half way to our chair I told her I was just kidding. One of the reason I enjoy this beach is not many people are willing to walk the extra 10 minutes, but defiantly worth it if you are seeking a quiet day.

 

 

 

I took this a few hours after being here - Still no one on the beach.

 

On our way to Barefoot Beach I ran across this hammock and thought, this is truly paradise.

 

Edited February 2, 2014 by mpoole3

[mpoole3]

After soaking up some sunrays for four hours we decided to have lunch and packed up our belongings. They offer a free BBQ style lunch from 12-3; this was actually one of our favorite meals on the cruise. But we are not picky eaters and liked burgers, mac-n-cheese, and ribs. I did notice they had crew members serving the food on the buffet, which I’d never seen before. But later found out there was a mild case on the norovirus on the Majesty (around 50 cases).

 

Here is a picture before it was crazy busy! We ended up sitting with another couple because there was nowhere to sit.

 

[mpoole3]

Now that our bellies were full there was only one thing left to do in Coco Cay – Find a Hammock in the shade and take a nap! They probably have 50+ Hammocks on the island so it’s not too hard to find one in the shade. I found one by the bridge the majesty guests were taking to their tender boat.

 

 

 

At first I thought I was dreaming but I found a little guy in the tree! We named him ED.

Edited February 2, 2014 by mpoole3

[mpoole3]

Sadly our day in Coco Cay was coming to an end and it was time to head back to the ship. We couldn't have asked for a better day on the Island, the weather, the drinks, and the food was absolutely perfect.

 

Can you tell how packed it got just a few hours later.

 

Right after security there was a man with a spray bottle making us clean our hands. It seems Royal is taking this norovirus pretty serious, so for that I applauded them.

 

They had signs directing us for which tender boat to get on. I’m not going to lie I really wanted to get on the Majesty tender, because I've always wanted to sail on that ship. Maybe one day before she calls it quits.

 

[Hoopster95]

 

Hey mpoole3, thx for all the great pics!

What program/website do you use for picture posting here on CC? All my photos from Photobucket aren't showing up anymore due to "exceeded bandwidth". Thx in advance :)

[mpoole3]

There was always a tender boat waiting to take you back, so no wait. Hint: if you want to be the first one on the ship sit on the top deck, they always unload the top first.

 

Back to the ship! :D

 

 

 

[mpoole3]

Hey mpoole3, thx for all the great pics!

What program/website do you use for picture posting here on CC? All my photos from Photobucket aren't showing up anymore due to "exceeded bandwidth". Thx in advance :)

 

Hi Hoopster! I'm glad you are enjoying my review. I've never spent so much time on a review with port days, vs ship review. But to be honest we were not really on the ship all that much with no sea day.

 

I use Photobucket and pay $2/month for 22GB storage and unlimited bandwidth. I didn't want to pay to store my pictures, but to me it's worth it know they are always safe.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Michael :cool:

[FinallyCruisinIn2014]

Excellent review, thank you! We are sailing Enchantment on a 4 night in April, our very first cruise! Same cruise except for the extra sea day so I really, really enjoyed your report and all the pictures :)

 

Quick question: It sounds like you went back to the ship and stayed for the afternoon and evening on the Nassau day. Was everything "open" and available on the ship since it was still in port?

[jo24]

Thank you for the fabulous CocoCay pics... now let's just hope the ship I am on manages to stop there this November!

 

Thanks again

 

Jo :)

Edited February 2, 2014 by jo24

[FinallyCruisinIn2014]

Oops, actually I have another question ;)

 

We are planning on using Park n Cruise also. What time did you arrive at the park n cruise and was it pretty quick and easy from your car, onto the shuttle and to the port? How was the return at the end of the cruise?

 

We are also driving - from Michigan, so when I read you drove from TN I thought, hey, that's almost 1/2 way for us!!

[DreamingBig1]

The Enchantment seems like a beautiful ship. You brought it, Nassau and Cocoa Cay alive to me.

 

Enjoying it!

 

Was this your GF's very first cruise? Is she hooked now? It usually only takes one.

[mpoole3]

Oops, actually I have another question ;)

 

We are planning on using Park n Cruise also. What time did you arrive at the park n cruise and was it pretty quick and easy from your car, onto the shuttle and to the port? How was the return at the end of the cruise?

 

We are also driving - from Michigan, so when I read you drove from TN I thought, hey, that's almost 1/2 way for us!!

 

Nassau - Yes everything was open.

 

We arrived at park-n-cruise right at 11am. We made our RSVP online to save $1.00 per day. Once we arrive they have 5-6 spots in the front where you unload the car, then once you are done they direct you where to park. There was a shuttle there waiting to take us, but we did have to drop people off at Disney first. After the cruise there was also a shuttle waiting for us with no wait, but they do wait until its full before they leave. (wait time was probably 3-5 mins)

 

Wow driving from Michigan! And I thought my drive was long.

[mpoole3]

Thank you for the fabulous CocoCay pics... now let's just hope the ship I am on manages to stop there this November!

 

Thanks again

 

Jo :)

 

I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures! They do miss Coco Cay quite often, so I hope they stop for you.

 

Two years ago I was on a B2B Monarch. We stop once and missed it the other.

[mpoole3]

Once we were back on board I wanted a snack, I mean it had been almost two hours since we ate last! I had missed famous roast beef sandwich on day one, so that’s exactly what I wanted. You can get these sandwiches in Park Café and on the Enchantment it’s located in the solarium. Here are a few pictures of the pool area also.

 

 

 

 

 

[AZEmom]

Excellent review, thank you! We are sailing Enchantment on a 4 night in April, our very first cruise! Same cruise except for the extra sea day so I really, really enjoyed your report and all the pictures :)

 

Quick question: It sounds like you went back to the ship and stayed for the afternoon and evening on the Nassau day. Was everything "open" and available on the ship since it was still in port?

 

DH and I were on the same sailing. Most "everything" is open, except for the shops and casino. They didn't open until 7 pm I believe. They were open on the morning while we were sailing into Nassau.

 

I'd also like to warn people getting to Park n Cruise too early. We got there early as we wanted to be checked in at the pier and be ready to board as soon as they opened the doors. Apparently, Park n Cruise doesn't bring passengers to the port until they are done bringing people back from the previous sailing. We waited about an hour, watching empty vans head to the port???

 

On another note, our favorite thing about this ship was the number of hot tubs (6?). We were just on the Brillance which only had 3.

[mpoole3]

The Enchantment seems like a beautiful ship. You brought it, Nassau and Cocoa Cay alive to me.

 

Enjoying it!

 

Was this your GF's very first cruise? Is she hooked now? It usually only takes one.

 

She went on a Disney years ago, but first without the rents. And yes, she is hooked now! We have already booked on the Adventure Southern Caribbean this Fall. :D

[DreamingBig1]

She went on a Disney years ago, but first without the rents. And yes, she is hooked now! We have already booked on the Adventure Southern Caribbean this Fall. :D

 

Awesome! They need a "like button" on this.

Edited February 2, 2014 by DreamingBig1

[jo24]

I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures! They do miss Coco Cay quite often, so I hope they stop for you.

 

Two years ago I was on a B2B Monarch. We stop once and missed it the other.

 

Yes, that is what I am concerned about but never mind if we don't, just an excuse to go back and try again ;)

 

Jo :)

[FinallyCruisinIn2014]

Nassau - Yes everything was open.

 

We arrived at park-n-cruise right at 11am. We made our RSVP online to save $1.00 per day. Once we arrive they have 5-6 spots in the front where you unload the car, then once you are done they direct you where to park. There was a shuttle there waiting to take us, but we did have to drop people off at Disney first. After the cruise there was also a shuttle waiting for us with no wait, but they do wait until its full before they leave. (wait time was probably 3-5 mins)

 

Wow driving from Michigan! And I thought my drive was long.

 

Perfect - I do plan on prepaying online to save that big dollar LOL Thanks for letting me know about the timing. We'll be coming from Disney World that morning so if we leave there at 10 we should be good with plenty of time to figure it all out.

 

I'm glad the ship is pretty much up and running while in Nassau. It's a really long port day and I wasn't planning to spend more than the morning/afternoon on land.

 

Driving from Michigan - 19 hours straight through. We've done about 6 times over the years and it's not that bad. The anticipation keeps us going!!

 

Lastly, THANK YOU for the pictures - they are really great! Some of the best I've seen of the Enchantment (and I've looked at a lot!)

[oracer]

Great Review, the pictures are very nice.

 

Going to Cococay, saw you went to Barefoot, was there any good snorkeling there? or is it you have to do snorkeling directly on the main beach?

[thecruisers723]

Thanks so much for the awesome review. We board the Enchantment this Friday and this just helped get me even more excited. I sure hope we make it to Coco Cay. We've been on 3 cruises that went there and have made it onto the island 2 of those times. We have 4 friends that have never been there cruising with us and I'm really hoping we get to go so they can enjoy it as it's so nice. I appreciate all the awesome pics too. Glad you had a great cruise.

[Jax129]

Thanks for the review. We're thinking about doing the 3 day in May. I LOVED your Cocoa Cay pictures. That was the favorite part of my last cruise, could have stayed there for days!

Edited February 4, 2014 by Jax129

[NanciRDH]

This is where my cabin is in 2 weeks (and did I mention...I didn't even have to pay for the upgrade :D:D:D)

 

Thanks for your review of the Diamond Lounge...I'm going to give it a try...sorry, but Im not the type to go sit in a lounge all by myself and drink...I simply don't need their plonk that badly, but if they will let mom in, its a nice location at that time of the day.

Also, I am going to take your info for the parking...half price is pretty significant!!

 

 

 

Interesting that you noticed a difference, we can't wait! The corner was available on 7, but its above the lounge and mom hits the hay at about 8:30 PM, so that wouldn't have worked for us;) We have a nice one in the center on 8:D

 

We just had a jr. suite on deck 8 towards the back of the ship and had no noise issues. It is below the gym.

 

 

I had the mid-aft JS last fall, and it was great. It's under the waiting area of the spa, so really no noise. We heard them moving something one morning, not too early, and decided it was probably lounge chairs getting vacuumed under. We couldn't hear any other noise at all. DH is very fussy about that, he won't book a suite on this ship because they're all under the WJ, and we had a horrible experience on Monarch that ruined his liking for suites unless they're in a better location.

[Familygoboston]

I had the mid-aft JS last fall, and it was great. It's under the waiting area of the spa, so really no noise. We heard them moving something one morning, not too early, and decided it was probably lounge chairs getting vacuumed under. We couldn't hear any other noise at all. DH is very fussy about that, he won't book a suite on this ship because they're all under the WJ, and we had a horrible experience on Monarch that ruined his liking for suites unless they're in a better location.

 

Thanks Nanci! I was thinking it might be loud if its under the exercise equipment, but it would be morning noise and mom and I are up early anyway, and DD can sleep through a zombie apocalypse;):p So the fact that its the spa is even better!!:D

 

I'm picky about where my cabin is too, and on the older ships many of the suites are under the pool or WJ which can be noisy! I also don't like cabins adjacent to or under big suites. Often times those are booked by someone in a family group and are used as a "gathering" place for the whole crew. Like being next to a mini CL or DL, not really what I'm looking for! One review talked about how every night, she and her siblings left all their tots together in the suite with grandma and grandpa while they went to shows and clubs...yikes!:eek: