Smooth Sailing on Enchantment Feb 17 2014 Bahamas- photo review

[renee1222]

It appears that you had Capt Johan for your cruise. We cruised the very 1st weekend in February and had Capt Gus Andersson. Capt Johan was "second in command" (sorry, don't know the exact terminology), but Capt Andersson noted that Johan was a fully credentialed Master and joked that Johan was just waiting for "something to happen to himself" to be promoted. Maybe Capt Andersson was just under the weather during your cruise? I saw on the current Captains thread that Andersson is rotating with McDuff right now, with no mention of Johan. It just makes me curious if Johan was serving temporarily or possibly "orienting" as Master with Andersson supervising in the background. Was anything mentioned about Captain Andersson?

[Familygoboston]

It appears that you had Capt Johan for your cruise. We cruised the very 1st weekend in February and had Capt Gus Andersson. Capt Johan was "second in command" (sorry, don't know the exact terminology), but Capt Andersson noted that Johan was a fully credentialed Master and joked that Johan was just waiting for "something to happen to himself" to be promoted. Maybe Capt Andersson was just under the weather during your cruise? I saw on the current Captains thread that Andersson is rotating with McDuff right now, with no mention of Johan. It just makes me curious if Johan was serving temporarily or possibly "orienting" as Master with Andersson supervising in the background. Was anything mentioned about Captain Andersson?

 

Interesting...nothing was mentioned specifically (maybe because nothing would cause a panic like, "welcome folks, this is my first time driving the ship";):p)

 

But interestingly at the Welcome Aboard show, he made a little joke about how "they had told him the best cure for stage fright was just to do it and it wasn't working"! I'm paraphrasing a bit, but I did get the feeling he was a little bit shy and that performing in front of passengers was something that didn't come naturally, like it does to those captains with the outsize personalities, like Capt Gus or Capt Johnny!:D

 

However, as I mentioned in the title...it was very smooth sailing so he was doing something right! Also, he was very involved in what was going on around the ship and personable. At one point they announced on the PA that Capt Johan was going to help with a "cake decorating event" and DD joked, "I think I'd rather have my Capt running the ship than decorating cakes...don't they have baker on board?" LOL! We have noticed on the last several cruises that there is more of an attempt to get the Capt front and center with the passengers (judging contests, etc) Every one we've had has been great!!

[Familygoboston]

Day 4 Feb 20: Sea Day

 

We were up at 8:30; hoping to get a jump on the line at the Bungee Trampoline which opened at 9 AM. (no pun intended, in fact it's not even a pun, so not sure why we even say stuff like that???) We had no room service because mom put the hang tag out on the door, but forgot to put the room number on it. :rolleyes:

 

If this happens to you...here is what to do...call Room Service, they have your tag, and if it's the only one they will fill it and bring down breakfast pretty quickly, if there is more than one - and trust me, you won't be the only one who has forgotten to put your room number on it, you just keep tossing out descriptions of what you ordered till it matches...

 

Mom: "we had yogurt"

Waiter: "stawberry?"

Mom: "no, plain, we also had ordered tea"

Waiter: "Wait, there is one here with decaf and plain yogurt!"

Mom: "That's it!!!"

 

 

Since DD and I wanted to do the bungee jumping, we didn't wait around for room service, but headed right to deck 10 at 8:55 AM to get in line. We were the first ones, signed our waivers and got a good jump in before breakfast!

 

The way this works is you must sign waivers before you participate, but your card is "punched" after you sing them so you don't have to sign again. Children under 13 have to be with their parents, but if kids 13 and up have their "punch" already they can return and jump on their own whenever they like. You must be dry and have socks and a shirt on. The rest of the "Rules" are in the photo below.

 

After you are signed in, you get hooked into the harness, and the crew person adjusts the inflation of trampoline part based on eyeballing your size and weight. I must look heavier than I am, (not what I was going for) because after several bounces I could not get my feet back down and was floating above the trampoline, like an upside down bug, wiggling my feet, waiting for him to return and adjust it so I could get back down to the trampoline! There is a possibility that since I was wearing Bruins Championship Tee shirt (2011) that he was a Canucks fan and just wanted to have a good laugh, but I don't think so!

 

It's not hard to do, and can be good exercise because you have to keep yourself bouncing. I didn't find it hard to do at half a century (:eek: Did I just admit to that??! I meant to say age-fluid!) and being in reasonable shape, but I will share that ...uh...there was some uncomfortable chafing. I had a skort on, and I think I would wear sweats or yoga pants if I were to try again.

 

Once you get adjusted, this is a very cool thing to do!! I wish I had time to go twice, because I was on the harness over looking the bow of the ship (I'm on top of the world!!!!) and when you bounced up, you felt as if you were going to splash down right into the ocean! If you were on one of the 2 harnesses over looking the ship, you'd be elevating above the ship and seeing everything that goes on on the ship from a great vantage point. I'd say if you don't have any major health or mobility issues, to give it a try!!

 

After all, I did it, without any of the trauma that occurred during my first and last attempt on the Flowrider! (if you must know...Oasis 2011)

 

Here are some others kids trying the bungee trampoline

 

 

 

 

Rules and open hours

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our bounce, we went to the diamond lounge for breakfast and met Carlington the diamond lounge concierge. He was also not able to help us determine the diamond amenities for kids and teens, which is what she wanted to ask him about. There was only about 20 minutes left of "breakfast", but we had some fruit and English muffins and a cup of tea. There were only a couple of other people in the lounge by the time we got there.

 

The breakfast area of the Diamond Lounge

 

[Familygoboston]

Day 4 Feb 20: Sea Day

 

After breakfast we returned to our cabin to meet mom, but the steward was doing his thing, so we all went to deck 5 Promenade and sat out and watched the sea go by. This is a very popular place for the folks with Ocean View and Interior cabins. It's far quieter than the pool deck, there is deep shade, and plenty of chairs to be had! You can hear the ocean, and there is no canned music. Plus, you don't have to pay a dime more for this view!!

 

A view from the Promenade Deck

 

 

 

 

 

At 11:30 we went back and sat on our balcony. Mom came back up to the cabin with 2.53 cents left on her original 20 bucks in the casino. We went to the Park Cafe for lunch, seating was tight in the solarium, but we found a table. At lunch Park Cafe offers a station where the crew will mix up a salad for you, there is a warming area with "Forman" style grills, you can pick out a variety paninis or quesidillas and they will "grill" them for you. There is a soup station, pre prepared sandwiches and salads, chips, fruit, pastries and of course the world famous roast beef being carved for roast beef sandwiches!

 

Park Cafe- These photos are at breakfast time...where oatmeal and grits replace soups and egg sandwiches replace the panini and quesidilla station. The roast beef area has eggs and other breakfast items offered under the warming lights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch DD and I went for a swim in the solarium pool since we were right there. It was pretty crowded, all the chairs were taken, but we were just floating in the pool. We did see some kids in pool, a couple of older teens with younger siblings and no adults (they looked like a group of cousins) The youngest was 11 ish, and it was clear people were shooting dagger eyeballs at them, so they didn't stay long. The solarium was "quieter" than the pools, but not really what I would call "quiet".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we walked back to the cabin we saw the big lunch barbecue buffet being served at the pool deck. This was not mentioned in the Cruise Compass, so it may have been a response to the numerous complaints people were making about the buffets because of the full passenger load and large group on board. There was also an extra bar set up...with these...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks tasty, but I didn't try one.

[golf43]

Great review. Our DS is on this cruise right now with 7 of his fraternity brothers.

[kwazi07]

Looks like a great ship and review. I'm going to make a TR after my August trip too!

 

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[Familygoboston]

Great review. Our DS is on this cruise right now with 7 of his fraternity brothers.

We were discussing the "spring break" cruises happening the last 2 weeks. Someone reported over 1000 spring breakers on the last one:eek:

 

Looks like a great ship and review. I'm going to make a TR after my August trip too!

 

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Thanks, It is!! I am very happy with the the revitalization...I would not have considered taken a vision class on a longer port intensive trip, but have changed my mind after sailing Enchantment. I'd prefer this class after revitalization (like Vision is now too) over radiance class right now. I'll be looking for your report!:D

Edited March 12, 2014 by Familygoboston

[kwazi07]

We were discussing the "spring break" cruises happening the last 2 weeks. Someone reported over 1000 spring breakers on the last one:eek:

 

 

 

Thanks, It is!! I am very happy with the the revitalization...I would not have considered taken a vision class on a longer port intensive trip, but have changed my mind after sailing Enchantment. I'd prefer this class after revitalization (like Vision is now too) over radiance class right now. I'll be looking for your report!:D

 

Great to hear. I want to try the Vision out of Miami and the Grandeur out of Baltimore. We live in St. Petersburg (Florida), but we have family in Baltimore. I am also interested in Brilliance out of Tampa. What is your opinion of the Radiance class?

 

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[Familygoboston]

Day 4 Feb 20: Sea Day

 

We made a stop at Cafe Lattetudes for one last B&J's ice cream

 

 

 

 

 

We returned to the cabin for naps, and sitting in the loungers on our balcony. That's pretty much what we did all afternoon, taking time to pack and fill out paper work, organize extra tips etc.

 

Mom on the balcony

 

 

 

 

 

Packing

 

 

 

Enjoying one last sunset

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strangely, there are no comment cards, no mention of comment cards, except for Mario who mentioned that if we were happy we should mention "Mario, excellent" on the comment card, but we didn't see any comment cards and we were to disembark in 6 hours! I did get an email when I arrived home and there was a survey, which I took and told them pretty much what I've told all of you, in far fewer words:p

 

Also, oddly enough for a ship with new TVs that had a refurb in 2004, there is no way to access the bill on your tv. I signed up for my free wifi and it is surprisingly fast and I had no trouble accessing it from my aft balcony, which is pretty remote in terms of location on the ship- can't get too much further! But the TV didn't have the account information available on it; just the usual selection of stations.

[Familygoboston]

Day 4 Feb 20: Sea Day

 

Show

 

We readied for the Farewell Show, "From Stage to Screen" at 7, stopped and dropped of our NC certificate at the loyalty office, and got our usual balcony seats in the theater.

 

The show starts with the "Cruise in Review" video, and given that DD had a prominent dancing position at 70's night, I expected we would be seeing a cameo...and sure enough there she was!! I took a video of the video, but I can't post it, she would kill me! She wanted me to buy out every copy in the shop, but I wouldn't even buy one;) I told her to be glad she was sober and just dancing...let this be a lesson to you for the future!

 

The Farewell show, "Stage to Screen", was very well done and the cast seemed to get energy from the 350 Argentine girls who cheered loudly for the dreamy singer who was their favorite! I really liked that they reprised 3-5 songs from each of 4-5 shows (including Hairspray, Chicago, Grease, Little Shop of Horrors and other shows they already have rights too ;)) But this was much better done, almost like mini musicals, with the costumes, creative sets and a few numbers from each show. One thing...we still have no idea which show featured all the hippie-dippie scenes and 60's-70's music and long hair?? Wasn't "Jesus Christ Superstar", maybe "Hair"? I still don't know...if you've been or are going can you find out and report back???

 

 

We stayed for the parade of crew, but they were not overly self congratulatory, which is an improvement over past farewell shows and something I appreciated.

 

Show:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner

 

After the show we headed to the MTD, where we had an 8:15 reservation. Daniela prepared to put us at our usual table with Mario and Sathararaj, but as she turned the corner to seat us, she was taken aback because some family had just waltzed right in and seated themselves there! She literally said, "oh you can go to your usual table", and then stood there with her mouth open when she saw people were sitting there. Luckily, she found us a nearby table and Mario agreed to serve us despite the fact that that added a table to his section. We were sure to thank he and Satharaj for their extra effort!

 

 

Day 4 Dinner was Pimento menu

 

Pimento menu

 

 

Shrimp Insalata Mista

Lasagna

Garlic Tiger Shrimp

Chicken Marsala

Pepper steak

Eggplant Parmigiana

 

We all had the strawberry bisque, a cold soup we love and like all the soups we had all week, it was excellent. I had the aranchini appetizer and mom had shrimp cocktail. We had the chicken, shrimp and lasagna tonight. DM had bread pudding, and I ordered tiramisu, which I normally love, but it was more like a pudding than tiramisu this time, so I didn't end up eating it.

 

After dinner, mom decided to hit the slots with a $5, having spent her $20 already and DD and I strolled the promenade deck. Then we got (another) Ben and Jerry's (since the tiramisu was such a disappointment) and stood in line to see our sea pass bill. Everyone else was too, and I was surprised about the lack of ability to get the bills on the TV. I needed to make sure both my $25 next cruise OBC and my OBC for the Brilliance cancellation was applied. It was and the charges were all right, if not a bit embarrassing. Literally, $100 worth of Ben and Jerry's, after the excursions and a couple of souvenirs!:p

[windjamming]

YAY, a Familygoboston photo review! Your sunny pictures and sunny personality are JUST the antidote to this winter that will.not.end. Looking forward to reading the review when I get home tonight. We had never considered the Enchantment, so I'm interested in hearing your perspective.

[Familygoboston]

Quest- what happens at Quest stays at Quest, except for what ends up on youtube:p

 

After checking the bill we headed to Quest- Karaoke was just finishing, and Quest was fun, but I've noticed that they have been taming it quite a bit, including safety rules. I don't care wither way, but I think the old "no holds barred" days of old are over and the game has been changed to be a bit racy, but mostly innuendo.

 

Our team was small (we had maybe 6 people in the front row participating, and a crowd of watchers sitting way in back) Because of the weird set up of the lounge with half the chairs facing away from the stage, there were not many people sitting up front, which made it hard to complete the Quests.

 

My daughter ended up being a "relay person" running (oops, no running, only walking briskly ;)) objects to the Captains in the front for the room from the people sitting way in the back. We were additionally challenged with a female captain who had a no nudity policy, so clothes switching challenges didn't happen. The small and distant group made it hard to win participation challenges, but we still managed to pull out 3 rd place! Because DD was very helpful as the relay captain, bringing things up from the back of the lounge, (and probably because she recognized the utter worthlessness of the prize;)) the female captain gave her bronze medal to DD for her participation, which made DD just delighted.

 

Quest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All that was left was to pick up our photo cd, put the bags in the hall and hit the hay.

[kwazi07]

In the stage to screen show, was there a version of the Cell Block Tango from Chicago? I love hearing "I fired two warning shots...into his head"!!!

 

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[Familygoboston]

YAY, a Familygoboston photo review! Your sunny pictures and sunny personality are JUST the antidote to this winter that will.not.end. Looking forward to reading the review when I get home tonight. We had never considered the Enchantment, so I'm interested in hearing your perspective.

 

Thanks!!! Enjoy! My perspective is that this cruise chose us;), and I had kind of written off Vision class because we sailed Grandeur several years ago and I was a bit bored, but as you will see this cruise fit our schedule. I didn't realize that it had already had the "oasis-ization", and that made a big difference for me. It gave me another good dining option (Park Cafe), we had fun with the bungee trampoline and because of the earlier stretch, the alley through the shops seemed a little less crowded. I though the Stage to Screen show was better than similar shows on other ships, but that might be because I like Broadway shows!

 

In the stage to screen show, was there a version of the Cell Block Tango from Chicago? I love hearing "I fired two warning shots...into his head"!!!

 

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Yes, Chicago is in there and they do Cell Block Tango...not the whole number, but a shortened version! I think not a few women can relate to "he had it coming" even if we don't condone actual violence;)

[szdiver]

great review - can't wait till May.....

[Familygoboston]

Day 4 Cruise Compass

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disembarkation info

 

 

 

[Familygoboston]

Feb 21: Disembarkation

 

Well, it's happened...we've finally reached the end of the cruise:(

I stepped out onto the balcony to take a few "arrival photos"; the sunrise was lovely!

 

Arriving at PC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are up early since we have priority disembarkation, and are in the green 1 group.

 

We head to MDR for breakfast since the Diamond C&A waiting area was in another part of the My Fair Lady dining room. But by the time we finish it is already 8:15 which was our departure time. Because of the huge number of self assist passengers, when we get to the exit, we can see they aren't ready for group 1 yet, so we wait in the theater for a few minutes.

 

We noticed that things slowed down a bit in the terminal, due to an escalator being broken, but in general, there a lot of people leaving at once and in a pretty small terminal. While we sailed through early, the self assist people were already creating some pretty long lines. If I were to do it without priority disembarkation, I would try to do self assist, if you can carry your bags yourself to get ahead of the crush.

 

Finally Group 1 and 2 were called at 8:35; we had no trouble finding our bags and headed out to the curb to meet our Park N Cruise Shuttle, following these instructions.

 

 

(^^^^ Remember this is all blank space on purpose?? Maybe you could use it make notes! :D^^^^)

 

If you are in one of the early groups, I'd suggest calling the Park N Cruise number as soon as you hit the curb. A couple from Canada use them frequently and said that they charge the shuttles a lot of money to "sit at the curb", so they wait just outside of port till they hear the first groups are making their way out to the curb. And they found it works fastest if they call, since otherwise they are just guesstimating when people are getting off by the amount of traffic leaving. We waited about 12 minutes and then the Canadian couple arrived, explained this situation, called and in 3 minutes the shuttle arrived!!

 

 

Here is our actual time line:

 

8:15 AM, actual time 8:35 AM-Disembark Green Group 1

8:45 AM, retrieved our bags

8:55 AM, we arrived at the curb for Park N Cruise bus stop

9:10 AM, shuttle arrived

9:20 AM Shuttle arrived in the lot and we returned to our car...they take your bags off the bus, and will help you load them if you pull up or do as we did and just roll your bags to your car, and drive off.

 

I won't go through the time line to get through all the tolls on the way home...but I will say mom went to the casino to make sure we had all the change we would need:rolleyes:

[Familygoboston]

Well, that's it! I hope if you are cruising soon, that this has been helpful, and they YOU have a wonderful cruise and that YOU will post a review. If you really aren't the reviewing type, then just come back here and let us all know how it went, anything new, etc!:D

 

For those who just like reading my overly long reviews even if you aren't sailing the reviewed ship (and I thank you and wonder why you have so much time on your hands;)) I'm including my signature in this post so you can see where we are off to next!

 

It will be a long time before I review on the Royal Board again, since we've got some other cruises and trips planned. I will review the Central and Eastern Europe River Cruise on the River Cruise section of CC. If we take the Adventure Cruise in the Southern Caribbean next April, I'll be back to review that one (still not sure if that's a definite...it's a graduation cruise for DD, but it's quite possible she may have some "pre college" weekends that happen on that week, depending on where she decides to go, causing us to have to cancel it. :eek: )

 

If that happens I will feel "owed" a cruise, so I don't rule out our taking a last minute cruise in Jan of 2014 or early fall of 2015, or BOTH. With kids all off to college we will finally have the flexibility to take last minute cruises. My DH has a theory, that I cannot exist without at least 3 trips booked at any given time:p

 

Thanks again, and I'm happy to try to answer anything that didn't get covered here (Is that possible:confused:)

 

Happy Cruising!!

[MrsFops&FopsC5]

Thanks so much for the info. We are on the 3/28 3 night sailing and am looking very forwards to sailing this class ship. You gave us some great ideas of things to do on Nassau and on the private island. But more importantly you made me very hungry :D

 

Thanks again!!!

[Loggra]

We leave on the 24th aboard Enchantment and I am so grateful for all the information you have included in your review!!:D:D

[lovestocruisesue]

Wonderful review, thanks so much! We will be on the Enchantment with another family in June. We can't wait! I do have a question, however. I noticed in the cruise compasses you posted (by the way thankyou for that), that there are several trivia contests held in various bars and lounges, i.e. the Harry Potter trivia at the Schooner Bar. My son who will be 17 and his friend who is traveling with us, would really get into these trivia contests. Are they allowed in these bars and lounges to enjoy these activities?

[happyiam]

Another great review! Thanks for taking the time to do these. I'm trying to decide which ship to take for our 30th anniversary and love reading the reviews that tell it like it is...like yours. Having only been on the Oasis for our 25th I really want to try something smaller, but am having trouble deciding. What ship? What itinerary? How do I decide? :confused: The reviews I read make me want to do them all. At least I have time to read more reviews that may direct me onto the right ship. Your pictures, hubby help or not, and how you covered all the details are wonderful for the cc (confused cruiser) that I am. Thank you again and I look forward to more of your reviews.

[Kayla103]

I loved your review! Thanks for sharing! I'll be on Enchantment in June, so I was really excited to read this :)

[FinallyCruisinIn2014]

Thank you so much!! Seriously! I have read a lot of reviews and while they were helpful and wonderful - YOU WIN! Best review and I'm so excited to get on the ship (and out of our new 8" of snow - ugh!!) I'm considering printing this all off so I can reread it on the way down (driving Michigan to Florida). But some (my family) would think that was obsessive ;)

Edited March 13, 2014 by FinallyCruisinIn2014

[Teacherloves2Cruise]

Wonderful job. We will be boarding soon and will try and pay it forward for all you have done.

 

 

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