Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Famous Last Words - A 3-night Enchantment Review

lemonade-sails
 Share

Recommended Posts

lemonade-sails

lemonade-sails

Posted
  • Author
Posted
So..... What did you end up bringing with you in terms of luggage? What did you end up leaving behind??

 

And good for you for going away on mother's day... You clearly deserve it!!

 

Sent from my SM-S727VL using Forums mobile app

 

We left behind our shared rolling duffle with clothes for the cruise including everything from swim suits to formal wear.

 

We brought my purse with usual purse things and my husband's dress shoes and one medium sized backpack with a (miraculously previously packed) pair of pants and a shirt for me and two pairs of heels. Oh, and my makeup. And, besides the clothes on our backs, that was it.

 

I had put a change of clothes into the backpack the night before because I wanted to change out of travel wear before dinner and didn't know if our checked bag would make it to our stateroom in time. :D:D

 

It was a lucky move on my part.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hucifer

hucifer

Posted
Posted
We left behind our shared rolling duffle with clothes for the cruise including everything from swim suits to formal wear.

 

We brought my purse with usual purse things and my husband's dress shoes and one medium sized backpack with a (miraculously previously packed) pair of pants and a shirt for me and two pairs of heels. Oh, and my makeup. And, besides the clothes on our backs, that was it.

 

I had put a change of clothes into the backpack the night before because I wanted to change out of travel wear before dinner and didn't know if our checked bag would make it to our stateroom in time. :D:D

 

It was a lucky move on my part.

Okay, having to leave clothes behind AND almost not making the plane? My OCD side is freaking out right now. Great start!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

Posted
Posted
It all started early on a humid Friday morning in May. The alarm went off at 3 am and by 3:30 we had loaded the car and hit the road for a one hour drive to the airport.

 

"We're not in a hurry," I casually said to my husband who was driving while I snapped a shaky picture of the moon in the dark morning sky.

 

a>

IMG_20180511_040819567_zpsynhjwiv2.jpg

 

 

Our "mom and dad only" 4-night getaway was just beginning.

 

Little did I know that the words "we're not in a hurry" couldn't have been further from the truth.

 

 

Enchantment is in my radar for my first time on her coming up this fall, thanks for the effort.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lemonade-sails

lemonade-sails

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Our flight was uneventful - which was a blessing considering what we had gone through just moments before. We quietly watched the scenery below and smiled at the guy sitting next to my husband who was on his first flight ever. How cute! We didn’t bother letting him in on our drama - just offered him some gum for takeoff and landing.

 

IMG_20180511_063707011_zpsehg4l1yr.jpg

 

 

In case you can't guess, we flew with Spirit. We have not had any problems with the airline. Our inability to check our bag was my fault, not theirs. So no complaints with the airline really.

IMG_20180511_070601958_zpsj19yubuw.jpg

The view out the window was gorgeous and coming into Florida was beautiful as we could see the gulf coast and the Everglades from the air. As soon as we landed and we were allowed to take our phones out of airplane mode I looked up Target and pinpointed a location between the airport and the cruise port. Why Target? Well, we basically needed everything from toothpaste to socks - I knew we could get it all in one stop.

 

We had originally planned to pick up an Uber and be delivered straight to the cruise port. Our flight landed early and that plan was still in effect. The only thing different was that we didn’t have any luggage to claim, and we had to make an important stop on the way.

 

Our first-ever Uber ride was great! Nothing like getting picked up at the door of the airport and dropped off at the door of your destination. Would definitely use it again while traveling.

 

We were picked up around 8:20 am and headed out to Target on Biscayne, arriving just before 9 am.

 

We hit Target with everything we had! Even though it was an unfamiliar layout, we wasted no time throwing everything into the cart: undies for each of us, men's white socks we could share for daytime, black socks for him for dinner, shorts and t-shirts for both, swimsuits for both, swim cover up for me and rash guard for him. I think the lady at the dressing room thought we were nuts as we squiggled into the largest changing room together and started throwing off our clothes. It saved tons of time because we could avoid meeting in the middle to ask “what do you think of this, honey?” Before long we had picked out everything we needed. We decided to skip formal night because we didn’t want to spend the extra money to buy dress pants and shirt/tie for DH. We are pretty easy going and are completely happy in Windjammer for dinner if necessary. I did run out a few times to grab different sizes/colors of things.

 

After we secured the clothing, we grabbed a new pair of sunglasses for DH and headed to the luggage area to pick out a new suitcase. We chose a large purple rolling suitcase. It was huge - way larger than we needed, but the price was right and we wanted room for souvenirs for 9 kids as well.

 

Next to the health and beauty department where we stocked up on everything.we.left.behind. Toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo/conditioner, sunscreen etc. etc. Then to the grocery to grab some sparkling water.

 

Soon after we were in the checkout line where I got on my phone and used the app to order our second-ever Uber to bring us to the port.

 

Unfortunately, we got in the wrong line as we had a guy who was in training and his “helper” had stepped away for a few minutes. We had him ring up the suitcase first and I stood at the end of the register and threw everything directly into the bag as he rang it up. Our Uber was waiting and we were nowhere near done so I ran out and asked him if he wanted to wait for us - which he did. We left Target at about 11:30 am. So, approximately 2.5 hours at Target. We weren’t exactly rushing around but we weren’t dawdling either. We just kind of accepted it as part of our weekend adventure together.

 

I discovered that this is my favorite way to pack. Nothing beats buying clothes in a whirlwind and throwing them - tags and all - directly into a new suitcase (no plastic bags) and heading out to your waiting ride to the ship. It’s how I want to start all of my future cruises - just kidding. I don’t.

 

Another successful Uber trip and we were pulling up to the pier just before noon. We had a very nice porter take our still-with-the-tags suitcase and secure a luggage tag to it. We asked him about our cases of sparkling water - I was hesitant to put them into the suitcase because I didn’t want them to break all over our new clothes and I also didn’t want to risk being asked to the naughty room to open the bag. He kindly put a luggage tag on each box and I tipped him and we were on our way into the terminal.

We couldn't wait to get on board!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

Posted
Posted

We hit Target with everything we had! Even though it was an unfamiliar layout, we wasted no time throwing everything into the cart: undies for each of us, men's white socks we could share for daytime, black socks for him for dinner, shorts and t-shirts for both, swimsuits for both, swim cover up for me and rash guard for him. I think the lady at the dressing room thought we were nuts as we squiggled into the largest changing room together and started throwing off our clothes.

 

 

I'm surprised they let you do that. I've heard stories from retail employees about customers, possibly not married to each other meeting for quickies in the dressing rooms.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lemonade-sails

lemonade-sails

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I'm surprised they let you do that. I've heard stories from retail employees about customers, possibly not married to each other meeting for quickies in the dressing rooms.

 

Honestly, we didn't ask if it was ok - we just did it. But I don't think they were too concerned as we were literally running in and out of there. I mean r u n n i n g. :) In my mind, until I was onboard, there was still the danger that we would miss the ship so we were trying to hurry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
karena1

karena1

Posted
Posted

OMG so funny! You handled it way better than I would. I only wear swimsuits from Venus so I would have made sure, if nothing else, my swimsuits made it into my carryon bag. And my makeup! Other than that, with you, can buy anything else I need at Target. But bless you for taking it all in stride and just doing what you had to do!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lemonade-sails

lemonade-sails

Posted
  • Author
Posted

This part is a bit of a blur for me mostly because it happened so quickly and because I was so glad to have survived our excitement and actually be walking into the building next to the ship. I remember heading up an escalator and being ushered into the priority line which was empty. We were immediately checked in and given our sea pass cards. We had no time to grab a glass of water that was available because we were heading onboard quickly.

 

Lunch in the Windjammer was spectacular! Mostly because I couldn’t believe our morning and was so amazed to even have made it onboard and in pretty good time considering. I don’t remember what I had, but I loved it all.

 

After eating we roamed around the ship for a few minutes before our cabin was available at 1 pm. I think the port of Miami was beautiful. The city and all of the sailboats was great scenery while we checked out the outside decks. Thankfully we had pretty clear and sunny skies that day.

 

I’ve mentioned in my past reviews that I’m not a cabin snob one way or the other. I loved our balcony cabin and I loved our insides as well. Our cabin was 3137. We didn’t have any issues with smells or noises at all. We had a great cabin steward, Joel, who was eager to meet us and very pleasant. Not overbearing in the least and always happy to see us. There was a missing piece of the trim on the mirror section of the wall in the cabin - but this did not affect our trip in any way whatsoever. There were plenty of drawers and space in the closet was ample for all of our new clothes. I’m not sure that there could be anything to complain about on such a short trip. We did have an overly friendly shower curtain, which didn’t bother us much at all. Oh, also no fridge - not a big deal. There was a safe which you use your own code for locking. We came back from Nassau to discover we had not locked it by mistake. Nothing was missing. No issues.

 

After we quickly unpacked our things we went back up on deck to call the kids one last time and to remind them not to send us any more photos in text. Not only because it was making me miss my babies, but because it costs too much while at sea.

 

We hung around waiting for the 3 pm muster drill. Just before 3, they start forcing you out on the deck to your muster station. Of course, I think this is odd as it's not We already had checked ours out so we knew where we were going. We ended up getting shoved into the back which wasn’t horrible except that we had to wait for several people who were “missing”.

Finally, everyone was accounted for and the drill began. It wasn't too painful and was over before we knew it.

 

We headed up to the front of the ship for sail away. I was just about to turn on my video camera to catch the horn as we were leaving, but I just missed it and it blew before I was ready. Someday I will catch that on camera for our video.

 

IMG_20180511_160848362_zpsddc37afi.jpg

 

We really enjoyed sailing out of the Port of Miami. So many things to look at - from mansions and yachts, to sailboats and fancy cars on the A1A to the beach. Amazing. How do these people even stand to live like that? I wonder ;)

 

The front of the ship was very crowded and I had to keep scooching closer to DH to avoid being fondled by the people next to me. Not that I blamed them, it was a spectacular view.

 

IMG_20180511_162356430_zpsfkbeog3u.jpg

 

 

 

 

IMG_20180511_162701325_zpsjn4jdfzb.jpg

 

IMG_20180511_163122728_zpsozcnmyqt.jpg

After sail away was over, we headed out to explore a bit more and then to get ready for dinner - we had MTD reservations for 6:30.

One thing that I noticed, this short trip made it nearly impossible for me to get a good grasp of the layout of the ship. I'm usually pretty good directionally, but I think the Windjammer at the bow kind of threw me off. Navigator and Serenade both have the Windjammer in the stern so this was what kept confusing me. Several times we had to turn around and head the opposite direction. We once went up from the dining room to the pool deck/Windjammer to grab a drink before we headed to the theater. So, we went up and over, but then we came back over and down before realizing that the theater was actually below the Windjammer. The bright side? Between getting lost and taking the stairs all weekend, I think I lost a couple of pounds on the trip :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lemonade-sails

lemonade-sails

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I knew this was going to be good. Pure insanity!!!! Loving this and cannot wait for more.

:) Thanks for reading!!

 

Following along, I have done the 3 day cruise on the Enchantment..

What did you think of Enchantment?

 

Okay, having to leave clothes behind AND almost not making the plane? My OCD side is freaking out right now. Great start!

I'm sorry, lol! It was quite a day!

 

Can't wait to read the rest of the review!

Thanks! Glad you're here!

 

This is such a fun review!

Can't wait for the rest!

Hi! Hoping to get it done this week.

 

subscribed

Thanks for tuning in!

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...