Just Off Enchantment

[olivertexas]

This older ship doesn't get a lot of publicity here, so I thought I'd share a little so when someone comes looking like I did, they might have a little insight.

 

We are nearly Diamond (not a brag - just a point of reference as to our experience with Royal ships).  We have been on a variety of classes of ships, but Enchantment "scared" me a bit.  My buddy gambled enough on an 11 night reposition aboard the Ovation that he was offered a free cruise.  We were invited to join.  The timing was good and the pricing was right, so we crashed the party.  I've said in the past I would not sail for less than 7 days.  But I am coming around on that bit of cruise snobbery!

 

We booked a deck 2 cabin (an area of the ship we typically try to avoid), didn't do any real extras, and basically just tried to low key cruise!  The ship has seen better days.  A little rust here, some disrepair there, paint chips, carpet fray and so forth, but all in all, the ship really is still quite beautiful and one can easily see how she was the belle of the ball in her day.  The smaller ship certainly makes standing in line a much shorter proposition and easier to maneuver without massive crowds.  One other thing I noticed on this ship - it was easier to disconnect.  Fewer TV's in bars with news or sports playing - so if you are addicted, beware.  Luckily I was able to record my college football team, not hear any of the news of their game and came home to a shortened viewing of my game of interest.

 

We enjoyed the deck 2 location except for heading to the Windjammer.  That was a 7 flight climb (we never rode an elevator - get those steps!), but coming back on board from a port was a breeze going up (and down to get to the gangway) only one flight.  Food was hit and a little miss.  We never went hungry!  Selections are a little less than the bigger ships, but we had plenty of choices.  Entertainment and activities seemed a little more streamlined with not quite as much going on, but the normal high points were there (Quest, Battle of the Sexes, Karaoke, Trivia, Bingo, etc...).  The orchestra and musicians onboard were high quality.  The shows are a little rough around the edges as they are rather dated; but not having seen these shows before, it was good to get a fresh look.  Bobby the Cruise Director is a Texan!  So, that was fun having so many Texas cruisers with a leader that speak the language!  🙂

 

The ship had a little extra action on the way north, but rode like a smooth champ heading south.  Some crew mentioned it had a little more motion than the big girls, but oddly, I liked the motion that has been missing from prior cruises!  Not too much creaking or odd noises, so the old girl is aging gracefully it would seem.

 

So, shorter cruise, older and smaller than normal vessel - no problem!  It was a great experience if you can overlook that it's not a shiny new thing.  Short of having some bells and whistles, the cruise was a very fine experience.  I viewed this as a bonus vacation that was not planned at the beginning of the year.

 

If anyone has any questions, I'll do what I can to share from our experience.  

 

[soremekun]

Thanks for the information.   Very nice read.  I'm glad that some really appreciate the small older ships.  I prefer the newest and the largest but we all have our preferences  

[Sea Dog]

Thanks for the review. We are looking to book Enchantment to go to Tortola.

[lifes-a-beach]

Thanks Oliver.  We leave Friday on Enchantment and we have three other cruises booked on her through March.  We really, really loved Vision while she was here and were glad they added another Vision class to Galveston.  I’m still working so the 5 day departures on Friday are perfect for my job and vacation time.  

[Cruisegirl6]

Thank you for the review!

[JupiterTwo]

6 hours ago, olivertexas said:

We are nearly Diamond (not a brag - just a point of reference as to our experience with Royal ships).  

 

 

Don't worry... 

 

I booked a B2B on the Enchantment for January just to make Diamond level. 😀

 

Thanks for the review.

 

Steve

[olivertexas]

15 hours ago, soremekun said:

Thanks for the information.   Very nice read.  I'm glad that some really appreciate the small older ships.  I prefer the newest and the largest but we all have our preferences  

Well - I would generally agree with your assessment.  But I think I coming around to the camp of, I prefer being on a cruise ship than dry land!  🙂

[mitz18]

Oliver - we were also on that trip & I, like you, had some reservations regarding her age.  But she held up nicely and I found almost all of the crew (& 99% of the bartenders) were friendly, helpful and unlike other ships I've been on, very attentive.  It was amazing to be parked right next to the (hurricane deviated) Harmony & to actually see the size difference.  

[sksadams]

Thanks for your review. Did the ac problem seem to fixed??

[mitz18]

7 minutes ago, sksadams said:

Thanks for your review. Did the ac problem seem to fixed??

 

Our cabin (JS deck 8) was cold during the day, but got warm at night (docked & sailing).  Not sure how that matches up with your previous experience.

[cruisegal40]

Thanks for this.  We sailed her for our "7 year itch"  That was 22 years ago. She has always been a favorite of mine.  We are older now and don't utilize the bells and whistles on the newer ships even though we still sail them. Glad she is holding up.

[olivertexas]

42 minutes ago, sksadams said:

Thanks for your review. Did the ac problem seem to fixed??

I am not familiar with any fix that was necessary.  However, I did not notice a good bit of variable temperatures on board. 

 

Our cabin was an ice box (and adjusting it warmer made it too uncomfortable, so we put it back to cold and lived with it).  Some areas of the ship seemed rather stuffy and warm, where others were quite comfortably cool.  At no time (other than muster drill outside on Deck 5 in the heat) were we terribly uncomfortable.  If it was a hot spot, we just moved and it improved.  

[olivertexas]

1 hour ago, mitz18 said:

Oliver - we were also on that trip & I, like you, had some reservations regarding her age.  But she held up nicely and I found almost all of the crew (& 99% of the bartenders) were friendly, helpful and unlike other ships I've been on, very attentive.  It was amazing to be parked right next to the (hurricane deviated) Harmony & to actually see the size difference.  

Fantastic picture!  It was a huge difference, but in some cases the smaller size really was a positive.  Had I never cruised on the larger ships, I would still think Enchantment a big ship.  However, with the knowledge (we've sailed Anthem, Ovation, and Allure), the shorter distances were refreshing.

 

In that picture, I can tell you shot it late in the afternoon.  We raced to the ship because we were certain that approaching storm was going to be a mess to deal with.  But it just teased us!

[Pat.D]

Thanks for the review!

 

I love the smaller RCCL ships, I sailed the Monarch OTS a few months before it was retired and handed down to their Pullmantur division.  I would not hesitate to sail her twin the Majesty OTS and her Vision Class big sisters. 

 

I very much enjoyed sailing smaller ships like the MS Maasdam and the Celebrity Century.  There may be fewer bells and whistles, but around 2000 passengers I found the service much more personalised and the cruise overall more relaxing.  

[soremekun]

5 hours ago, olivertexas said:

Well - I would generally agree with your assessment.  But I think I coming around to the camp of, I prefer being on a cruise ship than dry land!  🙂

You got me there!

[mitz18]

2 hours ago, olivertexas said:

Fantastic picture!  It was a huge difference, but in some cases the smaller size really was a positive.  Had I never cruised on the larger ships, I would still think Enchantment a big ship.  However, with the knowledge (we've sailed Anthem, Ovation, and Allure), the shorter distances were refreshing.

 

In that picture, I can tell you shot it late in the afternoon.  We raced to the ship because we were certain that approaching storm was going to be a mess to deal with.  But it just teased us!

 

Yep & I'm sure the 100's of people in line to re-board that Celebrity ship across the harbor were sure they were about to get soaked.  Still cannot believe that line was that long - must have been some issue on board.

 

[robindina]

On 9/3/2019 at 3:38 PM, olivertexas said:

This older ship doesn't get a lot of publicity here, so I thought I'd share a little so when someone comes looking like I did, they might have a little insight.

 

We are nearly Diamond (not a brag - just a point of reference as to our experience with Royal ships).  We have been on a variety of classes of ships, but Enchantment "scared" me a bit.  My buddy gambled enough on an 11 night reposition aboard the Ovation that he was offered a free cruise.  We were invited to join.  The timing was good and the pricing was right, so we crashed the party.  I've said in the past I would not sail for less than 7 days.  But I am coming around on that bit of cruise snobbery!

 

We booked a deck 2 cabin (an area of the ship we typically try to avoid), didn't do any real extras, and basically just tried to low key cruise!  The ship has seen better days.  A little rust here, some disrepair there, paint chips, carpet fray and so forth, but all in all, the ship really is still quite beautiful and one can easily see how she was the belle of the ball in her day.  The smaller ship certainly makes standing in line a much shorter proposition and easier to maneuver without massive crowds.  One other thing I noticed on this ship - it was easier to disconnect.  Fewer TV's in bars with news or sports playing - so if you are addicted, beware.  Luckily I was able to record my college football team, not hear any of the news of their game and came home to a shortened viewing of my game of interest.

 

We enjoyed the deck 2 location except for heading to the Windjammer.  That was a 7 flight climb (we never rode an elevator - get those steps!), but coming back on board from a port was a breeze going up (and down to get to the gangway) only one flight.  Food was hit and a little miss.  We never went hungry!  Selections are a little less than the bigger ships, but we had plenty of choices.  Entertainment and activities seemed a little more streamlined with not quite as much going on, but the normal high points were there (Quest, Battle of the Sexes, Karaoke, Trivia, Bingo, etc...).  The orchestra and musicians onboard were high quality.  The shows are a little rough around the edges as they are rather dated; but not having seen these shows before, it was good to get a fresh look.  Bobby the Cruise Director is a Texan!  So, that was fun having so many Texas cruisers with a leader that speak the language!  🙂

 

The ship had a little extra action on the way north, but rode like a smooth champ heading south.  Some crew mentioned it had a little more motion than the big girls, but oddly, I liked the motion that has been missing from prior cruises!  Not too much creaking or odd noises, so the old girl is aging gracefully it would seem.

 

So, shorter cruise, older and smaller than normal vessel - no problem!  It was a great experience if you can overlook that it's not a shiny new thing.  Short of having some bells and whistles, the cruise was a very fine experience.  I viewed this as a bonus vacation that was not planned at the beginning of the year.

 

If anyone has any questions, I'll do what I can to share from our experience.  

 

I was looking at booking this cruise ship,  wanted to be on a cruise for our Anniversary! I have never been on Royal before, I like the lower decks because I do get motion sick and found out on our second cruise that lower is better.  How was the noise level?  Being a smaller ship did you smell the casino everywhere?  

[Clarea]

4 hours ago, robindina said:

 ... Being a smaller ship did you smell the casino everywhere?  

 

One of the unique advantages of Enchantment is that since the 2005 stretch the casino entrance is no longer right on the centrum, so less chance for smoke distribution.

[amzgirl]

Thanks for the info.  My hubby and I have fond memories of the Sovereign of the Seas, an even smaller ship I believe.  One of the things we loves was wooden deck chairs, the kind with the adjustable backs, on the decks that ran completely around the ship.  We would hang out there for hours.  You don't see that anymore because ship designs cram in as many balcony cabins as possible now.  Perhaps we will look at a smaller ship next year.

[Clarea]

3 minutes ago, amzgirl said:

Thanks for the info.  My hubby and I have fond memories of the Sovereign of the Seas, an even smaller ship I believe.  One of the things we loves was wooden deck chairs, the kind with the adjustable backs, on the decks that ran completely around the ship.  We would hang out there for hours.  You don't see that anymore because ship designs cram in as many balcony cabins as possible now.  Perhaps we will look at a smaller ship next year.

 

You can still get the outside promenade deck (with metal / plastic chairs, not wood) on Royal's Sovereign, Vision, Radiance, Voyager, and Freedom classes.  Don't know about Quantum class.

[amzgirl]

1 minute ago, Host Clarea said:

 

You can still get the outside promenade deck (with metal / plastic chairs, not wood) on Royal's Sovereign, Vision, Radiance, Voyager, and Freedom classes.  Don't know about Quantum class.

I am just looking at Royal's ship class guide now.  Handy!

http://www.royalcaribbeanincentives.com/content/uploads/2018-2019-Fleet_Guide.pdf

[Clarea]

7 minutes ago, amzgirl said:

I am just looking at Royal's ship class guide now.  Handy!

http://www.royalcaribbeanincentives.com/content/uploads/2018-2019-Fleet_Guide.pdf

 

Nice document, and educational!  I never knew until now that Majesty had a Solarium with Tropical Foliage.

[euphscott]

8 hours ago, robindina said:

I was looking at booking this cruise ship,  wanted to be on a cruise for our Anniversary! I have never been on Royal before, I like the lower decks because I do get motion sick and found out on our second cruise that lower is better.  How was the noise level?  Being a smaller ship did you smell the casino everywhere?  

On Deck 2 in our location it was super quiet.  

 

I wish i had as good of news for the casino smoke however.  I’m a bit more sensitive with asthma, but I could smell it pretty significantly as far away as the Centrum.  As a result, I never wandered into the casino.  My wife and friend did go to gamble and they felt the casino itself was pretty miserable. So, your mileage may vary on the smoke you notice. 

[shellunderwater]

We will be on Enchantment in a few months.  Can you tell me what temperature in MDR was like?  When we were on Majesty recently, MDR was very warm during second seating.

 

DW wants me to wear a tux or suit, and I'm worried about it being too hot.

 

Much appreciated.

[olivertexas]

The dining room was comfortable.  I did not take my tux this cruise, but did wear a long sleeve shirt, tie, and vest to the dressier evening and I survived just fine.  I am not afraid to remove my jacket for the meal if it gets too stuffy.  The effort is certainly worth it!