Just Off The Enchantment 9/16 to 9/21

[CaptivaTravler]

Because this turned out to be a long message.....Let me begin with a one word summary of our cruise (if that is possible)

 

* WONDERFUL! *

 

The Enchantment is a beautiful, well maintained ship.

 

Boarding-

We travled with 5 other couples all in J/Suites. #8624 thru #8636

Arrived at the port around 11:30 and all 12 of us were in the Windjammer having lunch by 12:00.

Several in our group brought different types of special occasion wines in their checked luggage all without any problems or questions.

We personnally brought on a case of water and Perrier in a suitcase.

You could see cases of water and soda with the luggage tape strip going right thru with no problems.

 

Cabins-

 

We were able to get in our cabins by 1:30 or so, all of our checked luggage was delivered by 2:00.

The cabins are in very nice shape with more than enough desk space/ drawer space.We had our stewart remove the stuff from the fridge and put our stuff in.

He noticed the bottles of wine and offered to bring wine glasses to our room. During our trip he always had several clean wine glasses for us everyday.

 

We moved our glass table over to the side and it made for a larger space to move around in. There were a few nights where we had up to 8 people in our room and out on our balcony for a before dinner glass of wine and pictures. I had brought a docking station for my i-pod, so with a little jazz music playing it was kinda like our own little private lounge. It was great!

 

Side Note- While in port at Jamaica, all of our bedding was replaced. The new bedding was extremely comfortable. Not sure if they did the whole ship or are working there way thru but it appeared as if all of the deck 8 bedding got replaced.

 

 

Dining Room-

 

Our TA had said that for the most part RC does not have tables for 12 but would ask that our tables of 6 be next to each other. One of the first things I did after getting on board, was to make trip to the dinning room to locate our tables. The head waiter was there just kinda getting things organized, noticed me looking atthe tables and came over. After our greetings, he asked if this would be to my satisfaction. I said, I loved the location but explained that it will be a little bit of a bummer that 12 of us are dining together, but will have to split into to different tables. He immediatly said, "Well lets see what we can do about that". He stared at the two tables for a second then called out to another waiter to come over and help him. Within 5 minutes, all while I was standing there, they had moved the two tables together, inserted another small table and 'Whalla' we had our table of 12! It was a large oval shape which made for great conversation during dinner.

 

Our group of 12 had already made the decision, before we sailed, that we would all dress 'Up' during our dinners. We felt that by everyone knowing up front that for pictures, the ocassion, etc... it would'nt make sense for someone to be wearing a t-shirt and someone else to be wearing a jacket to dinner. It actually worked out fantastic. All in our our group looked great everynight.

We made everynight in the dining room 'special' not just formal night.

*Last word on this... to us (and we talked about this) we felt that the extra effort that went into getting ready for our dinners in the My Fair Lady made for a more memorable experience.

We realize that this is not for everyone going on a cruise, so dont mis-understand we have no problems whatsoever about what others decide to wear to dinner.

 

The food in the dining room was excellant. We tried just about everything on the menu and I heard no complaints from any in our party. I personnally had seconds on most of the appetizers and on Lobster night I had 3 tails. Very, Very good!

My wife took a liking to the cold soups ( strawberry, melon, etc..) our waiter figured this out quickly and even on the nights a cold soup was'nt on the menu, he made sure she got a serving of cold soup! After night 2 she never had to order them again, he just brought a different type to her.

Our waiter was Fernando and Asst. Josephine.

Very likeable and seemed sincerely interested in how we were enjoying the food the ship etc...Never had a water glass get less than half full.

Over the 5 nights, we probably had 7 bottles of our wine opened at our table and we were never charged a corkage fee.

 

After talking over our cruise as couples the last night, we all agreed that our time spent during dinner was most deffinatley a highlight of our time on board.

 

 

Spa -

 

My wife and I had 4 different treatments....

Hot Stones Massage - Full Face and Body Treatment- Salt and Ginger Body Massage- Swedish Massage

All were great and worth the $$ , if you have any further questions on these dont hesitate to ask, we can give you our take on them.

 

Entertainment-

 

For me, if I had to pick the weakest part of our cruise, I would say the evening entertainment. They were OK but not great.

Comedian, Comedian Juggler, Dont Stop the Rock, Comedian Magician

out of those 4 the magician comedian was the best.

I realize this area, entertainment, is very subjective for everyone. One person loves it, for the next person one seat over its just ok.

One highlight for us was Josh, the activities director. Very likeable guy.

 

Ports-

Jamaica- very nice, we did the falls and river tubing. Great Tour cant say enough about our guides! The restaurant they took us to, not the normal place they take most tours, was awesome! I can tell you more on that, if you want to know.

Grand Cayman- I must say I wasnt overly impressed with the Island itself. The water which goes without saying is beautiful. We did a 2 stop snorkle trip and Stingray city. The tour was very good. As mentioned just not that impressed with the island. We live by Sanibel and Captiva and feel that on any given Saturday I could have a more scenic afternoon here at home. Maybe living here in FL sways my opinion about GC.

 

Sorry this turnd out to be soooooo looooooong but if you have any further questions about the Enchantment dont hesitate to ask...I'll help where I can.

 

Mark

 

PS. our group was in 30's to early 40's age wise

[ILvBeingMom]

Hi Mark,

 

Thank you for sharing your review. My friends and I will be traveling on Enchantment on April 5, 2007 to celebrate our 20th HS reunion.

 

Did you visit the champage bar or the schooner bar. Do they have a nice area that someone plays the piano or some nice relaxing music where you can still hold a conversation and enjoy the music.

 

I keep hearing that you are not allowed to bring your own beverages. From your writeup, it sounds like you didn't have much trouble. Did you just wrap it up well in your suitcase?

 

How was the pool? Did you have trouble findings seats? Did they bring drinks to you, or do you have to go to the bar to order?

 

Thank you for your time.

 

Regards,

Laurie

[CaptivaTravler]

Laurie,

 

You guys are going to have a blast. 20 yr HS reunion puts you in the same age category as our group, and there is so much to do on the ship.

 

Yes, we did visit the Schooner bar on several occasions, and I must be honest, it was difficult to spend a lot of time there due to the cig smoke. No one in our group smokes, but none are opposed to smoking either. It just seemed at times that there were more smokers in the bar, than the ventilation system could handle (if there is any). The attraction there is the piano. Almost every evening I believe the same musician would play various requests etc.., Billy Joel, Elton.... Very talented guy, and as I mentioned we may have spent more time in this area if not for the difficulty with clean air.

 

There are also many common area's on the ship around the atrium, with lots of seating that is perfect for group conversation etc... The cool thing about the atrium around say the 5th or 6th deck is that you can usually still hear any music that is being played around the central staircase area with just enough volume to still hold a converation or just listen if you prefer.

 

As to the beverage situation, we had no problems at any point.

I will say that we had one large suitcase that probably weighed 200 lbs. with the water inside. When I pulled it up to the porter (which was a female) I actually apologized about the weight and explained that we had beverages inside..she laughed and said not a problem Ill take care of it. I still felt bad and handed her a $10 bill.

 

We traveled without our kids and one of the cool things about the Enchantment is the the Solarium Pool and hot tub is only for adults. (18 and over I think) Pool area was always very accessible. We always had at least 10 of us together around the pool during the sea days. Never had a problem getting chairs together, and we never had to go down a put a book a towel or any of the stuff you read about on these boards.

We actually preferred to be up on the outer decks, towards the back of the ship, the combo of breeze and sun there was incredible. We liked this area best for our sun worshiping times.

There are people coming around maybe every 20-30 minutes or so taking drink orders. Never seemed to be a shortage of people asking you if needed something from the bar.

 

Hope this helps

 

Mark

[CaptivaTravler]

----

[sailingsue5]

What tour group did you use in GC for your snorkel/stingray tour? How was it?

[CaptivaTravler]

sailingsue5

What tour group did you use in GC for your snorkel/stingray tour? How was it?

 

We used Captain Marvin.

We were very happy with the tour provided, but would have to say felt a bit rushed. I wish we could have had just a little more snorkle time at the reef it is an amazing snorkle area.

Next time we may either do a longer tour with him or try snorkling on our own.

 

I would give Captain Marvin's a thumbs up!

 

Mark

[Merion_Mom]

My wife took a liking to the cold soups ( strawberry, melon, etc..) our waiter figured this out quickly and even on the nights a cold soup was'nt on the menu, he made sure she got a serving of cold soup! After night 2 she never had to order them again, he just brought a different type to her.

Our waiter was Fernando and Asst. Josephine.

Very likeable and seemed sincerely interested in how we were enjoying the food the ship etc...Never had a water glass get less than half full.

Over the 5 nights, we probably had 7 bottles of our wine opened at our table and we were never charged a corkage fee.

Mark, thank you very much for a VERY well-written review!

 

I'm just quoting one of your paragraphs. THIS is why I love Royal Caribbean, and this is why I love traditional dining. I agree: good, caring service can "make" the whole cruise.

 

As for the Solarium: it's 16 and up, not 18. (unfortunately. oops, who said that? ;))

[CaptivaTravler]

Yes, I wasnt sure on the exact age ... 16 sounds correct.

I didnt notice anyone trying to 'sneek' in under the age wire, it was actually quite relaxing in the solarium pools, hot tubs etc...

 

Thank you for the kind words.

 

 

Mark in SW FL

[mommabean]

 

Yes, we did visit the Schooner bar on several occasions, and I must be honest, it was difficult to spend a lot of time there due to the cig smoke. No one in our group smokes, but none are opposed to smoking either. It just seemed at times that there were more smokers in the bar, than the ventilation system could handle (if there is any). The attraction there is the piano. Almost every evening I believe the same musician would play various requests etc.., Billy Joel, Elton.... Very talented guy, and as I mentioned we may have spent more time in this area if not for the difficulty with clean air.

 

 

It sounds like James Barr is the piano player still. I just asked who was there on another thread. He is great. On our cruise in August we were fortunate enough to not have a lot of cigarette smoking going on in the Schooner Lounge. If there was, it wasn't noticable, so we were able to enjoy the music as long as we wanted.

[LindsaySky]

I will be leaving for my cruise TOMORROW on Enchantment (5 nights). Can you please tell me a little more about the spa and prices? I just want a nice massage, nothing too complicated or fancy. Thanks!

[srq2003]

Lindsaysky-

 

If you are on the 9.30.06 sailing come check out our roll call

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=300092&page=2

[crbonfiber]

Lindsaysky-

 

If you are on the 9.30.06 sailing come check out our roll call

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=300092&page=2

 

I just booked last minute back to back. I will be sailing alone the first 5 days then my friend Patrick will be joining me for the 4 day. I cant wait sail I love Enchantment

[CaptivaTravler]

I will be leaving for my cruise TOMORROW on Enchantment (5 nights). Can you please tell me a little more about the spa and prices? I just want a nice massage, nothing too complicated or fancy. Thanks!

Hey LindsaySky:

How exciting with you leaving tomorrow.....I wish our cruise was starting all over again.

 

The 'normal' swedish massage is $99 for 50 minutes.

Hot stones massage is $139 for 50 minutes ( well worth every penny) I had both of these during our cruise.

 

Nice waiting area at aft of ship..... very comfy lounge chairs, relaxing music, looking out huge bay windows as you wait for your therapist....great way to get started with your relaxation time.

 

Mark in SWFL