Enchantment and a few thoughts

[seeshore]

I was on the same cruise, I believe, Dec 6th sailing. My father spent alot of time 'listening' at guest services and chatting with his fellow smokers on the pool deck or Viking Crrown Lounge. He heard there was a total of 21 people asked to leave the boat. With 2100 passengers, it seemed like quite a few. The 1st was a woman who had brought her toy dog on board and her room attendant found it in the room. The 2 brothers who were fighting in room and ended up punching security when they came to the room (mentioned above). The couple that had way too much to drink in the casino and kept telling everyone at the tables how they would play each game...2 nights in a row...even after they were banned from the casino.

 

can't remember the others

 

Sara Mom-You were on a different cruise. This was the New Year's cruise which sailed on Dec. 27.

[BrianAlt]

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

 

Well, could have been worse. Could have been a starfish. ;)

[planetcadillac]

Would you please explain this?

 

Are you referring to the coupon book? If so, are you saying that the cost has increased from $25 to $30?

 

Wife and another lady friend attended the Port & Shopping discussion one morning. You paid $30 got coupons and some kind of organizer folder thing. You were supposed to get off in St.Thomas visit some shops present a coupon and get special discounts on jewelry. Plus discounts on some spa services. Between the lack of attention at Diamonds Int'l on St Thomas and the loopholes in the spa services they grew upset turned in their organizer to the Guest Services and got their $30 back.

 

They were NOT happy with the Port & Shopping talk nor the fellow that ran it. I was not there so I cannot comment directly.

 

The ships get a commission from recommended stores on the island. While I do not mind back and forth advertisements, I tend to stay away from organized shopping like that. We were able to make deals on our own and get a better deal in the end.

[planetcadillac]

Just curious . . . were the kids misbehaving or causing trouble in some way, or did the other passengers simply grow tired of having a large number of children on their cruise? If the former, I sympathize. But if the latter, I would suggest to those folks that a cruise taken at a time when schools are in session might be more to their liking.

 

Of what *I* saw, there were some isolated incidents of misbehaving but nothing outlandish. Especially given the volume of kids on the ship. Being fairly young myself (early 30s wife late 20s) the energetic activity did not bother us. However I think just the fact that there were ALOT and they were everywhere got to people. Whether they acted up or not many were playing in the stairwells, all over the public rooms, and were all over the dining room. Again the behavior was less of a problem per se just that I think many older couples felt they could not 'get away' from them.

 

But I would agree with one of the posters that if you want a strictly adult cruise try another line and/or do NOT travel around the holidays when kids are out.

[elhenry]

OK I darn near snorted my water right out my nose at this one! :D What a great and delicate way to phrase this one! haha :D:D

 

I suspect, as Euphemus is clearly a Project Runway watcher, that he got this from one of the designers this season, Peach Carr. It is a great way to phrase this.

 

Will be on Enchantment Easter week, when schools are out, so will have other hordes of children to deal with<G>

 

el henry

[planetcadillac]

Merion Mom, thanks for the shout out. :)

 

I do love Carly which is rare for me since I usually do not notice the Cruise Director that much. I *love* her accent which made me all gooey inside. I'm still laughing about how she said "What's your lady's name?" during Quest...you had to be there but the way she drew it out with that Welsh-Scottish-Canadian-French accent of hers was hysterical. Anyone who has been to Quest will know the part I'm talking about. For those that have never been to Quest, I could tell you more, but then I'd have to kill you. ;)

 

For the most part, the entertainment was good. We hadn't seen these production shows and we enjoyed them. As for magicians and jugglers: please, it was a 12 day cruise...you don't think they got by without a magician AND a juggler, do you?

 

The juggler was technically quite good and I found his schtick funny, although some tricks I had seen before. But enough with the laser lights in the fog already.

 

The magician was good, too, although for some odd reason he reminded me of Mr. Rogers. Something about his speech pattern. Somewhat disconcerting while he chopped the nice lady in half.

 

The WORST was the euphemistically named "vocal impressionist" otherwise known as a ventriloquist. There's no doubt that he also had great technical skills and managed several bits of back and forth conversation with the dummy spectacularly. Too bad he wasn't funny. At all. And the dummy weirded me out.

 

People literally left in DROVES from the theater during his performance. It almost looked like a flash mob: 2 entire rows would get up at once and walk out as if on cue. Despite what I said earlier, this was a moment to vote with your feet. We left half way through when I realized it wasn't going to get any better. Before everyone jumps all over me: we sat on the aisle in the back. :) This was the worst thing I have seen on a cruise ship.

 

I actually might have done the trampoline but, alas, it was broken the entire cruise. I think that my back is grateful for that.

 

Speaking of Quest, this was the first time I've seen it in a lounge. Studio B is a better venue for this but not all ships have them, so...better than nothing.

 

We liked Carly. My mother had a nice conversation with her one day.

 

We felt the best show of the whole cruise was the comedy duo of John Josephy and Johnny B. Also the short comedy of Jimmy Carroll was great. Mostly clean but that street style comedy was great.

 

We did not see Lisa Donovan nor the old man that was affiliated with Happy Days. Feedback reported to us was that they were both decent but it was evident they were both 'past their prime'.

 

We felt the ventriloquist was pretty good - yes it was thin in spots but enjoyed the routine with the old man mannequin. Especially why he took ****** at night.

 

The two production shows with the RCI Singers and Dancers were very good for Las Vegas type shows. Thats not my thing but I give credit where credit is due.

 

We did not see the passenger talent show. We did see The Happenings but since most of their material was way before my time it was a good show but did not connect to the material.

 

Overall we enjoyed the entertainment as a whole. Royal tends to do a pretty good job with their entertainment compared to other cruise lines.

[cruiseacecat]

Thanks so much for a great review. I will be on Enchantment beginning on Mon. and am looking forward to it.

It is so nice to read a review with a sense of humor. Loved your reference to "starfish". The last time I mentioned this word, I got a reprimand from cc for being "off topic". Let's see if it happens again. :rolleyes:

Did you dine at Chops and do you have any comments?

Glad you enjoyed Enchantment. Hoping to enjoy it myself.

 

Anne :)

[sara mom]

Did you dine at Chops and do you have any comments?

Glad you enjoyed Enchantment. Hoping to enjoy it myself.

 

Anne :)

 

 

We did Chops and LOVED it! Could not finish the entire meal. Dinner the next night in the MDR was a bit disappointing. Lots of mushroom type foods, but I don't. That was not a problem. First time we had ever tried an upcharge restaurant on board a ship.

[drew0tonna]

We dined in Chops three times on the 12n NYE cruise. Probably could have done the other 9 nites if it wouldn't have added $450 to the seapass... :) I don't think we'd do the wine dinner again - just not worth an extra $50 for the wines.

 

Also they seemed to run out of a lot of the package wines on about day three or four. Seened pretty convenient to me, as they had cheaper substitutes.

[cruiseacecat]

We did Chops and LOVED it! Could not finish the entire meal. Dinner the next night in the MDR was a bit disappointing. Lots of mushroom type foods, but I don't. That was not a problem. First time we had ever tried an upcharge restaurant on board a ship.

Thanks for the Chops info. I am so looking forward to it.

 

Anne :)

[Euphemus]

We did not see Lisa Donovan nor the old man that was affiliated with Happy Days. Feedback reported to us was that they were both decent but it was evident they were both 'past their prime'.

 

I concur completely. Good, but long in the tooth.

[Euphemus]

I suspect, as Euphemus is clearly a Project Runway watcher, that he got this from one of the designers this season, Peach Carr. It is a great way to phrase this.

 

Yes, on both counts.

[Euphemus]

We did not see the passenger talent show.

 

While this kind of event has the potential to be spectacularly bad, the 5 acts that performed were wonderful. Especially the awesome family that *brought their violins with them*!?! :eek: They regretted that they had to leave their daughter's cello at home! I'm trying to picture the cabin steward vacuuming around a cello!

[cruisenfever]

 

Also they seemed to run out of a lot of the package wines on about day three or four. Seened pretty convenient to me, as they had cheaper substitutes.

On our 12 night NYE cruise on EN the reason that they ran out of the wine used in the packages is because 3 pallets of wine were frozen to the pier and could not be loaded onto the ship.:eek:

 

This is the first year for RCI cruising out of port that gets snow and the outside temperature goes below freezing.

[drew0tonna]

So just call it "ice wine" and bump up the price :)

 

Seriously though, they shouldn't have sold the wine packages if they didn't have enough wine, especially on a holiday cruise. Or, if they're out of your wine, upgrade you, not downgrade you because they didn't keep the wine out of the weather...