Enchantment of the Seas - Feb 19th - Not starting out well. Key West canned & delays

[Ninababy88]

I got back this morning as well. Our room smelled of sewerage and maintenance could never fix. I had the Virus part of the trip. The people in walkers, and wheelchairs took over the boat. No provisions made for them. The musicians served you dinner and wiped down banisters. The food was very mediocre. The boat was dirty. The Captian did not know the name of the ship

I am writing a letter to RC this was the Ship of the Dammed.

Terrible mess and it was handled very sloppy! They outright lied about the problems. Now we found someone died! Honest I want a refund!

[dmwnc1959]

Shortly after 3am Enchantment of the Seas pulled away from the pier in Baltimore and is now underway.

[dmwnc1959]

....and passed under the Key Bridge at 3:50am.

[dmwnc1959]

...and passed the inbound Carnival Pride about 30 miles south of the Chesapeake Bridge at 5:55am.

[read52]

I live near Baltimore and we were experiencing strong winds all day yesterday. Several bush fires burned down houses and other buildings and I95 was shut down. The national christmas tree (one that was planted in the ground in 1979) toppled over and will need to be replaced. The weather plus the noro adds up to problems cruising. We have cruised out of Baltimore 4 times (once on the Enchantment) and loved it. The ships are older but well maintained.

[nelblu]

That's a bummer. Hope the rest of the cruise becomes uneventful and RCL makes up for this inconvenience.:(

[Charles4515]

I live near Baltimore and we were experiencing strong winds all day yesterday. Several bush fires burned down houses and other buildings and I95 was shut down. The national christmas tree (one that was planted in the ground in 1979) toppled over and will need to be replaced. The weather plus the noro adds up to problems cruising. We have cruised out of Baltimore 4 times (once on the Enchantment) and loved it. The ships are older but well maintained.

 

I live in the area too and as you note the winds were severe! Can't blame RCI!

[Bellfree Bat]

After experiencing a Nor'Easter leaving from Norfolk on a HAL ship years ago in March, I have vowed never to leave on a cruise North of FL. I feel for those folk out on that choppy water last night! The barf bags are needed and not for the Noro either!:rolleyes:

[aj3u]

We were on the Enchantment sailing 1/29 (the sailing just before the one with the outbreak). There were ~30 noro cases on our sailing and one person did die, however that was not noro related. They probably should have disinfected before the 2/7 sailing... The last couple of days of our cruise they were getting more aggressive with the hand sanitizer before entering the Windjammer, but that was the only change we noticed. I guess they took a chance it would clear up on its own.

[aj3u]

...and passed the inbound Carnival Pride about 30 miles south of the Chesapeake Bridge at 5:55am.

 

Speaking of passing the Pride in the Bay, I shot this video on our 1/29 sailing:

[dmwnc1959]

She certainly is flying right along trying to make up for lost time! This screen grab taken at 9:05EST. She should reach the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel about 11:30am at this speed.

 

[marci22]

I got back this morning as well. Our room smelled of sewerage and maintenance could never fix. I had the Virus part of the trip. The people in walkers, and wheelchairs took over the boat. No provisions made for them. The musicians served you dinner and wiped down banisters. The food was very mediocre. The boat was dirty. The Captian did not know the name of the ship

I am writing a letter to RC this was the Ship of the Dammed.

Terrible mess and it was handled very sloppy! They outright lied about the problems. Now we found someone died! Honest I want a refund!

 

Sorry you had a bad cruise but your post was funny!

[RozWazowski]

I got back this morning as well. Our room smelled of sewerage and maintenance could never fix.

 

What room number were you in? Please.

[gbcruise]

I got back this morning as well. Our room smelled of sewerage and maintenance could never fix. I had the Virus part of the trip. The people in walkers, and wheelchairs took over the boat. No provisions made for them. The musicians served you dinner and wiped down banisters. The food was very mediocre. The boat was dirty. The Captian did not know the name of the ship

I am writing a letter to RC this was the Ship of the Dammed.

Terrible mess and it was handled very sloppy! They outright lied about the problems. Now we found someone died! Honest I want a refund![/quote

 

This sailing may of had problems but the Captain certainly knew what ship he masters. People die on ships, as they do land. If you list both of these items in your letter I very much doubt you will get even a reply back, let alone a refund.

[Ocean Boy]

Shortly after 3am Enchantment of the Seas pulled away from the pier in Baltimore and is now underway.

 

....and passed under the Key Bridge at 3:50am.

 

...and passed the inbound Carnival Pride about 30 miles south of the Chesapeake Bridge at 5:55am.

 

Don't you go to sleep??:eek::D:D:D

[Ocean Boy]

I got back this morning as well. Our room smelled of sewerage and maintenance could never fix. I had the Virus part of the trip. The people in walkers, and wheelchairs took over the boat. No provisions made for them. The musicians served you dinner and wiped down banisters. The food was very mediocre. The boat was dirty. The Captian did not know the name of the ship I am writing a letter to RC this was the Ship of the Dammed.

Terrible mess and it was handled very sloppy! They outright lied about the problems. Now we found someone died! Honest I want a refund!

 

Care to elabortate?

[dmwnc1959]

Don't you go to sleep??:eek::D:D:D

 

Lol! I work the midnight shift and had some free time on my hands. ;) Just keeping everyone updated! :D

[dixieva]

Care to elabortate?

 

 

Maybe the poster did not know that the current Captain just took over the Enchantment from Captain Rob who is on vacation. And maybe in one of his public announcements he used the wrong ship's name. You know there was a lot going on so I think I could forgive him!

 

Just guessing this was the case.

[wolfcathorse]

Maybe the poster did not know that the current Captain just took over the Enchantment from Captain Rob who is on vacation. And maybe in one of his public announcements he used the wrong ship's name. You know there was a lot going on so I think I could forgive him!

 

Just guessing this was the case.

 

Yup this is the case, this is Capt Anders first rotation on EN after being moved from Vision. I bet he wishes he was back on Vision!

[kevinandrenay]

Care to elabortate?

 

Wow, give the guy a break. The Captain did make a little bobble at the end of a noon announcement. He said thank you for sailing Vision of the Seas ( I believe that was the ship ), I mean Enchantment of the seas. I am not sure but that may have been the last ship he was Captain on and said it out of habit. I know when they changed the exits on 95 at 695, I was always in the wrong lane because of habit. Ninababy88, - Did you ever call a new boyfriend, by your ex boyfriend's name, by mistake?:eek: Come on you can tell us the truth.

 

We had cabin 3047 and never had a problem with a sewage smell. I do think we noticed it every once in a while getting off the ship but it was not major.

 

Not to sound cruel, but it would not have surprised me if someone did die on that cruise. The average age had to be 80. You hear of a death in retirement homes every once in a while too.

 

Sorry to be so sarcastic but things in life are not always perfect. If I wrote a letter every time someone or myself did something little wrong, I would never stop writing. Life is just too short.

 

All in all we had a great cruise and would go again in a minute. It is winter and colds and flue are more prevalent. If you want a better chance of not catching one go during the warmer months. 2 Years ago we did a Princess cruise and so many people had an upper respiratory problem we where calling it kennel cough. They did much less then RCCL did. I even got it. I should have written a letter. P.S. I still had a great time.

 

Kevin

[dmwnc1959]

Well, she finally made it to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel around 11:45am and should be out in open ocean within the hour. I know when I was on Celebrity MERCURY we had cell-phone reception here as well as 3G (Internet) on AT&T up to about 10-15 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. I am surprised we havent heard from anyone onboard yet!

 

This AIS grab taken at 11:45am EST

 

Her track since leaving Baltimore at 3am:

[Daniel1960]

I also disembarked from the Enchantment of the Seas on Saturday morning (the 19th). It was pretty bad outbreak on our cruise, so I'm not sure I'd complain too much about the extra cleaning delays if they end up preventing another outbreak.

 

Even with the problems, I have to say we had a good cruise. Far from perfect, but still good. The first 9 days were great. My wife caught the Noro during the 3 days at sea returning. It wasn't fun for her. It also wasn't fun having to ask for everything at the Windjammer and being ladled your food. No butter dishes or S&P shakers in the dining room. No self-serve anthing, anywhere.

 

Here's all the rumors I overheard during the cruise. Nothing verified, just what I was told by various crew and passengers:

 

We were on Deck 8 and during the second day at sea, 5 of the balcony rooms on the starboard side were being gutted. Carpet being pulled up, upholstered chairs being replaced. Bleaching EVERYTHING. I was told by the frantic cleaning crew that the 5 upholstered chairs stacked on the dolly was just "routine cleaning". Later I heard that an elderly couple in wheelchairs caught the Noro and couldn't make it to the bathroom (unverified). We were told that, at the height, there were 180 cases. Actual number had to be much higher as many people didn't report their illness to avoid being quarantined. I also heard that on the way down, the Captain was considering making a stop in Florida to unload some of the original Noro victims (unverified). There was a HUGE percentage of elderly on this cruise and they were the most vulnerable to the Norovirus. There was an ambulance waiting for the ship at our second port and someone was wheeled of on a gurney and taken off to a hospital. I heard (verified) that someone did die on the last cruise. From what I heard from crew, the reason for the long delay of your cruise was that EVERYTHING had to be sterilized - including taking down all curtains and laundering them. My wife was convinced she got it at the casino. She's an RN and was VERY careful, wiping down slot machines before touching them, etc. But in a casino, you're holding the cards and chips that the guy next to you was holding a moment ago - so it's impossible to avoid in the casino (although RCI did wash down all the chips every night)

 

I guess what I'm saying is, although your long delay and missed port are a HUGE disappointment and hassle, if they prevent an outbreak like ours - its all worth it in the end.

[teajak]

By "sights" I mean observations of various things like.... a lot of the very healthly plants in the solarium were ripped up and replaced with rubber mats abruptly one evening, they never washed any of the exterior windows - our cabin window was so dirty you couldn't take a photograph through it... many of the menu items in MDR were repeated in a different "style" the next night... they decided to do major mantenence on deck 1 one night at 1AM that resulted in hours of deafening noise that took, seriously, ten engineers and the chief engineer to determine where the noise was coming from - they even were removing ceiling panels in rooms trying to figure it out (turns out it was somebody removing rust in the engine room with a small jackhammer like device that caused the sound the resonate up the floor.... although they had two self serve ice cream machines, they never plugged them in (even before the noro outbreak).. A senior managment official contradicted the impact of noro of that of other officers that we spoke with.... even though we had no toliet or water service the first night of cruise, we were told that this is an old ship and sometimes that happens..... we then got a letter in the room stating they were doing work on the water supply system and that the water would be off, and when it did come back on, to make sure to run the water for several minutes before using it.... we had visibly dirty linens on one of our beds, and i had to take the sheets off the bed before the attendant would replace them....speaking of the cabin attendent, she left a dirty cleaning rag UNDER the bottom sheet on one of the beds.... debarking in baltimore in winter - they will not allow you to stand inside while waiting for a shuttle or cab, you have to wait outside in the cold ( thank God it wasn't raining).... i know this might sound like a lot of nit-picking, but this is just some of the things we experienced on our cruise, and we are loyal RCI cruisers.....

I know things can't always be perfect, but this was the WORST! IMO....

Sure doesn't sound like nit-picking to me, more like legitimant complaints.:eek:

[canucks4]

I found leaving from LA & Galveston in the winter months was cold. I can't imagine leaving from Baltimore!! :eek: I'm thinking a flight to Florida to catch a cruise isn't such a bad idea!

[Ocean Boy]

Wow, give the guy a break. The Captain did make a little bobble at the end of a noon announcement. He said thank you for sailing Vision of the Seas ( I believe that was the ship ), I mean Enchantment of the seas. I am not sure but that may have been the last ship he was Captain on and said it out of habit. Kevin

 

You are telling ME to give the guy a break? I asked a simple question as to what hppened. I'm not the one who felt that the mistake was worth posting about on these boards.