Enchantment, March 10-14, quick review

[PAGA]

Only a few minutes to post some thoughts on our AWESOME 4-night cruise on Enchantment...

 

EMBARKATION:Sign said boarding started at 11:30. We arrived inside the terminal at 11:32, breezed into the Platinum/Diamond/Suite checkin area, had no wait and were on the ship in less than 5 minutes. No exaggeration!! At least on Deck 2, doors were closed and sealed off access to passenger cabins until 1pm. Lunch started at 12:00.

 

FOOD: Same-old, same-old. Good, but not outstanding with the exception of the beef tenderloin (filet) on formal night (which was Friday/Key West). FYI - no lobster on the 4-night menu. Only real disappointment food-wise was the chicken marsala on the first night...I've had better. Appetizers and soups were excellent all 4 nights -- they cram all the best of the 7-night menu into 4-nights -- we often filled up on double appetizers before our entrees!! Oh, another bummer - no flourless chocolate cake, but the desserts available were good. Something that tempted me every night... Windjammer breakfast/lunches were fine -- absolutely no lines.

 

DINING ROOM: After 10+ cruises we were for the first time a bit confused about what the maitre'd was thinking when he made our table assignment...we (husband and I) were at a table for 6. The other 4 people at our table were all together. Our 4 dining companions, however, were traveling with the people at the table of 10 behind us -- so basically, it was the 2 of us and the 14 of them...not awkward enough yet?? They were a group of college kids and recent graduates on spring break!!! Three of the 4 people at our table were college freshmen. (We have a daughter in HS and are Platinum C&A...) The only thing we seemed to have in common was that their cabins were 3 doors down from ours. Another note on the dining room -- on the 3rd night we finally had to ask our waiter about dining room dress code because there were plenty of jeans -- he said on cruises of less than 7 days RCCL has stopped enforcing the no jeans in dining room dress code -- I quote "It's your cruise and we want you to enjoy it" -- Don't shoot the messenger here -- I am firmly for dress code, but thought you'd want to hear what i was told.

 

SERVICE: Fantastic!!!! I mean really, really awesome. Our waiter (Lyndon "LBJ") was amazing and Ajay, the head waiter for the second floor of the dining room, was the best we've ever had. He vistited with us at least 4 times per meal!! he stopped by to chat, he remembered my husband's ice tea on the 1 day the assistant waiter forgot (and got it personally), opened out wine most nights, gave us the name of one of his friends to look up on the Explorer when we sail in May -- really, really great!! Cabin attendant was also very good (FYI - no turn down service/towel refreshing on embarkation night...he brought us our Day 2 daily paper shortly before the muster drill and asked if we needed anything else for the night.

 

CABIN: We had an inside guarantee -- ended up in 2081. Cabin size was fine for the 2 of us. In relatively good shape considering the upcoming major overhaul/drydock. Love seat was a bit tattered and shower curtain really needed replaced, but nothing we couldn't live with for 4 nights. FYI - we realized this before we sailed, so we were prepared with a cooler, but there are no fridges on Enchantment in the inside cabins. (A $5 tip and a few ziplocks kept our cooler re-freshed with ice 2 times a day).

 

DECK CHAIRS: We stayed on the ship the entire cruise (Key West and Cozumel...been there, done that) and I greatly enjoyed hanging out on deck pretty much by myself during the times in port. But let me tell you -- I had to search for a chair like never before on our sea day...

 

POOL/HOTTUBS: 1 of the 4 main pool hot tubs was broken all week. And, for all the complaining on these boards about swim diapers would you beleive disaster actually happened?? A child had a BM in the pool on the only sea day and they had to drain and clean it??!?! (The CD actually announced this because the belly flop contest had to be postponed until later int he afternoon).

 

CD/Staff: Matt Baker just returned from vaca, so he should be there until dry dock. We sailed with matt as asst CD a few years ago on Monarch, so it was nice to see him promoted...Cruise staff all did a really good job, except Bingo calling on the last day was painfully slow (didn'g go other days, so not sure if just slow because of big jackpot/number of cards people were playing or what). Speaking of Bingo - on one of the days they were actually bribing people to come play -- they offered a "diamond" bracelet and free taxi ride into cozumel if you came and played before going off ship (didn't dock until 10:30ish). Very strange!!

 

NIGHTLIFE: Entertainment in theater wasn't very good. Game shows in Carousel lounge were enjoyable. Karaoke was good first time it was offered, but bad second time because same people sang (some even the same songs...) has fun in disco the first night (Village people/ABBA/70's night).

 

LOYALTY AMBASSADOR/CAPTAIN'S CLUB/FUTURE BOOKINGS: Kim and the hotel manager hosted a Platinum & Diamond reception during the sail away from Key West (2pm) in the Viking Crown Lounge. Any cocktail you wanted and very nice hors d'eurve buffet. Only about 10-12 of us there. She made an effort to speak to each one of us multiple times during the 45 minutes. She also took our cabin number and told us she'd get us some coupons for May '06 and check our Freedom booking to see if a comparable cabin was available to re-book to get the on-board booking discount (we have a corner aft, so we doubted it...) -- anyway, promises made, but not kept -- she never got back to us and was a no-show at the Platinum/Diamond disembark lounge on the final morning. FYI - no general Captain's Club cocktail party on this cruise.

 

DISEMBARK: Went to Platinum/Diamond disembark lounge (invitation received in cabin day prior). Had pastries, coffee, juice. But, no one was there to monitor the area (Deck 8, Future cruise booking area) so people were walking up and taking what they wanted, sitting in the lounge filling out their C&A memberships (so we knew they didn't belong!!). And, most disappointing was that we were not given priority disembark (we had white tags anyway) but in previous experience we were escorted off te ship just before color tags were called. In this case, we had to make our way from Deck 8 to Deck 4 and stand in line. Now, what I need to point out is that I'm complaining about something that cuol dhave been handled better, BUT disembarkation was a breeze!! Once we stepped off the ship, there were no lines. Immigration, Customs, baggage claim were all a breeze. And my biggest tip to you is get a porter -- they have a special Customs line. With white luggage tags were were in the airport and checked in about 9:30am. Bravo Enchantment and Fort lauderdale Port staff!!!

 

OK...more than I thought I'd have time to say. Any questions, ask away!

 

- PAGA

 

Grandeur, Mercury, Century (2 times), Galaxy, Monarch, Explorer, Mariner, Adventure, Navigator, Enchantment, Explorer (May '05), Radiance (Nov '05) and Freedom (Nov '06)

[mrsjanko]

Do you know if there will be fridges after the strech? When was formal night? Is there a mini golf? Anything else you can think of. We will be taking the 4 night in Jan 06 and I am trying to drum up info from the experienced.

 

Beth

[PAGA]

No idea if there will be fridges after the stretch...I don't think they're changing the cabin sizes, so I'm doubtful...

 

Formal night was our 2nd night (1st full day on ship).

 

There was kind of min-golf...there were 9 rectangular wooded boxes with short greens/holes lines up side by side..each had slighlty different hills/angles. So in the traditional sense, no, but there were a lot of kids using the putting greens who seemed to be having a good time. I bleieve on the sea day there was even an adult tournament with the crusie staff.

 

- PAGA

[PAGA]

LOYALTY AMBASSADOR/CAPTAIN'S CLUB/FUTURE BOOKINGS: Kim and the hotel manager hosted a Platinum & Diamond reception during the sail away from Key West (2pm) in the Viking Crown Lounge. Any cocktail you wanted and very nice hors d'eurve buffet. Only about 10-12 of us there. She made an effort to speak to each one of us multiple times during the 45 minutes. She also took our cabin number and told us she'd get us some coupons for May '06 and check our Freedom booking to see if a comparable cabin was available to re-book to get the on-board booking discount (we have a corner aft, so we doubted it...) -- anyway, promises made, but not kept -- she never got back to us and was a no-show at the Platinum/Diamond disembark lounge on the final morning. FYI - no general Captain's Club cocktail party on this cruise.

 

- PAGA

 

Grandeur, Mercury, Century (2 times), Galaxy, Monarch, Explorer, Mariner, Adventure, Navigator, Enchantment, Explorer (May '05), Radiance (Nov '05) and Freedom (Nov '06)

 

Had to provide an update on this: In yesterday's mail I received a note from Kim (Loyalty Ambassador on Enchantment) with the promised coupon for our future booking. We mentioned her failure to deliver on our comment card prior to leaving the ship so I'm guessing this was brought to her attention and she came thru with the goods!! Yipee!! Now just waiting for May '06 bookings to open up!!

 

- PAGA