"LIVE" from Enchantment of the Seas- Bermuda/New England - May 17, 2012

[emelvee]

I trust you are now home safe and sound. Thanks again for your review, pictures, and menus/compasses/etc.

[small wonder]

Roy,

What a coincidence! When we were in Boston, we spent the day at Harvard with my brother, a Philosophy professor there for 37 yrs! We walked the yard, visiting several buildings including the one where the 50 yr reunion was gathering. We got somewhat wet walking around!! Took the Silver T & Red Line T both to Cambridge & back to the pier. So simple and reasonable in price! Hope you had just as pleasant a time with your brother!

[rafinmd]

This afternoon I booked what will probably be my final voyage on Enchantment, a 9-day on January 26. At this early date early seating is not available so it looks like I will have to try My Time Dining.

Roy

 

I wanted to suggest based on my experience that you should wait list for early dining. I booked our April trip 10 months out and early dining was closed. I accepted main dining and wait listed. About 5 weeks later I cleared the wait list and had my dining selection.

 

If the LA on-board will not wait list you call C&A when you get home.

 

I think I will stay with My time dining. IIRC, several new dining venues will be added during the December drydock, so MTD will give me a chance to sample them without abandoning my table mates.

 

Roy,

What a coincidence! When we were in Boston, we spent the day at Harvard with my brother, a Philosophy professor there for 37 yrs! We walked the yard, visiting several buildings including the one where the 50 yr reunion was gathering. We got somewhat wet walking around!! Took the Silver T & Red Line T both to Cambridge & back to the pier. So simple and reasonable in price! Hope you had just as pleasant a time with your brother!

 

Wow, it really is a small world. I also took the Silver and Red T's both ways although considering a direct bus from Harvard to Northeastern (cancelling due to time and weather). My time on the Harvard campus was really wonderful.

 

Roy

[kacoombs]

Hi, I am scheduled for the July 12th cruise, same itinerary. While in Boston I wanted to reserve the "freedom Trail" tour through RCCL. Has anyone taken this particular tour. Yes, I understand you can easily do it yourself but I like the idea of the tour guide and it's 3-1/2 hours long with pickup and drop offs included. Other tours are cheaper but less than half the time. I am curious if the RCCL one includes admission to some of the Hisotrical houses etc....

 

My husband & I had researched this a little and we paid $11/adult for the 1.5 hr tour. We paid the $19 round trip for the shuttle bus (which is actually a nice charter bus) rather than trying to get a taxi (which didn't seem to be available at the dock).

 

If the weather had been better, we would have done the add-ons - Revere House, Old North Church, etc., but it was pouring about an hour into our tour. We had a great tour guide - I'd love to have done more, but we were cold & wet.

 

I believe the ship-sponsored excursion was $38, but it was only available in the morning & it was sold out. Doing it ourselves gave us flexibility to do it mid-day.

[cruisin4thedeepblue]

I think I know, but have to ask if the meals pretty much stay the same from sailing to sailing at least on the same itineries. I mean if am looking at what served the first day on the May 17th will be the same for the 31st cruise and so on.

Thanks for the great reviews and postings the daily planners and meals. Great Job!:)

 

http://baltoenchantment.wordpress.com/menus

[rafinmd]

cruisin4thedeepblue , I'm assuming (but not sure) the 31st is the same itinerary as mine. Royal pretty much keeps the same menus, and I would expect you're menus will be the same as mine although I wouldn't consider it impossible that the order would change a bit. A year ago I sailed a 9-day on Enchantment and member spabsie typed up all the menus day by day:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=29265406&postcount=84

 

I had 8 of those 9 menus with a slight variation in order:

 

Day 1-2 - same as days 1-2 in 2011

Days 3-7 same as days 5-9 in 2011

Day 8 - same as day 4 in 2011

 

So you'll probably have the same rotation as I did, but be prepared for a little bit of change.

 

Roy

[cruisin4thedeepblue]

cruisin4thedeepblue , I'm assuming (but not sure) the 31st is the same itinerary as mine. Royal pretty much keeps the same menus, and I would expect you're menus will be the same as mine although I wouldn't consider it impossible that the order would change a bit. A year ago I sailed a 9-day on Enchantment and member spabsie typed up all the menus day by day:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=29265406&postcount=84

 

I had 8 of those 9 menus with a slight variation in order:

 

Day 1-2 - same as days 1-2 in 2011

Days 3-7 same as days 5-9 in 2011

Day 8 - same as day 4 in 2011

 

So you'll probably have the same rotation as I did, but be prepared for a little bit of change.

 

Roy

 

Thanks, I was just curious. There are some things I really want to try, they sound delicious!

[alfaeric]

First post ever here, although I've used CC for years as a source of information. I felt compelled to join and thank you for the review of this cruise- we are also going on this cruise on June 28, and am very much looking forward to it.

 

May have to plan a little, as we intend to run in Newport- and would much rather be on the first tender so that we can tour. Realistically, by the time we get there, it's more about the tour than the fitness part- just running to see the sights and whatnot.

 

Thanks for posting about it (but I'll be honest about not reading the compass or menus since we like to be surprised- I only look at the compass when we need to plan for some more specific athletic clothing)

[momneedsvacation]

My husband & I had researched this a little and we paid $11/adult for the 1.5 hr tour. We paid the $19 round trip for the shuttle bus (which is actually a nice charter bus) rather than trying to get a taxi (which didn't seem to be available at the dock).

 

 

Where did you get the shuttle bus?

[rafinmd]

First post ever here, although I've used CC for years as a source of information. I felt compelled to join and thank you for the review of this cruise- we are also going on this cruise on June 28, and am very much looking forward to it.

 

May have to plan a little, as we intend to run in Newport- and would much rather be on the first tender so that we can tour. Realistically, by the time we get there, it's more about the tour than the fitness part- just running to see the sights and whatnot.

 

Thanks for posting about it (but I'll be honest about not reading the compass or menus since we like to be surprised- I only look at the compass when we need to plan for some more specific athletic clothing)

 

Thank you for the comments. I'll just make one suggestion. If an early tender is important, consider telling the people who give out the tender tickets that you would be willing to split up and meet on shore if they have some single tickets available. They asked me if I was by myself and then gave me a ticket from a couple sitting off to the side, probably about 2 or 3 tenders ahead of what they were giving to other people.

 

Roy

[kacoombs]

My husband & I had researched this a little and we paid $11/adult for the 1.5 hr tour. We paid the $19 round trip for the shuttle bus (which is actually a nice charter bus) rather than trying to get a taxi (which didn't seem to be available at the dock).

 

 

Where did you get the shuttle bus?

 

The shuttle bus was made available by Royal - I didn't see ANY taxis in the port area & later heard that taxis are not allowed in that area. I don't know if that's true, but on the drizzly day we had, I would not have been thrilled to walk a few blocks in search of a taxi.

 

We could have signed up in advance for the shuttle bus but we did it in the terminal & it was charged to our room.

[kacoombs]

cruisin4thedeepblue , I'm assuming (but not sure) the 31st is the same itinerary as mine. Royal pretty much keeps the same menus, and I would expect you're menus will be the same as mine although I wouldn't consider it impossible that the order would change a bit. A year ago I sailed a 9-day on Enchantment and member spabsie typed up all the menus day by day:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=29265406&postcount=84

 

I had 8 of those 9 menus with a slight variation in order:

 

Day 1-2 - same as days 1-2 in 2011

Days 3-7 same as days 5-9 in 2011

Day 8 - same as day 4 in 2011

 

We went on the Bermuda run in August 2010 - same menus just not as many days. If you look in the corner of the menu, you can see what date they originated. In most cases on this case, the date was 3/10 - so they haven't been changed in more than 2 years. I'm getting kinda tired of it...

[rafinmd]

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=103298.

 

Member Rating 3.0 out of 5+

Dining 3.0

Public Rooms 3.0

Cabins 4.0

Entertainment 4.0

Spa & Fitness Not Rated

Family & Children Not Rated

Shore Excursions Not Rated

Embarkation 4.0

Service 4.0

Value-for-Money 5.0

Rates 5.0

 

 

Heading: A solid mass market traditional experience

 

Background: I consider myself an experienced cruiser, and have sailed most of the world. While my favorite line is Crystal, I like to cruise more than I can afford with them and have also sailed with Windstar, Silversea, Celebrity, Cunard, HAL, and RCI. I hope my 3-star rating is not viewed as disapproval, I've enjoyed some really awesome cruises and my behavior probably says more than a star rating. This was my second cruise on Enchantment with a 3rd booked so they must be doing something right.

 

Ship: The Enchantment, part of Royal Caribbean's Vision class, is one of the older ships, entering service in 1997. Unique in the class, it was stretched in 2005, adding a 71-foot section midship. The added rooms and lounges are nice but the added cabins made the Windjammer Cafe and Orpheum theater more crowded than they should be. When I first sailed Enchantment a year earlier I found the ship generally in good shape with some maintenance issues. A year later the ship seems significantly improved; I would say excellent condition. I did notice a few things related to the age of the ship:

 

1. The safes are the old variety which requires a magnetic card swipe to open or close, rather than the more modern pin code. I had encountered this last year and came prepared with an expired card.

 

2. The TV's are small tube type units but they performed well.

 

3. Wifi is available only in public lounges, not in cabins.

 

Items 2 and 3 are supposed to be updated in a December 2012 drydock.

 

Activities: Most of the activities seemed better suited to a younger crowd than I am, although there was never a shortage of things to do. There was one enrichment lecturer, something I haven't previously seen on Royal. Timothy Calvert made 4 presentations on Bermuda, Baltimore, and ocean liners. While not a world class expert, Calvert was interesting and informative, and a very welcome addition to the program.

 

Service: For a large (to me) mass market ship I found the crew much better than expected. Most of it was not particularly personal but my waiter from a year ago did recognize and greet me in the dining room. I think RCI may have made a recent effort to improve the service of the head waiters. Both our head waiter (Ice) and another mentioned by a roll call member reported the same from a second head waiter (KitKat). I don't remember this from my previous RCI cruises (last year and Jan on Jewel)

 

Travel To Port of Embarkation: This to me is one of the big draws of the Enchantment. I boarded a commuter bus a half block from my Columbia home in the morning, transferred to a connecting bus which took me half a mile from the port. I could do much the same with a competing ship but the Enchantment keeps me coming back.

 

Stateroom: My outside stateroom was comfortable and well laid out. I had concerns about being under the Orpheum Theater but had no problems with noise.

 

Dining: I remember 4 dining venues. The main dining room covers 2 aft levels with a choice of either traditional or "my time" dining. I did not find the MDR food particularly wonderful but it was more than adequate. There were 3 "always available" items (chicken, steak, seafood) and I had intended to try them but kept putting it off as there were always things I wanted to have on the main menu. The Windjammer cafe on the vision class is at the front of the ship, rather than aft. Given a single choice of forward or aft I would probably choose aft but found the forward location a nice change; it is a wonderful feeling to enjoy a meal there as you approach a port. With the stretch adding cabins, the WJ was a bit overcrowded but that was only an issue once in a while. The food there was spotty. Pancakes and eggs were both good while french toast and waffles tended to be a bit tough. A small cafe in the solarium serves burgers, hot dogs, and pizza. Chops grille is the only specialty restaurant, open only for dinner. I did not dine there this year but enjoyed it last year.

 

Entertainment: The Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers put on 2 excellent shows. I'd prefer they do a 3rd show which would make sense with the relatively long cruises Enchantment is doing. On other nights there were comedians, jugglers, magicians, and vocalists. Most were good, although the quality varied somewhat. The Orpheum theater is unfortunately a bit on the small side for the size of the ship. There were 4 other bands playing a variety of music in the lounges.

 

Disembarkation: We pulled up to the pier at 6:55. I had elected self disembarkation and was off the ship and in line for a taxi line at 7:20. After a short ride to Camden yards I boarded a commuter train and connecting local bus, walking in my front door at 10:15. Couldn't be easier.

 

Summary: I really am not a natural customer for Royal Caribbean. While they have a lot of great activities for younger families and kids, as a single those really don't matter to me much. For me Royal Caribbean fulfills 2 niche rolls. While not currently applicable to the Enchantment (they'll get a crack at that role next year) Royal does very well with short getaways that seem to throw crews of other lines off their stride. The other niche is the ability to cruise close to home. While there is a competitor at out port RCI's itineraries are far superior, as I expect the onboard experience is as well. The ability to walk out my front door and be on a ship just a few hours later (less than an hour later if I drove to the port) greatly enriches my options for cruising. I liked Enchantment enough last year to sail it again this year and found it much better the second time around. I thought the crew was better in 2012, the ship seemed to be in excellent condition, and I appreciated having the front section of the Promenade deck open much of the time. Despite a very busy cruise schedule, I'll be back in January.

 

Port reviews:

 

King's Wharf

Port Rating: 5+ out of 5+

We were several hours late arriving in Bermuda, due to a combination of diverting around Navy exercises on our way and adverse winds and currents. Docking at Kings Wharf is a bit of a pain, as it requires either a ferry or bus ride to get to the main town of Hamilton. A transit pass ($20 for 2 days) is useful and a scenic way to see the island. I had only a short time in Hamilton, while Sunday I attended a local church service, walked on a section of the island's rail trail, and found the National Museum at Kings Wharf a good value. I had booked a nighttime glass bottom boat tour, but it was cancelled, presumably due to high winds.

 

Boston

Port Rating: 5.0 out of 5+

What a wonderful city. I had booked a tour of Lexington and Concord, but cancelled when I discovered my brother from Iowa was in town for a Harvard reunion. Boston has an extensive mass transit system, with a stop very close to the port. The area is served by the "Silver line", a bus line out near the pier which goes underground and connects with the regular subway lines near South Station. A day pass on the MTA is a value at $9.

More Boston Reviews

 

Newport

Port Rating: 5+ out of 5+

Our one tender port, Newport is a former playground of the super rich, a historic town, and a yacht racing mecca. A trolley line runs from near the tender stop to the "cottages", summer homes which would be considered castles, rather than cottages in most cultures.

[Tony O]

Did you clear Customs after you left Bermuda or did you clear in Baltimore?

[rafinmd]

Did you clear Customs after you left Bermuda or did you clear in Baltimore?

 

"Sort of" in Baltimore. US nationals did nothing in Boston, while others met with immigration in a lounge. We all showed id to an agent and turned in our customs form, but the process went very quickly.

 

Roy

[cruise pup]

Did you clear Customs after you left Bermuda or did you clear in Baltimore?

 

Hi there, I was on the cruise too. We cleared customs in Baltimore which took 10 seconds. There was only non-US citizens immigrations in Boston. I guess customs doesn't happen until the end of the cruise as people can continue to make purchases on board the ship. Uncle Sam might miss out on some revenue if the ship was cleared for customs in Boston and then people bought a load of duty-free liquor and jewelry on board after.

[cruise pup]

Thanks for a great report. I too was on this cruise but unfortunately at around 11:00 pm on Saturday night I came down with gastroenteritis and was confined to my cabin for the rest of the cruise. Since my cabin steward saw my "do not disturb" card in my door I didn't get some of the Compasses and didn't know that The Happenings appeared. It's a shame I had to miss them as my sister and I were big fans back in the '60's. Even though I have their songs on my iPod it would have been nice to hear them live and maybe get a chance to meet them. Oh, well, c'est la vie. RCCL did tell me that I will receive a 5 day credit based on my cruise fare that is good for a future cruise.

[Butch Snider]

I was also on that cruise with DW and my parents.

 

A few thoughts...

 

* The drive from Michigan was pleasant. Mapquest said it would be a 9.5 hour drive if we made no stops. We had to stop, of course, but we still made it in 11 hours.

 

* We stayed at the Best Western by the port the night before we sailed. Beds were not good and the food at their restaurant was a ripoff. They called it "prime rib" but it was just rolled up roast beef in gravy.

 

* At the port a staff member helped my wife, who uses a cane, to a chair. Later he made some comment about me being "the guy who doesn't tip". I know you tip the porters who handle your luggage but I was unaware the port staff expected a tip for doing what I would have done myself if he hadn't offered to do it. I never experienced this at the other ports from which I had sailed.

 

* The passengers this sailing seemed to be mostly an older crowd. I'm 43 and I'd say 90% were older than me. My dad is 70, and I didn't appreciate the guest services staff member who acted incredulous at the thought that I was young enough to be his son.

 

* Although my mom had had a radiation therapy treatment just two days before sailing, the rough seas (hurricane-force winds at one point, we were later told) actually made my dad nauseous on the first sea day.

 

* We also had KitKat as our head waiter. Not a bad guy, but we didn't see him much. Our other wait staff did an efficient job.

 

* On day 2 DW and I attended one of Tim Calvert's lectures just after lunch. The powerpoint was not aimed properly at the screen, and the delivery was very monotonous; at least a third of the audience began their afternoon nap a little early. As someone who does presentations for a living, I have a little higher expectations.

 

* We ate in Chops Grille on day 4. DW loved it, I thought it was good but overpriced. One passenger started screaming at the Chops staff while we were there, though, complaining that "you can't treat people this way". Given that I had never seen any waitstaff ever be less than courteous on Royal Caribbean, I have no idea what the passenger's issue could have been but he was making an awful row.

 

* On Day 5 DW and I got a lovely couple's massage, including a facial for me. Yes, I'm a manly man and I got a facial. Twice before while sailing I had won free facials and now I like them. They keep trying to sell me skin care products to take home with me but I'm too much of a dude to exfoliate regularly. The spa bill, though discounted ($129 for a "Top to Toe") was pricey to me but worth it.

 

* My dad and I took the "Best of Lexington, Concord, and Boston" excursion on day 6 while the ladies went into town and saw a "Top Chef" demonstration. A good time was had by all. Because we got late into port that morning, my tour bus was late getting back to the dock in the afternoon, and since I had to stop to visit the little patriots' room I was literally the last passenger on board before we left Beantown!

 

* On day 7 in Newport we met up with my sister and her partner who drove over from Connecticut. After lunch near Perrotti Park, which was the tender location, we hopped in my sister's minivan and drove around Aquidneck Island. It is a very beautiful location and I can see both why it is favored by the rich and why Rhode Island is called the "Ocean State".

 

* My dad and I watched the movie "Big Miracle" in the main theater that night. I like how they showed the films in the big theater ("Orpheum"), whereas on other ships I've sailed they use a small screen in a lounge (Grandeur) or a small "cinema" (Liberty). However the focus was off on the screen, making the picture blurry and the subtitles impossible to read.

 

If I've seemed too nitpicky, I apologize. I had a great time, Enchantment is a great ship, and Baltimore is a great home port. I have sailed enough that I am spoiled and expect a lot, but in general Royal does not fail to deliver!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for taking the time to do a live report of your cruise. Glad you had a good time.

[ladytaekwondo]

Nice cruise review, DH! It was wonderful and I can't wait till we go again with all of the kids this time!