Enchantment of the Seas Review with pics!!

[tdmullins]

I returned recently from a 4 night Bahamas cruise on the Enchantment. We were on the August 19th sailing. Of course I am writing my review later than I like. But we all know how life tends to smack us in the face after being gone on vacation. I did get wise and kept a journal this time.

 

This was my fourth cruise but my first “family” cruise. So I may have been more excited for this cruise than any other, besides maybe my very first. MY Husband and I have always sailed just the two of us, with the exception of one cruise where we met up with some friends and cruised with them. Our dear son has been too cool to vacation with Mom and Dad the last several years, so you can imagine how excited I was when he asked if I would plan a cruise and take him. I started planning immediately of course!!

 

I chose the four day to the Bahamas out of Port Canaveral. It worked perfectly because 1) My son's girlfriend was coming with us and she could only miss so much school. 2) I had never been to the Bahamas and 3) I wanted to sail from Port Canaveral. During the planning my brother in law and a friend of ours starting asking us about cruising and costs. So I did some research for them, and told them they could do an inside for right under $500 each. They decided to tag along with us.

 

I was now planning for six of us. I got to experience the process of having two rooms booked, getting our dining linked, and getting us all to the ship! Royal Caribbean was great with all of this.

 

After the next couple months I planned excursions and read everything I could about the Enchantment. I put together these goody bags for the “kids”.

 

 

I saw these cute bags at cracker barrel and thought to myself I could do something neat with these bags. I decided before I even left the restaurant that they would be treat bags for the cruise. I filled them with snorkel equipment, beach shoes, a beach towel, and snacks for the trip to the port.

 

Finally its time for us to leave! The cast for this story will be:

 

Terri-myself (42)

Tony-my husband (42)

Tabor- our 20 year old son

Loren- Tabor's 21 year old girlfriend

Shane- Tony's brother

Brian- family friend

 

We headed out at 10pm the night before because Tony decided he wanted to drive straight to the port this time. Our normal routine is to take a couple of days and take our time. But we had a lot of work going on and Loren had school so this was not an option this time. It did make me nervous about something happening but luckily it didn't and we pulled into Port Canaveral at 12:30.

 

Me driving, This is after I changed my shirt after spilling coffee all over me.

 

First glimpse of ship.

 

 

We stopped on our way in to put luggage tags on everything because I wasn’t sure if we would be dropping off everything before we parked or not. We ended up parking and then carrying our luggage to the porters, so there was no need stopping ahead of time. We could have done it right there in the parking lot. But I needed to change my coffee covered shirt anyway, so no big deal.

 

The parking lot is right beside the terminal so it was just a matter of crossing the parking lot and dropping everything off with the porters. This pic was taken in the parking lot by our van.

[tdmullins]

Since we had a suite we had priority boarding and was checked in fast. I would say it was 15 minutes or less and we were ready to board the ship. But...we decided we had better wait for Shane and Brian since this was their first cruise. We waited maybe another 10 or 15 minutes on them.

Shane and Brian are somewhere all the way on the other end of the terminal.

 

Waiting.

 

We took our embarkation photo

 

Then it WAS TIME!!! The time to hear that first bing bong of the cruise! And then we were there!

 

 

 

It was about 1:00 when we boarded the ship, and it was posted that rooms would not be ready to 1:30. So I herded the crew to the windjammer. And it was CRAZY!! No tables to be found anywhere. I explain to everyone that this wasn’t the norm, that it was just this crazy on embarkation day because everyone was waiting for the rooms to open. So we just wondered around until they called that the rooms were available.

 

We had Grand Suite 8540 . I loved our Grand suite on the Jewel and went for it again on the Enchantment knowing we would want more room with kids being with us. I had asked for a roll away when I booked this cruise but when our room steward came by he acted like this was new to him. But he rebounded quickly and had it taken care of by the time we went to bed. We hung out on our awesome balcony and chilled until time for Muster.

 

I had pre paid for the soda package for Tabor and Loren, so there cups were waiting for them in the room when we got there.

 

Disregard the banana peel, Tabor pounced on the fruit tray as soon as we walked in the door

 

The Ipad that was in our room.

 

I never could figure out how to use it for anything. I could not check our account or order room service. Basically the only thing it was used for the whole trip was when Tabor played games on it.

[tdmullins]

A Norwegian ship in port with us.

 

Hanging in the room, waiting for muster.

 

Muster drill was quicker than any other ship we had been on. They kept calling a few names but went ahead a proceeded with the drill anyway. Thank goodness..because it was HOT! After Muster we headed upstairs for sail-away. We had some family members who were watching the Port Canaveral web cam, so we were hoping to get in a place where they could see us and tell who we were. The restaurant where the web cam is located is called fishlips. It was hard to figure out which restaurant it is until you are right up on it. But we waved like crazy at all the places and people we passed on our way out of the port.

 

Top deck for sail away.

 

 

 

Leaving the port.

 

After sail away we headed to our rooms for a little nap before dinner. We were all exhausted from the long trip and wanted to be refreshed for our first night on the ship.

[tdmullins]

Dinner night one, in one word.....perfect. The food was fantastic. Our waiter, Valfino was the best I had ever had any cruise.

 

The dinner menu that was in our room for tonight.

 

 

Shane and Brian dinner night one.

 

Tabor and Loren

 

Caesar Salad

 

The smoked fish rillettes

 

These were great! I had ordered the ceasar salad but then asked for an order of this after everyone else kept talking about how good they were. I am glad I did. I loved this dish.

[tdmullins]

The shrimp cocktail.

 

I think Tabor ordered this every night.

 

Seafood spaghetti.

I had this on the Jewel in May, It was way better this time on the Enchantment.

 

Prime Rib

 

Horseradish enccrusted salmon

 

Tony had this on the Jewel. Also said it was much better this time around.

 

Desert Menu

 

Chocolate sensation

[tdmullins]

Carrot Cake

 

Creme Brulee

 

This was by Far one of the best dinners I had ever had on a cruise. It was also nice that the waters were super smooth and you could barely even feel the ship moving.

[tdmullins]

After dinner Tony and I changed clothes and headed to the pool deck to watch Iron Man 3 on the big screen.

 

Iron Man on the big screen

 

We moved up a deck and watched from here.

 

People watching the movie from the pool.

 

Every now and then Tabor and Loren would stop by and fill us in and what they were doing. Shane and Brian stopped by also during their explorations of the ship. At this point I was having a Momma moment because I was so happy that my child was excited and having fun on his first cruise.

 

Tabor and Loren on one of the walk ways. I love how they were lit up at night.

 

Some self photography.

[tdmullins]

After the movie I went to the solarium with Tabor and Loren while they snacked on some pizza.

 

The Solarium at night.

 

The solarium cafe.

 

Tabor eating his pizza.

 

Walking thru the Centrum on our way to the casino. I love the Centrums on Royal Caribbean. They really are very pretty and just enjoyable to sit around and relax.

 

 

 

Then we hit the casino.

 

 

[tdmullins]

This was Tabor's first time in a casino so I had to explain some things to him and he really enjoyed it. I left the casino up $20, Tabor left down $10.

 

The floor at the entrance of the casino.

 

 

After our casino experience Tabor and Loren headed to the room, while Tony and went to check out the solarium cafe.

 

Another view of the Solarium at night.

 

It was crazy busy. I grabbed a slice of pizza and we headed to the room to order room service. But I fell asleep before the food arrived.

 

Here we are crashed in our room. Once the pullout was open and the roll away was out, It really didnt leave us much room. I was glad we went with a bigger room. I should have just let Tabor slept with his Dad and I bunked down with Loren in the couch bed, and saved some room.

[MrFunInTheSun]

Great review and pictures. Looks like y'all had a great cruise!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Please excuse any typographical errors.

[sunnysavannah]

Oh, I am eating this up! Great pics! We are counting down to our turn!

[kelleigh229]

loving your review so far - looking forward to hearing more

[tdmullins]

Woke up the next morning with this little island outside of my window

 

A panoramic shot of the island.

 

I woke up at 9:30 and went to order room service at 9:45. Once of the suite perks that I enjoyed last cruise tremendously was the full service breakfast room service menu. But when I called they told me that the dining room had closed at 9:30 so I couldnt order anything special. I admit I did not check the times in the Compass the night before and I was just going on the fact that the MDR stayed open til 10 everyday on the Jewel. So no room service omelet for me. I ended up running up to the windjammer and grabbing a few things for us to snack on for breakfast in our room. Luckily, it was just up one flight of the stairs located right by my stateroom.

 

We all then started getting ready to head to the island. That’s when I realized there was not any towels in the room. On Carnival the towels are already in all rooms and on my Jewel cruise they were in my suite already. I realize that this is very, very minor. But I missed this tremendously. I really didn’t like hauling my butt up to the pool deck to stand in line to check them out and then back to return them. I guess I just really really like the convenience of them being in the room, and then the room steward replacing them as needed.

 

A shot of the ship from the tender.

 

My crew on the tender.

 

I finally got Tabor serious, then Tony was goofy.

[tdmullins]

Before we left I had researched the cabanas because I was pretty sure this was something that I wanted to do. I found out that I could email the concierge and have him book it for me since I was in a suite. This meant I didn’t have to run to the excursions desk when I got on the ship to book it. So I emailed him in late June. He asked that I email him back three days before I sailed. So I did, with no answer. I emailed again, and he emailed me back and said not to worry that I had one booked. I asked for Cabana #4, this seemed like the best one for us from the reviews I had read. But when I received my cabana tickets in the room the night before I was given cabana #1.

 

Here are the cabanas viewed from the tenders.

 

Pulling up to the island.

 

 

The entrance to the Cabana area.

 

Checking into our Cabana.

 

We were given a paper to turn in for two sets of snorkel gear and also told that we would have access to two mats. We actually never utilized either one of those benefits. I wish I had took advantage of the snorkeling now.

[tdmullins]

Cabana #1 ended up being perfect for us!

 

Pics of our Cabana:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The views from cabana #1

 

[tdmullins]

 

 

There was a bucket with four bottles of water, a bucket with Champagne and a fruit plate waiting for us in the cabana.

 

Tabor helping himself to some of the water.

 

Tabor and Loren having some lunch in the cabana.

 

Another perk of the cabana was a private upgraded buffet. It was located central to the cabanas. I am not sure what is on the other buffet but ours included steak, jerk chicken, ribs and seafood kabobs. It was all very, very good.

 

Unfortunately, I did not get one single pic of the buffet or any of the food on it.

 

The kids checking out the water.

 

The water was kind of crowded here so we decided to walk around the island and find another place to swim. We walked over to the water toys, but the water was too shallow to swim. We kept walking further and further out but it was still shallow.

 

Tabor was sitting in the water here. You can see how far people are out and the water is still very shallow.

 

Tabor and Loren trying to use the snorkeling stuff we brought with us.

 

Notice the “grass” behind them? It was kinda everywhere on this side of the island. Made it hard to go out past wherever it was. Made swimming very hard. So we moved further down the beach. We never really did find deep swimming water. The area back near the Cabana probably did, but it was very crowded making it hard to swim. There was also a sign that read that anybody snorkeling must have on a snorkel vest. I didnt want to take my stuff out there and get in trouble. So we just lounged in the Cabana for the rest of the day. Tabor and Loren did stay out in the water til it was close to time to leave.

[tdmullins]

All the darker areas in the water in the picture below is the grassy areas.

 

 

 

 

The Norwegian ship anchored at their private island.

 

A view of the ship on our way back.

 

We were back on the ship by 4:00.

[djacobson]

I am enjoying the pictures and the review. I am going to both of the ports you visited in three weeks (out of Jacksonville and on a different ship). Looking forward to pictures of Coco Cay (Little Stirrup Cay).

 

Glad to see you had a great cruise.

Edited September 11, 2013 by djacobson

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

awesome review, following along with you, thanks!

[tdmullins]

I am enjoying the pictures and the review. I am going to both of the ports you visited in three weeks (out of Jacksonville and on a different ship). Looking forward to pictures of Coco Cay (Little Stirrup Cay).

 

Glad to see you had a great cruise.

 

David! So good to see my cruising buddy reading my review. Hope you have a great cruise and I cant wait to see your pictures!

[tdmullins]

When we got back to the stateroom these cookies were waiting for us. I assume it was a suite perk/gift.

 

They were delicious. I would have bought more if I could have.

 

We then ran to the windjammer for snacks.

 

I grabbed some pasta. There was a pan of bacon sitting beside of it. I am sure it was for the burgers, but hey it was just sitting there beside of the pasta just begging to be ate. So I topped my pasta with some. Yum.

 

In a review I had read before I sailed on the Jewel someone had mentioned the bread pudding that showed up at the windjammer one day and how good it was. I never did see it on the Jewel, so when I saw it in this time I grabbed some.

 

They had a vanilla sauce you could pour over it. It was really good. Not blow your hair back good...but good.

 

At this point we were moving very, very slow. I went out on our balcony and watched the water. I caught the Norwegian ship following us.

 

The water was so calm and we were moving so slow, it was hard to tell the ship was even moving if you were not looking out at the water.

 

I also noticed our lifeboat was directly below us.

 

Good to know.

 

 

At this point, everyone of us crashed. I guess a day at the beach will wear you out.

[tdmullins]

Tonight is formal night and we were all really looking forward to dinner after the great night we had the night before.

 

Tabor and Loren dinner night 2/Captains dinner.

 

Our group photo from that night.

 

Somehow in all of my excitement for dinner I forgot to get a picture of the menu. But I am going to share a picture that I stole form another Enchantment review while planning this cruise.

 

 

Oakwood Smoked Chicken Breast

 

Salmon and crab gratin

 

Shrimp Ravioli

 

This was dish that I had on the Jewel also. Again, this is another dish that was much better on the Enchantment. But also to be fair, I wasn't feeling very well this night on the Jewel thanks to some rough waters and a headache that decided to ruin my night.

[tdmullins]

Roasted Duck

 

Grilled Salmon Vignole salad

 

Tonight's dessert menu

 

Chocolate souffle

 

I loved it! There is a sauce that they drizzle on it. Shane and I had poked holes into ours in anticipation of the sauce. Brian didn't but Valfino did it for him.

 

Strawberry cheesecake

 

 

Valfino brought out an extra piece of this for Tony and I to share. It was good. Not the best cheesecake in the world. But still very good.

 

Mile high lemon meringue

 

Everyone loved dinner again tonight. I promise the food was top notch in the MDR on this ship. I had walked away from my last cruise not happy with the desserts at all. None of them had much flavor and I wasn't impressed at all. I actually left saying that Carnival had RCI beat in the food department. (Not the service by no means, but the food itself) But this cruise changed my mind.

[tdmullins]

After dinner I wanted to get one family formal pic made being that this was our first family cruise. I chose to only stop at one photographer. I hated all of them, so I purchased none of them. I looked like the biggest, fattest cow in all of them. Plus my dress had little layers and several of them were pulled up. On a good note it has inspired me to start trying to lose weight again.

 

And speaking of weight....Tony had started this cruise saying that he wasnt going to eat any of the "sides". No french fries, chips or onion rings. We also took the steps 99% of the time. Tony didn't gain a pound. But I did. But I also ate things like bacon covered pasta and french fries.

 

 

But I did snap this one of Tabor and Loren that I thought was cute.

 

We went back to the room to change into comfy clothes and found our first towel animal. Mr Elephant.

 

We then headed to the main theater for the show, Can't Stop The Rock.

 

The show was ok. Some of the songs were kinda bad. It may have actually been the worst version of When Doves Cry that I had ever heard. But it was fun enough for a little entertainment. I am in the entertainment business, the behind the scenes part. So I love watching the actually production of the shows. We end up discussing the lighting used, the spot light operators, and the over all sound and quality. I know....it's strange the things that entertain people.

 

After the show we wondered around to see what all was going on. The Centrum was dead by this point. We headed up to the pool deck, but the movie was Iron Man 3 again, and the bars were all closed, so things were pretty dead up there.

 

And now I would like to take this time to point out a “little” something I had discovered this cruise.

These doors that are in several different places on the ship.....

 

are not automatic.

 

You must push this button to make them open.

 

I will admit it really confused me at first. I know, I know it clearly says to push they button to open. But honestly, how many doors do we come across in our normal day to day life like this. I kept walking up to doors the first day and they wouldn't open. Finally someone from the crew pointed it out to me. Yes, I realize this something very simple but I am also that person you see in front of Kmart or the grocer staring at the door because it hasn't opened on it 's own yet. Also I had never heard anyone mention them before in any of the reviews I had read. So fellow cruisers...this is your "heads up", so you wont look as dumb as I did. I called this my stupid moment number #1.

[sailingawaysoon]

Your review is awesome! I can't wait to read more. We just booked this ship for a Christmas cruise, so I'm very anxious to see more of your review. Quick question, what was the cost for the cabana? Thank you in advance!