Preview/Review 10/25 Enchantment OTS

[dreadpirate3]

This is my first attempt at a preview, I have written reviews before. Once we cruise, I will tell most of the story in pictures.

 

Who are we? DH (42), DS (15) and I (44) live in Orlando Florida and have cruised with RCI twice, both in 2008. We had ocean view cabins both times. DS only came on one of those cruises, in December and the seas were too high for us to tender at CocoCay. Those were the Sovereign and the Monarch, so smaller than the Enchantment. We have very busy schedules in our lives, so it was nice to find an opportunity to take a cruise.

 

Back on September 2 of this year, I booked an ocean view cabin and used a $50 Crown & Anchor certificate. A week later, the rate dropped over $100 per person, but I had booked after final payment so they would not adjust the price. I was disappointed, but went on with our plans.

 

Yesterday, I happened to see the balcony rate was only $40 more than what we had paid per person for the first and second passengers, so I called and upgraded. This meant that we no longer need a rollaway bed for our son and he will have a queen sized sofa bed instead.

 

I went today and bought a bottle of bubbly to enjoy on our balcony during sailaway.

[dreadpirate3]

We have our passports, so that is a BIG relief! Much less paperwork to carry.

 

Our public schools are closed Thursday and Friday, so DS will not miss school. DH and I took leave, and will begin final preparations Thursday after work.

 

We plan to leave home at 9 AM Friday, fully loaded and our only stops will be at our bank to get cash for tipping and shopping on the islands. We will then do the one hour drive to the port.

 

We are parking at Park n Cruise, I booked that today and prepaid to save $1 per day. It adds up!

 

I also paid for the soda packages today, as there are many no calorie options for me and DH, soda is one of DS' favorite things. Didn't bat an eye at the 15% gratuity added on the site.

 

Picked up a 6-pack of bottled water for us to take on. We will use them when we visit Nassau. We have booked a short tour at Graycliff of the chocolatier that day. We also plan to visit Atlantis, Green Parrot Bar and the Hard Rock Café.

 

We have not booked any excursions, instead we purchased our own snorkel gear and plan to snorkel at CocoCay Sunday.

 

Our only checklist items remaining are to pack, pick up DH and DS's suits from the dry cleaner, and drive to the port.

[ansadler]

I hope you guys have a great trip. If you haven't had a balcony before, you will LOVE it and have a really hard time NOT having one again..

 

Good luck getting the champagne on board. I read recently that they stopped allowing wine/champagne on. (they use to allow you to pay a corkage fee per bottle).

 

Also, recently I also read that they are getting stricter with any beverages including bottled waters. That sounded crazy to me. I hope that was misinformation!!

 

Look forward to your review!

[dreadpirate3]

Thanks!

 

I thoroughly read the Cruise Set Sail Pass today and two bottles of wine/champagne per stateroom are allowed. They need to be 750 ml, no larger. We will only open them in our stateroom, so no corkage fee. :D

 

We a bringing three cameras, an iPad 3, a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 and our cell phones. We will also have a laptop for exporting pictures every day.

 

The three cameras are:

 

Nikon DSLR D70 with two lenses

Nikon point & shoot digital

GoPro Hero 3 waterproof camera

 

I picked up a camera backpack from Amazon that will hold all electronics other than my laptop as well as the folding tripod. It seems to be very sturdy and will keep everything safe.

[jccdc]

Looking forward to your review. My kids and I will be on the same cruise.:)

[Valmoisy]

Have fun Gina! I look forward to reading your review. My daughter and I will be on the Enchantment on November 1st.

[dreadpirate3]

Started getting things ready to pack yesterday. Deciding on what really needs to go as I would like us to be able to carry everything on and off the ship.

[Deets]

Hello, Dreadpirate3! If you don't mind me asking, how much did you have to prepay for the Park 'n Cruise for your 3-night cruise?

 

Valmoisy - We will be on the November 1st cruise also and are really looking forward to it!

[evelyn51]

I'm green with ENVY! Mostly, because we are Canadians so more $$ for us! Albiet, we are considering Snowbirding for 3 mos. of the yr. starting next yr.

 

Looking at close to ports rental locations! :)

 

Have a great cruise and smooth sail!

[jccdc]

Park Port Canaveral is 7.99 prepaid, 8.99 (per day) if you pay when you arrive. Taxes are just over $2 (total).

Edited October 21, 2013 by jccdc

[dreadpirate3]

We had to pay for 4 days of parking plus taxes, total ended up being $34. Parking at the port would have been $16 per day plus taxes, easily double.

 

Growing up in landlocked north Texas, living near the ocean is a dream come true for me. What is really and truly sad is that I have not been to the beach yet this year. I work and got to school full time, so it makes for busy weekends.

 

Three more work days and four more nights!

[Robrud]

Have fun!! Can't wait to hear about your trip!

[dreadpirate3]

One of our wonderful fellow cruisers on our roll call thread has done some research and there may be some rain during our cruise and excursions. So, we are now packing light rain jackets as well.

 

Current excursion plans.

 

Saturday - Nassau, Bahamas

Lunch on the ship in the Park Cafe or Windjammer (depending on how busy they are)

Disembark, catch private taxi (DS has claustrophobia in crowded areas) to Atlantis. I know the public areas are few, but we wanted to visit the Marina as well.

We will take another taxi from Atlantis to Graycliff, where we have booked a tour.

After that, we are planning to visit the Green Parrot Bar and Hard Rock Café. We will get back on the ship after those. I hope we will be able to enjoy the running of the drunks for any other ships in port.

 

Sunday - CocoCay, Bahamas

After breakfast in the MDR, we will go ashore for a few hours, snorkel, buy the slide pass for DS, and then go back on the ship for lunch in the MDR (only day we can have lunch there). We will go back later for more time on the beach and in the water. I want to also walk the nature trails and see what we might be able to find. We are all of European ancestry, and burn easily, so having beach time, then taking a break will work well for us.

 

Two more work days and three more nights!

[cruisegirl1]

Gina – I enjoyed your preview. I can see you’ve put a good deal of planning into the cruise. I would love to see some of your photos.

 

You mentioned MDR lunch on the Coco Cay day. Before you go back on the ship that day for lunch, please check to make sure the MDR is open. It may be closed as Coco Cay is a port day. On one Enchantment cruise (July) the MDR was open just prior to docking in Nassau but in August it was not, so it might be a good idea to check.

 

Also – we generally carry bags OFF the ship and carried then ON just once or twice. We really found no significant advantage to carrying them on. We like to board early, before the cabin opens, so we had to drag the bags around for one or two hours. We always take a tote with a swimsuit and some essentials and change to sit by the pool. We’ve never had luggage arrive later then 3 or so, so we never had any issue with clothes for dinner. If you plan to arrive after the cabins open ( 1:00 or so) then there is no issue of carting luggage around.

 

Now - just to add confusion. Park Cafe also serves breakfast. So now you can have progressive breakfast: Room service, Park Cafe, Windjammer and MDR :D

 

 

Looking forward to seeing you Friday

M

Edited October 22, 2013 by cruisegirl1

[jccdc]

Fortunately, the nature trail on Coco Cay is pretty shady. The terrain can get a bit rough (large, rough rocks) so wear some sturdy sandals or sneakers. It goes the entire length of the island. I walked it all on my last trip.

 

50% chance of rain in the Bahamas on the weekend. Cloudy in Port Canaveral Friday but probably no rain (10%). We'll plan to hit the rock climbing wall on day 1 just in case.

[dreadpirate3]

I am bringing three pairs of shoes for this cruise, and my sturdy Teva sandals are probably what I will wear most of the time. We are used to hiking, so it should be good.

 

Don't forget about the bungee trampoline!

[dreadpirate3]

Good morning! We are T-1 day for launch aka embarkation. What can I say, I have lived here 25 years and love a Cape Canaveral launch!

 

Today we have to complete our packing. DH has to buy himself a watch and goggles as DS and I ordered ours, but DH is more particular about such things.

 

As I go on, day by day, I am reducing the amount of clothing I am bringing. I make my own jewelry, and have been wanting to make new pieces for this cruise, but only two are finished.

 

Today is the last day of work and tomorrow we head to the port!

 

I woke up an hour early and couldn't go back to sleep, feel like a kid on Christmas day.

[CruiserJul]

Have a great cruise! Looking forward to your review when you get back. DH and I are going in December :D.

[dreadpirate3]

Alas, I am a terrible mother. DS called me and asked me if he had a bed! He thought we were in a smaller cabin, like we were on Monarch last time he sailed. Poor guy! I was able to console him, and now he is convinced we are in a "mini suite". I'll show him the diagram (again) tonight.

 

I keep getting stomach butterfly attacks from excitement.

[divergirl63]

One of our wonderful fellow cruisers on our roll call thread has done some research and there may be some rain during our cruise and excursions. So, we are now packing light rain jackets as well.

 

Current excursion plans.

 

Saturday - Nassau, Bahamas

Lunch on the ship in the Park Cafe or Windjammer (depending on how busy they are)

Disembark, catch private taxi (DS has claustrophobia in crowded areas) to Atlantis. I know the public areas are few, but we wanted to visit the Marina as well.

We will take another taxi from Atlantis to Graycliff, where we have booked a tour.

After that, we are planning to visit the Green Parrot Bar and Hard Rock Café. We will get back on the ship after those. I hope we will be able to enjoy the running of the drunks for any other ships in port.

 

Sunday - CocoCay, Bahamas

After breakfast in the MDR, we will go ashore for a few hours, snorkel, buy the slide pass for DS, and then go back on the ship for lunch in the MDR (only day we can have lunch there). We will go back later for more time on the beach and in the water. I want to also walk the nature trails and see what we might be able to find. We are all of European ancestry, and burn easily, so having beach time, then taking a break will work well for us.

 

Two more work days and three more nights!

 

They have a nice beach BBQ while on Coco Cay!!

[dreadpirate3]

We are back, it was a wonderful trip. I will start writing the review portion later today.

[hansolosmom]

Glad to hear you had a wonderful time!

[dreadpirate3]

We parked at Park n Cruise, which I had reserved and paid for the week before. Made it much easier for us on travel day. We pulled into their lot, were instructed to take all of our luggage out, then DH parked in the assigned spot and we were taken to the port in a minivan with two other passengers.

 

When we got into the port terminal area, we had to remove (per the porters) the wine from our checked luggage and carry it in our carry on luggage. We breezed through the terminal with no problems and great service from the terminal staff. We were sent to the gold line and waited about 5 minutes to receive our cards. We walked onto the ship and took the cheesy boarding photo, but we never buy them.

 

Since we ran late, we were on board at 1:30 and able to go to our room.

[dreadpirate3]

First glimpse of Enchantment.

 

Our Balcony Stateroom

 

The bed

[dreadpirate3]

Views of and from the balcony while in port.

The VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) at NASA