Enchantment of the Seas Review 11/1/13

[Valmoisy]

Pre-cruise stuff

 

As I explained in an earlier post I had decided that I was going to spend my 50th birthday on a cruise with my 19 year old daughter Samantha. We booked the 11/1 sailing of the Enchantment so that my daughter wouldn’t miss too many classes. A couple of weeks prior to sailing my husband George upgraded us to aft royal family suite 8666 so that I could be in a fabulous room for my birthday. We didn’t tell Samantha about the upgrade so she still thought we were in a regular ocean view room.

 

Since Sam’s going to college in New York City and I’m in Massachusetts we planned to meet in Orlando on October 31st. Samantha had classes on Thursday morning so her flight from JFK wouldn’t arrive until 6:30 pm. Since my flight from Boston was due to arrive early afternoon I decided to book a room at an Orlando airport hotel. I had no preference as to which hotel so I used Priceline and got the Doubletree Orlando Airport for $60.00. The hotel was nice enough for the night, with comfortable beds and a free airport shuttle. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant and went to bed early in anticipation of sailaway the next day!

 

Day 1

 

We booked transportation to the port through Orlando Chauffeured Services. As arranged our driver was at the hotel to pick us up at 10:00 am. Both the car and driver were very nice and I would not hesitate to use them again if I’m in need of a car service in Orlando. We arrived at the port at about 10:45, our driver took a picture of us in front of the car and we headed in to board.

Check in was really easy. After receiving our room keys we were directed to the priority boarding area and were on the ship at 11:00 am. We checked out the centrum area a little and then headed up to the pool deck to order our first fruity drinks and wait for the Windjammer to open.

I had heard the horror stories about the windjammer on embarkation day but found that it was not that busy and we had no problem finding a seat. After reading so much about the honey stung chicken I had to try it and thought it was really good.

 

After lunch we wandered some more and toured the spa. While we were touring the spa Sam looked out the window of the hair salon, saw the balcony for the royal family suite and said “OMG, who gets that balcony?” which made me laugh. After touring the spa we went to the Solarium to relax until our room was ready

[LBumb]

great start

[Valmoisy]

Day 1 continued

 

The rooms were ready at 1:30 so we headed down to check out our fabulous royal family suite. Sam was really excited when she walked in, saw the room and realized that she would have her own bedroom and bathroom. She was completely blown away when I opened the curtains and she realized the balcony she had seen from the hair salon was ours. George had sent a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries that were in the room when we arrived. There was also a fruit plate in the room.

 

 

 

 

 

The room and balcony were incredible. You could access the balcony from a door in the main bedroom or a door in the living room. The entire back wall of the suite was glass. The second bedroom had no windows, which was perfect for Sam as she liked to sleep late in the morning. It was really nice to have the extra living space especially since I’m an early riser and Sam likes to sleep in.

 

The balcony was huge! It had 8 chairs, 2 loungers and 4 tables. A little over the top for 2 people but it was pretty cool to experience it.

 

 

 

The room stayed cool as long as the curtains and balcony doors were kept closed during the day. You could feel the room immediately begin to heat up as soon as the curtains or doors were opened. I also found it difficult to sleep while the ship was underway due to the constant vibration. It didn’t feel like a smooth rocking of the sea it was more like someone vigorously shaking the bed every few minutes. The shower in the hall bathroom was also pretty much unusable as the shower curtain didn’t contain the water and the bathroom floor would get soaked. No big deal for us since Sam just used the shower in my room but it could be problematic for others. All in all I loved the suite and the gigantic balcony. I’m glad that I had the chance to try an aft room but I don’t think I would book one again. In the future I’ll stick to rooms midship for smoother sailing.

[Valmoisy]

Day 1 continued

 

After relaxing in the room for a bit I decided to go check on my cabana for Coco Cay. I have to say that this was the only time during the cruise that I got really annoyed. I was really looking forward to spending my birthday relaxing in a cabana on Coco Cay. I had sent an email to the concierge requesting cabana number 3 or 4 and received a response from Iryna saying that she would put my request in the future cruises folder as Reyno would be the concierge on our cruise but was currently on vacation. About a week before the cruise I received an email from Gazetty asking if I wanted one cabana or was I looking for more than one. I responded that I was only looking to book one cabana and that I would like either cabana number 3 or 4. I didn’t receive a response but I assumed that it was taken care of. When I went to check on it I found that I had not been assigned a cabana and that Reyno had never received my request for one. Not only had I not been assigned a cabana but all the front row cabanas had been assigned to others earlier that day. After a bit of shuffling however, Reyno was able to give me cabana number 6. Yay, my plan for the perfect birthday was back on track!

 

Samantha had a 5:00 reservation for a 75 minute Swedish massage so I headed to the concierge lounge while she went to the spa. I met a great group of people in the lounge who are frequent cruisers. One couple told me this cruise was their 22nd since last April. I decided then and there that I wanted to be them when I grew up! The guests and staff in the lounge were really friendly and welcoming and I enjoyed having pre-dinner wine there each evening. Samantha loved her massage and reported that they didn’t try to sell her anything.

 

After enjoying my time in the concierge lounge I returned to the room to get ready for dinner. The room was lovely at dusk with the curtains all open.

 

 

We had my time dining but prior to sailing I made a reservation for 8:00 each night. We requested to be seated with other people and were placed at a table for 8. Our dining companions on the first night included two couples and two men who were traveling solo one of whom was celebrating his 50th birthday on Saturday. It was an enjoyable dinner with good conversation. I really intended to take pictures of the food for the review but never managed to do so. For dinner this night I ordered the scallops, prime rib and crème brulee for dessert. I didn’t care for the scallops. Although the garlic butter was delicious on bread the scallops themselves weren’t that good. Maybe I’m just spoiled living on an island off the coast of Cape Cod where the scallops are incredible. The prime rib and crème brulee were really good. Samantha ordered the chicken consommé, prime rib and crème brulee and loved everything. Although I can’t remember their names, our waiter and assistant waiter were very good and service, of both food and drinks, was efficient.

 

After dinner we were pretty tired so we just headed back to the room to hang out on the balcony for a while and then headed to bed.

[Familygoboston]

Thanks for your review! Lucky lady with a hubby who would upgrade you even when he's not sailing, and happy birthday!:D I'm going on Enchantment with my mom and DD 16 in Feb. my college girl does not have break then, so maybe I will do a cruise just with her another time;)

 

Looking forward to the rest!

[Valmoisy]

Day 2

 

I was wide awake at 5:00 am so I decided to get up and walk around the ship. I grabbed a cup of coffee from the beverage area outside of the windjammer and then went down to guest services to get a print out of my account for the previous day. After killing some more time reading a book I headed to the windjammer for breakfast, visited the concierge lounge to ask Reyno to make Chops reservations for my birthday dinner on Sunday, picked up an iced coffee from Starbucks and then went back to relax and read on our balcony.

 

 

I had promised Sam that I wouldn't wake her until 11:00 am but gave in at 10:30 and went to wake her up. While she got up and got ready I went to the windjammer to get her some fruit and yogurt.

 

The plan for today was to do the dolphin encounter at Atlantis which I had booked prior to leaving home. The ship arrived in Nassau at around 11:30 and people were allowed to disembark around 12:00. After we finished getting ready we headed up to the windjammer to have some lunch before disembarking. While at lunch an announcement was made that we would not be going to Coco Cay the next day as a storm was moving in and there would be high winds. We were told that we would remain in Nassau until 1:30 the following afternoon. So much for my well planned birthday in Coco Cay!

 

We left the ship at around 12:30, went into town to buy some sunglasses and then returned to port to check in for our tour to Atlantis. We departed by bus at around 1:30 and it took about 15 minutes to get to Atlantis.

 

What a beautiful resort!

 

 

 

 

 

[Valmoisy]

Day 2 continued

 

After walking through the resort we checked in for our 2:30 dolphin encounter where we were given fruit infused water and told to relax and wait on the beach until they called us. A young boy that was in our group got really excited when he saw a dolphin jump out of the water and yelled "now that's what I call seeing a dolphin!" After that Samantha and I adopted that saying for anything we saw and began exclaiming "now that's what I call ___" for anything that caught our fancy.

 

We waited a short time before being called in, given wetsuits and directed to a training room where a video was playing. Our trainer came in and gave us a short presentation on dolphins and how the encounter works. We were then broken into groups of 6-8 people and brought out to the lagoon. Pictures were taken and our dolphin eventually made her way over to us. The dolphin encounter was excellent and we couldn’t stop smiling. Unfortunately, you’re not allowed to take pictures during the encounter and the Atlantis pictures are crazy expensive. We ended up purchasing a CD of our pictures for $99.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the dolphin encounter we went to the aquarium for a short visit and then headed out and caught the 4:30 bus back to the ship.

[Valmoisy]

Hi FamilygoBoston,

I love that hubby indulges our girl trips! Since Sam was really young we've taken off on girl's getaways so he's used to it. When the kids were younger Samantha and I would take off for a girl's trip during football season so hubby and son could totally immerse themselves in football and everybody was happy. I think you and your daughter in college should definitely head out on a trip together. I love family vacations but it's also really nice to have that one on one time, especially when they're away at college and we don't get to see them enough!

Maura

[Familygoboston]

Hi FamilygoBoston,

I love that hubby indulges our girl trips! Since Sam was really young we've taken off on girl's getaways so he's used to it. When the kids were younger Samantha and I would take off for a girl's trip during football season so hubby and son could totally immerse themselves in football and everybody was happy. I think you and your daughter in college should definitely head out on a trip together. I love family vacations but it's also really nice to have that one on one time, especially when they're away at college and we don't get to see them enough!

Maura

 

Thats funny Maura! My girls and I are big football fans, so we don't go till mid February so we don't miss a game!;) But my DH is the same as yours- he's happy to see us go off to FL every Feb because he knows it won't last much longer! About half the time we cruise or go to WDW and the other half of the trip we visit my family in W FL. I've got to wait till #2 can drive herself around:rolleyes: before I can run off and leave her home, but I'm tempted to go to Bermuda with #1 in May when she gets back before her sister is done. I know she will need a vacation!

 

Thanks for your review!

[sailingawaysoon]

Loving your review! I can't wait to read more. We will be on the Enchantment for Christmas and so interested in everyone's opinions of the ship, etc. I look forward to the next installment.

[cruzkrazy]

Great start to the review. Can't wait for the next installment.

Sorry for a quick hijack, Familygoboston did you ever find out what the menu is on the 4th night on Enchantment?

Donna

[freepeople]

Enjoying your review. Taking a church group of 50-60 on Enchantment in July.

[Valmoisy]

After getting back we changed and headed up to the concierge lounge for a snack and pre-dinner drink then it was back to the room to get ready for dinner.

 

Since it was formal night we decided to have a few pictures taken. One of the photographers was awesome and his pictures came out great.

 

 

For dinner we were seated with the same waiter and assistant waiter but different dining companions. It was another great dinner with wonderful conversation. One couple at our table reminded Samantha of her art teacher, who was a mentor to her, and her teacher's husband. I don't know much about them but she was a school nurse and he was a fan of the NY Giants and they were so nice and made dinner really enjoyable.

 

For an appetizer I ordered escargot, Sam ordered Caesar salad and we shared a shrimp cocktail. For dinner I ordered artichoke and cheese crepes and Samantha ordered the duck and we shared the entrees. Dessert was crème brulee for Sam and double strawberry cheesecake for me. Everything was great.

 

After dinner we changed and went the to the love and marriage show. The show was really funny but there were a few overly intoxicated people in our area of the theater that disrupted the first part of the show.

 

We went and changed into our bathing suits after the show and hit the hot tub during the late night on deck party. The party was so much fun!! We watched the crew dance from the hot tub for a while and then got out and joined the fun! After dancing for a bit we hit the buffet for a light snack and then went back to the room to relax on the balcony and get to bed. We found our only towel animal of the trip.

 

[sailingawaysoon]

Enjoying the review! Can't wait to see more.....

[#55worktoplay]

Would like to switch it up and take a different short cruise then the Liberty and am enjoying your review.

 

BTW, Beautiful Picture of you two.

[cruizinrican]

We leave next Monday and are just to excited. I was happy to come across your review and pics. What a beautiful cruise spent making fond memories with your daughter. Thanks for the great review, I look forward to reading more.

[cruiseapril]

Great photos. Interesting review. We'll be on the Enchantment in March, so enjoying reading about others' experiences.

[kccrzr]

Thanks for the review. My 20 y.o. daughter and I did the 4 night on Enchantment in August and had so much fun we are doing the 3 night over MLK day when she gets a day off school. I am sorry to hear you missed CocoCay. In August, we were in cabana 6 and it was fantastic. You will just have to plan another trip. :D

[rednancy1]

Great review so far. Thank you for sharing. :)