Enchantment Review: May 16th w/15 month-old

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Well, I promised I would come back and here I am.

 

If you'd like to know where I went and what took so long here goes!

 

I've been a teacher for the past 9.5 years. I was home for 5.5 months after my son was born, then I went back at the beginning of the new school year, August 2013. I had a horrible year. My students were wonderful, but the demands of teaching, at least in the district I work for, were heavy. I was expected to attend evening events during the week. I was often put in a place where I had to choose between seeing my son and doing something for work. The amount of paperwork now required is crazy. I would go in an hour early each morning to complete it. I would put my son to bed at night and spend hours on the computer at home doing more. I realized very quickly that I had to choose what was more important to my family. That would be being there for my son.

 

Last week was the final week of the school year. Over the last 4 weeks I have been packing up 9.5 years worth of books, resources, furniture, etc and slowly bringing it home. I have taken a child care leave from my position for the upcoming school year so that I have more time to spend with my son. It's been a rough few weeks. A lot of anxiety. Leaving behind 9.5 years of of life, friends, families, everything. So I haven't had time to come on here to report on my trip.

 

FYI- I was not a teacher of writing ;) Hence my poor writing skills, lol.

 

Now that I'm semi-retired I have a little more time to dedicate to this! I do have my own little side business, so I will do that to make some money here and there. I am 100% thankful for my husband who is supporting me.

 

I'll pick up on day two in the next post.

Edited June 9, 2014 by smileyperry

[Sunkissed Mommy]

We grabbed breakfast in the Windjammer. It wasn't terribly busy. I really do not enjoy cruise ship buffet breakfasts. I feel like it's the same few things. Royal really does a terrible job of making biscuits with sausage gravy. I didn't even plan on attempting it. My mom did despite my warnings. She was upset because the "gravy" was sweet and had no sausage. I told her that it wasn't going to be good!! Thankfully there is a Park Cafe and we'd spend future breakfasts there. My son didn't seem to mind the buffet one bit.

 

 

The Crown & Anchor top tier event was held in the Viking Crown Lounge in the morning at 10:30am (I think). I apologize for these estimates, its been almost a month and my brain is fuzzy with everything I've done over the last month. We brought my son with intentions to leave if he decided to act up.

 

They served mimosas and other typical mixed drinks along with canapes.

 

DS enjoyed climbing on the glass walls of VCL. The Hotel Manager (I think) came over to speak with us for a while. She was a young woman from Canada. She loved holding my son and talking to us. She said she really missed her nephew back home in Toronto. Then DS saw the stairs. Oh boy. He spent the remainder of the time going up and down the three steps... Hey, it's cheap easy entertainment!

 

 

We arrived early to Nassau. It was nice to watch us pull in from the top of the ship. They announced the top people. A couple Pinnacles onboard. I dont remember the exact numbers for the other tiers, but I think it was something like 200-300 C&A people on the ship.

Edited June 9, 2014 by smileyperry

[Sunkissed Mommy]

We all had Cruise Shoes on. Ours have anchors, DS has whales. My mom bought her shoes back in April and I kept sulking over how much I wanted a pair. She kept telling me that they had none in my size when she found them. Once we got on the ship she said she had an early birthday gift for me, it was the shoes in my size :)

 

 

They are Roxy brand if anyone is interested and she found them at DSW.

Edited June 9, 2014 by smileyperry

[Sunkissed Mommy]

This was the first time I've ever been to Nassau and we got a front parking spot. It was very nice. Convenient especially considering the issue we ran in to later in the day.

 

 

We hung out on the balcony after the Crown & Anchor party. As I said earlier in the review, my son loved the balcony. It was entertaining for him and equally safe because it was contained yet he could see the ocean and Nassau from the space. He's at the right age that he can't get in to any real trouble like climbing over the rail so it worked out great.

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

We've been to Nassau more than enough times, so we planned to stay on the ship and use the spa :)

 

We had booked my son in to Royal Babies & Tots for noon. This would give us time to explore the ship a bit before our 1pm appointments. We arrived at RB&T (the Nursery) at noon. The woman there asked if he had eaten lunch, at this point we were under the impression that they would feed him lunch. When we told her no she said she would suggest we feed him because they only have crackers and juice in the nursery on this particular ship.

 

So we went up to the buffet and quickly fed him. Then went back down to the nursery to check him in.

 

Our original plans were to get massages and then lay by the pool. But it wasn't a nice day. Rain and dark clouds seemed to be the only thing in sight. SO we changed our plans to massage and a quick trip off the ship to see if we could find good deals on perfume and makeup.

 

Spa

I like the spa on this class of ship because the waiting area has a beautiful wide window space. I didn't take pictures this time, but here's two from when I was on the ship in 2008.

 

 

There weren't any port-day specials, but I did get a discount for being a Crown & Anchor member. I believe it was 10% off. This may sound weird, but this was the best massage I've ever had. I like my massages to be relaxing and calming. My masseuse did a great job, so much so that I nearly fell asleep twice. I felt amazing afterwards. I needed it because I had a rough last few months at work. She used a brush on my skin before to help with the aromatherapy.

Edited June 10, 2014 by smileyperry

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[jerseygirlinsi]

Teaching is such a huge deal, and 9.5 years is a lot of time to have put into a career. But good for you for being able to chose time with your son. My oldest son has a teacher that is spread so thin with having her own 3 school aged children, that its such a disservice to her students, and family I'm sure. The work load of teaching is heavy, and parenting also. Kudos to you.

btw… Those shoes are so cute! DSW here I come!

[Sunkissed Mommy]

After the spa we decided to head off the ship for a quick trip. We were done with our massages at 2ish and we had my son in the nursery until 4pm. We got off as it was sprinkling, but not pouring. We took each other's picture with the ship behind us, a tradition.

 

 

 

I am definitely a better photographer than my mom. ;)

 

We headed over to Bay Street. I was looking for the following items at good prices: Clinique Dramatically Different Moisture Gel, Clinique Pore Refining Makeup, and Michale Kors perfume. Both Clinique items were more expensive in Nassau than on the ship. I bought them in the shops onboard for less. I found the perfume, but couldn't remember the price difference between Nassau and South Florida, so I opted not to buy it on this trip.

 

My mom was looking for a specific Sugar Cane Brandy by Mt Gay Rums. They no longer make it, so she's probably never going to find it. But she never gives up hope. She compared liquor prices on the ship vs Nassau. She was upset because they were "Costco prices." Meaning she could buy the liquor for the same price at Costco.

 

We headed back over to Festival Place. The line to get back on the ship was enormous! I have never seen it so bad. I've been to Nassau on some of the largest ships, when every berth was full, and there still wasn't a line this long. It went out the doors of the building! There were actually two lines, so where the two lines merged there was a huge bottleneck jam and it took us nearly 45 minutes to get back to the ship. I was panicking because my son was on the ship. I normally wouldn't just leave my kid behind, but we only planned to be on Bay St and then get right back on. Normally its a two minute thing to go through security.

 

I think the worst part of it was that some of the people in line were disgusting. I hate to be that person who is criticizing others but it was gross. There is a difference between having some fun and being trashy & nasty!!! This large group of unruly people eventually got on to the Carnival ship in port. Now before you peg me as a Carnival hater... We went on the Glory in December. I would definitely say the people differ from Carnival to Royal, they weren't terrible on the Glory though. They were civilized and friendly. I'm thinking that the Carnival ship in port with us this day (Ecstasy, maybe?) had a really good sale on it and anyone and anything booked it!

 

So we finally got to the checkpoint where we show our ID and SeaPass and I glance at the clock. I'm getting really nervous. I have this thing. I have to be early for everything. If I show up on time I feel like I am late. Yes, it bothered me that we didn't get on the ship right away on Friday also!! So the fact that we were down to the wire of when I needed to pick up my son made me full of anxiety. When I'm anxious I get crabby. It's not good. I won't leave him in the nursery ever again when getting off the ship because it really bothered me. Okay, some of you might be thinking "This girl is nuts. She left her kid on the ship and now she's freaking out about her son being in the nursery past the assigned time." Yes, I realize they weren't going to throw my 15 month old out the door of the nursery if I wasn't there at exactly 4pm. I know the ship wasn't leaving anytime soon either. I still need to be on time. I don't care about flexibility sometimes. It's a flaw. I'm sure someone out there understands my craziness :)

[AlluraUni]

Okay, some of you might be thinking "This girl is nuts. She left her kid on the ship and now she's freaking out about her son being in the nursery past the assigned time."

 

 

My son's in daycare during the week, so I totally get it. :) And just remind yourself it's more dangerous driving to work everyday than anything else you do. Leaving your kid safely in the nursery (aka daycare) isn't really a big deal, no matter where you're going.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

My son's in daycare during the week, so I totally get it. :) And just remind yourself it's more dangerous driving to work everyday than anything else you do. Leaving your kid safely in the nursery (aka daycare) isn't really a big deal, no matter where you're going.

 

I appreciate the support! I have no issues with putting my son in the care of qualified people. Years ago I was applying to do some work on cruise ships, the cruise lines require the people in kids clubs to have degrees in education. So I know they are at least educated in what they are doing. DS has been in daycare for the last 10 months while I was working. He adapts easily to new environments.

 

I know a lot of people have posted on here that it's foolish to leave your kid in the nursery and then leave the ship. Thats why i added that little bit there.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

So I scrambled up the stairs. I had no patience to wait for an elevator with a crowd waiting at it's doors. I run up to the door and there is a sign posted... I can't read it from the elevator, so I get closer and...

 

 

So I quietly open the door to the nursery. The lights are dim. Two children are playing on the floor on the mats quietly. I don't see my son. Oh no they've thrown him out! No no no, one of the ladies working pointed on the other side of the half-wall by the cribs.

 

The half-wall with the yellow circles just to be clear.

 

He was asleep! I took off my sandals and tip toed over to the nap area. He was curled up with a blanket, sleeping peacefully. The nursery staff member told me I could let him keep resting and they would page the beeper when he woke up if I wanted to come back then. I opted to take him with me. We had dinner reservations for 5:30pm and I didn't want him freshly awake and crabby at dinner.

 

Upon leaving the nursery they gave me a paper that provided me all the details from his stay. Diaper changes, foods he ate, toys he played with, his demeanor, etc. It was very nice. His daycare here at home gives us a similar sheet at the end of each day. I was very happy to see two adults with three children. That's better than the mandated ratio in Florida of 4 children to 1 adult.

 

It cost $6 an hour during the day. The total charge was $24 for him to be there from a little after noon to a little after 4pm. They swiped my SeaPass right there and had me sign a receipt.

Edited June 13, 2014 by smileyperry

[Sunkissed Mommy]

So the evening that is spent in Nassau is also formal night. I think that's an interesting choice. Many people are off the ship exploring Nassau and skip the dining room on this night. It was more empty than the first night. We were okay with this. We chose an early meal time so that if we had a problem with my son it wouldn't effect very many people.

 

So DS wanted to wear his Nautical Tie this evening. Here he is playing on the balcony before dinner. it may be hard to tell but there are anchors on his tie.

 

 

We were standing at the entrance of the dining room when our asst waiter saw us. He immediately sprung in to action. By the time we made our way to our seats there was a high chair and fruit waiting for DS. We were very happy that they did this because it allowed us to look over the menu and wait for our meals without having to fuss with my son.

 

 

Again, we weren't impressed with the menu options. I don't remember what we had at all and I didn't take a picture of our food. Our waiter played with DS while we had out appetizers though. He pretended to share some of the fruit with my son and then played peek-a-boo. There were no other people in his section so it wasn't a big deal that he spent so much time at our table.

 

 

My son had the "catch of the day" off of the kids menu. It was salmon. The portion was an adult portion. He obviously didn't eat it all, but he enjoyed what he did eat. He also ate the broccoli and carrots. I am thankful that my son isn't picky!

 

[tampagirl2]

I'm enjoying your review! I can't believe your son eats Salmon and brocolli! You are very lucky!

[Sunkissed Mommy]

We saw the Majesty pull in to Nassau during dinner. This told me that they missed Coco Cay. After dinner we didn't do much of anything. We put my son to sleep around 8pm after playing with bubbles on the balcony.

 

We woke up to a beautiful day. Sun was shining and Coco Cay was outside my balcony!

 

 

It's too bad because that's all we got to see of it on this trip. I was really hoping that we'd be able to go. I wanted my son to be able to play on the beach and in the water. The captain said that the tenders were unable to safely get in and out of the small harbor where they get you on to the island. He let everyone know that NCL also chose to skip Great Stirrup Cay due to the same reason. (FYI- Coco Cay's real name is Little Stirrup Cay and the two islands are next to each other. You can usually see the other cruise line's ships while on either island)

[Sunkissed Mommy]

I'm pretty sure I could win the "most long drawn out review" as of lately. It's hard to find the time to do this when I'm now home with my son all day. He likes to play with me so I can't escape to the computer that often.

 

So we decided to take it easy onboard. We started our morning at Park Cafe, yum yum! We ordered our food and sat at a table. There were no high chairs in Park Cafe so we attempted to let my son sit in the regular chair with a close eye on him. One of the crew members came over with a container of fruit and gave it to my son.

 

 

The same crew member then came back over and made a bib.

 

 

Then he came over with a paper hat for him to wear. Well, my son wasn't having any of that! It was a kind gesture though.

 

 

I said it before and I will say it again. The crew on this ship went above and beyond to keep my little guy happy. You could tell they were genuinely delighted to entertain him and be around him.

 

I had an "English Muffin Panini" AKA Egg McMuffin. I also tried the breakfast burrito. Both were delicious. I went back for another burrito once I had finished my first serving.

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

We shopped in the shops onboard. I picked up my ship ornament to add to my collection back home. I'm still missing some of my early cruises- Sovereign, Jewel, and Carnival Imagination.

 

 

While I was browsing through the shops I saw a cozy looking pink hooded zip-up sweatshirt in one of the glass cases. It has a light Crown & Anchor logo on the right side. My mother always complains that I ruin a beautiful outfit by throwing a hoodie on over it. I have to keep my look going, so I searched out to find this sweatshirt in a shop. It wasn't in any of the shops, only the display.

 

The lady in the gift shop was very kind and asked her manager to locate one. He went on a mission. He was gone for 15-20 minutes, but he came back with every color and size for me! It's going to come in handy on my Canada/ New England cruise this October. My mom told me I cannot wear this sweat shirt to dinner or anywhere nice, darn!

 

 

These pictures of the shops look rather dark and dreary, but it wasn't that bad. I'm sure someone with photography skills could have made it look a ot nicer.

 

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

It was time for lunch after all that shopping. We headed to the Windjammer. This was the only time we had an issue here. There was a large group of Indian people onboard. Im guessing a few hundred. Most days they had a whole section of the Windjammer with Indian dishes being served. It was one of the wings of the buffet, looking out over the pool area. Not in the main/central area. On this day there wasn't. So the Indian dishes were in the regular Windjammer area. Now before you jump all over me... I like Indian food. I don't have any problems with them offering it. However, 75% of the dishes in the Windjammer were Indian. My son, a 15 month old, doesn't do much Indian food. The choices were lacking because of this set up.

 

Eventually they put out some of the food that was supposed to be on Coco Cay. Burgers, BBQ, etc. However, my son's patience was winding down at this point and we needed to give him a nap.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

After my son's nap we planned to go to the Royal Babies & Tots open play. This is a time that the nursery is open for parents to go with their child to play with the toys in the room. It is not a supervised session.

 

By the time he woke up there was about 45 minutes left. So we made our way upstairs. All three of us had fun!

 

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

My son is very active. He's a climber. So this soft-foam mat and wedge were great for him. This Friday (June 20th) we're taking him to a toddler gymnastics class in our area because he just loves to climb and tumble!!

 

 

 

 

 

We were the only people in there during this time. There may have been people in there earlier in the day, but during the last hour or so we had the place to ourselves!

[beachlover777]

Thank you so much for the review and photos. We were going to take NCL Sky with our almost 2 year old, but this has me thinking the Enchantment may be the better option for us! Your son is adorable!

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Thank you so much for the review and photos. We were going to take NCL Sky with our almost 2 year old, but this has me thinking the Enchantment may be the better option for us! Your son is adorable!

 

I've been on the NCL Sky twice and had a great time. But if you're going with a 2 year old, this is the ship you should take!

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Well I forgot to mention that after lunch and before nap time I tried out the Jump Zone, bungee trampoline. I don't have any photos because my mom was holding my son and video recording me on it. I will post my photos from 2008 just in case anyone doesn't know what I'm talking about!

 

 

 

 

When I had used it in 2008 we were in port (Grand Cayman). This time it was on a sea day. The sports staffer told me that they were not supposed to have it open due to being at sea and having very high winds. They had made an exception because we missed Coco Cay. So they limited to only jumping, no flips. I will be honest, I was getting blown around when I used it. I would land 4-5 feet from where I jumped from. Sometimes on the edge of the trampoline!

 

I got a really good work out on my quads! I was out of breath when I was done. They did not seem to have a time limit for each individual. There was a line, but nothing too long. I think people were getting off quicker than usual because of the wind.

[deliver42]

Thank you for the great review. We are booked for May, 2015, also in a Panorama cabin. Maybe we'll be as lucky as you with an upgrade, though it's not necessary. We are looking forward to the cruise.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

I know it's a little out of order, but after the Babies & Tots open play time we went back to the cabin to get changed for dinner. While we were changing my son went exploring. I had my back to him for less than 30 seconds. When I turned around I saw this!!!

 

 

Yes, that's a 14 month old climbing over the side of the pack n play. I am going to have my hands full!! I have since enrolled him in the Little Gym (a gymnastics type class for young toddlers).

 

Upon our arrival in the dining room they had the high chair all set for us. Fruit came within a minute of being seated. We were one of two tables there for majority of the time. The other table of guests was toward the front of the dining room and they had an infant with them.

 

My son devoured his spaghetti this evening along with a side of mixed veggies. If anyone is interested in HOW I got my little guy to eat a variety of foods- I want to give credit to something called Baby Led Weaning. Essentially skipping "baby food" and giving him table food from 6 months on. We would cut it up small. He became used to eating what we ate for dinner. He doesn't have a picky palate. He does have some sensory issues with certain textures like chicken, but the doctor said it's completely normal in children of this age and he'll grow out of it!

 

 

 

After dinner we dropped him off at the nursery again. Mom and I wanted to have a little fun on our own for a couple of hours. :)

[Sunkissed Mommy]

The Enchantment was always extremely windy to me. Not sure if it's coincidence, but both of my trips on the ship afforded me an opportunity to get blown away. I remember it from back in 2008 when I was on the ship.

 

Here is me in 2008...

(please don't mind my ridiculous face)

 

 

and me in 2014...

 

Edited June 24, 2014 by smileyperry