Holiday Enchantment of the Seas - Live 12/23/2022 to 12/30/2022

[Rubyfisch]

Sadness....

 

[Rubyfisch]

We're in the Chesapeake now - I've been able to lights ashore since dinner.

 

Current location:

 

 

Current view:

 

[Rubyfisch]

I think it's time to wind down with a final cup of tea and piece of pound cake and an episode of the Great British Bakeoff (I decided to rewatch the 2020 season this week).

 

I'll have more updates tomorrow on breakfast, disembarkation, and all of that. And then it's onwards to Alexandria to spend the holiday with my partner before we had home and back to reality.

[Rubyfisch]

One last thought for the night - I think they are preheating the ship to keep things warmer when we are in port tomorrow and they can only run one engine... The hallways are sweltering. Note, I don't blame them one bit ...

[Another_Critic]

5 hours ago, Cru1s1ng2009 said:

ok that is a great idea! I still dont have the crystal blocks. in fact, i dont even know what they are, i have only seen the item listed on the C&A graph. 

Crystal Blocks are blocks etched with the ship profile.  They are earned on the ship in which you reach 140 points, then every 70 points thereafter.

[long4acruise]

12 hours ago, Rubyfisch said:

The CD also said he only has two more weeks on this contract

I was hoping Eric would still be onboard for our Feb 23rd cruise. 😔 

We sailed with him last year for NY Eve and he was very good.

[Rubyfisch]

We were sailing into Baltimore around 6:30 am, so we must have crawled through the Chesapeake. 

 

I went to the MDR for the Key breakfast... It was okay ... But being able to walk off when I was done was very nice. Customs was a cursory look at my passport and off into the terminal. I grabbed my bag and headed outside. One of the black car limo guys offered $35 to Penn Station, which given what the can cost the airport, I figured it was there and more comfortable (I'm sure a Lyft would have been cheaper). I was on the 10:04 train to Alexandria, but my choice to overpay to get to the train station paid off. I hopped out of the car at 8:30, walked up to the ticket counter, bought a ticket on the 8:48 train, ran down to the track, and am now between BWI and DC headed south.

[BND]

57 minutes ago, long4acruise said:

I was hoping Eric would still be onboard for our Feb 23rd cruise. 😔 

We sailed with him last year for NY Eve and he was very good.

Eric has been on for at about 7 months.  Time for him to have some time off.  As of now, no one seems to know who is replacing him.  We had Bobby last April but he's moved on to Oasis and we had Eric in July.  We love Bobby and sailed with him on his first contract with Royal on GR a few years ago.

Edited December 30, 2022 by BND

[Rubyfisch]

Just going to some wrap up thoughts on various things.

 

The Key: I don't think I'd do it again. It ended up being about $10 a day more than WiFi. The WiFi is fantastic. The Chops lunch in the MDR was probably my least favorite meal of the cruise. Priority boarding wasn't an issue because Baltimore moves so efficiently as I had the earliest check in. Dropping of my bag was nice, and priority departure was also nice. In the future, I think I'd just get the internet and maybe book a specialty restaurant for embarkation day lunch.

[BND]

9 hours ago, Rubyfisch said:

Just going to some wrap up thoughts on various things.

 

The Key: I don't think I'd do it again. It ended up being about $10 a day more than WiFi. The WiFi is fantastic. The Chops lunch in the MDR was probably my least favorite meal of the cruise. Priority boarding wasn't an issue because Baltimore moves so efficiently as I had the earliest check in. Dropping of my bag was nice, and priority departure was also nice. In the future, I think I'd just get the internet and maybe book a specialty restaurant for embarkation day lunch.

The Key doesn't really get you anything on Vision class ships and definitely not in Baltimore.  We book Chops on boarding day and it's a nice quiet meal.

[Rubyfisch]

The Refreshment Package: my vote is - fun for one cruise for me, but wouldn't do it again. Turns out I don't really like mocktails all that much. On a ship with a freestyle machine, I might do a soda package as I do like seltzer water, but otherwise... Eh. I think I would have been much better off just buying an iced coffee in the afternoons if I wanted one. The free tea bags are fine, and I found the ice tea fine as well. 

[Rubyfisch]

The itinerary: well ... It was better when I booked it ... Coco Cay seems like it would have been way better than Nassau. I can totally see why people thing Port Canaveral is a very meh port, but I kind of liked it. I look forward to walking on Cocoa Beach when I don't need five layers.

 

Also - sailing in and out Baltimore is fantastic. It was so smooth and so easy, and the people who worked shore side were super nice.

[Rubyfisch]

The staff: I can't say enough good things about the staff. My room steward was great, my dining room staff was great, the CD and his team were great. I did some athletic activities for the first time, and thought those were great as well.

[perfect match]

Thank you for a great review! I’ve enjoyed cruising along with you. 

[loug1601]

Hi Rubyfisch,

 

Your review was a fun read. Thanks for spending the time to share your cruise with us!

 

Pat

Edited December 31, 2022 by loug1601

[Rubyfisch]

The food: food is subjective, but subjectively I liked it and found it to be in line with previous, pre-shut down cruises. I will say, the portions in the MDR seem smaller, but I wasn't bothered by that. I liked having a little room to get a snack when Windjammer opened and then still eat dinner, or to grab something from Park Cafe. The variety in Windjammer was good, although the layout is terrible.... Who thought that round thing would work well?

 

As I've said, the worst meal I had was the chops Key lunch on embarkation day. My first thought was ... This is going to be a long week. I was pleasantly surprised with just about everything after that was good. The pizza in Park Cafe was surprisingly good and always hot.

[Rubyfisch]

The Ship: Enchantment is old and small - those things are definitely both true. And therefore has rust, and some wear and some dated decor. But I have to say, I loved her. I loved the Centrum and the glasses in Solarium. I loved the Spotlight Lounge. I loved the flow of people. And, particularly because I was traveling solo, I loved that I could run into the same people over and over.

[Rubyfisch]

Overall: I loved it! I loved it so much that I booked on Vision out of Baltimore for the Christmas cruise in 2023 ....

 

Thanks for following along everyone. If anyone has questions, please let me know. And happy new year!

[ecslady]

Thanks for your live review and sharing your thoughts.  Really enjoyed following you along.

[ginnynj]

2 hours ago, Rubyfisch said:

Overall: I loved it! I loved it so much that I booked on Vision out of Baltimore for the Christmas cruise in 2023 ....

 

Thanks for following along everyone. If anyone has questions, please let me know. And happy new year!

Thanks again for your review. Have a Healthy Happy New Year!

 

[TKATeacher]

Thank you for the great review...really enjoyed following along with your trip.  We sailed on Enchantment on a 9 night in July 2022, and we greatly enjoyed our cruise.  Like you, we encountered really great staff members. Thanks again for taking the time to bring us along on your cruise!

[zaylyn2590]

On 12/31/2022 at 9:53 AM, Rubyfisch said:

Overall: I loved it! I loved it so much that I booked on Vision out of Baltimore for the Christmas cruise in 2023 ....

 

Thanks for following along everyone. If anyone has questions, please let me know. And happy new year!

I was looking to book this one too! 

[Rubyfisch]

Just now, zaylyn2590 said:

I was looking to book this one too! 

I did an 8 day holiday cruise in 2017, and the extra day is really nice.

 

Assuming the itinerary stays as it is, I think it will be a fun one.

[stepmor99]

Thank you for your review! I'm taking my family on an 8 day cruise on EOS on 3/3. Your review shed some light on "cruising in cold weather". My grandkids haven't realized yet that 4 of their 8 days may not represent beach weather. It should be fun for all of us, none the less.

 

Enjoy your future cruises!

[Rubyfisch]

2 hours ago, stepmor99 said:

Thank you for your review! I'm taking my family on an 8 day cruise on EOS on 3/3. Your review shed some light on "cruising in cold weather". My grandkids haven't realized yet that 4 of their 8 days may not represent beach weather. It should be fun for all of us, none the less.

 

Enjoy your future cruises!

Just so you know, they let kids use the Solarium pool for certain hours when it was too cold to use the outdoor ones. I can't remember if I mentioned that.