Enchantment 4/15-4/20

[Jthegreat]

Not sure if you want to consider this a review, a report, or just rambling

 

Day 1: Fort Lauderdale: A mall, a mojito, and a dozen “OH MY GOD’s”

 

I’ll get to the cruise don’t worry, just wanted to give a complete report of the trip. Our flight was supposed to leave Columbus, Ohio at 6:10 but very soon after we woke up thunder storms rolled in and saw one of the most spectacular lightning shows on the way to the airport. Once at the airport, we were told many different times that while the plane was still listed as being “on time”, there was a good chance that it would be delayed because of weather. At 6:00 the storms rolled out and soon after, so did our plane. Plane flight was uneventful and a few hors later we were flying into Ft. Lauderdale. One thing I noticed while flying in was that there were still a lot of blue taps covering up damage from the hurricanes last year. Could really see this from the air as it looked like a lot of structures still had damage. I was told later that it would be over a year until contractors will be able to get to many of the residential houses.

 

Baggage pick-up went smooth and we were off to the Riverside Hotel. We spent a lot of time researching different hotels for our pre and post cruise stays. We finally narrowed it down to two. The Riverside Hotel and The Pillars at New River Sound. Both are great hotels for different reasons. The reviews of the Riverside on-line have been mixed at best. One of the factors seems to be whether or not you stay in a room in the old section or if you stay in the tower section which is newer. Knowing this we made sure we booked a room in the newer section. We requested a tower room w/ a balcony. We were both very impressed with the room. Very spacious and well decorated. They gave us a room on the top floor (12th floor) with the balcony facing the water way. We arrived at 11:00 and our room was ready. The hotel is right on Las Olas Blvd. Great location to shop and to people watch. After settling in our room we decided to find someplace to eat lunch.

 

Walking down Las Olas we quickly found that there is no shortage of restaurants and sidewalk cafes. We settled on eating at a little Italian Bistro called Louie Louie. Nice little place where can choose to either sit inside or outside. Still getting used the change of temperature form Columbus, Ohio to Florida, we chose to sit inside. Food was good. I just had a pizza as they had several articles on the wall as you walked in that mentioned they had been voted best pizza in the city for several different years. It was good. Thin crust but not crispy which was a little odd. The sauce was also a little different. Not bad but just different. Might be a good place to go for people who want to get that pizza fix before they cruise. My wife had some kind of pasta dish. It was good as well.

 

After we ate we took a taxi to the Galleria Mall. The wife wanted to buy some capris for the trip. The mall was “OK”. Kind of upscale but yet a little run down. I got the feeling that when the mall opened (I’m guess mid to late 80’s) that it was a great place to shop but the empty retail spaces and lack of shoppers makes me believe this shopping center has lost some luster. I got a little impatient while she was shopping so I decided it was time to start drinking. Walked outside and decided to hit a place almost right next to the mall called The Blue Martini (I think that’s what it was called). A member of the wait staff told me that the bar was open and to just have a seat. I sat. and sat. Then I sat some more. After 10 minutes I still did not see a bartender. Was starting to wonder where the other patrons sitting at the bar could have possibly gotten their drinks. Did they just materialize? Did they make them themselves? Were they the bartenders cleverly disguising themselves as patrons so to get out of their duties? Couldn’t figure it out so I just left. Tine was running out and if the significant other had to wait as long for me as I had for a drink, the vacation would turn sour fairly quickly.

 

She had finished shopping and while we kind of wanted to go back to the hotel, the thought of spending another 20.00 in cab fare to get back to the hotel seemed like a waste since we just got there.

 

We decided to stop and have a couple drinks instead. Went directly next door to a place called the Capital Grille and ordered 2 white Russians made w/ Grey Goose Vodka which came to 18.00 (over 20.00 w/ tip)…so much for being frugal by not rushing off and paying for a taxi back to the hotel. That’s OK though, not only did we have a couple of drinks but also ordered one of the biggest pieces of chocolates cake I have ever seen. Not sure if it was just that were hungry or what, but this was some damn tasty cake.

 

Took taxi back to the hotel and the wife wanted to take a nap. I figured this would be the best time for me to get my first mojito. Had heard a lot about them but still needed to hunt one down. Before I left, however, I decided to open the door of the balcony to let in the breeze. It’s then that we heard it.

 

Someone below us had their balcony door open as well.

 

Someone below us was bumping uglies.

 

We sat out on the balcony and rated the waves of amorous sounds coming from below us. Quite fun actually. Wish we had a recorder and we could have played it back to them later.

 

After the show was over, I headed to the bar and she took a nap. Never had a mojoto and damn they are tasty. Thought they were good at the riverside Bar but had no idea how much better they would be on the ship. I had three sitting at the bar and had some breat conversation with an elderly woman who was in town for “a well know New York hair stylists funeral” . I guess she has a bit of money. Has a place in NYC as well and Fort Lauderdale and they kind of just go back and forth between them. Lot of interesting stories from her.

 

Ok,OK, this is getting too long so I’m going to try and wrap this up. The rest of the evening went fine. Stopped at a few places on Las Olas for drinks and went back to the hotel.

 

1:37 A.M.

 

“Oh, God, Oh God, Ooooooh GOOOOOOD!”

 

This it what we heard through the walls for the next half hour. What the hell is in the air in Florida?

 

 

 

Day 2: Embarkment

 

Ok, day 1 was way too long so I’m going to skip over all the B.S. and just get to the ship. Funny thing happened on the way through the port though. We saw a taxi that was pulled over by a police officer. I asked the cabbie if they get in trouble if they get a ticket. He mentioned that it is frowned upon because it affects the insurance rates but they don’t really get into trouble. I thought that was the end of it. I was wrong. As we are waiting in line in port, the people in front of us get a call from their daughter. She was in the taxi that had gotten pulled over. Her taxi driver had gotten arrested and they were sending another taxi to drive her the rest of the way to the terminal. I’m guessing that is a little frowned upon as well. We arrived at the port about 11:30. We were herded into the holding pen and were quickly processed in.

 

The Ship

 

My first thoughts were how elegant the ship was. Lots of glass and beautiful artwork. We picked up a welcome aboard drink. The drinks tasted kind of strange. Not like the ones you would get at the bar. I would advise people to stay away from these and just go to the bar for a drink. We then walked to chops to make reservations. Neither one of us are big on seafood so we had already decided to do Chops on whatever night lobster was being served in the main dining room. There was NO line at Chops and we made reservations for 7:00 on Tuesday which was the day at Georgetown. We then went to the Spa as we had hoped to get a couples massage. After seeing a price list, we quickly changed our mind as a couples massage was priced at 220.00. My wife settled for a facial for 100.00. Really not bad since it is only 20.00 more than she pays at home.

 

Next to the pool deck.

 

The area was already filling up with kids. We kept walking and changed into our suites between the main pool area and the solarium. Noticed NO ONE was in the solarium pool so this is where we plopped down for a good hour or so with our feet dangling in the water, watching the people go by. It was like a little oasis. No children under the age of 16 are allowed so it was nice to be away from everything after a hectic couple of days.

 

Were able to get in our room at 2:00 (maybe 1:00…can’t quite remember). The champagne and chocolate covered strawberries I had ordered were in the room when we arrived. We ate the strawberries and kept the champagne on ice to have it in the evening while we were sailing away.

 

Had dinner in the Main dining room. Really good food. Had Tuscan tomato soup as an appetizer. Really, really good. Then had crusted cod on mashed potatoes for the meal. Not big on seafood but this was very good. Both our head waiter and assistant waiter were from Romania. Seemed to get much more service from the assistant. Is this normal. His name is Silvio and was just a great guy. Whenever we saw him around the ship he always went the extra mile. We gave him the pre-paid tip at the end of the cruise as well as an extra 20.00 that I handed to him. Just a great guy.

 

Went back after dinner and cracked open the champagne. I took off the metal wrapping that help in the cork and as soon as I did the cork started to come of the top. Had to run out the open balcony door to let ‘er fly. Surprised at how far it flew. Hopefully a fish didn’t try to eat it and choke to death.

 

OK…this is getting way too long and I’m getting tired of writing a bunch of fluff that nobody wants to read.

 

High points of the trip:

 

Loved the Boleros Bar. Jerome, a bartender from the Philippines makes hella good mojito. Not only that, he has rhythm when he shakes them. He says he makes at least 100 a day and he has the guns to prove it. Great, crazy guy with some great stories to tell. I was sitting at the bar talking to a young kid (probably 18-20) and the kid was telling me how he smuggled some ganja on board that he bought on the island. Jerome must have overheard him and took some mint leaves and rolled himself a “J”. If you there it would have been funny, trust me. I nicknamed him M&M (Mojito Man), and it actually caught on w/some of the other passengers. Great little bar that was never busy during the day but rocked the house at night.

 

Loved the piano player in the schooner bar. This place already had good atmosphere but you add one sarcastic piano player and in was a great place to hang out late at night. He played every night but one and form 8:00-8:45 and then again from 10:00 to 12:30. Great singer and played a lot of Billy Joel, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Elton John. Not sure how much he likes his job. Was sarcastic to people but I found it amusing. Not sure every one else did though. He definitely gets better as the night went a long or it may be that it just seemed that way people drank more and therefore participated.

 

The pools were good. We didn’t really hang out there that much. Usually from like 8:30-11:00 A.M. We aren’t sun worshipers or anything so the appeal wasn’t really there. Tons of people saving chairs even though there are signs all over saying that you can’t. Must have had a bunch of illiterates on board ;-) Did see one employee with tags with numbers (times) on them. He looked like he almost wanted to put them on some of the chairs but never actually saw him do it. Few different employees w/ “deck patrol” on their shirts, never really saw them do much though.

 

Chops was the best meal I have had in a long time. I told my wife we should have eaten there 2 or three times on the cruise. One of the best things about it was that it was so quiet compared to windjammer and My Fair Lady. The service was great as well and the food was incredible. I ordered a filet mignon, butter flied, medium well. It was huge (10 oz.) and perfectly done. Just a great restaurant and well worth the 20.00 we each paid.

 

Both port were good but I liked Jamaica much better that the Cayman Islands. I can understand why many people would agree with me but it’s just a matter of preference. You see, when I go to another country, I actually want to feel like I am in another country. I want to be immersed in their culture. Jamaica was like that for me. I loved it. Beautiful country and while the people don’t seem to have a lot, most of them seem to be happy. In a way I envy them because they don’t really seem to care about material possessions. We spent 2/3 of the time at the Breezes resort which was about 20 miles from the port. Nice place. Many people (including a group of young teenage girls) we went with were a little surprised to see that part of the beach was nude. The only way you know (other than the obvious) that you were wandering onto the nude part was that there was a sign saying that photography was not allowed. We thought it was cool that as you walked out into the water on the beach you were almost immediately surrounded by a school of yellow and black striped fish. We went a got some bread from the buffet and took it out in the water. They were literally jumping out of the water trying to get the bread. We spent a lot of time feeding the fish. There was a lot of eating a drinking here as well. On the way back we convinced the driver of the bus to stop at a gas station to get some beer for the trip back. He got some good tips for that. When we got back we stopped at the village place w/all the shops to do some shopping. Those who haven’t been there, this is right by the port. I bought a few red stripes and some jerk chicken at a little outside stand. Great stuff. There was a duck that kept coming around while I was eating and pestering me until I gave him some chicken to eat. Though this was a bit odd. Aren’t ducks and chicken like cousins or something? We bought a couple of bottles of liquor at the duty free shop right by the port. They asked us if we wanted them to take it back to the ship and we just said we would do it. We figured when it went through the x-ray machine they would take it from us. Never happened. Our bags went right through the machine and we enjoyed the bottles the rest of the cruise.

 

Cayman Islands were “OK”. Sting ray city was cool but with 5 ships in port, there were really just too many people at the sand bar. I would have enjoyed it much better if it were less crowded. Georgetown itself just seemed to be a bunch of shops. I’m really sure why every one likes is so much. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought I was in southern Florida. We went to Senor Frogs to get a snack and a drink. Maybe it was just because it was still spring break but this place was off the hook crazy. All kinds of bikini clad girls dancing on the stage and table gyrating their goods like they were in heat or something. This was at noon. Would be interesting to go back at night and see what was going on. We each ordered nachos and a large margarita. Total cost: 63.00. The table next to us had 8 people and I think the guy paying the bill almost had a heart attack when he saw that there bill was almost 270.00. I don’t think a lot of people read the part of the cruise compass for the day that mentioned the Cayman money is worth more than American money, there, you have to add 20% on to whatever the price is. Not only that, the restaurant automatically charges a 15% gratuity to all orders. Basically is you eat or drink at senor Frogs you need to realize that your meal will cost you 35% more than the price listed. Georgetown was OK. Could care less if I went back though.

Hmmmmm….not sure what else to mention. I’m sure there is a lot of stuff I forgot to mention…

 

Ooooh, I did want to mention that we stayed at the Pillars at New River Sound for our post cruise stay. This is such an awesome little hotel. I think they only have 20 room (2 are suites) and it is just a little oasis. There is a reason why this is ranked as the number one hotel in fort Lauderdale on tripadvisor.com. Probably the most comfortable beds I’ve ever slept on the they also had down pillows. The pool area is incredible with lush vegetation all around. They even have there own water taxi stop right by their pool. If a taxi is coming, you can press the button and a light flashed to let the taxi know you want to be picked up. It’s about a block and a half from the beach as well so it is well within walking distance. We spent the evening at the local establishments at the Beach Place. Ate dinner at LuLu’s Bait shack which has HUGE fishbowl drinks (19.95) and then spent some time at the Howl at the Moon piano bar which was OK but not nearly as good as the one that was here in Columbus. There was also a bar down by the beach called house of 100 tequilas. They actually had 103 different bottles. I asked what the most expensive kind was and she showed me a 140.00 bottle of tequila. A shot went for 12.50. She gave my wife and I a shot on the house (one shot between both of us to try). Very different. Had no taste till it hit your stomach. Then it felt like napalm.

 

Well, I guess that’s all. Kind of a strange review/report but if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

 

Jay

Day 1: Fort Lauderdale: A mall, a mojito, and a dozen “OH MY GOD’s”

 

I’ll get to the cruise don’t worry, just wanted to give a complete report of the trip. Our flight was supposed to leave Columbus, Ohio at 6:10 but very soon after we woke up thunder storms rolled in and saw one of the most spectacular lightning shows on the way to the airport. Once at the airport, we were told many different times that while the plane was still listed as being “on time”, there was a good chance that it would be delayed because of weather. At 6:00 the storms rolled out and soon after, so did our plane. Plane flight was uneventful and a few hors later we were flying into Ft. Lauderdale. One thing I noticed while flying in was that there were still a lot of blue taps covering up damage from the hurricanes last year. Could really see this from the air as it looked like a lot of structures still had damage. I was told later that it would be over a year until contractors will be able to get to many of the residential houses.

 

Baggage pick-up went smooth and we were off to the Riverside Hotel. We spent a lot of time researching different hotels for our pre and post cruise stays. We finally narrowed it down to two. The Riverside Hotel and The Pillars at New River Sound. Both are great hotels for different reasons. The reviews of the Riverside on-line have been mixed at best. One of the factors seems to be whether or not you stay in a room in the old section or if you stay in the tower section which is newer. Knowing this we made sure we booked a room in the newer section. We requested a tower room w/ a balcony. We were both very impressed with the room. Very spacious and well decorated. They gave us a room on the top floor (12th floor) with the balcony facing the water way. We arrived at 11:00 and our room was ready. The hotel is right on Las Olas Blvd. Great location to shop and to people watch. After settling in our room we decided to find someplace to eat lunch.

 

Walking down Las Olas we quickly found that there is no shortage of restaurants and sidewalk cafes. We settled on eating at a little Italian Bistro called Louie Louie. Nice little place where can choose to either sit inside or outside. Still getting used the change of temperature form Columbus, Ohio to Florida, we chose to sit inside. Food was good. I just had a pizza as they had several articles on the wall as you walked in that mentioned they had been voted best pizza in the city for several different years. It was good. Thin crust but not crispy which was a little odd. The sauce was also a little different. Not bad but just different. Might be a good place to go for people who want to get that pizza fix before they cruise. My wife had some kind of pasta dish. It was good as well.

 

After we ate we took a taxi to the Galleria Mall. The wife wanted to buy some capris for the trip. The mall was “OK”. Kind of upscale but yet a little run down. I got the feeling that when the mall opened (I’m guess mid to late 80’s) that it was a great place to shop but the empty retail spaces and lack of shoppers makes me believe this shopping center has lost some luster. I got a little impatient while she was shopping so I decided it was time to start drinking. Walked outside and decided to hit a place almost right next to the mall called The Blue Martini (I think that’s what it was called). A member of the wait staff told me that the bar was open and to just have a seat. I sat. and sat. Then I sat some more. After 10 minutes I still did not see a bartender. Was starting to wonder where the other patrons sitting at the bar could have possibly gotten their drinks. Did they just materialize? Did they make them themselves? Were they the bartenders cleverly disguising themselves as patrons so to get out of their duties? Couldn’t figure it out so I just left. Tine was running out and if the significant other had to wait as long for me as I had for a drink, the vacation would turn sour fairly quickly.

 

She had finished shopping and while we kind of wanted to go back to the hotel, the thought of spending another 20.00 in cab fare to get back to the hotel seemed like a waste since we just got there.

 

We decided to stop and have a couple drinks instead. Went directly next door to a place called the Capital Grille and ordered 2 white Russians made w/ Grey Goose Vodka which came to 18.00 (over 20.00 w/ tip)…so much for being frugal by not rushing off and paying for a taxi back to the hotel. That’s OK though, not only did we have a couple of drinks but also ordered one of the biggest pieces of chocolates cake I have ever seen. Not sure if it was just that were hungry or what, but this was some damn tasty cake.

 

Took taxi back to the hotel and the wife wanted to take a nap. I figured this would be the best time for me to get my first mojito. Had heard a lot about them but still needed to hunt one down. Before I left, however, I decided to open the door of the balcony to let in the breeze. It’s then that we heard it.

 

Someone below us had their balcony door open as well.

 

Someone below us was bumping uglies.

 

We sat out on the balcony and rated the waves of amorous sounds coming from below us. Quite fun actually. Wish we had a recorder and we could have played it back to them later.

 

After the show was over, I headed to the bar and she took a nap. Never had a mojoto and damn they are tasty. Thought they were good at the riverside Bar but had no idea how much better they would be on the ship. I had three sitting at the bar and had some breat conversation with an elderly woman who was in town for “a well know New York hair stylists funeral” . I guess she has a bit of money. Has a place in NYC as well and Fort Lauderdale and they kind of just go back and forth between them. Lot of interesting stories from her.

 

Ok,OK, this is getting too long so I’m going to try and wrap this up. The rest of the evening went fine. Stopped at a few places on Las Olas for drinks and went back to the hotel.

 

1:37 A.M.

 

“Oh, God, Oh God, Ooooooh GOOOOOOD!”

 

This it what we heard through the walls for the next half hour. What the hell is in the air in Florida?

 

 

 

Day 2: Embarkment

 

Ok, day 1 was way too long so I’m going to skip over all the B.S. and just get to the ship. Funny thing happened on the way through the port though. We saw a taxi that was pulled over by a police officer. I asked the cabbie if they get in trouble if they get a ticket. He mentioned that it is frowned upon because it affects the insurance rates but they don’t really get into trouble. I thought that was the end of it. I was wrong. As we are waiting in line in port, the people in front of us get a call from their daughter. She was in the taxi that had gotten pulled over. Her taxi driver had gotten arrested and they were sending another taxi to drive her the rest of the way to the terminal. I’m guessing that is a little frowned upon as well. We arrived at the port about 11:30. We were herded into the holding pen and were quickly processed in.

 

The Ship

 

My first thoughts were how elegant the ship was. Lots of glass and beautiful artwork. We picked up a welcome aboard drink. The drinks tasted kind of strange. Not like the ones you would get at the bar. I would advise people to stay away from these and just go to the bar for a drink. We then walked to chops to make reservations. Neither one of us are big on seafood so we had already decided to do Chops on whatever night lobster was being served in the main dining room. There was NO line at Chops and we made reservations for 7:00 on Tuesday which was the day at Georgetown. We then went to the Spa as we had hoped to get a couples massage. After seeing a price list, we quickly changed our mind as a couples massage was priced at 220.00. My wife settled for a facial for 100.00. Really not bad since it is only 20.00 more than she pays at home.

 

Next to the pool deck.

 

The area was already filling up with kids. We kept walking and changed into our suites between the main pool area and the solarium. Noticed NO ONE was in the solarium pool so this is where we plopped down for a good hour or so with our feet dangling in the water, watching the people go by. It was like a little oasis. No children under the age of 16 are allowed so it was nice to be away from everything after a hectic couple of days.

 

Were able to get in our room at 2:00 (maybe 1:00…can’t quite remember). The champagne and chocolate covered strawberries I had ordered were in the room when we arrived. We ate the strawberries and kept the champagne on ice to have it in the evening while we were sailing away.

 

Had dinner in the Main dining room. Really good food. Had Tuscan tomato soup as an appetizer. Really, really good. Then had crusted cod on mashed potatoes for the meal. Not big on seafood but this was very good. Both our head waiter and assistant waiter were from Romania. Seemed to get much more service from the assistant. Is this normal. His name is Silvio and was just a great guy. Whenever we saw him around the ship he always went the extra mile. We gave him the pre-paid tip at the end of the cruise as well as an extra 20.00 that I handed to him. Just a great guy.

 

Went back after dinner and cracked open the champagne. I took off the metal wrapping that help in the cork and as soon as I did the cork started to come of the top. Had to run out the open balcony door to let ‘er fly. Surprised at how far it flew. Hopefully a fish didn’t try to eat it and choke to death.

 

OK…this is getting way too long and I’m getting tired of writing a bunch of fluff that nobody wants to read.

 

High points of the trip:

 

Loved the Boleros Bar. Jerome, a bartender from the Philippines makes hella good mojito. Not only that, he has rhythm when he shakes them. He says he makes at least 100 a day and he has the guns to prove it. Great, crazy guy with some great stories to tell. I was sitting at the bar talking to a young kid (probably 18-20) and the kid was telling me how he smuggled some ganja on board that he bought on the island. Jerome must have overheard him and took some mint leaves and rolled himself a “J”. If you there it would have been funny, trust me. I nicknamed him M&M (Mojito Man), and it actually caught on w/some of the other passengers. Great little bar that was never busy during the day but rocked the house at night.

 

Loved the piano player in the schooner bar. This place already had good atmosphere but you add one sarcastic piano player and in was a great place to hang out late at night. He played every night but one and form 8:00-8:45 and then again from 10:00 to 12:30. Great singer and played a lot of Billy Joel, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Elton John. Not sure how much he likes his job. Was sarcastic to people but I found it amusing. Not sure every one else did though. He definitely gets better as the night went a long or it may be that it just seemed that way people drank more and therefore participated.

 

The pools were good. We didn’t really hang out there that much. Usually from like 8:30-11:00 A.M. We aren’t sun worshipers or anything so the appeal wasn’t really there. Tons of people saving chairs even though there are signs all over saying that you can’t. Must have had a bunch of illiterates on board ;-) Did see one employee with tags with numbers (times) on them. He looked like he almost wanted to put them on some of the chairs but never actually saw him do it. Few different employees w/ “deck patrol” on their shirts, never really saw them do much though.

 

Chops was the best meal I have had in a long time. I told my wife we should have eaten there 2 or three times on the cruise. One of the best things about it was that it was so quiet compared to windjammer and My Fair Lady. The service was great as well and the food was incredible. I ordered a filet mignon, butter flied, medium well. It was huge (10 oz.) and perfectly done. Just a great restaurant and well worth the 20.00 we each paid.

 

Both port were good but I liked Jamaica much better that the Cayman Islands. I can understand why many people would agree with me but it’s just a matter of preference. You see, when I go to another country, I actually want to feel like I am in another country. I want to be immersed in their culture. Jamaica was like that for me. I loved it. Beautiful country and while the people don’t seem to have a lot, most of them seem to be happy. In a way I envy them because they don’t really seem to care about material possessions. We spent 2/3 of the time at the Breezes resort which was about 20 miles from the port. Nice place. Many people (including a group of young teenage girls) we went with were a little surprised to see that part of the beach was nude. The only way you know (other than the obvious) that you were wandering onto the nude part was that there was a sign saying that photography was not allowed. We thought it was cool that as you walked out into the water on the beach you were almost immediately surrounded by a school of yellow and black striped fish. We went a got some bread from the buffet and took it out in the water. They were literally jumping out of the water trying to get the bread. We spent a lot of time feeding the fish. There was a lot of eating a drinking here as well. On the way back we convinced the driver of the bus to stop at a gas station to get some beer for the trip back. He got some good tips for that. When we got back we stopped at the village place w/all the shops to do some shopping. Those who haven’t been there, this is right by the port. I bought a few red stripes and some jerk chicken at a little outside stand. Great stuff. There was a duck that kept coming around while I was eating and pestering me until I gave him some chicken to eat. Though this was a bit odd. Aren’t ducks and chicken like cousins or something? We bought a couple of bottles of liquor at the duty free shop right by the port. They asked us if we wanted them to take it back to the ship and we just said we would do it. We figured when it went through the x-ray machine they would take it from us. Never happened. Our bags went right through the machine and we enjoyed the bottles the rest of the cruise.

 

Cayman Islands were “OK”. Sting ray city was cool but with 5 ships in port, there were really just too many people at the sand bar. I would have enjoyed it much better if it were less crowded. Georgetown itself just seemed to be a bunch of shops. I’m really sure why every one likes is so much. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought I was in southern Florida. We went to Senor Frogs to get a snack and a drink. Maybe it was just because it was still spring break but this place was off the hook crazy. All kinds of bikini clad girls dancing on the stage and table gyrating their goods like they were in heat or something. This was at noon. Would be interesting to go back at night and see what was going on. We each ordered nachos and a large margarita. Total cost: 63.00. The table next to us had 8 people and I think the guy paying the bill almost had a heart attack when he saw that there bill was almost 270.00. I don’t think a lot of people read the part of the cruise compass for the day that mentioned the Cayman money is worth more than American money, there, you have to add 20% on to whatever the price is. Not only that, the restaurant automatically charges a 15% gratuity to all orders. Basically is you eat or drink at senor Frogs you need to realize that your meal will cost you 35% more than the price listed. Georgetown was OK. Could care less if I went back though.

Hmmmmm….not sure what else to mention. I’m sure there is a lot of stuff I forgot to mention…

 

Ooooh, I did want to mention that we stayed at the Pillars at New River Sound for our post cruise stay. This is such an awesome little hotel. I think they only have 20 room (2 are suites) and it is just a little oasis. There is a reason why this is ranked as the number one hotel in fort Lauderdale on tripadvisor.com. Probably the most comfortable beds I’ve ever slept on the they also had down pillows. The pool area is incredible with lush vegetation all around. They even have there own water taxi stop right by their pool. If a taxi is coming, you can press the button and a light flashed to let the taxi know you want to be picked up. It’s about a block and a half from the beach as well so it is well within walking distance. We spent the evening at the local establishments at the Beach Place. Ate dinner at LuLu’s Bait shack which has HUGE fishbowl drinks (19.95) and then spent some time at the Howl at the Moon piano bar which was OK but not nearly as good as the one that was here in Columbus. There was also a bar down by the beach called house of 100 tequilas. They actually had 103 different bottles. I asked what the most expensive kind was and she showed me a 140.00 bottle of tequila. A shot went for 12.50. She gave my wife and I a shot on the house (one shot between both of us to try). Very different. Had no taste till it hit your stomach. Then it felt like napalm.

 

Well, I guess that’s all. Kind of a strange review/report but if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

[karisma99]

Great review. I am sailing on her this Saturday and can't wait to see the sarcastic piano player and the M&M bartender. We will give him your regards. Give us more details on the ship itself. How was the cabin? Where is chops located? Did you get a table for two or share?

How was the cruise director staff? Did you go to any shows? Did you participate in any events?

 

I am toooo excited!!

Tell me more!! I love the super long reviews!

Patty

[Deets]

Jthegreat, I loved your review! Sorry your "review" had to end so soon. Maybe you told us what it was and I missed it, but would you please tell me what a mojito is?

[Jthegreat]

The balcony room (#7074) was actually bigger than I expected. Not that it was big by any stretch of the imagination but it really wasn't too bad. A normal sized hotel room has a lot of wasted space and the ships cabin really makes good use of the space it has. When you first walk in there is a closet to your left. Plenty of shelves and hangers inside the closet. If you are not going to use the hangers, have the cabin steward take them away as the swaying of the ship will make them hit each other and the constant noise can be a bit irritating. We found this out on the last night when we had to pack up our clothes foor them to pick up our luggage. On the right, there is the door to the bathroom. The batchroom is small. No denying that. But it is very functional. Also some storage space in there for your toiletries and such. Shower is very small but the water pressure in the both the shower and sink is very good. Our shower had a sliding door but we were in one of the newer rooms in the stretched section. I hear the the shower in the "old" section have curtains instead. The bedroom/sitting area is nice. The bed is not great but we slept well either from exhaustion or sedated by alcohol. The T.V. is small and secured to the dresser between on the dresser facing the bed and sofa. The T.V. swivels so you can have it face either the sitting area of the bed. There were approx. 30-40 channels on the TV. Seemed like 5-6 of them were ship channels which replayed shows from the day before (comedians on board, love and marriage show, musical numbers etc...), also a deck cam, position map, comapss channel that shows you the activities for the day, etc... there were netword channel but they were showing all older episodes. For example, we watch an episode on "How I met your Mother" but it was the pilot epeisode which was fine becasue we had never seen that episode. There are 2 movie channels (really 3 but one is in Spanish). Examples of movies that were being shown on these channels: Shopgirl, newest Harry Potter, Narnia, Yours, Mine and, Ours, Goodnight and good luck, along with a few others. We didn't sit around and watch tv for hours on end but if we wanted to relax in our room for a bit, we always found something to watch. The sofa itself looks like it might be able to be pulled out into a bed, however, we never tried this so I am unsure. There are a few different outlets in the room so while we brought a small power strip, we never used it. It probably depends on how much "stuff" you bring as to whether or not you will need one. The door to the balcony has a latch on it. Not hard to open but definately keeps the door closed at all time. There is no way the swaying of the ship will open the balcony door. A fuuny story about the balcony. When we first got into our room at about 1:00 before we sailed, I opened the balcony door to let some frech air in. My wife went into the shower as she had some salt residue on her from the pool (yes, all the pools are salt water). Just as she got into the shower I heard a noise. As first I couldn't place it, but as it got closer I realized what it was. There were workers outside spraying down the side of the ship. I quickly realized that they were much closer than I thought and I ran to close the balcony door. I almost made it. I got the door about 3/4 of the way closed when I got a healthy dose of salt water spray to the face. Sprayed part of the mirror and the dresser as well. I'm just glad we didn't open the door and then leave the room. I'm sure we would have came back to a nice mess. I could have gotten upset about it but it was actually kind of funny. Wonder if it happened to anyone else though.

 

If I remember right, Chops is located in the sixth deck right above the Main Dining Room. I really do advise eating at Chops at least once.

 

We actually asked for a small table in the dining room. I assumed we were going to get a table for four. We ended up with a table for tow. I would have actually liked to have tablemates but my wife is not the people person that I am and was fine with us having our own table. We only ate there two night so it really wasn't a big deal. Just a quick note about the dress on formal night. MAke yourself look presentable but don't worry about being too formal. Some people on the board will disagree with me on this but its the reality of it. I rented a tux based somewhat on what I have read on these boards. Just idn't want to seem underdressed. There were approx. 1200 people in our seating. I saw MAYBE 5 people in a tux. I would guesstimate and say 50% of the people had suits. All the others had khakis/dress pants w/a shirt and tie or a polo. There is a lot of discussion as to what formal means. Just don't worry about it. Out of the 1,200 people in the dinging room, 200 of them might actually glance up from their food or conversation and glance at you. Of those 200 there may be 10 who actually pay attention to what you are wearing.

 

The cruise director was "OK". Can't remember her name for some reason. She had a funky accent. I think she was eitehr originally from Austrailia or Britain. Now lives in Canada when she is not on the ship. She just got back from vacation so she was fairly fresh. My first impression of her was not a good one. Her voice kind of got on my nerves a bit initially and thought she went a little overboard during the opening show. She got better as the cruise went on. She was actually quite funny durign the "Love and Marriage" show and "The Quest". She was "OK' but I really don't have another one to compare her to as this was my first cruise.

 

We did several activities throughout the day as well as the evening. Oddly enough, one of our favorite activites was the adult crayola workshop. I know, I know, it sounds a little strange, but it is very therapeutic and we met some great couples there. There was a session on each of the sea days. You had to sign up in the library which is located on the 7th deck. They only take 15 people.

 

We hung out by the pool in the mornings and caught the early morning sun before turning it over to the sun worshipers. Did a few of the bingo sessions. Never won anything but it was fun anyway. My wife went to the shopping show where they talked about the ports and where to shop for good deals. I went to the bar. Did watch part of it on the TV later though. Just seemed like a bunch of plugs for different shops in the towns. My advice would be just to shop around for a bargain, but there really aren't that many to be found. There were other activities as well. The belly flop contest was fun to watch as well as the ice carving; both of which were held in the pool area (where else). The Quest was fun, but not nearly as "adult" as I thought it might be. We actually participated but It would probably be just as fun (if not more so) to watch. We probably missed a lot by playing. Love and Marriage show was VERY funny. The trivia in boleros bar was OK but only lasts about 15 minutes. Not sure if anyone is familiar with NTN. It's a TV trivia game that some bars/restaraunts have. This would be a great addition to cruise ship I think. You could play against people on the ship of maybe play against other ships in the fleet. I'm thinking that would be awesome. The trivia contests basically consist of questiosn taken from trivial pursuit. Usually 15-20 questions. You write the answers down on a sheet of paper with your team name and then you trade and grade when it is over. It's fun becasue some of the teams really get into it but some questions are very hard. They had a name that tune game one night with the piano player in the Schooner Bar. This guy is a great performer but this game was very disorganized. I wouldn't do this again. We never ended up going to karioke. Kept saying we were going to but everytime we walked to the spotlight lounge we had to go through the schooner bar and the piano man was player. Got sucked right into a song and never ended up leaving.

 

Any other questions? Ask away!

[Jthegreat]

A mojoto is a drink that originated in Cuba. Never heard about it until I started hitting cruise message boards. Consists of run (I believe) some kind of mix, lots of sugar, and crushed mint leaves. They then put it over ice and shake well. Very addicting.

 

J

[karisma99]

Thanks for the great review. I loved all the details! I can't wait - just two more days and I am off!

[crazycruisinmom]

Thanks for the great review.

We were on the Enchantment last November and had our first Mojito. The bartender in the solarium, her name was Rosita made it for us. We were on the Grandeur, the first of April and nobody knew how to make it.:(

[hooshockey77]

The cruise director on the Enchantment when I went the week before Easter was named Carlie (I think that's how you spell it). I also did bingo, but i did it every session. It was a blast everytime and the the bingo caller, Cassey, was pretty funny. Bingo can get pretty expensive though ($35 a session), but I won on the first night so that helped out a lot. Overal, the cruise was great.

I will be happy to answer anymore questions especially about the teen stuff being a teen.

[TNT]

This will be our 9th cruise, but we are hotel novices. My mother lived in Miami and was always our pro-post cruise stay. We have looked/discussed/fretted over hotels for weeks. After your post, we have decided on The Riverside Hotel. We've seen it many times while eating on Las Olas, but never really paid much attention. Thank you for helping us make up our mind. We're looking forward to our stay!

[azjacque]

One of the best reviews I've read, and I've read a ton! Great details. Felt like I was on the ship. (wish I were...still have 6 months to go..ugh!).

 

Thank you again for taking the time to give such great details. Sounds like you had a wonderful time!

 

cheers to you!

[carla64]

I bought a few red stripes and some jerk chicken at a little outside stand. Great stuff. There was a duck that kept coming around while I was eating and pestering me until I gave him some chicken to eat. Though this was a bit odd. Aren’t ducks and chicken like cousins or something?

 

That was funny! Thanks for posting such a great review.:D