Enchantment Review 4/9-4/14

[kevin1877]

Ok, here it is, my very first cruise critic review. Before I begin my review of the Enchantment of the Seas 5 day cruise last week I will tell you a little about myself. I am 30 years old and married. I have a 10 year old son and a 5 year old son. I am a police officer and have cruised 4 times now in total. I have been on the Carnival Fantasy, Carnical Miracle, Disney Wonder, and now the Enchantment. I am in no way a cruise expert, but I have cruised enough with diffrent ships to have a good basis to compare to. I tell you this so you know a little bit about me. This review is only my opinion. I am sure this cruise was awesome to some other cruisers, so if you have an Enchantment cruise planned PLEASE do not freak out about my review. Cruise ships are like food, just because one person doesn't like it doesn't mean you won't.

My wife and I had a good time.

 

I am going to briefly highlight what I thought were the good points and the bad points of our cruise.

 

First the good-

 

Our server Julian was great. His service is what you can expect from someone trying to make your vaction a good one. He was funny and attentive. I have nothing but good things to say about his personality and service her provided.

 

embarkation was the fastest and easiest we have ever expierenced. We arrived at the port at 1045 and were on the ship at 1130.

 

The entertainmnet was diverse and good. I didnt care for the ships shows, but thats just my taste. The outside entertainment was good. Rick Corso did 2 comedy shows. The first night he did a short show (non adult) and on the last night he did a late night adult show. Fred Travalena was there to do impressions and was a hit. A comedy / juggling due named Bert and Howie did a GREAT show. I laughed until my side hurt at this show. It was a real treat.

 

The pools- The pools on deck nine were beautiful at night with the lit up bridges. But the Solarium was the place to be. I spent most of my pool time there. The day at see was windy so the Solarium was perfect.

 

The CD Carlie was great. She was funny and did a good job.

 

Now the not so good-

 

The food. The food was not horrible (the coffee was horrible) but it was not great either. The food was certainly nothing like we expierenced on past cruising. I would compare the windjammer breakfast to a breakfast you could expect from golden corral. It was edible, but sometimes cold. Breakfast was supposed to be until 1100, but they would start breaking it down as early as 1000 on some mornings. On Thursday they had already taken away all the pastries by 1000.

The Tea was good as was the passion mango breakfast drink. The drink machines smelled sometimes. They stunk quite often as if the drains had not been cleaned. The windjammer is not set up that great. The buffet line seem to cause people to run into eachother.

 

The service (except for Julian)

Our cabin steward did not give the service I have come to expect from cruising. He only made our beds. He would not remove empty drinking cups or replace tissue without us asking. Nothing was done to our room except for bed making. He did make us towel animals starting on the third night. He did this after I asked him if Royal did the towel animal thing. I am not sure he would have done it had I not asked.

 

Guest relations was not that great. I set up my seapass account using cash. When we docked in belize I asked to withdraw a small amount from my account and was told they could not do that. I was told I could close my account but would not be able to re-open it. I was told I would have to use the casino which I could not cuz we were docked. This frustrated me becuase this is how I have always handled my money on cruises.

 

On the last night I spoke with guest relations about the latest I could close my account that night so I didn't have to wait in lines in the morning (I had a few hundred dollars to be refunded in the account). I was told 100 am was the latest that evening until 600 am the next morning. My wife was with me and heard this so I know I didn't misunderstand. After the late night show I went to guest relations to close my account. It was 1215. I waited in line for almost 30 minutes before it was my turn. I egot to the counter at 1245 and was told they stoped at 1100pm. I explained to the gentleman that I was told earlier by on eof his coworkers I couln do it until 100 and tried to describe her for him. He actually argued saying she did not tell me that. He basically called me a liar. The next morning I called at 600 am to see If I could not close my account and a get a refund. A man answered and said the system was down and it would be another 30 minutes before I would be able to. I imediatley went down and was helped by a female who was not only able to do the refund, but told me the computers had been working fine all moring as fas as she knew.

 

I also was not impressed with room service. Once I called to see if I could get a peanut butter and sandwhich. I was told no. Now it may not be on the room service menu but I know from breakfast the "ingrediants" to make this dish are on the ship. I also tried to order french frues for room service and was told no. Now fries were being served in the solarium at the time. If the RCI staff really wanted to serve their guests they would have brough up pb&j w/ fries. It could have been done they just didnt want to go the extra mile.

 

The midnight buffett- As we walked to a table to be seated we asked for a table for two. Now picture a round table for 5 next to a windo table for two. I mean rite next to it. The server told us we could not sit at the table for two and would have to sit at the table for 5 with the others. I asked why and he said something to the effect its first come basis. A head waiter overheard this and came over apologizing and took us to the table for two.

 

Bottom line, The service on the ship was overall a disapointment. We had better on all 3 of our other cruises. Our dinner mates felt the smae way, as did a few other people we met on the ship.

 

We did not have a "Bad" cruise. It was just the lack of the little things that turned me off. I saved for a long time to afford this vacation and I am not sure I would cruise with royal again.

 

Please do not think I am a "nit picker" or overly picky. I asure you I am not.

 

Remember this is just MY opinion.

 

If you have any further questions let me know.

 

Kevin

[Laurie12820]

Thanks for your review, we are headed out on the Enchantment in July. Sorry to hear you had a semi-terrible experience with RCI. My two cruises I have ever taken have been with RCI and I can say that the food went downhill between the two of them....I'm still RCI loyal and have no children yet, but how are the Disney cruises?

[ms-getaway]

Thanks for your review, we are headed out on the Enchantment in July. Sorry to hear you had a semi-terrible experience with RCI. My two cruises I have ever taken have been with RCI and I can say that the food went downhill between the two of them....I'm still RCI loyal and have no children yet, but how are the Disney cruises?

 

I have sailed the Disney wonder and it was a great cruise experience, as far as the kids programs, and the broadway style family shows. I did not enjoy the adult entertainment as much. The food at the optional resturant on disney was the best food I ever ate. (I have ate at many fine places around the world) I was not impressed with the dining room food on disney. Not bad but for sure not great. I have only cruised once with RC and I loved that cruise. The food was again not great, but I found plenty I enjoyed. The service was great! I will be sailing the enchantment on May 3rd again. Now when sailing with my daughter I would for sure choose disney again just for her enjoyment. I will be loyal to RC.

 

Kevin thanks for the review! I am glad to hear your cruise was not totally spoiled by your experiences.

 

Happy cruising to all.

[wrinklesandme]

Kevin,

 

Good Review. Right on as far as I'm concerend. We did the Enchantment last August was had some of the same complaints. We also felt very crowded on the ship.

 

However, don't give up on RCCL just yet. We did the Explorer 2 years ago and it was wonderful. I tend to think that the larger ships with longer itineraries is the way to go.

 

Thanks for the review,

[Merion_Mom]

Thank you for sharing your opinions with us, Kevin. I am sorry that this cruise did not live up to your expectations, but that's why there are so many different cruise lines. I hope that you find the one that suits you best.

Ok, here it is, my very first cruise critic review. Before I begin my review of the Enchantment of the Seas 5 day cruise last week I will tell you a little about myself. I am 30 years old and married. I have a 10 year old son and a 5 year old son. I am a police officer and have cruised 4 times now in total. I have been on the Carnival Fantasy, Carnical Miracle, Disney Wonder, and now the Enchantment. I am in no way a cruise expert, but I have cruised enough with diffrent ships to have a good basis to compare to. I tell you this so you know a little bit about me. This review is only my opinion. I am sure this cruise was awesome to some other cruisers, so if you have an Enchantment cruise planned PLEASE do not freak out about my review. Cruise ships are like food, just because one person doesn't like it doesn't mean you won't.

My wife and I had a good time.

 

I am going to briefly highlight what I thought were the good points and the bad points of our cruise.

 

Our cabin steward did not give the service I have come to expect from cruising. He only made our beds. He would not remove empty drinking cups or replace tissue without us asking. Nothing was done to our room except for bed making. He did make us towel animals starting on the third night. He did this after I asked him if Royal did the towel animal thing. I am not sure he would have done it had I not asked.

It is a shame that you had a less-than-stellar cabin steward. We have only had one "bad" one, and it can leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Guest relations was not that great. I set up my seapass account using cash. When we docked in belize I asked to withdraw a small amount from my account and was told they could not do that. I was told I could close my account but would not be able to re-open it. I was told I would have to use the casino which I could not cuz we were docked. This frustrated me becuase this is how I have always handled my money on cruises.

I am not sure exactly what you are describing. Generally, you have to secure your account. You can do it with a credit card, or you can put down a certain amount of cash. After that, you charge against your account with your SeaPass. Regardless of which way you set it up initially, the way to get cash is from the casino cashiers. It is true that Guest Relations/Purser's Desk does not dispense cash. I am sorry that you were disappointed with this system.

 

On the last night I spoke with guest relations about the latest I could close my account that night so I didn't have to wait in lines in the morning (I had a few hundred dollars to be refunded in the account). I was told 100 am was the latest that evening until 600 am the next morning. My wife was with me and heard this so I know I didn't misunderstand. After the late night show I went to guest relations to close my account. It was 1215. I waited in line for almost 30 minutes before it was my turn. I egot to the counter at 1245 and was told they stoped at 1100pm. I explained to the gentleman that I was told earlier by on eof his coworkers I couln do it until 100 and tried to describe her for him. He actually argued saying she did not tell me that. He basically called me a liar. The next morning I called at 600 am to see If I could not close my account and a get a refund. A man answered and said the system was down and it would be another 30 minutes before I would be able to. I imediatley went down and was helped by a female who was not only able to do the refund, but told me the computers had been working fine all moring as fas as she knew.

There is, of course, no excuse for rudeness.

 

I also was not impressed with room service. Once I called to see if I could get a peanut butter and sandwhich. I was told no. Now it may not be on the room service menu but I know from breakfast the "ingrediants" to make this dish are on the ship. I also tried to order french frues for room service and was told no. Now fries were being served in the solarium at the time. If the RCI staff really wanted to serve their guests they would have brough up pb&j w/ fries. It could have been done they just didnt want to go the extra mile.

Now here is one place in your *review* that I must protest. A room service menu is a room service menu. They are happy to bring you what is on it. They are NOT going to bring you things that are NOT on it. Get over it.

 

Good luck with your future vacations.

[Mikew0805]

Hi Kevin,

 

Sorry to hear it was not the BEST cruise, but sounds like you had an ok time anyway. I was on the Splendour and my experiences related to the Windjammer, are right on with yours. ( dining room was great for dinner only ) I guess I went in expecting it to be better than what we have experienced on previous cruises, and really it was too high of an expectation.

 

However, one thing that was different for us was the room service. I also love PB&J especially on toast. I called room service a couple of times and asked, and they said no problem.. and brought it. I like pretzels, and there were none on the menu, when I asked if there was somewhere I could get them, they said " we will bring"!! SO, I think it has to do with someone on the other end of the phone not wanting to do something they are allowed to do.. they just want to do the minimum.. and unfortunately it happens everywhere.

 

I hope your future cruises are better. :)

 

-Mike

[kevin1877]

QUOTE:

Now here is one place in your *review* that I must protest. A room service menu is a room service menu. They are happy to bring you what is on it. They are NOT going to bring you things that are NOT on it. Get over it.

 

 

 

On all of my past cruises, they would bring you whatever you wanted as long as it was possible. Kinda like in a restaraunt, if plain grilled chicken isn't on the menu but you ask for it, chances are they will make it for you.

 

Im not talking about unusual requests, but come on. PB&J w/ fries!!! How hard is that to come up with. It sure wasn't hard for Carnival and Disney.

[kevin1877]

Thanks for your review, we are headed out on the Enchantment in July. Sorry to hear you had a semi-terrible experience with RCI. My two cruises I have ever taken have been with RCI and I can say that the food went downhill between the two of them....I'm still RCI loyal and have no children yet, but how are the Disney cruises?

 

 

The Disney Wonder is so far the best ship we have been on. The service, food, state rooms, staff, cleanliness, etc was the best on this cruies. I am looking forward to cruising on one of the 2 new mega disney ships coming in the next 5 years.

[kcbookworm]

Hi Kevin ... Regarding breakfast door hanger menu ... we wrote in additional things that we wanted, like pancakes, and they always brought them! And when breakfast was late one morning (not delivered in the time frame we checked on the menu) we had chocolate covered strawberries waiting in our room that evening with a note that said "Sorry that breakfast was late". We didn't complain about the lateness, they just did this on their own. This was on the Navigator last month.

 

So I think you just got some bum service. I do hope you will try RC again, perhaps a Voyager class ship again. I don't think we will go smaller ever again!

[lojill]

Kevin I also think you got bad service. Sometime that happens anywhere you go but I think you were just being honest and gave us your opinion. I hope you try RCCL again. You should not be critized for giving your opinion. I also agree asking for PBJ/ french fries is not a huge request and should have been honered if possible.

[kevin1877]

I forgot to add that the "healthy" food options were good on this cruise. They have light fare at each dinner and sugar free desert options at each lunch and dinner. Egg beaters are also available if requested. I worked out each day, ate plenty (but did not overdo) and came home the same weight I left. That was a cruise first for me!

 

My wife put on 8 lbs.