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Enchantment Review 8/27 - Royal Suite, Dinner with Captain, FIRE onboard

capnlars

By capnlars,
in Royal Caribbean International

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capnlars

capnlars

Posted
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I'll start off by saying that this was a great cruise vacation for us. This was one of our two top favorites out of 10 RCI cruises. We are a couple in our 40s, from South Florida. This was our 10th cruise on Royal Caribbean, our first time on the Enchantment, and second time on a Vision-class ship, first time traveling out of Port Everglades. We seem to prefer the smaller ships, such as the Enchantment and Vision. The ship was in great shape, and the friendliness and great character of the crew was evident immediately.

Day 1 - Monday:

Arrived at Port Everglades (Ft Lauderdale) around 11 in the morning. Nancy had her camera out as we drove into the port, and we were yelled at by the port entrance guard (Broward Sheriff Community Officer) and ordered to erase any pictures that had been taken. "Osama would love to get his hands on those pictures" we were told. We dropped our luggage in the front, parked the car, and were in line to check in within a few minutes. They had started boarding at 11, so we didn't have to wait to get on the ship. From arrival to the pier to getting on the ship was maybe 10 minutes. It was the easiest on (and off) that we've done. Rooms were not available until 1pm (which is normal), so we first checked out our dining room table assignment before heading to the Windjammer for lunch. We were on the top floor of the "My Fair Lady" dining room, and we had been given our requested table for 2 - and it was at a window - very nice! We went to the Windjammer for lunch, and it was still pretty empty. We like to board early to start our vacation. At 1, our room was available, so that's where we went. It was a special occasion for us (Nancy's birthday), so we booked the Royal Suite. We've been in the RS on Monarch before, but this was much larger. As far as the new "amenities" go, we had the following: Champagne in room, fresh flowers in room, pillow menu on bed, tuxedo strawberries and chocolate-dipped cake triangles, Evian water, and coffee/tea maker. The RS is about 1100 square feet, with a great balcony. The balcony is just aft of the starboard bridge extension, so we were able to talk to the captain and officers often. The balcony had two teak loungers, a small teak table, and a larger teak table and chairs for 4. The cabin itself had a dining area with table for 4 as you enter to the right. To the left is a bar area and player grand piano. As you walk further in, there's a sitting area with 2 couches and 2 chairs, and an entertainment center with surround sound stereo, CD, cassette, DVD and tuner. Speakers are all over the cabin (main room, bedroom, and bath). Curtains were all electronically controlled - open and close with the press of a button. The bedroom area had a king size bed (mirror above), TONS of drawers and storage, a flat screen TV that rises out of the counter with the press of a remote-control button (the controller looked like modified garage door opener), make-up area, 3 large closets, internet connection, and the coffee maker. The coffee maker is an electric kettle, with a French-press coffee maker. The bath was 2 rooms, the first with a Jacuzzi tub, 2 sinks, standup shower with 3 heads, and a steam bath (in the shower). The second room had the commode, bidet, and another sink. The commode area had doors to separate from the main bath. After gawking at the accommodations, we set about to explore the ship. It's basically the same layout as the Vision (which we LOVE), but has been lengthened with some nice additions (concierge lounge, Chops, etc). Our room steward (Sachin) came to introduce himself. Turned out he was about the best steward we've had. The concierge lounge is the nicest we've seen, as the ones we've been in on the Mariner and Explorer were inside. This lounge has large windows on the starboard side, and seemed bigger than those on the Voyager-class ships. We then went to the muster drill (painless, but it was HOT outside), and returned to our cabin to get ready for dinner. Luggage had arrived around 3, so we were able to change before dinner. Before dinner, the concierge, Julian, came to our cabin to introduce himself. Best concierge we've ever had - by leaps and bounds. Departure was delayed about an hour for an un-specified reason, but we did see them launch the rescue boat some divers went under the ship. Sailaway on the balcony sipping champagne is about as good as it gets. Our dining waiter was Diogo from India, and his assistant was Orianna from Peru. It was Orianna's first day on the job, but Diogo made sure everything was perfect. He was probably the best waiter we've had yet. The head waiter came over and introduced himself right away and was very personable. He already memorized our names and addressed us as such. After dinner we spent some time at the casino (RCI-1, us-0) before retiring.

Day 2 - Tuesday - Key West:

Arrived at Key West very early. We only had from 7am to 2pm there. The night before we had pre-ordered room service breakfast to arrive between 7:30 and 8. At 7:30, the phone rang to inform us breakfast was on the way. We had breakfast on the balcony overlooking Key West. Shortly after breakfast, room service called to make sure everything was as expected. We took the ship-sponsored parasailing tour. The operator is Fury, and they did a great job. Their boat is designed exclusively for parasailing, and we felt quite secure with the equipment, boat, and operators. They take pictures of your adventure, and present you with a mini-cd ($20 extra) at the end. There were only 2 other couples on our boat, so it went pretty quickly. The parasailing itself was nice. It was very quiet and peaceful up there, overlooking Key West and the port. After the parasailing, we went back to our cabin to change (you can get wet parasailing, but they give you the option to stay dry) before venturing out to explore Key West. We walked to the Blonde Giraffe to sample their Key Lime Pie (quite good), and then hopped on the Key West Trolley tour for the 1.5 hour trip around the island. The tour was quite interesting, and the driver/tour guide was colorful. We then headed back to the ship for departure. When we got back on board, and they swiped Nancy's card, all kinds of alarms started going off. We wondered what we had done wrong, and were advised that there was a message for us and we were asked to step out of line while the guard paged the person who left the message. A few minutes later, the maitre'd returned the page and informed Nancy that we had an invitation to the Captain's table for dinner and he wanted to make sure we got the message. Nancy shouted out "We do???!!!!" loud enough to silence and stop all traffic boarding the ship. We were asked to meet on deck 6 at 7:30 to meet the captain at his reception, and then be escorted to the dining room for dinner. At departure time, they started paging 4 people. This happened twice. Then there were lots of officers on the bridge extension watching the approach walkway to the ship. We were able to tell that at least 2 of the people being paged had not gotten back on the ship. After sounding the horn a few times, we finally left about 1/2 hour late - no additional people boarded during this time. We spent most of the afternoon on the balcony, interrupted by a little shopping in the Centrum, and then got ready for dinner (also formal night). There were almost no men in tuxedos for formal night - most had on suits or sport coats. So - how do you get to captain's table??? For our group it was: Us - by being in the Royal Suite, two younger girls - by one of them being a lobbyist for the cruise industry, a couple on their 40th cruise, and a very elderly couple who are frequent cruisers and stockholders. Dinner was with the Captain and Hotel Manager. Both were very friendly and easy to talk to. The captain was young - told us he was 40 - and was a lot of fun to spend time with. He told us that he likes to spend time at Adventure Ocean (kids area), as he misses his 8 year old when he is on the ship. He is going to be on vacation in October, and will be bringing his family back to cruise with him for the holidays. Turns out we did leave 2 people behind in Key West. According to the Captain, they had not even been heard from by 8pm - so they had no idea what happened. The dinner menu was different from the main dining room, and they were happy to make accommodations for one of the people that was a vegetarian. Everyone (but the Veggie) had a quite large fillet mignon. Wine flowed freely, and we had a wonderful time and will remember the experience. By the time dinner was over, it was after 10:30pm. The ship did reset its clock back 1 hour during the night.

Day 3 - Wednesday - Cozumel:

We arrived in Cozumel around 10am. We had booked an off-ship snorkel tour with Eagle Ray Divers (http://www.eagleraydivers.com). This was a wonderful group to book with. They limit their groups to fewer than 8. The other boats we saw on the reefs had minimum of 40 people each. It was a short ($8) taxi ride to their boat at a small harbor just south of the ship. We chose the 2 reef tour. Since our ship was later than their other passengers, they had already departed with them. When we arrived, they called the boat back to pick us up. The other passengers had a 3 reef tour, so we picked them up at their first stop and headed to 2 different reefs. The water in Cozumel was just beautiful. We saw lots of fish, coral, and a moray eel. Again, we can't recommend Eagle Ray enough. It rained pretty much the entire time we were in Cozumel, so we headed back to the ship after snorkeling. Spent most of the afternoon on the balcony. Just before we sailed, a group of 4 dolphins swam by the ship - very cool. We ate at Chops this night. The dinner at Chops was marvelous. Service was perfect, mood was very relaxed. Nancy had the petite (which she still thought was big) fillet, and I had the Lamb - both were perfect. After dinner we spent some more time in the casino (RCI-2, us-0).

Day 4 - Thursday - Belize:

Arrived at Belize in the morning. The ship anchors several miles off shore, and we had to use tenders to get ashore. If you wanted to get off before 10:30, you had to have a tender ticket. Julian had provided us with VIP tickets, so we were able to go down and not wait. Belize was just getting over the fringes of hurricane Dean, and also had had torrential downpours the day before. There was lots of flooding and cleanup going on, and all the snorkeling and cave tubing excursions had been cancelled (sounded like about a dozen when they made the announcement). We decided to just find an excursion at the port after the tender docked. We found a gentlemen who offered a city/ruins/rain forest tour and joined him. Be careful when doing this.....he told us there'd be 8 people in the "new" van with air conditioning. Turns out after you pay (non-refundable) that there were 12 people crammed in and the air only partially worked. Given a second chance, I think I would have looked for the same thing for just the two of us and paid the additional amount. The city tour was quite interesting (although driving there is reminiscent of Mr Toad's Wild Ride). It is a very poor country, and that was quite evident. It was about an hour ride to Altun-Ha to see the rainforest and Mayan ruins. The ruins were quite interesting - but next time we'll bring a Costco-sized can of "Off". The Cessna-sized mosquitoes were brutal. After touring the ruins, we rode back for a tour of the south side of Belize City. We saw a swing-bridge there that is manually operated by 6 people. A huge "key" is turned to open the bridge every morning - fascinating. The conditions there were pretty bad, and the driver/tour guide often referenced the government corruption that goes on. After the tour, we headed back to the ship for lunch, shopping, and balcony time. Had one funny and one scary experience leaving port. Just before we left, they had a crewmember painting next to our balcony. He was suspended from a bosun’s chair (piece of wood to sit on supported by two ropes like a child's swing). He was painting in the area between our cabin and the bridge extension. After they pulled the anchor and we started sailing, the painter and his supervisor were on the bridge extension talking and pointing towards our cabin. Turns out the painter had put his roller brush down on the windowsill from our bedroom (on the outside) and he had forgotten and left it there. Eventually they taped together a couple of broom handles and were able to snatch it off without its falling in the ocean. After he successfully retrieved it (I thought for sure it would end up overboard) we clapped and the painter took a bow. The next thing that happened was a bit scary. We had just gotten started, were still under the pilot's control, when Bravo Bravo Bravo (fire) was announced with the location being in a cabin on deck four (4550-something). We could smell acrid smoke from our balcony. The ship came to a stop and the captain announced there was a fire, crew was responding, and that he would keep us informed of the situation. About 30 minutes later, the captain announced that the fire was out and affected passengers could return to the area after it was cleaned up. The fire had started in a closet, and they suspected that it was electrical in nature. The cabin occupants were not there at the time. We did not see the crew response to the fire, but heard from those that did how professional and well the response was. When we left the ship, we had to go by that area - the smell of smoke was still evident and many crewmembers were working in that area. That evening, we ate in the dining room and turned in early.

Day 5 - Friday - at sea:

Again we spent most of the day on the balcony. Nancy entered the slot tournament, but was eliminated in round one (RCI-3, us-0). We were invited on a tour of the bridge. Security was tight - there were 7 of us - we were wanded before being allowed in. The second officer was our tour guide, and he thoroughly explained the many work areas of the bridge. Before dinner we stopped at the concierge lounge for a drink. Julian had set up a Karaoke machine, and was quite entertaining in his Michael Jackson outfit as he sang to the ladies. We ate in the dining room, said our farewells, packed, and stopped at the casino again (RCI-4, us-0).

Day 6 - Debarkation

We arrived at Port Everglades around 7am. The first tags were called by 8:35. We were in our car before 9am. Again, this was the easiest on and off we've experienced.

This was a great cruise for us. The crew and staff of this ship did a tremendous job. They all seem to enjoy their work, and many commented on what a great captain they had. We will definitely sail this ship again. Five days is way too short, we will likely do a back-to-back next time. While on board we booked the Vision of the Seas repositioning cruise for January of 2009.

Nancy has posted her pictures at: http://community.webshots.com/album/560509899wlPXqY?vhost=community

Will answer any questions if we can.......

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luckyjtiger

luckyjtiger

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Nancy,

Thanks for such a wonderful review! We will be sailing on the Enchantmend in November for a 7 night western carribean cruise. There are 30 so far in our group. We are celebrating our parents 45th wedding anniversary. I will share your review with the rest of the group.

Jamie:)

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dutchess43

dutchess43

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Glad that you to enjoyed this cruise as well we also had table 35 at late seating. We must of seen you in the concierge lounge as well as the departure restaurant. Julian was a blast & we are completely spoiled by him especially the last night. That must of been interesting when they had to retrive the paint roller from your window. I did not know why we left late from port everglades pretty scary when you say they sent diver's down. I wonder what happened with the missing couple from Key west I hope it was to many margarittas & nothing too serious. I had asked Julian if this ships staff was given happy pills in the morning, the friendliest we have ever had the pleasure to sail with. Our only complaint was that it was to short, but this was the last one we could squeeze in until next year. Thank goodness the two booked will be longer 9 & 15 days so far next year.

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ImCruisin4Fun

ImCruisin4Fun

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Nancy,

 

What a wonderful review and we are SO ENVIOUS of you staying in a Royal Suite AND getting to dine with the Captain. The Enchantment is a beautiful ship and we're headed out on her this coming Thursday for the second time. Thanks for all the great pictures! We loved seeing them :-)

 

Jan

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LDR

LDR

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Great review! We were on the 7/21 sailing, and we really want to book EOS

again next summer. I loved your pictures! My DH and I took some similar

ones with the pirates in the casino and the statue of the lady :)

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gaiamother

gaiamother

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What a fantastic review. You two had a wonderful trip and you Nancy, what a nice Birthday! Thanks for posting all that and the pictures. I love the Enchantment. We leave on Monday the 10th for my 3rd cruise on her. First time in the CL. Looking forward to meeting Julian!

Tanya

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Merion_Mom

Merion_Mom

Posted
Posted
I'll start off by saying that this was a great cruise vacation for us.....

 

Larry, this is probably the best-written cruise review I have ever read.

 

 

How did you manage to get a bridge tour? Are you D+ or was it something else.

 

Gina, I suspect that it's because they were in the Royal Suite!

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Cant Wait 4 Cruisin!

Cant Wait 4 Cruisin!

Posted
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GREAT review!! We sailed on the Enchantment this past May, came home and two days later, my best friend and I booked another trip on the Enchantment for October 4!! I'm so excited! A cruise without the men this time! ut ohhhhh!!!! ha ha!!

I agree!!!, that was the best-written review I've read yet on these boards, thanks so much. I too am also envious of your rockstar status and having dinner with the captain!!! I'm guessing since this is only our second cruise we won't get that kind of treatment! bummer!

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BILL-WI

BILL-WI

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Larry, great review! Very informative and well written...an easy read!

 

Nancy...great photos! Good mix of people, places, and things!

 

I'll be on the ship in just a few more weeks and your review has my anticipation leave raised one more notch!

 

Thanks!

 

BILL

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mommabean

mommabean

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Posted

 

Gina, I suspect that it's because they were in the Royal Suite!

 

When I was in a GS on Enchantment a CC member was in the RS and they didn't get a bridge tour. I wonder if there was more to it than that. Or maybe it's a new benefit of the RS since last August when the CC member took me on the RS tour. :confused:

 

Gina

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capnlars

capnlars

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Thanks everyone for the great comments.....

 

Bamadave (Dave and Barb) - we'd be happy to talk to you about the trip, you can contact me off-board at capnlarsfl@comcast.net

 

PVDCruiser - some of these guys just take their jobs a little too seriously. If Osama wanted good pictures of Port Everglades, he just needs to book a flight out of FLL and snap away right after they take off. Hope he remembers not to take any liquids in his carryon!

 

Mikeandlisa - We were only in Key West a short time, so the parasailing was perfect. I suspect if you just get off the ship and book with them at their booth on the dock it would be cheaper than through RCI. It's literally right there as you get off the ship.

 

Momabean - I asked Julian if I could get a tour on the first day. Also, the other people we ate dinner with said it's normal to get an invite if you've been invited to captains table. I've asked and gotten a tour on almost all of our trips. I either ask the concierge or the Loyalty Ambassador. I'm sure the RS didn't hurt my chances; however, on each tour we've taken, there's been people in all cabin types that just made the request.

 

MerionMom - thanks for the nice comments - I see your posts constantly.

 

CAT GIRL - We're really looking forward to the Vision in '09. The only rub is that my company has a mandatory "kick off the year" meeting every January. I've already put in a request to have them delay a couple of weeks for '09 - I think there's a good chance. I have 2 questions about that itinerary though - 1) It shows a 2-hour stop after transiting the canal; do we get even have time to get off the ship? What's there? 2) It shows an arrival in San Salvador at 4AM!!!! Do we have to get up that early to leave? We'll join the roll call and cross our fingers that we get to go. If we don't we'll likely do a B2B from San Salvador after our company meeting.

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mommabean

mommabean

Posted
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Great review! Gina, add another one to the "Julian Fan Club". :)

I'm going on the Jan 2009 Vision Repo also. Please join our

roll call. There's only me and one other person so far. It's such

a great itinerary.

 

Make that TWO new fans. Don't forget dutchess43. :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=620239

 

Gina

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