Enchantment Review - Jan 31 Sailing - Part one

[mrstay]

4 Night Enchantment Cruise – Ft. Lauderdale, Cococay, Key West, Day at sea – Jan 31/Feb4

 

Cruisers: Myself: RCCL 5 times prior (Empress, Radiance, Splendour X2, Rhapsody), Carnival once and Premier once - 40 years old, left children and husband at home

Girlfriend: 34 and left husband at home – she has sailed Enchantment twice before stretch and has sailed Explorer.

 

ARRIVAL: Being that I was flying from Houston non-stop I flew into Ft. Lauderdale that morning and arrived at 11:00 am and went straight to the port. My friend lives in Ft. Lauderdale so she and her husband picked me up, so getting to the pier was no problem. The airport is about 3 miles or so to the pier.

 

EMBARKATION: We arrived at the pier about the 11:30. There were a lot more people there then I had anticipated. It was very easy though to go to the priority check-in (platinum, diamond, and suites). We were able to walk right up and we were the next ones to be taken. I did feel guilty since this was the first time getting to use this benefit. But it was nice not to have to wait with the few hundred people waiting. We went to the WJ and had a nice lunch. Tables were hard to come by at this point. Next we went to the dining room right at 1:00 and we were able to switch to a table for two right by the window. We also went to Chops and made our reservations, with no problem.

 

NEXT CRUISE BOOKING: I had done my research prior to boarding and knew that I wanted to see the LA as soon as I boarded. She was not in until 2:00, but I was there waiting. Colette was very nice and easy to work with. It helped that I had all of my information waiting for her. I was able to book my cruise while still in port, which gave me a $100 OBC for the next one. Since I knew Travelocity was ending a great promotion that day, I had Colette put Travelocity as my TA, that way I did not have to sign off on the transfer. I then waited a few minutes and called Travelocity and since I booked before the sale ended that night I also received $100 OBC from Travelocity and $50 OBC from using my Mastercard (a Mastercard promotion). Not too bad, already booked my next cruise with $250 OBC and I had not even left port yet.

 

CABIN: We had a handicap cabin 3123, which had become available (along with about 10 others) about 45 days prior to sailing, so we grabbed it. We had an inside cabin on deck 3. Yes the cabin was a lot larger than a standard cabin. The shower area was our only problem, since the drainage always drained into the middle of the room. It did have a refrigerator in the cabin, which was an added bonus. I have to say that this was one area that my roommate was a little upset about, our room steward. Our bathroom was not the cleanest and his service really did lack. Did it ruin the trip, no, but it was again another noticeable change in RCCL policy. This was my first inside cabin and I loved how dark it was at night, that I booked my next cruise with an inside.

 

SHIP: Being that I had sailed two other Vision class ship I have to say that this is my favorite class ship. To me it is just right. I do say that the stretch on this one though added some nice features. I loved having Chops. He only real areas that I would say that you could see the wear and tear was in the carpeting. Was the problem everywhere, no. The ship is 10 years old and gets 365 days of use a year, so it is remarkable how they keep it up. I noticed in the stairway area on the lower decks large stains, that did surprise me. Otherwise, you always saw someone cleaning and doing repairs.

 

LIQUOR: I know that there has been great debate as to the liquor policy. Here is our experience. I packed three small bottles in my check-in bag. My roommate had only one bottle of brandy, but 9 bottles of Fiji water. All of our bags made it to the cabin, but hers carrying the water and brandy. Of course, we knew she was busted. The ship had sailed (so we knew she would not be kicked off) and about 15 minutes after the muster we receive a phone call to come to the bottom level mid-ship. We get there and the lady said that security scanners in the terminal had tagged the bag because of the 9 bottles we had in the bag. We were asked to open the bag. Of course, the only thing at the top was the water. The brandy was wrapped in a shirt in the middle of the clothes. She saw that the bottles of water were not open, so we proceeded to our cabin. So it goes to show that they are only looking for larger amounts, not my little stuff.

 

CHOPS: Can you say marvelous? Indeed. This was my favorite part of the cruise onboard. The wait staff and the food was very well worth the $25 charge.

 

COCOCAY: The last time I had been to Cococay was in 1991, so as you can imagine, I didn’t remember much. The island was very clean and laid out well. We never saw a problem trying to get a seat. When you first pull up to the island you will see some blue cabanas, they are free for the taking. Later in the day when me, Miss Whitey, had had enough sun we moved over there so that my sun worshipping friend could have her sun and I could have some shade. The food on the island was not great, but ok and edible. We did walk down to the end tip of the island. Do wear water shoes as some of the beach was covered with seaweed and the water had little rocks. It is deserted down there. We left about 10:30 to go to the island and we took the second to last tender back to the ship. I would not mind going back again, it is relaxing.

 

KEY WEST:

 

Immigration: We arrived into port on time at 8:30 or even a little before. The announcements were very clear as to where to go and what group to go when. The process went very smoothly.

 

Island: Being that my roommate lives in South Florida, and I had too, going to Key West was no big deal. For us it used to be a weekend getaway. So we did just that, got away. We took a cab to the airport ($7 pp each way) and picked up our rental car, a Mustang convertible, and headed up the keys about 40 miles to Bahia Honda State Park. We were on the road by 10:00 am. This beach is rated one of the top 10 beaches in Florida, and that it is. The weather could not have been more beautiful, not a cloud in the sky, 78 degrees and the water was like glass. So with the top down we enjoyed the park and the drive and made our way back to the airport and had a taxi drop us off at 4:00 at the ship. We had a few minutes to go across the street and get a tee-shirt and my frozen chocolate covered key lime pie and we were back with a few minutes to spare. This was an unbelievably enjoyable day.

 

REVIEW TO BE CONTINUED ………

[JackieB]

Tammy,

 

Thank you for posting part 1 of the review.

 

I've been on Enchantment before and am wondering: Is there still a live

band in Bolero's? I really enjoyed the music there the last I sailed.

 

Thx

 

Jack