Off the Enchantment on 9/20/08; Diamond C&A comments, too

[karkee07]

Well, this was one of the best cruises I have EVER had, and I've taken 20 of them on RCCL. This is a terrific ship, the crew is unbelievable, the food was very good, and the weather was very good last week, too. All in all, a fabulous 5 day cruise: Key West, Cozumel, Belize.

 

Belize is very poor, and I recommended on my comment card to eliminate the city tour on the Tale of Two Cities shore excursion. Much better to to to Altun Ha and have lunch somewhere, not drive around looking at the slums.

 

Yes, they had lobster on the last night, and yes, I got two servings.

 

The ship stretch several years ago added some very nice touches: the pool deck is really nice, and it has a long bar on one side where you can sit and look directly out at the ocean.

 

Yes, they charge 3% for money in the casino, BUT you can cash personal checks at Customer Relations for no fee.

 

Beef in the dining room was very good.

 

We asked our head waiter if we could have another night with escargot, and he sent it to us THREE more nights!! We were in heaven!

 

They cram a full 7 night cruise in to 5 nights! I was impressed.

 

Additonal comments regarding Diamond C&A perks:

 

The coupon booklet has the free money coupons and not the slot pull. My friend had the slot pull in her Gold booklet.

 

They gave us BOTH the baseball cap.

 

Julian, the Concierge, is the sweetest, nicest man. He look a LOT like he's related to Denzel Washington! No kidding!

 

I introduced myself and my girl friend on the first night, told him she was a Gold level C&A, and he went immediately and got her a key card to the Concierge Lounge! Very nice of him. He said as long as she was sharing my cabin, she was welcome to come in with me.

 

They had the repeat cruiser cocktail party, AND they had the Platinum and Diamond event, too. Like I said, all the stuff from a 7 day cruise was there.

 

Disembarkation was amazingly fast! After the usual horse poo-poo of finding the missing deadbeats and custom scammers, our Diamond and Suites group was escorted from the upper level waiting area in the dining room, all the way down the stairs to the exit. From the time I got in that escorted line until I found my departure gate at the airport it was 30 minutes!!!! Off the ship, luggage, customs, taxi, check luggage, security at the airport, to the gate: all in 30 minutes. We were off the ship by 8:30 AM.

 

 

I too loved the Enchantment! I went last year with my mom as my graduation gift(yay) and she sure was a BEAUTIFUL ship!!!

[ILVMM]

Great comments and enjoyed your review re: EOS.

 

We (DH & me) leave on 9/29 for our 1st RCCL cruise; I'm a Celebrity cruiser at heart, but these are sister companies, so we're anxious to give it a try.

 

Just got off the phone with C&A - -they said that the Post-Cruise desk is hearing less & less re: brown water. Good news.

 

I asked if there would be a DVD player in our room (Cat L-7119) and they could not give me an answer.

 

Does anyone know if we can play a "cowboy movie dvd" in our room, - -it's for DH to watch while i'm at the spa!

 

Also, how "formal" is "formal night" on these shorter cruises?

 

Many thanks for the info - - counting the days..... yipee!!

[bbrad8]

I asked if there would be a DVD player in our room (Cat L-7119) and they could not give me an answer.

 

Does anyone know if we can play a "cowboy movie dvd" in our room, - -it's for DH to watch while i'm at the spa!

 

Also, how "formal" is "formal night" on these shorter cruises?

 

Many thanks for the info - - counting the days..... yipee!!

 

Sorry, the only cabins that 'might' have DVD's are Suites (GS or better). Formal nights actually were quite formal (at least the end of August was) based on our experience. Enjoy your cruise.

 

Bruce

[Kay and Hal]

Interesting......I was on this same cruise - depart 9/15, arrive back in FLL 9/20. Sadly, it was the worst cruise I've ever been on. Disembarkation was a nightmare - we nearly missed our flights due to the lack of organization that morning. :eek: We had been to Guest Relations several times the day before to ensure we would have *early* color tags to get us off the ship early enough to make our flights. It took us about 2 hours to get off, and then only because we literally pushed our way through the non-moving crowd. Sounds like we had contact with totally different crew members and must have been on different decks. My cruise review said it all. Not to take away from the good time you obviously had - kudos to you, I'm honestly glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise. Unfortunately, it wasn't so enjoyable for many of us - and I'm speaking for my group of 10 and a number of other guests we spoke with and overheard. And I feel I must add, I have never made negative posts about a cruise ship, cruise line or their crew before - until now.

 

Hopefully RCCL will address some of the problems they have and future cruisers on this ship, and this cruise line will have enjoyable cruises.

[Kay and Hal]

Sorry, the only cabins that 'might' have DVD's are Suites (GS or better). Formal nights actually were quite formal (at least the end of August was) based on our experience. Enjoy your cruise.

 

Bruce

 

We had a group of 10 ladies. Several of us wore typical formal attire; others wore dressy pants outfits, or dresses. I noticed there was a smaller percentage of guests in traditional formal attire as compared to other cruises I've been on, but were still dressed appropriately. If you enjoy dressing up, then go for it!

[bbrad8]

We had a group of 10 ladies. Several of us wore typical formal attire; others wore dressy pants outfits, or dresses. I noticed there was a smaller percentage of guests in traditional formal attire as compared to other cruises I've been on, but were still dressed appropriately. If you enjoy dressing up, then go for it!

 

Our only other 'short cruise' experience was on the Majesty in '05. I will agree the short cruises in gereral are less formal. However, we did NOT see any of the jeans, t-shirts, shorts, hats, etc on Enchantment that we experienced on our Majesty cruise........

 

Bruce

[pcur]

Interesting......I was on this same cruise - depart 9/15, arrive back in FLL 9/20. Sadly, it was the worst cruise I've ever been on. Disembarkation was a nightmare - we nearly missed our flights due to the lack of organization that morning. :eek: We had been to Guest Relations several times the day before to ensure we would have *early* color tags to get us off the ship early enough to make our flights. It took us about 2 hours to get off, and then only because we literally pushed our way through the non-moving crowd. Sounds like we had contact with totally different crew members and must have been on different decks. My cruise review said it all. Not to take away from the good time you obviously had - kudos to you, I'm honestly glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise. Unfortunately, it wasn't so enjoyable for many of us - and I'm speaking for my group of 10 and a number of other guests we spoke with and overheard. And I feel I must add, I have never made negative posts about a cruise ship, cruise line or their crew before - until now.

 

Hopefully RCCL will address some of the problems they have and future cruisers on this ship, and this cruise line will have enjoyable cruises.

 

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise. Yes, it was 2 hours from when we were in the lounge around 7 AM and actually got to depart the ship. But, I expected that. In the future, with RCCL cruises, figure that time in, and figure you will be off the ship by 9:30 AM. When you reach Diamond level Crown and Anchor, then you will be in the departure lounge and will be one of the first goups off, if not the very first. From your list of Celebrity cruises, you should be close, and the same level transfers over to RCCL.

 

I'm not too sure what people didn't like about the cruise, but I know what to expect, so maybe their perception and expectations were different than mine. In 35 years with them they have not improved disembarkation that much, we have had 20 enjoyable cruises with them, and we have had only a few cruises with them where we've had any complaints at all: that's why we are going on number 21 next week.

 

I hope you enjoy your next one (if there is one with RCCL again). We also love Celebrity, too!

[pcur]

Regarding how people dressed on formal night: it was all over the map. One lady even had on a red fishnet "poncho" type top with a short jean skirt.:eek:

 

Others had on long formal gowns. I wore an organza pink jacket top with rhinestone buttons and black polka dots with nice black pants. One of the senior staff members complimented me on it in the Captain's receiving line, and another lady came up and did the same after the party. They sell this jacket in all kinds of fabrics and colors at Dress Barn.

[pcur]

If your DVD player plugs into a wall socket, you should be able to use it. I'm not too sure about the kind that plug directly into the TV, though.

 

Also, they have movies on TV all day long: one or two per day running 24 hours at different times.

[ILVMM]

Thanks for all the info re: Formal Night and the dvd accessibility.

 

DH burned his ties when he retired, so we usually skip Formal Night :) ! I was just curious to see if the dress code was still in effect on the shorter cruises.

 

Ok, last question - - hopefully - - is it ok for me to pack a 12-pack of Caff Free Diet Coke cans in my suitcase or will it be confiscated?

 

No booze + nothing illegal - - i'm just allergic to caffeine and wondered if I could bring my own soda.

 

Thanks again!

....only a few more days....

[maggymae]

Sorry you did not enjoy your cruise. We were on the same cruise and I think it was the best we have been on so far. This was our 2nd time on Enchantment and love her and our 4th cruise total. The crew was very friendly. Everytime we passed a crew member or when we were in the Windjammer eating all of the attendants were working very hard and making sure we were taken care of. Our room attendant and the waiters in dining were great - probably the best we have had on any other cruises.

 

We also had early departure and were off the ship by 9:30. While they think we may be the ship early sometimes it is beyond their control as to what time we leave. Also they kept paging the same people to go to guest relations and until all is cleared unfortunately we all have to wait for those passengers to take care of the business at hand. Also there was a problem in the terminal which delayed leaving. Not trying to make excuses but we have been on Celebrity and Holland and have found that getting off Enchantment both times went much smoother than getting off either of those ships. We are looking forward to our next cruise. Hopefully your next one will also be much better.

[Kay and Hal]

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise. Yes, it was 2 hours from when we were in the lounge around 7 AM and actually got to depart the ship. But, I expected that. In the future, with RCCL cruises, figure that time in, and figure you will be off the ship by 9:30 AM. When you reach Diamond level Crown and Anchor, then you will be in the departure lounge and will be one of the first goups off, if not the very first. From your list of Celebrity cruises, you should be close, and the same level transfers over to RCCL.

 

I'm not too sure what people didn't like about the cruise, but I know what to expect, so maybe their perception and expectations were different than mine. In 35 years with them they have not improved disembarkation that much, we have had 20 enjoyable cruises with them, and we have had only a few cruises with them where we've had any complaints at all: that's why we are going on number 21 next week.

 

I hope you enjoy your next one (if there is one with RCCL again). We also love Celebrity, too!

 

 

Peggy - my 2-hour reference was 8:30 - 10:30 - we were in our designated spot between 8 & 8:30 - according to the disembarkation lit left in our cabin and our color tags, we should have gotten off the ship @ 9:00 AM (I am aware of the escalator issue in the terminal) - it was after 10:30 before we finally got off, totally unacceptable. I don't plan to cruise RCCL again, I've never had a problem like this and won't be transferring anything over.

 

The people we personally spoke with were frequent cruisers, so I assume they, like I, know what to expect on a cruise - which is to say I don't expect every single, little thing to be perfect - I am generally not one to nitpick and criticize all those little things that inevitably come up over the course of any vacation, cruise or otherwise - stuff happens, you deal with it.

 

And we did find a number of the crew to be just short of rude, and not the smiling, friendly faces we were all used to - honestly, with the exception of our dining room wait staff, our room attendant, one particular girl working the coffee shop and some spa employees, most of the other crew we had contact with were not *that* nice at all - including being yelled at by staff during disembarkation. I was surprised - one of the things I've told people over and over again is how friendly the crew are on cruise ships.

 

Anyway, I am happy for those who enjoyed the cruise, and enjoy the Enchantment. My next (and future) sail is back on Celebrity - on the Constellation again.

 

Karen