Enchantment of the Seas December 17th - 14th 2000
Introduction - We booked this cruise over a year ago. We decided to go with a group of friends so there were quite a few of us (36 in all). We knew four of the families and then I booked 4 additional families through postings on the Internet. This was our second cruise (first was Monarch of the Seas in 5/00). It was the first cruise for our kids, 2 boys ages 9 and 12. Overall we had a great time in spite of bad weather and disappointment of a missed port.
Pre cruise: We flew from Philadelphia to Ft. Lauderdale non-stop the day before the cruise. We stayed at the Marriott's Spring Hill Suite Hotel. The rooms were $80 per night and included transportation from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the pier. One note though you need to sign up for transportation to the pier at the front desk. So if there is a specific time you wish to go to the pier make sure you sign up when you check in to the hotel. (we recommend you get on the ship as soon as possible). The hotel itself was very nice for the price. There was a small pool and it was close to shopping, the airport and the port. Our group had lot of friends and family in the Ft. Lauderdale area and a member of our group suggested instead of going out to dinner, we host a party at our hotel . The hotel manager let us use the breakfast room to serve dinner. We ordered chicken and ribs from Tony Roma's. It turned out to be a wonderful relaxing evening a great start to a wonderful week
Day 1 Fort Lauderdale: We took the 10:30 am shuttle to the port. When we arrived at port I was surprised to see another RCCL ship across from the Enchantment. Apparently the Sovereign of the Seas had lost all power and could not make it back to her home port and was towed to Port Everglades. Processing was quick and easy and we were on board by 11:30 am. Our cabin was not quite ready but we were able to leave our carry ons in the closet while we went to explore the ship. Enchantment really is a beautiful ship. (Nicer physically than the Monarch.) There are lots of windows, artwork and woodwork. We went and checked out the kids area and sign our kids up for the kids program. We had our walkie talkies with us and one of our boys without our knowing it lost one in the ball pit. Later, when he finally told us he had lost it, we went back to the kids area and the kids had fun diving into the pit of ball in search of our walkie talkie. Thank goodness it was turned on or we may never have found it! We then went to the pool bar and got the kids coke cards. That was by far the best deal of the cruise. The total was $24.50 (including 15% tip) for each card. The card allowed the kids to get as many fountain drinks as they wanted throughout the week. This included Shirley Temples. Needless to say they had a blast walking up to any bar on the ship and ordering "a drink." After getting the coke cards and drinks for the parents we went to the Windjammer for lunch. There was always a decent selection of sandwiches, hot entree, salads and deserts. They always had lemonade, fruit punch, iced tea and hot coffee available. The food was buffet quality, some of the salads were interesting but nothing truly notable. After lunch we continued our tour of the ship. The Viking Crown lounge was definitely our favorite. Great view, nice decor and usually quiet up until the disco opened around 10:30 p.m. The pool was very nice a section was cordoned off for small kids and there was plenty of room. There are 4 whirlpools and you could always find room to squeeze in. The Solarium pool was beautiful! The lounges were a bit nicer and the atmosphere a bit subdued. A great area for adults to get away. The one thing we could not figure out, if the Solarium is for adults only why put the pizza, hot dog and hamburger stand inside the Solarium? After lunch we went back to our cabin to unpack. We were in cabin #7048 a category D balcony. There was a sofa bed for the kids and a queen bed for us. The cabin is nicely laid out with lot of nooks and crannies to store things. The closet and drawers were sufficient to store all our things even though I had seriously over packed. The balcony had 3 chairs and a small table. Before we left there was much discussion as to whether you could open up the partitions between the balconies. The answer is yes but if you run into the high seas we did you may not want to (more about that later). Dinner the first night was casual. We had 20 people in our group of friends. Ten adults and 10 boys. We had 2 tables right next to each other. We put the kids at one and the adults at the other. The kids waiter John was unbelievable. He had them served and off to the kids program by 7pm. Royal Caribbean has a nice kids menu with plenty of choices. Of course our youngest ate mostly hamburgers, pizza and chicken nuggets. Our oldest enjoyed both the kids menu and the adults menu. Many times he ordered from both menus. John even cut his steak! One of the nice things about RCCL's menu is that every night they offer a la cart entrees like steak or chicken in addition to their regular choices. This meant that if my son who loved steak could not find anything on the adult menu he could almost always have a steak. Our waiter Leslie was also very good but not as attentive as John. I am allergic to rosemary (a favorite of RCCL chefs). It took Leslie a few nights to figure out that if the potatoes were garnished with rosemary I could not eat it. In contrast on the Monarch I only had to tell our waiter once and then he would make sure that everything I ordered did not contain rosemary. The show the first night was kind of boring. The entertainer Jan Downs who did impressions was okay. The only impression she should stay away from is herself. Off to bed we had a big day planned for Key West. Around 10:30pm we heard a loud noise outside our balcony. A Helicopter was hover right next to us. Unfortunately a passenger had taken seriously ill and needed to be airlifted off. It was quite an impressive site. First they lowered a man on to our ship and then a basket. They then pulled the basket on to the helicopter. We thought they would soon take off but apparently that was the ill persons family. They then lowered a stretcher and lifted the passenger onto the helicopter and finally the coast guard person was hoisted back on to the helicopter. The whole operation took about a half hour all the time while we were still moving. It was very impressive. We all noted that the passenger was lucky he was still in US waters.
Day 2 Key West:Thanks to the Millennium (a Celebrity cruise liner), the Enchantment now tenders into Key West. We had booked our own kayak excursion and were concerned that we would not get into port on time. We were told we should get down to deck one by 7:45 so we could sneak on to the first tender. It turned out that it was not a problem and they very graciously let us on the first tender even though we did not have tickets (they were reserved for the ship's excursions). It was obvious that they had not tendered into Key West before because they had trouble finding the dock. Even with the mistakes we were at the dock by 8:15 and met Angela from Island Kayak http://islandkayakkeywest.com/tours.htm Angela drove us to the Fairfield Inn where the kayaks were ready to go. After some brief instructions we set out for a wonderful 3 œ hour tour. My husband and older son each had their own kayak. I was with our 9 year old. We set off across a bay with strong winds against us. Once we cleared the area it was much easier to paddle. Angela showed us lots of neat things. We saw jelly fish, many birds, flowers and fish. She took us through mangrove trees and at times it was so narrow we had to take apart our paddle in order to maneuver through. My son and I kind of fought each other as we paddled and got stuck in the mud a lot. Needless to say my husband got a lot of good laughs out of our trip. In the end I was exhausted and needed to be towed for a while. I would absolutely recommend this excursion. We passed the ships excursion and there were a lot of people in their group. With Angela it was just our family of four. After we were done we changed our clothes and Angela drove us to the Southernmost point of the United States for photos and then dropped us off in town for some shopping. We bought some color changing T-shirts at Del Sol and headed back to the ship. Key West is definitely a place we would like to spend more time. The ship's itinerary was questionable, however. We needed to get back to the ship by 2:15, which precludes you from really exploring the island. In general, we thought the times on the Monarch were much better: even though it had many more stops at ports, the length of time available in each port was much better. Dinner that night was formal. We went early to get a nice family portrait. When we were on the Monarch in May we did the Wine and Dine Program. This time we just ordered wine by the bottle. Since we were with a group we ordered a bottle of red and white each night and just took turns ordering. The show tonight was Herb Reed and the Platters. We had seen then on the Monarch and were again impressed with their show. It was a lot of fun and everyone had a great time.
Day 3 Cozumel: This is what we had been waiting for, snorkeling. We took everyone's recommendation and went to Chankanaab National Park. The park was wonderful lots of lounge chairs and easy access to snorkeling. The park charges $10 admission (per person) and the cab ride cost $10. each way (everything in Cozumel is negotiated in US$). Since this was the kids first time. We started out from the kids lagoon which was accessible from the beach. After we snorkeled for a bit I saw a man with a professional looking camera. He asked me if I wanted my picture taken I said not of me but my kids. He took a fantastic picture of our kids surrounded by fish. Little did we know at the time but this would be their one and only time snorkeling on the trip. We did get stung several times by sea lice (little baby jelly fish). It was not too painful but a little unnerving. After about an hour and a half of snorkeling I told my son that I was getting tired but in fact I had a looked around and noticed that the water was getting rough and the sky was turning dark. I didn't want him to panic. We headed for shore just at the waves started crashing. At the park there are rock steps at the edge of the beach to get in and out of the water. We really got banged around a bit getting out. I would love to go back someday. We loved the snorkeling, there were tons of fish and coral even though the water was rough. It must be beautiful when it is calm. We changed and had a nice lunch at the park walked around a bit then headed into town for some shopping. The park includes a very nice archeological exhibit as well as a fern trail. We did both in 60 - 90 minutes. There is also dolphin swims, a viewing reef and restaurants & concessions (including a place to purchase the underwater picture (which we did for $8 each). I bought 3 copies and they gave me the negative. Cozumel had the best shopping of our trip. My son wanted an onyx chess set and we set out to find one. When he finally spotted one that caught his eye. we started bargaining. It started out at $60 when we said it was for our son the price steadily lowered to $35. I whispered to my son that we would say were are going to think about it. As soon as we started to leave the store the clerk immediately say $25. Of course we bought it. After we left the store my son had a shocked look on his face and said he was concerned that we had cheated them. After we explained that this is the way you shop in Cozumel he wondered if he could shop this way at home! We bought a few other things and headed back to the ship.We missed dinner and ate at the Windjammer. I had noticed that on the menu in the dining room they were having jerk flank steak. I had had it on the Monarch and really enjoyed it. I decided to skip Windjammer and eat in our cabin. In our cabin they had the dining room menu available for room service so I ordered my jerk flank steak and ate while watching a movie. Room service was relatively quick and the food was still hot. They served the flank steak with mashed yams that were laced with the jerk seasoning. Needless to say there was none left. Most of our group did not want to go to the show so they stayed in the card room and played games while we went to the show. This night it was time for the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers to shine. The productions was called Sweet Dreams. It was wonderful. The lead male singer was fabulous and the production was well done. After the show we went back to check on everyone only to find out that our oldest son had gotten a little queasy (sea sick). Our friends gave him some bonine and he was doing much better. We called it a night and hoped for calmer seas tomorrow our first day at sea. Now on to the discussion about balcony partitions. There was nothing to keep the partition open and all night long it banged against the cabin wall. The chairs were not heavy enough to keep it from moving. It made so much noise, we had to call the Purser's desk and have someone re-latch the balcony. That was the end of our wide open balconies! To the ship's credit, they came out at midnight to fix the partitions. We did not want to go through another night of constant banging.
Day 4 Day at Sea: Today was wonderful. Even though it was almost too windy to read a book on deck and there was no sun we had a great time. We ate a leisurely breakfast in the dining room. They have great lox and bagels! We did a little shopping the stores on the ship. Ate some more, lounged wasted a day and loved it! A member of our group had arranged for all of us to tour the bridge. Frank one of the first officers gave us a wonderful tour. It really is amazing the technology they have available. We weren't allowed in the engine room but Frank showed us the camera view of it. There was no charge for a Bridge tour just ask at the Purser's desk. Soon it was time for dinner. Tonight was the Captain's Favorites I wish I had gotten a menu because I can't remember what was served. By now we had learned not to take our waiters suggestions. Any steak we had was wonderful. I usually ordered two appetizers. The salads were always good and deserts are my favorite. I had a Grand Marnier Soufflé that was wonderful. Tonight's show was fantastic. Today we insisted the kids join us and they were not disappointed. La Raf was performing. They are magicians and illusionists. There was lots of pomp and circumstance. They even did one trick in the middle of the audience. It was the one where they tie one of them up and put him in a locked box lift a curtain and change places. They did it really fast. We were all in awe. Off to bed we think we have a day in Grand Cayman planned!
Day 5 Grand Cayman (not really): We get up early so we can get on the first tender. We are scheduled to meet a representative from Captain Marvin for their See and Sea tour. After we wake up we wonder why we are still moving. Shouldn't we be anchored? We head out for a quick breakfast in the Windjammer. After breakfast we get our things together to meet our group in the card room. Our cabin steward suggests that we might not be going to Grand Cayman but we would have to wait for the Captains announcement. Well here comes the disappointment of the week! The Captain announces that because of the bad weather the government of Grand Cayman has closed the port. The option of their other port is also not available as the seas are just too high. Everyone took it in stride. The staff quickly put together a revised day at sea program. I headed out for a second breakfast (hadn't yet had Eggs Benedict). The kids headed up to the kids program to see what they had planned for the day. We all saw movies. I saw Keeping The Faith and my husband and kids saw Mission Impossible II. We played more bingo and overall had a wonderful relaxing day. Tonight was the first night of Hanukkah. They were surprised how many people showed up for the candle lighting service. They had a Rabbi from the Washington DC area who was very nice. They even had gelt and dreidels for the kids as well as potato latkes. The entertainment that evening was the Wave Review Production of Flashback featuring Roloff. Yet again another enjoyable and entertaining show. Later that night they had the Newlywed-not so Newlywed Game. Not to be missed. We could not stop laughing and we were very glad we were not up there. Side note: Reasons not to complain about missing a port: Someone else always has it worse. We heard about a couple that were scheduled to get married in Grand Cayman. Their family was waiting for them on the island. They were married in Jamaica instead. Also another family was taking their second Western Caribbean cruise unfortunately for them this was the second time they missed Grand Cayman. I think I'll fly there next time I want to visit.
Day 6 Ocho Rios: Our entire group decided to do a tour of Ocho Rios with Peat Taylor. Peat had come highly recommended by many posters in www.cruisecritic.com. As promised he met us a the pier. There were 36 of us in all and he had 2 busses. The other driver Trev was also very nice and he kept telling us no problem what every you want. We headed out to Dunn's River Falls to beat the crowd. Even though the weather wasn't the best it was a blast climbing the falls. Our guide was very nice. I didn't think I could climb the falls. I had fallen a few years ago and ruined both my ankles. After about half way I decided to give it a try. Thanks to our guide I was able to climb it just fine. It was quite a blast. The kids wanted to do it again. After reading some of the posts, we were a little concerned regarding safety and theft. This was no problem at all -- you should feel comfortable in just being a tourist in Jamaica. We headed back to the busses and Peat and Trev took us on a ride to Fern Gully. We stopped for a bit while Peat pointed out some of the native plants. Afterwards we decided to head into town for some shopping. They left us off next to Sonies Plaza. The shops were okay nothing great. We went into the market place across the street for some wood carvings. The merchants were very aggressive and our kids were a bit intimidated. Once we explained that this was just their culture they started to enjoy the bargaining atmosphere. We had lunch at he Mango Café next to Sonies Plaza I had a wonderful Jerk Chicken the kids had pizza (which was excellent). We thought about heading to the beach but the weather didn't cooperate so we just headed back to the ship. Since we weren't in Peat's bus but I was the one that had made the arrangements through Peat he called and asked how we liked his tour. I would definitely recommend using Peat Taylor. They were very flexible and determined to make sure we had a wonderful time in Jamaica. You can reach Peat at 876-975-0028 or fax him at 876-975-0208. In our opinion, Jamaica is not a world class port stop -- its a very poor country as was clearly evident when we drove around. Some of the local art & crafts were interesting (the kids got some wood carvings), but really, after Dunn's River Falls, there's not much to do there. Dinner tonight was again formal. They served lobster tails and Filet Mignon. Both were outstanding. The appetizer of choice tonight was Escargot. They were the best I ever had! The desert was also notable. The Enchantment of the Seas cake, chocolate with hazelnut a real delight! The headliners The Diamonds could not get on the ship in Grand Cayman so they had a holiday show (we skipped it). I ended up a little queasy I'm not sure if it was the rough seas, 12 escargot, or 4 glasses of wine. Unfortunately I missed the men in our group doing Karaoke.
Day 7 Last day at Sea: Today was the day of the big bingo jackpot. $10,312! Another $30 down the drain but the kids had fun. I had been packing our bags through out the week so I didn't miss much. We went shopping again and got some nice T-shirts 2 Seiko watches (great watch sale). We got our tips together and headed out to the pool for a swim. It was cloudy all week so none of us had a tan. The bright side is that we saved years of wrinkles from our skin! There is always a bright side. Our kids caught the end of the Farewell show and then made sure they saw it in the cabin later. The staff was wonderful. Before dinner, we arranged a group photo shot which turned out really well. Also, we posed for yet another family photo -- we bought champagne from the champagne bar downstairs as we waited in line -- photos in luxury. Dinner was great as usual. We over tipped our waiters and assistant waiters. Our group met in the Viking Crown Lounge for one last drink together. I bought the RCCL Drink book, it makes a very nice souvenir it was $9.95 and included a drink.
Day 8 Debarkation: We ate a nice breakfast in the dining room and got our things together and headed for the Centrum to wait for our tags to be called. Baggage claim was its usual mess -- but was made much better since we tied poke-a-dot ribbon to the tops of all our suitcases. (nothing's worse than coming down to baggage claim to see 9000 black bags laid out in front of you). We were driving up to Boca Raton to visit my Dad so we got off the ship first thing. It poured in Ft. Lauderdale so we got soaked getting our car. The Avis bus picked us up right at the pier. Unfortunately the bus driver did not wait for my husband to get on the bus before it left. The good news is that he had to circle around and we were able to get him to stop and let my husband on. Make sure you book a large car -- our luggage failed to fit in the initial car Avis tried to give us.
Noteworthy Our cabin steward Ula from Jamaica was wonderful. Our 9 year old loves tootsie rolls. I knew he wouldn't like the mints they put on you pillows so I brought some mini tootsie rolls with me. I showed Ula where I hid them and she made sure they were on his pillow every night. He did eventually figure out where they came from but I had him convinced that RCCL really knew how to impress their guests. Also when we were in Jamaica I had forgotten to get change in Jamaican money for the kids. Ula was able to find some in her cabin for us. She did beautiful pillow arrangements everyday and did a great job of keeping our cabin neat even though we are slobs.
Balcony cabin: It was really nice having a balcony especially since we had so many days at sea, but I don't know if it was necessary. We had gotten the balcony for a really good price. I would probably splurge in Alaska but unless the price is right I would go back to just a window. You are in your cabin so little.
Cruise Staff: Everyone was warm and friendly. Never did we encounter a staff member with a bad attitude. Paul Rutter the Cruise Director was wonderful. Diego (not sure of title) was also great. Captain Per Arne Kjonso on the other hand could use some lightening up. He only made announcements at designated times. I enjoyed the Captain of the Monarch's unscheduled announcements more. He pointed out islands we were passing and gave updates on location and weather. Speaking of weather, every night there would be a note with our pillow telling us the next days weather. Strangely enough it was always supposed to be 84 degrees. (they never tell you about the 25 mph winds though). I think it came close only in Jamaica. Having said this, we felt that the service on the Monarch was a step better than what we observed aboard the Enchantment. Examples of on the Enchantment that we would never see on the Monarch: empty water glasses, tables that had empty food trays, empty clean towel baskets at the second level of the pool. There was no drop off, however, in the number of waiters trying to sell drinks throughout the ship.
Cruising with children: We were lucky in that there were 8 other kids that we knew real well so our guys were constantly entertained. We recommend bringing the walkie talkies. Our boys really enjoyed the independence of walking around the ship themselves. Most nights when we were in the show or at a lounge, the boys would hole up in one of the cabin rooms and watch TV (lots of kids movies / cartoons), play games (chess, cards, scrabble, monopoly) and order room service for fries or cookies (bring lots of 2 dollar bills they are great for room service tips). We felt surprisingly safe. (and we are not the type to let our kids wander the neighborhood here at home -- we tend to be more conservative than most other parents). Generally, the kids had a great time and we were able to spend enough "alone time" with the grown ups that we never felt cabin fever or over dosed on kids.
Would we cruise again? I would definitely cruise again however I would not place as much emphasis on the ports of call. I really wanted to get to Grand Cayman and was very disappointed when we did not. Realizing what I now know, if a port is that important to you, you should just fly there and spend a few days or a week. Cruising is a wonderful relaxing vacation it is not a mode of transportation
Would we cruise again on RCCL? Yes. However, some in our group thought the cruise wasn't as kid oriented as other cruise lines. Examples: The kids program closed periodically throughout the day; video games required coins to play (should have been free to kids). Also, the food was generally very good, but inconsistent Example: the Vichyssoise soup was down right poor, while the other chilled soups were excellent; some entrees and deserts were spectacular, others average. RCCL is clearly a mass market line and while it has all the physical amenities you could think of, this is not a high end cruise line. However, given the price, we doubt there's better value for the money available. And cruising on a very large ship may not be for everyone. We never felt things were overcrowded (for example, we could usually find pool deck chairs), but the fact remains that there were lots of people (and you meet all kinds) and we oft times forgot where such and such a lounge was located.
Would we cruise this itinerary (western Caribbean)? Probably not. Too many days at sea and the ports that we did go to weren't as good as the ports in the Southern Caribbean. Key West was nice, but we weren't there for long enough. Cozumel was nice, but we were the last ship to arrive (out of 6) and that meant that things were crowded. Jamaica I could do without. Also two out of four ports you need to tender into port. We find this inconvenient since it limits your ability to get on / off the ship during the port visit and also limits time in port. The tender in from Key West took an hour from the time we waited in line to the time we were physically on the ship
Post Cruise Miami: After visiting my Dad in Boca we headed down to Miami. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn Miami Airport South. We had free Marriott rewards so that limited our choices. The hotel was great because it was attached to a Courtyard and a Marriott. Our room overlooked the pool and breakfast was included. On Christmas Day we went to Everglades National Park. If you have never been you are really missing out. Two years ago we went to the Shark Valley entrance and really enjoyed it. There is a tram ride that is narrated by a park ranger. We loved it so much we decided we had to go further into the Everglades. We were not disappointed. We entered the main entrance and worked our way down to the bottom. Royal Palm had great views of the birds and alligators. The landscape changes dramatically by the time you hit the bottom by Florida bay. The weather was iffy and we decided not to take the tour boat ride on the bay. We just walked around and had lunch at Flamingo Lodge. They had a wonderful gift shop where we bought some great prints of the birds we loved. After a long day we headed back to Miami and had dinner in our room. <BR><BR>The next day we went to the Miami Seaquarium. They had lot of wonderful shows and we got a chance to identify some of the fish we snorkeled with in Cozumel. Our favorite shows included the Flipper show and the Killer Whale and Dolphin show. We went to South Beach (including the obligatory walk on the sand and hunt for shells) for dinner and ate at Wok and Roll on Collins Avenue near 12th street. The food was fantastic and the service was incredible. They were so attentive. Our last day of vacation. The kids swam it the pool for the last time and we headed back to Ft. Lauderdale. We ate lunch at the Ugly Tuna in the Las Olas shopping area. The food was good but our kids were more interested in the draw bridge. On the way back to the airport we stopped for some oranges and juice. Time to go back to Philly and await the big snow storm! Back to reality!!!!! Feel free to ask any questions my email address is dswolfson@yahoo.com
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