RCI Enchantment OTS

The Enchantment was the smallest ship I've ever sailed. We did a
back to back from Dec. 1st - 16th. The seas and weather was the worst
of any cruise/land vacation. Did the Western routes with stops in Key
West, Belize, Cozumel, Jamaica and Grand Cayman. Also had 5 days in Ft.
Lauderdale. In total only 6 days of sun out of 15. The rest was rain,
clouds and high rough seas. Also learned that from now on I'm sticking
to the larger ships vs. the smaller ones. I like the intimacy of a
smaller ship but don't want to be on one in rough seas.
The food was the least impressive of any RCI ship I've been on.
All I can say here is you better love mushrooms. They are in almost
every dish served in the My Fair Lady dining room. The menus never
changed on the back to back cruise. Different routes usually have
different menus (experience from other lines) but not on this ship. The
Windjammer Buffet was very generic...Hamburgers, Hotdogs, fries, carving
board, sandwiches, soups & salads and a few different items added each
day. Food was the least impressive part of this cruise.
The back to back embarkation was the best ever. The entire
process only took a few minutes at most. RCI gets high marks here.
There were about 12 of us doing a back to back. Basically we walked
off the ship, escorted thru customs and right back onto the ship.
The ships crew was friendly and service was very good. The ship is
plain and simple. No wow factor. Nice ship if you want to just relax
and not looking for alot of night life. I don't and was usually in bed
and asleep by 11 pm. Got to know some of the crew well and found a few
ships secrets (1 I'll share): The mashed potatoes are fake. They use
instant with only a few real added to the instant for the "chunk"
effect.
Pre-booked a shore excursion in Belize for snorkelling and beach.
That day it poured. Took the non-refundable tickets to the tour desk
and asked if anything could be done. To my surprise we got a full
refund with no questions asked. I expected to hear sorry but to my
surprise got the credit. Another plus for RCI.
Grand Cayman was one of our few sunny days. Didn't realize until we
were on the tender that 8 other ships were in port that day. Imagine
downtown Grand Cayman with 9 cruise ships in port...WOW. It was short
day ashore this trip. Ended up going back to the ship to enjoy the
empty pool deck.
All in all I still like Royal Caribbean. I did write in my comment
card that I am torn between Royal Caribbean and Carnival. Only because
Carnival has self service laundry. I love the option to pack light and
wash dirty items then return home to only have to unpack and not bother
with dirty items. TO ME this is a deciding factor on what line to pick.
I know this will seem silly to alot of you but its very important to me.
Over all a very nice cruise and very happy with the service of Royal
Caribbean.

In article <463-45856BDA-10@storefull-3313.bay.>, RICK DAVIS
<RICKER64@> wrote:

> Also learned that from now on I'm sticking
> to the larger ships vs. the smaller ones. I like the intimacy of a
> smaller ship but don't want to be on one in rough seas.

You consider Enchantment of the Seas to be a smaller ship? It is about
80,000 tons so I think the larger ships would have been similarly
affected in those rough seas.

--
Charles

RJQMAN wrote:
> Rough seas on Enchantment last week? We were on the Navigator at the
> same time (Dec 9 - 16th) - rough seas were the order of the day. The
> captain said we had winds gusting to 60 knots (I think that is 70
> mph??) and 20 - 25 foot waves between Florida and Haiti. Navigator
> handled it well, but all outside decks were closed to the public.
> I will post a more complete review of the trip soon.

For me this was the smallest ship I've been on. The Enchantment
is 80,700 gross tons. The next smallest was Brilliance of the Seas at
90,000+ gross tons. Prior to that all my other sailings have been on
110,000 + gross tons. So yes it was the smallest ship I've ever
sailed. Our deck winds were over 50 mph. The lounge chairs were
flying all over the pool deck and some even flying into the pools. The
upper decks were locked down. The seas were 16-18 foot waves on the
worst days. 12 foot the other days. Both the eastern and western
routes were hit hard for those two weeks. The formal production shows
had to be canceled so as the performers didn't hut themselves. IT was
4 days of rough seas. I would have rather been on a ship the size of
the Navigator.

ricker64@ wrote:
> RJQMAN wrote:
>> Rough seas on Enchantment last week? We were on the Navigator at the
>> same time (Dec 9 - 16th) - rough seas were the order of the day. The
>> captain said we had winds gusting to 60 knots (I think that is 70
>> mph??) and 20 - 25 foot waves between Florida and Haiti. Navigator
>> handled it well, but all outside decks were closed to the public.
>> I will post a more complete review of the trip soon.
>
> For me this was the smallest ship I've been on. The Enchantment
> is 80,700 gross tons. The next smallest was Brilliance of the Seas at
> 90,000+ gross tons. Prior to that all my other sailings have been on
> 110,000 + gross tons. So yes it was the smallest ship I've ever
> sailed. Our deck winds were over 50 mph. The lounge chairs were
> flying all over the pool deck and some even flying into the pools. The
> upper decks were locked down. The seas were 16-18 foot waves on the
> worst days. 12 foot the other days. Both the eastern and western
> routes were hit hard for those two weeks. The formal production shows
> had to be canceled so as the performers didn't hut themselves. IT was
> 4 days of rough seas. I would have rather been on a ship the size of
> the Navigator.
>
60 knots = 69 MPH; you multiply by 1.15

70,000 GRT is about the biggest I've been on. I'm sure glad I never had
to endure something like what you did on my early cruises: 20,000 GRT
(Carla Costa) and 17,000 (the first Sun Princess). Next up was
Sovereign of the Seas (around 70,000).

Reminds me of a little history story. When the first Queen Mary (just
under 80,000 tons) entered service they did not have hand rails in the
corridors. "This is ship is so big it can't roll!" After a big storm
in her first winter, they put in handrails. The ship turned out to be a
terrible roller in heavy seas, a problem that was not rectified until
they put fin stabilizers on her in the 50s.

About the only ships that are fairly immune from sea movement are fully
laden ULCCs (super tankers).