Review: Royal Caribbean - Enchantment of the Seas - [August 30 , 2004]

[Net Reviews]

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Reviewer Comments:

At our dinner table, we were trying to think what this cruise should be
called. I came up with the buy 5 days, get 2 free cruise. Someone else
came up with the combination Western Caribbean, cruise to nowhere
cruise. At the very last show in the Orpheum Theatre, the assistant
cruise director renamed the ship, The "Entrapment" of the Seas. LOL

Starting at the beginning---embarkation could not have been easier. Fill
out those forms online before boarding, and you breeze right through.

The ship---this was our second cruise, and the second time of a Royal
Caribbean Vision class ship. We already knew our way around having
sailed previously on the Splendor. We knew our inside cabin would be
small, but efficient. The only change was a rock climbing wall had been
installed where the miniature golf course used to be.

Food---your first impression after boarding is the buffet in the
Windjammer. It seemed to me that there were less choices than our first
cruise in the Mediterranean. There were definitely less choice at the
Windjammer for breakfast. (I remember thinking some of the choices on
the splendor were odd for breakfast, and my wife telling me that they
were common for England.) The food in the Windjammer was good, but
nothing special.

At the Solarium (burger, hot dogs, fries, and pizza), vegetarian burgers
and chicken burgers were added to the menu. (They were not made in
advance, so the counterman always had to call the order into the back.
At one point I ordered one and someone else had ordered a chicken
burger, the counterman could not tell them apart, and had to ask the
person in the back.) The veggie burgers were actually quite good.

In the main dining room---food presentation was quite good. Some of the
food was excellent. The lobster was much better than I remembered it
from our Mediterranean cruise. Some other main courses were very good.
Others varied from good to very good. At least one of the desserts, I
considered almost "sinfully" good.

I know others have criticized Royal Caribbean food, and I have no other
line to compare it to, but considering that they are cooking mass meals
for over 2000 people, I think they do a very good job.

Our dining experience was enhanced by our table. On our first cruise, we
were seated at a round table for 10. The first night we were alone until
another couple showed up late looking like they had been through hell.
(They had flown that day from the West coast to Dallas, Dallas to NY, NY
to Madrid, Madrid to Barcelona, where they discovered that their luggage
was lost.) That was the only night they were at our table. The next
night a mother and son showed up. They were there for the rest of the
cruise, but generally did not show up until we were already eating our
main course. A few nights later a couple from England showed up with
their young son. They had discovered that the late seating was just too
late for their son. They were only there a few nights.

On this cruise, we had a rectangular table for 8 We were all there every
night. We all enjoyed each other's company. We even went to activities
together. After disembarking, we stopped to ask someone if this was the
line for cabs. and it was Tom and Sandy who had sat across from us for 7
days. It definitely enhanced the cruise experience.

People---just like our table, everyone seemed to get along very well on
this ship. And in the isn't it a small world category, at one point I
was talking to someone, and it turned out that he had taught at my
wife's high school part of the time she was there and had a
sister-in-law who was in my wife's graduating class.

An example of how well everyone got along could be seen at the internet
cafe after it was announced that we would not dock in Fort Lauderdale on
schedule. Between all the people (like us) who wanted to e-mail home and
the fact that a few computers were down, there was a list made for
people to sign up for internet access. No one seemed to stay on long, so
that others could also use the computers. In fact, it went so fast, that
some people left and lost their turn. But, they were allowed to go next.

Ports-- The first stop was Key West. We just explored on our own. We
found a beach at Zachary Taylor Park. We stopped on the way back at the
Audobon gallery and the Key West museum. On the whole it was a pleasant
day.

The next stop was Cozumel. We did the combination excursion for the
ruins at Tulum and a beach at Xel-Ha. (The cooling off at the beach was
very welcome after tramping around the ruins.)

Our excursion (and one other) did not get back until 6;30. We were on
the early seating. We would have just gone to the Windjammer except it
was 'lobster" night. So we decided I would go to the dining room, and if
we could still swing it, I would order for both of us while it took my
wife longer to change. If it was too late, I would meet my wife by the
dining room entrance, and we would go to the Windjammer. We ended up in
the dining room. This could have been avoided if we were able to dock
and then disembark earlier in Cozumel. They knew that there were some
long excursions.

Our last port was Belize.Their excursion booklet says that everything in
Belize is far from port, and they were right. We did a combination river
wildlife watch and the ruins at Lamanai. The ruins were spectacular, but
between tendering, then a bus for 50 miles, and the river for 25 miles.
then lunch at Lamanai, we only got about 45 minutes out of an over 7
hour excursion to explore the ruins. We did see some wildlife on the
river including crocodiles, bats, and killer bees, and howler monkeys at
Lamanai. The low point was when our guide managed to run out of gas in
the boat with probably less than 1/2 mile to go before meeting the bus.

Perhaps, the cruise lines could help Belize with the cost of building a
port. If we did not have to tender, that could save some time for more
productive activities.

Sea days---well we ended up with lots of those LOL. I have to give
credit to the cruise director's staff for coming up with
activities---there were lots of trivia games, they made a line dance
class and a line dance at night. there were other musical happening, and
of course a lot of bingo. The chefs kept coming up with new menus, and
also deserve praise.

On Sunday, the captain took us closer to Key West. He did this to allow
people to use their cell phones. The sea was rougher, but it was not
that bad. Passengers really seemed to be happy to be able to use their
cell phones.

They did have to drain the pools by the Windjammer that day. My wife (as
she always did except when we had early excursions) did her laps
pre-breakfast. The pool at the Solarium was open. She said it was like
swimming in the ocean, with the water all of a sudden propelling you.
Later, it looked like their were huge waves at that pool, and I'm not
sure if there as much, if any, swimming the rest of the day. (You did
not have to worry about the beach chairs all being reserved. LOL)

Entertainment---The Royal Caribbean singers and dancers put on their
usual very professional show. There was a comedian named Carl Stone who
was hilarious. He told jokes about the showers on the ship and the
passengers on the buffet lines that had everyone in stitches. Later in
an extra show, he told a joke about his mother and sister at the grocery
store and a bag of frozen peas that literally had me almost know what it
meant to die laughing. I saw him in the elevator the next night before
the last show, and was able to tell him how much I had enjoyed his act.

There was an illusionist/comedian named Levant who was truly AWFUL. He
shared a show with a singer/impressionist who was ok. He also was
featured in the show that was on the night that should have been the
last night. We skipped that show.

On the very last night, they came up with a new show (which they were
taping for the executives at Royal Caribbean to possibly use on future
cruises). It was based on the principles of the old To tell The Truth
game show. They gave word that no one had ever heard of. each of the 5
panelists gave a definition (in character--more on that later), and we
had to guess who was telling the truth. My team (my wife and I and a
couple from Boston by way of England who were sitting by us) came in
second. The first place team never came up when called, so we got first
prize, which turned out to be ship-shape visors. (They said the prize
would be more than a key chain and less than a free cruise, but closer
to the key chain. The day before, they said they had run out of prizes
other than key chains, but I guess they raided the merchandise available
for shipshape dollars.)

On their version of the To Tell the truth game, the panelists were a
Royal Caribbean singer as the Latin lover, the singer/impressionist as a
former stripper, Levant as a psuedo-intellectual, Carl Stone as the
Reverand Amen, and the cruise director (Dan, Dan, the party man) as a
hick. All gave their definitions in character. They also stayed in
character. For instance, when Levant gave his long winded definitions,
the Latin lover and the ex-stripper were under the table. And as I said
previously, our team did real well in the game.

Miscellaneous---the captain's reception was after the early seating for
dinner instead of earlier. What this accomplished for them, I assume,
was that we kept in our formal clothes, first for dinner, then the
reception, and the it was time for the show in the Orpheum. Our entire
table missed the first 1/2 hour of it. So we missed a chance to greet
the captain and a 1/2 hour of free drinking. (And they got one less
chance to sell us a photo LOL)

We did get a cruise and anchor party. The booklet says these are only
supposed to be on cruises of 7 days and longer. This did end up a 7 day
cruise, but at the time was still a 5 day cruise. Our entire table went
there together. We discovered we were known as the "frequent floaters".
LOL

Disembarkation---This was truly a mess! We were given green tags based
on our flight time fo Saturday. Luckily, I asked for and recieved white
tags. Otherwise, we would have been later at the airport, and would have
been later on the standby list. We might not have even got a flight.

We got to the lounge a little before 8. By then, there were no seats.
Soon, it was stuffy and hard to breathe. Some passengers, who had never
been on a cruise before, wondered if disembarkation was always like
this.

They really angered everyone when they finally made an announcement at
about 8:30. Instead of letting us have an idea of when we mght get off
the ship, we were told we could still purchase pictures at the photo
shop.

Finally at about 9, (and by then they had also called the second color),
we were told that we could start to disembark. Because of all the extra
passengers than usual with the white and the fact that there were now
two colors being called, this took a very long time.

The airport was also a mess with incredibly long lines. We were lucky to
get home that day on the next standby flight. Others were not so lucky
and were stranded. I heard a lot of anger at Royal Caribbean that they
could have done more to help passengers with thir flights instead of
seemingly spending all their time announcing the next bingo game.I
assume they helped those passengers who booked their flights through
them. I do not know if it was practical to expect help for the rest of
us (other than getting us in range to use cell phones.) I do know that a
lot of people were left with a very bad last impression. If we had not
got home that day (my wife relly needed to be back for her job the next
day to set up her room and make lesson plans), we would probably not
have as pleasant memories of this cruise. (Perhaps, it makes sense in
hurricane season to pay extra for the cruise's airfare.)

One other miscellaneous remark---I checked with our travel insurance
(Travel Guard). If we had not got home on Monday, since it was weather
related they would have covered our expense up to $100 a day each for
hotel, meals and miscelaneous expenses like cabs. They said to save
receipts. They also said to call the next day to establish the claim,
and to allow more time than usual because there were a lot of claims.
Luckily, we did not have to avail ourselves of this service, but it was
good to know we were covered.