Two weeks ago, I returned from a
cruise on Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas. Enchantment is
not the newest ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet - - she entered
service in 1997 and was extensively refurbished in 2005. She is also
not the largest ship in the fleet although she is significantly
bigger than RCI's other Vision class ships - - the result of the
insertion of a 73 foot section into her midsection during the 2005
refit. Still, she is nonetheless capable of providing a very nice
cruise experience.
In some ways, the cruise experience
reminded me of how cruising used to be before the turn of the
Millennium. Although some very good things have happened to cruising
since then, some things have also gotten lost along the way. Take
Enchantment's theater for example. In the 90s, the primary
entertainment venues on ships were changing from show lounges to
theaters. On Enchantment, the theater still has traces of its show
lounge antecedents with large padded chairs and comfortable arm
rests. They are like living room lounge chairs. In addition, the
room has a bright, roomy atmosphere.
The activities onboard are traditional
cruise ship activities. There are the captain's reception and past
passenger receptions, trivia contests, cooking demonstrations,
enrichment lectures, bingo, etc. You also have Royal Caribbean
staples like the Quest game and the Love and Marriage game. Although
the newer ships have the same or similar activities, the scale of
Enchantment makes these events somehow more intimate.
The entertainment could also be
described as traditional. Like the cruise directors of old, Cruise
Director John Blair seemed to be everywhere and not only took on the
role of emcee but also performed a concert of Neil Diamond songs and
gave an enrichment lecture. We had two production shows by the
Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers during this eight night cruise.
Three of the singers also did a cabaret concert and displayed
impressive strong voices. During the course of the voyage, we had
two stand-up comedians and a comedy juggler. I enjoyed Carl Banks'
performance the most. It was an adult show but did it relied on
clever material rather than four letter words for the humor
I like to watch big screen movies.
Enchantment does not have a big movie screen. But using a large
gauzy backdrop that was designed for the stage shows, the staff has
improvised a big screen in the theater that works quite well. On it,
they showed a series of recent releases each afternoon and on various
evening after the stage show. I thought this was very clever and
showed initiative.
Food is always a big part of cruising.
Enchantment's main dining room, the My Fair Lady Restaurant, is
quite charming with a décor themed after the musical of that name.
Service at dinner was very good as was the food. Breakfast and lunch
(sea days only) was good but the service and food was not as
consistently good as dinner.
The buffet restaurant, the Windjammer,
is located at the forward end of the superstructure. This initially
confused some of the guests who, familiar with the larger Royal
Caribbean ships, headed towards the back of the ship. The room
offers great views but was always too crowded for me. I found a
better alternative to be the light meal venue in the Solarium, which
offers pizza, burgers, sandwiches, salads and desserts. Another
nice room underneath the retractable glass roof that covers this pool
area.
A dining venue that I found myself
going to several times was Cafe Latte-Tudes. This is a specialty
coffee bar that also sells Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I am not a
coffee drinker and while I did indulge one afternoon in some ice
cream, what drew me here again and again was the pastries. The
muffins and cookies were excellent and better than anywhere else on
the ship.
At this time, Enchantment has one
specialty restaurant - - the Chops Grille. This is a steakhouse with
a sophisticated urban atmosphere. The food is good quality and it
provides a change of atmosphere from the main dining room on a longer
cruise.
I booked this cruise late on a
guarantee basis. As a result, I was assigned an inside cabin on one
of the lower decks. It was clean and surprisingly large with with a
surprising amount of storage space. The safe and television were
older models but worked well. There was an initial problem with the
telephone set but that was remedied before the ship sailed.
Enchantment sailed from Baltimore,
Maryland. The rationale for basing a ship in Baltimore is to
attract people who live in the surrounding area. However, I was
impressed in talking to my fellow passengers at how many were not
from the Maryland or mid-Atlantic region. There were quite a few
from the mid-west and many from Canada. A large percentage of the
passengers were repeat passengers. Thus, it was something more than
the convenience of proximity that drew people to this cruise.
The itinerary was an interesting one.
First, the ship sailed to Bermuda, where she spent two days. Then
after a sea day she was in Boston and then in Newport, Rhode Island.
This allowed passengers to have the island experience of Bermuda, the
history and sophistication of Boston and the unique resort atmosphere
of Newport. Thus, it was not a single vacation experience but a
combination of experiences.
The weather throughout the cruise was
good. We experienced a rain storm one night but the seas were calm.
As a result, there was no real test of Enchantment's seakeeping
abilities. She ran smoothly throughout.
I have re-done Beyondships' profile of
Enchantment, adding copies of daily programs, information leaflets
distributed onboard, and menus.
http://beyondships.com/ENOS-Profile.html
In addition, the photo tour of the ship has been updated and
expanded. http://beyondships.com/ENOS-tour.html
Finally, there is a new photo essay showing Enchantment in each of
the ports of call she visited during this cruise.
http://beyondships.com/RCI-ENOS-Bermuda.html
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