Overall a great trip on The Enchantment of the Seas - 4/13/13

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 40

Review summary

Let me start by saying that my husband and I have cruised 25 times with Carnival. It's been 6 years since we cruised on the Royal Carribbean Grandeur of the Seas out of Baltimore and decided that we were ready to try again. The 12 day itinerary helped with our decision. We cruised with my parents and booked connecting balcony rooms. If you are cruising with another couple or with kids, I definitely recommend the connecting rooms. We left the door open during the day, so we doubled our space it allowed us to spend more time together without going to a lounge. The decor of the ship was beautiful, the staff was friendly and the the layout of the ship dispersed people so there were never any crowds or lines. This is especially true about the lido deck restaurant. Whether it was breakfast, lunch or dinner, you could walk in, get your food and find a table with no lines and no waiting. The food choices were amazing and they worked hard to make everything ready and available to keep the flow of food and people moving. The Park Avenue Cafe was another food option. They served deli sandwiches, quesadillas, carving station and dessert. they also had a fresh salad bar. This venue was located in the solarium at the back of the ship. It was peaceful and quiet in the indoor solarium with full windows to allow you to feel like you were outside. Since the early dinner option was full, we chose "my time dining". We made reservations in advance and were able to have dinner at the same table every night with the same waiter. I enjoy getting to know our waiter and assistant waiting during our trips and find that the service is better if they know you. Dinner in the dining room was a great experience every night. Now I must also mention that I have two complaints that I need to share. First, one of the beds in our room was broken. It was the bed closest to the couch and has obviously been used to form an L-shaped seating area with the couch. If you sat on the side of the bed, you could easily slide off. Now imagine trying to sleep in that bed. If you were a back sleeper, and stayed alert, you might be able to stay in the bed, but any slight shift in weight would have you rolling out, with no way to hold on. After a few nights (and trading off with my husband) we realized that slipping a pillow under your left cheek evened out the slope and allowed for a more safe and restful sleep. We inquired about swapping the bed, but no other beds were available. My second complaint was that we had to leave our room between 10:00 am and 2:00pm to allow the crew to paint our balcony. We purchased a balcony so that we could enjoy the deck from our room. The smell was so bad and I wasn't sure when the paint was dry, so we did not have access to our balcony for the entire the day. My parents (in the adjoining room) told me that the painters left the balcony door open while they were painting, which explained why the room smelled like paint. This was a day at sea and, in my opinion, the best place to be on a day at sea is on your personal balcony. Not only could we not use our balcony, but we were unable to use our room. Overall we had a great trip. I know it's and old ship and it needs to be maintained, but when I pay to go on vacation, I expect to be able to rest comfortably in my bed and on my balcony. I should not be forced to sleep in a broken bed and be kicked out of my room for an entire day.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Children's Programs

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Baltimore, Maryland

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

Basseterre, St. Kitts

Oranjestad, Aruba

Willemstad, Curacao

Labadee (Cruise Line Private Island)

Port Canaveral, Florida

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