There are definitely a lot of improvements and many can be learned from the NCL. There were so few dining options and the food was mediocre at best. Many times, we dreaded eating because of that. Also, with the current flu outbreak, CLEAN, CLEAN, and CLEAN everything from countertops to stair cases/walls, everything! My mother who came with us contracted the flu. She ended up in the ER when we arrived back home. She started feeling sick the day before we were set to disembark on Friday. I can only assume it was because of the lack of cleaning being done. We sanitized often on the ship and before/after meals, but she caught the damn bug anyway. Cleaning more often would have helped either control an outbreak or prevented this altogether.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation was very simple. No complaints here.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
The cruise has very limited choices on restaurants and food. Their hours are not very accommodating at all. At times, the areas surrounding the items were dirty. Although the staff at the restaurant were friendly, I was not pleased with the rest of my experience. Also, many of their food choices after “regular” hours were cold and stale. The steaks we ordered almost every night were hard as a rock. Very disappointing about the quality of the food.
My Fair Lady Dining Room
5 out of 5
Our waiter/assistant waiter Joao and Milena were excellent EVERY SINGLE TIME we dined at the restaurant. They were the only two people aside from our cleaning maid who we owe this superior review to. All other staffs were just mediocre at best. Many seemed like they did not want to be there.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Aside from the shows in the ortheum, there wasn’t a lot of very entertaining shows. They had very limited shows for children and teenagers. Again, very disappointing.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The performers we did see (all at the ortheum) were great. A good variety.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
Could be better. The ship was decently laid out; however, very old and outdated. There was a strong odor in the halls which did not dissipate at all throughout our stay. We take cruises annually with our 5 children and often bringing grandma and grandpa with. We usually cruise with the NCL and used to their excellent customer service as well as the fact that there is always someone cleaning the ship both external and internal. This was not the case with the Enchantment. We rarely saw anyone cleaning and wiping the ship down (stair cases, glasses, etc). If any, we saw only one person vacuuming on deck 3 by the staircase once throughout our entire time. There were finger prints all over the glass staircase and walls that were visible. I understand cleaning may have been done in the wee hours of the night, but we did not notice this at all nor did the morning finger prints (and everything else) suggest it was done. There were times where the counters by the ice cream machine were so dirty that it was overflowing- again, no one cared.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
The size was great- much roomier that the NCL. The comfortness was also great! Cleanliness was only great because of our cleaning maid! HOWEVER, the bathroom had such a strong urine odor smell to it that it was hard to use the bathroom sometimes. This was due to the fact that the toilet did not get enough air pressure to flush appropriately. We called for someone to come take a look at it our first night, but nothing was done- it continued to smell and the flushing was still an issue. Good thing we had connecting rooms that we only used the bathroom in our room for #1 (as they call it).
Ship tip
Overall, this experience made us promise never to be unfaithful to the NCL again! As annual cruise travelers, we expected more from the Royal. This is our second time traveling with the Royal. Our first time was over 10 yrs ago and we were not impressed. Since then, we’ve only continued with the NCL. This time, we’ve decided to give the Royal another try to see if there have been any improvements. Again, we were disappointed, and even more so this time around. To conclude this review, I’d like to give a shout out to our maid on deck 3 (she was awesome!) and our waiter/assistant waitress Joao and Milena. They were the bright lights in our experience.
We have travelled here many times by air and cruise. There’s a lot of water activities to do. The ladies at the flea markets can be a little blunt and demanding.
A lot to do here. We were impressed by how much has changed with the island. There’s now a lot of activities to do. HOWEVER, everything costs money (of course)! I found that a $40 something charge for 1 hour of time at the floaty area was ridiculous. There should not be a time limit!
So much to do! If you decide on this cruise, purchase your jet skis from the booth directly outside the exit. They are great and very reasonable. It was definitely a highlight for us.
It was easy for us because we’ve learned to carry all of our luggage’s out with us. Avoid having the cruise line staff do it because you will run into issues or hassles. Every time we cruise, we carry it ourselves. It’s so much easier. With this cruise, there was a security issue so everyone who did not carry their own luggage out had to wait until clareance. There was a very long line of angry families!
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