KristiZ

Welcome to the boards! We we’re just in Charleston two weeks ago on a cruise. Super easy to just walk off the ship and see interesting things. I recommend the market and Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit!

Day 9 - debarkation and random thoughts We put just one suitcase out of 4 out the night before and since suite passengers can debark at their leisure, we had a nice breakfast and then wandered off when we were ready. Immigration was quick and efficient. All told it took 19 minutes to get from our room to the car. Couldn’t have been smoother! I had been nervous about how Enchantment would stack up against other ships, particularly for Full Speed and Slash since all they had done before was a couple of Carnival sailings. But it turns out I was worried for nothing — even though there’s only one specialty restaurant, adding Chef’s Table and Taste of Royal meant it felt like there was plenty of variety. And only being 70% full made the whole trip feel like we had tons of space onboard. Enchantment has been nicely maintained too. She didn’t feel 20+ years older than Spectrum, which surprised me. I liked the two bedroom GS a lot — definitely a good choice for friends traveling together because of the two bathrooms. I can barely share a bathroom with MisterZ these days, much less with non-family! And having the Concierge Club and other suite perks made the sailing feel extra special for Full Speed and Slash. I’m pretty sure they’re #TeamSuite now! The demographic sailing out of Baltimore is a bit different than other sailings we’ve been on lately. The age range of passengers was pretty broad, but it was definitely a heavy drinking, heavy gambling crowd! Nothing wrong with that, just different.

Day 8 - at sea We’ve been stuffing ourselves silly for 7 days, why stop on Day 8? I had never been interested in the Taste of Royal, since the menu is pretty seafood heavy, but our lovely waiter from Chops talked us into it by promising me a different appetizer than tuna tartar. So away we went, and honestly it was quite good! The wine pairing was excellent as well. We ended up just doing salads and appetizers from the MDR as room service dinner — still one of my favorite suite perks!

Day 7 - at sea I very much enjoy a couple of sea days at the end of a cruise, just to unwind and relax. We did some trivia, ate some food, and generally lounged around as much as possible. We also did the Taste of the Caribbean cocktail class, which was fun! We got to sample 6 cocktails and then the full sized drinks were given away for correct trivia answers. Hence my addition Dark & Stormy I tried to get some random shots around the ship today. So, in no particular order… Looking down into the Centrum from deck 10: The Viking Crown: The Concierge Club, on the back of the Viking Crown: The Diamond Club, in the Viking Crown Mezzanine (lovely spot!): A model of Jewel (because why not) at the entrance to the Windjammer: The belly flop competition: The theater before the Love & Marriage game: MisterZ’s favorite piece of art, in the Park Cafe: The deck plan: More…

There was grilled cheese on the room service menu last week on Enchantment, so I’m confident you can at the minimum find grilled cheese there! I want to say I saw them in the Windjammer one lunchtime as well.

Here’s a recent thread with recommendations:

Pinnacles had to use their coupons in the suite lounge/concierge club on Enchantment last week.

No, our traveling companions wanted decaf. Weirdos.

Welcome to the boards! A Pullman bed on Royal is always a twin, so no sharing possible. It comes down from the ceiling.

In a suite right now on Enchantment and this is what we have: the pods get refilled each day

Depending on where you are staying, your hotel may have suggestions for testing. Any large pharmacy chain will have options, as does the Orlando airport. Another option is covidclinic.org Welcome to the boards!

Day 6 - Nassau We elected to do Nassau on our own. We picked a walking tour route and headed out. It was hot! We saw the water tower, Fort Fincastle, and the Queen’s Staircase, then headed over to the distillery by way of Greycliffe. We ended at Pirate Republic brewpub for a bite and a flight. Not many pictures, unfortunately. Sunrise: In the Queen’s Staircase: Fun mural: The spot James Bond jumped over the wall: Church: We were trying to pace ourselves, both eating and drinking, because we were headed to Chef’s Table for dinner. It was definitely interesting to see how the different chef interpreted the courses. We had recently done Chef’s Table for the first time on Serenade back in October, where I declared the filet the best I had ever eaten. (Spoiler alert — it was still the best!) We had a great time and the wines were very nice, but the filet at Coco Beach Club was better. Scallop carpaccio: Lemon pepper garlic bread: Soup, first stage: Smokey tomato soup: Lobster salad: Branzino: Filet: No pic of dessert because, while delicious, it isn’t pretty. Salted Carmel Espresso Martini: We’re heading north at a pretty good clip now, and seas are just a bit rough. Full Speed is unimpressed — she’s a bit sensitive to the motion. But at least she hasn’t had any trouble up to now.

Day 5 - Coco Cay Back in July 2020 we were booked on an Arctic cruise that of course canceled. We had already booked shore excursions for it, so I opted for the 125% planner credit. It ended up being quite a chunk of change. I then promptly forgot I did that, and when we sailed through the Panama Canal last fall it didn’t occur to me to use it. Fortunately I finally remembered, and fortunately the expiration date had been extended a couple of times. Whew! So with nearly $600 of “free” money (the extra 25% we got), I felt I could justify a land cabana at Coco Beach Club. Woohoo! Then, about two weeks before sailing, I noticed (randomly, not during a sale) that the overwater cabana was suddenly just $200 more than what we paid for the beach one. Double woohoo! I have to say, totally worth it! I didn’t realize that the overwater cabana came with unlimited bottled water, rather than the 8 bottles that come with the land cabanas. Total game changer! The shower was an excellent perk as well. So happy about the whole experience! Oh, and Cabana 16 is in a prime location for sure. (In retrospect, this might have been the best possible time to try the waterpark, since tiny Enchantment was the only ship in port today so there were no lines. Oh well.)

Day 4 - Orlando My favorite place to visit when in the Orlando area is Kennedy Space Center. And it has been a loooong time since I’ve been there — there was a Shuttle on the launch pad last time! Also, our friends had never been before. So even though I knew we would not have nearly enough time to see it all, we chose this excursion anyway. I highly recommend it! We left the ship at 10a and returned at 3p, so we had about 4.5 hours. We saw about a third of the exhibits. After dinner we spent time in both the Centrum and Boleros, listening to different bands. There are a number of couples that are excellent dancers on this cruise. Always fun to watch! Here’s some desserts for your viewing pleasure!

Day 3 - Charleston MisterZ and I had never been to Charleston, but Slash’s brother lived here so he had spent a lot of time in the town. I left the day in his capable hands. We docked at 7a, and could depart the ship starting at 730a. We got right off the ship and headed to Callies Hot Little Biscuits for breakfast. Totally recommended! Here was the Egg and Bacon Sandwich on a Habanero Jalapeño biscuit: Next we walked around the neighborhoods near the Battery, where there were lots of historic homes: Next we Ubered over to the USS Yorktown and had a great tour. I highly recommend it if you get a chance! Last, we headed back across the bridge for lunch at Union and Church, which was fantastic! Make a reservation because it’s very popular: I really enjoyed Charleston and will definitely be back. Dinner in the Main Dining Room. Garlic Potato Soup, Artichoke and Pea Salad, Pork Shank, Cod Fillet, and Pecan Pie ala Mode: The Pea Salad and Pork Shank were great. The rest was okay. Bye, Charleston! Full Speed and Slash went to see the comedian and declared the show excellent. The theater was packed. I retired to blog, so you’re welcome!

Copy that. Thanks!

Day 2 - at sea We had a leisurely morning. Ordered MDR breakfast room service (MisterZ’s fav thing about suites). Picked up lattes from the Concierge Club. Full Speed and Slash went to the salsa lesson in the Centrum. I went to the loyalty event. There were no exciting upcoming things shared, unfortunately: Passenger count is right about 1700, with nearly 700 of these being first time cruisers. The rest of the breakdown is: Gold - 336 Platinum - 171 Emerald - 98 Diamond - 248 Diamond Plus - 208 Pinnacle - 36 Here was a thing I had never seen before: Lunch ended up being room service as well. The pulled pork sandwich was quite good! We opened one of our bottles of wine we brought, too. There was a lot of wine this first day, as it turned out. Heh. Here’s the Butternut Squash Risotto: Dinner at Chops was excellent. Our waiter was superb. In fact he talked us into Taste of Royal for Day 7, promising me a different appetizer as I dislike tuna. We’ll see how it goes! Carpaccio: Tuna Tartare: Goat Cheese Salad: Cheesecake: Apple Pie: Red Velvet Cake: A stellar Pinot: Perfect end to a perfect day:

I failed to mention we used Walgreens for testing this time. Booked about 10 days in advance, one appointment time after the other. Tested at the same time in the drive through lane. Results in two hours.

Welcome to the boards! We use Next Cruise and have gotten some good deals. However, December can be a busy time so you might want to book sooner rather than later. Costs mostly just go up.

Enchantment 3/25/22 sailed with just above 1700, so 71% capacity.

The little white paper caps that go on top of the glasses in the room fit nicely over the can, protecting you from anything unwanted

I had forgotten about Boleros. I recall them being common on multiple ships at one point. Am I misremembering? Anyway, it’s a nice space and a good bar. Since we had 10 Diamond Plus coupons to burn the first day, we drank cheaply before dinner Enchantment is the only ship that has only a single speciality restaurant, so we will be #TeamMDR for sure this trip. We have early seating. Tonight was decent and our waiter is lovely. The key lime pie was the only thing photogenic (it was also very tasty!): After dinner we went to the concierge club for a digestif. Interestingly, both Diamond Plus and Pinnacle can come to the Concierge Club on this sailing, BUT they have to use their nightly coupons. Suite guests still get unlimited beverages. Photos later of the two clubs and the Viking Crown, I promise! Here are the offer letters for Diamond Plus and suite guests: Also spotted the wine package, which I hadn’t seen in a while. We used to do this regularly to save a bit of money: Onboard drink package prices (sorry for the glare): This was actually not a ton more than I saw on the Planner ahead of time.

Cabin 8052, 2 bedroom GS on the port side. It is well laid out. I would definitely stay in this type of cabin again. Entry, looking back at the door from the main room: Master bedroom: Master bath: Second bedroom: Second bath: Walk in closet next to second bedroom: Vanity for second bedroom (in entry hall): Main room: Balcony:

We had some other business in the States the week before, so we ended up only needing to travel from Jacksonville to Baltimore on the 24th. There is only one nonstop option, Southwest. Mind you, the last time I flew on Southwest they were handing out plastic boarding group cards and still had the set of seats that faced backward, so it has been a minute. Here’s hoping it will be as long before I have to do it again. Heh. We waited for 45 minutes for our bags, and then wandered out to find our shuttle to the DoubleTree BWI. Not a bad choice for Baltimore departures — less than 10 minutes from the airport and less than 15 to the cruise terminal. The hotel has been updated nicely. Breakfast was also pretty good. Our friends drove in from Arlington and picked us up at the hotel. Parking at the terminal at the Port of Baltimore is very easy — drive in, take a parking placard from the nice person at the front gate, drive around to drop your bags, then pay and park. None of the parking is covered, but we don’t expect any ice on our return on April 2. We hope! The boarding line for Suites, Key, and Pinnacle was clearly marked. We had an 1130a boarding time and arrived about 1050a. Boarding had just begun at that point. We got through the process smoothly and were onboard by 1115a. We showed our paperwork to 4 different people. I remain staunchly #TeamPrintItOut. As usual, cell reception in the terminal was sketchy. Full Speed had made screenshots of their paperwork as well, but stated about half way through “wow, I’m glad we have printouts!” We stopped in the Centrum immediately after boarding and watched the safety videos, then went straight to our muster station. Love the eMuster system! Next we ran by the MDR to check our table location and to Chops to book our BOGO for night 2. All our chores done before noon! Cabins would be ready at 2p, so we wandered the ship — grabbed a bite and a drink and settled in at Boleros to chat.

So very excited to be cruising! I once again didn’t want to jinx anything by starting the blog early — this pandemic has definitely left emotional scars! We left balmy, tropical Nicaragua for brisk, breezy Baltimore, just to head south again. But whatever. Because cruising! This was the first time we have taken a cruise based solely on convenience. Normally we pick cruises based on ports, a few times based on the ship. This time we chose this sailing simply because it was close to home for our friends who have limited vacation days, at a time when they were available. So, it is myself and MisterZ, plus our friends Full Speed and Slash. We’re in a 2-bedroom GS on Enchantment’s March 25 sailing out of Baltimore: Day 1 - depart Baltimore Day 2 - at sea Day 3 - Charleston SC Day 4 - Orlando FL Day 5 - Coco Cay Day 6 - Nassau Day 7 - at sea Day 8 - at sea Day 9 - return to Baltimore This is our first time in a 2-br cabin of any kind. This is our friends’ first time on Royal (previous two cruises on Carnival). Also our first time on Enchantment. This will be our first time to Coco Cay as well. Lots of newness all around! Requisite suitcase photo: