Kenton Smith

My awesome wife and I just booked a 4 day on the Enchantment of the Sea in February 2020, out of Galveston, TX, for our 20th Anniversary! Being a special occasion, I pushed my, normally frugal penny pinching wife, to splurge for a suite and upgraded amenities to spoil us for the four days. So we booked a Grand Suite for the cruise. We are so excited!!! This will be our second cruise. First time with Royal Caribbean.  First time was with Carnival and it was fun, but a bit wild with drunken brawls on the lido deck.
The motivation for booking the Grand Suite was not just the nicer room and balcony, but for the added amenities.  The Key program, concierge, preferred seating at shows, etc.  I'm trying to research how to best take advantage of these upgrades to assure we have the time of our lives for these four days.
Any input anyone can give to these RC newbies would be greatly appreciated!  What can we expect and what can we take advantage of while on board? I know there are some seasoned pros out there that have the true inside tips?  (we also plan on booking another cruise while on board, maybe summer 2020, for us and the two teenagers - we hear that is the best time to get deals)
Thank you in advance for any responses!

I'm curious about the Meet & Greet/Meet & Mingle Boards. What's the best way to go about this? I see postings on this blog, I see groups & events created on Facebook, rollcall on Cruise Critic.  My wife and I love meeting new people and it seems like a fun way to get to know people before the cruise. Getting a head start on a friendship!  Any advice, direction, would be appreciated. What has worked best for you? I would love to hear of great friendships you have created?
Our next cruise is on the Enchantment of the Seas - Feb 3rd 2020 out of Galveston for our 20th anniversary.
Thanks and happy cruising!!!

We stayed in a Grand Suite on Enchantment last Thanksgiving.  The concierge will help you with any issues instead of Guest Services.  You'll also get water and fruit delivered to your room.  You get to order free room service, and you can order room service from the MDR during dining hours.  We did not use the concierge lounge at all on our 4 nighter.  You also can dine at Chops for breakfast, which is nice.  On debarkation, you can dine in Chops for breakfast, and then the concierge will walk you off the ship, somewhat expedited.  You can also get priority lines for getting off the ship in ports, although it was never really an issue on Enchantment for us.  One word of warning, we had a fair amount of noise in our GS from the pool deck above.  You can follow the link in my signature for our live blog from the Oasis/Enchantment S2S we did last year.  

Sorry we have never been out of Galveston but at many Florida ports they have a special line for suite guests so make sure you find that.  It is TOTALLY worth it!  Once you are through the check in, there will hopefully be a special lounge to wait in to board the ship.  Make sure you find that too if they have one!  Take advantage of the special lounge on board the boat and use the concierge in that lounge for as much as you can to avoid the masses at guest service desk.  There might also be an area on the pool deck for reserved seats for suite guests along with the shows as you mentioned.  Possibly even in the windjammer too so double check there also.  One thing to be prepared for is that the daily gratuities will be more than what you pay in a "regular" room so be aware of that.  And of course enjoy the awesome balcony in the suite!!!  You won't regret coming to Royal from the party ship!  Class with still some partying!  You'll love it!  Enjoy!