WAAAYTOOO

Ok. So you got me. I intentionally left out the fact, in the above discussion, that I used NOT ONE [f'n] voucher yesterday. I hang my head in shame. Thank you for the pep talk though. I will try and do better today.

Queso Fundido....if they have it. The last time we were on a ship with a Sabor, they no longer had it on the menu. It's not as good as my queso fundido but it's not bad.

In COZ today. Kinda cloudy and gloomish but frankly, I expected far worse weather on this trip than we have gotten - thankfully. No rough seas at all. Had a whirlwind day in the casino yesterday. I dug myself a very deep hole but somehow managed to claw my way back into positive territory....barely, but good enough. On the second-to-the-last hand of the night (or should I say, morning, as it was 2AM) (3 Card Poker) I hit a straight flush. Holy cow. Talk about good timing ! Black underwear, for those who care. Dinner at Chops with our friends last night. Wonderful meal, good friends. Really lovely. Seemed like old times. We toasted to some of our friends who have passed and toasted to some of the new grands that we have yet to meet. This morning at breakfast our server (Martin) told us that he has been with Royal Caribbean from the very, very start. His first ship was the Nordic Prince. Can you imagine ? ....and what I loved was the fact that a member of the crew with THAT much seniority is surely able to choose whichever ship he wants and he chose Enchantment. He said that when he first called at St Petersburg, it was still the Soviet Union. Wow...how much has this guy experienced ? It is super interesting to talk to him and he loved telling about all of his adventures. Most likely not getting off today. I couldn't get any kind of cohesive answer to my queries of the others' plans for the day...they have idea what they're doing, I suppose...so we will just do our usual thing. Nothing.

Hopefully you booked far enough in advance to get into the RU scrum. We booked after the RU’s had all been settled, I think. We were aggressive but I think we were just too late. Best of luck !

As this is my first sailing on EN it is hard to say what is updated or refurbished, but I will say that I am pleasantly surprised as I often am when I board older ships. I guess I always expect the worst and am pleasantly surprised when it turns out to be an erroneous assumption ! I asked one of the crew yesterday what kind of "work" was done on the ship during DD and he said, "only engine work and a little carpeting here and there" which I think is fairly typical of a mandatory DD on an older ship. That's about all of the detail I have ! She definitely did NOT get a new [full] paint job. Someone who was on last week has already confirmed this...but the paint is in reasonably good shape for a ship this age. The thing most commonly deficient on an older ship (IMO) are the windows. They are often pock marked, nearly opaque and damaged from the salt spray and this is certainly true in some cases, but not nearly as much as I have noticed on some of the other older ships. The additional venues added during the "stretch" are nice - most notably the very nice (IMO) Bolero's bar. It's nearly as large as the Centrum area. I also really like the Crown Lounge area that is on deck 12 (or the upper part of deck 11, depending upon how you look at it)...this is the area that is normally the upper level of Izumi on the other V class ships. The lounge has a lovely overlook into the VCL below and a limited ocean view. It's a big area. I imagine that is quite loud on the occasions that there is a DJ or band or music of any kind occurring down in the VCL but I do not know that for sure. There are also 2 pools on the main pool deck which is a big improvement (for people who care about pools....me, not being one of those people). Speaking of loud noise, I am happy to report that the Centrum on EN is much, much, much, much quieter than it was on either GR or VI. ...at least, it was last night. The last few experiences on V class ships have been ungodly loud...but they only held the silent dance party there last night and it was wonderfully sedate. Let's hope they keep that area less boisterous for the rest of this sailing. When they put a band in the Centrum it is just waaaytooo loud. The Concierge Lounge (known as the Suites Lounge to me) is a small, uninspired area off the VCL but at least there's an ocean view, for what that's worth. There are 2 laptops in the SL (which is where I am sitting right now) so that's a nice addition. The coffee machine is broken in here so you must go next door to the CL to get coffee for now. This space was ungodly hot yesterday when we boarded and it ran us out almost immediately. Dan went down to the VCL and I went over to the CL where (both spaces) were much, much cooler. The casino is really small (as it is on all V class ships) and there must be a LOT of casino comper's ion this cruise b/c the casino was a mess last night. Because we booked so late on this one, we are stuck in an OV on deck 3 - our first visit to deck 3, ever. The room itself is actually a bit of a [good] surprise and is big enough with the beds separated...but being on deck 3 just sucks. We are hearing a lot of clunks and clatters, presumably from the engine area and there is a constant engine "hum" that you get used to after a while. I laughed earlier when Dan and I were chatting....we are in the situation that I often muse about with others, who claim that they don't care what kind of [crappy] room they have b/c they don't spend any time there. I am now sympatico with those folks. I know exactly WHY they don't spend much time in their [crappy] rooms ! We actually LOVE spending time in our cabin but not on this trip. It's much more comfortable up here in the Lounge and I intend to stay up here until it's time to either eat or gamble again ! Additionally, the internet is horrible in our cabin. I abandoned it completely last night it was so bad. It was slightly better this morning but I suspect that is b/c there were few people online when I was this AM. So far we've had 2 meals at Chops - lunch yesterday and breakfast this morning. Chops is the only specialty restaurant on EN, and we will be eating there again tonite with our friends. On EN your choices [for specialty] are Chops or Chops. So far, the meals have been good, not great. I had the roasted chicken yesterday for lunch and it was really pretty bad. I think I have seen more appealing chicken in the WJ. It tasted fine but....not particularly appetizing. Dan said his filet was good though. We had dinner in the MDR (MTD) last night a little after 8:00 (very late for us). Welcome aboard is one of my least favorite meals but I got the portobello mushroom last night and it was surprisingly good. First time to try that. I will definitely do it again. For what it's worth, the maitre'd told us to never stand in line when coming to the MDR; that as Pinnacles, we should go directly to the host kiosk. There was -0- line last night as we dined so late so we'll see how it is on future nights. @OCSC Mike, I feel compelled to report that I used 3 of my 6 [f'ng] vouchers yesterday. Better than usual but far from exemplary. Dan used 5 of his so he's better than me at it. I'll try and do better today ! Our friends are typically out of control...nothing more to say there. We did surprise them though. They were very happy to see us.

On board around 10:45. So glad they at least let us into the terminal where it is cool, to wait. No sign of the degenerates. We boarded and will find them later. I will add EN to the [very short] list of ships where the Crown Lounge is FAR more comfortable and interesting than the Suites [Concierge ] Lounge. #1, the Concierge Lounge (hereafter referred to as the SL) is HOT and SMALL. The other ship where the SL is subpar is EX. It does have 2 laptops so there’s that. Otherwise, I can’t see us stepping foot back in there. The Crown Lounge (hereafter referred to as the CL) is big, cool and overlooks the VCL. This space is otherwise used for Izumi on the other V class ships. Dan and I got separated so I have to go retrieve him from the VCL which he confused with the CL. <SMH>

In the terminal just a few minutes after 9:30. Love boarding in Tampa ! We are strategically seated to secretly watch the incoming GenPop, looking for our unsuspecting degenerate friends to board. It would be hard to sneak up on them as we would have to walk directly at them unless I devise a truly sneaky route to circle around behind them. I’m pretty devious, so that’s sounding like a better and better plan ! No sightings yet.

At the Terminal in Tampa. It is turnaround day for EN and GR so the first trick was to figure out where to go. EN is at Terminal 2 which is the only terminal we’ve ever used at PoT. We guessed right. GR is at T1. We are just a bit early (as we always are) and one of the lovely traffic directors found us a very comfortable place to sit and advised us that the doors would open at 9:30. 5 minutes ! I love the staff at PoT !

Tomorrow is the big day ! Will be driving in tomorrow morning. I'm not promising a big live blog but I will do my best to provide intel on the ship and her condition. I’ve already read elsewhere that she did not get a complete paint job so I will confirm that and see what I can see/hear about any refurbishments. Safe journey to all who are boarding tomorrow !

The new layout is nice. It saves a couple of clicks

Yes….IMO

We used Premier a few months ago when we were on EX for 23 days. I didn’t want to pay PoM prices for that many days . Money-wise, it was a good decision but I hated the logistics. 1. It was hard to find ! Premier is the top floor of a parking garage that has an entirely different name. The building address was not visible, that we ever saw. We searched and searched. Finally found it. 2. You must pay in CASH before you park. Thank goodness we scrounged enough cash together to pay. 3. Even though they advertise that the shuttles run “continuously” beginning at 7:30 AM (I think that’s right), what they don’t tell you is that at 7:30 they only carry customers back FROM the cruise ship not TO the ship until after 10 AM. That makes NO sense since they are constantly roving through the parking garage dropping off returning cruisers and returning to the port to pick up new ones…but that’s the way it works. We had to get pretty confrontational with them to make them take us over to the port. 4. Coming back from the port to the parking garage was a free-for-all. There was no organization for boarding the shuttles and it was pretty ugly fighting for a ride back. Overall, I would not use them again unless we had a very long cruise itin like we did in April on EX. It’s just not worth the hassle.

It's awful this morning (and it was yesterday, too). I have to refresh the screen every time I try and go to a new CP item. Complete PITA. It looks like some of the dining plans are "on sale" again...nothing for less than I have already paid. Beware of the gratuities as they aren't included on ANY of the dining displayed prices this time. Such a sham. I hate it when they try and confuse people with the grats.

Wow. Haven't been to AC in a very. very long time. We used to love going there when we lived in NoVa but quit going maybe....15 years ago or more. As for the machines, we love the Piggy Burst (hard to find sometimes) and the Dancing Drums. Dan had a good run on a Zeus machine once. I never had any luck on that one. None of them love me, unfortunately.

There is a wonderful restaurant in Aruba called Madame Jeanette’s (I think that’s right). We went there with friends during our last visit to Aruba. The food is fantastic. Unfortunately, it requires a cab ride but it is worth it. The coconut grouper was out of this world !

Today I was able to make MDR reservations for this one. Up until today, the MDR wasn't loaded. YIPPEE !

Nevermind. I know that you are ANTI matter.

Which one are you ?

Uh...excuse me.....but you're wearing the same dress ! I don't think there are ANY more inches there ! I also don't see any wrinkles in EITHER picture. Beautiful pictures...and so very sweet.

You absolutely can cancel this booking and get all of the money back that you paid for taxes, port fees and gratuities. If you did not upgrade your offer then that means that you would get back everything that you paid. BUT you will lose the offer....so you cannot rebook it for a different time. As long as you understand that the offer will be null and void as soon as you cancel your booking, you will be fine. Since you have paid nothing for your cruise fare, there is nothing to lose. Having said all of that, it never hurts to call and ask ! I have heard of stranger things but I certainly would not expect to be able to move your comp-ed cruise to a different sailing. Once a casino comp offer has been redeemed (and yours has) then it is "used" and cannot be reused.

When is your cruise ? The OBC usually doesn’t show up on the reservation until about a week or so before you sail. You are correct that you can call and ask to have it applied sooner (if you want to use it for CP purchases) but unfortunately I cannot help you as I have never called, myself.

Wow, pretty good RU prices….but I totally get why you didn’t bid.

Interesting that we have also never sailed on Voyager ! It just keeps evading me.

For US.bookings, you can reprice a booking if the final payment date has not passed. If it is past final payment date, no repricing.

I have never called (that I can recall). I always do everything via the website. It's waaay easier than it used to be.