MotleyCruiser
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Posts posted by MotleyCruiser
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On 10/17/2017 at 3:16 PM, kimberussell said:
Totally gorgeous! We stood in the Centrum for a while, overwhelmed. Then our stomachs took over and we went to the Windjammer which was jam packed with people and some typically crappy tourist behavior, like taking over tables with suitcases and camping there until the cabins opened. Boo
This is why we reserved Chops for our cruise we took 2 weeks ago on Enchantment.
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Pictures added day 3 and 4
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1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:
I do not believe that cashing in and re-buying chips will help you. Honestly, to my knowledge, the only thing that they track with the "card swipe' at the tables, is how long you play and how much you win or loose. The table swipe, IMO does NOT have anything to do with the rate at which you acquire points
I only see then swipe is when you get your chips. They never update anything and do not 'cancel you out' when someone leaves. I don't think they track time at all. speaking for roulette and craps
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Cruise Day 4
Cozumel today. Another late docking. We watched as we approached the International Pier from the WindJammier. First thing I noticed was that Harmony was in port. With all the itinerary changes, I compared everything @Matt had posted and none of the rerouted ships were supposed to be here. More itinerary changes had Harmony docked right with us. No problem we were booked at Nachi Cocom that limits the guest experience to 130 people (more on me being OCD and that later)
Breakfast was the usual, BUT I want to point out again that bananas are STILL not available on the WindJammier buffet. My guess is folks grab extra and waste them. Zander is a banana fiend so day 2 I saw Petar, our MDR Head Waiter, and he grab one for him. Everyday since, once he sees us he runs and grabs one or two for Zander. A+ service. Never seen this from any head waiter in 25 previous cruises.
Disembarking was easy breezy. We hailed a cab at the street. They had zero issues with a 20 month old with no car seat, he drove like a maniac (I was born in NY), but we got there fast. Upon entering and paying your balance and grabbing my first Rum Punch and Virgin Pina Colada they escorted us to a great shady area under two palm trees and brought us two little tables for our drinks and lunch once it came. Water was great. There was a lot of seaweed but no big deal. Waitstaff was always around and willing to get you your drinks. A menu was provided for lunch. That’s a plus I was assume it would be a buffet like Playa Mia provides. Food was delivered to our loungers. Food was decent quality. We had no complains. As far as me being OCD. I count things and there were 146 guests at Nachi today. No big deal. It was NOT crowded. A few people in the ocean and a good amount in their fresh water pool …with swim up bar I may add
. More Rum Punch (probably 10 in total). They weren’t icky sweet like Mia Tais and Bahama Mama can be and not heavy like Pina Coladas are. This was the highlight of the cruise and I am not impressed easily at all.
This is a crowded as it gets!!!
Little too much seaweed
Your entrance podium at the far right. your first drink 10 feet to the left!!
WiFi password. worked perfectly!!
Zander's first doo rag...lol have to protect the baby skin
Beat this!!??
We had issues with the return time. Between the Cruise Director’s morning show, the Cruise Compass, The plaque at the gangway, and the Captain’s announcements we were given 3 different ‘All Aboard” time. 3pm, 4pm and 5pm. The plaque at the gangway said 5pm along with the CC so we went with that. Also, comes out Harmony was here overnight at least one night. We made it back with plenty of time to spare.
Taxi ride back knocked someone out!! ZZzzzzz
Size does matter
Dinner
Me
French Onion soup
Caesar salad
Prime Rib
Wife
IDK
Zander
Fruit Cup
Ny Strip Steak
I use to collect books of matched from the mid 70's until 2003 when smoking was banned everywhere in Orlando. They I started collecting Casino chips as souvenirs and now collect them. I must have 100 or so. Mostly $1s & $5s
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11 minutes ago, TJ! said:
That is a question I would like to know as well!
I keep thinking of the most efficient way to pad or recycle my bets for points without putting too much out of pocket.
I have no idea what type of tables and the limits there are as well since I heard they change the games once in a while.
I agree with that. They punch in your cash amount each time with your SeaPass. I think using cash each time you sit is the most beneficial way.
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I always wondered if cashing in my winnings on roulette or craps and re buying chips at the tables increases my points.?!
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14 hours ago, EnJay said:
Thanks for the info, heading to Nachi Cocom in March, first time so I'll be interested to hear what you think!
Nachi was the highlight of the cruise. More to follow
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18 hours ago, DDaley said:
This is the tent I just brought on Freedom! It works so well. There are thousands of Amazon options, I am surprised we got the same one. Took me 5 months to decide on which! haha
I got the idea from either this board or another a was reading. Most likely I got the idea from you...lol thx maybe??!!
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Cruise Day 3
Today We get to go to a new port that we have never heard of before this booking let alone been to. Progreso Mexico!!
Breakfast was at the WindJammier as usual. I have never done breakfast in the MDR. Breakfast is more of grab and go type situation for me. We docked later than a typical port. So we had plenty of time to eat and get down to Deck 1 to disembark the ship.
As previously mention Progreso has a FOUR MILE long pier. It is not a typical wooden/cement pier. It is land extended for four miles into the Gulf Of Mexico. Two lane road and multiple turn offs and building along the way. Progreso offers and free shuttle to the downtown area and then you are free to explore. Right where the ship docks there are some chatzky stores and the usual Duty Free shops offering free tequila shots. The shop owners and hawkers are relentless everywhere here. Worst I’ve seen. A simple No thank you does the trick most of the time. The heat was unreal. 88* F but is felt like 110*F. Oppressive is putting it lightly. The bus drops you a central bus depot and it is a 4 block walk to the beach area IF you can find your way out the maze of shops. After doubling back 2 times we found our way.
RCCL offers an excursion for the public free beach. $35 pp will get you a bus ride, access to the beach and two loungers and a palapa. Umm, bus is free for everyone… beach is free for everyone…lounger and palapa you can haggle to $10. Am I missing something?? Along the beach are mostly restaurants that offer seating on the beach. We have a simple beach tent to protect us from the sun. This ‘tent’ folds up into a sack that is ¼ the size of a shoe box. Quick set up and tear down. We bought is on Amazon real cheap.
I hit up the convenient store across the street for some soda and water. I was thrown off for a moment when saw a 1.5 Lt bottle for water for $14.50….Yes with a dollar sign. BTW the Peso uses the dollar sign also. Easy translation 20ish pesos to a dollar….so 85c. The diet Pepsi Black was .5 Lt for 40c. Prices for locals are amazingly inexpensive….Tourist areas not so much!!
We spent about two hours at the beach and headed back to a restaurant that was handing out little flyers on the way to the beach. Barlovento Restaurant and Bar had little dollar margaritas so that peaked my curiosity. Since my wife is pregnant I had four, two for her and two for me. Quesadillas and fries for me and the baby, enchiladas for the Mrs. she also had some Mexican flavors fruity water. $47 DOLLARS!!! Return bus ride was quick and painless for I hate shuttles and waiting on them to fill up to capacity. This one filled up quick. We were back to the ship by 1:15.
That's the NOT the ship in the distance....that not even the half way point to the ship!!!
Check out this old school high chair!!
One question I had right off the bat was will the casino be open while in port? The ship is docked 4 miles for the coast of Progreso….essentially International Waters? Nope not open. Upon return it was nap time for the baby and mommy. I walked around a bit, then before you knew it was time for dinner.
Dinner
Me
French Onion Soup
Caesar Salad
Chicken Parm
Royal Chocolate Cake
Wife
IDK
Zander
Fruit Cup
Steak off kids menu NY Strip
After dinner walk led us to the ventriloquist show at the theater. I was a little hokey and nice and lighthearted. Zander being your typical 20 month old got bored real quick and we made our exit to explore some shops and head to the room. I then headed to the roulette table to turn $40 in to $240. Now I’m even. Of to bed. Tomorrow Cozumel and Nachi Cocom!!! 1st timer here
someone is sleeping.
this is part of the dock/pier in Progreso
Zander waiting for steak!!
These were cool. Fold on this sailing's FB page talked about hiding Rubber Duckies around the ship. They had dozens we found one for Zander. It took us to day 4 to find one, but we did!!
Enchantments "added" 70+ feet of ship that was added after the original build
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Cruise Day 2 A Day at Sea
Let me back up a little. In reference to check in…My wife is 23 weeks pregnant. RCCL limits pregnancy to 24 weeks on Disembarkation Day, but no one ever asked if she was pregnant, (it would be rude if they did) and most likely no one would if she was 30 weeks either. I guess this is a rule that is only a concern if you go into labor but then again that is too late. Anyone have any experience with this??
Another early day with the baby Zander. We always do breakfast at the Windjammier. I noticed RC is now cooking their bacon to my and most folks and likely everyone’s liking…crispy! Another observation. They do not serve bananas in the Windjammier in the morning….odd.
Beautiful partly cloudy day. We are not ‘lay out by the pool’ kinda folks. We attended the Art auction as we occasionally do. Free Champagne is always a plus. Wifey likes the art and I ended up surprising her with a Thomas Kinkade portrait of the American Flag and Statue of Liberty. She completed 30 years in the Navy Reserve last year and I found the portrait to be fitting for her. Lunch at Windjammier then a quick donation to the casino while mommy and baby napped.
Many folk complain about the age of this ship. The only things that, to me, make it appear dated in the exterior has a lot of rust and that cigarette smoke has just permeated everything around it. You can smell smoke all the way to the Centum on deck 5 and the forward elevator atrium on 4 5 and 6. Everything else about Enchantment is fantastic.
I find it odd that the run movies in the room that are 3 hours long. Today was Aquaman. I never got to see the full movie for it always ran into other activities ☹
Day 2 is formal night and we didn’t overdo dressing for it. Khakis and a dress shirt for me, fancy slacks and blouse for the misses and a Tuxedo onesie for our son. I am an extremely picky eater, but I am consciously trying to “try” new things. This trip it’s escargot eh the garlic
Me:
Escargot
Classic Caesar Salad
Filet
Royal Chocolate Cake
Wife:
Classic Caesar Salad
Filet
Sugar Free Dessert
Zander
Fruit cup
His own Filet
Cookie & ice cream
After dinner we headed for the pool deck to walk of some calories and enjoy the peacefulness of the outdoors. It early to bed for mommy and baby, and I headed to the casino for some Roulette and had to shower to get the smoke off me upon returning to the cabin. Wifey is highly sensitive to it.
PICTURES TO FOLLOW
- Guy Gadwa, J_Keeble, kimberussell and 4 others
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...And most likely you will be notified on 9/11 or 9/12 if your Royal Up is accepted!!!
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Cruise Day 1
It’s Time! Having a toddler is always an adventure let alone traveling with one. Typically, I would not set an alarm on cruise day but guess who was up at 5:30 AM. I checked the Galveston Web cam and chat feed and Enchantment was on it’s way into the channel. I headed out to the pier and watch my ship come in. It took roughly 45 minutes for it to make it to the dock. I will post the periscope link once I find it.
https://www.pscp.tv/w/1ZkKzADzdwdxv?t=3s
A little side note, yesterday Aug 27, as per reported on RCBlog.com Enchantment was having propulsion issues. It was very confusing. Matt reported the issue but Royal made no mention of it on the website. The Enchantment Aug 28 2018 Facebook page said nothing and nobody on the page confirmed that they received any email about port time changes or issues of any sort. I didn’t get any email either. Very Odd?!.
Plan of execution
- Out the door at 9:30
- Drop wife and son at port with luggage
- Drive car to sister hotel for free parking
- Take hotel free shuttle to port
- Get inside and check in
Total time 1 Hour
The waiting area was a little convoluted, but nothing to complain about. It seemed folks just sat wherever regardless of C&A status. Terminal is nice. No real difference from a Florida terminal. We approached the check in desk with only one couple in front of us. Galveston only has a separate check in line for Suite and Pinnacle folks. At 10:30 AM it didn’t matter. We boarded exactly at 10:57. It must have been high tide for I have never seen a gangway ramp as steep as I seen today. Poor wheelchair pushers ☹ . First item of business R-Bar to take the edge off with a Texas Tea, and casual walk to Chops for lunch. I had made reservations for 11:30 and paid for it a few months back (as per @Matt advice to break Up the cost of the vacation). Arrival time 11:26 and was told Chops does not open until 12 noon. Not happy!! & HUNGRY BABY ALERT!!. We took a quick tour of the ship and made it back for noon lunch
Lunch:
Chop’s Grill.
Me:
Wedge Salad with Ranch not Blue Cheese
6oz Filet Medium
Key Lime Meringue Pie
Wife:
Charred Beef Carpaccio
Scottish salmon Steak
Apple Pie
Zander:
Ate the side of Mac N Chz, some French fries and some of daddy’s steak.
We ordered ALL the side dishes. Inside info that they let you do. I tried to remember to take pictures. I remembered…sometimes.
Sail away Periscope
Our stateroom was ready shortly after lunch and were greeted by the cup for the soda pkg, chocolate chip cookies and 4 bottles for water all complimentary from either C&A or our TA. Couple things needed attention. One water was delivered for my CPAP machine but no extension cord, the beds were not pushed together, amenities that we order for the baby were not in the room upon arrival, no crib that was requested by email beforehand and we needed the ladder for the bunks removed from the room. They were the first thing the baby ran to. None of these were any big deal and were taken care of immediately by Humberto our steward.
With my wife being pregnant she tends to nap often. Zander likes his naps too. So they did exactly that then I took Zander up to the kiddie splash zone on deck 9.
This is my first time ever having early dining. My wife pitched a fit in September that we had late seating for dinner. Even though 5:30 is a typical dinnertime on land, on a cruise it is too early. It is rush to get to the MDR on time and interferes with shows, activities, and being in port, and especially today when we had lunch close to 1pm. With late dinner you can snack at the Windjammier or Park Café for a roast beef sandwich.
Dinner:
MDR 5:30pm
We have an incredible wait staff. Michael from the Philippines and his assistant Arroyo (sp) and Head Waiter Petar. I helps crew to remember you, I think, When you have an adorable baby with you. No pictures of the food tonight.
Me:
French Onion soup
Classic Caesar Salad
Prime Rib
Royal Chocolate Cake
Wife:
Classic Caesar Salad
I don’t recall
Sugar Free Dessert
Zander
Kid’s Pizza and daddy’s Prime Rib
Cookies
After dinner we took a stroll around the pool deck and headed to the room. We hit the hey early as we were all exhausted from our travels thus far. Tomorrow. Day 2 Sea Day
PICTURES TO FOLLOW SHORTLY
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On 9/1/2019 at 7:35 AM, WannaCruise said:
Cool. Guess it's across the board then. I do give it a thumbs up.
Not a fan of the new design. Enchantment adopted it in the past few weeks. You have to look in a few spots now to not miss anything. One list for activities, I feel, is better than 3.
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T Minus 1 Day
Having a 20 month old give you no chance of sleeping in and today I have ZERO issue with that. Zander is going on his 3rd cruise tomorrow and my incredible wife is 22 weeks pregnant and a trooper. We woke up about 6AM with expectations to be out the door a 9am for the 4 hours journey to Galveston Texas (8:50 we were heading to Burger King for breakfast). This will be my 2nd time to the City of Galveston (I am from NJ and did 11 years in Central Florida too moved to Tx in 2011). My last trip to Galveston did not leave a good impression….Gray, Hot, and Extremely humid!!! This time Galveston was much nicer. Yes, it was hot but blue skies and a nice breeze along the harbor. We stayed two piers away from Enchantment’s terminal at the Harbor House. It is a Wyndam hotel and worth the $161.00. We are able to park at there sister resort The Galvez for FREE while we are away and had a free shuttle. For lunch we made a pit stop at the Hard Rock Café in Houston. We belong to ever restaurant email club and had a free entrée for the wife’s birthday coming to us, and we love HRC so we stopped at the Houston location. We checked in to our hotel around 3pm ish and rested up before we headed out to explore and find dinner.
Dinner
We hit up the Shark Shack on The Strand. The Strand is Galveston’s tourist district/French Quarter/Downtown Disney area. Local shops and mom and poop restaurants. It is also loaded up with Landry concepts… don’t fall for fancy names…it’s only Landry’s in disguise. I did the stuffed shrimp, wifey did fish tacos, little guy did the mac n chz. Real good meal, good staff, and decent prices.
tomorrow we sail!
View from our room window. Whale Tails typically dock where the Blue ship is. RCCL's terminal is right behind that
Shark Shack!!
Stuffed Shrimp
Zander's Mac N Chz
Wife's Fish Tacos
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On 9/2/2019 at 11:52 AM, bhageerah said:
I have not seen anyone searched but I have seen dogs in several ports. If they are indeed properly trained dogs they can easily smell through a ziplock. As others have stated foods that have been processed and in a bag are acceptable but fresh fruit and freshly prepared food are not allowed.
Funny you should say this. We were on Enchantment and in Cozumel on Saturday they had dogs out in full force
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St. Thomas is notorious for it's shopping. Go to the 'shopping seminar', typically the day before you dock, they throw out freebies, and will have a special group you can join to get off the ship early and cut the line disembarking. Then cut the line again at the ferry and get a discount ferry ticket.
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T Minus 2 days
Packing has started and house is clean so the pet sitter can take over animal duties. Just found out Avengers End Game is playing onboard. Need to do a once over on the car tonight. The 240+ mile drive tomorrow from San Antonio to Galveston in 100* heat will take it's toll on my 5.0 Mustang.
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On 8/23/2019 at 3:02 PM, TJ! said:
I just told some close friends and relatives of mine about my excitement of going on my first cruise ever in Jan, 2020 on Symphony of the Seas.
Their response was rather unexpected to what I was use to hearing or hoped for, to be honest disappointed in their lack of perspective/paranoia
Key points from their response was:
"Good luck getting sick from either the people, food, or motion of the seas"
"Lots of ship stranded in the middle of the ocean recently"
"be careful I heard people go missing without a trace"
"risk of being a victim of a crime or being sick is extremely high nowadays"
"stuck in a storm with 75mph+ winds, ordered to stay in cabin"
Of course my rebuttal was saying these are less that slim odds if you apply common sense and keep hygienic standards.
If you let paranoia rule your thoughts of any vacation regardless of land or sea, you'll never really enjoy life.
Then I reminded them of the higher odds of driving a car everyday.
Any thoughts or opinions on people who see things like this and how not to let them bog down you're impending vacations?
You are hanging around the wrong people.
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4 minutes ago, Mitch said:
Is there a reason cruise ships don't stay in a port for an overnight
I will be on a NCL Hawaiian cruise in 2022 and it has two overnight stays.
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GALVESTON TX & Enchanment of the Seas August 28 - 5 nighter PROGRESO & COZUMEL Semi Live Blog
in Live Blogs
Posted
I took Zander in the ocean. It was not bad at all. If it were slimy that would have been different. Oh and I am not an ocean type of guy. Pregnant wife cannot go in the ocean so I sucked it up and took the little guy.