Enchantment of the Seas (Present Condition)

[PG Cruiser]

When I was on Allure, someone, who shouldn't have (*cough*crew member*cough), badmouthed the Enchantment saying it's old and it leaks when it rains.   Has anyone been on Enchantment recently?  What do you think of its present condition?

[melmar02]

We were on just before the shut down. She's showing her age, but she still seemed sea worthy. We didn't get any rain, so I can't speak to leaks, but you would think that taking on water would be a major issue.

[mbk999]

She was definitely showing her age a few years ago when we were on it.  More so the cabins (worn fabric and carpet). and the outer decks (rust).  The interior spaces were still fine.  

[twangster]

I’m suspect of the rain claim.  All Vision class are older ships.  Now the oldest in the fleet.   Empress was a small and old ship but still a favorite of mine despite being older than Vision class.  

Like any ship from an earlier time it has all the core essentials for a cruise.  Pools, bars, buffet, MDR, theater, casino etc.

Ships from that time don’t have skating rinks or zip lines or water slides.  

With properly set expectations you can still have a great cruise on an older ship. 

What did you think of Empress?   Enchantment is almost twice her size.  Some people disliked Empress and said similar things about her.  

[Vagolferbob]

Enchantment of the Seas went to the shipyard in Cadiz, Spain for drydock in August 2021. She may still be there.

[Momof4crazytocruise]

We went on her before the shutdown. Showing her age, but with properly set expectations, we had a great time. 

[SpeedNoodles]

50 minutes ago, Vagolferbob said:

Enchantment of the Seas went to the shipyard in Cadiz, Spain for drydock in August 2021. She may still be there.

Yes, she is still in Cadiz.

[PG Cruiser]

2 hours ago, Vagolferbob said:

Enchantment of the Seas went to the shipyard in Cadiz, Spain for drydock in August 2021. She may still be there.

I'm looking at a January 2022 sailing from Baltimore

[barjpoe]

She was our first Royal ship. Will be on her again in October 2022. Hope to get a block at that time.

[PG Cruiser]

6 hours ago, twangster said:

What did you think of Empress?   Enchantment is almost twice her size.  Some people disliked Empress and said similar things about her.  

I enjoyed my cruise on the Empress.  Small ship, intimate feel.  I don’t care much about bells and whistles when I cruise, but I definitely don’t want a leaky ship.

[MTNeedsAVacay]

We are booked on an 8night sailing on Enchantment in a Grand Suite November 2022. It'll be our first (and probably only) time sailing in a GS, but it was just too cheap to pass up to get the double points! Expectations are low for us - we're just looking for some time away, good food, and nice weather. 

[Tmsmith]

We have sailed Enchantment a couple of times in the past and she was showing her age then.  I scheduled Feb. 2022 out of Baltimore so nice to know she is in dry dock to. hopefully,  get a face lift.

[Phillip Diamond Plus]

Ships to love/ big or small:

I believe Enchantment was the 3rd  Vision class ship built around 1997.  It was stretched in 2005 to be somewhat larger than the other Vision Class ships.

 I've sailed on Enchantment several times and have had a great time!

I love all Royal Caribbean ships big or small.

   My favorite ships are now the ships of the Oasis class.  But I still really enjoy the smaller ones. For example,  I had a wonderful time going to Cuba on the Empress.  And I also sailed on her when she was Empress of the Seas. She was not thought of as a small ship back then. 

I go way back sailing on the Norway owned by NCL. We thought at the time that the Norway would always be the largest ship in the world.  The Norway was around 64,000 tons at the time which would make her smaller than the Vision ships.

  It's just great being on any of the Royal Caribbean ships now!  Don't worry about the size and how old the ships are.

[fa-li]

Haven't been on Enchantment, but was on Explorer Feb 2020.  Also an older ship, and it rained for what felt like the whole 10 days. (I know there were some sunny moments but it was a LOT of rain.)  There were buckets in some areas to catch leaks and lots of fans in hallways to dry out carpets.  There were sections of roped off tile, but that may have been from wet shoes and not a leak.  Anyway, it is definitely possible for there to be some rain leakage on an older ship.  Did it affect the seaworthiness?  Not that I could tell.  And it certainly didn't affect our enjoyment of the cruise.  

[PG Cruiser]

 

On 9/27/2021 at 7:12 PM, PG Cruiser said:

 

When I was on Allure, someone, who shouldn't have (*cough*crew member*cough), badmouthed the Enchantment saying it's old and it leaks when it rains.

 

From this picture of the Enchantment, it looks like there is some truth to the information, albeit exaggerated, shared by the crew member.

[twangster]

2 hours ago, PG Cruiser said:

 

From this picture of the Enchantment, it looks like there is some truth to the information, albeit exaggerated, shared by the crew member.

Ships require constant painting, even brand new ships like Odyssey.  The sea and salt ait causes surface rust on all vessels, even new ones while they are being built in a shipyard.

When a ship is destined for a dry dock it's not uncommon to stop painting them because surface rust is mostly cosmetic.  Many ports haven't let crew off the ship to do things like cosmetic painting.  It the Odyssey crew stopped painting even Odyssey would like this pretty quickly.  That's salt air for you.

When a ship is in normal operation they pay much better appearance to the cosmetics.  When a ship is in layup with a skeleton crew they do not.

While I agree it's doesn't make for a great picture, it's not a sign of anything more.

[Crazycruiser50]

This was Enchantment in March 2020, 1 sailing before everything was shut down.  As you can see she had the exact same rust on her then.  Especially when docked next to Symphony it made us realize how old she is.  
 

That being said, we have sailed on her 6 times and she will always have a special place in our hearts!