Ooowee, ooowee baby!
So, the answer to last week’s TAGT was b AND d and many of you have been dying to hear how we liked cruising. So, here’s our scoop.
Before embarking on our inaugural cruise, we flew into visit with our friends Steve and Christy (who were also our gracious hosts and chauffeurs to and from the cruise ship) in Fort Lauderdale. Then, the ship sailed to Belize, Cozumel and Key West before returning back to home base. Of course, many of you already knew that, but are dying to know more details.
Before I begin, let me say that we desperately needed an escape from our normal lives, so in retrospect, this vacation was a lifesaver. Ditching the cell phones, computers and internet connection for a week did us wonders. Just the sheer fact that we were able to sit down and have lengthy discussion, sit on a sandy beach, dunk ourselves in ocean water and read books was a treat in and of itself.
A few years ago, we had wanted to escape the cold weather and head south. We seriously considered a cruise at that time and I spoke at length with a travel agent, poured over guidebooks from the library and scoured the Internet for whatever first-hand advice I could get my hands on. Ultimately, we decided against a cruise and opted to head to St. Martin/Saint Maarten on our own for a week. We decided to forgo a cruise at that time, mainly because we could not be guaranteed a non-smoking room. For this vacation, we had less than a week to prepare. After finding reasonable non-stop flights to Fort Lauderdale, we began looking at cruising again. I did some internet searching, saw that a couple of cruises would work within our schedule, and called a travel agent. With the help of Christy’s sister, Laura (who worked for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines at the time), we were able to snag an inside stateroom on the Enchantment of the Seas for a 5-Day Western Caribbean cruise to Belize, Cozumel and Key West. We chose Royal Caribbean, because as of January 1, 2008, all of their staterooms are non-smoking (according to our travel agent). Of course, you can still smoke on the balcony and on the starboard (right) side of the ship, as well as in the casinos and SOME of the lounges, but for the most part we were guaranteed a room, dining and other activities that would be non-smoking. So, we packed our bags and headed out.
After our arrival in Fort Lauderdale (and spending time with our friends), we were dropped off at Port Everglades for our cruise. Fortunately, we did not need to park there, but heard that the parking garage is quite packed, so if you are driving yourself, best get there early for a parking spot. At Port Everglades, there are porters who will take your bags from you and from what we heard demand a tip, which I think is a bit tacky (more about tipping later). Because we just had our carry-ons, we chose to carry our own bags. Yes, it was a bit of a hassle, but we weren’t willing to risk our belongings not showing up (or showing up late) to our cabins. If you do decide to have the porters deliver your luggage make sure to attach the appropriate labels provided by your cruise line.
Once inside the “terminal”, you are required to go through security, show your passport, obtain your SeaPass card, get a stupid picture taken (we tried to bypass the cheesy picture with the ship in the background, but were forced to do it) and lastly have an individual picture taken for security purposes. Fortunately, we glided right through, but I imagine it can be quite busy and crowded. Make sure you get to the boat on time. We were wanted on the ship no later than one hour before the ship departed. If you are late, you don’t get a refund (unless you have insurance). We met some people who had learned this the hard way.
After we were on the ship our first mission was to drop off our belongings in our room. I was prepared for a postage stamp sized room and, well, that’s just about what we got. At the far end of the room there were two twin beds pushed together to make an oversized queen bed with bedside tables, with drawers, on each side. In the middle of the room there was a very small loveseat (really just enough room for one person) and a small glass coffee table. Across from the loveseat was a vanity/desk and a small safe. The safe required that you swipe a credit card in order to lock or unlock, which we felt was stupid because you had to keep a credit card out, when the cruise line advertises that the SeaPass Card is all you need to get around. The vanity had several drawers and cabinets for storage. In the front of the room as you walked in, the bathroom was to our left and the closet was to our right. The closet had plenty of room (in our opinion), more drawers, and plenty of (I counted 22!) nice wooden coat hangers (that unfortunately clanked when the ship was moving at night). The bathroom had a small stand-up shower, a toilet and a small sink with a vanity/medicine cabinet combination. I had expected that we were going to be extremely cramped, but if you stay somewhat organized, there’s going to be plenty enough room for two people in the small stateroom. A child or a baby would definitely make things more crowded, but as long as you are reasonable in what you bring, I don’t see how it would be that bad. We only utilized 1/3 of the closet and I wiped out two drawers with hand sanitizer for our clothes and filled three more drawers with shoes, but we were easily able to make do with the cramped quarters.
Once we were somewhat settled in, we explored the ship (along with the other 2,500 or so others). As we discovered, the elevators were slow and oftentimes did not stop at your level. I assume this is a result of children/teenagers playing around and a high demand for older travelers. Deck nine was where most of the action took place. It was here that there were two outdoor pools and hot tubs and an “adult” pool with two more hot tubs with a retractable roof above and hundreds of deck chairs. Be warned, however, chairs get snagged and are a hot commodity during your day at sea, as well as any afternoon times people are back on the ship. There’s a strong possibility you might not be able to find a seat, depending on how obnoxious the other travelers are.We were pleasantly surprised to find several lounges and bars that were non-smoking, and we preferred going to the Schooner Bar, where it was quiet (non-smoking) and where we found the most attentive service on the ship. Ordering alcoholic drinks can be very expensive and the cruise ship does not allow you to bring your own alcohol on board. As frustrating as this may sound, after you see some of the people on the ship, you will be glad they don’t have 24-hour access to booze. However, it can be disappointing for those people who are responsible drinkers. Beer ranged in price from $4-6 per bottle, wine was priced at $5+/glass and mixed drinks started at $4.25 for the drink of the day. Also, if you are a soda drinker, it might pay off to purchase a soda card. An individual soda can cost you $3/glass. A soda pass costs $38 per person for the week (with a souvenir cup). In order to avoid paying taxes on drink purchases (and I assume other items) wait until you are at sea. You will save yourself a few bucks.
Whenever you ask someone about their cruise, usually they begin raving about the food. Honestly, we weren’t thrilled. Matt had some really good lamb dishes, I had a salmon dish that earned high marks, but for the most part we were disappointed. For breakfast, you could order room service (at no charge, but should tip the server) or go to the Windjammer, the buffet. Items on the breakfast menu were pretty consistent throughout the week. Omelets made to order, cereal, fruit, yogurt, milk, sausage links, bacon, corned beef hash, eggs, hash browns, pancakes, waffles, french toast, oatmeal, biscuits, gravy, bagels, english muffins, lox, cold cuts, cheeses and assorted pastries. Coffee, Decaffeinated coffee, hot tea, hot chocolate, iced tea, lemonade, fruit punch, orange juice and water were also provided, however, the orange juice concentrate was so watered down it was hardly representative of the real thing. Probably because they wanted you to splurge for the $3.95 fresh squeezed orange juice. One morning we opted for room service, which offered a selection of items off the buffet. Nothing special, however. Lunches weren’t very memorable, and to be honest with you, we mainly ate lunch off the boat at our ports of call. For dinner, we had an assigned table where we ate what was considered to be a late dinner, at 8:30 pm. Fortunately, our table companions were quite entertaining and we thoroughly enjoyed their company at dinner. Our service, however, was subpar. Every night, without fail, our waiter and assistant waiter gave someone, or several of us, the wrong dish and/or the wrong beverage. Understandably, they have several tables to attend to, but considering our neighboring table had a less than 50% show rate the majority of the cruise, I would have expected our waitstaff to be more on top of it. If it wasn’t for the assistance of the head waiter, we would have been miserable. The last few days of the cruise, we figured out you could head to the main dining room, figure out what is being served for dinner, then head to the buffet for some appetizers, and possibly taste some of what was being offered at dinner. A couple of nights we also snatched some desserts at the buffet to our cabin in the event we were displeased with our desserts served at dinner.
As I mentioned before, we were disappointed in the service on the ship. I had read (and the Royal Caribbean literature states) that you can add the tip to your SeaPass Card at the end of the trip. THIS IS FALSE, FALSE, FALSE. In order to tip via your SeaPass Card, you must do so several nights before, and will receive a voucher to put in the envelopes for your various servers. AND you aren’t given the option on the standard form to indicate how much you want to give to each server. In my mind, this is bullshit, as you can purchase a multitude of items on your SeaPass Card up to almost the very last minute. NONE of this is clearly stated and it is ambiguous as to how the whole process works. As an employer, I believe that Royal Caribbean should do a better job of informing passengers of this procedure, because, ultimately, it is their employees who get the short end of the stick here.
Royal Caribbean could also improve the procedures involving debarkation, especially when arriving where you must go through Borders and Customs (Key West). The written literature said NOTHING about when or how we would proceed to get off the ship, so instead there were herds of people frantically lining up, pushing each other, in an attempt to get through the gates the fastest. It was completely disorderly, confusing and orchestrated poorly. I could think of a multitude of ways they could have eliminated, or at least alleviated such a commotion. If they have emergency procedures down to a science, why can’t they do the same with this? My personal opinion? WIth the United States having stricter regulations, the cruise line can easily point the finger at the U.S. and draw attention away from Royal Caribbean. I honestly thought it was almost a farce how unorganized the procedure was. When debarking the ship, you are required to place your bags (with the appropriate labels) outside your cabin door the last evening of the cruise. Because we were carrying on our own luggage, as well as carrying off our own luggage we did not take advantage of this service and the cruise line doesn’t really explain how debarking works if you choose to do so. Because it takes time for luggage to get off the ship, you have a specific time you are allowed off the ship. For example, our luggage labels were beige, and beige labeled luggage people debarked at 10:00 am. Since the cruise line requires you to be out of your room by 8:00 am, we basically had to congregate somewhere on the ship for two hours before we were supposed to leave. Because we didn’t need to wait on any luggage we just got in a line once our ride was about to arrive. Again, this is not really explained in any of the cruise literature, nor did it seem to be very effective.
Despite all the negatives, we both were surprised to find ourselves saying that we would be willing to give cruising another shot. We’d want to try a different cruise line, such as Celebrity, but we aren’t opposed to cruising again, especially to compare and to see if higher end cruise lines really offer better service and food. However, if I had my choice between cruising and traveling on my own, I would more than likely choose the latter. The small amount of time spent at ports didn’t really allow us to venture out and explore. Instead, we were just able to see a snippet of the culture and the land. I would much rather have a chance to get out of the tourist traps. For us, we really enjoy doing the research on where to go, what to do, where to eat, etc., but time didn’t allow any of that this trip, so a cruise was ideal. Given our circumstances, I am extremely glad we chose a cruise. However, if I had more time, I would have seriously considered other options.
© 2008 Laura Mead. All Rights Reserved