by Isabelle Esteves

Created on: September 11, 2010

Enchantment of the Seas is one of Royal Caribbean’s Vision Class of ships. Many of its cruises sail from the port at Baltimore Maryland which makes it a very convenient location for most of the east coast. The vision class is small in terms of cruise ships. It was so small in fact that in 2005 the ship was taken out of service and expanded by 70 feet. They tell you all about this expansion in your cruise literature. When they seas are very rough it is inevitable that you think, I really hope they used a lot of welds when they added the new footage. From personally experience, the ship is well able to survive even the resultant waves caused by a hurricane without skipping a beat.

The vision class offers a very user friendly design with a large Centrum with glass elevators soaring to the 10th floor. The Centrum is the heart of the ship and many activities happen on the open fourth floor. Also in the Centrum is the Champagne Bar. The fourth floor also is the lower level of the My Fair Lady Dining Room which is located on both the fourth and fifth levels.

One downside of the smallness of the vision class is that there are far fewer balcony rooms than on the larger classes. The upside is that there are also fewer passengers which means that finding a spot to be alone is not at all difficult. There are lounge chairs on deck five which is a walking deck where you can find a spot to just chill and which is never as busy as the pool deck which is level 9.

The staff on the Enchantment of the Seas is one of the happiest we have ever encountered. Many of them have been serving on this ship for a lot of years and they are happy to be doing it. We got many smiles from our head waiter and all of the wait staff and the room stewards are on top of everything. The level of cleanliness on the ship was excellent and it was common to see the chairs in the explorer bar turned upside down with a staff member cleaning the legs and bottom.

The food is plentiful and the variety is pretty good. In the Windjammer Café there is a lot of International cuisine offered. There was Chinese, Thai and Indian food offered daily along with traditional American favorites.

Entertainment on the ship was very good. They shows are heavy on comedy but that’s not a bad thing. The Orpheum Theater is big enough to accommodate the amount of people who attend the shows and drink service was good without being distracting.

There are plenty of activities offered every hour of the day and well into the night. You never need to be bored. You can play trivia, join a bridge group, climb the rock wall, get a spa treatment, workout in the health club, play bingo or gamble in the casino. But if you prefer quiet there is the library where you can find games and books and a quiet corner. There are plenty of lounges offering live entertainment and in the evening the Centrum comes alive with song and music.

Cruising on Enchantment of the Seas will indeed be an enchanting experience. Though, we have noticed some changes due to the economy. There are no more midnight buffets, chocolates on your pillow or great deals on spa treatments. The perks offered to Royal Crown Members have also come down almost as much as the cost of using the Internet has skyrocketed. It is sad but this is still a great ship and one of this writers personal favorites.

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