Hello friends, my long awaited cruise is finally here.
My group woke up early from Valdosta, GA and headed south around 7am. The drive from there was 250 miles and this my friends is where I started to get really excited. There is just something about the morning of a cruise, which only us addicts can explain.
Before we got on the Enchantment of the Seas, we decided to meet some friends at Grills Restaurant.
This is a local restaurant at the port, and offers the best views of Enchantment, Freedom, and soon to be Oasis of the Seas.
No one ate any food, so no feedback there, but for a few drinks and the view it’s perfect.
Now it’s 12:30PM and you know what time it is… Time to board the ship!
We parked at the brand new terminal 1 parking. The cost for 3 days was $60 and you pay for parking as you enter.
Honestly, this was the latest I’ve ever boarded a cruise, so I didn’t know what to expect. Surprisingly there were zero lines anywhere, walked right up to check-in.
We had a Diamond Plus member with us, so we went into their check-in line, but wasn’t even needed. Once thing I’m curious about the new terminal is how they will seat everyone once the Oasis comes into town.
Once we were on board, he headed right over to the drink package table to purchase the package. I know, Matt and I always say, “Buy the package online to avoid this line” what can I say… The line was around 5-6 people long, so not awful, but this can delay the fun for 10-15mins. The cost on the drink package is $56 per person / per day. This includes all the beers, bottled water, and top shelf cocktails.
After the purchase we went to Park Café for some much needed lunch. As always, they have pork roast out day 1 on Enchantment and not roast beef.
Not really sure why they do this, but the good stuff comes out for the rest of the cruise. They also have salads, fresh fruit, and pre-made sandwiches here. This is a completely free option on board and often goes over looked, I think due to location.
You can find the Park Café in the back of the solarium pool, so as far aft on deck 9 and you can find the best food at sea (free food).
Once lunch was over we explored the ship, and I also did a full periscope tour with all of you. I hope you enjoyed watching as much as I enjoyed sharing. The ship looks great; the only sign of wear I’ve seen is a few chairs with tears in them.
At 3:30, they started shutting down all the bars around the ship to get ready for the muster drill. This is the only part about the Enchantment that isn’t so much fun, they require you to stand on the outside decks. This doesn’t last very long, but you are packed in tight, so make some new friends!
Once the drill is over, that’s when the ship really comes to life.
My suggestion is going straight to the pooldeck for sail-away. In fact, I’d put this in my top 5 things to do on Enchantment of the Seas. It’s a lot of live dancing, drinks, and fun as you sail out of port.
One of the local restaurants, Fishlips, has a webcam set ip on it to give anyone a view of the cruise ships in port. My good friend Emmy got with the operators of the webcam PTZTV and had them zoom up on us at sailaway.
This was so much fun, even Matt happened to be watching and got to see me on cam.
Dinner – Chops Grill
For dinner we wanted to enjoy a nice dinner at Chops Grill.
On the Enchantment the cost is $30 per person, but on night one, they offer a 20% off sale. I would recommend making reservations on board with the discount.
The restaurant was actually full, I’ve never seen the Chops on this ship even half full before, so the discount must be working.
I ordered my favorite soup, the French Onion, and if you haven’t tried this soup it’s a must, you can thank me later!
For our main course they just brought out all the sides, which was fun to sample everything. Since our group was 6, some of the sides were all gone and they just fill them up as needed.
I ordered the classic filet and you can’t go wrong there.
My friend Shawn ordered the NY Strip and it was huge, so if you are really hungry that might be something to try.
To wrap up my meal, I went with the cheesecake and a specialty coffee. The coffee was no charge, so not sure if that’s usually included or not, but I loved it.
The service was great, they were always filling our wine but that’s likely because we were ordering Caymus.
After dinner we played in the casino, well I watched since I’m not much of a player. It’s just as much fun for me to watch everyone than it is to play. A little before midnight, I called it a night.
Okay friends, that's a wrap on my day 1. Tomorrow we are headed to Nassau, so more to come!
Please let me in the comments below if you want to know anything about the Enchantment of the Seas or if you want any pictures.
