Ron Harsley

Age: 60
Occupation: Retired
Number of Cruises: 16
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean International
Ship: Enchantment of the Seas
Sailing Date: July 15th, 2001
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

My wife and I have cruised on RCI, NCL, Cunard, Princess, Carnival and a Greek line who's name I do not remember.

This trip, we took our daughter and her husband for a gift and picked the Enchantment mostly for convenient for the dates we had available to us. We were not disappointed. This particular cruise went to Cozumel, Key West, and Montego Bay. The latter was added and a surprise to us as the dock at Playa Del Carmen had been damaged by some other ship.

Ports of Call:

Cozumel was pleasant and we spent the day just relaxing in the bars downtown, while our guests went to Tulum.

Montego Bay:

Jamaica remains as tacky as ever, but we did take a horse riding trip, and the ride on the beach was very pleasant. One gets a little tired of seeing shop after shop with the same tacky souvenirs, and we would heartily recommend preplanning a good side trip to stay away from town and the continual hustling should this itinerary stay as it is.

Key West:

Living in Florida, we have been to Key West many times and as such this was like staying at home for us but our guests enjoyed it greatly. I must admit that since we were last there, Mallory Square is unrecognizable and although we somewhat miss the old scruffy version, we have to admit that the City Fathers are doing something right in KW.

Georgetown GC:

Always a delight to be here. Thoroughly British and well mannered with high class shopping. We took the submarine ride and absolutely recommend any of the versions as the best side trip you will take.

THE SHIP:

Still beautiful and well kept. One sometimes wonders how a ship can be kept in good condition with the volume of passengers they move, but RCI do it and do it well.

THE CREW:

This is the most noticeable of all. I spent time to watch how the crew at all levels not only interacted with the passengers, but also with themselves. It was very noticeable that the crew to a man seemed to enjoy working with each other. There were plenty of smiles, high fives and good natured banter between them. This of course carries over to there dealings with passengers. In this respect I would place this ship in the outstanding category.

ENTERTAINMENT:

First Class. It was a pleasure to see audience participation where one did not feel embarrassed for the stooge.

FOOD AND BARS:

Absolutely no complaints. As good as any restaurant worth its salt and with the same impeccable service.

OVERALL:

I guess we could be considered regular cruiser, although now we have retired, we do travel less. Now of course, we look for good service at  a sensible price. We do not fit into the millionaire cruiser class but are frankly put off by the Carnival experience. We want casual class, and RCI fits this to the hilt and that is why we went back. We were not disappointed.

NEGATIVES:

You expected some didn't you? For some reason, Americans seem to take pride in being slovenly and bad mannered. Baseball caps in dining rooms, sweat suits on formal nights seem to be the badge of the ill mannered American, and this is sad. The guidelines are spelled out perfectly clearly, yet the ugly fringe still has to make its point. The only thing that the cruise line and the captain cannot control is the standards of passenger behavior. I for one wish they could and would.

Ask a Question About Royal Caribbean Cruises