Enchantment of the Seas

[MCPayne]

A couple of more serious questions regarding the Enchantment. I am on the 5 night Western Caribbean cruise which includes the ports of George Town, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel Mexico, leaving on September 19.

My first question is regarding time zones. We depart from Fort Lauderdale, which is in the Eastern Time Zone. However, both Grand Cayman and Cozumel I believe are in the Central Time Zone. Which time zone will the ship time follow? Is the arrival and departure time on the itinerary by the "ship time" or "local port" time? I just would like to know this for when I book excursions.

Also, when is the formal night on this cruise? I did the 4 night Bahamas cruise on the Majesty back in October of 2007, and the formal night was the second night. Will it also be the second night on this cruise, or is it a different night?

[Sonny V]

Eastern time, and always keep your watch on ship time. Formal night is on the second night - it's always on a night when your at sea that day.

Sonny

[MCPayne]

Thanks Sonny. Sorry there was a problem when I went to create my countdown clock, but I think I fixed it.

[spoheat]

our waitstaff told us on a couple cruises that if people get left it is usually Cozumel as they have a few mexican beers and start looking at the local clocksl--which are not ship time. Oops!

[MCPayne]

I definitely plan on keeping my watch on "ship time." However, when booking excursions through Royal Caribbean, when it lists the excursion times, I'm assuming that those are "local time" or are the excursion times listed "ship time?"

[Sonny V]

The ship stays on it's time - that included the ship's excursions. Stop worrying about it, or set you watch an hour ahead of ship's time. What's there that's going to keep you until the last minute? Is there something you what to share with us?


Sonny

[MCPayne]

Nothing in particular. I think I saw on some excursions that the excursion time was 9:30 am in Cozumel, but we don't arrive in Cozumel until 10:00 am, which is what confuses me. Maybe it's just a meeting place until the ship docks in Cozumel.

[MCPayne]

I'm not so much worried about missing the boat as I am an excursion offered by Royal Caribbean. In Grand Cayman, there are a couple excursions that I want to do, and I am not sure about making the second excursion. The first one was the Stingray City Sandbar Swim and Snorkel (GC89), excursion time of 8:15 and a duration of 2.5 hours. The next one, which is the Honey Suckle Beach Trail Ride, has a departure time of 11:30, which is the one I'm worried about making. My backup plan was to do the Nautilus snorkel, which has a duration of 1.75 hours, also with an excursion time of 8:15

[spoheat]

The 9:30 time is meeting time. The ship has to clear customs, so you may be at the pier by 9:00 a.m., with people getting off the ship at 10. A ships tour may meet in a lounge or Studio B, get some instructions on what to expect, and be first off the ship when the doors open. You could most likely meet 10 minutes before departure, but then the "always lates" would not have that 15 minute buffer zone to wander in. Hence, the half hour discrepency between arrival in port and the start of the tour.

[MCPayne]

One more question not related to excursions, but about the ship itself. I was looking at the deck plans, and it appears that the main dining room is just one dining room (My Fair Lady), but spanning 2 decks. Is this right? I know on my last cruise on the Majesty there were 2 different dining rooms.