Cruise in Review

Matt and I left on the 28th for a 6 day 5 night cruise on Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas. It was a much needed overdue vacation for the 2 of us. Mom and Pam split the babysitting duty for Casey so we were able to go and not worry too much about him (although I was a bit homesick for him)!





Enchantment was recommended to us by Sarah and Kevin after they took a similar cruise last summer. The cruise staff was amazing (except for our room attendant who just didn't stack up) and incredibly diverse.

Our first stop was at Grand Cayman. Matt and I rode horses along the beach for our shore excursion. These pictures were taken on the back side of the Island which has more vegetation, so don't judge the beaches based on these pictures.

The second stop was Cozumel, Mexico. This was my favorite shore excursion. We rode a catamaran out to a small coral reef and snorkeled. We learned a few things. A. Both Matt and I enjoy snorkeling B. We would like to do it again in a less crowded environment. There were so many of us being forced to stay between two buoys that we were kicking the crap out of each other. We had an underwater camera with us, but I haven't gotten the pictures developed yet (I'm not used to using real film anymore).


After we finished snorkeling we got back on the catamaran and went to a private beach. Free for our use were beach chairs, rafts, kayaks, a water trampoline and a water ice berg (inflatable thing you could climb on). Matt and I kayaked, swam and then rested in beach chairs before heading back to the top deck of the catamaran to sunbathe.



The crew on the boat had great personalities, they served unlimited beer and Margaritas (although Matt said he didn't taste any alcohol or ever get a buzz from them) and they played fun beach tunes. All in all it was a great excursion with a little bit of something for everyone to enjoy.


Back on the boat, we really enjoyed our dining companions. Claire and Pierre were from the island of Malta in the Mediterranean. They were honeymooning and had just spent 2 weeks in Orlando. Chad and Kathleen were also honeymooning and are from San Angelo, TX where both Matt and I went to firefighting school. Conversation flowed easily and we meshed really well as a group.

We didn't love our waiter at first but he really grew on us by the end of cruise. In fact, he and another waiter dirty danced on the second to last night. It was so funny I about peed my pants. Our assistant waiter was awful, but that too eventually amused us. His basic responsibility in life was to provide bread and drinks...he did neither well. I nicknamed him "2" as he was second in command. The name stuck and by the end we almost had him remembering what drinks we drank EVERY night...almost!

(Salvo the head waiter, an uncomfortable Matt, and "2")

Everything else on the boat was fun, but not wonderful. The pools were overcrowded and the casino had very low payout. Although on the last night Matt discovered the world of video roulette. This could become very addictive. We are going to call around to our regional casinos and see if any of them have it. I also spent a lot of time in our awesome compact little room watching tv, napping, and relishing not having a baby around. Matt also played in Texas Hold Em' and Ping Pong Tournaments. He had fun but wasn't the big winner. He'll get em next time!


The shows ranged from pretty good to pretty lame. Basically we liked the comedians, the newlywed gameshow, and the Olympic gymnast, but thought the faux Broadway show and dancers were LAME! Our cruise director, Marc, was spot on all the time though. He was always chipper, as British people are supposed to be, and just top notch. Matt joked that he wanted to bring him home with us.

All in all it was a great week and a total change of pace. I think next big vacation I want to go to an all inclusive resort where we can more easily pick and choose what water sports we want to participate in without the overpopulated feel of the cruise. One other disclaimer, our cruise was 100% booked, so that may have impacted some of our opinions.