My husband and I returned about a week ago from this cruise to celebrate our 5th year anniversary. This was my 6th cruise, the 3rd with RC, and my husbands 10th cruise, the 5th with RC. Although Hurricane Dean was fast approaching, we weren't really concerned about what would occur. Coincidentally, the Dean was due to hit Jamaica and the Caymans on the exact days we were due to visit there. We had spent a fair amount of time pre-researching and booking excursions (not through the ship) prior to our cruise, and we decided to cancel them to be on the safe side. Sure enough, the evening before our departure, RC announced via an email a change in itinerary. We were now due to visit Labadee and Nassau. In addition, our online agency followed up with a personal phone call to us (not a recorded message) that we were quite pleased with. All questions and concerns were handled by a very pleasant and apologetic operator. We weren't really thrilled with the two new destinations, but it's not like RC can control the weather! But, let me right off the bat say that we really enjoyed both places and overall had a great time, despite a few disappointments. Embarkation was a breeze...perhaps the quickest we ever had. We arrived in Ft.Lauderdale about a half hour late due to weather delays, and we were out of the airport, to the ship, and on the ship in less than 45 minutes. This was about 1:30 pm. We literally walked into our stateroom, took a quick look around, dropped off our stuff, and turned and went right back off the ship to explore the Ft.Lauderdale beach area. We had a fantastic afternoon strolling the main strip, shopping, stopping for cocktails at every other corner, and marveling at the gorgeous beach. It was like adding a whole other port to our cruise! We strolled back on the ship at about 4:15, and it appeared that everyone was in and ready to go. Cocktails in hand within 5 minutes, and then made our way back up to our stateroom to get ready for the real fun to begin!!!! The stateroom was definitely on the old side, as has been mentioned in most other reviews. We weren't in the new section of the ship...in fact, we found out that we had booked the VERY LAST ROOM available on the ship so we were grateful that it was a balcony stateroom (the only way we will cruise!) It was clean though, and had the usual amenities of a small and older stateroom. I will say that the bathroom and shower is by far the smallest I have ever seen on any cruise. I had to wonder how any one who was even marginally heavy or large build could fit into the shower, let alone anyone who was bordering on obese!

Our first day was at sea and it was quite rough. We never, ever get seasick, but I was in bed for the day, and even my tough husband was a little queasy by the evening. Everywhere you looked, folks were noticeably sick, pale, and generally unhappy. Again, though, this is in no way RC's fault! It was funny because in the middle of the night, I went for a short walk and there were dozens of room-service trays lining the halls because of all the folks too sick to leave their rooms! The next morning, though, Labadee greeted us with the calmest, quietest water I've ever seen on a ship. The weather was incredible and the island far exceeded my expectations. I had heard a lot of not so good things about Labadee but my husband and I had a fantastic time. We enjoyed the beaches, the shopping market, the lunch buffet, and the water was so warm, clear, and soft. We took the Thriller Boat Tour and it was so much fun, you just laugh out loud. We would definitely take an itinerary with Labadee again. The next day at sea was your average sea day, we relaxed and tried to avoid the crowds. Our final day of vacation was spent in Nassau, where we booked a room at Atlantis. We had never been there, not wanting to make the financial plunge until we knew it would be worth it. This was a good way for us to determine whether or not we wanted to return at a later date with our daughter, and we are glad that we went because we learned a lot about the property. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty terrible, very overcast, a little drizzly, and kind of windy. We still had a good time on the water slides, and just walking around and taking it all in, but I really would have liked some sun! After some shopping in downtown Nassau, we were back on board and ready for the sail home. About the ship: it is an older ship, and the new part in the middle is somewhat noticeable. That being said, it is very clean and very nice, and very well-kept. We usually cruise on the mega-ships, so things like the lack of shopping and the smaller bars and common areas were a little disappointing. We used the fitness room each day, and it was always crowded and felt a little cramped with the classes going on right in the middle of the equipment. But it was clean, pleasant, and had great views. The nightclub was fun and jam packed with all types of folks who all seemed to get along well---until about 1:00 am when it started to get a little on the "hiphop" side, and things began to feel a little---well, heated. We left at that point and I understand they closed down a little early that night. The art auction was fantastic--some truly amazing works of art---Picasso, Warhol, really great stuff. We purchased to fairly expensive pieces and won a $500 raffle. The casino was usually pretty crowded, and everyone was very cordial to play with. Our casino bartender was excellent (Suzette from Jamaica) and always remembered exactly what we wanted, and our names. We spent a lot of time (and money!) in the casino! The dining room was the usual, but I have to say that the food on this cruise was probably our biggest disappointment. The menu items were really ODD. And I am a pretty adventurous eater, and I love food. But chilled berry buttermilk soup? What the heck is that? And there were a lot of those types of things! And, they ran out of lobster---not cool. My husband didn't get any at all! We actually ended up eating in Chops twice and it was amazing both times. That's good food! I definitely recommend eating there...we would have probably ate there every night if we had been on the ship any more than we were. We also had room service everyday for our own in-room "happy hour" buffet, and it was very good as well, especially the chips and chili dip and the wings. We also utilized the internet cafe (no concerns there), and visited every bar on board (we like our cocktails). All were quite enjoyable.

Service onboard left nothing to be desired. Everyone was friendly, smiling, and seemingly eager to please. I don't believe we encountered a single person who left a bad taste in our mouth. Considering many, many of these folks were from the very islands that were getting battered by Dean, especially Jamaica, they kept their worries and concerns to themselves and carried on. I felt so sad and worried for them! But I am so grateful that Suzette's boys were OK back home, and she and I sat together every night at her bar and watched the updates on the hurricane's approach while my husband played blackjack. Our room steward did a fantastic job, and treated us to robes for our use during our stay. Oh, one thing---there's no iron in the room, or onboard! Bring a steam-travel iron, as regular irons are not allowed. Getting off the ship was not quite as smooth as getting on the ship. In fact, it was rather annoying. Way too many people packed in way too small of an area. But, eventually we got off, and since we opted to carry our luggage off, we made our way out quickly, and back to the airport in just a short time. All in all, the cruise was a great time, considering the other vacation destinations that were in rain, wind, flood, and everything else. We love RC and will continue to cruise with them above all other cruise lines. We probably will opt for larger ships from here on out, though, as we really appreciate the wider range of amenities, dining options, bars, and activities that the larger ships offer. We will be first in line for the new ship arriving in 2009, that will be 3x the size of Enchantment, with 6700 passengers and over 5000 crew members!!!!! (Okay, maybe not first in line, but we sure are excited!) Any questions, please feel free to email me!