A little background on my wife and myself before I leave this review. It will put some things in perspective and, hopefully, keep others from saying that I was off-base in my review. My wife and I are both 42 years old and cruising for the first time. Married for twenty years, we have 3 children (age 4 - 12) with whom we often vacation; but, rarely have we had the opportunity to vacation without them for more than a night or two. We both work 40 hour jobs and would be considered within the middle-class economic category. Although we are capable of differentiating a '96 Cab from a $2 bottle of Chianti, our tastes are rather simple and we are not overly particular. Rather than review our trip in chronological order, I have chosen to focus on aspects of the cruise. If, at any time, you would like more information, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. I will do my best to answer any questions.

Embarkation - Our travel arrangements were made by the cruise line, and with the threat of Hurricane Jeanne, we were happy to have some added assurance that, in the event of a flight change or cancellation, some provisions might be made. We understood that there was no guarantee of that from the RCI, but since the price for booking ourselves or using the cruiseline were almost the same, we chose the latter. As it was, we flew around Jeanne, about 36 hours after she hit Florida, and landed in bright sunshine and blue skies. Arriving at the port terminal at 1:30 PM, we found no lines and an extremely friendly and efficient staff. All of our documents had been completed online, and we were quickly on board within 10 minutes of entering the terminal. We immediately found our stateroom and dropped off our carry-on bags. Lunch in the Windjammer followed and then a quick exploration of the beautiful Enchantment of the Seas.

Stateroom - We opted for a category D1 stateroom, which includes a balcony. We found the room to be more than spacious and in excellent condition. The room was furnished with a queen-size bed, full mirror dresser, convertible sofa, small table, and two night stands. There was so much closet, drawer, and cabinet space, that we had no trouble unpacking 4 suitcases worth of belongings (3 for my wife and 1 for myself) and then putting the suitcases out of sight in the closet. The bathroom was much larger than I expected, with plenty of cabinet space to store toiletries, and an abundance of light and mirrors. Perhaps the shower stall could have been slightly larger (or we could have been slightly smaller), but it was more than acceptable. We didn't expect to use the balcony all that often, but it was very nice to have; and, I would not hesitate to book the same room again. The sliders to the balcony added plenty of light to the room and gave an overall feeling of openness. The balcony came with two chairs and a small table that more than met our needs. Read more