I am not new to cruising, as a teenager in then 90s my family went on three cruises, all have been on Carnival. I went again in 2003 for my honeymoon to my ex-wife on Carnival. As I recall I had a wonderful time on the Carnival Cruise lines, so once I remarried I decided to take my wife on her first ever cruise. We decided to go on Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas out of Baltimore for a 12 day cruise to the eastern Caribbean. I was somewhat concerned of rough Atlantic seas in the winter time. However, the seas were mostly calm to mildly choppy. The third to last day we hit some bad weather on our return trip and were being tossed and turned by 28 foot swells. For the most part I would give the trip an overall A grade.

The ship was built in 1996 and was expanded by 70 feet in 2006, adding shops, room and and extra top deck pool. We initially booked an interior room about 10 months in advanced. About 6 months to the cruise date the price for the room dropped about $150/pp. I called my travel agent whom spoke with RCCL, which they were happy to readjust the price. Furthermore, about a week till the cruise I just happen to be curious to see what the price was and to my amazement it dropped another $300/pp. I once again called my travel agent, and again she spoke to RCCL and to my amazement they were gracious enough to grant me an upgrade to an exterior ocean view room plus give me a $157/pp on board ship credit. (Awesomeness!!)

The ship for its age is well maintained the crew was seen always cleaning and polishing the public spaces. The casino is a tad bit small but never seemed to be over crowded. The main dinning room is very elegantly designed and the Windjammer cafe is adequately sized to handle the food crowds. The only time we could not find a seat in the windjammer was on the day we left. Everyone got on the ship at 12:00 and headed right for the windjammer for lunch. Hence the crowd. Read more