This was our first cruise since 2006 and, just by happenstance, it was on the same ship that we had back in 2006 when we went to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. What was different this time was that we drove to the port since this cruise left out of Baltimore. Just a few tips about the port. First, if you are parking at the terminal pay cash. The line for cars with drivers using credit cards was slow to move because the methods are inefficient. Second, unlike ports in Florida where a lot of people are dropped off by bus or hotel shuttle, Baltimore has a large number of people who do drive in, which made the check in-line a lot longer to deal with than at Port Canaveral or Port Everglades where it seemed like we walked in and were on the ship within minutes. Exacerbating our wait was that they did not have a key made for my wife, which I thought was inexcusable given that this cruise was paid off back in April.

Once on board,we got re-acquainted with the Enchantment and before long it was as if we had never left the ship 5 years ago. Everything became instantly familiar. The down side to that is that the WOW factor was missing. One humorous note though, we still lived in a tiny apartment when we went in 2006 and the stateroom size seemed fine. Five years on we now have a house and the second we walked into our stateroom we asked each other simultaneously if the room was this small back in 2006.

Our stateroom attendant, Burtnell from Guyana, introduced himself and saw to it that everything was what we expected, not that he had to do anything. The quality of service was excellent right from the beginning and remained so for the duration of the voyage. Read more