This was our fourth Royal Caribbean Cruise and our first on Liberty and the first time sailing out of Galveston. Liberty has a great layout. The sports court, climbing wall, water slides and Flow Rider are in same location of the ship. This is where our kids spent a lot of time so it was convenient to have them all together. The pools and hot tubs were nice but very crowded on at sea days. I only spent a little time in the adults only Solarium it was attractive and had great bartenders. The evening shows we went to were okay but not quite the caliber of the bigger RC ships. The ice show was very good. We did enjoy the adults only game show Crazy quest but it is definitely an over 18 show. We did not go to Saturday Night Fever. My younger son really enjoyed the cupcake decorating class. My older son enjoyed the teen zone and the Flowrider the most. The cons of this cruise: the ship is showing a little wear and tear with it’s furnishings and carpet. The Windjammer buffet seemed to have shorter hours than other ships we’ve been on resulting in long lines at Sorento’s the pizza place. This was especially noticeable on port days when hungry people were coming back from the excursions. We did have a great time the Fury Catamaran excursion in Cozumel. The snorkeling was decent and the private beach area was great. All the activities at the beach were included. The drinks soda, margaritas and beer were included. Food was extra but we had the morning excursion time so we didn’t eat anything. The crew was great and made sure everyone was safe and had a good time. In Grand Cayman we went on the Stingray City and Starfish sanctuary excursion. Stingray City was great the stingrays sail right around you and you can feed them if you want. The starfish sanctuary was a disappointment. Not that many starfish and there were a lot of jellyfish so we got back in the boat after a few minutes. It’s also a very long boat ride. I would recommend finding a Stingray City excursion without the Starfish Sanctuary to go on. We stayed on the ship for The Falmouth, Jamaica port day. We’ve been there before and don’t really care for Jamaica. We probably won’t sail out of Galveston again since we can fly to Florida more easily but this is a great port option for Texans and other western states. We did have a disappointing problem with disembarkation. We settled our account early in the morning but then when it was time to get off the ship they said we still owed and wouldn’t let us off. My husband had to go back to customer service and show them our receipts before they would let us off. Read Less

I had an unexpected grande mal seizure waiting in medical to have a bite looked at. I received top notch and professional care and as an RN myself I can see when teams are organized well. Thanks to all for gokd care and a swift transport to hospital. Not how I wanted my first cruise to end but I can say with confidence these folks are ready for medical issues. Thank you. The parts of the cruise I do remember were lovely. Every employee was friendly and helpful and my nurse/physician team were nothing short of excellent. I didnt like walking by all the smokers on the top deck, but as far as complaints go that is all I can think of. We wanted for nothing and were very well cared for. The ice show was fantastic. Thanks to all especially Dr Jorge. I endorse this crew with all I have. Read Less

We chose RC after taking a Carnval and Disney cruise in the past. Me and my 2 kids (15,5) traveled to Galveston from KC to board the ship and were pleasantly suprised by how quickly we boarded (reason #1 for 2 stars). The other great experience was the dining experience. Our waiters and food were top notch! Other than that, nothing was very positive. Our stateroom was dated and creaked all night long. Balcony was dirty and slick with hair all over the floor. I wanted to buy a beverage package and was sent to 3 different lines where all service members helped the people ordering alcohol before me and my kids. Even though we arrived first. This was likely as th 18% grat was guaranteed. $10 tip for the WORST service. And guess what? Still no beverage.... This was only the beginning of the disappointment... Jump zone was closed due to wind for entire voyage. Rock wall opened 2 times in 5 days. The shows were all geared towards folks over 60 yrs and every single drink was over $16 with tip. EVERYTHING was an UPCHARGE, ice cream, fancy bar cocktails, EVERYTHING. They even charge $25 a towel if not returned back to pool officers. Our first port, Costa Maya was changed to Yucatan (where nothing was offerred). We had dolphins scheduled there and were told we could do dolphins elsewhere for EVEN MORE MONEY!!! Leaving us with NOTHING to do on the first island. Costa Maya was the reason we booked this cruise. I cannot stress enough how the disappointments kept coming and coming. Needless to say, Cozumel was gorgeous but we could have flown there for one day for half the cost and done more. This ship is old, rusty and has NOTHING but drinking and gambling to offer. Read Less

I was invited on this cruise by my cousin, it was a girls trip. I had been on a cruise before but it had been awhile and I didn't particularly plan to cruise again but so glad I did! We had a blast, the cruise director- Bobby- was amazing and we barely had a minute of down time the whole trip. Plenty of activities for everyone in our group whether solo or together. Our wait staff was fantastic, we had Ygnacio and Bishal for the duration of the trip and they did a fabulous job of making sure everyone enjoyed their dinner and got plenty to eat- too much! Our cabin steward Rodney was a sweetheart and went out of his way to keep our cabin ordered and get us whatever we requested. The photographers were plentiful and ready to join in the fun, we had 2- Rexwil and David who even got in the pictures with us! So much fun! We purchased the Key as a group and embarkation and debarkation couldn't have been easier. On departure day we were escorted right to the front of the line and sent to the dining room for a lovely lunch while hundreds of other cruisers were still waiting to get on the ship. I had the drink package so plenty of contact with the bartenders and I think they did pretty good work, I never waited long to get a drink and for the most part they were really good. All in all a very memorable vacation and one I can't wait to do again! Read Less

We've sailed on Princess five times and we wanted to give Royal Caribbean (RC) a try. This was a 4-night cruise out of genteel Galveston to Cozumel only. Before the cruise we stayed one night at the charming Tremont House Hotel and parked the car at their luxurious sister hotel, The Galvez. Parking was only $18 total for all five nights, garage parking. The Galvez provided a free shuttle between hotels and to and from the port. Embarkation on the Enchantment was fast and efficient and we were on-board in half an hour at 11 a.m. We had an ocean view room on Deck 3. Room is about the same size as on Princess, but the bed was lumpy and uncomfortable. Also, unlike Princess, the 'king size' bed is actually two metal framed cots just pushed together. The metal legs underneath will not allow you to slide your suitcase under the bed. Food in the Windjammer buffet was pretty good, with a large variety of items. However, the offerings didn't change much from day to day; Princess seems to offer new selections daily. The 'Asian Food' section had only Indian dishes which did not change day after day. RC should really call this the 'Indian Food' section, as there was never any Thai or Chinese food items. The Windjammer was always crowded and finding a good seat was sometimes difficult. But the waiters and waitresses were all terrific and always ready to refill your glass with lemonade or a fresh coffee with a smile. They seemed much happier to help than some of the staff on our Princess cruises. Late night snacks at the Park Cafe were limited in choices and there were often 20 or 30 people waiting in line. Some of the tables around the solarium were filled with dirty dishes. We do not fault the overworked staff; this is a RC management problem. The fitness center was first rate with new equipment. The singer in the relaxing Schooner Bar was pretty good. The comedians were just ok. The seats in the main theater were wide and comfortable with a nice drink holder -- very classy. But the live musical "Can't Stop The Rock" is dated and boring. The talented singers and dancers are forced to perform movie tunes that you have never heard of while jumping around what appears to be some old construction scaffolding. Come on RC, after 10 years it's time to update your shows! Disembarkation was slow. One of the three elevators was always out of order and everyone was forced to walk down a flight of stairs and wind around one side of the ship and out to the other side in order to leave. Enchantment was launched in 1997 when Bill Clinton was president. Despite some updates the ship is showing its age. Apparently RC considers Galveston a secondary market and so they have positioned the smaller, rust-stained Enchantment in that lesser port. We plan on a couple of long cruises next year, and wanted to see how Royal Caribbean ("RC") compared to Princess. With a much more comfortable bed, greater food variety, more venues and things to do, we will probably go with Princess. Read Less

Got a good deal on this shop and always fancied the Caribbean. We had an inside cabin on deck 2 right at the back and it was great, never felt the ship move. Check in was quick and easy. I was worried about the size of the ship as this was the biggest of 7 cruisers. I was amazed how there were no queues for meals or finding a table, and there were plenty of sunbeds. Staff were great and the ship was immaculately clean and well maintained. The entertainment was a bit of a let down, some shows were great but others not so good. The food in the main restaurant was poor compared to other cruises I have done, however the food in the Windjammer was very good. We had the drinks package which was very good with top shelf spirits included but was disappointed to find out when we got on the ship they were offering by one get one half price. The ports of call shore excursions are overpriced in my opinion as they are on all the ships. We did our own thing and got a driver for a fraction of the price including tips. Overall our cruise was good value for what we paid and we enjoyed it. Read Less

We just got back from a 5 day cruise on the Enchantment. It was my husband and I with our 2 kids (9 and 11). We had an overall fun trip. We have cruised a lot in the past but this was our first time with RC. The ship had great customer service. It was clean and well maintained. The buffet was very overcrowded, My kids got run over, we had trouble getting to the food and finding a table. The buffet food was average with little variety. The main dining food was outstanding with a large variety. We had the best waiters we have ever had on a cruise before (Sanjay and Miroslav, table 79). We booked the Galley tour at a discount after boarding. The tour was fun and the bottomless mimosas were nice. The theater shows were entertaining and kids really enjoyed. We usually love going to art auctions but skipped the one on this ship. The auction was kicked out of their normal room and moved to narrow spot by a major walkway with limited seating. The casino was tiny and I have never lost my money quicker. My kids loved the rock climbing/trampoline and there was never a line. They also liked the kids club. Just be aware, the kids club filled up and I did see them turning away kids multiple times. The ship had 3 pools of which we were hardly able to use. The adults only pool was in a very hot enclosed area. The main pool was either too crowded or used for pool games. The kids pool was closed and drained often bc babies kept pooping in it. Our room was 8089, an upgraded ocean view with floor to ceiling windows. It was centrally located close to everything. Our Steward did a great job keeping the room clean and restocked with plush/soft/clean towels. The cabin felt spacious for a cruise ship. The main queen bed was 2 mismatched mattresses pushed together and my husband kept rolling into the middle crack. A sewage smell was coming from the bath floor drains the entire trip. Our bedding smelled like sewage. We complained and they quickly changed out the bedding. The manager came to apologize. The room was noisy. We had noise from the pool deck above, music blasting from the centrum at all hours, and a crying baby next door. We loved Costa Maya. We exited the port through a pastry shop and took a taxi to the Crazy Lobster. The beach was not crowded and the food was good with cheap Coronas. We were able to snorkle and saw lots of fish in their enclosed swimming area. No seaweed in the water. The area around Crazy Lobster had the best prices on Souviners. We went to Mr Sanchos in Cozumel for the 2nd time. The beach and water were beautiful. We were also able to snorkle here with fish in the water. The grilled shrimp was great but took 45 minutes to get. It took several hours to get my guacamole order. The mixed drinks contained no alcohol and were too sweet. We stuck with drinking beer. The boarding was awful. We picked a boarding time of 10:30 when registering many months ago. We showed up at 10:30 but didn't get on until 1 PM. They held us in a large room for several hours. The gold, plat, emerald members were all called before us. The deboarding was also unpleasant. We were in a long line that wrapped around the whole ship. The line finally ended with us having to drag our luggage down the stairs. We overall had a pleasant family vacation but will not go on this ship again and will most likely not go on Royal Caribbean again. Read Less

I was on a 5-night cruise out of Galveston with ports in Costa Maya and Cozumel. This was my second time on Enchantment (my first was in 2006). This trip was a girls' trip with three of my friends. We stayed at Harbor House hotel the night before the cruise and parked at her sister hotel, The Galvez ($20 for 5 nights, garage parking). The hotel provided a free shuttle to and from the port. Embarkation was delayed about an hour due to a coast guard inspection. We waited in the lounge after checking in at the port. Since this was my second cruise on Royal, I was Gold, which shortened the wait. We had lunch reservations at Chops. The food was some of the best I had on the ship. We especially liked the cheese tater tots. Royal still does a traditional muster drill outdoors (in the heat and sun of Galveston) but you no longer need to bring your life vest. I had not been to Costa Maya before. We took a cab to the beach. The village near the port is a poor village and the beach clubs aren't fancy. I was worried about heat but there was a great breeze off the ocean. There were plenty of beach chairs in the shade. We found a beach club without a cover charge, where we just paid for our food and drinks. I had a massage on the beach - it was supposed to be an hour but it was more like 30 minutes, so keep an eye on the time if you care about that. This is not a spa massage - she used baby oil - but it felt good. There was no stinky seaweed at the beach (it looks like they put up a fence in the ocean to keep the seaweed out). This was my third time in Cozumel. We did a four-hour private snorkel tour with Chichi Charters. Amazing! I highly recommend it! Afterward we took a cab to La Chosa for lunch. The tropical fish (red snapper) was delicious. And I loved the avocado pie (a frozen dessert!). On the ship, we ate in the dining room a couple of times and ate several times at the buffet. The food was good. Some was better than others, but I never went hungry. The Indian food at the buffet was especially good. I had the soda package and was glad to see they have added a Coke Freestyle machine. Anyone can get water out of the machine. You'll need your provided Royal cup for drinks (many kinds of soda, seltzer water, flavorings). I also carried on bottled water, and it was handy to have it in my room fridge (up to 12 bottles/cans per stateroom). We enjoyed the live music, especially at the piano bar (Schooner Bar) and in the Centrum. The musical stage shows were good but not great. I was disappointed in the variety of evening shows - two nights were musical shows with the onboard cast, the other three nights were all comedians. My favorite spot on the ship is still the relaxation room at the Spa. Anyone can use it. You can relax on a lounge chair while overlooking the aft of the ship. I used the gym one time and it was the best view I've ever had while doing cardio. I also took advantage of the walking track above the pool deck. The ship is showing her age, but I can tell they've made some updates. I'd definitely recommended this cruise for adults. For kids, there's a pool and the kids club, but not many activities for kids. We were able to find a table for breakfast at the buffet on disembarkation day. We had a bit of a wait in the lounge, but were off the ship only 15 minutes later than scheduled (delayed due to lightning). All in all, a relaxing and enjoyable cruise! Read Less

We love Royal Carribbean ! We love them because their cruise line caters to the older , classier group of people . Not to mention the service is Always fantastic, food is always great, ship is always clean, and the people are always Awesome and friendly and there is never a dull moment. This was our first family trip since 2009 and we were actually on the Liberty then as well, the upgrades to the ship since then are pretty cool. We stayed in a grand suite and was a little disappointed that there was no water in our refrigerator, or anything for that matter. We thought being in a suite should at least have water in the refrigerators. It seemed to be an issue every-time we wanted water, or to fill our water bottles. Another thing that bothered us was the dress code standards, if shorts are not allowed in the main dining room for dinner, why do you let people in who are wearing shorts in, Especially cut off or tacky shorts? Our dining staff was superb as usual, we sat at table #428 and Dinesh was our waiter . He was awesome! But at the end of our cruise we saw something that surprised and Impressed us the most, as your headed to that dreaded area where you pick up your luggage ,we saw something that I have to say is a first, we have been on 10 cruises will RCCL and have never seen the cruise ship director ( Jeff ) helping people with their luggage. There he was standing there in his uniform (sweating to death) making sure luggage tags were in place, helping people maneuver their bags through that mess of a line , and just saying goodbye. WOW! These are some of the reasons we Love Royal Caribbean. We were quite impressed to say the least. Now that's dedication and service. It was truly incredible. This is why we always choose RCCL everytime, and why we always encourage our friends , family, and anyone we hear of wanting to cruise to choose them as well. Way to Go RCCL!!!!! The Bell Family Read Less

My husband and I just returned from our 5 day cruise to Progreso and Cozumel. It was a nice relaxing time. Boarding was painless . We enjoyed drinks and meeting people right away . Staff were extremely friendly and always will to help . The ship itself is one of the oldest in Royal Caribbean’s fleet and it shows in areas . Each day one of the pools was closed for some type of repair . Bummer ! Entertainment was OK , nothing horrible just OK . The Casino is very small as were most of the bars. Good thing that there were lots of bars ! The cabins were our biggest disappointment ! The bed was two metal fold out cots with a mattress as hard as a rock on them pushed together . That first night was HORRIBLE ! It was like sleeping on a sheet of plywood, I really thought the mattress was a box spring . We went to guest services because there was no way my hips and back could do even one more night let alone 4 . They said someone would bring some mattress pads . 6 mattress pads later and 8 pillows that we put under the sheets made the bed tolerable. That is my biggest complaint and the one reason I will not book again on this ship . The food was your average buffet style food . Even a picky eater like me found things to eat . All and all this trip was about relaxing and doing nothing which is exactly what we did . We didn’t get off in Progreso , we had been told there was really nothing there which other passengers confirmed after we left that port . In Cozumel we did a little shopping , got some get deals then headed back to boat for free drinks and food . Exiting the boat in end was fairly painless too . Get a porter to get your bags in Customs because they know how to get you in and out of there ! Well worth a $10 tip ! Read Less

A bit of background: DH and I love to cruise. We are 54 and 57--kids are grown and we are pretty low maintenance. We have taken our last few cruises with our granddaughter who loves to cruise, but she started kindergarten this year so couldn't come along--she wasn't happy we left her! Because of our work schedules, this week worked well for us. We have been on many cruises and have sailed Holland America, NCL, RCCL, Costa and Carnival. We have been fairly loyal to Royal and this was our first cruise as Diamond level. We don't particularly care for leaving out of Galveston; as Fort Lauderdale and Miami are much more organized. I thought the service and staff were excellent on this ship. The only downgrade for the cruise was just the cuts they are making across the board to help control costs and feed their bottom line. I appreciate them keeping cruising affordable, but overall I will say that we have had a better impression with NCL the last few years than Royal. That being said, I will go where I can get the most value for my money and what fits in our schedule. We have been to most of the islands so itinerary is not as important to us in the Caribbean. We decided to take a last minute cruise on a comp from the casino. Booked about 6 weeks out. We were in a balcony cabin 7628. Cabin was fine and no complaints. Plenty of room for 2 people. We were on Liberty last November and vowed that we wouldn't sail out of Galveston again since the disembarkation was horrible the last 2 cruises out of there. But, since we live in Kansas we can drive to Galveston and save on airfare so we booked. We originally had thought of going to the Bahamas for a land vacation...glad we didn't as Dorian would have changed our plans! Reminder to everyone to always have insurance just in case! We went to the Diamond Lounge for the first night and never went back. So crowded and not worth the time since you can get drinks at any bar. We ate breakfast every morning in the Windjammer. Food was good, hot and plentiful. We are early risers and so there was never a problem with crowds. We did try and eat 1 dinner in the Windjammer and it really wasn't good at all so we ate all our other dinners in the main dining room. They have really cut back on the menu items over the years! Still plenty of selection and the food was good...not great, but overall good. We had MTD and never waited more than 5 minutes for our table for 2. Bryann and Ryan were our wait staff and they were outstanding! We don't really enjoy the specialty restaurants; we have tried them a few times, but don't really see the value when there are plenty of other options. We went to a couple of the comedy shows which were good. We had already seen the production show and ice show last fall so we didn't repeat them. There were lots of trivia and games available for those who like those activities. We went to the pool a couple of days, but it was pretty crowded. The solarium was not as relaxing as I would have hoped. We hadn't used it before on our last few cruises as we had our GD with us. There were groups and it was rather noisy. I was not a fan of the cruise director, but I don't really care who the cruise director is on board. They don't make or break a cruise for me. We cruise to relax. I enjoy spending time napping and reading. DH likes to wander around and see some of the activities so cruising works well for us! Our only complaint on this cruise was the air conditioning wasn't working well in the casino and even the promenade and theater tended to be on the warm side. I know the casino even went so far as to set up fans to help keep the air circulating. Not pleasant at all! At least it wasn't a problem in our cabin. One of people we went with on an excursion said their air conditioner wasn't working in their cabin very well either. Not good in the Caribbean with all the humidity! Our stops were Cozumel; which we usually love, but decided just to wander around that day and get back on the ship since we had never spent a day on the ship while everyone was in port before. Grand Cayman, where we got off the tender and took a $5 cab ride to 7 mile beach and went to Royal Beach Club. Get there early if you want a chair! Falmouth Jamaica where we booked the walking food tour on found on Trip Adviser. Highly recommend this tour! The last time we waited for an assigned disembarkation time and didn't get off the ship until almost 11am. It was chaos and one of the main reasons we decided we never wanted to sail out of Galveston again. This time we did self assist and were off by 07:45 and in our car by 8:00. So much better! Read Less

We just did the liberty of the seas galveston 7 day cozumel and other islands overall a great trip other reviews said the ship was not clean wrong she was very clean and we could always get a table at the windjammer buffet. the food was good in the MDr no need for expensive restaurants the pools were heated not like Carnival my only complaint was the hard old bed in our balcony 8303 cabin old stained pads under the mattress hard to sleep the blue hole tour was the best with a stop at the lazy river in a inner tube we booked a private tour and worth the slight extra price other tours had 44 people in a big bus and you were always waiting on the other people I have enjoyed 74 cruises and will be back on RCC AND WOULD CONSIDER THE LIBERTYOF THE SEAS AGAIN WE STAYED AT THE HARBOR HOUSE AND HAD DINNER AT SHRIMP AND STUFF A HORRIBLE RESTAURANT DONT DINE THERE Read Less

My wife and I went on the Enchantment out of Galveston with our adult children. Boarding in Galveston was extremely easy.Our sea passes were scanned and we were cleared to board. The room key/set sail cards were already in our cabins. Eventhough the ship is older it is well maintained and appears to have been updated recently. We all had inside cabins on deck 3. Our attendant was nice and we were happy with him. The cabins were quiet. My only complaint is that the room safe locked with the sea pass card not a pin code. That meant either my wife or I had to open the safe with the card that locked it. On other cruises we enjoy hanging out in the solarium. On this ship, the solarium is enclosed which means it is especially hot and humid. The entertainement was great especially the comedians. In terms of food service, The food in the Windjammer was typical and it did seem more crowded than the larger ships for breakfast and lunch. We never had difficulty finding a table for 5. The cafe in the Solarium always had a line, sometimes long. They seemed to run out of pizza quickly and there was usually a wait. Dining room food was typical. Our waiter was outstanding and went above and beyond! We did purchase an upgrade for surf and turf at a discount which was excellent. Speaking of extras, one annoying thing is the constant selling of extras by the head waiter. We are Diamond members and enjoyed the Diamond club and Happy hour. Overall it was a great cruise! Read Less

Liberty of the Seas is a great ship with a good crew, however there were a few things that were interesting. Firstly the slides that were recently added were a great experience, and by far the coolest slides I have ever seen on a ship. The tube slide was fantastic, and was more like something I would expect from a good waterpark! The downsides start there. The cabin was something I haven't done in the past, a rear facing Junior Suite. The bed was not great at all, being just a foam pad on top of the regular bed. This wasn't even covered with a standard sheet and kept becoming exposed after a nights' rest when a "luxury pillow top mattress" was advertised both on the phone with RCI directly and online. The first night we found a very large bug in our cabin that looked something like a bigger box elder bug when we moved a pillow. After notifying guest services they had us switch to another cabin for the evening and had a team search for and eliminate the bug and any others they found before returning. I am happy to report the rest of the trip went bug free in the cabin. Guest services was great at helping provide a solution but often seemed slow. During the cruise we had an issue with our pre-purchased drink packages not working at several venues, apparently it wasn't 'activated' on the card and took 3 trips standing in line at guest services before it was fixed. All our shore excursions booked through the cruise line were cancelled as well due to "operational issues caused by lack of attendance." As much as I like Royal Caribbean this trip was a bit of a let down. As compensation for the issues they gave a refund of the shore excursions and a $200 voucher towards future cruise fare. Read Less

(I've been cruising for 34 years, been on 50+ cruises) To be honest, I would not have chosen this particular ship for my family just because of the age of the ship and lack of certain "kid-friendly" amenities BUT a crew member we met a few years back who we absolutely loved started a contract on EOS so we booked to cruise with him again and I am SO glad we did! We had a group of 8 people, my husband and I are in our 40's and we had kids with us aged 11 - 21. This was the 1st time the younger ones had ever been on a cruise without all the bells and whistles of water slides and sports courts, and they all enjoyed themselves! There were a lot of kids their age on our sailing so they kept busy. They enjoyed the Teen club. As others have mentioned, the outside of the ship could definitely use a paint job as it's quite rusty BUT the inside is beautiful. The character and décor of the lounges and dining rooms are superb. The food is hands down better than Carnival...good, some great, but not fantastic. What made this cruise so enjoyable and memorable was the staff. Everyone from the officers, to the people cleaning the railings were always smiling and friendly and genuinely seemed as though they wanted to be there. We had fantastic service everywhere we went...bar service, room steward, dining room, even guest services! This ship may not have all the fancy new stuff but it makes up for it in the service department. Our cabin was on deck 3 mid-ship, outside. Cabin was in nice shape, plenty of storage & nice big window. Bathroom was also nice, plenty of space and great water pressure in the shower. We thought the live entertainment on the ship was fantastic. Reggae band out by the pool is great, be sure not to miss the night they perform at Boleros...wow, great vocals! There's also a live band in the centrum each night, a live band in Boleros and a piano player who was fantastic in the Schooner Bar. There's also the usual Broadway style shows which we enjoyed, karaoke, comedy shows and various trivia times and other game show type events hosted by the cruise staff. On sea days there was entertainment poolside, one thing I had never seen before in my 30+ years of cruising, they had an officer vs. passenger water volleyball game! It was great seeing the officers in their uniform tops with trunks interacting with the passengers. Costa Maya and Cozumel are nice places with a variety of things to do. We've been to Cozumel each year for the past 5 years and go to Paradise Beach every time. In Costa Maya we've done the dolphin swim and dune buggies so now we usually just hang out at the port and enjoy the pool and restaurants. Embarkation and Debarkation were typical, always seems quicker getting on the ship! We carried our own luggage on and off which works for us. I heard fellow passengers complaining about the ship, mainly about the size and I heard kids tell their parents "this ship sucks!" All I can say is that I guess everyone has their preferences. I've been on ships of all sizes and varying amenities. I've cruised with Carnival, Princess, Holland America, Norwegian, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean and I thoroughly enjoyed this vacation. I really enjoyed the more intimate personalized service which I feel they are able to provide on this ship because of the size. If you appreciate great service and are willing to sacrifice the water slides, etc...then give this ship a try I don't think you'll be disappointed! Enchantment of the Seas is small in comparison to it's fleet mates but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for it in service and character. Bravo Enchantment staff! I'm looking forward to cruising on the Enchantment again :-) Read Less

This is our fourth cruise out of Galveston, and the second time on Liberty of the Seas. Overall we had a great time. Some thoughts... Embarkation: The port signing is poorly laid out, and can be confusing. We missed the lane for dropping off the luggage, so we circled back around a second time. Go early because the traffic gets awful later in the morning. We dropped off the bags, parked over at Lot B, and the shuttle dropped us back at the terminal - about 15 minutes from bag drop to terminal (at 10 am). The line inside the terminal was long but moved along. It was about 45 minutes from walking in to getting past the bag scanner. From there we moved into the check-in room. The line there was much shorter and moved faster (again, early in the day). We moved through, checked in, had our picture taken and headed to the on ramp. Not horrible, but we thought Carnival's embarkation was much smoother. And then we were on the ship! We made our way to the buffet, along with the other 4,000 passengers. As expected, the Windjammer was crowded and busy. Staff were trying to help people find tables, but space was tight and everyone had their carry-on bags. Other than one jerk who thought the world should stop for him, most people were trying to be patient and make their way through. Food was good, we found a table and had lunch and chilled until the room announcement was made. Cabins: We had a balcony and an interior on deck 9. The rooms were clean and ready for us. We unpacked and enjoyed the balcony until muster drill. They really need to have some big fans on deck for muster drill. The deck is so crowded, and the heat was awful and I can see where the older folks might get sick. The cabin steward was in and out every day and kept the towels replaced, the bed made, and the ice bucket full. We had towel animals three nights, which we liked, but we ALWAYS had ice in the bucket which we really really liked. :-) We had pre-ordered one of the Royal Gifts liquor deliveries which arrived promptly on the day after embarkation. The cabins were standard - clean, enough storage, the a/c worked fine, no complaints. MDR: Mixed feelings about the MDR this time. We like to go because it is usually fun to be pampered and waited on. But this time our little family was in the back against the window behind three giant groups of elderly people, probably thirty altogether at three big tables. The sun was blasting through the window and there was some problem that prevented them from lowering the shade so we roasted for the first three nights (once we changed direction we lost the sun and it was better). Our view out the windows was the inflatable lifeboats. A necessary thing to have, but it wasn't like lowering the shades would mess up the view. Because we were jammed back there, it was hard to get to our table, it was hard for the waiters to get in and out to us. We felt bad about squeezing past the old folks, because it was so hard for them to move or let us by. The groups had at least two birthdays every night, and for some reason most of them were named "John." So we sang "Happy Birthday" to John, over and over and over again. It's not RC's fault that these three giant groups of the John club decided to celebrate their birthdays on the cruise, but it would have been a lot better if they had just given them a little more space for their walkers and canes and sat us elsewhere. The waiters were nice, and did their best, but between having to squeeze past the big group and being stretched thin, it was not the level of service we had previously. The head waiter came by and chatted most nights. He was very nice, and I think understood that our location was not optimal. I saw more people really dressed to the nines for formal night than I have ever seen on a Galveston cruise. Usually it's "please don't wear shorts and maybe wear your nice flip flops" and this time there were people in fancy long prom-type dresses and suits, even a couple of tuxedos. We wore suits and church-type clothes and were right in the middle of the pack. MDR Food: Good to very good. Not great, but nothing wrong with it. Typical cruise food - steaks and shrimp and soups and desserts. Some extra vegetarian/vegan options would be nice. The best things we had all week were the crabcakes and calmari appetizers. The fish entrees were consistently good, but very similar - fish with sauce plus starch and veg. The NY strip was consistently good, and one of the best we have had. Nicely seared on the outside and at the right temp every time. Rare was almost purple inside, and med-rare was beautiful and bloody. Delicious. Desserts were good - standouts were the Grand Marnier Souffle and the Creme Brulee. The no-sugar-added desserts were consistently tasty and good. Windjammer: Food good to very good. We really like the layout of the Windjammer as compared to Carnival. There are multiple smaller stations so you don't have to go through the entire line end-to-end to just get one thing. The cookies are always great and we made multiple trips upstairs just for cookies. A nice variety and selection of items, serving trays were kept full and fresh. Plates were cleared quickly and tables kept clean. At peak times staff were pro-active about helping guests find tables - I was approached by one staff member who suggested that I give him my sweater and he would use it to save a table for us. Very much appreciated. Also at peak times - breakfast on port days - they were gently "encouraging" passengers to finish up so that others could eat. When it was full they were holding back a line at the entrance to keep the crowd from being out of hand. The gatekeepers at the door were friendly and cheerful in what has to be a thankless job of "encouraging" / "suggesting" / forcing guests into sanitizing their hands on the way in. Ports: Overall fine, it's the Caribbean - you go for sun and sand and that's what we got. Cozumel - we took a taxi downtown, stopped at Mega for candy and souvenirs and then walked over to the shopping area. (Mega is great for anything you might have forgotten, or cheap snacks or small souvenirs. Flip flops, sunscreen, candy, bottled water, etc. They have a grocery store too if you want to make your own picnic lunch. Prices are in pesos but they will press a button and convert to dollars. The exchange rate they offered was 19/$1, which we though was very good.) Bought some handbags, and the non-shoppers enjoyed a bench in the shade with a book while the shoppers wandered about. Had lunch at a sidewalk place facing the water on Rafael Melgar street and then took a taxi back to the ship. We've gone to Paradise Beach before and loved it, but this time the shoppers won out. :-) We like Cozumel, it's a clean, safe, tourist-friendly stop. Grand Cayman - tendering process was quick. I got in line for tender tickets at 8:30. The line was crazy long but moved really fast. The tendering was not supposed to start until 10:30 so we we not expecting to get off until 11:30 (boat #21) but we were called by 10:40 and were in port by 11. The port area is very chaotic, and outside the fence is worse. The vendors are very aggressive and it was a bit unnerving. We were back inside and agreed to an island tour with one of the companies there. We had a quick trip around to Hell, the rum cake store and the dolphin place (15 minutes at each, plenty of time for the pictures and back on the bus). After that the driver dropped us at Calico Jack's for 1.5 hours and picked us back up. We liked Calico Jack's, had some lunch and drinks and spent time in the pool. One caution - the prices are listed in Cayman Dollars, not US, and the total will include gratuity. So take the menu price times $1.25 and then add 18% to get the total, so that you avoid sticker shock. We got back tot he port about 3:30 and walked straight onto a tender boat and back to the ship. Get there early to avoid the wait. Fallmouth - We took a RC tour - "Green Grotto and Dunn River Falls". Overall, very good. The bus was air conditioned, the hosts were polite but brusque and kept us on the schedule. The guide at the Grotto was terrific! Informative, enthusiastic and very good with the small children in our group. The cave tour was interesting. We would have preferred more history, but he adapted the talk to accommodate the many small children in our group. Dunn River Falls was pretty, but crowded and touristy. The climb up the falls was fun, but there were so many tourists there that it became somewhat of a forced march up in order to keep the line moving. A slower pace with fewer people would have been nice to be able to enjoy the beautiful area more. The port area is new and very nice. Onboard Entertainment: Mixed reviews...The casino is nice, but they really tightened up the slots for the last two sea days. We had a good time and pretty much broke even. The Schooner Bar piano player is nice to listen to but it gets crowded in the evenings. We saw two comedians, both were good. There was also a juggler/comedian which was better than it sounds. We skipped Saturday Night Fever because we saw it last time and didn't really enjoy it. The aerialist show was nice but not great. BUT. The Eagles tribute band was amazing! We really enjoyed it and the crowd was really into it. Daytime entertainment was mostly port shopping talks and port excursion talks. A couple sessions about the history or ecology of the ports would be a nice change. Voom internet worked well and we had good service all over the ship. Ship in general: A pretty ship, clean and well kept. We enjoyed sitting outside the pizza place on the promenade and people-watching. Debarkation - Super smooth and easy. We walked straight through, less than 30 minutes from getting in line in the dining room to walking out of customs. Miles and miles better than Carnival's debarkation nightmare. All in all we had a great time and loved the ship. Definitely will be back. Read Less

This is my first review on Cruise critic, but I have been on 8 cruises in my life. This is our 7th time with Royal Caribbean and second time on Liberty of the Seas. I am going to try to give you the most detailed and honest review I can. A little background... We are almost Emerald Status (will be after our Feb cruise) and are traveling as a family of 4. My wife, 5 year old son, and almost 2 year old daughter. We book 2 adjoining Ocean View Cabins ever since the kids were born. 1. I am terrified of them being on a balcony and 2. We like to have the extra space and extra bathroom. Embarkation: We live about an hour and 20 mins away in NE Houston. We left the house around 10am and got to the cruise port terminal at 11:20. Due to the young children (strollers) we have to wait in line and drop off our bags to a Porter rather than going immediately to park. Not that big of a deal as this day we were early enough that the traffic and line into the terminal only took about 5 mins. After I dropped off the bags, my wife and kids waited for me at the terminal. I went and parked the car solo in Lot B. It is $85 for the week. I then took a bus back over to the terminal and we all got in line to enter the building. This is where I started to get a little ticked off. We have been Platinum status on the past 2 cruises and were able to cut the giant line to go immediately to security. This is a perk of being Platinum or higher or being booked in any of the suites. Apparently this rule changed about 2 months ago. Now due to the nickel and dime “Key” program you now have to wait in the long line. Took an hour to get to security. Imagine how much fun that was for my 5 year old who had to pee and my 2 year old who can only sit still for so long. I was not happy about this change at all and I wonder where is the loyalty RCCL? Apparently you can just pay for status now. After getting on board, my wife and I immediately go to the nursery and kids club. Reason being, you need to fill out paperwork and get signed up for slots. At the nursery they only accept 4 slots for babies and 4 slots for toddlers (which I think was from 20-36 months). Luckily we were able to get all the time slots we needed since we got there early. (That’s insider info and if you are on our Feb cruise you better save us a slot!) :) Rooms were ready around 1pm ish and we went down to drop off backpacks and start getting ready for dinner. Our Room Steward (Ian Lewis) was phenomenal. Best one I’ve had on any cruise. He grabbed all our bags and had them waiting for us by the door so we could start getting ready for our 5:30pm dinner time. Everyday Ian made sure a bucket of ice was there in the morning and evening. (We drink a lot of water). I recommend bringing a hydro flask or 30oz yeti cup to keep filled on your nightstand at all times. Ian was great with the kids and made them towel animals every night. Our room was always spotless. Much appreciated!!! Main Dining Room: Due to the age of our children we typically don’t do any of the specialty restaurants. (You are welcome, haha) Instead, 1 of the nights that nothing really stands out on the menu my wife and I will order a Filet from Chops in the MDR. It costs $20 each, but is well worth it in my opinion. I have celiac disease and as you can imagine it must be a huge pain to stay Gluten Free on the ship. RCCL is actually really good about identifying GF options in the MDR. They usually can have the chef prepare a particular meal you want in a GF version. Including cheesecake for dessert!! That being said, I still will warn you to be very careful in WindJammer (Buffet). I had a few episodes that I can only conclude must have been from cross contamination. On the first night I told our Assistant and Head waiter of my allergy. Took a few days, but by day 4 they had the GF bread waiting for me at the table every night. Much appreciated! My suggestion (which I’ve done in the past), is let the Matre D know about your allergies on the first night. They will make sure everything is perfect. The AW and HW are always over-worked and stressed with the amount of tables they have. It didn’t used to be this way, but clearly another cost saving tactic by RCCL. MDR food has definitely deteriorated over the year’s and esp since last year. Salad was soggy or didn’t have enough dressing. Food over or under-cooked. These are things that you must have patience for as they are trying to feed 3300+ people. That being said, it seemed like every night we were asking for a new steak, or extra dressing. Kind of disappointing. Overall I would rate the food a 7 out of 10 stars. At least they had escargot for my wife, her favorite! Kids Club: 10 out of 10 stars!!! The reason my wife and I love cruising so much is the kids clubs. We spend the day as a family of 4 at the pool or walking the ports or on excursions. Then after dinner we drop the kids off from 8pm-12am (or somewhere in there). That way my wife and I get 7 date nights in a row!!! Unheard of right! The nursery staff was excellent. They loved our daughter and she loved them. We would get her in her PJ’s and take her up at 8pm. She would typically play for an hour or less and then make it quite clear she was ready for bed. They would either rock her to sleep in her stroller or put her in one of the cribs. We would pick her up by midnight and take her back to the room. She never woke up. It was great! Their cost is $6/hr during the day and $8/hr after 6pm. Well worth it! PS tips are appreciated! My son is in Adventure Ocean, which is 3-5 year olds. They have a Max capacity, but I want to say it’s in the high 20’s-30’s depending on the amount of staff they have at that particular time slot. It was never an issue for us and he loved going there! After 10pm they charge $7 an hour. Always keep them busy with crafts, games, coloring etc. My son couldn’t wait to show us what he made that day. He usually would fall asleep on one of the pads or benches around 10pm, then I would carry him back to the room when we picked him up. PS his normal bed time at home is 7pm, but hey, it’s his vacation too! Windjammer: We would go to the windjammer for Breakfast and lunch just about everyday. Food wise I would give it a 7 out of 10. Lots of options. I liked how now you order an omelette and they deliver it to your table via a number vs the old way of standing around in a huge crowd waiting for your number to be called. That being said, some days it took 15-20 mins to get delivered. Lunch I thought was better than Breakfast food wise. Everyday I would ask for GF bread which they keep behind the counter and make a sandwich and a salad. My wife and kids always had something different and liked the options. Pool: The kids splash park area is awesome. 2’ deep pool with a waterfall, 2 kids water slides, bunch of splash pad type fountains. My son loved it and wanted to be there all day. Here is the problem. Our almost 2 year old... They don’t allow children in water diapers into the main splash pad area or pools, which I get, for sanitary reasons. The thing is she didn’t want to be contained in the VERY small diaper area. She wanted to run and play with her brother. The thing I find annoying about this is kids pee in the pool all the time, so what’s the difference if she pees in her diaper? Maybe it’s just me... Multiple days my wife and I had to take shifts and keep them separated, until she threw a fit and then we would have to take her out of the pool area all together. Usually full blown tantrum. On 2 separate occasions we were able to get her into the nursery around her nap time so we could spend tantrum free time with our son. The lifeguards watch like hawks so good luck trying to sneak your diaper kids into the splash park. That’s all I’m going to say about that... The “big” adult pools are fine and always crowded as expected. We never had an issue finding a couple of lounge chairs, but I did see some people circling for a while. Expect 30 min waits for the bigger slides in the back of the ship and I have no clue about flow rider, but I know it had a long wait too. Drink Package: Highly recommend it. My wife and I RARELY drink at home. I’m talking a glass of wine every 2-3 months. That being said, there is something about being on a cruise ship that makes us want to indulge like college kids at our first Frat party! Haha jk, but we do like to try different things and that’s the beauty of the drink package. If you order a drink you don’t like you pour it out and order something else. We would have at least 1 sometimes 4 drinks at the pool during the day, a pre-dinner cocktail, wine at dinner, post drop off the kids at the club (celebration drink), maybe a drink at the show, and a few after that at various bars. When you add that all up you save a ton of money compared to the $12 per drink they charge you. Here’s the kicker, water bottles (huge)!, High end coffee’s, fresh squeezed juice, sodas. (All included) Even though we rarely drink soda unless it’s mixed in our cocktail, it’s highly worth it to get the package. When I did the math I think it was 5.5 drinks a day. We did that in water bottles alone. If you are on the fence, I recommend getting it when they do their 30% off sale emails they send out every other day. Shows: Apparently same shows as the past 5 years. We rarely go to them since we’ve been there done that, but we always enjoy the “Love and Marriage” show. It was pretty good on this cruise too. Ports: Cozumel: We’ve been here half a dozen times. This was the only port we did an excursion. It was the Deluxe Beach Break at Playa Mia. 9 out of 10 stars. The kids loved the water park (guess what? Water diapers are allowed)!!! We loved the bigger water slides, 10X faster and more fun than the ones on the ship. There is a coarse sand beach to lay out on, snorkeling ($13 to rent the gear), an inflatable water park in the ocean for the bigger kids. They all loved it by the way! Lunch was pretty good, my only gripe was that the “well” alcohol gives me a headache so I only had 1. You can buy the higher shelf stuff for $6 a piece, which I didn’t mind at all. We had a great time and will be going back there again in February. Grand Caymen: We took the kids via tender around 1pm to shore to do some shopping. My 5 year old fell asleep in his stroller on the way over and woke up on the way back, so he never got to actually “see” the island haha. We stuck around for about an hour or 2 and came back. Bought some overpriced plastic crap that will break in a week, but hey the kids were happy! PS this is why we always take 2 umbrella strollers. Even at 5 years old you never know when a kid is gonna be wore out from the sun and need a nap. That way the rest of us can press on! You’re welcome! Falmouth: Did the same as above, walked around and dealt with a 2 year old who threw tantrums when Daddy said “No” at almost every store. They each got 1 thing, I’m not that mean of Father... Piece of advice, stay in the main shopping area that is fenced in. If you make the mistake (Like we did) of going outside of the port area you will quickly become hassled for everything from weed, taxi tours, beggars, you name it we saw it. After 5 mins of realizing we made a big mistake we went back into the gated shopping area. Phew... Disembarkation: Wasn’t bad, but a longer wait than we had experienced in the past. I’d guess about an hour from ship to car. Maybe we just had a bad time slot? Who knows. If you have an early flight definitely do the self help. We don’t have that option as 3 suitcases, 2 strollers, a pack and play, and garment bag would be too much to handle. Oh ya and the kids too! Haha So, we are booked on this ship again in February. Since it’s 100X better than Enchantment and the only good option out of Galveston right now. Don’t even look at Vision. I am hoping some improvements will be made, but my wife and I have figured out what works best for us. Hoping round 3 will be just as smooth and more fun! Hope this review helped. Happy Sailing! Read Less

Excellent Service, Very Clean Ship, wonderful pool & kids splash area. Our 7 & 9 year olds had a blast! Smooth & fairly quick embarkation from Galveston. We were lucky to have 2 adjoining rooms & really appreciated the extra space. We stayed on deck three and had a great experience. We never felt the ship moving—very smooth sailing. The shows were great! We went to see Saturday Night Fever, the ice show & the Air show as a family and all enjoyed them. My husband and I saw a comedy show one night while the kids were in the kids club—it was so much fun. Grand Cayman & Cozumel were awesome! Our kids went to the kids club a few nights but honestly they didn’t love it. They were happy to be able to stay together though, since they were supposed to be in different groups due to their ages (7 & 9) but they let my older daughter move down. Read Less

I researched everything about this cruise before we left. Hours and hours of research. So, now that we have concluded our cruise (returned today), I wanted to give you all those details and information while it's still fresh in my mind. Would I personally go on this cruise again? Absolutely not. Where do I start........ Parking is a little bit of a pain, probably depending on when you arrive. We didn't get there until around noon and the street in front of the cruise terminal was at a crawl. Book your parking early!! I waited and most lots were full. However, we went with the actual Port of Galveston parking (indoor garage) and it was perfect. It was right across the street so we could just walk and didn't have to deal with a shuttle bus. It was $105, and by booking online, you save $5 so it was $100. The line to get onto the ship was long, but moved faster than I thought it would. It took about an hour. Print out your sea pass paper before you go! The line for those without this was much longer. Also make sure you put all your passport info, credit card charging info., etc. into their system BEFORE you go. We got onto the ship at 1:30 and rooms were ready! I'll review the rooms in the other section at the bottom of this review. We headed to the buffet, and it was a crowded mess. Honestly, it drives me crazy how people are so rude. They cut in lines, they stand in the middle, they push, the list could go on. There was no where to sit. It was awful and at this point I was really regretting booking a big ship. Suitcases arrived around 6. We booked the 3 specialty restaurant package. The restaurants were good, but not fabulous. I am a huge foodie and love to cook, so I'm probably much more critical than others. The Italian place was the best, with Chops coming in second. The other nights we did the "My Time" dining and made a reservation. That worked out well and we never had to wait. Dress code: NO ONE CARES (which is very sad)! That's pretty much what we figured out. Some people wore shorts and hats to the dining room and no one said a thing. On formal night, the majority of people did not wear formal clothes, but wore Church type clothes. There are no washers/ dryers to use, as some other ships have. You can have them do your laundry for $35, all you can stuff in a small bag they give you, and they simply wash, dry and fold. Not worth it in my opinion, but in a pinch, it's there. If you try to do laundry in the sink, beware that things take forever (days) to dry because of the humidity. Drink packages.....(My opinion): We had a party of 5 (2 adults, 3 teens). We purchased the refreshment package and it was $26 per day/ per person. Definitely not cheap, but the alcohol package was really pricey with tips added, etc. I would NOT buy this again. The lines to get drinks were long, and it was honestly a pain. Plus, the days you aren't on the ship, you don't use it much. We did use it for some specialty coffees (available in Cafe Promenade). I did use it for fresh squeezed OJ some mornings, but everyone else in the family thought it tasted weird. It was quite sweet, and not what I expected. (Fresh OJ is available in Windjammer at a little station). We used it for some virgin drinks and sodas. But overall, we would have been better off just paying for each drink as we wanted one. Even sodas were a pain to get because you had to go to a bar and wait behind the lines of people getting alcoholic drinks made. Food: Just OK. We've been spoiled with other cruise lines where the food was really good...(Regent Seven Seas, Celebrity, (even NCL was way better). It wasn't bad, it was just OK. No other way to really describe it. Sorrento's pizza was probably the best and we all loved getting pizza late at night. Shows: They were pretty good. The comedy shows were probably the best and also the most crowded. You don't need tickets or anything to any of their shows. Just show up about 15 min. early and grab a seat. The ice skating rink was really small, so our kids had no desire to skate. It would be best for little kids. Slides: Our teenagers said they were so slow and stopped mid slide. They did not try the one with the raft type thing because the lines were insane. Speaking of lines and crowds, they were AWFUL everywhere. There were also many times when we were bored on the ship. Pool is tiny. Lounge chairs go quickly so I just got up early each day and enjoyed my coffee out near the pool. It was calm and peaceful then, which I loved. Bring towel clips because it gets windy. WIFI was HORRIBLE! We purchased it for all of us and it seemed to always have issues. It was down for more than 24 hours one of the days. The other days, it was so slow and would only work on certain areas of the ship. For example, it would not work inside rooms or on balconies. The ship is old and showing it's age. They do a good job keeping it clean and for the most part, the employees seemed happy. I felt like everything was an "extra" charge, and in the end, this trip was more than double what I thought it would be. Disembarking: GOOD! We had an early flight from Bush. We knew we took a risk booking that early, and then Delta changed their flight schedule and made it even earlier. Our flight ended up being at 10:50, so we needed to get off ASAP. We carried off our own luggage. We went to the theater room at 7:15. Around 7:35 we were able to start walking out. Since we parked across the street, we were in our car and on the road at 7:50. It worked out perfectly. Read Less

This was my first cruise. I expected daily activities for all ages. My 8year old son did not enjoy the kids place. They did not have entertaining activities for the kids. The first day he said the staff told them the first two days would be boring. The arcade was a complete joke. It literally has 6 games in a tiny room. Online they advertise this as a cool perk. It was as if they were not prepared for this cruise. The pool area was very small to accommodate everyone. No slides or music. The pool area should always be party atmosphere not just a one night event. Everyone we spoke to felt the exact same way. Prior to the cruise all my friends kept telling me. The ship is sooo huge it will take you several days to see everything WRONG. By the second day we had seen everything and knew what to expect. The late night snack place was a joke. 50 plus people waiting in line for two mini slices of pizza each night. I saw teenagers bored out of their mind riding up and down the elevators for entertainment. Which was limited because the elevators were broken. The most positive thing on the ship is the staff. Wenworth made sure I had everything I needed in my room. The dinner waiters Alexis and Iketu was perfect. Ephraim in the bar on deck 6 makes the best drinks. This was not my idea of what a cruise is about. Unfortunately there is nothing to watch on tv unless you want to watch previous recording of what happened in the theater the night before. You are forced to buy the internet package to stream netflix. Read Less

My Husband and I were so excited to try a Royal Caribbean cruise. We have been on many cruises in the past but always with Carnival. We were told by many of our friends that we would never go back to Carnival after cruising with Royal Caribbean. This statement was false in every way. When we first boarded the ship we went directly to our cabin. Wow we thought the Carnival cabins and bathrooms were small until we entered EOS cabin. There was barely enough space to change clothes and your knees hit the wall in the bathroom. Also not to mention that the bathroom smelled like urine. We are 40 plus yr old adults who love arcades. We bought a package for 80. To get 100 for the arcade. When we finally located the arcade we were highly disappointed. There was only 1 game and 5 or 6 crane games. After spending 30 minutes in line at the customer service desk We were given a refund. We were so use to the amazing arcades on Carnival boats that our disappoint snow balled from there. On carnival ships there are several locations for dinning and they have a system to where everyone waits their turn. The windjammer, without a doubt, was the worst organized buffet we have ever seen!!! It was a mad house. People jumping in front of you left and right. Since there wasn't a lot of options to eat on this ship we tried to make due. Once we finally found a table to dine we were interrupted multiple times by servers trying to up sell you on Chops fine dinning. Since we're not meat eaters it was so annoying to be asked over and over again. The food was the worse cruise food we had ever had. The only thing we liked about the windjammer was the attendant who stood out front and made you sanitize your hands before entering. There was barely any activities to do on this ship. Carnival had separate dance clubs, comedy clubs, piano bars, and shows every night in the theater. Since everyone highly appraised RC we expected so much more then what Carnival had to offer. I know most people don't watch tv in their rooms while on a cruise but we like to retire in our room for some rest and relaxing. Unfortunately there is nothing to watch on their tv's unless you want to watch previous recording of what happened in the theater the night before. Carnival arltleast had a few channels and pay per view. We streamed net flix on our phone and watch tv on our phone that way. For 6 months we were so excited to try RC but felt like a floating time share. It was the worst cruise we had ever taken. The only thing we know for sure is we will book our next cruise back with Carnival. Read Less

Wife and I took our very first cruise 19 years ago for our honeymoon and were immediately hooked. Sailed on RCI's Sovereign of the Seas and had a wonderful experience. Have been on several cruises since, but all with Carnival as the price difference always made it much more manageable to travel with our kids (2nd marriage for both so we have hers, mine and ours). Decided to surprise her for Mothers Day with a long overdue return to RCI for just the two of us. Booked the Enchantment of the Seas using their "buy one, get one half off" discount for an ocean view room and still spent more than our last Carnival cruise with one of the kids in a balcony room! We sailed out of Galveston and embarkation was great. Didn't buy any quick entry items and still found ourselves onboard within 20 minutes of arrival at the terminal. Was offered a discount to eat at the onboard steak house "Chops Grill" while boarding. We had planned on visiting the steakhouse at least one night anyway, so we accepted the offer for the first night of sailing. More on that to come. While boarding, I looked over the exterior of the ship and saw all the rust that other reviewers have mentioned. That didn't bother us because the inside of the ship looks great. After we ate at the Windjammer buffet, we explored the ship while we waited for the rooms to be ready. We found Chops Grill and spoke to the staff there about our dinner reservation for that evening. We wanted to make sure we had proper attire as our bags had not arrived yet. They offered us the full dining plan which would give us dinner at Chops for three nights, lunch at Chops on two days and then one dinner at the Chef's Table, which was even more exclusive and formal then Chops. My wife liked the idea of fine dining each night so we accepted. Our room was ready around 1:00 so we went there to check it out. We always book mid-ship close to the elevators. We had an ocean view room with a full window. The room was great. They had plenty of storage, but the main dresser drawers needed to be cleaned out. There was hair inside along with leftover dust and debris from the previous guest. We told the room attendant and he quickly took care of it. The shower was small, but worked very well. Lots of water pressure and plenty of hot water. It didn't overflow into the rest of the bathroom either which has been a common problem with our past cruises. My only complaint about the room was the bed and pillows were rock hard, so I didn't sleep very well. I'm still feeling the effects of a sore lower back now, three days after leaving the ship. We enjoyed a quiet afternoon onboard until it was time for dinner at Chops. We arrived and were seated promptly at 6:00. There were less then five tables occupied at the time so we expected quick, attentive service. Unfortunately, that's not at all what happened as we didn't leave until after 8:00. Our waitress "Lady" was poor. Very inattentive and we had long waits between each course. Also, the beef appetizer I ordered (I don't even remember what they call it) and both desserts (key lime and apple pie) were horrible. You wouldn't believe the apple pie came from a cruise ship kitchen. It looked and tasted like what I imagine they serve in prisons! Mrs. Smith makes a much better apple pie. The main courses were great, I had the filet and my wife had the lamb. We also found out that their limited menu is the exact same every day. We don't eat seafood, so we had a choice of the awful beef appetizer I couldn't stand or a ceasar salad with either filet, lamb or pork. We went straight to Guest Services to cancel the dining option plan. Compared to the Carnival steakhouse experience, this was plain awful and NOT worth the money even with a discount. That experience pretty much set the tone for the rest of the cruise. We often found ourselves comparing everything with Carnival and to our utter disbelief, Carnival was coming out as good if not better almost every time. For example, the buffet area on RCI was very overcrowded. It's set up differently than Carnival and nobody seems to get the flow of which direction to go causing traffic jams and mass confusion. Also, they had only one ice cream station and half the times we visited it was either out of cones or out of vanilla. We also found the entertainment to be severely lacking. Carnival has a big stage show every night, but not RCI as we only had two in four nights. They did have Stephani Parker for one night doing a Whitney Houston tribute show, but we weren't interested in that There's also no comedy club, which is probably our favorite activity on Carnival. They did have two comedians for two nights in the large showroom, but you had only three 30 minute shows available and two of those were late night (11pm) only. They touted their app A LOT. I had already downloaded it, but found that only about half the activities were even listed. If you wanted to know what was going on and when/where, you need to keep the daily compass with you because the app only has the highlights so we missed several things we would have wanted to do. The good thing is you can use their app even without the wifi. I don't buy the wifi plans based on past experience and just put our phones on airplane mode to check out until we're at port. My wife visited their spa on two occasions for a massage and facial and loved it. We also enjoyed the main dining room. There was one glass of wine she was given that had turned, so she needed to replace it, but otherwise it was much better than Chops Grill and on par with Carnival. Debarkation was terrible. We always use the self service option and carry our bags off. The wait to just get off the ship was worse than the wait to get thru customs. There were two lines to get off and the line they put us in only had one person scanning cards to exit the ship. The other line had two scanners. There was a second scanner for our line but nobody was manning it so we just had to wait and wait and wait. It took us 90 minutes from when we left our room until we got thru customs. Overall we both graded this cruise around a 7 or 8. We enjoyed it despite missing some of our favorites from Carnival and the few problems as described above. We're planning on taking the whole family of 8 next year for our 20th anniversary (as well as our youngest's graduation from HS) and have no doubt that we'll be back on a Carnival ship. Read Less

I really enjoyed the EOS that left out of Galveston TX. Easy on and easy off the ship and cabin was fine. Food was OK but not the greatest ever. We did not get a drink package and we did carry on 2 bottles of red wine but only drank 1/2 of one of them and took the other one home. We played blackjack and lost $$ but it was fun. There is plenty to do on the ship and we just like to pool and relax. Comedy shows were funny and really the people on the ship were very nice and very happy. Nothing but fun on the ship and it was a nice crowd of polite Texans on the ship. We are not from TX but the Texans are the best!! Again, the ship is dated and the outside deck and rails need painting and maintenance. Overall, the ship was very clean and staff was so very nice. We loved the staff on the ship. Cabin had 3 doors or drawers that were broken. Shower is very small but works fine. Beds were very comfortable. Read Less

Ship - As many have pointed out, the Enchantment of the Seas needs some serious maintenance. So much so, that it's not really maintenance anymore. The ship just needs a major dry dock for new paint and varnish. This did not in any way affect our cruise. In fact I really like this ship and its layout. I really hate seeing it so unloved by Royal, but a small ship like the Enchantment isn't the focus of the company. I wouldn't hesitate to book this ship again, but I would hesitate to bring first time cruisers that I was trying to convert to cruising. During our cruise, there were some issues with air conditioning. We were in 7168, an aft junior suite on the port side. The cabin was very warm when we got on the ship. I reported the problem and someone looked at it while we were out. The cabin then got cool enough to be comfortable, but the only time it was really cool was when it was cooler outside and raining. The hallway to our room remained very warm all cruise. Our room steward had just returned to the ship and was commenting on how warm it was. Most of the public areas were very warm when we boarded the ship. I wonder if some of the air conditioning had been turned off during turnaround. By the time we finished dinner, the public areas had cooled off. I really enjoy a full promenade deck on a ship and thought that EOTS had one. Unfortunately the bow portion of the promenade was blocked off. It obviously had been closed off for some time. But that left at least a 3/4 promenade until the 2nd day when the aft portion was blocked off, and then most of the port side was blocked. I was quite disappointed. I know that for most people this wouldn't be a problem, but then I wouldn't care if they closed the casino. Cabin - We were in 7168, an aft mini suite. I booked this cabin because we really like watching the wake and the more expansive views. We liked this cabin, but it is not for everyone. There was a lot of motion and vibration. DH said it was like being rocked to sleep, but I think many people would have problems getting to sleep in this cabin. The cabin is right over the Spotlight Lounge. I was concerned before the cruise that this might be a problem. It might be if the Spotlight was busy, but it's so rarely used that this wasn't a problem. Food - Our last cruise was on Carnival and we were not impressed. The food on the EOTS was much better. I though the food in the MDR was better than in the Windjammer. The service in the Windjammer was the best I've had in a buffet. We had lunch in the MDR on day because I wanted the Tutti Salad. It wasn't as good as I remember from the Mariner of the Seas. They were having problems running out of items. We had dinner in Chops which was good, but not fabulous, except for the Key Lime Pie which was just awful. The best dessert is actually a drink - the Red Velvet Cake, which tastes like a chocolate covered strawberry. We had the same problem on this cruise as we had on our previous Royal Caribbean cruise - the dining hours just don't work for us. Having dinner at 9:00 pm is not unusual for us, especially on vacation. We had one night where we ran up to the Windjammer at 8:55pm to make sure that we had dinner. I think the MDR should be open until 9:30 and the Windjammer until 11:00pm. Also I don't understand why the Windjammer is closed for so long in the afternoon. On port days we often come back hungry, and since Royal Caribbean doesn't have many choices for food at 4:30pm, they are easily overwhelmed by the crowds at that time. Entertainment - We enjoyed the shows and bands. We really liked the EOTS orchestra which did a couple of jazz sets in the atrium on the last day. We missed the first comedian and wished we had missed the second one. We loved the parade of flags on the last night. I just wish that we had gotten there earlier to get a better spot. I liked the way the atrium was used, but the other venues were often the wrong ones for the event. For example, Karaoke should be in the Spotlight lounge and trivia should be Boleros. You often need to get to activities early, because the space is too small for the activity. I did enjoy the trivia and won a highlighter. Ports - We were scheduled to stop at Costa Maya and Cozumel. We missed Costa Maya due to high winds. I've missed two ports on my 10 cruises - both times it was Costa Maya. I was really disappointed because I was looking forward to trying Maya Chan. However I was pleasantly surprised that as a consolation prize, we docked at 7:00pm in Cozumel. This meant that the shops and casino were closed that night, so I really appreciate that RC chose passenger satisfaction over profits. I really expected that we would just spend the extra time floating in the Caribbean until morning. Fellow Cruisers - There were a lot of large family groups on this cruise, including a wedding which added a nice touch. All in all, it was a good cruise. Our most recent cruise before this one was a 5 night cruise out of Galveston on Carnival, so this was a chance to compare the two. It really comes down to personal preference. For us Royal Caribbean is a better fit than Carnival. Read Less

We had 7 cruisers, 2 teens, 2 young adults, 1 middle aged adult and two grandparents.From the time we set foot on the ship until the time we sadly left everyone had a fabulous time. All the meals in all the venues were excellent. We ate dinner every night in the My Fair Lady dining room and our servers, Joel and Mark, could not have been friendlier or more efficient. They were so funny and made us laugh throughout our meals which were always delicious and plentiful. We had 4 junior suites Our room steward was Joseph and he kept everything in perfect order and was always ready to help in any way. All the staff were friendly and helpful and it was such a pleasure to be around them. Yes the ship is old and there is some rust but everything was clean and in working order. There was entertainment for all of us to enjoy and the shore excursion in Cozumel was definitely a highlight. 5 of us went snorkeling and swimming in the Cenotes and had a wonderful lunch provided by the guide who was helpful and informative. The only negative experience was shopping in Cozumel. The shop keepers were so pushy and obnoxious we finally gave up and went back to the ship. This was our second cruise with Royal Caribbean and we would go again. Read Less