Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Nights of Enchantment- Progreso

Solitude in the Solarium

Progreso, Mexico 

Day 3

Well hello there, Progreso! 


MORNING
Around 6:30AM, we began to feel the vibrations of the ship arriving in Progreso but we were so tired, we went back to sleep. We woke up around 8:15AM and decided it was time to get up for the day. We got ready and then went to the My Fair Lady Dining Room on Deck 4 for breakfast in the MDR. We were docked right beside the Viking Sky and we were the only 2 ships in port on this day.

The Viking Sky is Viking Cruises "Ocean Liner" and is known to have the best service on the 7 Seas! #Goals! 

Insiders Info- As I mentioned in Sea Day #1’s blog, our itinerary changed due to a fog delay in Galveston. We were supposed to be going to Cozumel, Mexico and arrive by 8AM but due to the Port of Galveston being closed and the fog delay, Royal Caribbean changed our port to Progreso, Mexico and we arrived by 7AM. Overall, this was good news because at one point, I thought this was going to be a “cruise to nowhere”. However, this was a big disappointment for many, as Progreso is NOT the same as Cozumel. We had planned to get off the ship and head to our favorite beach in Cozumel, but once we knew we were going to Progreso, we opted to stay on the ship and enjoy a bit of rest and relaxation while we had the ship mostly to ourselves.

TIP- On many port days, if you choose to stay on the ship instead of getting off, the ship will be 80%+ empty and you can enjoy some of the busier areas of the ship with less crowds and people. This is a GREAT TOOL to use on the bigger ships that hold more people. We do not do this EVERY cruise but if we have been to the port destination before, we try to at least save 1 of the port days for THE SHIP!

We enjoyed our breakfast in the MDR, with excellent service, once again and then we meandered up to the Deck 6 aft to the Spotlight Lounge. Up until this point we had not been in this venue we grabbed a coffee at Cafe Latitudes and then we spent a while here just watching the busy industrial port of Progreso.

The Spotlight Lounge was REALLY large for this size of ship, in our opinion. It was well laid out and decorated as well! 

There was a crew member meeting in here before we arrived and as we left we noticed this. Proof that Royal Caribbean is constantly trying to "Nickle and Dime" you. BUT... Isn't everyone? I mean I used to work in retail where we had to set goals of how many customers we could get to sign up for a credit card. To me... This is just life! Does it bother me that RCCL is always "selling"? Absolutely not! That is how they make money! Bottom line is... If they don't sell things like "Voom" packages and dinner in Chops, they don't make enough profit and I pay more for my cruise fare. Let them sell... Some people (and I have in the past) will buy it! I just say "No Thank You" and move on! Ok... Off my soapbox! 

Then we were off to the Solarium. At 9:30AM on a port day, there was literally nobody in the Solarium, so we got a hot tub all to ourselves. Within 30 minutes, other passengers arrived and had the same idea as we did. The Solarium Bar was not set to open until 2PM so we had to get out and go to the Main Pool Bar anytime we wanted a drink. This got old fast, but we made the most out of it.
The older I get and the more cruises I take, THIS (and empty ship) is what I look forward to the most! I loved spending the day in the Solarium!

The peace and quiet of the Solarium were quickly interrupted by maintenance and very loud welding on the roof of the Solarium so we opted to get out of the hot tubs and go to the Main Pool Bar for the rest of the morning. We found another great bar tender, Richard, and he kept the drinks and good time flowing. We also met another great couple from Austin who we spent over an hour talking to. We LOVE getting to meet new people and talk “cruises” with them! It’s one of our favorite things to do.


Richard easily became our favorite Bar Tender and we found him from that point on! 

He made an AMAZING mojito! 

AFTERNOON
The morning slipped away, and it was time for lunch, so we went to the Windjammer to see what was offered for lunch. Once again, we were not that impressed with the food offerings and the small size of the buffet area, but it worked for a quick bite and we were headed back to the Main Pool Area. We went back to see Richard and had a great time talking to friends before we decided to go back and try the Solarium area again.
Lunch in the Windjammer! I love it when cruise ships try to make "tacos". Haha... nope! 
I hope someday I will like eating at the buffet! I guess that is just another one of those #Goals things! 

Despite the loud noise of the welding and banging from crew members and maintenance workers, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the Solarium pool and hot tubs. The hot tubs did become more crowded and fuller as the afternoon progressed and passengers were getting back on the ship but that did not bother us, and it was still rather empty for the size of the hot tubs. TIP- The pool was still very cold but not “ice cold” as it had been the previous 2 days. After being in the pool for 5-10 minutes, you forgot how cold it truly was.

We met a nice passenger who was a travel agent and told me all about her business. This gave me an idea… I should become a travel agent on the side. This is the happiest I have been with my job IN YEARS and I have no plans of leaving to do this full time but the thought of making a little side money, or at bare minimum a free cruise occasionally, has crossed my mind previously. She gave me lots of tips and tricks and by the end of the afternoon, I had her card and contact info. I am not sure if this is something I will even investigate, but I like the idea. Plus, all of you that read this blog know that both Chris and I know a lot about the industry and I have personally helped friends and family book cruises so… WHY NOT?! I will get back to y’all soon if I choose to go that route! Thank you MARY for all of your insight and tips! I may be calling you soon! 

We left the Solarium area around 4PM to change clothes and get ready for the evening as we wanted to watch sail away. We hurried and changed to get back up to see the sail away and much to our surprise, Deck 10 was open. It had been closed the entire trip up until that point due to winds, so this was a great time to check it out. We walked Deck 10 and saw many passengers still get on board, so we knew we were not going to set sail for a little while. 

We got to see the Viking Sky being pulled by a tug boat as it left!

Progreso, Mexico on the north side of the pier! 

Another look at the "Kid Area" on Enchantment on Deck 9. 
Tip- If you are cruising with kids (especially little kids), just spend the extra $$ and go on the Liberty of the Seas or a bigger RCCL ship. This was not a very "kid-friendly" ship at all! Just my opinion but we will personally not sail on this again with our 2 kids! Just not enough to keep them occupied! 

The Enchantment Lido deck at 5PM on Port Day. Everyone is pretty much back on board and it is still not crowded! This was impressive to us! 


An OPEN and empty Deck 10. No "Chair Hogs" here! 

A walking view of Deck 10. Enchantment is a Gorgeous ship! 

We went up to Viking Crown Lounge on Deck 11 to watch the sail away in comfort and with a few libations for the evening. After about 30 minutes, the Guest Services called out a few names and within 15 minutes of that, there was lots of cheering coming from Deck 10, so we knew there must have been a few pier runners and late arriving passengers coming back to the ship. We set sail back to Galveston at 5:09PM.


Progreso, Mexico
A view of the 3 mile long pier into the city of Progreso. All cruise visitors can ride the FREE shuttle into Progreso or if you choose, may stay right at the pier as there are shops and a restaurant or two. 

Another view of the pier and dock as we pulled away for Galveston! 




The Tug and Pilot boat as we pulled away from Progreso! 



Sail away party from Progreso. (*I do not own rights to the music in this video)

We left the Viking Crown Lounge to check out the sunset on Deck 10 but much to our surprise, it was closed yet again! We went down to Deck 9 near the Main Pool Bar where windows could be opened and caught a few pictures of the gorgeous sunset before going back up to the Viking Crown Lounge.

It doesn't get much better than this! 



One of the better sunsets of our most recent cruises! It was near perfect! 

TIP- The Viking Crown Lounge is Royal Caribbean’s best venue in our opinion. It is not very well known and offers GREAT views of the ship and the open ocean on all the ships we have sailed on. It has a great bar with full service waiters and we LOVED the solitude it offers almost every time of day. Be sure to check the Cruise Compass for times the bar is opened but the actual venue is ALWAYS open, to our knowledge.


A view of the center of the Lido Deck on Enchantment from the Viking Crown Lounge. This area was added on in 2005. The area from about 30 feet before and after the arches in the picture above. That is pretty impressive to me. That they can literally cut a ship open and "add to it". Fascinating! 

The best way to spend an evening in my opinion! 

EVENING
We spent the rest of our evening leading up to our late seating (8PM) dinner in the Viking Crown Lounge reading books and listening to music. It was just what we needed! We made our way down to Deck 4 for the Late Seating and easily just walked right to our table once the doors were opened. We were already LOVING the easiness of the set dining times and how great it was to just “walk right in” and go to our table. Our waiter was there already meeting our special requests and he and his team were doing a GREAT job.
I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!
Thank you Royal Caribbean for feeding our TEXAS pride! 

INSIDERS INFO- We found out on this night that the Enchantment Dining Team was offering a “SPECIAL” on the specialty steaks offered in the MDR on Night #3-4. The “surf and turf”, “Chops Filet” and “lobster tail” were being offered at a significant discount on these nights. For example, usually the “surf and turf” was $34.99… but on these nights, it was being offered for only $20. This is a GREAT deal and a good spend since shorter Royal Caribbean cruises no long offer the FREE LOBSTER on formal night. Plus, the “Chops filet” was only $10 instead of the usual $16.95. I thought long and hard about it but decided to wait until Night #4 for this special.


The Night #3 MDR menu... to give you an idea of the specials I am talking about! 

Dinner was FANTASTIC and once again, the service was PERFECT! Prior to this cruise, I had been eating a Keto diet and doing Intermittent Fasting to help encourage my stubborn weight to fall off. I had lost 20 pounds prior to embarkation but during the first part of the cruise, I was sick, and my stomach constantly hurt since I was not used to eating 3 meals a day. (In the future, I will try to ease my way back into eating 3x a day BEFORE the cruise.) By night 3, I was beginning to recover and our waiter, Chris, even noticed and started to bring me additional food and extras of the things I liked. This was unbelievable service and was even more impressive to us! Way to go Royal Caribbean.

We were in and out of the dining room once again in just 1 hour and 15 minutes. We went back to our room to try and catch a nap before getting back out for the evening. We had planned to go to the show in the Main Theater at 10:30 but we slept right through that. We woke up around 11PM and went to the Centrum to see what was going on there. There was NOTHING going on. In fact, it seemed as if the ship had shut down.

We meandered around looking for the “party” but never found it, so we went back to the R Bar in the Centrum. We sat, and people watched for a while before getting up to go and get our free set of cards from the Guest Services. By now it was after midnight and we didn’t expect GS to be open, but they were. Unfortunately, they did not have any free playing cards as they had already been passed out. TIP- Most cruise lines and cruise ships offer free playing cards at Guest Services. Just be sure to get there early in your cruise!

While at guest services I asked for the total number of guests on this voyage and was surprised it was only 2,444 of whom only 240 were under the age of 18. Usually, we sail during busier times and the total number of passengers compared the ships’ capacity is much higher and the percentage of kids on the voyage is much higher than this 10%. We were pleasantly surprised by this info and it is a HUGE reason to book off-season cruises!

We went to Park Café for a late-night snack and once again enjoyed the hot and fresh pizza and sandwiches. TIP- This dining venue is such a great place to grab a quit bite. Not all Royal Caribbean ships offer it, but we just LOVE IT! Check it out!


1AM snack anyone? 
Most of the bars were already closed for the night, which seemed early to us, but we ended up in the Casino for another hour or so, before calling it a night near 2AM. I guess that nap gave us a little energy!

It was a great day spent on board the Enchantment of the Seas and while I missed going to a beach, we enjoyed the solitude on board and the rest and relaxation. We will be able to go to the beach in less than 60 days on the Liberty of the Seas so… It is all good!

Stay tuned for our last day on board the Enchantment of the Seas!

Next up… Sea Day #2.

GOD IS GOOD... ALL THE TIME! 

 





Posted by at
Labels: , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)