Baltimore, Bahama Cruise April 20th - April 30th 2022

Another cruise! I think I’m going to like this.  This cruise was to use up some of the future cruise credit that we were given when we had to cancel the Panama Canal 15-day cruise due to the Pandemic. Doug wasn’t keen on another 15-day cruise, so we opted to schedule an Alaska cruise for July 2023.  We were able to split up our cruise credits by using all of Doug’s credits and some of mine for the Alaska cruise, which gave me some additional credit for another cruise.  I hadn’t seen my friend Anita for a while, so I thought she might like to go with me.  The credit worked great!  I was able to use all my credit for the larger portion leaving a more affordable amount for Anita. Win-win for both of us.

We originally scheduled a 7-day round trip cruise leaving Barbados, with several island stops.  We purchased tickets from Seattle to Miami, then to Barbados, then back to Miami and home.  We selected several excursions and were planning on going March 2022.  However, with the pandemic still raging we started thinking about changing plans.  The CDC had a recommendation not to go to some of the islands, Barbados had several health mandates in addition to the cruise line mandates and lastly, American Airlines canceled our flight to Barbados without warning and without giving us additional options.  

We selected several excursions and were planning on going March 2022.  However, with the pandemic still raging we started thinking about changing plans.  The CDC had a recommendation not to go to some of the islands, Barbados had several health mandates in addition to the cruise line mandates and lastly, American Airlines canceled our flight to Barbados without warning and without giving us additional options.   

After reviewing several options, mostly in the Caribbean, we decided on a round trip cruise out of Baltimore with stops in Charleston, Orlando, Perfect Day in Coco Cay (Royal Caribbean’s private island) and Nassau, Bahama’s.  The cruise I had taken in October also went to 3 of those ports (all but Charleston), but I was fine with that.  We booked it for April 2022.

 

We flew to Baltimore on Wednesday, 4/20 and stayed at the Comfort Inn and Suites, Inner Harbor.  Our first order of business was to take our cruise mandated Covid tests.  We purchased the eMed tests from the cruise line so we each took our test verified by a proctor.  Both negative, whew! That’s always a relief. We walked down to the harbor that evening and had dinner at Phillips Seafood, which was great, other than the fact that they had inadvertently given one of our entrées to the wrong person, so we had to wait quite a while.  They offered us free dessert for the mix-up.  Didn’t need it but it was good! 

 

Thursday morning, we got up and took an Uber to Penn Station Baltimore to catch the train to DC.  It was about ½ hour ride to Union Station in DC where we go on the light rail to ride to the National Mall area.  We visited the Smithsonian Castle where we had lunch, and the American History Museum before heading back to Baltimore.  We got back to the hotel after 6.  Anita wanted to purchase a couple bottles of wine to take on the cruise, so we found a liquor store just around the corner from the hotel and next to a pub called the Pour House.  Their menu looked good, so we ate dinner then stopped at the liquor store before walking back to the hotel.

 

Cruise day! We had an 11:00 am check-in so we took an Uber to the cruise terminal, and we were able to get right in line with just a few people in front of us.  Once we checked in, we walked up the long ramps to the ship.  The first thing I noticed was that Enchantment of the Seas was considerably smaller than Oasis of the Seas which I was on in October.  I’m going to break down the descriptions in categories:

Ship 

Enchantment of the Seas.  There really wasn’t a “promenade” deck, however the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th decks were all open in the center.  The 4^th floor was the “Centrum” which was midship. Several events were scheduled daily in the Centrum area, including group games, music, napkin folding, dance classes, etc.  The main dining room was on the 4^th floor forward. The casino, theatre, upper level to the dining room, a bar/lounge and “services” were on the 5^th floor. The shops, Café Latitudes, Schooner Bar, the Spotlight Lounge (nightclub) and the upper theatre were on 6.  The main pools, Solarium, and the Windjammer restaurant were on the 9^th floor.  Deck 10 was the “activity” deck with a rock-climbing wall, a track and other sport options. Our room was on the 3^rd floor, about mid ship.

 

Ports of Call and Excursions

Charleston

I love Charleston! It is such a beautiful city with a lot of rich history and beautiful architecture.  We left the ship to go on a carriage ride.  We spent an hour, and our guide was informative, and funny at times.  After the carriage ride, we walked around town for a while then to the straw market before we got back on the ship.  

 

Orlando

We got off the ship and went on the Ron Jon shuttle.  We spent a little time looking over the famous Ron Jon Surf Shop, then we walked across the street and had the best key lime pie whle we waited for shuttle to take us back to the ship.

 

Perfect Day at Coco Cay

This was a favorite of mine when I went on the cruise with Mary Kaye in October 2021.  This time we opted not to purchase the Coco Club beach excursion, but instead go to beach.  It is one of the less active beaches and we thought it would be a good place to swim, read and just relax.  We found a couple chairs under an umbrella with no trouble at all.  The water was much colder than it was in October, but not so uncomfortable that I didn’t want to go in.  It was a little disappointing as I didn’t expect it to be so cold.  Our lunch was buffet style at the main concession area which had a lot of seating.  Overall, although I really liked the Beach Club last time, this was a great bargain for free!

 

Nassau

Our least favorite port.  We went on a land and sea tour.  Our understanding was we would get a tour of the city, then get on a boat which had windows for viewing under the sea.  When we were picked up our guide didn’t explain anything. We first road to an area where we were dropped off and told to wait.  No explanation.  After 10 minutes in the heat and wondering what was up, another tour bus came in the parking lot.  The driver said to follow him, so he walked us down to a nearby marina where we got on a boat.  No lower level.  He did give us a guided tour of the area and eventually we anchored next to another boat.  Finally, the one we were expecting with all the windows!  We climbed on board that boat and were directed to the lower level.  The upper level had several people waiting to get on to our boat.  Once we started touring the water we were disappointed that it was so murky it was impossible to see anything but a few fish.  Our guide took us to an area where he said there were schools of fish, however even there the fish were not colorful and everything was murky.  Very disappointing.  Eventually we went back to the spot where we had swapped boats, got on the other boat and went back to the marina.  From there we got in a van and had our tour around the city.  We stopped at the Queens Staircase and another spot where there were some vendors, but most people stayed on the bus.  We were ready to go back to the ship.   Note to self:  Next time in Nassau either look for a day pass at one of the hotels, or stay on the ship!

 

Food

We ate in the main dining room every evening including “Dress to Impress” night.  The menu had 5 “classic” choices that were options every night, and 5 specials each night, including starters, entrees, and desserts. The food was always served at the right temperature, and the service was impeccable.  The rest of our meals were at the Windjammer which was “buffet” style with a lot of choices, or continental type food at the Café Latitudes.  The Solarium Park Café on floor 9 had pizza daily.

 

Entertainment

Headliner entertainment varied every night We usually had dinner at 7 and went to the later show.  We enjoyed all the entertainment.  The list of shows and performers: singer Zoe Tyler, comedian George Kanter, comedy duo Alfred and Seymour (hilarious!), and two different shows with the vocal group The Alley Cats (Doo-wop) who were our favorite.  We also watched karaoke throughout the week and the grand finale the last evening.  

 

Once we docked in Baltimore, we had to get off the ship early morning, which is always the case.  Our cruise did not have a Baltimore excursion with airport transfer, as several do, so we opted to go to the airport, even though we had a late afternoon flight.  Although we wanted to spend more time in Baltimore, we didn’t have a way without taking our luggage with us wherever we went.

 

Once we got to the airport, unbeknownst to us, the airport is very small and there wasn’t an Alaska Airlines attendant until almost 4 hours later!  We couldn’t even get through security until then.  So, we found a small area with some tables and chairs, so we went there with our luggage to wait.  Good thing I brought the 5 Crowns game with us.  There were a few restaurants open, so we ate lunch while we waited.

 

We loved our cruise and I can’t wait to cruise again!

Orlando - October 2014

Doug's MSPA conference was in Orlando this year so we added on a few days to extend our time in the nice weather.

We arrived in Orlando Saturday evening about 5pm, got our car at the airport and drove to the Hilton Grand Vacation Club SeaWorld Resort.  It is in a beautiful setting, with the main building housing the big pool, restaurant, store, and movie theater.  Additionally, there are 10 separate buildings, each with three floors of units.  We were in the Smith House which happened to be the farthest building from the main building.  There was also a pool close to that building. 

Our unit was a one bedroom with a full kitchen and washer/dryer.  It had a screened in patio with a small table and chairs.  The décor was nice and it included a king size bed, Jacuzzi tub, and 2 flat screen TVs.

Once we checked in and got settled we drove out to check out the area.  We ended up at Tony Roma’s for dinner which was a nice treat since they had closed all the WA locations.

Sunday we had breakfast at Waffle House – Doug’s favorite “down south” location.   Our friends Harold and Patti happened to be in town also so we made arrangements to watch the Seahawks game with them at our condo.  After the game (we lost L) we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner, and made plans to go to Epcot the following day.

Epcot was having their annual Food and Wine Festival.  We got to the park at 10:30 after picking up Harold and Patti at their condo.  We tried to get a “fast pass” for a few of the rides that are in the front of the park; however most of the rides we wanted were not available for the “fast pass”.  After seeing the 80-90 minute waits, we decided instead to head to the back of the park where the different “countries” are located.  Each “country” had a booth located at the front of their location and had small bites of different foods and tastes of wine for sale.  Each of us tried different things as we meandered through the countries.  Once we completed that we went back to the rides and were able to go on Soarin' and Mission Space, both of them were fun.  Since Doug tends to have motion sickness he opted out.  It was in the upper 80s so we were all tired and ready to leave about 630 after a full day. 

On our way back to the condo we decided to stop for dinner at TIGF rather than go back out again. 

Tuesday morning we decided to drive over to Cocoa Beach and have lunch on the pier.  The weather was a little overcast but it was a nice one hour drive. There were quite a few people at the beach and it was warm and nice weather.  We ate lunch on the pier at Pelican's Bar and Grill.  After lunch we went to Ron Jon’s Surf Shop – always a fun place with lots of souvenirs for us and the kids.  When we came back to the condo, Doug worked for a while, I went to the pool, and then we decided to just eat dinner at the hotel restaurant which was good.

Wednesday morning Doug had to head to his conference which was in a different hotel, the Sheraton Lake Buena Vista, so I took our things over, got settled then headed over to the little town of Celebration which is a little village built by Disney Development Company in the style of downtown Disney. It no longer belongs to the Disney Corporation.  It's a fun town to visit.  The  Bohemian Hotel would be a fun place to stay if we ever go back.

On Thursday I met up with my cousin Lori Miranda who lives in Fernando Beach on Amelia Island which is in northernmost Florida.  We made arrangements to meet in the nearby town of Winter Park.   What a quaint little town.  We both like museums so we he a great time exploring the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of Modern Art. Among other things the museum had a lot of Tiffany Glass which was amazing to see.  There was even a chapel in the museum with beautiful Tiffany stained glass windows.

We had lunch at Paris Bistro, then stopped in for pastry next door at Le Macaron French Pastries.  It was so fun to meet up with Lori and catch up in person!  We have a lot of shared interests, including genealogy.  We are both working on learning more about our grandparents.  Her father Frank Bryson Smith and my mother Charlotte Roe Smith (Reimer) were siblings.

Thursday evening we attended the Medieval Times Dinner Theatre and Tournament with several others from the conference.  I had never been although there are several others, some in towns we have been to.  Basically it's a dinner theatre with a jousting tournament.  Live action with horses and several jousting "matches" until a final winner is declared. Upon entry we were given a specific place to sit so we knew which knight we were rooting for.    Dinner was a piece of chicken and a rib, corn, roll, potato and some soup.  All served without utensils (but handi-wipes).   It was a fun experience but I can say I've done it and don't need to do it again.

Friday we moved over to yet another hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn Lake Buena Vista where was another small conference Doug was attending.  While we were at that hotel Doug was busy during the day so I spent a little time at the pool and checking out the nearby Orlando Premium Outlet Mall.  They had a Neiman Marcus Last Call store which had a lot of great bargains, especially in the baby department so I was able to pick up a few things for our Grandbaby Hudson.

I spend the day by myself Saturday, then in the evening we went to the Disney Outlet store then back to Tony Roma's for dinner.  Sunday Doug's conference was over around 2pm.  We spent the rest of the day at Downtown Disney.  We had dinner at Splitsville then stopped at the Ghirardelli Shop for a cone.

We had to leave Monday so we packed and headed to the airport.I wouldn't mind going back to Orlando, however it was too hot to do much sight seeing.  I would rather go at a different time of year when it's not so hot.