Mariner 1/2/05 Review

[crusinhokie]

I have to say that we had an outstanding time on the Mariner of the Seas. Let me begin by telling you about the travelers. We were a family of all first-time cruisers ~ two parents and three daughters aged 17, 20, and 27. We had two balcony rooms on deck 7. The room with the three girls was surprisingly roomy and there was plenty of space for all of our stuff (the over the door shoe holder was helpful). We actually spent quite a bit of time in our cabin and loved having a balcony. I must thank everyone on this board that gave such outstanding advice. I did lots of reading and planning before hand and it helped us out immensely.

 

We absolutely loved the ship. The décor was beautiful and the staff outstanding. Our room steward and dining room staff were a lot of fun and took great care of us. Captain Johnny was hilarious. We specifically looked forward to his twice-daily announcements and still call each other and say “Good morning Good Morning Good Morning.” If you are going to be on this ship with Captain Johnny keep your ears open for his funny sayings from his Chinese friend. There was some rough water the first day at sea but we all had on our motion sickness patches and they worked excellent. Of the five of us only my mom noticed some mouth dryness and my sister noticed some blurry vision but none of the side effects were too bothersome and they were much better than being sick.

 

The ports of call were great. We had wonderful weather and only limited trouble with the tenders. Labadee is beautiful. Dad and one sister went on the kayaking excursion, which they loved and we also went to the water park, which was ok but I doubt we would do that again. Jamaica was nice. We did the Dolphin Excursion and Dunn River Falls. The Dolphins were a lot of fun and one of our favorite excursions. Dunn River Falls was overrated in my opinion, really crowded and well I would rather look at a fall then hike one. My dad did the mountain to sea bike trip and enjoyed it. We did stop in Grand Cayman and loved the beach ~ it was beautiful. The tenders were running late in the morning and we missed our private SCUBA excursion so that was disappointing. We spent the day at Sea Grape Beach and it got very crowded by about mid-morning so get there early. The tenders in the afternoon were very crowded, slow, and not enjoyable at all but I think it was because there were lots of ships in port and pretty choppy water. Cozumel was fun. Sister and I went diving with Eagle Ray Divers who were outstanding and we are planning a land-based trip there and will hope to dive with Eagle Ray. Chellie was outstanding in planning and coordinating. During the diving we saw beautiful reef, turtles, barracuda, lots of pretty fish, and yes, a shark!! Dad and other sister went on Dune Buggy excursion booked through Eagle Ray as well and they had a fantastic time.

 

More to come...

[crusinhokie]

The food was good and plentiful. There was pretty good steak just about every evening and the recommendations our waiter gave us were always right on. We did go to Chops one evening and it was outstanding. The food and service were impeccable and for $20 it was a deal.

 

A few pieces of advice that I must highlight as being great:

 

·Flying in the day before the cruise. I think this is great for reducing stress on both the flying day and the day you get on this ship. I do have to say next time we might fly in early but stay in Orlando instead of Cocoa Beach only b/c Cocoa Beach is pretty low key (read boring) and I think there are more hotels in the Orlando area that are a better value. But we stayed in Cocoa Beach at the Days Inn and it was a decent hotel for the money and made getting to the ship so much easier.

·Bringing some soda and water for use in your room. There are several grocery stores on the way to and near the port and we stopped and grabbed some soda and water, which we put in a box and checked with the rest of our luggage. It was very nice to have soda and water in your room. The refrigerator in the room was easily emptied and kept everything nice and cold.

·Buying bottles of alcohol on the ship even with the $9.50 per bottle fee to take to our room. I do have to say we were a bit disappointed with the selection but only because there was a certain vodka we wanted that wasn’t to be found. This saved space in the suitcases and avoided any breaking.

·Room service ~ we loved this service!

·Bringing an electrical outlet strip or two. We had two and they were constantly in use between charging iPods, batteries, cell phones, hair dryers, and curling irons.

·Brining a Plug In and room deodorizing spray for obvious reasons J

 

As first time cruisers we had some concerns about liking cruising and let me just say we loved this ship, the ports, and everything about cruising. We are already figuring out when we can go again!!! Cruising is addictive and a great time. Please let me know if you have specific questions about any of the ports, the ship, or anything else. I can only hope to help other cruisers as much as everyone on Cruise Critic helped us!

[arrow3]

Nice review, glad you had a good time. I am going later this year and was wondering what the story was with Johnny Rockets. Are they charging the $4 fee per person or not? Thanks!

[Morgan32]

Thanks for posting the review:) Glad to hear you had a wonderful time! Did you all stay at Dolphin Cove after the dolphin experience? The description of the excursion said something about a beach, shopping, and jungle tours. Did you do any of those?

[crusinhokie]

arrow ~ they are charging $3.95 per person at Johnny Rockets. We went one afternoon and it was completely empty. The meal was great. We took full advantage of all you can eat with the fries :)

 

morgan ~ we did not stay long at Dolphin Cove after the encounter. There is an area where they appeared to be setting up to sell stuff (maybe food & souviners) but we left before that was up and running. There is an area to review the video they take and to see your pictures. Also, there is a gift shop we walked through briefly ~ nothing to impressive in my opinion. We did not go to any beach or on a jungle adventure though I read about that on-line also. We took the shuttle right to the Dunn River Falls area which also has some "craft markets" and that might be where the jungle adventure is. The Dolphin encounter was excellent

[Morgan32]

Thanks! We're really looking forward to the dolphin encounter:)

[cefh]

Thanks for the great review. Our family of five is going on the March 27th cruise and we also have two balcony rooms on deck 7.

 

One question - I read on this board that you can bring your own wine to the restaurant and they charge corkage. Did you see anyone do that or do you think it would look tacky?

[DancingNancy_570]

Thanks for the review. We will be on the Mariner in early May. We were on the NOS in September and loved it!

[crusinhokie]

cefh ~ Enjoy the Mariner, I am jealous! I didn't notice anyone bringing their own wine to dinner but I'm sure people do it and it's not tacky at all in my opinion. I know you pay a corkage fee to bring it in to the dining room. Another option might be to buy the wine package the ship offers. The family at our table had it and were able to order a bottle of wine every night with dinner. Not sure on the cost but unless you have a certain wine you love it might be worth avoiding the hassle of carrying your wine. I believe there was a 7 night pagkage and maybe a 4 night as well. Also, if you don't finish the wine, they will bring it out for you the next evening. How old are your kids (if you don't mind me asking). My 17 year old sister was surprised that she enjoyed some of the "scheduled" activities but I think that was mainly since she found some friends there.

[cefh]

Thanks for the tip on the wine. The wine package sounds like a good idea - presumably you can use it at Portofino and Chops aswell as the main dining room.

 

Our kids are 14 year old twin girls and a 9 year old boy. The 9 year old is excited, but the girls are a bit wary of the scheduled activities, so it's good to hear that your sister enjoyed them. I was going to book the water park at Labadee, but you didn't seem to think too much of it - is there not alot there?

 

Thanks for all your advice.

[joand452]

We'll be on the Mariner in April, also doing the Western cruise. Did you take the ship's excursion to Dunn's Falls or use a local company? We don't want to climb the falls, but do want to see them.

 

Enjoyed your review!

[crusinhokie]

cefh ~ I believe I heard that you can use the wine package at Portofino and Chops. The RCI website doesn't provide much information about it so maybe someone on these boards know more or you could email RCI to get information on the price. Just an fyi, Portofino and Chops require that guests be 13 or over. My sister wasn't very in to the group activities but I had heard that teens should at least try it the first night to maybe meet people to hang out with the rest of the week so she grudginly went ~ the rest of the week she was out later than the rest of us, though she is a bit older than your girls.

 

We weren't particularly thrilled with the water park. There is a water trampoline, iceberg to climb, water teetertotters and a balance beam kind of thing. The iceberg was pretty crowded with teen guys (your girls might love it come to think of it). My advice would be to wait to buy tickets until that morning when you can see what is out there. Let me know if you have more questions....I am thrilled to remember back to the good times on the ship :)

 

joand452 ~ you live right near me, I am in McLean. In Jamaica our main goal was to do the dolphin encounter, which you have to do that through the ship and includes Dunn River Falls . So yes, we went through the ship and it was fine. Basically, the shuttle drops you off at a park entrance where you walk maybe 1/4 of a mile to the base of the falls (which is on a beach). From there you can see some of the falls and where it meets the beach. The walk from where the shuttle drops you goes through some market areas and then the path goes right along the side of the falls with several areas to stop and look. So even if you don't want to climb the falls you should have plenty of opportunity to see the falls and the people climbing. Depending on what you want to do the rest of the day would probably determine if you want to book through the ship or private excursion. I would say an average trip to look at the falls would take about 1 to 1.5 hours.

[weinoh]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. We are greatly looking forward to our turn on Mariner - March 6 2005.