Just Back from the Mariner

[tamtot]

Can I ask how much Tiffany Town Car charged for the drive to Orlando?

Thanks,

Tammy

 

Costa Atlantica 3-01

Explorer of the Seas 6-02

Majesty of the Seas 5-03

Mariner of the Seas in just...........

[sshuttle]

Adventure Ocean opens every night at 7:00 and stays open until 10:00. After 10:00 is the Late Night Party Zone and it's $5.00 per hour. Three nights during the cruise there is an opportunity to eat at Johnny Rockets. You have to sign up for this the night before when you drop your child off or you won't get in, it fills up quick. Our nights were Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

 

As for "Cool" I can only talk about the 6-8 year olds, but I'm sure someone else will chime in who had kids in the older program. The 6-8 year olds had Pirate Night where they dressed up liked pirates and ran around the ship; Survivor Night; Sports Night; Knight night; PJ Movie Night; and space night. My son liked them all and the staff was great, very friendly and seemed to really enjoy the kids. If he had his way, he would have stayed there whenever it was open.

 

AO is not open on the day/night you sail. They open up the next day. They have different hours during the day depending on where you are (sea or land). You can tell you 10 year old that everytime he goes to the AO he will walk through a really cool game room with air hockey and all kinds of games.

 

Premier,Star Ship Magestic, 1990 and 1992

RCL, Monarch of the Seas, 5/1994

Disney Wonder, 5/2002

RCL, Mariner of the Seas, 5/2004

 

[briternik]

Lucialilac--- Thanks so much!!We will definately do the early debarking. You relieved some of my stress. We have a 12:45 flight out of Tampa. We have a car reserved at Budget. Would you suggest the shuttle or taking a cab over there?

[Tra4]

Thanks for taking the time to write and answer questions. We are leaving in 12 days and its still hard to believe.

 

Tracey

 

Until we cruise again. . . . . .

 

Premier Oceanic-Bahamas, 2/89

Rhapsody-East. Carib. 12/97

Grand Princess-East. Car. 5/00

Radiance-Hawaii,10/2001

Adventure-South. Car. 7/2002

Brilliance-Panama Canal 12/2003 "Happy New Year!"

Mariner-East. Carib. 6/2004

[lucialilac]

-briternik- Based on my experience this past Sunday, a 12:45 flight should be just fine. I really liked Tiffany Town Car. Thanks to these boards, I called them and made a reservation based on posts I had read in the past stating that they had great service. The white lincoln town car was at the port when we got off the ship at 8 am. The driver was friendly and talkative. My husband and I had a pleasant ride to Orlando airport. FYI- If you're flying Continental, ask to be bumped to first class. It worked for us!!! My husband and I flew first class in both directions without paying any additional fee because the plane was booked with families and many kids and the ticket agents at Newark airport and Orlando said they could use our seats for families in coach. We're not Continental Elite One Pass members and we paid the cheapest fare we could find originally when we booked the plane tickets.

 

Tamtot- Tiffany Town Car charged us $80 one way. I'm sure there are cheaper fares from the port to MCO, but after our experience, I would highly recommend them.

 

Mariner of the Seas 2004!!!

 

[khank]

We are leaving on the Mariner June 6. I booked the Castaway at Malfini Beach excursion for Labadee several months ago. Am wondering if it's really worth the cost or would we be just as well to get off the ship and possibly do jet skis or parasail and enjoy the standard beach. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This is our first cruise and we have daughters 12 and 14. Thanks!

[florida cruising]

khank- We are also on the June 6 cruise. This is also are first cruise. We are leaving are 2 children at home.

 

5 days until sailing

 

Mariner 6/6/04

[sshuttle]

Wow, I'm from Merritt Island, florida crusing is from Cocoa and khank is from Merritt Island!

 

I don't know anything abou the Malfini excursion but the beaches at Labadee are very pretty. They have a jet ski tour that looked fun and my sister and 16 year old did the parasailing and said it was incredible.

 

The best excursion we took was at Grand Cayman (may have said this earlier, if so excuse the repeat). It was the stingray city and snorkling aboard the Bucaneer ($39 a person and you book on-line through grand cayman excursions. I wasn't sure if you were going Western or Eastern Caribbean.

 

Premier,Star Ship Magestic, 1990 and 1992

RCL, Monarch of the Seas, 5/1994

Disney Wonder, 5/2002

RCL, Mariner of the Seas, 5/2004

[katesmarma]

We sail on Mariner in under 2 weeks. DD asked me a simple question but did not have answer for her. Our last 3 cruises 2 on Carnival Pride and Coral Princess we had very large baskets of goodies lotions, soap, disposable razor, shampoo etc. What does RCL leave for passengers If she doesn't have to pack some things she wants to know. Also how about hair dryers. Thanks for info.

 

 

 

Millennium Veendam Westerdam Holiday Festival Carnival Westward Atlantic Oceanic Royal Magesty Enchantment of the Sea

Pride May 2002 Fantasy Sensation Pride June 2003

Coral Princess Sept 2003

Mariner of Seas June 2004

Brillance of Seas April 2005

[sshuttle]

All they had was shampoo in the shower and a hair dryer. It was powerful but you had to constantly hold down the button, I used my own. There was also bar soap and I don't remember any lotions. They were slim on the ammenities.

 

Premier,Star Ship Magestic, 1990 and 1992

RCL, Monarch of the Seas, 5/1994

Disney Wonder, 5/2002

RCL, Mariner of the Seas, 5/2004

 

[khank]

Thanks for the info SShuttle. We're going on the Western Caribbean. We're doing the Dunn's River falls in Jamaica, snorkel tour in Grand Cayman and Mayan Ruins in Cozumel.

[sshuttle]

We did all of those. Dunn's River we booked through A-Z Planners, Stingray and snorkling through Grand Cayman Excursions, and the Mayan ruins through the ship. All were well worth it. My only advice, wear good climbing sandals, or water shoes for the falls. They do rent them there but you can find them around town. What area in Merritt Island do yo live?

 

Premier,Star Ship Magestic, 1990 and 1992

RCL, Monarch of the Seas, 5/1994

Disney Wonder, 5/2002

RCL, Mariner of the Seas, 5/2004

 

[florida cruising]

khank- Did you book your excursions through RC? If you did, what are the names of them? I booked the Personalized Stingray in Grand Cayman and San San cruise in Ocho Rios.

 

I live in Port St. John, FL.

 

Mariner 6/6/04

[TBRay]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by sshuttle:

Sorry, forgot to answer second question. We boarded about 11:45. However, today leaving we didn't get off the ship until 11:00 and we weren't even the last color. Therefore, I don't know what time they started boarding today. I don't blame Royal Caribbean I blame Port Canaveral (which I live 15 minutes from) and intend to send them a letter. Their traffic set up is ridculous. It took my friends over an hour in line to be able to pick us up.

 

Premier,Star Ship Magestic, 1990 and 1992

RCL, Monarch of the Seas, 5/1994

Disney Wonder, 5/2002

RCL, Mariner of the Seas, 5/2004

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Join the crowd. I wrote a personal letter to the Port Authority in February after multiple screw-ups with the traffic. It should NOT take 1+ hour to drop someone off and another 1+ hour to pick people up. The parking staff was about as unprofessional as you can get. Every rent-a-cop had another line of bull to feed us

 

Never did get a reply (but didn't really expect one either). Port Canaveral wants to pretend it's a major port but they could take a few lessons from Southern Fla. IMHO.

[sshuttle]

Agreed. It bothers me because I'm from here and we (tax payers, cruise ship vacationers) put a lot of money into improving the port and they don't seem to be utilzing the improvements and it makes the area look bad. They can't blame too many cruise ship passengers, the airports manage to get people in and out in a snap.

 

Premier,Star Ship Magestic, 1990 and 1992

RCL, Monarch of the Seas, 5/1994

Disney Wonder, 5/2002

RCL, Mariner of the Seas, 5/2004

 

[PortugueseLady]

M&M that was me with the BC issue.

My sister did get the copy version and there was no problem. I have to say this was the easier boarding process ever, there was no one in line and we were on the boat at 12:15....I couldn't believe it......

Thanks to all for your help with the BC issue....

Carnival, Fantasy "1996"
Adventures of the Seas 9-15-02
Navigator of the Seas 8-23-03
Mariner of the Seas 5-23-04

***Explorer of the Seas***
***SEPTEMBER 19th, 2004***
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=00ffff&cdt=2004;9;19;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]I can't believe TWO cruises in one year!!!!!!!!!!!!

[IMG][/IMG]

[PortugueseLady]

May I add in my 2 cents [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img].

Leaving Late: I think this was due to something going on with the wonder as I saw a fire truck and ambulance there so I believe this held us up in addition to the luggage problem I am sure.

I for one did board early and was on the ship at 12:15 with absoultely no boarding problems..we slid right in....sooooo nice...when we got to our room it was not cleaned so we headed to the windjammer...it was a bit of a hassle to have to still carry the carry on's but it was nothing. The windjammer was fine for us, we found a seat right away...I guess timing is everything.

They told us the room would be done by 1:30pm so we headed to our room a little after that and it was still not cleaned so we headed to the poolside and by 3pm the rooms were done and we got our luggage by 4pm. Out of our group (7) only one luggage was not delivered til 10pm which was weird as my sister's husband got his with our luggage. This was a bit different (luggage, leaving wise). Usually RCCL runs on time but I did not see it as a problem. We did get a letter from the Capt. that on Thurs (Cayman Island day) that from 4-5 we would have free drinks (certain) and in the letter it stated as a previous RCCL passenger you would know that this is not something that happens on RCCL often and due to that we would receive free drinks. I thought that was really nice of him [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img].

Overall, the ship is amazing....and everything I encounted was great. Leaving the ship was a bit unorganized....everyone seemed clueless [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]. I did find it weird that there was soooo much traffic and felt bad for people trying to pick up their loved ones....

The weather was amazing (with the exception of the first day). Unfortunately everyone goes through a different experience but I found that the only area that RCCL lacked in was the cleaning crew, not the people or the effort but I just think that they have so much to do that they can not be as thorough with cleaning the rooms as they would like and coming from other cruises it is just something you expect. I feel bad for them.

Carnival, Fantasy "1996"
Adventures of the Seas 9-15-02
Navigator of the Seas 8-23-03
Mariner of the Seas 5-23-04

***Explorer of the Seas***
***SEPTEMBER 19th, 2004***
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=00ffff&cdt=2004;9;19;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]I can't believe TWO cruises in one year!!!!!!!!!!!!

[IMG][/IMG]

[khank]

Florida Cruising - I'm a newbie with all this and booked with RC. We're doing the following: Ocho Rios Highlights & Dunn's River Falls, Grand Cayman Snorkeling and Tulum Mayan Ruins Express. I'm going to cancel our Labadee excursion to Malfini Beach and just wing it. Can't wait to go!!!!!

[florida cruising]

khank- I am a newbie also, that's why I booked my excursions with RC also. Have you registered with the meet and mingle? I think it's Monday at 1:00 in the Ellington's. We are going to try and make that. We are renewing our vows on the cruise and it's our 10th anniversery. I am hoping to have the ceremony on Monday also. Do that first and relax the rest of the cruise.

3 days until sailing [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

Mariner 6/6/04

[tsmithtins]

HI
I was on the Mariner also on the 23rd of May. We arrived to Port Canaveral without a problem and arrived on the ship at about 1pm our room was not ready either. We went to Windjammer for lunch which was extremely crowed with people and their luggage. We did not get our luggage till just before dinner and we had second seating and the only reason we got our luggage at this time was we were walking by where they had brought the luggage to and we spotted our luggage and we grabed them (good thing we had a change of clothes in an overnighter).
I too was wondering why the ship left so late, as stated eariler no explanation was given. It seemed that our steward was always working throuout the day and late night when I asked him if he ever got off when we docked his reply was that they were to busy to get off and that they did not have enough workers. I did make a comment about the lack of stewards on the survey card that was given out at the end of the cruise I hope someone reads them and act on the comments.


Over all I had a Great Time on the cruise no complaints about anything except the rooms not being ready on time.

If you are going to Ocho Rios and want to book a tour do so with Peat Tours he was wonderful and Dunns River was great.

Carnival, Fascination, 1999
Carnival, Pride, 2002
Royal Caribbean, Mariner of the Seas,2004