Mariner Ice skating show

[referee]

We just returned from the 11/14-11/21 Mariner cruise. Everything went well(i'll write a review soon) except for the ice show. I don't know when RCCL stopped giving out tickets for the show, but, they must return to that system. We went to the 3rd out of 4 shows,and it was a madhouse. The show started at 9 pm and people started to crowd around the closed doors around 7:45. There were only 2 overwhelmed staff members, who very quickly lost control of the crowd. People were backed up on the stairs and no one seemed to know what it means to form 2 lines. Then they deceided to let the handicapped people in first(rightly so) and that was the cue for everyone to rush the doors. Totally unacceptable. i know RCCL reads these boards. Please go back to the way it was, before somebody gets injured.

[LBumb]

i agree.

[jonesy111]

We were on the same cruise and totally agree. I think we went the same evening and it was pretty crazy. The last show on Friday evening (5 p.m.) was not bad and I don't think totally full either.

[PCWalton1]

Hi Referee,

We decided to skip the skating show. We walked by for one of the shows about 30 minutes before the doors were suppose to open and there was already a long line. I was on vacation, I was not waiting in freaking lines.:mad:

Other than that, we had a great time on the cruise. the food, the other shows, everything was a lot of fun. :)

Nice to meet you at the M&M.

Bill

[Poorplaya]

Wow, my wife and I cruising the Mariner in 18 days and really wanted to see this show. I hope things are not as crazy then, although with it being so close together from your last cruise, they probably will be. I guess we are going to be waiting early to see the show and get good seats. Thank you for the heads up.

[Puffinater]

I have seen it both ways and with or without tickets you are going to have those initial lines and crowds of folks waiting to get in and get a good seat.

[Langley Cruisers]

Just off Mariner 3 weeks ago and what you described was not the scene for us at all. I'm so sorry this happened to you and those around you; I absolutely understand what you are saying and I know this can be dangerous when a crowd of this size wants to all go into the same small space.

 

For those who are cruising Mariner soon and want to go to the Ice Show, please do so and just know that you will have to wait in line. That's just the way it is and it can't be helped. There are 4 shows throughout the week; this way, they hope to spread it out as evenly as possible between all the passengers.

 

Remember when they used to give out "tickets"? You'd end up lining up TWICE - once for the tickets and again to get in because they were not assigned seats. I do think this way is better, but again, OP, sorry you had this experience.

[Puffinater]

Remember when they used to give out "tickets"? You'd end up lining up TWICE - once for the tickets and again to get in because they were not assigned seats. I do think this way is better, but again, OP, sorry you had this experience.

 

Had not given that much thought. Excellent point.

[jonesy111]

I should have also said in my last post that the ice skating show is very well worth waiting in line. It was a fantastic show and I'm glad we didn't miss it.

[Trish Ahoy]

We were on the same cruise, but went to the 7pm Ice Show, which was a complete different experience. We got down to Studio B at about 6:35pm, walked right in, and got seats in the front section in the 3rd row. By the time the show started there were a few seats left. The Ice Show was fantastic. When we left the show, we noticed the huge crowds waiting for the 9pm ice show. We did find on this cruise that all the shows meant for people on the 2nd seating for dining was much less crowded than the shows for 1st seat dining. So that must be why the 9pm show was much more crowded. The cruise was fantastic and we are going to miss the Mariner when she leaves in January.

[harryfat1]

We just returned from the 11/14-11/21 Mariner cruise. Everything went well(i'll write a review soon) except for the ice show. I don't know when RCCL stopped giving out tickets for the show, but, they must return to that system. We went to the 3rd out of 4 shows,and it was a madhouse. The show started at 9 pm and people started to crowd around the closed doors around 7:45. There were only 2 overwhelmed staff members, who very quickly lost control of the crowd. People were backed up on the stairs and no one seemed to know what it means to form 2 lines. Then they deceided to let the handicapped people in first(rightly so) and that was the cue for everyone to rush the doors. Totally unacceptable. i know RCCL reads these boards. Please go back to the way it was, before somebody gets injured.

 

Actually I have read other posters/reviews on the same topic. I am on the same December 12 cruise as Donovan and someone from our roll call uploaded her cruise compass from her previous Mariner cruise for us to see and it’s not difficult to see why people are flocking to the 9 PM showing.

 

Of the 4 ice shows given during the week, they were performed approximately on the following days/time slots (performance may change with different sailing):

 

Day 2 – 5 PM

Day 4 – 7 and 9 PM

Day 6 – 5 PM

 

So if someone has the traditional early seating at 6 PM, the most logical show they will want to catch is the 9 PM show. Yes, in theory they can catch the 5 PM show on day 2 or 6, but those are the formal night and they’d have to be all dressed up in their formal clothes at 4 something to stand in line to catch the show and then rush off to dinner. Unlikely scenario.

 

Since we have my time dining, couple months ago I have already reserved our dining for day 4 to be 8 PM after we catch the first show so that we won’t be caught in the 9 PM crunch.

 

They really need to make some changes to the performance time as it’s not very friendly to early diners and especially since it’s a small arena, the mad rush will be there on every sailing.