my thoughts on MARINER 5-1(eastern)..

[isis2k2]

it was our first cruise and i was definitely looking forward to it for months!

i will not cruise again.

every drink is overpriced

it felt like a prison ship...for ex., we wanted to ice skate, had to wait for scheduled 45 minutes slots of which there were only like 2 per day.

the in-line skate track is the size of my living room

the pool bars close way too early(like 6pm, except one at 10), and they leave one pool open all night (out of 3) and one jacuzzi(out of 3)

everything should be open 24/7....(i could accept small closing times for cleaning, etc)

the food was horrendous, my cat can cook a better steak. maybe they try and push people to pat $20 for chops or portofinos??

the islands are beautful, more economical, and i did not want to get back on that ship.

given that, we did have fun, but i truly was not expecting such a "regulated vacation experience."

[evildiva]

And you were on a cruise???????????????????????????

 

Are you sure you didnt get on one of the Navy ships at port?????:D

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

Interesting comments....pretty hard to believe a beautiful mega ship and not one positive comment. :eek:

 

 

***

[dosp]

You MUST read the thread entitled "Giant Ship press release". Maybe with this type of ship you could find something positive.

 

Obviously, you think that if you put 4000 people in a hotel and don't let them leave, most of the public areas would be empty.

 

By the way, I'm bringing over some people to your place tomorrow night, could you please serve 28,000 meals of haute cuisine? And, if they don't like it, bring ANOTHER 2 or 3 thousand servings of something else?

[Tatka]

Relax... Cruising isn't for everybody.

 

Some like it some not.

 

OP didn't say she hated RCCL, she said she wouldn't be cruising

[raerae]

UMMM...OK! You couldn't find anything you liked?? I have been on 9 cruises and never had a bad one.

 

OK...I have to ask what you expected? From your postings I see you visited several of the boards and asked the same ???'s on all of them and pretty much got consistent answers so why the big surprises??? What or where do you eat regularly at home that the food was soooo horrendous? Sure I have had a few things I didn't like but never anything that was inedible! Was there anything you liked?? :eek:

I assume you will be doing land based vacations from now on......Enjoy them. :confused:

Cindy

[stuffic]

Interesting comments....pretty hard to believe a beautiful mega ship and not one positive comment. :eek:

 

 

***

UMMM...OK! You couldn't find anything you liked??

OP said she did had fun (see last sentence), so there must have been some things she liked...just didn't feel the need to post what they were.

I think the reason for the post was to get the disappointments off her chest, and say that cruising is not for her.

Que sera sera

[LLM]

Yes, in the last line the OP did say that she had fun, although I think the fun was more or less when she was off of the ship!

 

it felt like a prison ship...

 

the islands are beautful, more economical, and i did not want to get back on that ship.

given that, we did have fun, but i truly was not expecting such a "regulated vacation experience."

 

Lisa

[Cruising89143]

Cruising is not for everyone and sounds like this is the case with you. I would opt for a land based all inclusive resort next time.

[ruttie]

I am sorrry that you found cruising not to your liking.. I happen to love cruising but.. cruising is not for everyone.. My brother and sister in law who love just about everything went on there first cruise and while they had fun will not go on another one.. it juist was not there style... thanks for sharing your experience withus .. I am leaving on Maariner in a month and last time I was on Royal carribean I too found that the food had dramatically gone down hill I am hoping though that the reports i have been hearing are that they are indeed working on the problem and have improved in the last year...

[cntrydncr1]

I too am sorry that you did not enjoy the cruising experience. Personally I have been sick at least one day on most of my cruises, lost luggage, missed sailings, had ships break down on me and yet still can't wait to go on the next one. I love being waited on hand and foot as that never happens any other time in real life.

[Schplinky]

I'm sorry that you didn't have the time you expected. We were pleasantly surprised by the cost of drinks. At a hotel, they would have been easily double.

 

It's always diappointing when something doesn't meet your expectations. I hope you find a holiday you like.

[Dolphin-dan]

it was our first cruise and i was definitely looking forward to it for months!

i will not cruise again.

every drink is overpriced

it felt like a prison ship...for ex., we wanted to ice skate, had to wait for scheduled 45 minutes slots of which there were only like 2 per day.

the in-line skate track is the size of my living room

the pool bars close way too early(like 6pm, except one at 10), and they leave one pool open all night (out of 3) and one jacuzzi(out of 3)

everything should be open 24/7....(i could accept small closing times for cleaning, etc)

the food was horrendous, my cat can cook a better steak. maybe they try and push people to pat $20 for chops or portofinos??

the islands are beautful, more economical, and i did not want to get back on that ship.

given that, we did have fun, but i truly was not expecting such a "regulated vacation experience."

 

WOW, I believe that all cruise lines have "expensive" Drinks if I'm not mistaken, so nothing new there. Plus it sounds like you had too high of expectations about the food. You have to realize they are serving 3000 people, and I think they do a heck of a job. Another thing about the prices of drinks is, people like me are willing to spend there prices. Since I only buy for or five a night, and have a beverage card I can care less how expensive they are I am gonna have a good time, and not let the prices of drinks bother me. At least you said you had a good time. Maybe you should try a land resort or go to universal Orlando, but her is a little secret,Universal charges a lot for food and drinks too. :(

[xpcdoojk]

I wish more people would realize how horrible cruising is like the OP did, and then the prices of my cruises would be even better! :D Some people just amaze. Simply amaze. :D

 

 

jc

[Elizanessie]

For once I am gonna keep my mouth shut and say nothing.....and I will sit on my hands:D

 

Liz

[Ontheseas]

Oh sheesh, here we go again.

 

If you were on a cruise, did you not research about it first?:confused:

[cynt]

Interesting. Different strokes for different folks. I have a friend I cruised w/ last spring. All she did was sleep. Cruising really wasn't for her. She should have taken her phones off the hook at home and told everyone she was on vacation. Ordered pizza or chinese w/ home delivery for the week and used her vacation money to go shopping. I year later I still can't believe all she did was sleep.

 

I'm not a big drinker but I thought $5-$6 for a foo foo drink was normal. I occassionally order a margarita from On the Border and I think it runs about $5-$7, depending if I select top shelf tequilla.

[Carrie77]

We are going this August and I CANNOT wait. We went on the Voyager a couple years ago so we have only known the mega-ships. The food was great when we went and I am sure it is still good. I think some people are just really picky? And if you don't like it, ask for something else! It is your vacation! Just need to speak up!

 

As for the iceskating on the Voyager, we went at the scheduled times and had no wait to skate. It would be nice for it to be open 24 hours though! I am sure they have some reasoning behind that.

[nosnobunny]

At least the OP realizes that a cruise is not everyone's cup of tea. My DH's sister and her DH took their first cruise last winter on the Island Princess to Hawaii and hated every minute of it. :confused: They could hardly wait to get off the ship.

 

As for the price of drinks, better also take Washington off your list. I paid over $9 for a gin and tonic one night last month and I was on dry land. Then I promptly spilled the last third of it all over the table much to my DH's chagrin. :o

 

Beth

[isujim]

Sounds like a case of great expectations leading to great dissapointment

[cruznduo]

We were on the Mariner in April...it was our 10th cruise and our first on a megaliner. We absolutely love cruising, but did NOT love this ship and neither did our friends. To us, it did not feel like we were even on a ship most of the time. The promenade area felt like a mall to us. That is not to say we didn't enjoy our trip, we just like the feeling of actually being on the water. So...maybe if you try a different class of ship, one where you can see the ocean and actually eat outside, you might feel differently about cruising. As for the drinks being overpriced...I don't know where you buy yours, but we honestly felt they were fairly priced and pretty darned tasty! One other thing...I sincerely hope I never experience the lack of a ship's staff being able to control young people on a cruise again like they did on our last sailing. The inmates were truly running the asylum and despite numerous complaints by many (and yes, we do love kids and own some ourselves) people, nothing was done. It has given us pause about sailing RCCL again. However, like childbirth, we will probably forget the pain and try it again!!!! Happy sailing to those of you who are lucky enough to be bon voyaging soon. Linda