Mariner of the Seas 5/22

[arbo2368]

Just returned from cruise and here is a brief thought or two. We had a group of 28 and we had previously contacted RCCL and our group coordinator regarding dining plans. This did no good we gave them a list of who wanted to sit with who and since we had families we wanted them seated together. Well forget about it they had the dining situation a mess. Families were split up which caused some problems. No one was to concerned or offered to rearrange the table configuration. Head waiter told us to move around as we saw fit that they could deal with it. We thought as a group that food was just minimal in quality and this was our 6th cruise on RCCL 2nd on Mariner.

 

Shows were good and Beatlemania was the highlight excellent show.

 

Shore Tours Labadee was aquiet day. Gran Caymen we used Sotos and it was a mistake never again. There pick up plans were crazy. We were told to be there at 0830. There were about 60 people there and 1 18 passenger van. So we had to wait for other vans to arrive. Boat had one person runiing the show that it 1 person for 30 people. Capt Marvins is so much better and we will never do Sotos again or recommend them to anyone.

In Jamaica Pete Taylor did great job. But the Dunns River staff was another story. They were not organized at all guides were cutting in with groups from all directions at one time there were five different lines going. One broke through our group causing one of our youngsters to fall about 15 feet down the falls. They just seemed to want to get you through throwing all caution to the wind. Again very dissappointing. Cozumel was the best Eagle Ray Divers took us to three reefs for snorkling at the Southern tip of the Isle. What a great place to snorkle there were no other boats around and the water was pristine. There was so much to see. Great operator.

 

Debark- Since we were a group we thought we would all get the same color for debark, wrong. I went to the pursers desk and asked about this. I was told that the group coordinator should have handled this by submitting a list.

Obviously this was not done we never even heard from the group coordinator before or during the cruise. We had to straighten this out ourselves. But afetr that Debark was smooth.

 

One other item the casino was well run they paid out 235,000 in jackpots that week not bad. Table games only 1 5.00 table until Wednesday. None in the No Smoking area. One word if you are a serious player of Blackjack beware. There are just too many folks who do not know what they are doing or just don't care. I saw many players splitting 10 cards against dealer 10's and Aces. Ridiculous, they take the fun out of it with stupidity. But it's there money.

 

Other then that it was a great cruise.

[winncove]

We were on the MOS last Sept. and thought the casino was way too small for 3000 pax. I know it was much smaller than CC Glory. Have been told it is smaller than some of the older & smaller RCI ships. Just looked @ some recent pics & it looked like it may have been enlarged. Was it just the camera angle? There were 3 BJ tables [i think] and only 1 3 Card table. Saved me a lot of $$$ since I could only get on it twice but very frustrating! Would you comment on this plz.

[msjaxson]

sorry to hear you had trouble with your group dinner seating ...we had a similar problem with our group of 23 on the 15th sailing of the mariner..guess it apears to be more of a trend than an isolated incident unfortunately.

[Nessa1dc]

I'm sorry you had problems with your seating. I'm sure the number of people played a role. I have heard others on this site that had problems with seating on the Mariner, and they took care of it with no problem. We had seating issues (granted it was for 4 people) and they took care of it immediately.

 

We loved the food, and we also enjoyed the shows. Beatlemania must be new, they did not have that on our cruise.

 

Now the casino was my total joy. I am probably one of those people who gave Blackjack a try on the cruise ship. I was told that is the best thing to do if your learning. I would never go to Vegas and learn, so why not on the cruise ship. They tell you to learn here, so....

 

I'm glad overall you had a good time. I wish you a better time on your next cruise.

[ghoterman2]

We were on Mariner 5/22 also. I agree with all you said.We had 17 in our group & were placed at 3 seperate 6 person tables which caused families to be seperated,also.I ate with my wife twice, and my sister never ate with her children.I, too tried to have the seating changed but was told to just switch around but due to the size of the families within our group, this was not a solution to the problem.This was our 2nd Mariner cruise and our 2nd western carrib. cruise ( the first was 9 years ago on RCI's Majesty )I think the first Mariner and the 1st Western Carrib. were both better.

[Iamthesea]

There is another poster who had problems with her wedding group on the Voyager. Sounds like there were too many groups on this cruise and RCCL had a hard time pleasing everyone.

 

I know you all are not happy, but I can certainly see where it would have been difficult for folks on the Mariner to accommodate everyone's seating preferences.

 

We were on the Mariner last year with a family group. We were split into two tables with two different waiters. We had planned to switch seats around each night so that everyone could visit with others. When we realized that we had two different waiters, we knew that would be impossible to do unless we told the waiters up front that they would be getting "over the top" gratuity from everyone. RCCL handled our situation by switching waiters around and our tables were given the best two servers we have ever had! We ended up leaving the children at one table and had the adults at the next. Everyone liked that arrangement except for our grown DD's who occasionally wished for a more adult conversation atmosphere.

 

We loved the Mariner and had very few criticisms about the ship.

[cruznduo]

We were on the Mariner with a group of 10 in early April and also experienced a problem with the dining room...8 of us at one table, 2 at another. The staff wasn't too pleasant about making changes, we weren't too happy with them either since we had all booked about a year ahead of time. Of course that wasn't the only reason this was our least favorite RCCL cruise. It was spring break and granted we expected lots of kids, however, we did not appreciate the fact that security let them run down the halls yelling at 2 a.m., pulling room service orders off our doors, etc. Our room steward said it was the worst they had ever seen it. We personally observed teens pulling up day of the week carpets in elevators and taking them off to wherever, and I observed a guard standing by the Internet area watching teens at about 1 a.m. banging on the keyboards and twirling in chairs (not using the computers, of course) and never saying a word to them. I am not sure if this behavior is always allowed on this ship, but as for our group, it's the LAST TIME we will board the Mariner! Lots of adults (yes, even those with kids, complained but nothing was done)...so, even if it was an isolated experience, the personnel on this ship made it the least favorite of our 10 cruises. We'll just have to stick with the ones we know and love (Brilliance and Celebrity ships) or try some new ones. Next try...the Vision to the Mexican Riviera...great deal and no air fare for us!

[arbo2368]

Winncove. Casino had 1 $5 bj bonus wheel table, 1 $10 table, 1 Carib Poker, 1 three card, craps and roulette. There was usually 1 carib table open in no smoking area. There was also three more BJ tables and a roulette table in the No Smoking area. These were never open the entire cruise. There was a $25 table for BJ I forgor to mention. By Thursday they were all $5.00. Hope this helps.

[Iamthesea]

It was spring break and granted we expected lots of kids, however, we did not appreciate the fact that security let them run down the halls yelling at 2 a.m., pulling room service orders off our doors, etc. Our room steward said it was the worst they had ever seen it.

:eek: And were planning to sail the Mariner next spring break because we had such a good experience the first time!

[RCIcruzer204]

Who was the cruise director?

[michaelc1957]

James Andrews, he was great.

[ccrn]

Grand Caymen we used Sotos and it was a mistake never again. There pick up plans were crazy. We were told to be there at 0830. There were about 60 people there and 1 18 passenger van. So we had to wait for other vans to arrive. Boat had one person runiing the show that it 1 person for 30 people. Capt Marvins is so much better and we will never do Sotos again or recommend them to anyone.

 

I was dismayed to hear about your experience with Soto's, as my entire family is booked with them next month. I sent Kerry at Sotos's your review, and expressed my concerns about having my entire extended family going with them. Below is her reply,which she asked me to post. I hope that this is o.K. with the moderators. If not, please delete and forgive me:

 

This day (May 26) was not a usual day for us. We had 2 boats going out. Usually there is only 1. But until I read this message, I thought I did a great job at organizing the pickup service and the boats timely departure. On this day, one crew member did not show up for work because of sickness (he only called in early morning) It gave me no time to find another suitably qualified member therefore the captain had no choice but to run the tour himself OR risk cancelling the tour thus making everyone truly unhappy, what then? I spoke with him (captain) after the tour and everyone seemly had a nice time ( I see no reference of the captain's lack of guidance or control etc. on this tour) With regards to the transportation, we have three 15 seater vans and they were out there on time. We lost a nice 24 seater bus in Hurricane Ivan and had to replace it with another 15 seater bus (could not find another 24 seater, very disappointing). In order to accommodate everyone, one bus had to make a second trip to pickup the last family. Everyone was informed accordingly at all times. One thing I will say is that Captain Marvins is not better than us. I would be very, very surprised if you could find another message like this one to support the writers comments. Our tours are run professionaly and on a timely basis at all times, passengers are fully informed, crew members are experienced and qualified, boats well maintained, very clean. I am very proud of this operation and all of us here at Sotos Cruises who care deeply about every passenger needs. This company has been around a long time and we will continue to run a small professional and personalized tour since this is what our customers look for.

 

 

I am going to stick with my reservation with Soto's next month, and give them a chance, as I have not seen another negative review, and they are the cheapest I have found.

[arbo2368]

Everyone has there own opinion but I will say and many other posters will say the same Capt Marvins does a much better job. We had used them several times in the past and the only reason we did not use them this time is they were booked up. But, I see they admit it was not a normal day for them. This could be true but they won't get another chance from me or anyone else that was in our group that day. So good luck but you might want to check some of the other postings under Ports of Call.

[khank]

Thanks for the review! We're on the Mariner this upcoming Sunday and hubby is dying to know if they are still doing Karaoke Idol. He was in the finals last year and wants to participate again this year if they still have it. Thanks for the info!

[arbo2368]

they do.

[cruznduo]

They were still having the Karaoke Idol contest when we were on the Mariner in April. Hope they are still having the contest when you are on your cruise and most of all, hope your DH is the winner! Imagine being the wife of a real, live IDOL! Have a great time...Bon Voyage! Linda

[Guest nhrich]

We had a group of 60 on last week's sailing of the Mariner. There were a couple of minor problems with the dining assignments, but everyone was with the group.

 

Remember, when you request group dining assignments, they're just that...requests. They're not guaranteed.

 

Rich, ACC

Carefree Vacations

[Nessa1dc]

We were on the Mariner with a group of 10 in early April and also experienced a problem with the dining room...8 of us at one table, 2 at another. The staff wasn't too pleasant about making changes, we weren't too happy with them either since we had all booked about a year ahead of time. Of course that wasn't the only reason this was our least favorite RCCL cruise. It was spring break and granted we expected lots of kids, however, we did not appreciate the fact that security let them run down the halls yelling at 2 a.m., pulling room service orders off our doors, etc. Our room steward said it was the worst they had ever seen it. We personally observed teens pulling up day of the week carpets in elevators and taking them off to wherever, and I observed a guard standing by the Internet area watching teens at about 1 a.m. banging on the keyboards and twirling in chairs (not using the computers, of course) and never saying a word to them. I am not sure if this behavior is always allowed on this ship, but as for our group, it's the LAST TIME we will board the Mariner! Lots of adults (yes, even those with kids, complained but nothing was done)...so, even if it was an isolated experience, the personnel on this ship made it the least favorite of our 10 cruises. We'll just have to stick with the ones we know and love (Brilliance and Celebrity ships) or try some new ones. Next try...the Vision to the Mexican Riviera...great deal and no air fare for us!

 

It's a shame that the cruise line has to suffer because parents are not doing what they are suppose to be doing. Another question is whether the ship was aware of the bad behavior? If noone tells them, then how should they know? And I'm not talking about if a crew member is walking by, I'm talking about making a formal complaint. Parents need to be held responsible, and so should the children.

 

Needed to vent

[arbo2368]

On group arrangements you are assigned a group coordinator. We were assigned one right from the start. We exchanged many e-mails many of them regarding dining. They sent us faxes showing how the tables were to be set up. When there was a change it was immediately addressed. Yet they were a complete mess when we arrived on Sunday and the attitude of the staff was work it out yourself. Why have a coordinator if they are not coordinating. We have no such problem with Carnival when we make group arrangements and we make several a year. Its a matter of communicating, that did not exist this time.

[khank]

Thanks for the Karaoke Idol info!

[lephysteria]

Thanks for posting your thoughts. I'm glad that you had a good time overall and I wish you a better time on your next cruise. :)

[msjaxson]

On group arrangements you are assigned a group coordinator. We were assigned one right from the start. We exchanged many e-mails many of them regarding dining. They sent us faxes showing how the tables were to be set up. When there was a change it was immediately addressed. Yet they were a complete mess when we arrived on Sunday and the attitude of the staff was work it out yourself. Why have a coordinator if they are not coordinating. We have no such problem with Carnival when we make group arrangements and we make several a year. Its a matter of communicating, that did not exist this time.

 

those were my sentiments exactly --- i even had copies of the correspindance with me ( since i am one of those people who always figure something will go wrong ) -- also never had trouble on my two previous group cruises...:confused:

[cruznduo]

Nessa...just wanted to let you know that we did go to Guest Relations and spoke to the manager about the situation. We were told, "You should have sailed next week, there will be a lot less kids on that sailing." I am not kidding, that was the response we received. In my estimation, not exactly the words I would expect from a customer relations person, but what can you do when you are captive audience? Live and learn I guess. As I said...there are many choices in cruising and the Mariner would not be ours again. I have been asked if I wrote to RCCL about this situation. I haven't. Does anyone think they would even care about our opinion regarding our experince? Just wondering.

[arbo2368]

MSJAXSON, Exactly my DW is the same way she had a folio of info with her. Even at Debark I checked my tags and saw we had Grey 1, I called everyone in the group. Some had blue some had green? We had a charter bus waiting to take us home and told them to arrive at 8. I went to the Pursers desk and her quote was the group coordinator should have given everyone the same color!! She was very nice and supplied me with all the tags I needed. Then when we got off our bus was doing a circle around the lot. All available bus spaces were occupied, mind you occupied not loading ,waiting. We asked and were told Major companies buses have priority over private group charters.

It just seemed no one cared about a thing from the RCCL attitude to the Port people. I,m back to Carnival and Celebrity at this point.

[khank]

I have one last question as I'm finishing my packing. I've read on these boards that RC has discontinued "smart casual". On your Mariner cruise, was one night still classified as "smart casual"? Thanks for the help!