Review and photos from 5 night cruise on Mariner Of The Seas, 2 January 2014

[Sallighted]

Am absolutely loving reading your report :) Please tell us more! Also if you wouldn't mind sending me the CC as well that would be super:p sarah_thermomix @ aboutsounds dot com dot au

[donna10]

Day 3

 

Another big day planned today in the port of Penang.

 

We decided that for breakfast we would alternate between MDR and The Windjammer so today was MDR day. We were seated on a big table with another couple but they didn't seem to speak English so there was no conversation. One thing I thought was lovely was we were asked if we were in a hurry or not for our breakfast. As we were going onshore today we said we were in a bit of a hurry so everything happened at superdooper speed. We both had the Eggs Benedict which was quite nice, it had proper leg ham rather than thinly sliced plastic ham. So all was good.

 

 

We had organised a driver for the day in Penang who I got from Tripadvisor. So we were off the ship with no fuss by 9am and our driver was there waiting for us. Mind you we had to fight through all the other drivers offering their services for the day. So if you don't particularly want to do the ship's organised tours there are plenty of drivers offering you their services and I would imagine that they'd be quite competitive. We paid RM25 an hour.

 

I must also say that we'd never been to Penang nor KL before. So with our own driver we told him what we thought we'd like to see and he offered some suggestions without being pushy which was refreshing. He was also brilliant in suggesting which sights to see first. We firstly went to Penang Hill via the venicular rail with beautiful views of Penang. We also did a short trip to Kek Lok Si temple which is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, then to a beach area, a bit of market shopping but we didn't buy anything. Our driver then took us to lunch to a local hawker food market and we finished the day off at the Peranakan Mansion. It was lovely having the freedom to do what we wanted for as long as we wanted. We had a lovely day with our very informative guide and returned to the ship at about 4pm. All aboard was 4.30pm.

 

Penang Hill

 

 

 

 

Check out what's at the end of the street ...

 

 

 

Only in Asia

 

 

This picture puts in perspective how big the magnificent Mariner of the Seas is!

 

 

...and back to the ship we go

 

 

Sail away

 

 

So back on the ship, it was time for a swim and a drink. Must also say that I tried all 'drinks of the day' but without the special glass. I probably should have collected a couple of the glasses as souvenirs but alas I didn't. There's always next time. To catch up on this day 1 was a 'Singapore Punch', day 2 was an 'Eastern Sunrise' and today's was a 'Malaysian Mango'. I also wish I took a photo of each drink but I didn't.

 

 

A big night ahead with a pre-dinner show in The Savoy Theatre staring Wildfire which was two males and two females singing with the Royal Carribean band supporting them. I was very impressed with the quality and professionalism of this performance along with everything else we saw on our cruise. We had another delicious dinner in the MDR. As we didn't quite know what time we would be having dinner tonight I didn't book a time for dinner but it didn't seem to matter. We were taken straight to a table (always for two) in a similar area to the previous two nights. After that we didn't book a table for the following nights.

 

Savoy Theatre

 

 

Sunset while having dinner

 

 

 

Some food pics

 

 

 

Our dining room entrance

 

 

Maria's dress

 

 

 

 

After dinner was the Rock and Roll Dance Party led by Dan Dan Mian and his staff. I was happy to be a spectator but it was wonderful seeing so many people joining in with all the rock and roll dance moves as being demonstrated by Dan Dan Mian and his staff along with the twist competition which was very funny. This was in Studio A (the iceskating rink with a floor on top of the ice)

 

Not very good pics here - sorry guys.

 

 

 

I'm sure we did something else after this but for the life of me I can't remember but we did have another towel animal to great us on our return to our cabin.

 

I will see you all tomorrow for day 4 in Phuket...

 

( I've reached my max of photos I can post so I'll post some more separately.

[donna10]

Extra photos

 

 

Ben and Jerry's in the Promenade

 

 

By the way it's Saturday.

 

[lifeboatcaptain]

Extra photos

 

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Ben and Jerry's in the Promenade

 

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By the way it's Saturday.

 

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Nice! Can't wait to go back on board.

 

While it's nice to have the day appear on the carpets in the lifts, I've found that it is a subtle reminder that your cruise is coming to an end. :(

[timtam2]

I'm very glad to hear they are now enforcing the 'no kids' in the Solarium pool rule - .that was a big issue on my last Mariner cruise

[emski83]

Nice to read your blog :) wheres the phuket part lol

 

My partner n i are goin on the mariner in Jan 2015 for 7nites, it'll be our first time.

 

Any tips?

[rxziebel]

Quick question as well - how was getting off the ship in Singapore? Waiting time for Diamond to be called, immigration and customs, cabs from the pier to the airport? Just wondering about my noon flight out of Singapore and if it will be an issue. :)

 

Thanks for any experience you can share.

[anandaindonesia]

Hi donna!

Hope you'll continue your interesting review please.

 

And please help to email the dailies to anandaindonesia at yahoo dot com.

As usual at is @ and dot is a fullstop [emoji4]

 

Thank you. Looking forward,

Michael