Mariner trip report with pictures - 9/13/19

[CruisinCrow]

I just finished my review of our cruise on Mariner of the Seas and posted a link here: https://susancrow.blogspot.com/2019/09/mariner-of-seas.html

 

And here is a link to the Cruise Compasses: https://susancrow.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

 

For some background, I was cruising with my husband Ron.  We are in our early 50s and tend to stick with the short (3 to 5-day) cruises.  Most of the ships that do these kinds of cruises are old and small so we were very happy with Mariner.  What a beautiful ship!  I just wish we'd had one more day to enjoy all the onboard amenities like the FlowRider, Skypad, escape room.  Will definitely have to sail on Mariner again soon.

 

I'll post a few more pictures and some general comments shortly.

 

[mivama]

Great info and pictures! Thanks!!!

 

[Sherri914]

Great pictures.  Looks like a wonderful getaway.  Ship looks to be in great shape.  

[Lilystar]

We are going on the same cruise on the Mariner on Oct. 11, so thank you very much for your review and pictures! We are excited about the ship as well and feel the same way as you about how most of the 3-day cruises are usually on the smaller, older ships. We are excited to see the Mariner! 

 

Thank you again!

 

[parothead]

Thank you for posting the great pics and review! 69 days until we sail and it looks awsome

[iriegirl]

Great review--beautiful pictures.  Looks like just what "the doctor ordered". 😁

[Clarea]

Very nice photos, thanks!

[CruisinCrow]

1 hour ago, Lilystar said:

We are going on the same cruise on the Mariner on Oct. 11, so thank you very much for your review and pictures! We are excited about the ship as well and feel the same way as you about how most of the 3-day cruises are usually on the smaller, older ships. We are excited to see the Mariner! 

 

Thank you again!

 

 

Have a great cruise!  I wish I could go again.  You will love Coco Cay!

[CruisinCrow]

43 minutes ago, iriegirl said:

Great review--beautiful pictures.  Looks like just what "the doctor ordered". 😁

 

It was.  We were lucky that Humberto didn't mess up the weather too much.

[CruisinCrow]

Thanks for all the nice comments! 

 

Here is my summary and general observations about the cruise.
Embarkation – quick and easy.  The staff used an iPad to take our picture and check us in.  Our Sign and Sail cards were in an envelope outside our cabin door.  We used our printed Set Sail passes to purchase beverages until the cabins were available at 1 o’clock.

 

Cabin – Our balcony cabin was a good size, not huge but big enough for comfort except for the tiny, tube shower. 🙂  Our cabin attendant kept us supplied with towels and ice and that’s all we needed.  There were lots of wooden clothes hangers in the closet.  With the ship rocking as much as it was, I ended up removing all the unused hangers because they were clacking against each other and keeping us awake at night.  No problems with noise at all from above or the hallway.

 

Food – We ate all our breakfasts in the Windjammer and all our dinners in the main dining room.  The Windjammer was arranged well to avoid crowding and lines.  We had My Time Dining, which was served on Deck 3.   Early and Late Seating were on Decks 4 and 5.  We went to dinner between 6:30 and 7 and never had to wait for a table.  I enjoyed all my food.  Our waitress worked hard and was very sweet, but our assistant waiter seemed to be missing in action.  It was a lot different than the service we had in Grandeur a few months ago where the waiter and assistant worked together as a team.  This time the waitress was running everywhere while we barely saw the assistant.  No complaints though.

 

Entertainment – The only show we saw was the ice-skating show, which was awesome.  Don’t miss it!

 

Coco Cay – Loved the renovations.  There was some seaweed on the beach but there were people collecting it and putting it into bags.  There was a recent thread about the seaweed smelling bad but I did not notice that.  It’s just going to take some time for the water to clear up again.  Meanwhile, the pool is great.  The mozzarella cheese sticks from the Snack Shack were delicious.  There are two grills now with lots of new food options including a taco bar and paninis.  I was bummed about not being able to do the balloon ride but even if it hadn’t been taken down for Dorian, I doubt it would have been running the day we were there because of the winds from Humberto.  Can’t change the weather!

 

Debarkation – We did the Self Assist Departure.  It literally took 10 minutes to get from our cabin to our car (I timed it).  It was so fast.   They did the facial recognition in Customs and Immigration so we even didn’t have to show our passports.
  
My only complaint about the cruise was the smoky casino.  It was seriously one of the worst, if not the worst, casinos for smoke that we’ve experienced.  You could even smell it on the deck below.  It would have been nice to spend more time playing Black Jack but oh well, I probably saved some money.
 
Overall, I loved the ship.  Normally I don’t like to cruise on the same ship more than once because I like to try different ones.  But I wouldn’t mind taking another cruise on Mariner at all.  I felt like we had so little time on the ship that we didn’t get to take advantage of all the fun activities like the FlowRider and waterslides.  We only went to the bars on the Royal Promenade once.  We definitely needed a few more days to see and do everything.

 

If anyone has any questions, I’ll be glad to try to answer.
Happy Cruising!

[CruisinCrow]

I was going to post more pictures but I just realized how few pictures I took of the ship this trip!  

 

Here's one of our balcony cabin

 

And the elevator piano guy

 

 

I thought of a few more comments about the Windjammer.  They had sinks at the entrance to wash your hands.  I liked that a lot better than the Purell machines.  Also, they gave out beepers at the omelet station in the morning.  It was nice to go pick up the rest of my breakfast while I was waiting for my omelet to be cooked.  It made for less crowding too.   

 

[tingles123]

On 9/24/2019 at 4:00 PM, Lilystar said:

We are going on the same cruise on the Mariner on Oct. 11, so thank you very much for your review and pictures! We are excited about the ship as well and feel the same way as you about how most of the 3-day cruises are usually on the smaller, older ships. We are excited to see the Mariner! 

 

Thank you again!

 

I am sailing Oct 11 also. We did the 3 night weekend cruise on the Mariner in August.  I like the ship. Cococay was Awesome!

[Notaworryintheworld]

On 9/27/2019 at 9:49 AM, CruisinCrow said:

I was going to post more pictures but I just realized how few pictures I took of the ship this trip!  

 

Here's one of our balcony cabin

 

And the elevator piano guy

 

 

I thought of a few more comments about the Windjammer.  They had sinks at the entrance to wash your hands.  I liked that a lot better than the Purell machines.  Also, they gave out beepers at the omelet station in the morning.  It was nice to go pick up the rest of my breakfast while I was waiting for my omelet to be cooked.  It made for less crowding too.   

 

That is awesome about the omelette station! I hadn’t read that anywhere before. Thanks for the wonderful review! 

[CruisinCrow]

29 minutes ago, Notaworryintheworld said:

That is awesome about the omelette station! I hadn’t read that anywhere before. Thanks for the wonderful review! 

 

There may have been more than one omelet station but we went to the one at the very back of the Windjammer.  Never a long wait.

[cruisegirl1976]

Thank you for your review 🙂

[mrs_fitz]

Thanks for the pictures and review! Will be cruising on the Mariner later this month and haven't been on a non-Oasis class ship in years!

[Artemus]

Great Trip Report. Thanks for posting ‼️

[CruisinCrow]

9 hours ago, mrs_fitz said:

Thanks for the pictures and review! Will be cruising on the Mariner later this month and haven't been on a non-Oasis class ship in years!

 

Thanks!  We haven't been on an Oasis class ship yet but I liked the size of Mariner.  Not too big and not too small.  For a short trip, I don't think I'd want any bigger.  As it was, I don't think we even saw all of it.