Mariner LIVE Review 4nt Bahamas Jan 6-10th

[johnstoc13]

1 hour ago, Dancingnurse79 said:

Great live review. I’m on Mariner this May. I see laser tag on the cruise compass you posted but didn’t see it on a cruise compass for the 3 day sailing. Is it only available on the 4 day?

Not sure but I’ll ask someone tomorrow!

[johnstoc13]

Quest was a great success as always! Love that they continuously change the questions to keep us all on our toes. Won’t say much more in case you haven’t been, but this is a don’t miss event for us every cruise!

 

After Quest we headed back to the room. I was hungry so I ordered some wings from room service. Not too bad!

 

Sea day tomorrow, and we have lots we want to do and lots of relaxing we want to do...we’ll see what happens! Talk to everyone later!

[hannibal54]

My daughter, her 2 children and her husband were on the Dream doing their first cruise.

[TYMAN]

16 hours ago, island lady said:

 

The DL is alive and well, and very much used.  Though I miss seeing Tao in the DL, (agree he is fantabulous!) he has transferred to the SL,  ...but Leo is great as replacement!  

 

Overflow into the VCL, which we have used half the time, is very nice .....especially with that view.  We like sitting at the circle bar.  

Hey Lady!! Can you find out who will be in DL & SL for 02/21 & 05/11 sailings? I think Tao goes on vacation soon, but Leo is awesome too. Give Bucky a hug for me!! 🙂 

[johnstoc13]

2 hours ago, hannibal54 said:

My daughter, her 2 children and her husband were on the Dream doing their first cruise.

Bet they’re having an amazing time!

[island lady]

3 hours ago, TYMAN said:

Hey Lady!! Can you find out who will be in DL & SL for 02/21 & 05/11 sailings? I think Tao goes on vacation soon, but Leo is awesome too. Give Bucky a hug for me!! 🙂 

 

Bill!!  How ya doin' dude!!  (From Bucky with return hug! 😉 ) 

 

No problem.  Will ask Leo tonight.  As of right now Tao is holding court in the SL..and Leo (who is also fantabulous!) is in the DL.  Pretty packed in the DL, until first seating dinner when it all bails out as usual, but overflow in the VCL works well.  

 

Leo comped us dinner at Chops last night...he found out somehow that our dinner in MTD was a total nightmare on night two (though night one was wonderful).   Leo is constantly circulating and even picking up used plates in the overflow.  He is one power house guy with lots of energy!  

Edited January 9, 2020 by island lady

[TYMAN]

1 minute ago, island lady said:

 

Bill!!  How ya doin' dude!!  (From Bucky with return hug! 😉 ) 

 

No problem.  Will ask Leo tonight.  As of right now Tao is holding court in the SL..and Leo (who is also fantabulous!) is in the DL.  Pretty packed in the DL, until first seating dinner when it all bails out as usual, but overflow in the VCL works well.  

 

Leo comped us dinner at Chops last night...he found out somehow that our dinner in MTD was a total nightmare on night two (though night one was wonderful).   Leo is constantly circulating and even picking up used plates in the overflow.  He is one power house guy with lots of energy!  

Excellent! Thanks!

Leo is my MIL/FIL's favorite and of course they'll be cruising with us both times on Mariner. I'm a big Tao fan, really helps a lot when needed. Anyway, let me know, and enjoy the rest of your cruise! 

 

Bill

[sharktums]

Thanks for the great review!

[johnstoc13]

Good morning everyone! Got a full 8 hours of sleep in preparation for a long sea day. Grabbed quick breakfast in Windjammer. I also grabbed an Americano at the bar and DW had her fresh squeezed OJ. This was the view:

 

Next we headed straight to Jamie’s for a cupcake decorating class DW wanted to do. Lots of fun, and to our surprise Franc was the one leading the class! He was so funny and energetic, thanks again Franc! Here’s a couple pics...we started with this pile of nonsense!

Then we made a few different shapes...

 

And voila! The final product!

 

Any guesses on who did what? 🤣 

[tcmagnum]

On ‎1‎/‎7‎/‎2020 at 3:26 PM, johnstoc13 said:

 It was nice to lay down and the beds are very comfortable. You get the bed, 2 loungers, 2 floating mats, and a cooler with 4 waters. Curtains for privacy or shade worked great too! What do you think?!

These look nice.  I like that it comes with the shade that you can move around.  

It would be worth it to us!

[johnstoc13]

After the cupcake class we decided to visit the adults only Solarium for a quick dip in the hot tub. It was a great temperature albeit crowded as it was a sea day. Next we went back to the room to change and decided to go to Playmakers for lunch.

 

We had a look at the menu...and ordered nachos to start and each had a burger. Most tables have a game on them, ours had connect four so we played while we waited! Fun!

 

 

 

The burgers were very good and juicy and the fries were really good. Nachos...meh. No real melted cheese, just some cheese sauce and other toppings. Salsa and guacamole tasted good, but would have preferred real cheese, that’s all.

 

Next on the agenda was the Observatorium Escape Room! DW has done one at home before but this was my first time. It was a lot of fun! Won’t give any details so I don’t spoil the fun, but it was definitely challenging and we finished with 5:14 left out of the hour! Woohoo!!

 

After we escaped, we stopped right in Ellington’s to snag a birds eye view of the Belly Flop Contest, and wow what an amazing view we had! If you’d rather be right up front in the action I get it, but this was an unexpected treat as we only caught the last 10min or so!

 

DW decided it was milkshake time from Johnny Rockets so we grabbed that and a drink for myself from the Bamboo Room. I wanted to try the Royal Zombie...it is delicious.

 

Now we’re relaxing on our balcony enjoying a drink/shake and believe we just watched Navigator sail by!

 

We plan on bingo one last time tonight to try and win a free cruise! Dinner will be at Chops Grille again, then one last casino visit followed by the late night adult comedy show. Oh and somewhere in there we have to pack! 😩 Should have done a 7nt haha!

Edited January 9, 2020 by johnstoc13

[TYMAN]

Great review! Thanks! Might look into the daybed for the upcoming cruises.

[MLP12]

Great Review!  Boarding on Monday.

[Sunshine summertime]

14 minutes ago, MLP12 said:

Great Review!  Boarding on Monday.

Taking my mom we go on Monday also

[johnstoc13]

7 hours ago, TYMAN said:

Great review! Thanks! Might look into the daybed for the upcoming cruises.

Great choice!

[johnstoc13]

2 hours ago, MLP12 said:

Great Review!  Boarding on Monday.

Thanks have a great cruise!

[johnstoc13]

So we actually skipped bingo and opted to continue relaxing on our balcony and enjoyed the views of the Caribbean. Headed to dinner at Chops and requested Margaret again as we enjoyed her service and smile! We both had filets again for dinner, but I did get a couple appetizer pics!

 

DW had the Lobster Bisque...

 

I had the Tuna Tartare...

 

Super good as always! Had dessert and then headed our cabin to pack up. Got the bags out and visited the casino briefly. Arrived at the Craps table as things were heating up! Played for about an hour. Had a good run, collected my winnings and then we went up to the promenade for the 80’s night party! Great music and fun. Finally, the adult comedy show...comedian was funny and we had some good laughs! Snuck out early to leave the crowd behind and went back to our cabin for bed. Zzzzzzzzzz!

[sea mom]

 

Thanks for the great review.  Do you remember the times for the evening shows.

 

Thanks

[TYMAN]

On 1/9/2020 at 9:39 AM, island lady said:

 

Bill!!  How ya doin' dude!!  (From Bucky with return hug! 😉 ) 

 

No problem.  Will ask Leo tonight.  As of right now Tao is holding court in the SL..and Leo (who is also fantabulous!) is in the DL.  Pretty packed in the DL, until first seating dinner when it all bails out as usual, but overflow in the VCL works well.  

 

Leo comped us dinner at Chops last night...he found out somehow that our dinner in MTD was a total nightmare on night two (though night one was wonderful).   Leo is constantly circulating and even picking up used plates in the overflow.  He is one power house guy with lots of energy!  

 

Pat.....were you able to get the upcoming schedule for Leo & Tao? Hope you had a great cruise!

[island lady]

On 1/9/2020 at 3:42 PM, TYMAN said:

Great review! Thanks! Might look into the daybed for the upcoming cruises.

 

Hi Bill.  I asked Leo about those dates.  He is going on vacation with Tao returning to the DL.  He said temporary is coming in to SL...I think he said her name was Mindy?  Too many wines...took some brain cells away that had that 

info.  😵

[johnstoc13]

14 hours ago, sea mom said:

 

Thanks for the great review.  Do you remember the times for the evening shows.

 

Thanks

Depends on the show you’re referring to. Please see cruise compass posts throughout the thread. They will give you a good idea!

[johnstoc13]

Day 4 - Cruise Compass

 

 

 

 

 

 

[johnstoc13]

Woke up on disembarkation day to the sights and sounds of Port Canaveral! I held a brief moment of excitement for the upcoming passengers that would board in a few hours, then remembered we were departing...😩

 

Bittersweet best describes this day haha! Anyway, we gathered our last bit of belongings and headed up to the windjammer for breakfast. Then we headed to the schooner bar to meet up with the other suite guests and Tao for our escort off the ship. Once off the ship, we found the much discussed customs and immigration robots and poof! we were done! Just a quick facial scan and that’s it! Next we found our bags and then decided how we wanted to get back to MCO. We opted for an Uber again, as we didn’t want to wait for a shared taxi. The shared taxi would have been $25pp but had about a 30-40min wait. We had the time, but paid $80 this time for an Uber (including tolls) and chose to use the extra time in the airport for lunch before our flight.

 

Once at the airport, we had lunch at Bahama Breeze and then made our way to the gate. Flight was mostly uneventful until our approach which was rather bumpy! Found our bags and car and then drove home. Always happy to be home, unpack, do laundry, and see familiar faces! But now we start the countdown until our next cruise we booked onboard!!

 

Maybe I’ll try another LIVE photo review! This was fun and I hope it helped others like these reviews have helped me in the past! I’ll post a few other random photos I have next, and then finally I’ll post some end of cruise thoughts and a summary!

[johnstoc13]

Here is Grand Suite #1578

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[johnstoc13]

Regarding our stateroom:

 

Our stateroom attendant “Cris” was amazing! Very attentive, always positive, and had a way of almost never being seen! And I mean this in a good way! He was kind of stealthy and got things done as we were away at meals or ports. Thanks Cris!