2/19-2/26 Mariner Cruise ... Very long

[atlcple2]

Hey everyone! What a great cruise! I mean, truly great! We have cruised 3 times on Carnival, 1 time on Princess and now the Mariner of the Seas...let me say that there is no going back now! Before our cruise, I wondered how much better could it really be? Let me tell you, Everything about RCCL and the Mariner exceeded our expectations! Worth every penny more! It wasn’t just one thing that made the Mariner so much better than our other cruises, but everything. From the service to the doors on the showers. We noticed all the little things that really were nice. So, here we go...

 

Day 1

 

There were 4 of us, DH and myself and our 10 & 12 year olds. We drove to Port Canaveral stayed in Coco Beach the night before our cruise and arrived at the port about 12:30pm on the 19th. We carried our luggage on the ship and the total time it took from the time we parked our car to the time we were on the ship was no more than 15 minutes. Seriously, it was a breeze! RCCL knows how to do this part right! We went ahead and went to the 8th deck (where the computer lab happens to be) and waited for about 10 minutes (1pm) and we were in our rooms. We were in Room 8350 (Starboard Superior Balcony Cabin, just to the rear of the hump cabins) and the kids were in 8453 (center interior room near our balcony cabin). The beds were comfortable…or it could have been we were just so tired at night! We had 4 pillows in our room which was nice as well and a full size couch. We unpacked and met our room stewards and immediately tipped them $20 each. Rohan and George were our room stewards. We told George the kids would be alone in their room and to let us know if there were any problems. He told us that it was very common and not a problem. So we were off to the Windjammer ...which by the way was very nice. There were staff walking around with trays of lemonade, iced tea and coffee and were happy to get anything that you asked for. The ship didn't leave the port until around 6pm and so we explored the ship. Our 10 year old son immediately went to the basketball court and met friends there. It seemed most of the boys hung out there. Our daughter was a little more timid and stayed with us for the most part the first day. We enjoyed sail away from our balcony.

 

Coco Cay

 

We had breakfast and had a flawless tender to the Coco Cays around 11am. We were very impressed that they had large boats to take us…more like a pontoon boat, only 5 times bigger and double decker. They filled up quickly and we were on our way. Once at the island, lounge chairs were hard to come by, but after walking around for about 10 minutes, we found some chairs. The water was really cold, but the sun very hot. We didn’t really think about taking money for the kids to do the slide or anything we just assumed that you could use your sea pass card for those…we were wrong. As everyone else has said, the shopping area was pricey, but our daughter managed to find a t-shirt for $5.00 and was proud of our find. lol For lunch they had the typical hot dogs and hamburgers, fries, etc. They also had different pasta salads, potato salads, etc. and deserts. They did have fruit punch on the island to drink which the kids liked. One word of advice…Leave the island about an hour before the last tender. We went to go to the tender about ½ hour before the last tender and we waited in line probably that long. My advice is to either leave earlier or sit at the bar right there and have some drinks until the final tender. The kids had a good time and we enjoyed laying out in the sun. For me, I would have skipped Coco Cay, but the kids wanted to go so we went. Don’t get me wrong, it was a nice time, I would have just preferred to enjoy the ship that day though. They did have hair braiding for those of you who are interested…I believe it was $50 for ½ your head to be braided.

 

 

St. Thomas

 

We love St. Thomas and have been there 3 times. We did have to go through immigration on the ship…again, 5 minutes and flawless. They do it in the dining rooms. We took a taxi to Megan’s Bay for the day. Again, we were off the ship around 10am and at the beach about 11am. We didn’t do any shopping in St. Thomas. They have hair braiding there which our daughter did for $40 and was very pleased. There were 4 ships at port Celebrity, Holland America, Princess and us, so Megan’s Bay was very crowded…more than we had ever seen before. We walked pass all the crowds to the quieter part of the beach. DH and our son rented the kayak (sp?) for a bit while our daughter and I enjoyed the beach and water (which wasn’t as cold as the Coco Cays). We left about 4pm or so and went back to the ship.

 

St. Martin

 

Our favorite island! 4th trip to St. Martin. We got up early that morning, around 7:30, had breakfast and were off the ship in no time. We rented a Jeep Wranger from Best Car Rental right at the dock. They took us to Phillipsburg to pick up the jeep. We opted not to shop right then and ended up driving to Merigot and loved the shopping there! Very pretty little town. You may not find the bargains that you do at Phillipsburg, but we managed to pick up a few things that weren’t too pricey and I did get a good deal on a couple of bracelets. It reminded us of Martinique when we went there a couple of years ago. We drove up through Grand Case and checked out Fryer’s Beach…Beautiful! Very quiet little beach with a beach bar for food and drinks. Since Orient Beach is one of our favorite places, we went there next for the remainder of the afternoon. We were at the north end of the beach and while there were a few topless women, that was about it. We all had a great time. Our 10 year old rented the windsurfing thing and enjoyed that. We stayed until around 4:30 and then took the jeep back to Phillipsburg and they took us back to the doc. We did a little more shopping there and back on board.

 

Sea Days

 

Complete pleasure! We managed to make breakfast between 9:30-10:00am every morning and the kids were off to activities. As everyone has mentioned, chair hogging is abundant, even at 10am. We were late getting there one day (12:30pm) and finally found chairs on deck 12 above the Solarium pool (which is really nice by the way, as are the hot tubs there). We went straight there the next day.

 

Food

 

Excellent! The Windjammer had a good variety of foods. When you first walk in there is Jade which as more oriental type foods, then the Windjammer that had about everything you could imagine. Breakfast included all types of fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, French toast, waffles, all kinds of breads, an omlette station, cereals, you name it, they had it. We NEVER had a hard time find a place to sit and eat in the Windjammer, not ever. We at breakfast and lunch there every day. Always hot and good. Coffee was good as well for you coffee drinkers. Breakfast drinks were apple juice, orange juice, water, milk, coffee and tea. Lunch and dinner had iced tea, lemonade, coffee and iced water.

 

We had the late seating in the Sound of Music Dining room (Deck 5) which was the 3rd level of the main dining room, though they call each floor a different name. We were at table 534 and our water was Riza and Jose was his assistant. They were very charming, talkative and delightful. It was the first time in 5 cruises that we really got to know our watier, assistant and room stewards. They were all delightful. The food was excellent every night and we never had a mediocre meal there, it was great every night. The kids even tried dishes they would never try at home which was nice. Lobster night was on Friday (Eastern Caribbean) at the second formal night. Not any complaints about the food, in fact, we were quite impressed.

 

Attire was very casual on this ship. We were actually very suprised how casual it was. The first night of sail away, they say to "come as you are" and they apparently meant just that! There were people in shorts, flip flops, t-shirts, etc. in the dining room that night. We of course dressed in suggested attire as we did every night, but we saw lots of jeans on casual nights...the majority of nights were casual, not smart casual. We enjoyed dressing for dinner but had no problems with what others wore. It could be that since it is a Caribbean itinerary, it is a more relaxed atmosphere...so feel free to bring your jeans! lol

 

Chops & Johnny Rockets

 

DH and I ate at Chops on Tuesday night (our kids actually went to the dining room by themselves and had a great time!). Food was excellent as expected, service was good, but they were trying to accommodate everyone and it was a sea day so some people weren’t happy with their service. For us, we were on vacation and enjoying every minute of it, so while it took a little longer for service, we were fine with it. They of course apologized profusely about it, and explained that they had a lot of last minute people they were trying to work in for dinner. We ate at 8:30pm there. I would eat there again in a heartbeat! We all went to Johnny Rockets our last day at sea for lunch. Burgers are great, milk shakes are devine! lol Worth the extra $3.95 surcharge to eat there.

 

Royal Promanade was amazing! We enjoyed the parades, Captains Dinner was very nice…champagne flowing freely. Café Promanade had great sandwiches and deserts and of course, pizza! Coffee and water are the choices there, though there is a bar attached to it.

 

Other stuff

 

We purchased 1 coke/juice card and they always gave you 2 cokes at a time. We felt we got our money’s worth. $32 and change for 1 card for our son. Shopping had reasonable prices on the ship. They had the teeth whitening available. There was always a live band somewhere it seemed. Mixed Drinks were about $6.95 each. Be sure to get a “Lovie Dovie” on deck! YUMMY with or without the alcohol! Cokes were $1.50 if you didn’t have the coke card and it was the same price at the bar as it was the mini-bar in our room, which we used a few times. The Ship is beautiful and looks like new. This has run on much longer than I had anticipated, so if I missed anything, please ask! We booked on board for the same week next year and even picked the same balcony room, only the kids will be directly across from us this time. There was no discount for the cruise, but we did get a $100 per room on board credit. We loved the ship and will be loyal RCCL cruisers from now on!

 

Disembarkation

 

We brought only carry ons and if you are taking your own luggage off the ship, you are the first ones called to leave the ship at 7am. Before anyone else. They make announcements and again, once we started walking off the ship, we were at our car in 15 minutes. We couldn't believe how smoothly it was. Oh! By the way, we DID bring a bottle of Moet Champagne with us on the ship in our luggage and it went through the x-ray machine. No one said a word about it. It was a non-issue.

[PSCruiser]

What a great, positive review!! Glad you had such a great time. We have the Mariner booked for early 2007 and your review makes the waiting all the harder. I see that your last two cruises were the Carib. Princess and the Mariner. These are our next two, and we've been on neither. Any comments on the comparison between the two?

[atlcple2]

We overwhelmingly prefer the Mariner over the Caribbean Princess. Truly, you can't compare the 2 ships. While the Caribbean Princess is very elegant, we found the food to be okay, but nothing really special. We did eat at the Steakhouse on the Caribbean Princess and the food was good and I would eat there again. We didn't eat at Sabatini's (the Italian Restaurant) as it had a lot of seafood and DH doesn't eat it at all. You will see the difference in service from the CB and the Mariner. We always had a hard time finding a place to eat on Lido on the CB and never on the Mariner at the Windjammer. RCCL really planned out the seating there to occomodate all the people. On The CB (Caribbean Princess), they added the additional rooms, but didn't add any space for the additional people at the food buffet. We felt we got good service on Princess, just that the staff wasn't able to give us as good of service because of the extra people and not extra staff. We ate breakfast every day from room service after the 2nd day of trying to find a place to eat on Lido. I would definitely recommend the Champagne Balcony Breakfast if you have a balcony room. Worth every penny! We had a very nice relaxing cruise on the CB and spent a lot of time in our room on the balcony. The adults only pool at the aft of the ship was very nice and if you go up one more level, there are many quiet spots to lay out. We got a good deal on our room on that cruise ($999/person) on the Baha deck and were happy with our cruise. We paid a little more for the Mariner (as you know) and it was worth every penny more that we paid. Service, food, activities, staff, purser's desk, everything about it was just better...definitely a step up. The Promanade on the Mariner is unbelievable. Larger than life. If you have any specific questions, I'm happy to answer them.

[pinkrosesdeb]

Thanks for the review! It has been almost a yr. since our Mariner cruise. We have been on her twice and loved every minute as well. It is interesting to hear your comparison to Princess as we have never done a Princess cruise and have friends who tell us we are "slumming" with RCCL instead of Princess. We tried HAL for the same reason...were told they were MUCH better than RCCL. Well, not for us! We came running back to the Mariner and wouldn't consider HAL again. Just goes to show you, there is a place for everyone. You just need to find the right one for you. Hate to think of the cruise withdrawal you will be going thru, hate that part!!!

[islandbound1day]

Thank you for the wonderful review. I am so glad you had a wonderful time. We sailed on the Mariner last year and like you, we loved it so much that we booked it again for the same week and same itinerary in the fall.

[atlcple2]

You are absolutely right about the different lines and different strokes for different folks. We got lots of input before our Princess cruise from loyal Princess cruisers who thought it was just the best in the world and it just wasn't for us. So we tried the Mariner, still looking for the cruise line for us and we sure found it! We talked about HAL and just decided that it may be too stuffy for us...not to mention that it is considerably more expensive for our budget. We are converts for sure! We have definitely found the cruise line for us and are so happy we made the step to RCCL. For those of you out there who have been thinking about it but are just not sure if it is worth the extra $$...All I can say is that it was worth every penny for us. Carnival is still a great place for people to start cruising and you do get the most bank for the buck, but after a couple of cruises, you find your nitch and what you enjoy and look for in a cruise...where you want the cabin, what type of service and food, entertainment, etc. For us, the Mariner was a perfect match, especially with the kids. Excellent!!!!

[atlcple2]

Thank you for the wonderful review. I am so glad you had a wonderful time. We sailed on the Mariner last year and like you, we loved it so much that we booked it again for the same week and same itinerary in the fall.

 

I can certainly see why you re-booked, since we did in a heartbeat! lol

What dates did you go last year in the fall? I'm curious about how the ship handled during the rough water season. We were on the Caribbean Princess last year right after katrina hit NO and it was no picnic...DH swore off cruising during hurricane season ever again...it was that bad. Wondering if it was just the Caribbean Princesss ship...the Mariner seemed to handle the wakes a little better. We had a couple of choppy days at sea and you would never have known it on the Mariner. Very curious about your experience. Thanks!

[madisonms]

Thanks for your great review! Reading it makes me that much more excited for our upcoming Mariner cruise!!

 

Was the first formal night on Monday? You also mentioned needing cash for the slide in CocoCay. I didn't realize that. How much was that?

[Kim207]

Thanks for your review... I will be on the Mariner soon! You mentioned carrying on your bags. What size were they? The same size a airline carryon, or can you carryon larger bags on wheels (24 or 26" bags)?

Thanks!

[PSCruiser]

Your comments re the CB and crowds were what I expected to hear, however we have a balcony and can get some solitude there. Just thought we would try Princess once, and on the plus side ,we paid less for a balcony on the CB than for a promenade on the Mariner, though I am looking forward to that view also.

A few questions - how tough was it to get show seating on the CB? Did you see Burt Stratton - all I read on the Princess board are raves. I understand that Club Caribe has seafood several nights, did you do that? Did you do personal choice dining?

[Lemarier]

Thanks for a great review - can you tell me what time late seating is? We have this for July but have heard different dining times.

[afdds]

Thank you so much for the wonderful review. I was waiting for someone to post a review doing the Eastern. It sounds like you had the time of your life. We are sailing on the Mariner March 19th and can't wait. We have sailed a few other times and I was wondering about the extra dollars for RCI and now you have answered that.

 

I'm glad you mentioned the money in Coco Cay. I was going to put things on my sign and sail. Is this true for drinks too? I'd also be interested in prices for the girls to do things.

 

Was your first formal night Coco Cay?

 

Packing my jeans!

Thanks again for the great review!

[ccturner26]

We always cruise in October and really have never had an issue. I know it's hurricane season, but the weather is usually beautiful. The water is warm.

We have cruised in December/January and found the seas to be really rough, so we have sworn of that time of the year.

On another note, thanks for the great review!

[atlcple2]

Okay...I'll try to answer all your questions.

 

First Formal - Yes, I believe it was on Monday night. I'm almost positive it was because we went to Chops on Tuesday night and the next formal night was Friday night.

 

Coco Cay - Yes, if you do not pre-pay for the excursion (i.e., water slide, snorkling, etc) you have to pay cash for them. I didn't realize that either until the kids came back and said they needed cash to do them. I only took $50 cash with us on the island thinking that would be plenty for the kids to buy t-shirts or trinkets to take home...I was wrong. The slide was $20 per person. My suggestion is that you book it on the ship the night before you arrive at the port. You can do it through the television.

 

Carry On Bags - We had large bags, but were still considered carry ons by the airlines. I am pretty sure it was 22" wide, but the depth expanded with zippers. It has to fit into the x-ray machine. Ours just barely fit. I'll check the size tonight and let you know if they were bigger than that. I know the 26" is too big.

 

Mariner Late Seating for Dinner - The first night it is 8:45pm. All other nights are at 8:30pm. Our Room stewards were great about reminding us! ; )

[duluthga]

Nice review thanks.

 

Did they have a caribbean theme night? If so, which night and do you remember the menu?

Which nights were the formal nights?

Thanks.

We go in June.

[atlcple2]

Your comments re the CB and crowds were what I expected to hear, however we have a balcony and can get some solitude there. Just thought we would try Princess once, and on the plus side ,we paid less for a balcony on the CB than for a promenade on the Mariner, though I am looking forward to that view also.

A few questions - how tough was it to get show seating on the CB? Did you see Burt Stratton - all I read on the Princess board are raves. I understand that Club Caribe has seafood several nights, did you do that? Did you do personal choice dining?

 

We paid about $400 per person less for our Princess Balcony Room vs the Mariner Balcony room. It was certainly a good price and we felt it was worth the money. We had a very nice cruise on the CB, don't get me wrong. We really enjoyed the balcony a lot and spent probably about 75% of our time there. We didn't do any shows on the CB (we never do them) but heard that Bert Stratton was really great! Everyone enjoys his shows. We didn't do the seafood extravaganza on the Lido deck. A lot of it was cold seafood, which I don't care for and DH doesn't eat seafood at all, so I can't help you there. Yes, we did the Personal Choice Dining...Frankly, I found it better than traditional and wish all the ships had it! We never had to wait for a table and we went at different times every night from 6:30pm - 9:30pm. We actually got a table for 2 a couple of nights, the rest of the nights we shared a table with others which was a nice change.

[cocoabeana]

What a great review. I went on the Mariner 2 years ago and I am going to be on her this Sunday for the eastern route. I'm glad you enjoyed rccl. I only sail on rccl. Plan on booking again for next year while we are on the ship. thanks again

Sue

[Mabers]

What a great review. I went on the Mariner 2 years ago and I am going to be on her this Sunday for the eastern route. I'm glad you enjoyed rccl. I only sail on rccl. Plan on booking again for next year while we are on the ship. thanks again

Sue

 

Hey cocoabeana! We'll be on the same cruise! I agree.....a great revue! Are you going to Meet and Mingle?

Enjoy!

M.

[Nano]

What a great review...and I agree with your comments completely!! This was our third trip on the Mariner (Cabin 8246 for us) and they seem to get better every time. We especially noticed how awesome the service was on this sailing. Everyone was bending over backwards to assist us with anything we might need.

 

We also didn't know about the charge for the slide on Coco Cay, but we still managed to have a good time. My husband and youngest daughter rented Jet Skis and loved the tour they went on. I really enjoyed our day there too...it was like being in paradise.

 

We also love St. Martin. We went to Maho Beach where the airplanes land right over your head. It was a perfect set up for our family - white sand beach and beautiful turqoise waters for our 10 and 13 year old daughters to swim in, airplanes landing over head to entertain my husband, and a soft lounge chair, umbrella and cocktails for me!

 

Did you go to the M&M? We were there but didn't stay too long. How about the shows..did you enjoy them? We missed the Ice Show because we forgot to get tickets, but really enjoyed the other ones, especially the two comedians. The Beatle Mania show was also a lot of fun. My daughters got a kick out of watching me be a judge at the first Karaoke Idol night...it was quite an experience! My youngest and I made it into the cruise in review video...did you buy it? We are the mother/daughter duo featured during the "Dancing through the Decades" segment.

 

All I can say is this was our best trip ever...and we can't wait for the next one!!

Nancy

[Honeymooner3310]

Glad to read all the positive comments about the Mariner. Me and my bride-to-be will be on our honeymoon on the Mariner for the Western trip in May and are very excited. We are in a junior suite on the ninth floor. Room number 9614. We can't wait!!!

[ccjb]

We also just enjoyed a wonderful week on the Mariner( Myself,DH,26 yr old daughter and friend, 17 yr old daughter and friend ). We loved Chops and Portofinos. We reserved Portofinos the first formal night ( Monday ) and had the place almost all to ourselves. The service was unbelievable and the food was excellent. Reserve early as this was totally booked the rest of the cruise. Chops was reserved on Wed and Sat nights and also an awesome experience. We tipped our dining room waiters using the pre-paid vouchers as we feel they deserve that recognition of their good service even though we chose to go to the other restaurants. Coco Cay was pleasant. Our kids etc. did the kayaks pre-reserved thru RCCL and really enjoyed the tour. We also advise to get in line early for the tenders back to ship. Days at sea were very nice. Plenty to do. Lost a little in the casino but had such fun! My husband set himself up in the Solarium each morning and read several books. Our kids claimed seats out by the pool and spent the day sunning and enjoying the entertainment. We did Godfrey's tour in St. Thomas ( it's my maiden name and he came highly recommended through cruise critics ). Shopping, a great narrated tour on the way to Sapphire Beach and then back to the ship by 4:30PM. America's Cup Sailing Excursion on St. Maarten was the highlight of the week ( we won! ). The last 2 days at sea were relaxing. Enjoyed the spa. Overall a great cruise!! (-:

[afdds]

Leaving on March 19th. Can anyone tell me when the Caribbean night is in the dining room. I've heard this is the weakess dinner night. We want to hit both dining rooms, Port. and Chops. I thought this might be a good night to go and then one other formal night.

 

Thanks for any help.

[atlcple2]

To be honest, I don't remember any dinner being called "Caribbean Night". If you are asking about the night with lobster, it is Friday night on the Eastern itinerary. The lobster was very good. We had great meals on the ship in the dining room and next time probably won't spend the extra money to go to Chops unless we just want a night to ourselves without the kids. The food in the dining room was exceptional every night.

 

 

ccjb...Glad you guys had a great trip too! Can't wait until February 18, 2007 so we can do it all over again! ; )

[Green4me]

PS Cruiser

 

We sailed the CP over Christmas 205 on an eight day and went to Bert Stratton every night he played. Absoultely awesome, bought the CD!. Gets the crowd going. We have sailed Princess 3 times, twice on the grand once on CP. Once on Carnival Glory. The only negative was pointed out above the crowds at the buffet. The food variety was the best we have seen to date, although we have not sailed a voyager class on RCL. Only a 5 day on the Granduer of the seas. If you like fresh deli made hot pastrami or fried clams or oyters the CP is for you, we also enjoyed sabatinis and the steak house, although we may skip the latter next time. Will try and schedule the mariner as we want to be able to make the true comparisson for ourselves.

 

Enjoy

[Green4me]

PS,

 

atlcple2

 

I almost forgot awesone review :)