3/5 Mariner - Eastern Review

[lschrage]

Hi All-

 

This will be a quick review recapping highlights, rather day to day details:

 

Pre-cruise activities: Hubby and I did WDW for 3-days before the cruise (stayed at the Dolphin on property). I think I walked 100 miles in 3 days! Haven't been to the mouse's house in a few years, and I think it will be several years before we go back. Too many outdated attractions that need to be re-done. Soarin' in Epcot is great, but too much other stuff is just in need of being completely gutted. They also need a few more thrill rides. Next time we leave from Port Canaveral, we'll be hitting Universal.

 

Rental Car: Used Budget. Nasty wait at MCO, but the ease of returning at the Cape Canaveral location and the helpfulness of the staff and shuttle driver more than made up for our less than desireable wait to pick up the car. If you use Budget, do yourself a favor and sign up for their express service on the web...that way you can bypass the line at the airport counter. Ended up paying $75 inluding taxes for the 3 days using coupons.

 

Embarkation: The fastest and smoothest process I've ever seen. I think we were on the ship with 15 minutes of having our luggage taken at the curb.

 

Cabin: We booked a grand suite and loved it. We've been fortunate enough to have the grand suite for our last three cruises, and now I can't imagine every doing anything else that that! Our cabin steward, Carlos, was fantastic. The concierge, Ricardo, was also very good.

 

The captain: Capt. Johnny was the best. He's hilarious and very much a people person. So opposite the captain we had when we sailed the Adventure last time (we named the Adventure captain Capt. Boring). I looked forward to the "Good Morning Good Morning Good Morning" everyday. Also chuckled at his last announcement on debarkation morning..."last one off the ship gets to clean it"

 

The CD: James Andrews was the CD and he was hilarious. Best CD of all of our cruises. His aussie accent was adorable and he knew how to really take advantage of the humorous moments. Also noticed his tattoo on his leg and ankle...not something you would necessarily expect, but totally fits with his personality.

 

Fellow passengers: For whatever reason, this cruise was dominated by the over-65 crowd. Hubby and I are mid/late 30s and we found this cruise a tad bit sedate for us. Good thing we really wanted to veg this cruise! Not quite sure why it skewed older this time. On all our previous cruises, there was always a nice mix of age ranges. Not the case on this cruise.

 

Main dining room: We had main seating, and somehow ended up with a table for two (table 401). Fine with us. We only ended up eating in the main dining room twice; the first night and then lobster night. The food was ok. Nothing spectacular, and nothing horrible. Is it just me, or does it seem the food quality has slipped a bit in the last 4-5 years? The one thing I will add is that the lobster was really good on this cruise, not mushy and overcooked as from previous cruises.

 

Portofinos: Good food. I had the shrimp, scallop, lobster, and salmon skewers for dinner which were very good. I aslo ate wayyy too much bread before the dinner came out. The dessert (tiramisu) was wonderful.

 

Chopps: The better of the two restaurants, I belive. Don't go expecting Ruth Chris or Morton's, as you'll be disappointed. Their dessert of the chocolate mud pie was heavenly.

 

Windjammer: Always busy for breakfast. The new system for the omelette stations is much improved. You give your order for what you want, they give you a number, and then call you when you're order is up. Much better than hovering around waiting for your omelette to be made. The egg beater omelettes were quite good, byt the way. For lunch and dinner, they had a decent selection for the salad bar. Gotta love that romaine lettuce. Everyday at lunch, I would make myself a cobb salad of sorts; romaine lettuce, hard boiled egg, bacon, mushrooms, and black olives. The I would ask for some sliced turkey to put on it (since they didn't have the lunchmeat out on the buffet). Ate dinner in there once and it was just ok.

 

Johnny Rockets: Their fries are really good there. Especially dipped in the ranch dressing. Unfortunately, we had a late lunch there on our first formal night, so we were too full to show up to for the first of the two formal dinners

 

Room service: This was the first time that we ordered room service on the cruise. It was our last night and we ordered the main dining room food for our dinner so that we could pack and eat. Having room service on the balcony was wonderful.

 

Ok, that's all for now. I'm getting really sleepy and net to get some sleep after this really hard work week. I will continue to update ya'll as some as I have mor info!

[luv2cruise03]

Thanks for the review...looking forward to our trip in a couple of weeks.

[cocoabeana]

I was on the cruise with you. Its funny you mentioned the age group because I have never been on a cruise with so many over 65's myself. It was very noticeable to me the first day. Seemed like there were less kids. Didn't bother me either. Had a wonderful cruise and a relaxing vacation.

[GOALIEMOM30]

We are coming in a day early and are also using Budget. Now, you say you can get express service on the Web? How much extra does that cost? Also you mentioned that you only paid $75 for 3 days, I am paying $63 for 1. What kind of coupons did you use? Also, we are staying a day later after the cruise and are also staying at the Dolphin Resort. What did you think of the place?

Thanks for your input.

[lschrage]

GoalieMom-

 

The Budget express service is called FastBreak, I believe, and you can sign up on Budget's website. Cost is free, I think. In terms of what we paid, we reserved a compact (I think), which ended up being a Chevy Malibu Maxx, which turned out to be a great car. We rented it from thurs-sun. I searched online for Budget discounts, specifically googled "Budget coupon" and "Budget discount codes". I ended up finding a "Free Weekend Day" coupon. The original rate was around $112, then they took of the coupon when I turned in the car, which ended up making it close to $75.

 

The Dolphin hotel was nice. Not as nice as the Yacht and Beach Club, or the Boardwalk, but much cheaper this time of year. Their pool area is nice. The only thing I didn't really care for was the lack of counter space in the bathroom and the walk to the room. I felt like I was in one of the Vegas strip hotels with how long of a walk it was from the elevator to our room. The resort location, though, is great, and you get the added benefit of getting Starwood points if you're a Starwood member. If you have time for a great dinner, make reservations at Flying Fish Cafe at the Boardwalk. We had a great dinner there. Not cheap, though.

[lschrage]

Continued Review:

 

Fitness center: This was the first time that I actually used the gym while on the ship. They do have a nice fitness center. They had step areobics every morning (didn't do, but I will have to next time), as well as a decent selection of elliptical trainers, treadmills, bikes, and stair steppers. The gym started to get busy by about 9:00 am, but the wait for cardio machines was never more than 5 minutes. They also had a decent set up in terms of weight machines. Not as much of a variety a full fledged gym, but better than most resorts and hotels. They had enough so that you could work every muscle group. The view, of course, is fabulous since it is in the front of the ship. Wish my gym at home had that view! My routine for this cruise was to warm up with the walk-a-mile in the morning on Deck 12 (wanted to get those ship shape dollars, you know), and then head to the gym for more strenuous cardio with some weights after. Towels were provided in the gym, and lockers are available, should you need one.

 

Shows: We only did a few of the shows. One of the shows, there was this headliner from Vegas, who was a variety type performer. Hubby and I didn't care for him at all, and walked out about 10 minutes into the show. The Beatles tribute band "The Revolution" were really good. Probably the best show of the ones we saw. The 80's show was a little on the cheesy side. We did the first Ice Show, and was surpised to get there 10 minutes before to find that there were no seats available together, so I stayed and hubby left. The Ice Show was pretty humorous. This particular show rivaled the Olympic Ice Dancing short program in that virtually every skater had a fall of some sort. The Love & Marriage show and Quest still remain the highlights of all the shows. How the hubby didn't know what size bra his wife wore is beyond me. I mean, please, since he paid for them, he should know what size they were....

 

San Juan: We were here at an odd time; from 4-11 pm. We went to El Morro and walked around outside since the Fort was closed, and then walked the pathway near the water, and then headed over to the Parrot Club for dinner and cocktails. If you have a chance to go to the Parrot Club, make sure you try their coconut martini. It was great!! After that, we headed back to the ship. On the way in, we noticed that the duty free store was mobbed. Not sure why it was so busy since St. Thomas and St. Martin were coming up and booze can be bought cheaper there.

 

St. Thomas: We originally planned on going to St. John, but had to change plans when we were standing in line at the Red Hook ferry. Stupid me realized that I didn't have enough cash for us to get a taxi back to the ship on the return leg. Thankfully I realized that before we were on St. John! That being the case, we ended up taking a taxi from Red Hook to Sapphire beach. I'm glad we did. It was great there. Didn't have to spend all the time getting to and from St. John and then taking additional taxis. Instead, we were able to spend more time relaxing on the beach. The snorkeling was pretty decent there. It was a great beach day there.

 

St. Martin: I left hubby on the ship in the morning and headed in to town to do some shopping. Bought myself a beautiful pair of 14k gold, sapphire, and diamond earrings. The booze was purchased from the big liquor store on Front. St. The nice thing is that if you buy 4 liters or more by 2:00 (local time...1:00 ship's time), they will arrange to have it sent to the ship for you. For a total of $58, I was able to buy a liter each of Stoli-Vanila, Bacardi-Coconut, Grand Marnier, Tequila, and Mango Malibu rum. Not too shabby.

I headed back to the ship to get hubby so that we could do Orient Beach. It ended up being very windy there and not as warm. We only ended up staying for about and hour and a half before we had had enough. On the way back to the ship, we shared a cab with four other people. We come to find out that the Celebrity Infinity, whcih was docked next to us, was a chartered gay cruise. And here I thought that St. Martin was just extremely friendly for gay population! It was kind of strange to be on our balcony looking over at the Infinity and seeing nothing but hard-bodied males. Not a female in sight on that ship, except for the ship's staff...

 

At-Sea Days: There were three and half days at sea (the half day was San Juan day since we didn't arrive in to port until 4:00). All were very relaxing and nice. The second to last sea day was a little rockier on the ship, so much so that they drained the two main pools for the day. The Belly flop was postponed for the following day. The solarium's pool was still open, however, so it was quite busy

 

That's all for this installment. If there are any questions you'd like answered, let me know and I'll try my best to answer them.

[BlondieGrrl]

I went on the Mariner last year, and I loved it!!! Something happened before we boarded (something with the Coast Guard, I'm not sure) and had to wait outside for like 3 hours!! But after that it was great!!!

I remember James Andrews!!! I LOVE HIM!!!!

 

Great Cruise!!!!

[GOALIEMOM30]

Thanks for the info on Budget. I will definately look into both the coupons and the express line.

Thanks again.:)

[retiredldo]

We were also on that trip and will add a couple of snippets, we thought the ice show was outstanding, now falls were metioned, but lets keep this in perspective, a small ice surface, pretty well pitted and some soft spots, considering that the olympics etc have a great ice surface to work with, I think these folks on a moving ship did a trememdous job.

 

The second show by the cruise dancers and singers was very slow moving, not alot of pop to it. Otherwise we enjoyed the rest of the shows. However, we did like to dance and many times the groups would just finish up a song and leave without any form of announcement and some of the places that they have set up to dance are terribel but whadda gonna due

 

We used thrifty, and actually flew in and out of tampa, the folks at tampa and port canaveral were outstanding, no waits at all. Cost of the last day to drive from the pier back to tampa, about 30 bucks and we got upgraded to a convertible. Not a bad things

 

Took in some spring training games in st pete before the cruise and clearwater after the cruise.

 

I would also agree on the food, it is was it is, massed produced food and it has dropped over the years, but you still get plenty to choose from and plenty to eat

 

Just some thoughts and remember Life is not a dress rehersal