Just off the Mariner! *Review*

[i*heart*cruisin]

We just got off the Mariner of the Seas today from our 7-day Western Caribbean Thanksgiving cruise. It was AMAZING! The ship is humongous compared to the other two we had been on (Enchantment & Splendour) Our ship was pretty full & there was a ton of kids running around, but we still had a blast.

DAY 1: We drove down Saturday and stayed at Disney World for the night, so around 9:30 am Sunday morning we left for Port Canaveral. Got there around 11:00, and gave our luggage to the porter. Embarkation was simple, quick, & easy. Probably took 20-30 minutes. We went to the Windjammer to get some lunch and at 1:00 the rooms were open. We got adjoining promenade rooms (7291 & 7293) & we loved them. They seemed a little smaller than the normal interior staterooms, but the window seat makes up for it. We met our stateroom attendant Stanley, and just hung out the rest of the day until dinner. We had 2nd seating dinner at 8:30 in the Top Hats & Tails Dining Room on Deck 4. (Sound of Music is Deck 5 & Rhapsody in Blue is Deck 3) We had the best waitress, Angelica, and assistant waiter, Courtney. Angelica loved me & my sister, because she had kids around our age back home. (We’re 14 & 10 and her kids were 11 & 9) We love love loved the food onboard! We also had very nice tablemates, Dennis & Linda, and Diane & John. After dinner is the parade which we watched from our room. We thought this parade was good, but then we saw the one on the last night…it was even better. We skipped the show, because we were so tired. But we watched the comedian on TV later, and he was funny.

DAY 2: Day 2 was a sea day, so we just hung out, and ate good food. Tonight was the first formal night, and there were lines galore for formal pictures. They take pictures in front of all the dining rooms. It was pretty hard finding your picture among the 3,000 other people’s pictures on board, but they do have it organized pretty well. Tonight’s show was Beatle-mania. I didn’t see much of the show because I was tired and went back to the room, but my parents and sister really liked it.

DAY 3: Day 3 was LABADEE!!! WE LOVE LABADEE! We were the first tender off the ship at 8:30, & we went to Hideaway Beach. We were there by ourselves for about an hour before anyone else came. We snorkled, but we didn’t see too much. We also got a floating mat, which was really nice. Oh, and make sure you bring water shoes or something because Labadee’s beaches are rocky. Tonight’s show was Pure Energy which has songs from the 80’s. It was good, I really like to see the dancing, and all the pretty costumes.

DAY 4: Day 4 was Ocho Rios. It was rainy, and yucky in Ocho Rios. We got off the boat with plans to go to Sunset Jamaica Grande, but as we walked we just decided to go back to the ship. We met Cool Richie, “the coolest guy in Jamaica”, who told us that they don’t get rain in Jamaica, just liquid sunshine. We’ve had at great time joking about that! We basically had the ship to ourselves so we had fun at the pool and in the hot tubs. We went to Johnny Rocket’s for lunch, and it was really good. You have to pay $4 dollars to get in but it covers all your food, and the only extra charge is for milkshakes. We had coupons for buy one person get one free in the Crown & Anchor book. When you go in they give you a plate with fries & onion rings on it. We went through 2 plates so we weren’t very hungry when our delicious food came. I ordered the Rocket Double with one patty, and a Cookies & Cream shake. The shake was verrrry good, and the burger was really good too. And then I ordered dessert. I got the Oreo Sundae, and it was tasty, tasty, tasty! Totally recommend Johnny Rockets, but they said it gets REALLY busy on sea days. Oh, and tonight was the absolutely amazing ice show. My sister got to be in the train, but I was too tall. Just go in right when the doors open and there are Royal Caribbean people there asking if your kid wants to be on the train. We also had a special guest star who did these amazing acrobatics from a hoop hanging off the ceiling. She was goood. You MUST MUST MUST see that ice show.:D:D

DAY 5: Gobble, gobble, gobble. TURKEY DAAAAY!!!!!!Day 5 was Grand Cayman, but we didn’t get to get off because it was too windy. We stayed there for 2 hours just so we could see how windy it was, but then we left, and we got extra time in Cozumel. J They showed the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade on the cabin TV’s, and had a special Turkey Day menu in the dining room, and Thanksgiving banners in the Promenade. We found a place on Deck 4 where there weren’t many people, and we stayed there for most of the day. We went to the dining room for lunch, and it was good. The turkey in the dining room was good. The turkey came with 2 or 3 slices of turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and a piece of sweet potato. There wasn’t a show tonight because of the ice show. So me & mom were going to go see Devil Wears Prada in the Movie Theater on board, but when we got there it was packed, so we couldn’t see it. :mad:

DAY 6: Day 6 was Cozumel. We got there at 7 am. We had already been to Cozumel twice, so we were planning on staying on the ship, but after skipping Ocho Rios & Grand Cayman we got off. My mom had a hot stone massage at 8:00 so we didn’t get off the ship till 9:30. We went to El Cid La Ceiba, a hotel pretty close to the pier. You don’t have to take a taxi, you can just walk. We didn’t bring our snorkel gear with us to Cozumel , but we did “snorkel” just with our goggles. There were some pretty big fish there, and lots of little cute ones. At 1:00 my dad went to his scuba excursion through Royal Caribbean. We left the beach at 2:30, did some shopping, and were back on board at 3:30. The show tonight was Front Row with the Royal Caribbean singers & dancers, which was also pretty good.

DAY 7: Day 7 was yet another sea day. It was kinda sad, because we knew we would be leaving, but we still enjoyed ourselves. We went to the Solarium, and found some nice chairs in the sun, and laid there. We also went to watch the Bingo Jackpot game. The jackpot was $7,714. Me & my sister went to the Farewell show which had this guy who balanced things, a comedian, and the other various Farewell things. The balancing guy was amazing, the comedian was hilarious, Everyone likes long walks on the beach, you go to the beach and you see a big group of people from e-harmony.com LOOKING FOR LOVE! and Becky’s Top 10 questions were really funny too. My favorite was “The microwave in my room won’t open, and I still have food cooking in it.” Yeah, that’s not a microwave, it’s a safe. We, sadly, packed up our things. They also had a parade tonight. It was Enchanted Knights, and had princess, and other castley things. Harry Potter meets Shrek. Reallly good.

 

DAY 8: We did the walk off early and carry your own luggage option. We got in line at 6:30, and we were pretty close to the end, and we were let off the ship around 7:00. Disembarkation was pretty easy, the hardest part was wheeling all of our junk to our car. But then we drove home, and now were back.

 

And that ladies & gentlemen is a week on the Mariner! Any questions?

[boaterette]

Very nice review. You write very well. Thank you. I hope to take my 13 year old niece on this cruise soon. I hope she has as good a time as you seem to have had.

[maps]

great review--thanks for posting!

[PirateGal]

Good review! Well written!

 

Just a quick question about movies in the theatre...do they have these every day with a schedule posted of what is playing when...and do they serve popcorn too? ;)

 

Thanks!

[i*heart*cruisin]

They have the schedule for the day posted in the Cruise Compass, or if you go down to the theatre they show you what movies are playing all week. But the theatre is very small, it probably only fits 25 people. No popcorn though!

[QTMichele]

I'm going on the Mariner (Western) in 3 months and cannot wait! Especially after reading such great reviews like yours! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your experience!

[medfordgirl]

They have the schedule for the day posted in the Cruise Compass, or if you go down to the theatre they show you what movies are playing all week. But the theatre is very small, it probably only fits 25 people. No popcorn though!

 

just curious, what movies were playing during the week? I will be on explorer next sunday, they may be showing the same movies?

[i*heart*cruisin]

They have 2 daytime movies & 2 evening movies. We had a lot of kids movies, but that might have been because we had a lot of kids on our ship. During the day they had 2 movies and they were something like RV, Madagascar, Bambi, Akeelah & the Bee. But at night they had movies like Devil wears Prada, 16 blocks, and other movies but I dont remember them. I'm not sure if Explorer has the same movies.