Just off Mariner - Comments & Observations

[GMoney]

I was fortunate enough to have spent the last week on Mariner OTS, doing her Eastern Caribbean itinerary of San Juan, St. Maarten and St. Thomas. In short, I am happy to report that we had an excellent time.

 

Based on all of the negativity on these boards recently, I kept trying to find evidence of all these reported "cutbacks" and "deterioration" of the line. Try as I might, I could not. Have things changed over the past 9 years since I began cruising? Sure, and I'm the first one to criticize RCI when I feel it's warranted. But overall, I think RCI provides a great experience and value for the money.

 

Below are some specific comments that may be of interest. Otherwise, please feel free to ask questions, and I'll try to help as best I can.

 

> Embarkation. The process went smoothly and was fairly well run. Parking for the week is $70. We arrived around 12noon and there were modest lines out each door of the terminal to get in the building and clear security. it took about 20 minutes to clear this initial stage. Once upstairs, we were able to get in the D+ check in line and didn't have to wait at all.

 

As you board, the ship's photogs take your Sea Pass, scan it, and then take your welcome aboard photo. Everyone is basically forced into this process; there's no bypassing it. I'll explain why later. :mad: You then stop a second time for your Sea Pass security photo.

 

> Ship. I was last on Mariner in July, and she is still in great shape. No real signs of wear n tear, even on the normally worn down places like the golf course. Everything was functioning and looked great.

 

> Gym. Having just lost 25 pounds, I spent a lot of time in the gym and was determined to try and keep my weight gain in check. The gym on Voyager class ships is great, and Mariner was no exception. In July, a lot of the equipment was out of order; that's now all been fixed. There were plenty of sanitizing wipes. The first few days were crowded like the gym usually is, and that was exacerbated a bit of all of the "new year's resolutioners," but I didn't experience any real wait times.

 

> Pool. Surprisingly, the pool area was not completely swamped. Don't get me wrong - it was busy, but you could generally find a chair, and I didn't see too many hogs.

 

> Internet. Price per minute is now 55 cents. The speed was decent though.

 

> Passengers. My last cruises were 2 weeks in Alaska and a month in the Med, so it was nice to be with a decidedly younger crowd. Not too many kids, but seemingly lots of college students and young adults.

 

> Photos. Mariner seems to be running an experiment in their Photo Shop. Instead of the prints being displayed on the boards on Deck 3, each cabin has a pouch. Photos taken during the cruise are then placed in the pouch for people to review and purchase.

 

> C&A. There were 1200 C&A members on board. I think the breakdown was roughly 800 gold, 200 platinum, 100 diamond and 100 D+. The top cruiser had 93 credits; I hate being eclipsed LOL ...:D The Q&A session at the Welcome Back party consisted of a handful of pax griping to the captain about the most inane things. Note to complainers: This is neither the time nor the place to air your grievances about the bus driver you had on the way from MCO to Port Canaveral. It's the freakin' Captain for goodness sake!

 

> Staff. We just missed Captain Johnny; he left on his Harley as we were boarding. Captain Per was his replacement, and was decent enough. CD Drew was the same - nice guy, but I never pay too much attention to these folks anyway. Deborah Gorman was the Loyalty Ambassador / Future Cruise chick; she is one of my favorite RCI employees and does a great job. Our stateroom attendant Kevin was one of our best ever.

 

> Windjammer. Typically busy at peak times, especially on sea days. Food quality & selection was standard. Plenty of brown sugar and raisins for everyone's oatmeal. The only negative is that they have 1 - that's right, ONE - hand sanitizer stand as you enter, so everyone ends up in a line for no reason, congesting the entryway. Hello RCI, let's bust out another $5 hand sanitizer stand!

 

> Dining. We were fortunately able to change from late to main dining; I don't know how people eat dinner at 830! Service was good but unremarkable. Tablemates were very friendly and made every night a pleasure. Again, food quality & selection was standard. Same as every RCI cruise I can recall. I still hate the Get Out There menu, but that's what Chops is for. :rolleyes: For those who care, the "Fisherman's Plate" (aka lobster) was offered, and our waiter proactively asked if anyone wanted seconds.

 

> Chops. We went on Wednesday to avoid the aforementioned Get Out There menu. Food and service were very good. As reported, the cover is up to $25pp. Portofino remains $20pp. I'd pay $25 just for that chocolate flourless cake! :D

 

> Entertainment. Tragic as usual. If I cared, I guess I could let this bother me. I'm quite happy with the tv shows and movies I bring on my iPod. :) There was a magician, juggler and comedian, as well as Beatlemania. The latter was very good; but I'm just not a Beatles fan.

 

> Sports Programming. Fortunately, RCI was on the ball and provided the satellite feed for the NFL wild card games and the BCS Championship. I still miss the sports bar on the promenade, but the 19th Hole on Deck 14 suffices.

 

> Concierge Lounge. The concierge was Alan, who was pleasant and did a nice job. Didn't ask anything of him though. The revered coffee machine in the lounge was broken and remains so, despite attempts to fix it. The best part is that a satellite lounge was opened on day 2 on Deck 14 to relieve the overcrowding, so it was nice to be able to partake in this benefit for a change.

 

> Itinerary. This is really a 2-stop cruise (St M and St T), because you arrive in SJ at 3pm, making it a throw away stop. I had just enough time to get a nice wallet at Coach for a great price. :D

 

St Maarten is one of my favorite islands. I've been there like 2 dozen times, and each time went to Orient Beach. This time, we rented a car and drove around the island to Marigot. Traffic was insane, and Marigot is not a bargain because everything is in Euros, but it's a charming little place. Mariner was one of 3 ships in port.

 

I fled St Thomas for Cinnamon Bay on St John. What a lovely little place. Y'all can keep your Meagan's Bay and Coki Beach. =) I spent the day kayaking from island to island.

 

> Disembarkation. This was made easy because we went through Immigration at St T. We did self debarkation. People were in line at 615am. The ship docked at 630. Debarkation started just before 7. Things went smoothly until the friggin geniuses at Port Canaveral made everyone carrying any kind of luggage use the elevator rather than the escalator. I can understand if you have some big piece of rolling luggage, but I travel light with a backpack and a small roller, all of which I can easily carry. Even so, the nasty, enforce-the-rules-at-all-costs-and-make-no-exceptions port employees refused to let me use the escalator. Whatever.

 

Even so, I was out of the terminal by 710a and at the airport by 745a.

 

I will miss Mariner once she is sent out to the West Coast to die...

[Sue L]

Hey Patrick,

 

 

Glad you found all the rumors to be unfounded ( figured as much), but I still can't figure out what you do that allows you so much time and $ to cruise. You want to adopt me?????

[rclcruzer]

I was just curious by what you meant when you said you would miss her when she is sent out to the west coast to die?

[GMoney]

I was just curious by what you meant when you said you would miss her when she is sent out to the west coast to die?

 

Because she's being banished to that tragic Mexican Riviera until the end of time, never to return...:eek: :D ;)

[rclcruzer]

Because she's being banished to that tragic Mexican Riviera until the end of time, never to return...:eek: :D ;)

Gotcha..........my Hubby would totally agree with you! However, I am talking him into that cruise when she comes out here to us, only because I love the ship, not so much the ports etc.... He is still thinking about it!. He would rather pay the extra airfare and fly to Miami to go to the warm Caribbean, can't blame him!

[GMoney]

Gotcha..........my Hubby would totally agree with you! However, I am talking him into that cruise when she comes out here to us, only because I love the ship, not so much the ports etc.... He is still thinking about it!. He would rather pay the extra airfare and fly to Miami to go to the warm Caribbean, can't blame him!

 

If I lived in your part of the world, I would be ecstatic about Mariner's arrival! Whatever you do, have a great time...

[rclcruzer]

If I lived in your part of the world, I would be ecstatic about Mariner's arrival! Whatever you do, have a great time...

I'm happy, but I do like Freedom more, so maybe we will do that again. I am more upset about Monarch leaving than anything :( On the flip side though, it's great for Cal. to have a huge ship out here!

Happy Cruising!

[RJHeller]

ok..I got a few questions to ask, now i can get a first hand answer instead of of rumors.

 

What pier were you at when you docked in San Juan?

 

Midnight Buffet yes or no?

 

How bad is immigration in St. Thomas?

 

Latest drink prices?

 

Thanks!

[Mlkkc]

Great review now what is all on the fisherman platter?

[Merion_Mom]

> Internet. Price per minute is now 55 cents. The speed was decent though.

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Pootle]

ok..I got a few questions to ask, now i can get a first hand answer instead of of rumors.

 

What pier were you at when you docked in San Juan?

 

It will the the PanAm pier

 

How bad is immigration in St. Thomas?

 

Went through immigration in St Thomas when on AOS back in August. They have a couple of officials come on board, they set them in in the dining room - one floor for US citizens and the other for foreign nationals. Everyone on board has to report to them before they will start allowing any passengers off the ship (although, this is not strictly true because during our second week there were a couple of people that had not bothered to turn up to immigration and they started letting passengers off anyway). Depending on what time you get to the dining room, we queued from between about 25 to 45 minutes.....

 

Thanks!

 

 

OP, where did you hear Mariner is going to the west coast? We will be on her in May and she's leaving from Port Canaveral then......

[truffles2]

Don't know how you could have missed all the talk about Mariner moving to the West Coast....its been going on for months. She moves January 2009 with 3 fifteen day cruises going around S. America. Come on along.

[GMoney]

Here's what I can tell you...

 

What pier were you at when you docked in San Juan?

The new one in Old San Juan, not the Pan American pier where Adventure and Serenade board their pax. There were 3 other ships in port with us.

 

Midnight Buffet yes or no?

I do not recall seeing this.

 

How bad is immigration in St. Thomas?

It was the best I've ever seen, but I went right when it started. No wait, just walked right through.

 

Latest drink prices?

I can't help too much with this, because the only drink I had was a top shelf cosmo for $10.

[GMoney]

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

 

LOL I know! With all of the bashing on this board lately, I'm surprised this hasn't gotten more attention.

[GMoney]

Great review now what is all on the fisherman platter?

 

A small tail from the cockroach of the sea and a few large shrimp. I've never actually eaten it. :)

[GMoney]

OP, where did you hear Mariner is going to the west coast? We will be on her in May and she's leaving from Port Canaveral then......

 

She re-positions in January 09.

[RME]

Great review now what is all on the fisherman platter?

 

I was on the same cruise. Fisherman platter consisted of a lobster tail, a few shrimp, rice, and veggies. It was quite good and you could have seconds if you wanted. We found the dining room food, service, and wine service to be excellent. I decided they must have read all the complaints here and then improved. We are four rather discriminating eaters and we all thought the dining room was excellent. However, we were not happy with the food or selection in Windjammer, in general.

[RME]

ok..I got a few questions to ask, now i can get a first hand answer instead of of rumors.

 

What pier were you at when you docked in San Juan?

 

Midnight Buffet yes or no?

 

How bad is immigration in St. Thomas?

 

Latest drink prices?

 

Thanks!

 

We found drink prices to be very reasonable. We got mixed drinks where they definitely did not skimp on the alcohol for less than $6 each in general. Same drinks in New York City would have been a lot more. Wine prices were about the same as at restaurants in New York.

 

Immigration in St. Thomas was too easy. Only problem was they did not tell us til the night before that we would need to be there before 9:15 a.m. We called our kids to wake them and let them know.

 

I think there might have been some kind of midnight buffet on a few nights, but not the way it used to be at all. I did not go but remember seeing something in the compass.

[Nliedel]

I think the west coast switch was confirmed about the time the Liberty did her inaugeral. I know I was very active cause I was sailing and that was my last cruise.

 

I didn't get what you meant about bypassing the seapass. I probably missed it, not enough coffee. Can someone point me to it?

 

I LOVE Captain Johnny. I never thought who the captain was meant a hill of beans till I sailed with him. He's just a hoot. "Good morning, good morning, good morning."

[Maddycakes]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the great info...I had 2 quick questions for you or anyone who migh know the answer. I'll be on the LOS in May on their Eastern.

 

1. Do you know what the "get out there" menu consists of? ( I'm trying to decide what days to do the specialty restaurant...this day sounds like a contender:) )

 

2. We have the lost port day stop and San Juan as well, you mentioned Coach wallet....Is there a great store there? In general does San Juan have good shopping?

 

Thanks in advance for the info;)

 

Lisa

[AndyB]

> Photos. Mariner seems to be running an experiment in their Photo Shop. Instead of the prints being displayed on the boards on Deck 3, each cabin has a pouch. Photos taken during the cruise are then placed in the pouch for people to review and purchase.

 

> Dining. I still hate the Get Out There menu, but that's what Chops is for. :rolleyes:

 

We'll be on Mariner W. Carib. this July. Second cruise on RCCL.

 

I think I'd miss the Photo Gallery - I rather like looking at all the photos (not necessarily my own!).

 

What is the "Get Out There" menu? I don't remember that from Jewel last year.

[RJHeller]

thanks for the firsthand answers.

[mattwright]

As you board, the ship's photogs take your Sea Pass, scan it, and then take your welcome aboard photo. Everyone is basically forced into this process; there's no bypassing it. I'll explain why later. :mad: You then stop a second time for your Sea Pass security photo.

 

There's no way to bypass the welcome aboard photo? That is always a horrible, ridiculous bottleneck of the line to board the ship, but at least on previous cruises I've been able to just walk around/behind it if I didn't feel like waiting. So just walking right on by isn't even an option when boarding Mariner? That will be a frustrating way to start the week.

[GMoney]

1. Do you know what the "get out there" menu consists of? ( I'm trying to decide what days to do the specialty restaurant...this day sounds like a contender:) )

 

This is so bad - I can't even recall what's on it! :eek: I think it's Turkey Tenderloins, something-encrusted Tilapia for entrees. The appetizers are not appealing to me. It's just an all around dud. Someone will have more details. The following night's menu that features the pork chop is no winner either.

 

2. We have the lost port day stop and San Juan as well, you mentioned Coach wallet....Is there a great store there? In general does San Juan have good shopping?

 

I'm no shopping expert, but while SJ isn't bad, I prefer St T and St M. I think it depends on what you are shopping for. There are good Coach and Polo stores, decently stocked and running some post-Xmas deals. I got an $88 wallet for $48, and it is exactly what I wanted, so I was happy.

[GMoney]

There's no way to bypass the welcome aboard photo? That is always a horrible, ridiculous bottleneck of the line to board the ship, but at least on previous cruises I've been able to just walk around/behind it if I didn't feel like waiting. So just walking right on by isn't even an option when boarding Mariner? That will be a frustrating way to start the week.

 

Yup - you are exactly right. The process creates another unnecessary bottleneck, and you can't bypass it (which I do every cruise). As you pass through the terminal to get to the ship, you are herded into 2 lines, - 1 for groups of 2 or less, one of group of 3 or more. They sort of "trick" you by making it seem it's a new way to do the security photo. The photog demands you Sea Pass, swipes it, and takes your picture. Then you move on and go around the corner, only to realize that it's then time to stop again for the actual Sea Pass security photo.