Mariner Review (3/28/2004)

[ksutton]

First off, I would like state that this is my opinion (and only that). I'm sure there are as many people out the who will disagree with me as would agree. Hopefully, someone will gain some insight...

 

Boarding

We were at the port around 11:15-11:30. We were on the ship and in our rooms within 15 minutes. I have to say this was VERY painless process. A+

 

The Ship

The size and elegance were simply amazing! The ship is VERY well laid out and has a little bit of everything. The Promenade is a perfect place for people-watching. Rocking was definitely significant. The wierd thing is that I never got sea-sick, nor did I feel the need to take Bonine or Dramamine. The rocking was noticeable, but not a problem.

 

The Rooms (we had an E1 balcony - 8316)

The rooms were very nice and large enough to move around in. Twin beds pushed together plus a small couch, TV, etc. The shower was small but very nice since it has a circular enclosure which does away with the inconvenience of shower curtains. Plenty of room for the both of us to get ready with the large desk/mirrors outside of the bathroom. There was much more privacy on the balcony compared to last year's trip on the Grand Princess. The balconies are not tiered so you don't have to worry about your upstairs neighbors watching down upon your every move. There are balcony doors between the rooms which can be opened upon request. Even though we had freinds next door, we all enjoyed our private times in our own rooms/balconies so we never requested they be opened. The doors can rattle during high winds. Just wedge a folded piece of paper in the door hinge to avoid that problem at night. The beds were comfy and the rocking of the ship creates a nice lull feeling.

 

Food

Chops - awesome! Definitely worth the $20 per person. The cheesecake was to die for!

Portafino's - we did not try, but the on ship opinions were 100% in line with what I have read on Cruise Critic --- not worth the extra price.

Johnny Rockets - service was slow and the food was nothing you can't find on land. It is definitely worth the $3.95 surcharge and most people didn't seem to mind. Early in the week was very light. Later in the week, we found 30 minute wait times.

Windjammer - breakfast and lunch selections were decent. Food was not the greatest, but it was not bad when you consider the amount of people they have to feed during the week.

Dining Room - the food was pretty good. Also not the best I've had, but definitely enjoyable. Our waiter was AWESOME! He was very honest when it came to recommending menu items. All of the bread they served was the best. And the menu selections were broad enough to include options for all types of tastes. The midnight desert buffet was unbelievable!

 

Service

Simply the BEST! The Dining Room staff was the best I have EVER had anywhere. If you get Mihai, you are in luck! "Action Time!" We were invited to dine at the Captain's table one night and the service there was great, but no where as good as Mihai & Co. Bar service was readily available, but they were no where near as pushy as they were on Princess. They didn't try to "sell" drinks. They simply made sure to be around when needed. Cabin steward was great. He entertained every request no matter how insignificant. I recommend doing as we did and getting the fridge emptied upon arrival. You can make use of the fridge for keeping your own drinks chilled. The towel animals were fun to see each night.

 

Entertainment

I was told that RCCL was much better than Princess when it comes to entertainment. I have to disagree. I was not impressed with the Activities Staff nor the Events. The headliner comedian was horrible. The ice show was decent considering the size of the rink. But one show that is a MUST SEE is the singing impersonator (Paul Bollen, I think was his name). When it came to Karaoke, etc. the Activities Staff did not bring much personality to the mix. The final Karaoke show was good as it was a "professional" production. All of the competitors were relatively good compared to some of the tone-deaf people we heard during the earlier rounds. The Love & Marraige show was also a lot of fun.

 

Ports of Call

Nassau - nothing great. Port was overwhelmed with a "trash" smell and the city seemed a bit touristy & dirty compared to the other Caribbean ports I have called on. We did the Blackbeard's Island excursion. With the exception of the natives fighting over who was going to rent the next Wave Runner, the beach was enjoyable. I would definitely not recommend the Stingray encounter. Compared to Stingray City at Grand Cayman this seemed like a real rip off.

St. Thomas - simply beautiful! The island was very green, the water was very clear, and the people were very friendly. Make sure to stop by Star Jewelers for great shopping! We did the Catamaran Sail & Snorkel. This was a blast! The ride was about 30 minutes each way, with a nice long snorkel over a small shipwreck and free (or "included" rather) rum punch on the ride back to the dock.

San Juan - HATED IT! We ate lunch at Senoir Frogs. Service & Food were horrible! And we weren't the only ones walking out very unhappy. In fact, I didn't see one happy customer then entire 2 hours it took to get served. The town was very boring, the people were overall very unfriendly, and the shopping was poor compared to St. Thomas.

 

Internet Access

Unlimited in-room access is available for $100. We didn't use this since the computer access was right outside our room (deck 8). The per minute charge for general access was 50 cents. The speed was decent for the occassional emails and the per minute charges were more "user-friendly" than the 15 minute blocks that Princess charged last year.

 

The Pools

The pools were a little chilly at first. Filled with ocean water, they were also a bit salty. They were very relaxing during the nice hot days lounging in the sun. RCCL did a pretty good job patroling for seat savers. We were approached several times and warned that towels would be removed if we were away from our chairs longer than 30 minutes. I would definitely recommend getting out there early on Sea Days. There are plenty of chairs, but it's all about LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.

 

Workout Facility

They have a large selection of Cardio, Free-Weights, and Weight Machines. Get there early to avoid the rush. They open at 6:00 and are usually pretty full by 8:00.

 

Disembarking

This was just as efficient as boarding. We were off the ship and had our luggage within 30 minutes of our color being called.

 

All I can think of for now... let me know if you have any questions.

 

Kevin

 

Mariner of the Seas 3/04

Grand Princess 2/03

[cruiseclues]

Kevin,

 

Thanks for the nice detailed review. We enjoyed it.

 

 

Happy Cruising, Buil, http://cruiseclues.com

Sitmar, RCCL, Costa, HAL, Princess, Royal Cruise Line, Celebrity, Renaissance, Disney, MSC Lirica

"We cannot change the direction of the wind... but we can adjust our sails"

 

[hwilson]

Thank you for the review. I enjoyed it. Sounds like you had a great trip. We are looking forward to our turn.

 

Mariner of the Seas

[Guest]

I really enjoyed your review. Thank you. Going 6/13/04 in an aft cabin. I'll take your advice and go to Chops.

[cprincess]

Kevin,

 

I noticed you went to San Juan instead of St. Maarten. What was the reason? And is this a prem. schedule change?

 

 

Viking Serenade 7/91

Enchantment of the Seas (2 Back to Back Cruises) 9/02

Voyager of the Seas 11/03

Brilliance of the Seas 11/03

Mariner of the Seas 5/04

 

[Tra4]

Thanks for the review. I think this itinerary was changed before they boarded to San Juan as there were too many ships in St. Maarten that day, but I'm going on memory, so I may be wrong.

 

Tracey

 

Until we cruise again. . . . . .

 

Premier Oceanic-Bahamas, 2/89

Rhapsody-East. Carib. 12/97

Grand Princess-East. Car. 5/00

Radiance-Hawaii,10/2001

Adventure-South. Car. 7/2002

Brilliance-Panama Canal 12/2003 "Happy New Year!"

Mariner-East. Carib. 6/2004

[ducklite]

They have added the "in-room" computers for Internet on the Mariner? I didn't think they had them! I'd gladly pay $100 for a week of in-room unlimited service!

 

Anne

[royalcaribbeanfan]

Thanks for the review. Our family is going with Anne's (ducklite) family in October 2005. We were going to go to Portofino's but because of your review, we might go to Chops instead. I now have a very good idea of what the ship is like. Thanks again.

 

 

Happy Cruising

 

Patty

[cprincess]

Well DRAT! We were really looking forward to St. Maarten. Maybe the May 2nd sailing will get to squeeze in there somehow.

 

 

Viking Serenade 7/91

Enchantment of the Seas (2 Back to Back Cruises) 9/02

Voyager of the Seas 11/03

Brilliance of the Seas 11/03

Mariner of the Seas 5/04

 

[RJG]

I was on the same cruise and would like to add a few more complaints.

1. The elevators. I know it was a full ship but we sailed the Star Princess last year and did not have this problem. I think we took the elevators twice during the whole cruise. The wait was way way way too long for an elevator then when it finaly showed up it was full.

2. The Windjammer food was very poor. Variety was also very limited. It was also not open late. (I know we all eat too much on these cruises but it was nice last year on the Star to vist their buffet 24/7)With the way the elevators worked we at least could burn off the calories taking the stairs!

3. It was dispappointing they did not replace Labadee. I would have rathered another port rather than an additional day at sea. When you have all 3500 guests on board at the same time the ship feels crowded.

 

Other than that I would agree with the positive things Kevin had to say.

[ksutton]

The itenerary for our trip was changed several times before our cruise. We were originally on the Nassau, St. Thomas, St. Maarten itenerary that they are running now. From what we were told, St. Maarten was overbooked for ships, so they changed to San Juan and added Labadee. After the Haiti incidents, RCCL cancelled Labadee and replaced it with Freeport. All the way until the day of the cruise, we were told repeatedly that we would be visiting Freeport. When we arrived on the ship, we found out that Freeport was cancelled (a little disappointing, but I enjoy Sea Days). Apparantly, two weeks prior, the water level was so low that the ship scraped bottom on the way back out, so the cpatain refused to go back there.

 

Our trip was the last one scheduled to go to San Juan. The future sailings (at least from what we were told) would be returing to the original itenerary (Nassau, St. Thomas, St. Maarten). Lucky people! I would rather take yet another Sea Day than to go back to San Juan again.

 

I do agree on the elevator situation. With 3500 passengers, you have to be VERY patient or in good shape. The elevators were packed, so we took the stairs most of the time. We were Deck 8, so we were halfway between the Promenade & Dining Room (Deck 5) and the pools, food, etc (Deck 11).

 

You have to bring your own computer for the $100 in-room access. From what I understand, it is some kind of special modem hookup that they provide. You have to supply the computer. Definitely would be worth it if I weren't looking to stay out of touch with the world during my vacation.

 

And for the record... We had a BLAST!!! Although there are a few things that I would like to have had differently, overall we very extremely pleased. My only regret is that we didn't schedule for two weeks.

 

Kevin

 

Mariner of the Seas 3/04

Grand Princess 2/03

[ksutton]

A few other things I wanted to throw in there...

 

We went down to Port Canveral two days ealy to get into "vacation mode." We stayed at the Radisson Resort at the Port (http://www.radisson.com/capecanaveralfl) for $89/night (thru Expedia). They had a beautiful pool, tennis courts, etc. and were within walking distance of the water --- great for watching the ships come into and out of port. They also had a complimentary shuttle and free parking during the week for those who drive down. The shuttle had very short waits & was very convenient transportation. I highly recommend this for anyone coming into town early. $89 for hotel is a steal when you consider you would have to pay $70 for the week of parking at the port anyhow. I would gladly spend another $19 for an extra day of fun.

 

We asked for recommendations on places to eat Saturday night. If you have a chance and are near the port, definitely go to Grills Seafood (http://www.visitgrills.com/). Get there around 4:30 or 5:00 because the wait gets long fast. Plus you can watch the ships leave port Saturday night from their deck. The food was AWESOME!

 

Hope this helps...

 

Kevin

 

Mariner of the Seas 3/04

Grand Princess 2/03

[cfurry]

Kevin,

 

Nice work on the review. We had read about the rocking/swaying on Mariner, but also that it wasn't problematic for most. My wife and daughter are prone to motion sickness so I'll be sure to pump them full of Bonine to avoid any trouble.

 

I hadn't noticed many postings on the change in itineraries. I do hope we luck out and avoid San Juan and Freeport. I've heard that St. Maarten and Nassau are indeed preferable.

 

Are you an RCI frequent cruiser? Just wondering because you were asked to sit at the Capt.'s table, and I assume that's usually a perk for people who cruise RCI a lot.

 

Thanks again. We sail on May 30 and I find myself getting fully geared up for it as each day passes.

 

Safe travels,

cfurry

[ksutton]

Something I saw last night which made sense... Take the Bonine the night before you leave. It works for 24 hours, plus this way you are sleeping thru the night when you would normally be drowsy. I never needed it, so I was OK.

 

Actually, the funny thing is that this is only the second cruise for both my wife and me. This was our first cruise on RCCL.

 

I have no idea how/why we were invited to the Captain's table, but we were. We just keep telling ourselves that it was because we were so much fun at our table. But it's more likely that our Servers were looking for reasons to get rid of us for the night.

 

Either way, it was a very cool experience. The pictures, free drinks, and shot glasses were nice takeaways. And it was an honor to be one of the few "chosen ones" out of the 3500 on board.

 

Kevin

 

Mariner of the Seas 3/04

Grand Princess 2/03

[skyking]

HEY KEVIN- IT WAS NICE TO MEET YOU TWO

 

Tim

 

Tropicale 10-7-00

Sovereign Of The Seas 5-6-01

Triumph 9-1-01

Explorer Of The Seas 8-31-2002

Carnival Pride 4-12-2003

Mariner Of The Seas 11-16-2003 (Innagural Cruise)

Carnival Fantasy 1-29-2004

Mariner Of The Seas 3-28-2004

 

community.webshots.com/user/skyking518

[Guest]

to cfurry...

 

Your cruise will be going to St.Thomas and St Maarten. Only 2 Mariner cruises were scheduled to go to San Juan instead, and it was listed as such in the current brochure. I like San Juan, but I prefer St Maarten !

 

You will love the Mariner !

 

Radio

 

For Ship and Cabin Pics...Visit :Radio's Cruise Page

[ksutton]

Tim, it was quite a pleasure to finally put a few faces to the names. We enjoyed it!

 

Radio, that is quite a photo collection. What type of camera(s) did you use in taking them all? I can't believe the light quality in each of the inside shots.

 

Kevin

 

Mariner of the Seas 3/04

Grand Princess 2/03

[Estelle]

Thanks for the review - we leave this Sunday and cannot wait!

 

Especially liked the tip about Grills Seafood - we're driving down and staying at the Radisson on Saturday night so the restaurant suggestion is very welcome.

 

Thanks to all the recent posters who have helped to contradict some of the more recent disturbing reports that made the Mariner sound like a frat party gone crazy - we expect a full ship on Easter week and a lot of kids (including our 2 teenagers) but the other reports were beginning to make things sound completely out-of-control.

 

Mariner of the Seas April 2004

Celebrity Infinity September 2001

Disney Wonder June 2000

[ksutton]

Estelle, I definitely envy you! I would much rather be on the reading side of the reviews than the writing.

 

It was rumored that we had 900+ kids on board during our week. There were a bunch of high-school aged kids, but seemed to be very few from the college crowd. The good thing there is that most of the them (at least around here) had spring break a month or so ago.

 

Most of the kids were very well behaved. With the few exceptions of elevator hijacking, I didn't even notice they were around. I even got a kick out of some of the teen groups running around on their "hottie" picture scavanger hunts. That was quite funny!

 

Have a fun & safe trip!

 

Kevin

 

Mariner of the Seas 3/04

Grand Princess 2/03

[CRUISTER]

I was on AOS last August and did not have to pay a surcharge for Johnny Rockett's. I know they stopped it after passengers complained, right? When was it put back into effect?

 

July 10, 2004 - Nordic Empress

 

[TBRay]

KEVIN: Great review. Shame about missing St. Martin/Marteen. It was the highlight of our February cruise (Trunk Bay - Snorkeling).

 

Looking forward to the same trip this fall but hitting 'Peak' hurricane season means we could go one of 50 different directions

 

9/19/2004 Mariner of the Seas

*** Royal Hounds Cruise ***

 

 

1/30/2005 Mariner of the Seas

*** Western Caribbean ***

[mafig]

Cruister - Check out the top of the page under NEWS. Also, if the search function is working do a search on Johnny Rockets surcharge. Otherwise, you may have to go back some pages to read more about it.

[disco dolly]

Estelle the kids were no problem. In fact we had good fun with the kids and enjoyed the company of the ones at our table and the next table. The loudest laughter came from our tables!

Sheena

[cruzingduo]

Great review, we are driving from NJ had were going to park at the pier. Good point $89 vs $70. But what about when you returned to Port Canavral, did the shuttle take you back to your car? Did you have to wait long?

 

Joanne

[FnyFACEnAL]

Johnny Rockettes is fun but a surcharge for hamburgers and fries is a little much. It would cost a family of 4 $16 for the experience. I understand some of the ice cream is extra and also one or two of the resturants. We have cruised 13 times and mostly all of the food was included except for maybe an upscale restaurant. Is charging for hamburgers and fries something new for RCCL?