Mariner 4/04 Review

[goldenpheasant]

1.Boarding Port Canaveral: fast and efficient.

2. 2 rooms 6574 Balcony, 6581 Atrium: Balcony was fine, I have sailed at least 10 times and this was better as it had glass instead of steel so you could look at the water below. Atrium was terrible, I would never get one again. The booming music from the promenade blasted till 1:00 am every night.

3. Dining room lunch menu was poor and the food even worse, Fish cake was unedible, I had better lasagna at Olive Garden. We did not return to the dinning room for lunch, maybe RCCI preferred it that way to save money, we didn't. The Windjammer food was better, but the Windjammer food has improved greatly.

4. Dining room dinner, quality has gone down. Salmon and steak from the daily menu were tasteless. Lower quality of desserts as well. I would say some nights were good or very good, but about 3 out of 7 nights we were unimpressed.

5. We had to go down to the front desk 4 times so they could scan our CC, it seems they had a computer problem.

6. Towels: we had to bring the towel from the room everytime to the pool. What a hassle.

7. Kids club for 8 year old: Quite a few undisciplined kids running wild and oblivious parents to match. My daughter skipped quite a few. The program for them was "boring" her words not mine.

8. Kids club for 16 year old: Rude counselor we complained to the front desk, he really belonged in an area without passenger contact. We have recommmended Jefferson Edwards who is a janitor in the promenade to replace him. Jefferson was the able to relate and amuse the kids like the "counselor" was paid to do.

 

Overall, we had a good time but we are looking to another line for our summer sail, we have sailed Celebrity in the past and will try them again.

[tonyvee]

Wow was that a review or a bit@% session? Was there nothing good about the ship to talk about?

 

fins to the left, fins to the right...

 

 

 

Tony,Vicki,Chad,Melanie,A.J.,Becca

Fantasy99

Fantasy00

Mariner 4/04

 

[Family of 14]

We never thought taking the towel from the room was a hassle. Took it right along with our lotion and books.

 

Sorry your cruise was so miserable. ;(

 

How were the seas? Ship's rocking?

 

Are you sailing on the Mariner 7/18/04?...Click here!

or HERE!

 

Disney Wonder 3/2000 ~ Disney Magic 9/2000 ~ RCI Vision 2/2001 ~ Carnival Victory 12/2001 ~ Celebrity Millennium 3/2003 ~ RCI Adventure OTS 9/2003 ~ RCI Mariner OTS 7/18/2004 ~ RCI Serenade OTS 9/26/2004

[SCGirl]

I tend to agree with tonyvee. Can you tell us anything that was good? Taking my dream vacation on Mariner with 20 of my closest family and friends and am trying to tell them that it will not be perfect and it will be what we make it. Seeing we don't have to cook, work or put up with our children, it will be paradise!!I pray that my expectations are not so high that I, myself, ruin the chance of a lifetime.

We can always cruise, however, I don't know when my entire family will be able to do something like this again. Hopefully you brought some good away from your vacation!

[goldenpheasant]

1.Boarding Port Canaveral: fast and efficient.

 

Balcony was fine, I have sailed at least 10 times and this was better as it had glass instead of steel so you could look at the water below.

 

The Windjammer food was better, but the Windjammer food has improved greatly.

 

Overall, we had a good time.

 

You can read can't you?

[disco dolly]

SCGirl,

Your vacation will be magic. We were on Mariner w/c March 28th and we had a blast. We met tons of wonderful people who were there for the same reasons as us... to have fun. And we did. It was our best cruise ever on board a beautiful ship and we were pampered from the minute we checked in at Port Canaveral. We have loads of wonderful memories of a great cruise.

[YvonneSR]

I don't think that people should reply with rude comments, just because someone didn't enjoy their cruise.

 

Just because he didn't enjoy his cruise, doesn't mean you won't.

 

Yvonne

[jammin]

I just love people like goldenpheasant....People like to complain just to stir up trouble or they want to pay RCCL prices for a Radisson Seven Seas experience. I have sailed RCCL many times, as well as HAL, NCL, Carnival and Celebrity. I feel all lines have their strenghts and weaknesses. Some are just never happy in life!

[brianandtanya]

Jammin' you said it all. It kills me how much ppl complain.

 

If you want top notch service, pay top notch prices. They're are those lines out there...SilverSea, Windstar, Seabourn and Raddison (as Jammin' eluded to). You're on a cruise, enjoy it sssheesh. I think far too many people forget to pack their great attitude when they travel. IMHO of course!

 

Sea Ya when I Sea Ya!!!

"We can change the world in our minds, but only our actions will make the difference!"

 

Mariner of the Seas 7/04

Enchantment of the Seas 09/03

Voyager of the Seas 04/03

Carnival Fantasy 09/01

 

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<param name="month" value=07>

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Float, Honeymooning on the Mariner!

 

 

[snickmcfee]

Just got off the same cruise. There were over 1200 kids under the age of 18 on the ship. Yea, it was a little noisy, but it was a great ship, food in the Windjammer has was better than any other RCI or Princess ship I have been on in the past ten years. I am not really going to go down the list one by one but overall I rated this cruise a 8 1/2 out of ten.

Snickmcfee

 

Monarch of the Seas (2)

Song of Norway (2)

Song of America (2)

Sovereign of the Seas (2)

Legend of the Seas (2)

Nordkapp

Sea Princess (2)

Grand Princess (2)

Sun Princess

Star Princess

Pacific Princess

Sun Viking

Nordic Prince

Viking Serenade

Grandeur of the Seas

Legend of the Seas

Norwegian Sea

Mariner of the Seas

 

Snick

[tonyvee]

I think Golden Complainer has post cruise illness. You rolled off all the bad issues you had then said you would go on a different cruise in the summer??? Good luck on your next cruise...maybe you should drink more, relax and leave the complaining to the real critics.

 

fins to the left, fins to the right...

 

 

 

Tony,Vicki,Chad,Melanie,A.J.,Becca

Fantasy99

Fantasy00

Mariner 4/04

 

[m&m1]

Okay the complaint list was rather legnthy, but the post did have postitive comments too. Personally I like reading the complaints as well - it doesn't make me concerned for what I might see on my upcoming cruise but makes me think about what others notice. What is 8.5 to one person might be a 2 to another. It's all relative but it makes for good reading to hear both sides and truly you can't take another's reviews to heart unless you know them well enough to know how their opinions compare to your own. Just my humble .02.

 

Cruise addict in the making

[JHC]

I'm not sure what all the excitement is about. There are a couple of complaints about the food and frankly, there are a lot of people who complain about the food.

 

While we have absolutely loved our two Royal Caribbean cruises, I'd probably agree that some of the best food is in the Windjammer and that the dining room menu (and food) can be a little uninspired at times.

 

One of the other complaints was about rude service. I don't think someone should have to cruise Raddisson to get great service.

 

Personally, I love and appreciate all reviews -- the good, the bad, the balanced and the not so balanced. Most people don't bother to review at all.

 

So goldenpheasant, thanks for the review and let us know how it turns out on Celebrity.

 

Jonathan

 

------------------------

 Until Voyager December 11, 2004!

 

 Until Explorer B2B Feb 6 & 13, 2005!

 

 

Brilliance Of The Seas - March 8, 2004

Brilliance Of The Seas - March 17, 2003

Ocean Princess - March 20, 2002

 

Charter SPN Cruise Class Member

 

[remedyzrider]

What I find amusing is how the attitude of the parent transcended down to the child... I would like to know where this person has vacationed in the past, geez.

 

Chris

 

MARINER- 07/04/04 CAN'T WAIT!

ROLL CALL- http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=1683059817&m=2903014867&r=7063060177#7063060177

[girlzillla]

Aren't the towels (the tan ones) in the room supposed to be taken to the pool?

 

Mariner of the Seas 02/08/04

Navigator of the Seas 01-2003

 

[ugogirl]

Just arrived home from the 4/4/04 Mariner cruise. Hubby and 2 teen boys and myself had a blast! Never saw unruly kids. Yes, some 10 yr olds running on the stairs, but hey, they were having fun too. I'm not sure I would ever complain about the food...I didn't have to buy it or cook it. The ship is incredibly beautiful. Take time to go to all the bars and public areas to take in the fit and finish and artistic details. It's awesome!

[Brad1185]

Fam of 14 never thought taking a towel from the room was a hastle. Come on, it was sooo much better when the towels were by the pool. Sometimes we like to sit without swimming. On the Nav, we would have to go down to our room and get the towels to spread out on the chairs to sit then when done, so we would not have to carry around the towels, one of us would go back down to the room and drop them off. Then after lunch, back down to the room to get the towels for the chairs, back and forth back and forth. We dont like sitting down after someone has had their greasy body loaded with sunscreen had been there. How can you not think its a hastle is beyond me.

[Florida Beach]

We were on the same cruise (3/28-4/4/04), and very pleased with the provided service. We only went to the dining room for dinner, and had received the best service possible from our waiter and his assistant. We skipped one night to dine at Portofino's on the night the main dining room served lamb; we were also pleased with the service there.

 

Our room attendant kept our room spotless but was never on our way. He must have cleaned our room 10 times a day since we have fresh towels and new glasses every time we came back to the room. On the last night, we had to track him down to give him his well-deserved tips. Our teenagers enjoyed the kid club and had a blast. The waiter at the coffee shop learned my habit the third time I appeared at his station (1 hard roll, with butter) for early breakfast. Everyone seems to enjoy his/her job and was very accomodating.

 

We had a good time and I am thinking about another trip to Western Caribbean during Thanksgiving or Christmas time frame.

 

March 28, 2004 - Mariner of the Seas

[sharonkaye]

The whole towel thing was unnerving to me the first day. They deliver one beach towel per person and tell you if it does not get returned it's $20.Not that I'm in the habit of losing towels but carrying that wet towel (FRom the beach) back up to the room then having to keep track of the teenagers towels was a hassle) But not to worry our cabin steward would bring us more whenever we asked, so that rule is not enforced.

 

Royal Majesty '89,'90'91

Nordic Empress '95

Galaxy'98

Century '99

Majesty of the Seas '01

Constellation ''03

Mariner of the Seas '04

[Chicagomom]

Originally posted by tonyvee:

...and leave the complaining to the real critics."

 

So just what qualifies someone as a "real critic"?

 

'til Enchantment of the Seas cruise!!!

 

[Family of 14]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Fam of 14 never thought taking a towel from the room was a hastle. Come on, it was sooo much better when the towels were by the pool. Sometimes we like to sit without swimming. On the Nav, we would have to go down to our room and get the towels to spread out on the chairs to sit then when done, so we would not have to carry around the towels, one of us would go back down to the room and drop them off. Then after lunch, back down to the room to get the towels for the chairs, back and forth back and forth. We dont like sitting down after someone has had their greasy body loaded with sunscreen had been there. How can you not think its a hastle is beyond me. Brad1185 <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

I guess we do things differently than you and placing a beach towel in our beach bag is no different than taking one to our Club pool or to the beach from our beach house.

 

On the ship, we take our towel up each day and lay out most of the day. We may swim...we may not. At the end of the day, we trade our towels in for clean ones. As someone else said, our steward was also leaving clean towels for us in the stateroom. We had plenty and I never worried about losing any.

 

Are you sailing on the Mariner 7/18/04?...Click here!

or HERE!

 

Disney Wonder 3/2000 ~ Disney Magic 9/2000 ~ RCI Vision 2/2001 ~ Carnival Victory 12/2001 ~ Celebrity Millennium 3/2003 ~ RCI Adventure OTS 9/2003 ~ RCI Mariner OTS 7/18/2004 ~ RCI Serenade OTS 9/26/2004

[DocJohnB]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>We have recommmended Jefferson Edwards who is a janitor in the promenade to replace him. Jefferson was the able to relate and amuse the kids like the "counselor" was paid to do <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

You are so right. This guy was fantastic.

 

I too found the "pool towel" arrangement a PITA, but this is MY opinion. Didn't understand the reasoning behind it. I am on vacation, I don't want to have to worry about misplacing my pool towel. (I do however understand signing for towels to take OFF THE SHIP for beach use and being charged if they are lost).

 

Until we sail on SUMMIT for 10 nights

 

 

 

 

Until MOAGC's on Explorer of the Seas

 

 

 

Seven Cruises last Century, then:

 

Norwegian Sky 2000 GGC2000

Volendam 2001 GGC2001

Paradise 2001

Sensation 2002 GGC2002

Millenium 2003 (Nov 16)

Mariner OTS 2004 (Feb 29)

Summit 2004 (Nov 05)

Explorer OTS 2005 (Jan 09)

[BOB & NANCY]

Hi fellow cruisers:

Im another who was not real happy with the towel situation. The reason several lines have started this practice is for several reasons. It greatly reduces the chair savers who come up at o dark thirty and place towels all around and return later to claim their hoarded trophies

Second it cuts their towel consumption by about 65 % as many take two or three towels, one for the head rest, one to lay on, on to partially cover & yes don't forget the ones who take them to the cabin to wrap their bottles for the trip home, or take them in their bag on a beach run and when they are all wet & sandy they walk away and leave them laying. They bring the checked towels back at 20.00 a pop.

Yes , I guess this is another situation that most of us pay for the inconsideration of others. Bob Virginia Beach , Virginia

 

9-91 Celebration

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11-92 Ecstasy

10-93 Tropical Panama canal

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12-96 Sun Princess

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12-98 Grand Princess

3-99 Destiny

12-99 RC Splendor

3-00 Destiny

2-00 Sensation

9-00 Nor.Wind Hawaii

11-00 Victory

1-01 Celeb. Century

12-01 Victory

2-02 Paradise

11-02 Explorer of the Seas

3-03 Celebrity Galaxy

11-03 VICTORY

1-04 LEGEND

11-04 Mariner of the Sea

Always looking for the next one

[F5Loar]

I don't take much stock in folks that name a certain food item was awful when they don't say they complained and were brought something else better to their liking. I've hesitated many times on ordering certain fish I've not heard of before and the waiters always say "If you don't like it I will bring you what you do like" So to me if you have gone through some 10 to 12 entre items that you didn't like then you are at liberty to say everything was awful.

It's like the ones who complain their steak was overcooked/undercooked yet would not ask for another one. Land rules apply at sea.

If you go to a Morton's and they overcook your steak you will get another if you ask. Cruise lines have always bent over backwards to please when it comes to the taste and preparation of their food. But who am I to complain? I actually think Olive Garden does pretty good on their Lasgana. I would also rather have a clean towel to call my own then to go to the pool area to find 1200 kids had beat me to the towels and they are all gone.

 

Till we sail on the Zuiderdam

 

Til we sail on the Mariner of The Seas RCL

until we sail on the Disney Wonder

til we sail the ms Maasdam