Starboard Side 9- Toonjie's Mariner Farewell Cruise Review

[toonjie]

Hi Toonjie, Thanks for your very informative review, as usual your posts are excellent and amusing reading. I know I thanked you before but thanks again for helping me with our AOS cruise plans. The Delta flight that I booked in October for $308 is now over $450. I am now trying to research excursions, thinking about Cosol. Got to go now.

 

Thanks! Glad to see that you jumped on it at the right time, that really is a great price. Cosol is great and everybody seems to love him, just remember, you probably won't have him personally, at least the whole day, he'll most likely have several vans to cater to. I can't recommend Herod highly enough, he was awesome, so if you want to be guaranteed having the whole day with a great guide, consider him. If you have never been to St. Lucia before, I would do the exact tour we did, but add the drive through volcano and some time at the botanical garden and then less time at Jalousie Plantation Resort. Returning by boat, like we did, is also a nice treat. I have a video up on YouTube of our first trip to St. Lucia, just search for toonjie's helicopter tour. It will give you an overview of St. Lucia. The first stop we land to drop some people off is Jalousie Resort, then the Hilton Jalousie, we then fly over the Pitons and through the rainforest and land in Castries going right over the Radiance of the Seas, docked in port.

[toonjie]

Here's some pics from the river tubing down the Calypso River:

 

Tom enjoying the ride down:

 

 

 

[toonjie]

Deleted

[toonjie]

Lizzie jumping from new platform (Built since we were there in 2006)

 

 

 

Yours truly, looking scared since it's only around 6 feet deep:

[kaseyoz]

What an amazing review and such fantastic photos. I am hanging onto every post.

We were on the christmas cruise before yours so it is nice to bring back some very happy memories.

thank you.

[toonjie]

What an amazing review and such fantastic photos. I am hanging onto every post.

We were on the christmas cruise before yours so it is nice to bring back some very happy memories.

thank you.

 

Thanks! Glad you had a great cruise. Here's the next installment.

[toonjie]

Thursday, January 1st, New Year’s Day

 

 

Today it’s just me and the kids, Grandma is taking the day off from touring and we are scheduled on Nativeway’s Rays, Reef and Rum tour. The first tender is at 8:30am and so I get up at 7:00am and have breakfast delivered to the cabin at 7:30am. I call grandma’s cabin to wake up the girls and we all have breakfast together as we pull into port. I know we use the dynamic positioning system so there is no dropping anchor and the first tenders will probably be earlier then scheduled and it’s just the case, tenders are alongside by 8:15 and we wrap it up and head down, snorkel gear in tow. Tender ride is short and efficient and as we walk down the pier a man is holding a Nativeway sign. It takes about 10 minutes or so to gather everyone that is on all their tours and we head off to a full-sized school bus that is a real conversation piece! Not your typical tour transport, but loads of room.

Our driver is really nice and very talkative and points out a lot of the new resorts going up along the way as well as giving us a lot of info on life in Grand Cayman. It’s about a 15 minute drive and we’re at the boat dock and the different tours fan out to their respective boats. We have about 15 people on ours, a far cry from the cattle boats we will see stuffed to the gills with people. We get our snorkel gear ready and on the way we saw a large Hawksbill turtle surface and then quickly swim away from our wake.

 

Boat ride out:

 

 

Two years ago when we went to Stingray City, we did the private tour through Island Marketing and had our own private boat, which was really great, we spent as much time with the rays as we wanted, then snorkeled and then Tom did some fishing and caught a barracuda and the kids did some tubing on the way back. Abby was only 5 then and was really scared of the rays and so I was hoping she would be less afraid now at 7.

 

Lurking rays give Abby some jitters at first:

 

After a few moments of jitters all the kids are in the water and having a blast and we all pose for pictures with the rays. After everyone in the group got their pictures taken, they broke out the squid and we all fed the rays as they swam by. I put the kids hands under mine since they were a little apprehensive about feeding them on their own and that way they could feel the cool sensation of the rays sucking the food out of your hand.

 

 

 

After about 20 minutes of feeding the rays, we were all back in the boat and heading to the nearby reef for about 45 minutes of snorkeling. All three kids did great and really learned to relax. We saw loads of fish and even a barracuda and surprisingly the kids weren’t scared at all.

When we got back on the boat, they passed around the menu for lunch and then took our orders and radioed it over to Rum Point Beach, our next destination. Lunch was just fantastic! The food was either on the table or just coming out when we arrived. The kids had chicken fingers and they were just about the best I have ever tasted. My chicken sandwich was also delicious.

Kids enjoying lunch at Rum Point:

 

After lunch, Tom relaxed in a hammock and Lizzie got her hair braided while abby and I lounged in the sun nearby. The beach was really nice, much nicer than 7-Mile Beach and my only complaint is we didn’t have more time there, we had about and hour and a half all together. We had to cut Lizzie’s hair braiding short and head to the pier to head back.

 

Abby soaking up the sun with dad:

 

When we got back to town, we had about an hour before the last tender and the lines were long for all the ships in port, so we did about 45 minutes of shopping and then got in line about 3:15pm when it was only about 10 minutes long. They had some really cute baby outfits with Grand Cayman so I got some good presents for Josiah.

Back on the ship we all hit the pool until time to get ready for dinner. The evening show was the Nelson Brothers and their tribute to Ricky Nelson. The Nelson's concert was great, one of the best shows I have seen at sea. They had loads of clips of their family starting back with Ozzie and Harriet. They played primarily Ricky Nelson songs but they did one of their own, maybe two. Their sister Tracey, (The actress), was in the audience with her young daughter. They did a great job of giving both the history of the family and giving a moving tribute to their dad, as well as doing a great job musically with only a 45 minute rehearsal with the Mariner band. They brought their touring guitarist Neil Zaza, who is fantastic and did some great solos. You can google his name to see some great vids of his guitar work, it's excellent. Many of the video clips featured Paul McCartney stating how influential Ricky Nelson was on him. It was a really excellent show, as was all the entertainment during the week, it was just great and the ice show is the best I have seen on RCCL ships.

[toonjie]

They call these stingray back massages:

 

 

 

 

 

Up close & personal:

 

[SliderNc]

Great review thus far. Interestingly enough, you've done pretty much everything that my girlfriend and I did on our cruise back in the beginning of December 2008. We used the same tour operator (Native Way) in Grand Cayman and had a blast. Due to the rough waters, the GC police wouldn't let us around the sandbar where all the rays hang out, but he did get us close enough to feed some and hold some from the back of the boat. WE had Chris from Honduras as the "captain" of our Ray, Reef and Rum tour. You are right about Rum Point also. Great beach, great food and it was too bad we couldn't stay there. The day we went, there was an Italian group who had chartered the other boat and they were in the "school bus" that took them to the marina.

 

Looks like you and your family had a great time thus far. I'm sad to see the Mariner go since she is a great ship and the crew was fantastic. Captain Per and his staff were top notch.

[toonjie]

Great review thus far. Interestingly enough, you've done pretty much everything that my girlfriend and I did on our cruise back in the beginning of December 2008. We used the same tour operator (Native Way) in Grand Cayman and had a blast. Due to the rough waters, the GC police wouldn't let us around the sandbar where all the rays hang out, but he did get us close enough to feed some and hold some from the back of the boat. WE had Chris from Honduras as the "captain" of our Ray, Reef and Rum tour. You are right about Rum Point also. Great beach, great food and it was too bad we couldn't stay there. The day we went, there was an Italian group who had chartered the other boat and they were in the "school bus" that took them to the marina.

 

Looks like you and your family had a great time thus far. I'm sad to see the Mariner go since she is a great ship and the crew was fantastic. Captain Per and his staff were top notch.

 

Thanks. We also had Chris from Honduras, nice guy! We had Captain Per on our last Mariner cruise and he was great as well. You can definitely tell that a great captain makes for a great and happy crew, the Mariner has one of the best crews we have ever encountered. Glad you had a great time on your cruise!

[firstcruise05]

I LOVE your review! And it made me miss the Mariner even more! We are also from Connecticut (although on the Eastern border by Foxwoods) and I can completely relate to the weather related musings. We were actually in the Bahamas during the ice storm in the beginning of January so we missed the action but it is funny to go to Florida and find people all bundled up in 60 degree weather!

 

Yesterday was beautiful! Mid 40's and I was thinking about your post as I left my coat in the car. LOL

 

I'm trying to plan a Freedom cruise in 2010 so I may have to look into the Radisson at the Port.

 

Thanks for your entertaining and informative review!

[toonjie]

I LOVE your review! And it made me miss the Mariner even more! We are also from Connecticut (although on the Eastern border by Foxwoods) and I can completely relate to the weather related musings. We were actually in the Bahamas during the ice storm in the beginning of January so we missed the action but it is funny to go to Florida and find people all bundled up in 60 degree weather!

 

Yesterday was beautiful! Mid 40's and I was thinking about your post as I left my coat in the car. LOL

 

I'm trying to plan a Freedom cruise in 2010 so I may have to look into the Radisson at the Port.

 

Thanks for your entertaining and informative review!

 

Thanks so much! You are so right, we had a, you know it's a bad winter when...moment yesterday when it was 46 degrees and people were out sitting on the beach! You know it's been a bad winter when 46 is a beach day!

[luv2travel29]

toonjie:

i love your review, it is so informative... we did the river tubing too!! that was so much fun... also, you have adorable kids,,,(even your little guy, i saw his pic on your other review):D

[toonjie]

toonjie:

i love your review, it is so informative... we did the river tubing too!! that was so much fun... also, you have adorable kids,,,(even your little guy, i saw his pic on your other review):D

 

 

Thanks! I've been putting together little photo albums for the kids for Valentines Day and it is really making me long to be back in the Caribbean!

[firstcruise05]

You are so right, we had a, you know it's a bad winter when...moment yesterday when it was 46 degrees and people were out sitting on the beach! You know it's been a bad winter when 46 is a beach day!

 

Definately! :p We have been spoiled over the last couple of years...it hasn't really been bone chilling cold during the winter. We pretty much made up for it this year though. There were a few -2 degree nights. Although...today...we were driving around town with a window open because it was too hot in the car...I would like to say this could be the start of the spring weather but having lived in this state for 33 years, I know better. We always have a couple of beautiful warm spring-like days followed by one last snowstorm. Its just a matter of when. :cool:

 

Anyway, when we took our Mariner trip we used the cruiseline transfer from MCO to Port Canaveral. It was a bus and we had to fly in on the day of the cruise. When we go on the Freedom we want to fly in a day or two early though so we are entertaining the idea of a rental. How did you work that? You rent the car for the week and leave it at the Radisson for free?

 

I have family in Kissimmee so they are another option but I don't really want to put them out by making them drive us from the airport to the Port. I was planning on visiting them for a day though so a car is pretty much necessary.

[toonjie]

Definately! :p We have been spoiled over the last couple of years...it hasn't really been bone chilling cold during the winter. We pretty much made up for it this year though. There were a few -2 degree nights. Although...today...we were driving around town with a window open because it was too hot in the car...I would like to say this could be the start of the spring weather but having lived in this state for 33 years, I know better. We always have a couple of beautiful warm spring-like days followed by one last snowstorm. Its just a matter of when. :cool:

 

Anyway, when we took our Mariner trip we used the cruiseline transfer from MCO to Port Canaveral. It was a bus and we had to fly in on the day of the cruise. When we go on the Freedom we want to fly in a day or two early though so we are entertaining the idea of a rental. How did you work that? You rent the car for the week and leave it at the Radisson for free?

 

I have family in Kissimmee so they are another option but I don't really want to put them out by making them drive us from the airport to the Port. I was planning on visiting them for a day though so a car is pretty much necessary.

 

It's in the 60's today, but I hate to say the worst of winter is over, when I do, we usually get hit with a storm, but I'll go ahead and say it, I think the worst is over!:)

 

I would rent a car and the 2 I have used in Port Canaveral are Budget and Avis. Budget has the advantage of being on the same block as the Radisson, so you could return the car and take the hotel shuttle to the pier. What I recommend is first, join the rental car loyalty programs, Budget FastBreak or Avis Preferred, both are free and can save you loads of time at the airport where the rental car areas are the size of some small airports. Your car will be waiting for you and you just go straight to the parking garage, no lines! Then, on the morning of embarkation I would definitely make a luggage run, like we did, to the pier, that saves the hassle of transferring luggage to the shuttle. I would then return the car and take the rental car shuttle to the pier. The shuttle at the Radisson requires you to sign up for a time slot and they usually start a little late, we are usually onboard by the time they start up around 11:00am. Your shuttle driver will show you where to meet him when you debark and you just reverse the process.

[toonjie]

Friday, January 2nd Cozumel, Mexico

 

 

The ship doesn’t dock until 10:00am so it’s a great day to sleep in and then we have breakfast on the balcony as the coast of Mexico appears in the distance. Today’s itinerary has us at Nachi Cochum, an all-inclusive resort all day with me doing a morning scuba dive and the kids and I doing a morning snorkel trip.

We dock on time and are off in no time right at 10:00am. We wind are way through the myriad of souvenir stores that greet you at the end of the pier. Thankfully, we’ve been here before and know the most direct route to the exit since the route seems designed to make you shop before doing anything else. We get to a taxi stand and I explain to the guy that I’d like a van big enough to hold my mom’s scooter without having to disassemble it, but if need be we can. We get a brand new GMC Safari van and throw the scooter in and we are off. I’m in a rush since my morning dive is scheduled for 11:00am. Our driver is friendly and it is about a 15 minute ride down south to Nachi Cocum. I make arrangements for him to pick us up at 5:30pm, (We’re in port until 6:30pm) but he never showed up.

We made all our arrangements through Island Marketing, who we have used before both here and in Grand Cayman. We show the lady at the gate our email confirmation and we are in after paying the remainder of the balance and getting our picture taken with some embarrassingly large sombreros. Nachi Cocum is noted for only allowing 100 guests per day, my only complaint is there seemed to be more people there than that, even though it was never crowded near us, lunch was very busy for the waiters. We had a waiter assigned for us the whole day and he said we could order anything anytime, a very pleasant surprise since I had heard here on CC that you could only order 1 of each item on the menu for lunch. We were able to order mixed drinks, sodas, smoothies for the kids and as much lunch as we wanted. We even finished the day with ice cream to go!

The pool was fairly nice, but had no handrails to get in, but either Tom or I gave Grandma a steady hand all day. The hot tub was nice, but it was comical that there was a sign saying no children and there were at least 10 kids in it all day long.

I get everyone settled and then head off to the next resort down where my scuba boat docks. I get my rental equipment and in about 10 minutes the boat arrives. The dive was excellent with loads of colorful fish, including the largest French Angel Fish I have ever seen. We also saw 3 large Hawksbill turtles and a large Nurse Shark sleeping under a ledge.

When I return to Nachi Cocum, everyone is ready to order lunch and the food was all very good and we ordered seconds on many items. The kids are in ecstasy at being able to have smoothies and sodas all day.

 

Everyone enjoying lunch by the pool:

 

 

Lunch guest who loves our lettuce!

 

After lunch, I check on our snorkeling reservation, which was at 3:00pm. The man informs me I should have told them when I first arrived and that the boat has already left. I was like, why did the 3:00pm boat leave at 1:00pm. After some checking he came back and told me that the boat would take us when it returned.

We had the snorkel boat all to ourselves with a captain and a guide. The boat also has a glass bottom section in the middle, which was really cool to watch as we sped down to our first stop, a shallow area where there are tons of starfish. The kids love practicing their new snorkel skills and learning to dive down and pick up the starfish themselves.

After around a half an hour, we are off to our second site, a deeper snorkel out at Columbia Reef. We see loads of schools of fish and the kids are surprisingly not scared at being in 40 feet of water right over a 3000 foot drop. 2 years ago, they were a little apprehensive, but no jitters now. I have to tell the guides to cut it short because it is already almost 5:00pm. We head back to Nachi, clean up the equipment and go for a final swim in the pool as well as stock up on more drinks, the Pina Colada being my drink of choice.

 

2 thumbs up for Nachi Cocum:

 

We have the people at Nachi call us a cab since it is now around 5:30 and our original driver didn’t show up. We’re back at the pier around 6:00pm and do a little shopping. Tom is out to collect a different carved turtle from each island and that is his mission.

 

Tom takes a break from turtle shopping as this character cracks him up:

 

It’s starting to get a bit dark as the sunset was at 6:19 and we take some pictures of the kids in front of the ship as the lights begin to come on.

 

 

We decide to skip dinner in the main dinning room since we probably couldn’t get there until 7:00pm and didn’t want to do that to the waiters even though we had a table by ourselves. (The next night they told us it would have been okay to come.) We go to the Windjammer and dinner was very good, especially the prime rib they had at the carver station.

 

Tom shows off his turtle collection with our latest towel animal:

 

After dinner, the kids were off to AO and I was off for some relaxation in the cabin and then the hot tub. I picked the kids up early at AO so I could get them in bed and see Vantage Point in the ship’s theater at 10:00pm. I really enjoyed seeing a movie in the theater for the first time, you kind of feel like a millionaire with your own screening room since there were only around 10 people there. I ended the night up on the helipad, we’re alone again on a vast sea of blackness and unfortunately heading back towards home.

[cer10lee]

I'm loving your TR! Your pics are beautiful and so are your children. Everyone looks like they are having a fabulous time!

[toonjie]

Saturday, January 3 Day at Sea/Sunday, January 4th-Debarkation

 

We sleep in and then have breakfast in the main dinning room. We had eaten room service on the balcony every day and it was time for a change and the kids were up for pancakes and waffles, which you can’t get from room service. Breakfast was very good and we got a table by ourselves and for me it was nice being served breakfast rather than serving everyone in a small cabin and balcony.

After breakfast, the kids go to Adventure Ocean and Grandma and I head to the Solarium pool for some nice relaxation. The bingo grand prize has been going throughout the week and no one has one. I promise that if no one wins this morning then we’ll play in the afternoon for the grand prize.

At 12:00, the kids get out of AO and we spend some time swimming together in the main pool and then head to the Windjammer for lunch. After lunch, the kids went back to AO and I went to bingo since no one had won at the morning session. I ended up needing only 3 spaces and I would have won the $9,000 grand prize. Oh well, it was fun!

I spend the rest of the afternoon by the pool, doing some shopping since there are always great sales the last day and relaxing in the cabin and doing some packing.

This was the first time I have used the charge your tips to your sea pass option and it was really convenient. You just fill out the forms by Wednesday or Thursday and let them know how many people you are tipping from and for what person and you get a voucher with you name on it and you just stick that in the envelope and you still have the option of putting in some extra cash since the voucher is for the recommended amount only.

Dinner was very good and afterwards the girls go to AO and we decided to let them stay up late and see the 10:00pm show of Prince Caspian, their favorite movie right now. Tom spends the night at the sports bar catching up on all the football games.

We had great time at the movie and come back to the cabin and get the rest of our suitcases out in the hall, then hit the hay.

 

Sunrise over Port Canaveral:

 

I woke up just early enough to see the sunset and discover we have been docked for some time apparently since they are furiously offloading suitcases and already taking on supplies. The ship won’t leave until 11:00pm since they are loading up for the 46 day journey to LA.

 

We are all up by 7:30am and decide to skip breakfast and just get off the ship as early as possible. Debarkation was very smooth, there were no lines at all and we sailed straight through to the luggage carousel for our color and get a porter and collect all our bags within 5 minutes or so. We then went out to the front of the parking lot and out all the bags in front of a bench for the kids to sit on. I went to the back of the parking lot. The Budget van rolls up in less than 5 minutes and picks me and a few others up and we are at the rental agency in a few minutes. I rented a full-sized van since it was only a few dollars more than a mini van and that way we can fit all the luggage and mom’s scooter without having to take it apart. I just pulled the rear seat loose and pushed it forward and there was plenty of space and still 2 more benches for the kids to sit.

 

Farewell Mariner, we will miss you! Our last view before she heads to LA:

 

We eat breakfast at McDonalds in Port Canaveral and then head out to our 10:00am reservation at Twister Airboat rides. We got off the ship around 8:00am and had breakfast, got the rental van and all our stuff and made the 15 minute drive to the airboat ride all with time to spare.

 

 

I planned late flights so that we could enjoy the day and do something new and then hang out at Disney until the very last minute to head to the airport. The airboat ride turned out to be one of the favorite things we did the whole cruise! We hadn’t even gotten 100 yards from the dock before we saw an 8-9 foot gator swimming across the channel. It’s amazing to see the highway and civilization not far away and then seeing alligators in the wild right there. We head up the St. Johns River and our very nice guide tells us as soon as we get up the river a ways, where the fishing boats can’t go, only airboats, then we’ll see even more gators. Even so, we are seeing some gators jump off the bank every time we go around a bend. The boat is loud, (they even give you ear protection), and when the gators hear you coming, then tend to jump in and hide. We manage to get up the river and go slow and get really close to many of the gators before they got scared and jumped in.

 

 

We also saw tons of interesting birds like Great Blue Herons and Vultures and huge flocks of sea gulls that would scatter as our boat skimmed by, often in only an inch or two of water. We had an hour long private tour and it was just fantastic. The kids have been to loads of zoos and aquariums, but there is nothing like seeing animals in the wild, especially so close to civilization.

 

 

We head to Disney and Beaches and Cream, a soda shop type restaurant in Disneys’s Yacht Club Hotel. (The best way to describe it is an even better Johnny Rockets). We enjoy burgers and fries and the best onion rings ever and then spend around 2 hours relaxing right outside the restaurant in front of the best pool on Disney property, Stormalong Bay. The kids hit the arcade nearby and have a blast and grandma and I soak in the last warm rays of the sun we will feel until summer. The weather is just absolutely perfect, around 84 and only a few clouds in the sky. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and around 4:00pm we head off to the airport to fly to much cooler climes. At least the memories of our great times in the warm sun will help get us through the long cold winter.

[toonjie]

We sneak up on these gators and one stays until we get pretty close:

 

We probably saw 100 gators on our hour tour:

 

 

Great Blue Heron:

 

Gulls scatter as we skim by in only a few inches of water:

 

Back to the dock:

[toonjie]

Huge flock of gulls as we approach:

 

 

Lizzie is all smiles after seeing a gator up close:

 

Gator jumping in to hide:

 

 

A great time was had by all:

[ken_nyc]

Hi Toonjie, we had also done Nativeway’s Rays, Reef and Rum tour, one of the best excursions I have been on. I agree that the food was great. The captain let me run the boat out to the sandbar since I use to work on fishing boats out of Sheepshead Bay when I was younger and had my own small boat.

[sadie8]

Another great review. Thank you!!!! We have booked Nachi Cocom in May and was hoping you would have more pictures to share!!! I love your photos.

[abhb]

Your pictures are wonderful. Thank you for the captions. It really helps.

[toonjie]

Hi Toonjie, we had also done Nativeway’s Rays, Reef and Rum tour, one of the best excursions I have been on. I agree that the food was great. The captain let me run the boat out to the sandbar since I use to work on fishing boats out of Sheepshead Bay when I was younger and had my own small boat.

 

Thanks! Wow that sounds great getting to drive the boat! I just wished the ship spent more time in GC so we could of had around 3 hours at Rum Point and then come back for some shopping. How are your AOS cruise plans coming?