Mariner Review 5/10/2009

[atdahop]

Embarkation: Arrived at the pier 11:00. Breezed through the check in. Priority line was longer then the regular line so we went there instead. Was on the ship and at the buffet by 12:00. Only drawback on RCCL is that you can never get to your cabin before 1:00. If you have carry on luggage it gets in the way at the buffet.

 

 

Cabin: We had a Promenade on deck 7. It was small, but well appointed and had a great view of the Promenade. I found the a/c difficult to adjust. Not the controls but the air flow. If this ship had gone to Mexico, I fear the a/c would not have cooled the cabin enough...Cabin service was marginal. There were 2 evenings that we did not get any service. But that is the luck of the draw. We have always had outstanding service in the past.

 

Food: We enjoyed breakfast in the Windjammer, found it had many choices and usually quite good. Lunch was even better. We had lunch there almost every day and loved the salad bar and assorted choices. Service was generally good and we did tip one server on the last day. Now about dinner. Dining room food was mediocre at best. There are fewer choices and the deserts were nothing to rave about. We ate at Portafinos one night and it was just ok. Sabatinis on Princess is much better. Loved Johnny Rockets, but I love the 60's theme and so anthing would be good. But really the food was good. We had the old coupon books so we were able to get the lunch free and just pay for our beverages, but going forward there will only be a coupon for a buy one get one free shake. Service in the dining room was very good and also service in Johnny Rockets was good.

 

Shows: We liked the magician, Jay Johnson, the Commedian on the last night and especially the juggler, whom we had seen before. The production shows were ok.

Quest was fun as usual..enjoyed kareoke especially one very talented young lady who sang "Earl".

 

Activities: Mainly participated in Trivia....Loved it and had a great host R.J.

 

Ports:

 

Astoria: Nothing much to do there. The town people came out to assist and did a great job but still not much to see.

 

Seattle: Loved the Underground Tour, Pikes Market and the Monorail. We had been there before.

 

Victoria: Took the public bus to the Gardens and then to the White Heather Tea Room. Loved this experience.

 

The last two sea days were slightly warmer and enjoyed having 2 days at the end to relax.

 

Debarkation: Easy, but if not for a few people who had to go to immigration and held up the rest of us we would have been off the ship at least 45 minutes earlier.

 

All in all hade a great time, met a lot of fun people and would do this cruise again in the summer months.

 

Carole

 

Miss you all, especially my trivia buddies

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for posting your review!

[sailingawaysoon]

It sounds like you had a good trip. Thanks for posting your review.

[Shmobo]

Carole,

 

Thanks for posting your review!! I am still getting over our post cruise blues..

 

Jen