RCCL Mariner of the seas

[MnAsMom]

Anyone been on this ship in the mexican riviera? We've finally made our decision and we want to book the Mariner. Would love any and all info you have to offer. Our boys are 4 and 8. Anyone have recent AO info so I can let my boys know what they will be doing in "camp"? Any suggestions on excursions? On our honeymoon caribbean cruise we just jumped in cabs and told the driver to take us to a great beach... we think we might want to "plan" a little more this time around! I've heard you can often do better, price wise, by booking tours outside of what they offer through the ship.

 

All that have been on Royal Caribbean... Do you book directly with the Cruise line? If so do you have a specific person you deal with or do you just call 800 number and hope for the best? My Half sister is a travel agent, apparently, but I am not so sure I want to deal with going through another person.... and then if something doesn't go right I don't want to have to deal with my "sister" about it! Is there any benefit to using a travel agent? We used one 10 years ago for our honeymoon but haven't been on any real vacations/cruises since then..... we really need a vacation! :)

 

thanks a bunch!

 

~Tondi

[crusinmama06]

The Adventure Ocean pages are at the link in my signature for that age group. Look at my Indy pages, they should be almost the same for Mariner. I guess they are repeating activities fleetwide.

[MnAsMom]

The Adventure Ocean pages are at the link in my signature for that age group. Look at my Indy pages, they should be almost the same for Mariner. I guess they are repeating activities fleetwide.

 

Thanks Michele. Had looked at the older Vision pages but figured they are more than a year old and might not be doing star wars based activities anymore! :)

[crusinmama06]

Thanks Michele. Had looked at the older Vision pages but figured they are more than a year old and might not be doing star wars based activities anymore! :)

 

My Indy pages are from Feb. They are still doing the same activities. ;)

 

I just got some new Freedom ones, but they are for 9-11s....which is not the right age for your kids.

[cb at sea]

We always just call the 800 # and book---that way, I'm in control and if I have a question or need to make a change, I just call again. Easy!

 

Before you start booking excursions, get a guidebook on your ports so you'll know what to do, how to get there, what it will cost, etc.... A little research goes a long way and can save you alot of money!

[MnAsMom]

We always just call the 800 # and book---that way, I'm in control and if I have a question or need to make a change, I just call again. Easy!

 

Before you start booking excursions, get a guidebook on your ports so you'll know what to do, how to get there, what it will cost, etc.... A little research goes a long way and can save you alot of money!

 

ok.. good to know. I will just call the 800 number and hope I get a good person on the phone!

 

I've been reading on the Mexican Riviera message board here in Cruise critic and getting some good ideas. My boys love the beach so if in doubt we'll just find a nice one and spend time on the sand. I looked at some of the dolphin encounter things too... I'm sure my boys would enjoy that as well. Just need to decide if the cabo one is better than PV. I myself would love to Zip line in PV but my little one is too young for it. Maybe Hubby and I can trade off and the other can entertain the kids at the restaurant? We'll get it worked out!

 

Thanks to everyone so far that has responded! Just happy for any suggestions/advice people have to offer!

[AnnaP]

We did the same cruise last year and had a FABULOUS time. I highly recommend the dolphin swim in PV. I can’t say on the Cabo one because we decided it had the better day for the beach and the PV dolphin swim was cheaper and at a water park to boot. It was supposed to be 30 minutes but it was more like an hour. My son is also 4 and the water park there was his single favorite part of the whole trip. They have slides your 8 year old would enjoy and then tube slides that you’re 4 year old would like. Are only regret was that we didn’t spend the entire day there. In Cabo we did lovers bay and it was very nice as well. We did Stone Island in Mazatlan and had a great time there as well. If we go back we would do it on our own and not book a tour. Overall I would say for kids you cannot go wrong with the water park in PV. It is very reasonable and you could definitely do the whole day there if you wanted to. My son loved the kids club as well.

 

Feel free to ask me anything!

 

Thanks,

Anna

[MnAsMom]

We did the same cruise last year and had a FABULOUS time. I highly recommend the dolphin swim in PV. I can’t say on the Cabo one because we decided it had the better day for the beach and the PV dolphin swim was cheaper and at a water park to boot. It was supposed to be 30 minutes but it was more like an hour. My son is also 4 and the water park there was his single favorite part of the whole trip. They have slides your 8 year old would enjoy and then tube slides that you’re 4 year old would like. Are only regret was that we didn’t spend the entire day there. In Cabo we did lovers bay and it was very nice as well. We did Stone Island in Mazatlan and had a great time there as well. If we go back we would do it on our own and not book a tour. Overall I would say for kids you cannot go wrong with the water park in PV. It is very reasonable and you could definitely do the whole day there if you wanted to. My son loved the kids club as well.

 

Feel free to ask me anything!

 

Thanks,

Anna

 

Thanks so much Anna. I've been looking into Sea Life Park and thinking it will probably be a great option for us. I was trying to figure out if we should do a whole day there or try to split our time and spend some at the beach? I also would love to do the Zip Lining myself (sure my hubby would too) but our little guy is still too young. I thought it could be a nice option besides a beach day... Maybe we'll save that for another cruise to the mexican riviera one day in the future! :)

 

Still figuring out what we will do in Cabo. Heard mention that Hotel Finesterra is allowing cruise passengers to use their hotel pool and such... there is always the ME but it sounds like it may be too loud and rowdy for us.... we're not college kids anymore!

[AnnaP]

We really enjoyed lovers beach. I should note there are no "bathrooms" there. Since we had a boy it wasn't a huge deal but something to keep in mind. Myself I thought the water at the beach was wonderful in Cabo and would absolutely opt for that over a hotel pool with blaring music...

 

Don't forget the sand toys! :)