RDDAILY

Hi!  We will be in Amber Cove in just two weeks on the Carnival Magic!  Does the pool area there have wi fi?  If not, what's the closest place to get a wi fi signal?  Thanks!

On ‎7‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 11:44 AM, ShakyBeef said:

For clarification, when I referred to checked and carry-on luggage in my answer, I was only speaking of cruise luggage, not flight luggage.  Also, I  am guessing the OP is not flying to Port Everglades since they live in Miami (29 miles away), but, like all assumptions, that could prove wrong.

You are correct ShakyBeef!  We will be driving to port.  Once of the advantages of living in Miami is being close to Port of Miami and Port Everglades.  The disadvantage is having to put up with Miami traffic

Thanks again to everyone for the great advice.  Two more weeks to go!! 

On ‎7‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 11:57 AM, Cruiseman38 said:

Just got back from a cruise on the Breeze on 06/29.  I brought both a non-surge protected power strip and a corkscrew for the wine we brought.  Put both the non-surge protected power strip and a corkscrew in my checked bags and went through with no issues.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

Thanks!

Hi everyone!  We will be sailing on the Magic from Port Everglades in a couple of weeks (can't wait)!!  I had a couple of questions.  First, thanks to all of the great suggestions on this board, I bought a non-surge protected power strip for the room.  Can I bring it in my carry on, or does it have to be in the checked luggage?  Second, my husband and I plan on bringing a bottle of wine on board to enjoy on our balcony.  Can I bring a corkscrew, and if so, do I put in in the carry on or in the checked luggage?  If not, will our room steward provide one?  Thanks!

Sounds like you had a wonderful cruise!  We are going on Magic in July and I was planning on renting a golf card in Grand Turk.  Did you rent ahead of time, or once you were already in port?  Thanks for the great review!

We are on the Magic in July 2019.  We were planning on renting a golf cart in Grand Turk.  Which company did you use?  Did you pre-book, or rented it when you got to port?  Thanks!

23 hours ago, pirate4me2 said:

 

I did! Here is the link:

 

 

I am loving your review!  I have laughed out loud several times while reading it!!  We are going on Magic in July.  I clicked on the link for your review, but the pictures do not show.  I know there were some issues with pictures after the new website launched.  Can you see the pictures on the review or is it just me?  Thanks again!!

23 hours ago, Beagleluv6107 said:

 

My luck did change as one of my buddies agreed to swap seats with me. Bless his heart! After that, we stopped for lunch it was around 12:45. Louie took us to a restaurant / road side stand for some authentic food. The place was called La Muralla. It did not disappoint. I think this picture is beef inside a fried green banana and a fried pork chop with beans and rice. We also had a shot of some type of cinnamon drink they make there. I think it was called Coquito. I also guzzled a beer. I desperately needed that after my ordeal.

 

 

It is coquito!!  It's like eggnog on steroids   It's made with coconut rum and is delicious.

Hi!  Not sure about the Escape Room, but they did have Laser Tag.  It was free.  It's in the same venue as the Ice Skating Rink.

We will be in Amber Cove in July of this year.  We have two boys, ages 5 and 9.  I e-mailed Marysol Tours and was told that our 5 year old could ride the ATV with an adult.  Has anyone done ATV's with a child this young?  I'm afraid of him not being able to hang on and falling off!!  Thanks!

Thanks so much for your review!  We will be on Magic in July with our 5 and 9 year old.  We are planning to do the same thing you did in Amber Cove.   Did you go to the cable car ride early in the day?  How long did you have to wait to get on the ride?  Thanks!!

Thanks everyone for the replies! I had to call Carnival for a price adjustment (saved $80, yaayy!!) and asked about this. They said the middle name was not necessary as long as the first and last name on the reservation matched the passport.

Hi, everyone! We are booked on the Carnival Magic in July 2019. I made the reservation through the Carnival website. Once I paid the deposit, it let me add the names of the other passengers in the cabin. It only asked for first and last name. My question is, I know that the names must match the names on the passports, and everyone in my family has their middle names on the passport. Is this something that I can add once I do the check in? I don't want to be charged later for a "name change"!! Thanks!

Thanks for the great review! We just booked Mariner for next summer (June). We are seasoned cruisers on Disney and we're looking to try something new. I also have a July 4th kiddo. Mine just turned 10. :)

Hi! You will have a great time. She's a great ship! Does your child say that the fireworks are to celebrate his/her birthday like mine does? ;)

One think I forgot to mention in my review, which I thought was great for families with kids: on embarkation day, from 8:00 - 9:00 PM, they had free arcade games. Not all of the games were free, but a lot of them were. It was a great way for the kids to play in the arcade, without the parents having to pay for it!!

question please

 

Do they use SeaPass cards or bracelets?

Hi. They use SeaPass cards.

Thanks for this review. Hubby and I are sailing her on Sept 3rd and we can't wait! Where do you get the pizza onboard?

 

 

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You will love it! She's a beautiful ship! Pizza was on deck 5, at the Café Promenade. They also had a small selection of sandwiches and desserts.

Thank you so much for this review! I hear many people say you can't go back to the smaller ship after you've been on a bigger ship but this review makes me reconsider! I have an 8-year-old and live in Broward County and the idea of hopping on the ship for a long weekend is great! I'm happy to hear you all had a great time.

Thanks! To be honest, she did feel like a big ship! And that’s a great age to take them, because they’re old enough to do all of the activities. You should definitely try it out!

Thanks for the review. Did you happen to stop by Playmakers sports bar?

Hi! Yes, we did. My boys loved the pool table in there! We did order some drinks, but did not look at the food menu as we were not hungry at the time.

Thanks so much for the review. We are coming with our kids 13 and 9 end of August. Can't wait!

 

That is my worry of the pools...that they get very crowded. Funny about the ice skating.

 

Question about Skypad...do you go bare feet? Trying to figure out shoes for that area of the ship (waterslides too do not sure if bare feet).

 

Also..do you recommend water shoes for Junkanoo beach? We may stay on ship for Nassau but that beach is an option too.

 

Did you see ant shows? If so how were they?

 

Looks like a great ship for kids.

 

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You will love the ship! Yes, Skypad is bare feet. Same for the water slides. You will need socks for the rock climbing wall and ice skating.

I didn't think our four year old would enjoy the shows, so we did not make it to any of them. Plus, since we tried to use the pool later in the day, by the time we showered and ate dinner, it was pretty late!

I think water shoes would definitely be a good idea for Junkanoo. Some of the rocks were pretty sharp. You just had to watch where you walked, but as I'm sure you know, kids are not the greatest at doing that! We also thought about just spending the entire day on the ship, but we really enjoyed the couple of hours we spent on the beach.

Hope you have a great trip!

Hello fellow cruisers! We just returned from our vacation on the Mariner of the Seas. I wanted to do a review, and hopefully answer any questions you guys have about the cruise. I will include information regarding restrictions for age/height for the on-board activities, since I did not find many answers to these questions before our cruise.

About us: Me (the mom, and planner of all family vacations!) My husband, (the dad, and the one that does not want to know a thing about the vacation until it's time to pack!) We have two sons - our oldest, who I will call RS, is 9 years old, and our youngest, who I will call DS, is 4.

We got the refreshment package during one of the sales, and I thought it was totally worth it.

We had an inside cabin, #6223, which we loved. It was quiet, and was just a staircase away from the Royal Promenade. We loved having the pizza and specialty coffee just a floor away. FYI for parents sharing the room with their kids, they must be 6 years old to use the Pullman bed (and yes, there's a sticker on it that tells you that!) RS slept on the Pullman, and DS slept on the king bed with my husband and I.

We live in Miami, so my mom dropped us off at the port on Monday. We arrived at the port at 11:15, and were on the ship around 11:35. Super easy check in and boarding process. Once on board, we headed straight to the Windjammer for lunch. It was not crowded at all, and we had no problem finding a table.

Sky Pad - RS was really excited to try this, so we headed straight there after lunch. Age restriction: must be at least 5 years old to use the Sky Pad (needless to say we had a very disappointed 4 year old)! We waited around 40 minutes since only two of the trampolines were in use. RS used the VR glasses and really enjoyed it.

Laser Tag - Must be at least 5 years old and 40 inches in height. RS and my husband said it was really fun to do.

Slides - Must be 48 inches to use the slides. They would close the slides at 7 PM. RS went on the slides on the day we were in Nassau, from about 5:45 to 7:00. This was a great time to do it. The most he had in line in front of him was 2 people. He literally would exit the slide, go back up the stairs, and ride it again! He also rode them again on sea day around 6:15, and again there was hardly a line to use them.

Ice skating - This was the one activity DS was really looking forward to, since it was one of the few things he could do. No age/height restriction. He lasted about five minutes on the ice, then told me he was too tired to continue. Gotta love four year olds!! We did not get to see the ice skating show, as they only did it the first and second day of the cruise. The ice skating and laser tag share the same venue, so in order to have one set up, they cannot do the other.

Pools - We tended to use the pools in the late afternoon, after 5 PM, when they weren't so crowded. They are small, and pretty deep (5'3"). RS is pretty tall and he couldn't reach the bottom. They provide life vests, which DS loved to use because he could swim around the pool without having to hold on to me.

Kids club - Both of the kids used the kids club for about an hour a day. They both really enjoyed it. For those of you wondering, yes, you can step down in age group if that's what your child would like. RS just turned 9 on the 4th of July, and he was a little worried about being in the 9-11 age group. They allowed him to be in the 6-8 group, with no problems. They leave a kids club cruise compass every day in the room, with the hours and activities scheduled.

Cocoa Cay - It was a lazy beach day. We got to the island around 11:30, and stayed until about 3:30.

Nassau - We did not have any excursions planned, so we got off the ship around 3:00. We walked to Junkanoo Beach. It's about a 15 minute walk, and is very safe because you are walking down streets crowded with tourists. The water was absolutely beautiful, crystal clear and warm. The sand, not so much! There were a lot of rocks, but they were spaced out. So, it's not as if you were constantly stepping on rocks when you were in the water. The water was so clear, that it was easy to see if you were going to step on one.

Food - We ate at the buffet for all meals. Food was pretty good, although a bit repetitive. They did have themes (Mexican, Caribbean, etc.), but that was just one small section of the buffet. Breakfast did get very crowded on Nassau day and sea day. On Nassau day, we could not get a table and they ended up opening Jamie's Restaurant for people to sit. Otherwise, we never had a problem finding a table to sit at. We ate A LOT of pizza!!! Since it was literally just a staircase away, it was an easy mid-day/late night snack. I thought it was pretty good, and it was always fresh and hot out of the oven.

I hope anyone going on Mariner finds the review helpful. She is a beautiful ship, and they did a great job with the refurbishment. I'm happy to answer any questions my fellow cruisers may have!

Anyone come across any video tours of the new Mariner? Did some google searching but didn't come up with anything

Check on YouTube. I saw a couple of videos there.

Early this morning

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How exciting!! Will you be posting pictures during your trip?

Do you see her yet?!

Yes!!! This was my view of her from my office window this morning!

I've been counting down the days until she arrived at port. Here she is as seen from my office window! July 23rd can't come soon enough!!

I’ll be on her this weekend. I can post photos if you’d like :)

That would be awesome!! We'll be on Mariner in July. My job is basically right across from the port. I've been counting down the days until I can see her from my office window!!