Mariner of the Seas secrets?

[SnowRider250]

Heading on our first real cruise April 25th on the Mariner. Curious if there are any things that are good to know ahead of time about the ship. I have converted the online deck maps to pictures and loaded them on my iPhone which I hope will help maximize our time while we learn the ship. (Yes, I'm a bit of a geek.)

 

Curious about a few things:

- We love mexican food. Is this available on the ship? (A few of the posts I have read said no. We are desperately hoping they are wrong. If so, guess there is always the restaurants at the ports.)

- I am a pianist, are there any pianos on board I will be allowed to play? If so where?

- Any tricks for getting around crowded areas?

- Anything else I should be asking and have not? (Family of 6, 4 kids ages 9 down to 3.)

 

This is a big deal for us and could be our only cruise. I just want to make sure we make the most of it.

 

Thanks!

[Cruisin' Chick]

You'll probably get a better response if you ask your questions on the Royal Caribbean board as many CC members don't check this area.

 

As far as kids are concerned, there may not be many school-aged ones onboard that week as school is in session in most areas. Maybe mostly homeschooled ones.

 

I would guess that the pianos will be for the hired entertainers only. On our last cruise (on Princess), my hubby brought his guitar and ended up finding other guitarists -- so they had a little jam session. But I've heard Carnival doesn't allow passengers to bring on musical instruments.

[cb at sea]

The Royal Suite has a piano...but that's pretty expensive!

Aside from when the shows let out, you really won't find "crowded areas" on this ship---it's a great design and seldom feels like there are so many onboard!

Can't help you with the Mexican food....don't care for it and haven't noticed any!

The deck plans are posted at every elevator bank...you really don't need to carry them around with you! The ship is pretty easy to figure out, once you know what deck you need to get to!

[Cuizer2]

I was on the Mariner of the Seas in June. Perhaps the review I wrote ...

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=55962

 

or the pictures I posted (over 530) ...

 

http://travel.webshots.com/album/573273143cjeyif

 

will be of some help to you.

[cruiselover57]

Heading on our first real cruise April 25th on the Mariner. Curious if there are any things that are good to know ahead of time about the ship. I have converted the online deck maps to pictures and loaded them on my iPhone which I hope will help maximize our time while we learn the ship. (Yes, I'm a bit of a geek.)

 

Curious about a few things:

- We love mexican food. Is this available on the ship? (A few of the posts I have read said no. We are desperately hoping they are wrong. If so, guess there is always the restaurants at the ports.)

- I am a pianist, are there any pianos on board I will be allowed to play? If so where?

- Any tricks for getting around crowded areas?

- Anything else I should be asking and have not? (Family of 6, 4 kids ages 9 down to 3.)

 

This is a big deal for us and could be our only cruise. I just want to make sure we make the most of it.

 

Thanks!

 

We were on the Mariner this past December over Xmas. My suggestions would be that if you want to see the ice shows, make sure to get in at least 30 minutes before show time to get good seats together. Although they will usually have 3 shows on a given day and most will be the same, always best to get there early. You may also want to call the cruise line to hopefully see if they'll be offering a children's program at that time. Some usually only offer it during special times during the year (spring break, summer and other holidays such as Thanksgiving and Xmas).

[fotog303]

I did see some Mexican food one day in the windjammer.... I live in Colorado and it's been my experience that Mexican food can be very subjective, much like Italian food. I would not call what I had on the ship Mexican food, but others might love it.

IMHO get some great meals off the ship in port…. We had three great meals on shore. All three were different styles of Mexican food and very tasty. There have been post on the Mexican Rivera message boards that can be very helpful.

Hope this helps.

[startraveler]

We were on Mariner in 2008. If you go all the way forward on Deck 4, then step through one of the side doors, you'll be able to continue to go forward to the bow and helicopter landing pad (what normally would be Deck 5, except that you have to go the way I described.) It's a great spot to be when ship comes into port.

[Cuizer2]

We were on Mariner in 2008. If you go all the way forward on Deck 4, then step through one of the side doors, you'll be able to continue to go forward to the bow and helicopter landing pad (what normally would be Deck 5, except that you have to go the way I described.) It's a great spot to be when ship comes into port.

 

There is another way, but it is a lot harder to explain.