My review of the Mariner of the Seas

[eddeb]

Hello fellow cruisers,

 

Wednesday Night> St. Thomas

is Carrib. Night>

Snapper

Seafood Pasta

Jerk Chicken

Veal

Bami Goreng (?)

 

Thursday Night> St. Maarten

Is Italian Night

Lamb

Rigatoni Pasta

Garlic Shrimp

Chicken

Veg Chili

 

You can go to Group Cruises,

Click on Martini's Oct. 16th web site

and they have all the New Menu's Posted there.

 

Have Fun!

 

We are on the Oct. 16th sailing.

 

 

May your Tummies be Fat,

 

and Your Seas Be Flat!

 

I'd rather be a cruzin' than a workin' !

 

The Moore Gang

Ed, Deb, Amy and Sean

Tampa Bay

[PH8]

THANKS so much!!

[madisonms]

kimkenm - Thanks for your honest review. That was not complaining, just your honest thoughts. Let's face it, there's over 3,000 people on that ship. There are going to be some people who don't give a rave review.

 

From my own personal experience though, there was never a lack of food. We could pretty much find something to eat anywhere and at anytime of the day. People's opinions on food are very personal but there is so much more to a Voyager-class cruise than the food.

 

4/2/06 - can't wait!!

[Lyncruiser]

We were on the Mariner in August and really enjoyed it. I appreciate the OP's review just the same. I think food quality has declined since we first started cruising in '96. And, I don't subscribe to the "I didn't have to buy it or cook it so it was fine" attitude. I care far more about my food and dining pleasure than that!

 

On the Mariner, we were pleasantly surprised by some of the food. Soups were consistently very good and sometimes absolutely delicious. Breads were for the most part pretty good to very good. Salads, however, were generally only fair, so we started skipping salads. Desserts were quite good more often than not, though there were some clunkers. My mother has to watch her sugar intake and found the sugar free desserts to be delicious most nights. She wonders why RCCL can make tasty sugar free desserts and no one else seems able to.

 

Where we really noticed the quality decline was in the meats, particularly the beef. The first night the prime rib was not of very good quality and came out either well done, meaning hockey puck tough or so rare you'd swear it was still mooing. After that, we avoided the beef, going with fish or pasta. Those seemed like safer choices.

 

Also, we had a terrible waiter the first night -- he had an attitude like you wouldn't believe and was just downright rude. We complained to the head waiter and the problem was resolved to our delight and satisfaction. The next night and for the rest of the cruise we had probably the best waiter we've ever had. So, it does pay to make your displeasure known early in the cruise if you have a service problem.

 

Getting back to our "beef", the only really good steak was at Portofino, which was superb. As another poster said, you now have to pay extra for what used to be included in the cruise.

 

Other thoughts -- ice show was outstanding and not to be missed. The shows by the singers and dancers were pretty good. The headliners were great. The passenger talent show was pretty entertaining, surprisingly enough.

 

This cruise we had a JS and spent huge blocks of time on sea days in our room and on our balcony, enjoying the sea and each other's company. That was great.

 

Captain Gerry was perhaps the most delightful of all the captains we've had (and we've done many RCCL cruises and had many great captains!)

 

Overall, we thought it was one of our most enjoyable cruises. Nonetheless, I appreciate the OP's review and, in particular, the comparison to Disney and Holland America -- two lines we haven't tried before but are considering.