A TA on the Mariner

[BosoxI]

My wife and I are considering a trans Atlantic on the Mariner in April. On a fourteen day cruise there will be eight sea days. My concern is what is there to do on those days, as my wife is not a reader. We've taken about six TAs on larger ships with many activities and one Pacific cruise on a ship about the Mariner's size. She enjoyed herself on all of them. Nevertheless, I am concerned she will be bored and if she is bored, I won't have much fun, either.

 

Also, though neither of us is sea sick prone, how does the Mariner ride in open ocean? Are there cabin/areas to be avoided should we move forward on this.

 

I sense her choice would be another (boring) cruise in the Caribbean on a larger ship. I would prefer the TA but ultimately, I prefer to see my wife happy

 

Finally, is there a way of learning which cabins are available on a Regent ship via the internet?

Edited January 3, 2018 by BosoxI

[Travelcat2]

The Mariner is the most stable ship of Regent's fleet and handles TA's quite well. While I am sure that larger ships have much more to do than on smaller luxury cruise lines, we did not find ourselves bored at all. They have various things to do from wine tastings, food demonstrations, games, lectures, a Country Fair and several other things. What you will not find is loud parties, wet t-shirt contests and things that are typically held on mass market cruise lines.

 

Have to agree with you about the Caribbean. I cannot think of much that is more boring (with a few exceptions - we do like St. Kitts but Regent rarely goes there).

 

The port stops at the beginning of the cruise do have some great excursions and Bermuda is a lovely place to spend the night (and take more excursions). If you have yet to experience Regent, IMO, it would be a treat for both of you!

[BBfromCA]

TC - You forgot to mention the daily Trivia contests, tea time and Bingo (on sea days).

[Travelcat2]

TC - You forgot to mention the daily Trivia contests, tea time and Bingo (on sea days).

 

Thanks for remembering!

[briar14]

We are taking this cruise. I agree with the previous posts that there is plenty to do. I would add that various fitness classes will be available. The bonus to this cruise will be enjoying the newly refurbished Mariner, fresh out of dry dock!

[flossie009]

I assume you are thinking of the Seven Seas Mariner cruise from Barcelona to Miami departing on 04 April 2018.

If so then here is some hopefully useful information:

• You can never predict weather and sea conditions on a Transatlantic crossing; it can be very calm. However, if rough seas are encountered, Mariner is a very stable ship
  
• This will be Mariner's first cruise after an extensive refurbishment so everything should be pristine
  
• We have enjoyed a number of crossings on Regent ships and there are always plenty of varied activities on the sea days (We are booked for this one :cool:). Although there are a total of 8 sea days there are only 5 consecutive days without landfall
  
• This is a westbound crossing so we will 'gain time'. On 5 or 6 days of the crossing the clocks will be put back one hour
  
• The early Spanish ports are interesting and Madeira is a beautiful island with good weather all year.
  
• If you contact Regent, either direct or through your TA, they will tell you which suites are still available in the grade(s) that you are considering. There is a TA's website where you can check availability but I cannot give details on this forum. You can see reviews of various suite numbers on the sticky SuiteGuru
  
• If you are new to Regent think about using the Ambassador Programme. I, or others on CC, would be happy to make the referrral
  
• There is a roll-call for this cruise (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2530524) and there will be a 'Meet & Mingle' held on board
  

Whatever you decide, have a great cruise :D

[Travelcat2]

 

 

Finally, is there a way of learning which cabins are available on a Regent ship via the internet?

 

Yes there is. Here is a link to your cruise: https://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR180404/summary

 

Click on the brown "Plan My Cruise" button

 

Fill in information (this is only a pretend booking -- don't worry about making a reservation -- you will stop before you get to that part. Click "continue"

 

The next screen is where you select a suite. Only available suites will have "Select" to the right of it. For your cruise there are 4 available categories.) For testing purpose I clicked on an "E" Concierge Suite and hit "continue"

 

It shows that suites 1074, 1078, 1079 and 977 are available. This screen also shows the total cost.

 

To get back to the previous screen - press "Previous" (try not to hit the back button as it may mess you up and you would have to start over).

 

Hope that this helps:)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I haven't done a TA on Mariner, but we did have six sea days on our Miami to Lima trip (granted, one of these was the Panama Canal which was endlessly fascinating.) I found that there were lots of activities on the ship. I do like to read, but I don't come on an expensive cruise to spend all my time reading! We got involved in trivia, both regular and music, which was fun. There were some interesting lectures, and games organized, teas, dancing. All in all, there was lots to do, although admittedly it was a tropical cruise, so there were plenty of outdoor activities, which might not be true on a TA.

 

OTOH, we did a TA coming west on Oceania Riviera a few years back, and it had a distinct lack of interesting activities (and the weather was suboptimal). I feel like the former was the fault of the CD. But that's never been a problem on Regent, ever.

[BosoxI]

Thanks for all the good information which has gone far in helping us to a decision. A special thanks to TC2

[gjkov]

We are also booked on this cruise...our first on Regent! Thanks everyone for sharing thoughts and information. Sounds like lots of fun to be had and a person can keep busy or just relax, as they choose. Certainly every cruise is different, but does there tend to be game players (board games or cards) onboard? I very much enjoy games, while my DH can take or leave them. So is always fun to find new game playing friends.

[Hambagahle]

I have done two TAs on Mariner. One on Oceania (riviera). Wendy is right - on Regent ships (and I have also done a TA on Navigator and one on Voyager) the lecture series are fantastic. Usually 3 or more of them running all the way across the "pond". I have found that usually one is not to my taste but always find something in 2 or more to keep my brain turning over. I take a highlighter pen with me so I can highlight things I want to do or watch - there is SO much on offer if I don't do this I end up missing things. I absolutely love sea days. And a TA is really the cruise I like the best of all.