Mariner of the Seas (Bahamas) and Disney World - Review - Sept 30, 2019 - Oct 11, 2019

[Noreen411]

20 hours ago, johnstoc13 said:

Great review so far! Hoping to hop on Mariner next month, just trying to figure out dates that work with our schedules.

Thank you - we really enjoyed Mariner

[Noreen411]

18 hours ago, kdnurs said:

The Celebration Cake was adorable...I was on Mariner in Sept and Nov. and Not Once saw the sweet treat. I would have LOVED to try it!!!🥰

It was really cute.  I”m surprised you didn’t get one.  We didn’t ask for it, they just brought it out.  It wasn’t on the menu.

Maybe next trip you will get one.

[Noreen411]

16 hours ago, Lindacruising said:

Wow, thanks for this great review. We just biked this cruise for first week in January (but we have a sea day instead of the extra Coco day. Haven’t cruised RCI in over 5 years and this really helps. Can’t wait to read more.

Thank you.  You will have a great time.  We really enjoyed Mariner.

[Noreen411]

Day 4 Compass and Planner

 

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 10/3/19 - Coco Cay

 

I went to the gym in the morning and tried the 7am stretch class.  I was the only one in the class so felt a little self-conscious and don’t remember all the stretches.  It was a quick class and only lasted about 15 minutes.

 

I also tried the 7:30 abs class.   This time it was me and two other people.  This was also quick at about 20 minutes.

 

I did some regular cardio and weights after trying the two classes.

 

I walked around outside a bit to cool down.

 

 

 

I stopped at Cafe Promenade for an iced white chocolate mocha and a bottle of water.

 

I also stopped at Guest Services since there wasn’t a line because I thought my remote control wasn’t working since I couldn’t see my statement on the TV.  They said they don’t have that capability on this ship.

 

Back in the cabin we did a little packing.

 

We showered and got dressed.  We decided to enjoy the ship today rather than go out to Coco Cay.

 

Chops breakfast was already closed so we went to the Windjammer.

 

We went to the arcade.  We had so much fun.  We played Deal or No Deal, a bowling game, and SkeeBall.  Scott wanted to go on the virtual reality truck but it wasn’t working (I still had him pose for a picture sitting in it).

 

 

 

We went back to the cabin to change for the pool and water slides.  We received a bottle of wine from the casino.

 

We set ourselves up on the suite sun deck and were the only ones there again.

 

I tried to get pictures of Scott coming down the water slide.  The blue one was further away so harder to get a good shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The slides are so much fun.

 

We were able to get a good shot of Coco Cay from the ship.

 

We went back to the regular pool and swam for a bit.  We watched some of Aladdin on the screen by the pool.

 

Scott took a pool break to go to the gym since he didn’t go this morning.  I stayed by the pool.

Edited December 8, 2019 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Thursday 10/3/19 - Continued

 

When Scott got back from the gym we went back to the water slides.  Scott took pictures of me coming down this time.  He had the right idea and just kept snapping pictures until I showed up in them.  I had a lot to delete but at least he was able to get me.  I also went on the green slide which is closer.

 

 

 

We went back to the pool, swam some more, and sat on our lounge chairs for a little while.  We really enjoyed spending time on the ship today at the pool and slides.

 

Edited December 8, 2019 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Thursday 10/3/19 - Continued

 

Back in the cabin, we did some more packing.

 

The below departure note was in the cabin.

 

We showered and changed for dinner.

 

 

 

For appetizers we both had fried calamari.  Scott also had a shrimp cocktail.

 

For our entree I had the beef tenderloin and asked for a croquette that normally comes with the duck dish.  I asked for one or two; they brought me a plateful.  Scott had the duck.  He said this was the best duck dish he’s had on various cruises so far.

 

For dessert we both had the Grand Mariner Soufflé.

 

We gave extra tips to our room steward, waiter, and assistant waiter.  We always leave the standard ones but will often give extra.  

 

We picked up our pictures and dropped them off in the cabin.

Edited December 8, 2019 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Thursday 10/3/19 - Continued

 

We went to the theater for the 7pm Love and Marriage show.  They had some new questions.  Surprisingly, the show was very quick and ended by 7:45.

 

We went back to the casino.  We were busy playing so ended up skipping the 8:15 Gallery of Dreams show we originally planned to see.

 

We went up to the cabin around 10:45pm to put the luggage out.

 

 

 

Then we headed back to the casino.

 

Scott was playing this cute penny game and in the bonus round you try to match different pictures (turtle, boy, girl, etc - each one had a value).  You need to get 3 of the same picture.  We were chanting “Girl Girl Girl” when he had 2 girls showing.  He matched the girl and won $900.   We normally play table games or poker slots with higher stakes, but lately have found some of the cute penny games fun to play too.

 

 

 

We went back to the cabin around 2am.

Edited December 8, 2019 by Noreen411

[#55worktoplay]

Really enjoying your review.

 

Nice win on the last night to recoup some of what was spent.  

 

 

[Cruisegirl6]

Excellent review thank you so much the photos were fantastic, we will be on B2B on her in March.

[Arzeena]

On 12/7/2019 at 1:01 PM, Noreen411 said:

Hi.  I enjoy writing these.  It’s taking me a while since I got back and right into our busy season at work.

 

Did you find you had enough time to visit Disney on a cruise ship port visit?

No not enough time on a port visit, but it did not keep me away!

[Noreen411]

Friday 10/4/19 - Disembark Mariner / Disney World

 

We showered and got dressed in the morning.  

 

We went to Chops for breakfast.

 

 

 

I had berries and pancakes.

 

Scott had eggs and pancakes.

 

We enjoyed having breakfast at Chops.

 

We went back to our cabin to get our carry on bags.  

 

We walked off the ship quickly.  We saw a porter so flagged him down.  He got all our bags for us and took us right to the car.  I’m guessing not as many people need porters on a shorter cruise.

 

We arrived at Vistana Villages about 9:45.  Not surprisingly, the room wasn’t ready this early.

 

We drove to Magic Kingdom.  Similar to the first time you see your ship before getting on is exciting, I get that same feeling the first time driving under the Disney sign each trip.

 

There is a lot of construction near the front entrance so the tram dropped us off in the parking lot but not close to the entrance.

 

We picked up our annual passes and took a ferry over to the park.

 

Our first attraction was the Tiki Room.

 

We went on Pirates of the Caribbean without much of a wait.

 

We stopped for a Mickey pretzel and a Coke.

 

Hall of President’s was next.  Followed quickly by Mickey’s Philharagic.

 

We went to Haunted Mansion.  I’m not sure what we were chatting about when they took the picture (near the end of the attraction) but this is a picture that was on my Disney App.

 

It isn’t crowded in Magic Kingdom.  There is a Halloween party later so we expected that.

Edited December 15, 2019 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Friday 10/4/19 - Continued

 

We received a call that our villa is ready.

 

We went to Big Thunder Mountain but they were having technical difficulties so down for now.

 

We decided we would head out and get settled at Vistana Villages.

 

On the way out we stopped on Main Street to watch the parade.

 

 

 

After leaving the park we stopped at Publix (a grocery store) for a few groceries and some cleaning products.  

 

Back at Vistana Villages we were able to get checked into our villa.  We’re in the St Augustine section, building 26, room 310.  I requested the St Augustine section not the bottom floor so this is perfect.

 

It’s a nice 1 bedroom premium villa.  There is a kitchen, dining area, bedroom, bathroom broken into a section with a shower, sink, and toilet (the toilet is in it’s own room),  then a separate room with the jacuzzi and another sink, and a balcony with a table and chairs.

 

 

 

We unpacked and got things organized.

 

Scott cleaned while I did the unpacking.  He wiped down all the surfaces with Lysol.  He filled the jacuzzi with water and bleach and ran it, drained it, and did that again.  He ran the dishes, bowls, glasses, and silverware through the dishwasher.  Maybe it’s overkill, but it doesn’t take that long and makes us feel better.

 

We had a huge pile of laundry that I separated and left in piles near the washer/dryer, but I didn’t start the laundry yet.

 

We headed out around 6.  Scott needed a charging cable for the laptop since it broke.  We asked at the front desk where they would recommend we go for that and they suggested a giant Walmart so we went there and quickly found the charging cable.

Edited December 15, 2019 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Friday 10/4/19 - Continued

 

We had dinner at Sawgrass Steakhouse which is on 535 across from Vistana Resort (the sister resort we own at).  We found this place during our last trip to Disney when they just opened and enjoyed it so we went back.

 

 

 

We sat at the bar to eat.  I had a sangria and a sprite.  I’m a wimpy drinker so will sip my sangria but will drink my sprite when I’m thirsty.  Scott had a bourbon and a coke.

 

Bread was brought over that reminded me of the type of bread you get at Outback.  The salad also reminded me of one from Outback.  Those comparisons are meant as a compliment as I like the bread and salad from Outback.

 

We ordered a crab cake appetizer to share but it never showed up.

 

We shared an entree of a bacon wrapped filet mignon with sides of Brussels sprouts and macaroni and cheese.

 

The bar manager was very apologetic about the missing crab cake and said to save room since he’s going to bring us cheesecake to make up for it.  We were fine without the crab cake as the food was filling.  We told him it’s fine and not to worry about it.

 

He brought us the cheesecake and it was really good.

 

Saltgrass was a great choice for dinner.  We really enjoyed it.

 

Back at the villa we did a few loads of laundry.

 

We went to bed pretty early - maybe 10:30 or so.

Edited December 15, 2019 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

On 12/8/2019 at 5:27 PM, #55worktoplay said:

Really enjoying your review.

 

Nice win on the last night to recoup some of what was spent.  

 

 

Thank you.  

I agree it was nice to hit something on the last night.  

[Noreen411]

On 12/8/2019 at 6:54 PM, Cruisegirl6 said:

Excellent review thank you so much the photos were fantastic, we will be on B2B on her in March.

If you have any questions please ask.  We really enjoyed the Mariner.

I haven’t ever done a B2B yet, but want to.

[Noreen411]

On 12/10/2019 at 10:03 AM, Arzeena said:

No not enough time on a port visit, but it did not keep me away!

We will be sailing on Oasis in 2020 out of Bayonne NJ and one of the port stops is Port Canaveral.  We have been tossing around the idea of going to Disney.  We have annual passes already.  Either that or maybe we’ll give Kennedy Space Center a try since it’s pretty close to the port stop.

[Arzeena]

On 12/15/2019 at 7:31 PM, Noreen411 said:

We will be sailing on Oasis in 2020 out of Bayonne NJ and one of the port stops is Port Canaveral.  We have been tossing around the idea of going to Disney.  We have annual passes already.  Either that or maybe we’ll give Kennedy Space Center a try since it’s pretty close to the port stop.

We are also looking at one of those Oasis sailings in Oct.

[Noreen411]

Saturday 10/5/19

 

We both went to the gym about 6am.  We really like the gym in this section of the resort.  It’s large and open 24 hours.

 

 

 

After the gym we did another load of laundry while we were getting showered and dressed.

 

We had breakfast in the villa - some cereal and fruit.  It’s nice to be able to have a normal breakfast before starting our day.

 

The sink in the jacuzzi room wasn’t draining so we called the front desk and someone was at the villa within 5 minutes to fix it.  That was very quick.

 

We went to Hollywood Studios and arrived a little after 9am.  There was a lot of construction near the entrance here too.

 

The park is crowded.  I know Star Wars land just opened recently so that’s probably driving the crowds up.

 

 

 

 

 

Above is a picture from the Disney App  -  I haven’t figured out a better way to post these.

 

Scott went on the single rider line for Rock N roller Coaster while I waited on a nearby bench.  It took him almost 40 minutes; we’ve done this in the past and it’s usually a lot quicker.  I chatted with a lady who was also waiting for people doing single rider.

 

We headed over to Toy Story Land - the theming here is so cute. 

 

 

 

We went to Toy Story Mania and were on quickly with our fast passes.  There were long lines everywhere.

 

We saw the Maleficent preview where the story of Walt Disney used to be.  The preview was good and got us excited to see the movie, but I missed the story of Walt Disney.

 

 

 

We saw the making of Star Wars, where the animation show used to be.

 

It was almost time for our fast pass to star tours.  We sat at a shaded table and snacked on some grapes that Scott packed while we waited for our fast pass time.

Edited December 22, 2019 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Saturday 10/5/19 - Continued

 

We went on Star Tours with our fast passes avoiding the long line.

 

Scott pulled a muscle in the gym this morning and it started bothering him.  I knew something was wrong during the ride since he kept gripping the armrest.

 

 

 

We walked over to and around the new Star Wars land.  There was a very long wait for the new ride so we figured we would do that another day.

 

I’m not a Star Wars person so wasn’t really sure what I was looking at, but Scott liked the layout of the land and we wandered around a bit more.

 

We left the park around 3.  With Scott’s pulled muscle and the heat he wasn’t enjoying himself as much as normal.  

 

When we got back to the car, it said 104 degrees, but it’s been sitting in the sunny parking lot.

 

We stopped back at the villa to get the cable to return to Walmart (it didn’t fit) and start a load of laundry.  The return at Walmart was very quick.

 

We went to BestBuy for a new laptop charger.  We had a nice chat with he salesman.  He noticed our magic bands and we started talking about Disney.

 

While we were out I received an email from our accountant with our tax documents we needed to sign and send back to him so he could submit them for us.  

 

Back at Vistana Villages we went to the business center and was able to print out the forms to sign.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have a way to scan it to email or to fax it and suggested we go to the front desk.  At the front desk the employee was very helpful; he didn’t know how to scan it initially but asked his boss and they were able to get it scanned and emailed to me so I was able to email it back to the accountant.  

 

I know the tax stuff isn’t really trip related, but it was nice to be able to take care of that while we were away and not have it waiting for us when we get home.  The employees at Vistana Villages have been super helpful.

 

Back in the villa we moved the clothes from the washer to the dryer.  And we started another load of laundry.  One of the things we brought with us is one of those clothes drying rods to hang the delicates that don’t go in the dryer.  It folds flat and when opened has several layers of rods to hang things.  It was great to have.

 

We showered and changed for the evening.

Edited December 22, 2019 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Saturday 10/5/19 - Continued

 

We drove over to the Boardwalk for dinner at Trattoria Al Forno.  We were seated quickly.

 

 

 

I had Sangria and a Sprite.  Scott had a Martini and a Coke.

 

We were brought bread and some sort of olive spread.  I don’t like olives so ate the bread plain.  Scott liked the olive spread.

 

We shared a pizza appetizer.   The changed the menu and didn’t have the pizza we had last year and really liked.  This was good but the one last year was excellent.  We didn’t finish the pizza knowing we had entrees coming.

 

For our entrees I ordered the Polpette dish (meatballs with cavatelli).  Scott ordered the Scallop dish.  Everything was good, not great, but good.  It was too much food.  We should have shared an entree.  Neither of us finished our food.

 

After dinner we walked over to Epcot and around World Showcase.

 

 

 

In Mexico the boat ride had a line.  That’s probably the first time I’ve seen a line for that attraction.  It wasn’t a long line, we waited maybe 10 minutes.

 

We planned to see the new fireworks at Epcot at 9 then head to Hollywood Studios to see the Star Wars fireworks at 10.

 

We found a spot near the exit towards the Boardwalk/Beach Club/etc and were chatting with a couple that were also waiting for the fireworks.  We were surprised that we weren’t hearing the usual announcements about the lights being dimmed and the fireworks starting soon.  We checked the app and realized the fireworks were at 10 (not 9) tonight.

 

Scott was more excited to see the Star Wars fireworks so we headed out of Epcot and onto a waiting boat that made a few stops on the way to Hollywood Studios.

 

 

 

We got to Hollywood Studios about 9:40 and found a spot to wait for the 10pm Star Wars Fireworks.

 

We were both disappointed by the fireworks show.  Disney usually does a great job with their nighttime shows, but this one was kind of lame.

 

We took the boat back to the Boardwalk to get the car.

 

The new skyliner broke down; we heard people talking about it and how some people were stuck for a few hours.  

 

We drove back to Vistana Villages, watched some TV, and went to bed.

Edited December 22, 2019 by Noreen411

[Prinny11]

I noticed in your photos that Navigator was at Coco Cay with you.  Did it feel crowded with 2 ships there?  We are there on Anthem with Mariner in February and trying to decide on Coco Beach Club passes to get a little more seclusion without paying the ridiculous cabana prices.

[vpat48]

Your TR is making me miss Disney terribly, looking forward to more of it.

[Noreen411]

4 hours ago, Prinny11 said:

I noticed in your photos that Navigator was at Coco Cay with you.  Did it feel crowded with 2 ships there?  We are there on Anthem with Mariner in February and trying to decide on Coco Beach Club passes to get a little more seclusion without paying the ridiculous cabana prices.

Hi.  It didn’t feel crowded at all.  But we were also there on a dreary day with on and off rain so maybe more people stayed on the ship.  There is plenty of space and different areas.  During our second Coco Cay stop it was sunny but we stayed on the ship so I can’t say with certainty how that day was on the island.

 

Noreen

[Noreen411]

52 minutes ago, vpat48 said:

Your TR is making me miss Disney terribly, looking forward to more of it.

Hi.  I’ll keep going, but it’s taking me longer than I would like.  When we returned my busy season kicked in and now we have the holidays.

 

Disney was my original favorite vacation.  Once I started cruising that’s up there too.  Kind of tied - I don’t think I could choose one over the other.