A Very Merry Mariner Christmas—Dec 23-28

[ChristyLNDRN]

Day 4–Cozumel

 

This would be my 3rd visit to Cozumel, 2nd for Mike and 1st for the kids.  We just wanted an easy beach day.  Had previously been to both Chankanaab (2013) and Paradise beach (2006) but decided in favor of Paradise beach since I figured the kids would be occupied most of the day with the water toys. 
 

Loved arriving so early at both of our port stops.  We were docking just before 7. 

 

We had breakfast in the Windjammer and I believe the ship was cleared before 8.  A quick walk through the shopping area to the taxi area and we were on our way.  Taxi to Paradise beach was $15 and maybe 15 mins.   You can pay a la carte or go all-inclusive. You also can make a reservation ahead of time but with all the uncertainty these days I didn’t want to do that and have to worry about getting a refund.  We had no problems just showing up.  
 

We went with the all-inclusive plan. It was $186 for the 4 of us.  I believe that broke down to $58 for the adults and $35 for the kids.  Included all the food, drinks and use of kayaks, paddle boards and floating mats, chairs on the beach with umbrellas and use of the pool.   The inflatable water park was an extra $10pp which I paid for the kids and myself. 
 

Here’s a look at the menu to see which option would be better.  
 

 

 

 

We arrived at the resort by 8:30.  Check in just took a few minutes.  Zach is trying to see how many wristbands he can collect😂

 

 

We were given the option of starting out at the pool or beach.   We chose beach…and literally had the place to ourselves for almost 2 hours.  It was AMAZING. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The time stamp on this last pic is 12:23!  Still not crowded!!

 

Edited December 31, 2021 by ChristyLNDRN

[ChristyLNDRN]

We really enjoyed our day here.  Food and drinks were good, service was friendly and fast.  Luis and Alexis took great care of us all day.  We ate, we drank, we climbed the inflatables (note to self..if you climb to the top of the iceberg, what goes up must come down😳😂) we kayaked and paddle boarded and floated in the pool.  Stayed until about 2 then headed back to the ship. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Missusdubbya]

Loving your review so far, thank you!

[BecAus]

Lovely review - such helpful details for people with upcoming cruises.

Love your style of writing.

Your photos are all brilliant and gorgeous photos of your kids (and yourselves of course)

It sounds like you had a wonderful Christmas cruise.

Thanks for taking the time to review - it is an enjoyable read sitting here in AUS with no cruising in sight for the forseeable future!

 

[ChristyLNDRN]

20 hours ago, Missusdubbya said:

Loving your review so far, thank you!

Thank you!!

 

16 hours ago, BecAus said:

Lovely review - such helpful details for people with upcoming cruises.

Love your style of writing.

Your photos are all brilliant and gorgeous photos of your kids (and yourselves of course)

It sounds like you had a wonderful Christmas cruise.

Thanks for taking the time to review - it is an enjoyable read sitting here in AUS with no cruising in sight for the forseeable future!

 

 

Thank you so much!  Hope the New Year brings a return to more normal cruising for us all at some point!!

[LGW59]

16 minutes ago, ChristyLNDRN said:

Thank you!!

 

 

Thank you so much!  Hope the New Year brings a return to more normal cruising for us all at some point!!

Wonderful review and clearly you and your family had a great time!  Thank you for taking the time to post this.  Happy New Year

[ChristyLNDRN]

Day 4 wrap up…

 

We left Paradise Beach a little after 2 to head back to the ship.  Wandered a bit through the shopping area first.  The party bars looked quite lively😜

 

 

 

We had the bigger ship this time!

 

 

 

 

This open play archery was set up on the Sports court a few times…

 

 

 

 

Always happy just to chill with a good book!

 

Dinner tonight was back in the MDR.  Apps were baked potato soup and seafood puff pastry for adults, cheese plate and veggie crudités (kids menu) for the kiddos. Entrees were Ahi Tuna, Lasagna, Mojo Pork Chop and the Chicken breast off the everyday menu.  The soup and lasagna were both things I hadn’t ordered in the MDR before and were both quite good.  Everyone else seemed to enjoy what they had as well. 
 

Entertainment tonight was “Center Stage”  Here’s the description:

 

 

It actually was the singers and dancers doing 2 numbers, followed by a juggling act.  He was trying to achieve the Guinness World Record for most objects juggled at a time on a cruise ship.  Fun to watch, and once again we had plenty of space off to the side in the theater.  

Another towel animal at the end of the night😀

 

 

Next up…our last day, at sea.  

 

 

[ChristyLNDRN]

Day 4 Compass

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bhsolo]

Thank you for your review, especially Cozumel. Was debating what to do there, going solo, and am now thinking Paradise Beach might be nice. Easy to get a taxi back to the ship?

[ChristyLNDRN]

42 minutes ago, bhsolo said:

Thank you for your review, especially Cozumel. Was debating what to do there, going solo, and am now thinking Paradise Beach might be nice. Easy to get a taxi back to the ship?

Super easy.  There were several lined up just waiting.   Highly recommend Paradise Beach!

[mk907]

Thoroughly enjoying your review! We are booked for the Mariner in February and love the sneak peek. Thanks for taking the time to write about it. 

[tarheel3559]

On 12/29/2021 at 1:46 PM, wolfcathorse said:

do you remember who the captain was?

I was on the cruise prior to this, Captain Tobias was at the helm. Mariner's current captains are Cpt Tobias Oster and Cpt Tor Olsen.

[ChristyLNDRN]

10 hours ago, mk907 said:

Thoroughly enjoying your review! We are booked for the Mariner in February and love the sneak peek. Thanks for taking the time to write about it. 

 

Thank you!  Hope you have a great trip!

 

 

9 hours ago, tarheel3559 said:

I was on the cruise prior to this, Captain Tobias was at the helm. Mariner's current captains are Cpt Tobias Oster and Cpt Tor Olsen.

Thanks!!

[ChristyLNDRN]

Day 5–At sea

 

Woke up to sunrise over Cuba as we sailed past. 
 

 

 

 

 

We kept breakfast very light this morning-had reservations for Chops lunch at 1, so wanted to make sure we were all hungry!  Snacks from Cafe Promenade are perfect for that.  Some of the pastries are different every day. 
 

It was VERY windy on the outside decks this morning and most of the afternoon. Morning consisted of hot tub hopping, plus some waterslides and flowriding. 
 

 

 

There was a teen-only speed climb listed on the compass for 11:30 that Zach wanted to try.  Unfortunately he somehow smashed his toe on the flowrider and we had to hobble back to the room to ice it.  It’s actually still a little bruised and swollen several days later so I think an x-ray may be in order this week. At least this was the last day!

 

[ChristyLNDRN]

Happy that we had Chops scheduled for lunch today—the boy was a little grumpy about limping around on his injured toe, but if there’s anything that cheers him up, it’s STEAK!

Sample Chops lunch menu.  I believe there was butternut squash soup instead of the mushroom soup. 
 

 

Kids got plain Mesclun salad from kids menu for their app.  Mike had the squash soup while I had the wedge salad.  Everyone had the filet for entrees, and we all shared all of the sides except for Mac and Cheese, which no one wanted LOL.  I think we all got the warm chocolate cake for dessert.  Everything was very good and it definitely put a smile back on Zach’s face.  
 

 

 

Note that Chops lunch is less than half the cost of Chops dinner although menu is limited.   Dinner menu pic for comparison:

 

 

After lunch we had reservations for the 4:15 “everyone” ice show.  We had a little time to kill before, hung out a bit outside on deck 4.  There’s chairs and shuffleboard there and we saw a bunch of flying fish, pretty cool!

 

 

 

Although the ice show was for everyone, they had separate sections for vaxed and unvaccinated which was nice.  Show was high energy and enjoyable. 

 

 

After the show it was time for our last night in the MDR.  No one was very hungry but we wanted to say goodbye to Eka and Igusti and make sure we tipped them the extra they deserved❤️
 

Suzy and I both got tortellini.  She asked for the sauce on the side and that was not a problem. Mike requested a double serving of the coconut shrimp appetizer for his main course.  Hilariously, the boy ordered more meat…prime rib.   I don’t know how he does it…teen boy metabolism I guess.  Note that lobster was not served on this cruise which is a change for all my previous 5 nights.  Not sure if that was due to special Xmas Eve/Xmas day dinners or not. 
 

We caught the farewell show at 9:15 with Monique from Goddess and the comedian, Alvin Williams, who we had missed the first night.   Laughed a lot and loved hearing Monique again.   Sadly after that, the fun was just about over…we’d be up early for self-assist walk off. 
 

Next up:  Debarking and final thoughts. 

 

 

 

[ChristyLNDRN]

Day 5 Compass

 

 

 

 

 

 

[irishgal432]

We are heading out on Jan 15 for a girls tennis team cruise. Do you know what the passenger count was?  Thanks  Loved your review.

[ChristyLNDRN]

1 hour ago, irishgal432 said:

We are heading out on Jan 15 for a girls tennis team cruise. Do you know what the passenger count was?  Thanks  Loved your review.

 

Thanks!  I asked at check-in and was told that 2800 were expected for the sailing. 

[ChristyLNDRN]

Wrap up and final thoughts:

 

Our return to Port Canaveral came bright and early.  Think we were docked right around 7:00. 
 

 

 

 

We always do express walk-off.  We left the room and soon as the captain announced that the ship was cleared and it was a total breeze, straight walk out all the way with a brief stop at the facial recognition scanners.  We were in our car pulling out of the garage at 7:30.  Sad faces from the kiddos to be leaving…

 

 

Crossed back out of Florida a little after 10 AM…

 

 

And with literally no traffic we just kept on going.  Made it home to Delaware to be greeted by our kitties just after 11pm.
 

 

 

Final Thoughts

 

I think we got very lucky.  We got on and off right before things starting getting crazy from the looks of other current threads trending right now.  We did not notice any disruptions or hear of any Covid cases onboard. Mask compliance onboard seemed high.  Masking indoors (for us) was not a bother.  That being said, 3/4 of us are used to masking up every day all day for school so it really wasn’t much of a change from our norm.   I felt pretty safe on board the entire trip.  We have since tested negative upon our return prior to returning to our schools/work.  

 

I had the booze package on my two most recent sailings but wanted to try the refreshment package for a change.  While the deluxe package certainly was more convenient, I didn’t miss it all that much.  I enjoyed trying a few virgin cocktails on the pool deck and in the theater, and it was still easy enough to get a glass or two of wine at night in the MDR and pay a la cart.     Kids both had soda packages and ordered Shirley Temples in the MDR and all the specialty restaurants that we went to but were not up charged for them.   I didn’t think those were part of the soda package but maybe they just billed them to my refreshment package.  In any case, they enjoyed them😀.   

 

It’s weird to say that this is the “smallest” ship we had sailed in quite awhile.  I was a little worried that the kids would have been spoiled by their previous Oasis class experience but they (and we all) had a great time.  Service was consistently great across the board.  Having sailed many of the ship classes now, I would say that Oasis class is our favorite but I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to sail on Mariner again.

 

Would we sail over Christmas again?  Probably not.  It was cool being on the ship for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but I think we all missed a little bit of that Christmas feeling that you get being at home and with family for the holidays.  I also don’t want to know what a holiday sailing feels like at full capacity!!  Side note—I did add the surf&stream package on Christmas Day so we could try to talk to family and it worked out great.  We used both FaceTime and Google Duo and caught up with all the grandparents and aunts/uncles.  You could purchase for 24 hours but it made more sense for me just to add it for the rest of the trip at that point as the daily rate decreased with more days purchased.  

 

All in all, this was a great trip, and we were all so excited to be back onboard after so long. Thankful for the time together and the memories made. 

 

 

Next up:  Party of 12!  Coming June 2022, extended family style….

 

 

 

Thanks for reading along.  Happy sails everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2022 by ChristyLNDRN

[aphrodite6528]

Awesome review @ChristyLNDRN! Thank you so much for sharing

[sharktums]

We had friends on this sailing and they also had a great time.  Saw a few covid cases getting off at the end, but Mariner definitely seemed to have the best ship experience of everyone over christmas week! Thanks for the report!

[js10]

What an informative, well written review--and a cute family too!  I am sure CruiseCritic readers will find lots of helpful tips and advice.  (Full disclosure, those "kiddos" are my grandkids!)

[irishgal432]

On 1/3/2022 at 10:10 PM, sharktums said:

We had friends on this sailing and they also had a great time.  Saw a few covid cases getting off at the end, but Mariner definitely seemed to have the best ship experience of everyone over christmas week! Thanks for the report!

We are on Jan 15 with a group of ladies, thanks for the info on covid cases.  Did your friend say they were being escorted off into isolation?Trying to figure out if we are cancelling or not.

Edited January 5, 2022 by irishgal432

[mcgore83]

Thank you for sharing with us!  Great review and a beautiful family!

[ChristyLNDRN]

On 1/3/2022 at 9:43 PM, aphrodite6528 said:

Awesome review @ChristyLNDRN! Thank you so much for sharing

Thank you!

 

On 1/3/2022 at 10:10 PM, sharktums said:

We had friends on this sailing and they also had a great time.  Saw a few covid cases getting off at the end, but Mariner definitely seemed to have the best ship experience of everyone over christmas week! Thanks for the report!

Yeah we were lucky for sure!  Thanks for reading😀

 

5 hours ago, js10 said:

What an informative, well written review--and a cute family too!  I am sure CruiseCritic readers will find lots of helpful tips and advice.  (Full disclosure, those "kiddos" are my grandkids!)

 

Thanks Pop❤️  How fun will it be to sail with all your grandkiddos this summer!!??

 

1 hour ago, mcgore83 said:

Thank you for sharing with us!  Great review and a beautiful family!

Thank you!!