mariner...just back .....western route

[djh]

Alli (or anybody else that might know),

Was there a Murder Mystery Dinner on your cruise? If so, what night was it?

[seas06]

Cool pictures!! We are planning on going on the Mariner next April.

[daveky]

Just off the Mariner this past week on Western as well. Had a great time. Ship in excellent condition. Ship was fully booked with 3400+ passengers. Had to tender into Couzmel as other post mentioned, not a big problem, alittle unorganized for tender here since the pier was half blown away. Rhapsody did get to dock, though. Other ports we tendered went real smooth.

Shows were soso, but ice show was real good. Made my usual donation to the blackjack table of $100. for the week, but met lots of nice people at the tables.

Service at our table was excellent, the assistant waiter (female) even cried when we said our goodbyes on the last evening. That was touching. You never know the impact on those who serve you.

Glad to be back home and plan for the next one. Did get to experience my first female CD with Becky Thompson. Very nice, and LOTS of energy and speaks to everyone. You would think she was one of the passengers when you pass her in the hall or just sitting in one of the lounges. Comes right over, sits down, and visits with you.

Lots of families on our cruise, all were well behaved. And, no pool chair fights this time (smile) that I saw.

Passengers were real laid back, taking everything in stride and no one in a big hurry.

 

Dave

[alli]

Daveky,

Yes there was a murder mystery on Day five ( Friday). The actual dinner was held in Portofinos, but the event started with champagne at 8pm in Ellingston's ( a great loung on the 14th deck). Cost was $49.95 per person.

If you are interested in this, I would check on the first day at the restaurant which is located outside of the Windjammer .

 

quiltingfool, I'm going to ignore your remark. Statements like that are one of the reasons that after being on these boards for nearly seven years, I don't visit here often.

[alli]

Dr. Suess,

That's a hard question to answer. Formal night not only takes place in the dining room, but all around the ship. Having said that, I found the first formal night ( Captain's Gala) to be far more formal on this ship than the second formal night. The first night, everyone was dressed to the hilt. My favorite was a boy no older than eight in tails! The second night, people seemed to change out of their 'dressies right after dinner.

Also, it depends on what you call smart casual. Someone at the mix and mingle explained this perfectly......you take your casual clothes and put them in front of the TV....put on the history channel and now you have smart casuals.

[Cruising50's]

I read your post about the Mariner and your experience at Chops. We are leaving this Sunday for Mariner. Last time we were on the cruise, we never got reservations for dinner at Chops. We are going to make reservations as soon as we get on the ship this time. Any suggestions for which night ? We don't want to miss the formal nights...lobster, shrimp, etc. Was there any specific night in the dining room that you recall would be a good choice to eat at Chops. I would sincerely appreciate your suggestions.

[jules815]

Jules, I was on Mariner of the Seas just two weeks ago (April 30 - May7. The ship is absolutely gorgeous. Here are my pics, East Caribbeane route.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ndfeeji/sets/

 

Thanks for sharing your pics! I'm getting very excited about my first cruise -- it's getting so close!

[alli]

We did Portofinos Tuesday night. We also did windjammer/jade on Wednesday night cause we had tickets to the ice show that night and we did it for a change from the dining room ( Also by Wednesday we were filling stuffed from all the food and wanted to go light).

Our table mates said we didn't miss anything special in the dining room.

A couple other thoughts for reservation planning. Formal nights were Monday and Thursday. Lobster/prime rib night was Friday night. It was weird that the lobster was not served on the Thursday formal night, but we figured they switched around the formal night due to being in Cozumel on Friday and not leaving port till 7pm.

Our last dinner ( Saturday night), we found the menu in the dining room to be a bit boring, so this could be an option as well.

 

Hope this helps.....have great cruise

Alli

[Cruising50's]

Thank you so much. You have no idea how helpful this was. I thank you for your prompt response. My husband loves steak......... he was very disappointed in not getting into the restaurant last time, so it is important that we secure a time this time. However, we sure didn't want to miss the lobster. We now have a plan ( thanks to you ) and will go for either Wednesday or Saturday night. Any other suggestions ? Is there any particular item on the menu that we absolutely must try at Chops ???????? We are leaving for the airport in four hours. We got much better airfares by traveling today, so we will just play in Orlando until Sunday. The last time we were on Mariner, we were just so impressed that we could hardly wait to book again. We have a great balcony cabin, all the suitcases are packed and we are ready to begin our vacation. Thanks to people like you, we are going into this with a little more knowledge than last time.

[alli]

Sorry, cause we didn't get into Chops, I didn't even look at the menu. never talked to anyone who went there either.

I will tell you, in Portofinos, the menu was laid out in a way that grouped all the apps and soups together, making it look like you should just choose one. We ordered a bunch of stuff. I know some people we talked to ordered an extra entree. I ordered an extra plate of the chocolate covered strawberries and had them wrap it to go. Stuck them in our fridge and ate them the next night on the balcony with a glass of wine!

 

Have fun

[piercetc4]

just adding to the thumbs up for the mariner- great ship- we are going on her our 2nd time in oct 06 and getting ready to book her again for oct 07- you will have a wonderful cruise!!

[Cruising50's]

Thanks Alli for the great suggestion. I would like to try that restaurant as well. I heard from a person that went that you should definitely try as many things as possible. There will be 4 of us dining, so we could try to get a little taste of some interesting things to share. What did you try in Portofino's ?

I love the suggestion about the strawberries. We will definitely do that !!

[alli]

Portofinos....Yummy.

I had the bean soup, the gorganzola salad, a mushroom pasta dish, a scallop app and for the entree I had a seafood dish that had lobster, shrimp and scallops. Don't really recall everything my husband had, however, I think he had a seafood pasta and the veal . His veal dish was salty, but otherwise the food was excellent. They had a tiramisu on the dessert menu that was to die for ( and that's coming from someone who doesn't eat a lot of desserts).

Having eaten that on Tuesday night, you can probably understand why we made Wednesday a ' light food day' and missed the dining room!

[Sue Dawson]

HI,

 

I've seen in a couple of posts that the price in Portofinos is now $15 is that every night or just the first night? Also, what about Chops? I'm going to be travelling with my two teenagers and I wouldn't mind trying one of them.

 

Thanks a lot.

[snoopy_leogirl]

I hope that you can help me with something. About formal night, I have a question. How formal are we speaking here? To me formal is anything that is not shorts, jeans, tank tops and tees with flip flops. I plan to wear black pants and a nice sequence top. I don't want to go all out into gowns and dresses. Is my outfit acceptable or will I have to sit in the cabin and order room service? :o

[DrSeuss]

Thank you Alli, my only resaon for asking is that we are coming from the Uk and combining Disney so I has packing issues!! But I guess we need that extra suitcase!!

[alli]

Portofino's was $15.00 every night. Chops was $20.00. I don't when or why they changed the price of Portofinos.

Snoopy_leogirl, the dress code has been discussed on these boards since day one ( that's ten long years of talking) and everyone has their opinions on what's right and wrong ( some people have VERY STRONG opinions). IMHO, your going to look great in black pants and a sparkling top.

Dr. Suess, I have my cruise 'wardrobe' down to a science now. All my formal/casual smart dresses are black....as is most of my other wardrobe, so I only have to pack 3 pairs of dressy shoes and 2 purses. I think my husband packs more than I do. Just in case this is your first Disney.....SNEAKERS and SUN BLOCK are the most important items.

Oh yea, when pascking for any vacation, don't forget your sense of humor and your common sinse.

[snoopy_leogirl]

Thanks Alli.

[alli]

snoopy_leogirl,

just noticed your location on the last reply....do you really live in St. M? My husband and lived in the Caribbean for years. We were located in St Lucia first and then moved to the BVI.

[angalt]

Yes, please share! I'll be on Mariner next month (first cruise!), and although we'll be doing the eastern route, I love to hear what people think about the ship.

 

Hello--

Are you going the same week as I? If you find any hand tips please pass them on. Right now I'm doing research on shore excursions for st thomas & st maarten.

Thanks.

[DrSeuss]

Thanks Alli, we love the USA and this is our 4th trip to Disney, My husband said no disney this year. So I booked a cruise and sneakily slotted in a few weeks around it for Mickey!! I will just have to roll his clothes real small Te He!! Did you feel much movement on the Ship? Just thinking from a sea sickness point of view?

[alli]

Dr. Seuss,

My husband's a Brit! We live in Florida now ( have done for years) so we're mickey moused out! You might want to check out your Orlando hotel/motel to see if there's some laundry room you can use before the cruise. That'll mean less packing and less lugging around the dirty clothes.

We felt NO MOTION at all. I don't get seasick, nor does my husband, but really, we never knew we were on a ship.

Having said that.......buy some OTC seasickness stuff at a drugstore in Orlando before you go ( probably cheaper than the UK) just in case some one in your family feels poorly. The stuff in the stores onboard is very costly. I bought a small bottle of mouthwash for $4.00. I didn't want to pack my large bottle in case it broke ( large bottle in store at home caost less than 3 dollars).

And having said that, pack up a little first aid kit w/ all the normal stuff. You can get it all on board......but boy, I've learned it really costs you!

Alli

[jules815]

Hello--

Are you going the same week as I? If you find any hand tips please pass them on. Right now I'm doing research on shore excursions for st thomas & st maarten.

Thanks.

 

Yes! We'll be on at the same time (6/11).

 

This is going to be our first cruise, so I really can't pass along any tips. I've just been reading everything here and taking notes.

 

Did you sign up for the M&M?

[angalt]

No we didn't sign up for the M&M -- where do you sign up and when is it? We have 2 boys ages 12 & 16 and we are also traveling with my sister-in-law & husband and her 2 kids girl 12 yrs old and boy 16 yrs old. Have you figured out any shore excursions yet. We're trying to book them before we get on the ship. What part of chicago do you live? We live in Tennessee now but we are originally from Kankakee, Illinois. Goodluck on your research!

[jules815]

No we didn't sign up for the M&M -- where do you sign up and when is it? We have 2 boys ages 12 & 16 and we are also traveling with my sister-in-law & husband and her 2 kids girl 12 yrs old and boy 16 yrs old. Have you figured out any shore excursions yet. We're trying to book them before we get on the ship. What part of chicago do you live? We live in Tennessee now but we are originally from Kankakee, Illinois. Goodluck on your research!

 

If you go here, which is the official "roll call" thread for our cruise, at the top of the page there's a link to sign up for the Meet & Mingle. :)

 

We live in Cary, which is pretty far north, in McHenry County.

 

Here's the link to the roll call thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=183670&page=22