Our first Regent Cruise

[chuckschick]

I just booked our first Cruise on the Mariner. It's a seven night from Ft. lauderdale to Ft. Lauderdale. on March 24th, 08. This is the day after Easter next year, and Spring recess in the our area. Has anyone ever had a problem with overcrowdedness on a Regent ship? We have sailed many of the Middleline cruise ships, and decided we wanted to try Regent. (we won't be sailing for a few years after this we have twin sons going to college in 2009.) We really wanted to try something special for this time. Any Comment about this ship would be appreciated. P.S. We are not bringing the children. Is it really worth the extra bucks...?

[Jim B]

We are Regent Fans and have been on the Mariner twice and a third trip coming up in December.

I think you will be very pleased with cruising on a Regent Ship, and the Mariner is fantastic.

Crowded? Remember there are only 700 passengers to begin with so overcrowding is not a problem.

Worth the extra Dollars? Well we sure think so. You can read posts after post here on Cruise Critic talking about it, but if you really break it down piece by piece I think you realize it is not that much more expensive than other cruise lines. In fact a couple of years ago there was a comparision showing how the inexpensive lines really become more expensive after the final bills are paid because they nickel and dime you for everything.

Relax. Enjoy your excitment knowing you have a fabulous 7 day cruise to look forward to.

 

03/22/80 Commodore MS Caribe...................Eastern Caribbean

0215/03 Radission (Regent) Paul Gauguin..... Tahiti

02/22/04 Norwegian Dream (ick)................ Western Caribbean

11/12/04 Radisson (Regent) Mariner.......... Mexican Riviera

02/15/05 Radisson (Regent) Diamond......... Southern Caribbean

12/27/05 Radisson (Regent) Voyager......... Panama Canal FLL to LAX

01/09/07 Regent Mariner......................... Amazon River

12/03/07 Regent Mariner.......................... Auckland NZ to LAX

[OrlandoCouple2007]

Taking our first cruise on the Mariner, June 20th in Alaska. I'll let you know how it was. Can't get to crowded on the Mariner. Only 700 passengers max...and lots of room

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

We were just on the March 13-23 Mariner cruise, Ft. Lauderdale to Ft. Lauderdale, and there was one teenage boy and about five small children, hardly noticed them (except the little ones were also at the airport and on our plane, and wailing the whole time...). I think the crew organized some things for the little ones to do.

[Cruisedreamer1]

We were on the ship from 3/30 until 4/9 and the ship had 630 passengers. There were no lines. The ship did have children on it since it was spring break but it was not a problem.

 

Don't forget to ask your steward for your 2 bottles of liquor. It is available if you ask for it.We brought home a bottle of scotch and vodka.

 

Although, you can eat at a buffet for breakfast and dinner, try the Compass Rose for both. It is quiet and the food seemed better. Also, you will not eat so much.

 

The laundry is not on every floor. It was not in use much except toward the end of the cruise. There is a tv in the room if you need to stay with your laundry.

[JDRMYS]

The public areas and decks on the Mariner seem to provide the most square footage per passenger of any ship afloat. The tradeoff is that the standard suites, while very large indeed, are smaller than those on the Voyager and Navigator. We have never had any trouble finding deck chairs or places to sit in the lounges whenever and wherever we have wanted them. Very often, during the day, you will run into very few people while walking anywhere on board. We love this feature of the Mariner. We have heard that some people complain that the ship often feels empty even when it is fully booked. For us, this spaciousness is one of the greatest luxuries.

 

If you want to have really enormous private space as well, book any suite from grade "C" and higher.

[MamaQuack]

We too were on the March 30 sailing. It was our 4th time on the Mariner and we loved it just as much as ever. We enjoy fresh fruit from the Veranda breakfast but then order whatever their special of the day is, or in our 15year old son's case, he ordered eggs benedict every morning.

We did not encounter lines or pool chair problems at all. Guess only complaint if there were one is that when requesting reservations a second night at Signatures and Latitudes we had to eat after 8 which is kind of late for us. But we were thrilled to enjoy these restaurants twice. We did use the laundry on deck 9 twice and there was no waiting and the new flat screens are nice while folding laundry.

[kvisf]

MamaQuack, we are on the April 27 Mariner Panama Canal cruise. I am curious what you thought of Mariner's new look after the "soft goods refit" that some other posters have mentioned. Your March 30 cruise would have been the first after the refit.

[MamaQuack]

We loved the new look. Our corner aft sweet had completely new everything except the built in cabinets that were there in July. The sofa and 2 arm chairs are a beautiful sea green. There was a new dining table much larger than the round one that used to be there and 4 nice green chairs. The drapes and sheers are beautiful and bright. The carpet is now a beautiful beige with a swirl - very light. The other suite #986 had the same new drapes and carpet and a new coffee table. The baths had new, thick towels too and the beds felt like our pillowtop at home.

 

One word of caution: they worked very hard in dry dock but were still not able to replace the carpeting in all cabins. Our cousin was asked what day they could enter her cabin to replace hers. She allowed it on the day we were gone all day in St. Martin. She returned to beautiful carpet but the smell from the glue used to make it adhere was nauseating. She ended up leaving the door open all night and sleepin on our sofa bed! Oh, the sofa beds are better than before but you still need the egg crate foam for comfort.

[Ste. Michelle]

We were just on the March 13-23 Mariner cruise, Ft. Lauderdale to Ft. Lauderdale, and there was one teenage boy and about five small children, hardly noticed them (except the little ones were also at the airport and on our plane, and wailing the whole time...). I think the crew organized some things for the little ones to do.

 

 

We were on the same cruise. We unfortunately encountered the 5 or so small children on more than one occasion---often diaper-clad in the hot tub, "wailing" in the Veranda at dinner, or in the library.

[MamaQuack]

diapers in the hot tub - disgusting! the little ones like that need a nanny or something because they are too young for Club Mariner and really, in my opinion, would be better suited for a larger ship; there were 70 kids on our March 30 sailing under the age of 18 - fortunately we never saw a toddler or heard one - the Club Mariner had a lot of activities and really kept them all entertained (even the cool teens)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

The diaper thing is pretty awful. I've noticed that there's no enforcement about who gets into the hot-tub. Not unusual, but I'm always surprised when parents let their kids into them to play, since they're not even recommended for children.