Mariner or Liberty, 4 women

[newlu]

Hi,

 

Planning a cruise for 4 women, late 30's, mid 40's. We enjoy good food, fun, drinks, comedy shows and latin music, and both these ships have Boleros. We would want to do the Eastern route. One goes to CocoCay, the other Labadee. Any comments would be appreciated, i.e. Cruise Director, more fun on one then the other, less kids on one or the other (we will not travel Thanksgiving week). Price is almost the same for both.

 

Thanks

newlu

[love2cruiseseattle]

I haven't been on either ship, but will be going on the Liberty in October. We have been on the Explorer which is the same class as the Mariner and we had a great time. I would probably make sure you are not going during a school district break, one year in late October we were on a ship with 400 kids from Colorado (mid winter/fall break I think). Labadee is a nice relaxing beach day, not sure how CocoCay is. Most of the ships have the same activities - Belly Flop contest, Quest, Love and Marriage, etc.

Liberty is a brand new ship and my TA said that the Freedom's pricing had been a little better (just a thought). I am sure you will love the eastern ports, I know we did.

[kruzerci]

I vote the Mariner. I just got off Freedom yesterday and my sister in law was on Liberty the week before. We both got back and said the same thing "Voyager class was perfect but Freedom was a little bit on the big side for us." Both of us are in our early 40's and in great shape, but it just felt like a job when you knew you had to walk from one end to the other. But hell, maybe that had to do with eating non-stop for 7 days :rolleyes: . Mariner is still my favorite ship, even after sailing on the Freedom. Don't get me wrong, I will definitely sail on one of the Freedom class ships again, but I do prefer Voyager class. Like I said, Mariner is a perfect size for us and Liberty is laid out exactly the same with a few minor additions and a lot of extra walking and crowds.

 

But then its a trade off, I guess. Brand new ship thats too big or four year old ship that has a few less amenities. Mariner!

[cruiserbryce]

we were just on Liberty in May and had a blast...by far our favorite ship yet...there was so much to do and see, tons of activities, and a lot of places to drink (I think you said you're looking for a good drink). We loved the Promenade...everything on the ship is great and very big. The ship went to Labadee which was great. We relaxed on the beach, went to Dragon point (not the exact name but close) and just kind of hung around...it was really nice...if we ever go back we will surely do the zipline

[newlu]

Thanks everybody! I guess now will look at flights, flying to Orlando or Miami, but I am leaning towards to Liberty of the Seas, Boleros is suppose to be great!

 

newlu

[AMommyof2]

Hi,

 

Planning a cruise for 4 women, late 30's, mid 40's. We enjoy good food, fun, drinks, comedy shows and latin music, and both these ships have Boleros. We would want to do the Eastern route. One goes to CocoCay, the other Labadee. Any comments would be appreciated, i.e. Cruise Director, more fun on one then the other, less kids on one or the other (we will not travel Thanksgiving week). Price is almost the same for both.

 

Thanks

newlu

 

 

Having been on both of these ships, I would go with Mariner, in your case. It's a beautiful ship. We were on the Liberty of the Seas 7/21 - 7/28 and there was a lot of teenagers and 20 somethings, I felt. We travel with our 2 young kids, so for us the kids aren't a problem, but for some others they might be. The Mariner doesn't have the "surf simulator" which seemed to draw a huge crowd of young people. We really enjoyed both ships, but if just DH and I were traveling and choosing from these two ships, I would go with Mariner. Hope this helps.

[cb at sea]

I like Voyager class ships, too! But, either/or--you can't really go wrong on either ship! Have fun!

[spbflseas]

Liberty gets my vote...we sailed both ships this year. Although the Mariner is a perfectly good choice, I really did enjoy the Liberty the best of all the 11 RCI cruises we have been on. Liberty gets you to Labadee, which in my opinion is a better stop than CocoCay (and much better than the alternate late afternoon stop in San Juan if CocoCay weather is bad). The one thing I can note about Liberty is that when we sailed, the shows did not offer much comedy. We had just one comedian who did the Welcome Aboard show and late night comedy. We had a separate headliner who did singing impressions...he was funny, but not a comedian. Because he filled the "headliner" spot, there is no assurance you will get a comedy act. However, Boleros is great. Gloria Estefan was on our Liberty cruise and Emilio could not stay away from the music. A couple of nights, he was on stage jamming with the band. Ultimately, either are great choices, but I really did love the Liberty. Oh...did I mention the FlowRider...it is great and it is not just for kids!!!

[newlu]

Thanks, I want to do the Liberty! Labadee and St. Martin are great, San Juan, never been, so might be interesting. Boleros will much fun for us as 2 of us love latin music, and I think that since the ship leaves from Miami, there might me mroe latin dancers! We are looking at the week prior or after thanksgiving week, so that there wont be tons of kids, not that we dont like them (we all have them!).

 

newlu

[kaf61]

Hi - I sailed on the Mariner last year and Freedom this year (Liberty is the sister ship). I loved both! Other than the Flowrider, they are pretty much the same. I guess Freedom is a little bigger, but I honestly couldn't tell because it's the same layout as the Mariner. The only big difference was our room. On both cruises we got a Promenade room. The Mariner's room was 153 sqft and Freedom's was 149 sqft. Now, it doesn't seem like much difference until you see the room - especially the bathroom! It didn't ruin our vacation, but we kept wondering why a bigger ship would have smaller rooms.

 

As for the islands, we did Labadee last year. It was a lot of fun. We relaxed on the beach, and then ate a delicious barbecue lunch provided by RCI. Some of the locals performed dances and fire eating acts. I thoroughly enjoyed the day.

 

Another consideration you may want to make is what airport you'll be flying out of. We flew out of Miami this year and boy was that a disapointment! It's got to be one of the worse int'l airports I've ever been to! The bathrooms are filthy and there is very little selection of eateries or stores. We were there for 5 hrs waiting for our flight and we were bored out of our minds. If you can fly out of Orlando, or even take a shuttle to the port, you should do it. Some people we met on the ship flew out of Fort Laud. If we sail from Miami again, that's what we'll be doing.

[AMommyof2]

 

Another consideration you may want to make is what airport you'll be flying out of. We flew out of Miami this year and boy was that a disapointment! It's got to be one of the worse int'l airports I've ever been to! The bathrooms are filthy and there is very little selection of eateries or stores. We were there for 5 hrs waiting for our flight and we were bored out of our minds. If you can fly out of Orlando, or even take a shuttle to the port, you should do it. Some people we met on the ship flew out of Fort Laud. If we sail from Miami again, that's what we'll be doing.

 

 

I agree about Miami Int'l Airport. We were there about 2 1/2 hrs. The airline employees we met were very nice (of course my DH works for the airline we flew), but the airport itself was awful. Looked old and in need of repair. Only a small beverage stand where we were and a very long way to food vendors.