Mariner of the Seas Review 9/7/2004 Part 1

[gattfamily]

Hurricane Frances and Ivan:

First of all, our sincere condolences to all who were affected by these terrible storms.

 

Please skip this section and go on to the next if you are tired of reading about revised travel arrangements due to Hurricane Frances. Regarding getting to the MOS, I’m sure it was a tough time for all! We were traveling from Michigan with a group of eight, four of them kids. I won’t bore you with the details of our travel, but what I will say is that it was hard to get up-to-date information from RCL.

 

We were scrambling with travel arrangements and ended up renting a car and house in Tampa. Not knowing when (or if) we would leave on the MOS, or even where MOS was going to end up, our only reliable source of information was from cruise critic members.

 

We heard Port Canaveral was damaged, we read e-mails from the ship stating they were going to Miami, yet RCL customer service said they triple-checked and triple-confirmed that we were leaving from Port Canaveral. Scratching our heads, we kept our eyes glued to cruise critic. Got a call at 7:00 Monday night from RCL … we’re off to Miami!

 

Tuesday morning we flew to Ft. Lauderdale and caught a ride to Miami. The Mariner of the Seas … love at first sight! We easily checked in, got our itinerary (Cozumel and Grand Cayman), then found a comfortable chair in the Platinum/Diamond member’s room, munched on some cookies and sipped on lemonade. It was there we met a lovely young lady named Kindra. She drove all the way from Port Richey to Miami with her grandmother and another gentleman (it took them 7 hours … they were able to find one gas station with gas). The only thing Kindra complained about was that “it was hard to sleep during the ride in a wheelchair”. What a wonderful young woman. As it turned out, her grandmother ended up winning a free 7-night cruise while on the ship.

 

 

Once on board! Straight to the Windjammer Café, then off to our rooms. Luggage arrived a little late, but there was plenty to do on board. The ship left Miami approximately 10:00 that evening. Several people could not make it to Miami in time, and several decided to cancel. The ship had approximately 2,000 passengers on board.

 

 

Entertainment! Kirk the cruise director was fantastic! We were glad to see him because we enjoyed his talents on the Adventure of the Seas a couple of years ago. He is an excellent singer, and SO funny!

 

There was a comedian from “The last standing comic” who had us laughing hysterically. There was also a singer who was equally entertaining. We didn’t care too much for the dance shows, but I think because we prefer hip-hop/modern than Broadway. There were some wonderful singers at the Karaoke competition … and if you haven’t been to the QUEST game show, YOU GOTTA GO! It was totally hilarious, totally entertaining. I ended up taking off my bra after a bunch of men ran around in their underwear. Need I say this is an adult-only show? (Not to worry, it’s actually a very ‘clean’ show). FYI, the costumes for the parade were breathtaking. I could go on and on about poolside fun (the men’s belly flop was hilarious. The kids really laughed.). My daughter joined in on the dance instruction.

 

BINGO! Between myself and our kids, we spent $300 and the only thing we won was an ugly poster and a t-shirt, but we really enjoyed ourselves. BINGO!

 

FOOD! We ate so much food! The food in the Windjammer was ‘good’ (especially the breakfast scrambled eggs). Food in the dining room was also ‘good’ (the chilled soups were excellent) but the attention paid by the waiter and assistant waiter made the experience worthwhile. Our assistant waiter was from Chile, a school teacher working on his master’s degree (forgot his name). Our waiter’s name was Leontini and he was quite pleasant. They both went out of their way to make our dining experience special.

 

My husband’s favorite eating spot was the Café Promenade. By the way, they were really pushing the specialty drinks on the ship. They were expensive ($5-9), but oh so good. Plus you got to keep the souvenir glasses.

 

There ended up being only one formal night and it was so nice to see just about everyone dress up for the evening!

 

ROOMS! I would feel guilty if I first didn’t mention this little item … WATCH YOUR STEP WHEN YOU FIRST USE THE BATHROOM. I had a big owie when I didn’t realize you have to step over a metal molding to get into the bathroom. Also, paleez warn your kids the toilets don’t flush … they suck. The sucking noise is very loud. My daughter had forgotten this little bitty from her first cruise. I had to do the flushing for her for the rest of the cruise.

 

We had cabin 1392 (Aft, deck 10). Besides the used marijuana pipe we found in our safe, we thought the room was lovely. The balcony was very roomy. We asked our room attendant to bring us an extra chaise lounge, and the balcony was able to comfortably hold two chairs, two chaise lounges and a table. We allowed our kids to sleep on the balcony for a couple of nights. (There are a couple of pictures posted on my website from the balcony.)

 

The room had plenty of storage space … several drawers and three mirrored storage areas. Also, we discovered that if you pull the sofa top out towards the dresser, there is a storage area in there as well for blankets or whatever. You can also store your shoes in the space above the closet. We stored our luggage below our bed. I brought the shoe holder for behind the bathroom door but didn’t use it. There was plenty of storage in the bathroom mirrored cabinet. We had the room attendant clear out our fridge, but when I really wanted a canned soda, I couldn’t find one. Next time we’re asking him to keep it full. Plus that $7 jar of cashews looked real good.

 

 

I was able to plug in my iron, curling iron and nightlight in the living area, but was not able to use one of those Glade plug-ins. The usual household “outlet” was upside down, and the ‘big’ side of the plug was on the ‘right’ side. We also couldn’t use the nightlight in the bathroom because there was an unusual outlet in there above the sink. Our nightlight (one of those little orange ones) was very useful (we put it just above the dresser … not too bright, not too dim). We also used one of those touch lights in the bathroom. Thanks to cruise critic members for that handy recommendation.

 

Our room attendant was pleasant and took care of our special requests, but he did not do a very good job of cleaning our room. We were very surprised considering he only had 9 rooms to care for, plus he had an assistant. At first I thought it was just me, but I wasn’t the only one who had the same issue.

 

ROCKING OF THE SHIP! The ship was really rocking. The first couple of nights made it hard for me to sleep because I felt the ship “chugging”. This was probably due to the time of year we sailed (when we sailed the AOS in October 2002 we barely knew the ship was moving.) There were a couple of nice ‘rocking’ nights, but towards the end, some people had to hold on to the seats when going up the steps in the Savoy Theater. For the most part, it wasn’t a problem.

 

ADVENTURE OCEAN! My kids loved the arcade. My son, 12, loved the independence and entertainment offered by the program. He couldn’t wait to wake up in the morning so he could go meet up with his new friends in the ‘living room’. He’s already getting e-mails from some of the friends he made.

 

My daughter, 7, is at that age where she doesn’t want to hang around “those babies” (kids 5 and 6), but she ended up asking to go to the kids’ room to play and ‘hang out’. She also made new friends on the ship. The kids also roller-bladed, went rock climbing, and shoot some hoop. Kudos for the Adventure Ocean staff--they did a great job of keeping our kids safe and entertained.

 

SHORE EXCURSIONS! We went to Cozumel and Grand Cayman.

 

FYI, you are not allowed to bring fruit off the ship. We packed a lunch and forgot this rule. Needless to say, I was embarrassed while unloading my picnic basket full of fruit, holding up a line of a hundred people. One of the staff grabbed one of the bananas, held it up to her mouth and ear (think telephone) and said, “The banana said there is no fruit allowed off the ship”. My husband interrupted her and said, “What does the pear have to say?” Funny …

 

 

More on shore excursions on Part 2 .....