Just off Mariiner-things you might like to know

[CruiserKatie]

Just got off the Mariner, Sunday.

 

The TVS are are the old format. They come and swivel, and, yes you can watch from bed without any problems!

 

Be prepared for not alot of choices however, we watched the same movies over and over again, but if you get really bored, you can watch several movies in foreign languages, that was a hoot some nights!

 

Have fun, and I hope the sea is calmer during your trip!

[linswi]

The TVS are are the old format. They come and swivel, and, yes you can watch from bed without any problems!

 

 

Please forgive me for not understanding...

Do you mean the tvs are the old big box tvs but that they are on something that turns?

Or are they the flat screens that are mounted on the wall?

Thanks

[CruiserKatie]

old box TVS on a a swivel base!

 

NO flat screens mounted on the wall in our cabins!

[IronKey92]

yes the tv's are the old type - boxes. We just returned from the Mariner on the 3/16 and were quite impressed. Our girls are 9 and 11 and loved the kids club. They would have never seen us had we not required them to. The food in the Windjammer was fairly plain, but the activities all over the ship made up for it.

 

Make sure to hit the 2 specialty restaurants as they are very much worth it. Don't forget your highlighter - we left ours in the car, there is so much to do.

 

Enjoy, the beds are old, so extra time in the hot tub and sauna is a must!

[kbt2]

:D Love the Mariner, even though I think the food is not as good as it used to be,

We have sailed this ship 3 times and going again on Dec. 7th. to say goodbye, as it is leaving Florida:) and going to California, still don't know what ship will replace it

:p

 

They've announced Freedom will replace Mariner in '09.

[babybaby]

yes the tv's are the old type - boxes. We just returned from the Mariner on the 3/16 and were quite impressed. Our girls are 9 and 11 and loved the kids club. They would have never seen us had we not required them to. The food in the Windjammer was fairly plain, but the activities all over the ship made up for it.

 

Make sure to hit the 2 specialty restaurants as they are very much worth it. Don't forget your highlighter - we left ours in the car, there is so much to do.

 

Enjoy, the beds are old, so extra time in the hot tub and sauna is a must!

 

I thought the Mariner had new beds. I sure hope so.

[nccruiser24]

I thought the Mariner had new beds. I sure hope so.

 

I too thought the Mariner had new beds! I know I read this somewhere. New beds in 2007 I think!

Does anyone know for sure?

[Merion_Mom]

Brand new bedding, like every other ship in the fleet.

[Merion_Mom]

:D Love the Mariner, even though I think the food is not as good as it used to be,

We have sailed this ship 3 times and going again on Dec. 7th. to say goodbye, as it is leaving Florida:) and going to California, still don't know what ship will replace it

:p

 

Instead of Sovereign and Mariner, Port Canaveral will have Monarch and Freedom.

[pauline664]

:D Love the Mariner, even though I think the food is not as good as it used to be,

We have sailed this ship 3 times and going again on Dec. 7th. to say goodbye, as it is leaving Florida:) and going to California, still don't know what ship will replace it

:p

It's been said that Freedom replaces Mariner. In May 2009

[pauline664]

Thanks for the tips - I wonder if the weather will have settled down by the time I go on the Western itinerary in May??

 

Gosh, I hope so.

 

Thanks for the notice about the ppl picking up their luggage becasue of alcohol smuggling!!

My DD and I went on the very same cruise in 2008. Loved it and the weather was very hot and humid. Very little winds at sea.

[pauline664]

Thanks for the tips - I wonder if the weather will have settled down by the time I go on the Western itinerary in May??

 

Gosh, I hope so.

 

Thanks for the notice about the ppl picking up their luggage becasue of alcohol smuggling!!

Correction!!!!!:D We went on that same cruise in May 2007.:D

[cruisinhs]

I read somewhere in another thread that all rooms on the Mariner had a mini fridge? Is this true? I thought only the suites had them. It would be good to know for sure.

[jenni belle]

I read somewhere in another thread that all rooms on the Mariner had a mini fridge? Is this true? I thought only the suites had them. It would be good to know for sure.

 

Yes, all the rooms have a mini-fridge. It is in a little cabinet beneath the television. It is stocked with sodas and candy bars for a mini-bar. If you'd like to use the fridge alone, you can ask your cabin attendant to remove the mini-bar items.

[ROCsabresfan]

I too was on the same cruise. Unfortunately, I totally spaced the Meet & Mingle and did not get to meet you Lin! :(

 

Anyway, the captain of the Mariner at the time was Capt Johnny Faevelen. He was quite entertaining and very visible. I've never seen a captain around the ship as much as we saw Capt. Johnny.

 

The crew director was Drew Devine. He was great, and come to find out, quite the drummer! While watching the farewell show, we all said, that drummer looks a lot like the CD. Well....there was a reason!!

 

And sadly, yes, there is no more grand gala buffet. However, they do still have the midnight BBQ by the pool.

 

 

 

Was this Midnight BBQ every night or only a specific night?

[jules815]

Thanks for the tips - I wonder if the weather will have settled down by the time I go on the Western itinerary in May??

 

Gosh, I hope so.

 

Don't worry about the seas. We did Western itinerary last June and the seas were like a sheet of glass for the entire trip.

[Darspurs]

Dining room food on our recent cruise was actually the best we have ever had on RCCL.

 

Beds were very comfortable, can't say if they were new but we slept very well.

 

Water was like glass the week before the original poster, so smooth that after the first day I never knew if the ship was moving unless I looked out.

 

Edit - The late night deck buffet was only on one night.

[DayCruisers]

We got our Ice Show tickets outside of Studio B on Monday morning starting at 9:00 am. We got there a little late as my DH looked at the clock incorrectly. By the time we got there at 9:30 am, many of the time slots were given away. These tickets are free and only one person from your party needs to go to collect them.

 

Our Captain was Captain Johnny and the CD was Drew Devine.

 

There was no Gala Buffet, but a deck BBQ on Day 4. It only lasted about one hour. This may have been due to the weather.

 

We also missed the meet and mingle as well as our friends. I am so sorry we missed meeting you all. We had a lot of trouble getting our paperwork from our room steward(otherwise he was great). This is also why I did not know that a special paper had t be filled out in order to have tips automatically applied to our sign and sail. I know someone responded that this has never been RCI policy, however the last time we sailed with them (our first RCI cruise) this was indeed how it was handled and was new for them at the time.

 

The beds seemed new and were pretty comfortable. There were refrigerators in all our rooms, just know that they will not keep perishables at a safe temp. We used ours only to cool bottles of water we brought on board.

 

We were able to bring on our own bottled water and some gatorade for our boys. It was easy. I just put a luggage tag on it and it arrived outside our door just before the muster drill.

[mrsaknar]

This has all been quite helpful..... One more question if you don't mind. Which two nights are formal nights on the Mariner? We have a copy of the menu, e-mailed to us from a CC member, and it will help in planning which nights to go to the specialty restaurants vs the dining room if we can find out which nights are formal since we don't want to miss those. Thanks all!!

[truffles2]

You're right on on the dining room thing--breakfast IS better there!

 

 

...but takes forever.....

[MrsPete]

3. If you plan to buy several pictures, buy a package. You can buy any package Sun-Tues and then upgrade or downgrade when you are ready to pick out your pictures.

 

4. Eat breakfast in the diningroom. The food is much better quality.

 

6. The ice show tickets go fast so make sure you are there to get them early.

We also LOVED Mariner, and I have a couple comments on your statements:

 

I was in the photography studio on the last morning of the cruise trying to locate a photograph that they'd lost (they ask you for your ship ID when they take a photograph, and in theory it should be easy to keep them linked together, but they just screwed up with one of our formal night photographs). I overhead MANY people complaining that they'd been charged twice for their photographs; so many people, in fact, that I wonder if it could've been intentional. The moral: Check your bill!

 

I liked breakfast in the Windjammer, except for pancakes and French toast -- those were definitely better in the dining room! I liked the "30 minute" concept that they have for breakfast/lunch in the dining room. The idea is that you should be able to be seated, served, and eat in 30 minutes.

 

We'd heard that you must-must-must have tickets for the ice show . . . but my daughter and I rode down the elevator with a group who didn't have tickets and was hoping to get in . . . at the door, I handed over two tickets for my daughter and myself, and the other group walked right in behind us -- no one said a word to them. By the way, the ice show is a definite DO NOT MISS! I couldn't talk my family into going, and finally my oldest daughter agreed to go just to make me happy -- she beg-beg-begged the rest of the family to go back with her to the second showing, then she watched it on TV later (a poor substitute).

[MrsPete]

...but takes forever.....

Breakfast in the Windjammer isn't exactly quick. By the time you wait to get your food, then catch up to your whole party and find a table, you've used almost as much time as you would've in the dining room!

[kbt2]

This has all been quite helpful..... One more question if you don't mind. Which two nights are formal nights on the Mariner? We have a copy of the menu, e-mailed to us from a CC member, and it will help in planning which nights to go to the specialty restaurants vs the dining room if we can find out which nights are formal since we don't want to miss those. Thanks all!!

 

Formal nights are different on Mariner...depends if u r on Western or Eastern intinerary. Eastern Mon and Friday, Western - Mon and Thurs.

As far as Ice Show, we were there 30 min. early and got front row, but cannot save seats for late arrivers...they won;t let u. So heads up.

 

Does anyone know when Capt. Johnny will be leaving? We were on Mariner in August and missed him by 1 week, so was wondering if we are going to get him this go round or not, on our May 18th cruise...since I have heard so many nice things about him.

[maggiecharlie]

2 Questions:

 

Which night is lobster night?

 

Do they only have the ice show once?

 

On our Navigator cruise the show was on 2 different days and we didn't need tickets for the second show. We missed the first one because we had not ever sailed on a ship with a Ice Show and we had no idea the show was so popular. We do now.

[veryhotred]

yes the tv's are the old type - boxes. We just returned from the Mariner on the 3/16 and were quite impressed. Our girls are 9 and 11 and loved the kids club. They would have never seen us had we not required them to. The food in the Windjammer was fairly plain, but the activities all over the ship made up for it.

 

Make sure to hit the 2 specialty restaurants as they are very much worth it. Don't forget your highlighter - we left ours in the car, there is so much to do.

 

Enjoy, the beds are old, so extra time in the hot tub and sauna is a must!

 

We are going 01/09 and my kids can't wait to go to AO! They LOVE AO!! The two cruises I have taken my kids/kid on, I rarely see them as they 'insist' on going to AO when it is open..lol..we almost have to make them stay with us! :)