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My take on RCCL-Mariner July 13th

ChampionCruiser

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ChampionCruiser

ChampionCruiser

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So, I am extremely sad to say that I am now home and wishing that I were still on the Mariner OTS. I'm not going to post a long review, but rather point out some of the highlights of the trip and perhaps compare the experience with our other cruises.

 

First of all, this was our first time with RCCL (we have always been apprehensive about cruising on such a large ship), having been on Commodore, Disney, Carnival, NCL, and Princess.

 

The Ship: The Mariner was absolutly gorgeous!! We truly enjoyed the fact that the interior was all about large spaces, from the promenade to the dining room to the Savoy Theater, etc. (this was opposite of Princess, which had mostly small lounges and public spaces). The ship was very well maintained and we had no complaints. We were extremely surprised at the fact that the ship didn't feel crowded (pool deck, windjammer, and at times the royal promenade notwithstanding).

 

Stateroom: Our best yet. We always stay in a regular balcony if available, and on this cruise we decided to try the aft. We were lucky enough to book 1688 (corner aft deck ten) and we loved it!! We will probably always book aft in the future. The stateroom and balcony were much larger than comparable D1 cabins, and the long walk was definitely worth it. Our attendant, Mark, was terrific and always willing and ready to please.

 

Food: I know that food is extremely subjective, but i'll include it anyway. We ate in the main dining room every evening except for the first, when we ate in Johnny Rockets. We ate in windjammer for lunch and most breakfasts. We had no complaints about any of the food. It ranged from good in the windjammer to border line excellent in the dining room and dinner was always a highlight of each day. Our waiters (Mihai N. and Dindo) were the best we have had to date, and we have had some really great waiters.

 

Ports

Labadee: GORGEOUS. A great beach day. We did the zip line which was amazing (even with the price) and worth it in our oppinion.

 

Ocho Rios: This was our least favorite port, but enjoyable none the less. We didn't book any excursions, but rather shopped near the ship (we definitely weren't going to wander off) The port itself was very pretty, but it would have been more enjoyable without the constant "Let me take you in my taxi" or other attempt to sell things.

 

Grand Cayman: Again, a gorgeous island with, in our opinion, the prettiest water in the caribbean. We swam with the stingrays again, which is always a lot of fun.

 

Cozumel: This is always a favorite port of ours. We booked the dolphin push, pull, and swim excursion in the Chankanaab park (sp.?) which was our favorite experience to date. Afterward we took a taxi downtown (the shopping is better than that at the cruise pier) and truly enjoyed ourselves.

 

Entertainment: RCCL wins this hands down. The first production show (Front Row) was excellent and the second (Pure Energy) was good. The ice show was AMAZING and the best entertainment we have ever seen on a ship. We were also lucky to have terrific guest entertainers throughout the week, and we loved Simeon the clown and the song "Gonna Love Today" that was played before every show.

 

**So, if you can't tell, we absolutly loved cruising with RCCL on the Mariner. We rank this cruise far above NCL and Carnival (which we still enjoyed), and preffered it over Disney as well. We felt that it was about on the same level as Princess, but with a slight advantage because of the ship itself, making it our favorite cruise experience to date.

 

Even so, while we will look forward to cruising with RCCL in the future, our next cruise won't be with them (there are still too many other cruise lines to try!!!)

 

So.........what do you have to say about Celebrity?;)

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Fun@C

Fun@C

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Thanks for posting your review! We are sailing in August. We will be on deck 10 aft as well! Did you feel a lot of movement back there? It is the first time for us with Royal Caribbean too. Can I ask where your cabin was assigned to the muster drill? The only other cruiseline we have tried is Disney, so it's nice to know you liked it compared to Disney. Did you have kids with you, and if so, did they like the activites onboard? Thanks so much!!

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TiaGr

TiaGr

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Just off the Mariner also. Cabin 6616 awesome!!

I have cruised 8 times on Carnival. First time on Royal Carribean I'll never go back to Carnival LOVED LOVED LOVED the MAriner!!!!!

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GoodAsGold

GoodAsGold

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Thank you for your Mariner review. This will also be our first RCI cruise. We'll be on the Mariner next April when she comes out to the West Coast. I can't wait!

 

Thanks once again for sharing your thoughts.:)

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ChampionCruiser

ChampionCruiser

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Thanks for posting your review! We are sailing in August. We will be on deck 10 aft as well! Did you feel a lot of movement back there? It is the first time for us with Royal Caribbean too. Can I ask where your cabin was assigned to the muster drill? The only other cruiseline we have tried is Disney, so it's nice to know you liked it compared to Disney. Did you have kids with you, and if so, did they like the activites onboard? Thanks so much!!

 

We had no problems with the movement in our cabin. The only time we could feel it was on the first night, but we felt it throughout the ship (we might not have been used to the movement yet). Aside from that, there was no problems.

 

During the muster drill all passengers must go to the life boats on deck 4. Our lifeboat, I believe, was D26, the last lifeboat on the port side. I forgot to say that the muster drill was surprisingly fast compared to previous cruises.

 

We never entered the kids area, so I am of no help there.

 

I am sure you will enjoy your cruise on the Mariner!!

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petesweet

petesweet

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I'm curious about your response to traditional dining. Was this your first experience with that? So many people knock it when they haven't really tried it. We LOVE it. The wait staff become part of your party, and they don't disappoint. I've never had a bad table before, but if I did get assigned to one of the "strange" people they show on the competitor's commercials, I would just request a change.

 

Glad you loved our favorite cruise line.:) I can enjoy other lines too, but RCCL is the BEST, IMHO.

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Fun@C

Fun@C

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We had no problems with the movement in our cabin. The only time we could feel it was on the first night, but we felt it throughout the ship (we might not have been used to the movement yet). Aside from that, there was no problems.

 

During the muster drill all passengers must go to the life boats on deck 4. Our lifeboat, I believe, was D26, the last lifeboat on the port side. I forgot to say that the muster drill was surprisingly fast compared to previous cruises.

 

We never entered the kids area, so I am of no help there.

 

I am sure you will enjoy your cruise on the Mariner!!

 

 

Thanks so much for your reply!! We have Bonine to bring with us. We only felt movement on our Disney Cruise on the first night as well! We can't wait to sail on the Mariner!!:D

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Cruising89143

Cruising89143

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So, I am extremely sad to say that I am now home and wishing that I were still on the Mariner OTS. I'm not going to post a long review, but rather point out some of the highlights of the trip and perhaps compare the experience with our other cruises.

 

Thanks for the review. Glad that you enjoyed the Mariner and Royal. I agree about trying the other lines. I have and it has made me appreciate Royal Caribbean even more.

 

Just off the Mariner also. Cabin 6616 awesome!!

I have cruised 8 times on Carnival. First time on Royal Carribean I'll never go back to Carnival LOVED LOVED LOVED the MAriner!!!!!

 

Same for me except it took me a few more cruises with Carnival before I tried RCI. Haven't been back on a Carnival ship in almost four years.:)

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Iris0106

Iris0106

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Food: I know that food is extremely subjective, but i'll include it anyway. We ate in the main dining room every evening except for the first, when we ate in Johnny Rockets. We ate in windjammer for lunch and most breakfasts. We had no complaints about any of the food. It ranged from good in the windjammer to border line excellent in the dining room and dinner was always a highlight of each day. Our waiters (Mihai N. and Dindo) were the best we have had to date, and we have had some really great waiters.

 

We were on this same cruise. We also had Mihai and Dindo and I totally agree, Mihai was absolutely amazing. My teen daughters loved him? Did you have late seating? We had early seating

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cot427

cot427

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Thanks for the review. The Mariner is a great ship, and I'm glad to see her go to Mexico so there is a Voyager class there to sail on in the future.

 

I think that Mariner has one of the best ice shows, probably the best. The next closest would be the Freedom.

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pppiglet

pppiglet

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Thank you also for your review. I'm thinking of booking this one for our next cruise when Mariner comes to Calif.

 

I agree with you on the other ports you wrote about. I thought the water was the prettiest blue in Grand Caymen, but Cozumel was also our favorite port.

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ChampionCruiser

ChampionCruiser

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I'm curious about your response to traditional dining. Was this your first experience with that? So many people knock it when they haven't really tried it. We LOVE it. The wait staff become part of your party, and they don't disappoint. I've never had a bad table before, but if I did get assigned to one of the "strange" people they show on the competitor's commercials, I would just request a change.

 

Glad you loved our favorite cruise line.:) I can enjoy other lines too, but RCCL is the BEST, IMHO.

 

We are huge fans of traditional dining as well. We experienced freestyle on NCL and didn't like having new waiters every night, so we opted for traditional dining on princess. The waiters really do seem so close by the end of the cruise

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ChampionCruiser

ChampionCruiser

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Food: I know that food is extremely subjective' date=' but i'll include it anyway. We ate in the main dining room every evening except for the first, when we ate in Johnny Rockets. We ate in windjammer for lunch and most breakfasts. We had no complaints about any of the food. It ranged from good in the windjammer to border line excellent in the dining room and dinner was always a highlight of each day. Our waiters (Mihai N. and Dindo) were the best we have had to date, and we have had some really great waiters.

 

We were on this same cruise. We also had Mihai and Dindo and I totally agree, Mihai was absolutely amazing. My teen daughters loved him? Did you have late seating? We had early seating[/quote']

 

We had the early seating as well. We were in the corner (four adults and two teens: brother and sister). I think you were right beside us....at least I know that there were two teenagers at that table. and yes, he was loved by our teen as well.

 

That is pretty ironic...

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laseiber

laseiber

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Food: I know that food is extremely subjective' date=' but i'll include it anyway. We ate in the main dining room every evening except for the first, when we ate in Johnny Rockets. We ate in windjammer for lunch and most breakfasts. We had no complaints about any of the food. It ranged from good in the windjammer to border line excellent in the dining room and dinner was always a highlight of each day. Our waiters (Mihai N. and Dindo) were the best we have had to date, and we have had some really great waiters.

 

We were on this same cruise. We also had Mihai and Dindo and I totally agree, Mihai was absolutely amazing. My teen daughters loved him? Did you have late seating? We had early seating[/quote']

 

We were also on the Mariner July 13, aft cabin 10th floor, our muster was D25, we had dinner in a seperate dining room off the main Melodies, table for 12, my only regret was we did not see any of the waiter shows, and service was a little slow, you would also think that the asst waiter would have both water and ice tea ready on the table. If you like bland food (no spices) then all the food was great, and I would say excellent for presentation. We ate in both Chops and Portofino's this trip, still have not tried Johnny Rockets. This was our 2nd cruise on mariner and we have cruised the Explorer and Sea Princess and Commodore before. As for teen activities, we took our 18 yr old, she had a great time doing her own thing and going us, on previous trip she was 14 and took a girlfriend along and was at all the ships teen activities, in fact they where in later than us every night. Our head waiter only saw him 2 times, he was moving up to Portofino's on the next cruise. Service in Chops was exceptional, food in Portifino's was a little better, but the staff was stuffy with only one person with any sense of humor. We ate early 6:00 Sunday and Thursday. We did notify our main dining room staff what nights not to expect us so that the other dinners at our table did not have to wait for us.

 

TIP check your desk area for all important papers, as our attendent only had us sign for crown and anchor coupons but did not point out our invitations, Missed Mix and Mingle, and almost missed the Crown & Anchor, I did getting ready for dinner as we ate at 6, husband attended. Never did find out where the Captains coctail party was, but would have missed it as well due to our dinner plans. Our prebooked tickets were there hidding as well under the other junk mail, (Art Aution, etc) stuff. Other than that our stateroom attendent (Beverly) was the best ever. Hope all you California cruisers enjoy her (Mariner) as much as us Easterners, we will miss her.

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Iris0106

Iris0106

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We had the early seating as well. We were in the corner (four adults and two teens: brother and sister). I think you were right beside us....at least I know that there were two teenagers at that table. and yes, he was loved by our teen as well.

 

That is pretty ironic...

 

Yes that is pretty ironic! Were the teens your children or were you just seated at that table with that family?

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