Mariner Review 4/04 to 4/11

[rosejazz]

We just returned from the Mariner this afternoon. I'll try to do a quick review. Feel free to ask questions. I read the review posted earlier by someone and I just want to say these are my own thoughts and my own opinions. DH and I are 40 and we traveled with our two sons. This was DH and I's 6th RCCL cruise and the boys 2nd.

 

We arrived in Port Canaveral on Friday afternoon after a 9 hour drive from Atlanta. Weather was great and fortunately we left early AM and avoided alot of traffic. Stayed at the Raddison at the Port. The hotel itself is very nice. The pool/tiki bar area is lovely and well maintained. We decided to come in on friday so we could take our children (boys ages 13 and 10) to the Space Center on Saturday. We had dinner Friday night at Grills Resturant. Very nice meal, fresh seafood...but the wait was about 1 hour (at 6PM). Be prepared for a crowd...go with the flow and you'll be fine. Did the Space Center on Saturday AM and then back to the hotel pool later in the afternoon for some swim time and relaxation. The pool was heated. Personally, we will not stay at the Raddision again. It is a Motel and not a Hotel...so the rooms face toward the pool area. Because of this we were kept awake every night until 12 AM while kids played in the pool and ran up and down the "halls" outside the rooms. Again...we made the best of it and managed to get sleep, but in the long run we would have preferred a hotel situation.

 

Sunday/ The Room: We were at the pier by 11:30 AM. We decided to drive and leave our car there versus taking the Raddison shuttle. It was worth it for us to have our car there for the long drive home and not have to deal with a shuttle back to our car today (4/11). The cost was $70.00. Had priority boarding being that we are Platinum Members and were on the ship in 10 minutes and in our cabin 5 minutes after that. DH and I had the Aft 1388 and the boys had an inside across the hall. Joseph, our steward introduced himself and was pleasant and efficent the rest of the cruise. 1388 is wonderful! The stateroom is large and spacious. The balcony is wide and well hidden in the corner of the ship. Just watch the beam down the center of it...I hit my head twice! LOL! Balcony had two lounge chairs, two regular cahirs and a small table.

We had been on the Voyager last year, so we all had a general idea of where things were on the ship. The Mariner is beautiful, clean and we found all staff to be helpful and very nice.

 

Dining: Since food is so subjective, I'll give you our take on it. We are not difficult to please and if I'm not cooking and cleaning I am a happy woman. We had dinner in the dining room 4 nights out of 7. We had main seating and once we began hitting ports of call it became difficult to get to dinner at 6PM simply because we were not eating lunch until 3PM after getting back from excursions. The dinners we had were very good and some were outstanding. I don't eat red meat and tend to opt for the fish dishes and all were lovely and cooked well. The boys ate directly off the menu (except one night the 10 yr. old ordered chicken fingers) and they loved it. The witers and assistant aimed to please and were attentive, albeit busy. The food/service on the Mariner was much better than our dining room experience on the Enchnatment back in November.

 

We loved the food in Jade and the Windjammer. Much improved, good variety. We ate here for breakfast and lunch everyday. We enjoyed dinner there 3 nights. They put tablecloths in Jade and preset the tables with silverware. Dim the lights and Pedro plays guitar music softly in the background while you eat....Lovely! We enjoyed the Green Tea in Jade and Anton who continually came to the table to refill our cups with the Call of "Greeeen Teaaa" was terrific. We even had the pleasure of eating at the table next to the captain and his wife on saturday night (Yes, they served themselves!) and had a nice conversation with them. We joked that we had gotten invited to the Captains Table except that it was in the Jade Dining room!

 

We never ventured into Johnny Rockets. Too much fat and grease for my liking and the kids weren't crazy about the food when we had it on the Voyager. We offered to take them there since we had C&A coupons, but they declined.

 

Entertainment: We saw several of the shows...generally good, typical cruise type shows. Bowzer (fron Sha Na Na) was on board and did a nice show and really involed the audience. Ice Show was excellent. We didn't do any of the late night entertainment. The Love and Marraige Show was fun as always. Didn't go to Quest, but heard it was great. We loved Vintages Bar and Ivor, Nadia and the other Wine Tenders are exceptional. The Schooner and Boleros were too smokey for our liking. Didn't go into Dragon's Lair (the disco). Loved Ellingtons and the Big Band tunes played there...nice setting. Never hit the Casino except to walk through. DH usually will play Blackjack, but opted not to this cruise.

 

Fitness Center/Spa: I am a Personal Trainer and DH and I worked out everyday except one. Very nice facility with top of the line equipment. Never had to wait for a piece of equipment. I didn't go to any of the classes, but did notice that they were well attended (especially on sea days). Loved running on the track on deck early in the AM watching the sun come up! Lots of walkers and runners and everyone was very cordial. We did the Rasual Spa Treatment and had a blast!! Suffice it to say there was mud everywhere and we felt wonderful afterward. I highly reccommend this and will assure you that your significant other and you will love it. Enough said!

Oh yes...we did the Rock Climbing Wall twice (all 4 of us!) and it was challenging and fun. Go early on Sea Days as it gets busy. Boys and DH played Golf a few times and the 10 yr old loved to play basket ball on the Sports Court.

 

Adventure Ocean: The 13 yr. old was on his own and actually spent most of his time with us or eating ice cream in the Promanade!! LOL! The 10 yr old loved AO and couldn't wait to get there everyday. He signed himself in and out, participated in the activities he wanted to and had a great time. He made several friends who he hung out with for the whole cruise. The staff seemed responsible and when we saw them with the 9-11 yr old group they seemed to really be enjoying themselves and the kids. I don't know anything about the younger age groups.

 

Population In General: Okay...it's Spring Break, there are 1200 kids on board...what do you expect! Yes, there were alot of kids....babies to teenagers. We saw no damage done, we saw noone being disrespectful in shows, at dinner, in the public lounges or in the public areas. We saw lots of teens congregating on the stairs and in the halls, but if you said excuse me, they were courteous. The pools and the hottubs did have tons of kids in them all the time, but of you went to the Solarium you got away from all that and it was peaceful and quiet. Personally, I saw ruder "older folks" at times than I did kids. In particular we kept running into a very crotchety older couple who have sailed 34 times on RCCL...nothing made them happy and everytime we saw them they were complaining about something. Go figure.

 

We stopped in Coco Cay on Monday. We had never been there and loved it! The kids rented floats and swam all day. DH and I lounged in the sun and read our books. The BBQ lunch was okay...very crowded, but we managed. We stayed there till 3PM and enjoyed every minute of the day. I enjoyed Coco Cay much more than Labadee.

 

I won't go into the other ports, but suffice it to say we had bright sunny weather everyday...not a drop of rain and it was HOT! Exactly the weather we had hoped for! The seas were very calm and we commented several times about how stable the ship was and how we barely felt any movement at all. I had read on the boards that folks thought the Mariner didn't sail well and that the seas had been choppy...we didn't experience any of this at all. We were even able to walk outside in the later evenings without getting blown away...very nice.

 

The only comment I do want to add is this: We used Phil Lafeyette in Ochos Rios. He was reasonable, timely and very nice. We did the Falls and River Tubing. The Falls was way too crowded, but since the kids had not done it we decided to take them there. We climbed it and they thought it was great. It was climb number 4 for me and I'm over it! Anyway...we probably won't use Phil again as he took us on quite a long "tour" of Jamaica and showed/talked to us alot about the horticulture and the way of life in Jamaica. No problem mon, but just not what we had in mind. This part of the tour took about 1 1/2 hours and we didn't get to the falls till about 11:30 AM. I am all for learning about the life and culture of another country (heck, we've lived overseas), but this was unexpected and we were not told it was part of the package. We were bored, the kids were bored and we didn't get back to the ship until 3:30 PM. He seemed offended when all of us (there were 12 on our bus) questioned when we would be getting back to the ship and kept telling us to relax and "chill". No harm, no foul....but he won't be getting our business again. However, we tipped him well at the end as we did appreciate that he was overall kind, knowlegdeable and nice to the kids.

 

Debarkation this AM was painless. We had white tags and were off the ship at 8:20AM. We waited on Deck 3 in the Melodies Room (resereved for Platinum and Diamond Memebers) and had a continental breakfast. The kids ran up to the Windjammer and brought themselves french toast and such to Melodies and ate it there. Went thru customs and were in our car and on the highway back to Atlanta at 8:36!!

 

Tipping: We always try to be generous and have been on cruises were we felt the service didn't warrant the expected tip. I can say that on this cruise we tipped above and beyond for good service. We did use the Tipping Package provided on our Seapass cards and then also gave tips to several waiters in the Windjammer who were exceptional during our dinners there, to Pedro for his wonderul guitar music and to Ivor in Vintages for his great service and answering our endless questions about wine. He was also great when our kids came in there looking for us...always offered them a soda (free....we did not buy the Soda Card) and showing them magic tricks. PS on the Soda Cards....as I said we didn't purchase them, but the kids were offered soda every night at dinner for free and in most bars if they were with us they were given free soda. They drank water or lemonade the rest of the time.

 

Overall, we had a fabulous cruise and I can't find anything to complain about! LOL! If you go, please do not miss Pedro, the outstanding guitar player in Vintages and in the Plaza Bar (outside Jade). He was great and a very nice person as well. Be sure to see the parades in the Promanade as they are so fun. Be sure to walk outside the Lotus Lounges and onto Deck 4 to the front of the ship...very cool!

 

We would definitely sail the Mariner again, but the only thing we would do differently is to stay at a different hotel the night before. We did book RCCL cruise number 7 for April 2005 (Spring Break) on the Serenade of the Seas. We love the Radaince Class ships and want to do a southern route next time.

 

Hope you enjoyed the review. Feel free to ask questions. I'll do my best to reply. Sorry for any and all typos!

Rose

[LLM]

Rose,

Thank you for your review. I enjoyed reading it very much. I can't wait for my turn!

 

Lisa

 

Until Mariner of the Seas

 

 

Voyager of the Seas - Oct. 2003

[SCGirl]

Hi Rose-

 

Thank you so much for the honest review.

Sounds like we are taking the same exact trip. We are staying at the Rad the night before as well. I've been wondering if it got more hype than it deserved. However, we will not be going during spring break so maybe it will be a little more quiet!! Glad you had a wonderful vacation and so relieved to hear ok things about the food!!

[rosejazz]

Hi SCGirl,

 

At the Radisson I would ask them to give you a room facing away from the pool. That would solve the noise problem. Since we were already settled in after friday night we chose not to move for Saturday. All in all it was fine. They do have a breakfast buffet for $7.95 that was good and convienent. We didn't eat any other meals there.

 

Enjoy your trip. I think you'll love the ship and the staff.

 

Also...I lurk on these boards quite a bit and just wanted to say that I was very concerned about all the "bad press" RCCL has been getting about charges, service and food quality. We saw no additional charges except for in Johnny Rockets. The Johnny Rockets charge was wriiten in the Cruise Compass and I never heard a word about it from anyone. The cost in Chops and Portofinos remains $20.00 (same as it was last year on Voyager and the year before on Radiance). Juice was free in the Windjammer. Soft Serve ice cream was plentiful and free in the Promanade...they did run out of chocolate on Saturday, but with 1200 kids on board what can you expect! We found no unexpected charges or no hidden costs at all.

 

Enjoy your cruises!!

[judie43]

Rose...thanks for writing your review so quickly.We will be on the Mariner in 2 weeks and I am even more excited now!..There has been a lot said about the decline of service and food but I think I am pretty much like you...If I am not cooking it or cleaning it I am a very happy person...on top of that I am not in my office for a week.What more could one ask for??

[cruzingduo]

Rose, great review. Did you eat in Chops or Portifiono's?

[vacationbound]

Hi Rose! We too were on the Mariner and just back. Good review! We too were very pleased with the very stable conditions. Never felt much movement at all. Ditto on all other comments!

 

We ate at both Portofinos and Chops. We thought Portofinos was OK..nothing special really and had a lot of trouble understanding our waiter. Chops was WONDERFUL! Would eat there twice if had to do over. Staff was excellent and remembered us from Navigator last year.

 

We too are booked on the Serenade next April for Spring break...When are you scheduled, Rose? We better get a roll call going...

 

Lori

[rosejazz]

Hi Lori,

We booked for the week of April 2 (I believe). Now to get all four of to to San Juan LOL! DH and I were already looking at flights last night!

 

Joanne/Fred...we did not eat in Chops or Portofinos on this cruise. Since we had the kids with us our one rule was that meals were spent together. The ship does not allow children under age 13 in either of these dining venues. We have eaten in both of them on the radiance and the voyager and have to say we have always had outstanding service and food. Our tablemates on the Mariner did eat in Chops and said they loved it.

[cruiseky]

Rose,

Do you have any recommendations for other hotels in the area for a pre-cruise stay? We are sailing on the Mariner in October.

 

Troy

[pfleer]

Hi Rose!

 

Thanks for the great review! Will be on the Mariner on May 2nd for my honeymoon. How much is the Rasul treatment now??

 

Thanks!

Peggy

 

Mariner,Here we come!! (Subtract 2 for my wedding)

[rosejazz]

Since Canaveral is quite the beach/tourist town, hotels were all over the place. The Radisson just so happens to be the one "closest to the Port", but the next closest is probalably 1/2 mile down the road! We saw the Marriott, Holiday Inn, Days Inns, Sheraton, and many more. We would probably stay at the Marriott next time. I reccommend doing a interent search on Port Canaveral...you'll ge a ton of responses.

 

The Rasual Treatment was $91.00. We did use our C&A coupon and got 15% off. Book it early when you arrive on the ship as the time slots filled up fast. We did it on Tuesday afternoon since it was a sea day. They do not discount this treatment later in the cruise (I asked and they said it is always the same price).

Rose

[pfleer]

Oh, sorry, Rose. Forgot to ask....did you tip for the Rasul? I've heard some do and some don't, but since you do everything yourselves, why would you tip?

 

Thanks!

Peggy

 

Mariner,Here we come!! (Subtract 2 for my wedding)

[rosejazz]

Peggy,

 

We did tip for the Rasual. DH didn't see the need, but I assured him that someone was going to have to clean up the mess we made (LOL!) and I was so happy it wasn't me...someone deserved a few extra bucks!

 

Also, the girl who showed us to the Rasual Room and directed us to the towels, lotions, mud etc. was very professional and nice. With the coupon discount and the tip added we still spent less than the $91.00 original cost.

[pfleer]

Good point about the cleaning up, I didn't think about that. Thanks for your help!

 

Thanks!

Peggy

 

Mariner,Here we come!! (Subtract 2 for my wedding)

[Family of 14]

rosejazz - I really enjoyed your review. I was beginning to get a little down from all the bad reviews and complaining.

 

We will be on the Mariner this summer and have the 1688/inside across the hall combo. My sister and family have your stateroom. Do you have any pictures to share of both 1388 and your inside stateroom? I would love to see some, even if you have to e-mail them. How did the boys like their accomodations? Did you have the same room steward also?

 

Do you think Coco Cay will be the island stop to take the place of Labadee for the Western run?

 

Are you sailing on the Mariner 7/18/04?...Click here!

or HERE!

 

Disney Wonder 3/2000 ~ Disney Magic 9/2000 ~ RCI Vision 2/2001 ~ Carnival Victory 12/2001 ~ Celebrity Millennium 3/2003 ~ RCI Adventure OTS 9/2003 ~ RCI Mariner OTS 7/18/2004 ~ RCI Serenade OTS 9/26/2004

[cruzenbabe]

Rose can you tell me all about the Jade Restaurant. My husband loves Asian food and I want to book a ship that has an Asian station. What type of dishes did they have? Was it open for lunch? Was it the same menu for lunch and dinner? You mentioned they have green tea. My husband drinks green tea everyday. He would love that. Is it all Asian or do they have other types of food?

Thanks in advance

[kruz]

Thanks for the great review! Can you tell me who the captain was?

 

Song of America 1996 spring

Song of America 1996 fall

Song of America 1997

Song of America 1998

Soveriegn of the Seas 1998

Monarch of the Seas 2001

Zandaam 2002

Mariner of the Seas 12/14/2003

Mariner of the Seas in

[rosejazz]

I am doing the 8 loads of laundry we have, so this is such a nice diversion! LOL!

 

I don't have any pictures of the cabins, but I know others on the board do. If you do a search of bonnievoyagers posts, you'll be sure to find a picture or three! The cabin is a D1 but is the size of a C. Very large with a large sofa, chair and coffee table. Lots of extra space. We loved it and would definitely book it again. The balcony is large and is set off in the corner a bit. There is a beam that runs down the center, but wasn't too much of a distraction. We spent most of the last sea day laying out and reading on the balcony as it was windy up on deck. The kids stayed in 1377, interior cabin, which is caddy-corner to 1388. Nop problems or issues with this and they did fine. My son did knock at our door one night a 2AM asking for some Advil for his sunburned legs (from snorkeling in Coco Cay). We had the same Cabin Steward. Joesph was very nice...we didn't see him much, but the rooms were always cleaned before 11AM, we had a bucket of ice for our wine everyday, extra beach towels, towel animals every night except the first, chocolates on our pillows and Robes in our closet. What more could I want? We did call down to Room Service twice for wine glasses and both times they were brought up to us within 10 minutes time.

 

I don't know if you all will go to Coco Cay. We were on the Western Route and we stopped there on Monday. Tuesday was a sea day. There was a letter telling us about the change as soon as we checked in. I ddin't overhear a single person complain about it and the Captain did make an announcement concerning the change and the safety issues in Labadee.

 

Cruzenbabe: We loved Jade...as I said we ate tyhere three nights in a row. As you walk into the area Chops and Portofino are each on one side, The Plaza Bar is dead Center and the Jade Dining area is off to each side of that. If you walk a little further back you'll hit the Windjammer and the Island Grill area. Jade was open for Breakfast (fruit, eggs with an asian twist, miso soup, steamed rice); Lunch (stir fry, a fish dish, chicken dish, soup, rice with veggies, noddles, and sushi rolls). At dinner the content was the same as lunch, but the menu was different. Dinner also had fresh sushi (several varieties) available. Jade did close after 3PM and only the Windjammer/Isalnd Grill is open from 3:00 to 5:30 PM. The whole area opens for dinner at 6:30 and closes at 9:00 PM.

 

The Captain was Tor Olsen (oh dear, is that his last name!!?). He was very talkative, personable and visisble. As I said we sat next to him and his wife in Jade for dinner one night and enjoyed their company.

[kruz]

Thank you for the quick response!

I am kinda hoping Capt. Johnny will be back on board by the time we leave on 4/25.....wonder if you heard anything about this? Of course meeting a new capt. is always fun too!

Thanks again!

 

Song of America 1996 spring

Song of America 1996 fall

Song of America 1997

Song of America 1998

Soveriegn of the Seas 1998

Monarch of the Seas 2001

Zandaam 2002

Mariner of the Seas 12/14/2003

Mariner of the Seas in

[Family of 14]

Thanks, I have seen alll the other pictures (mostly from other ships). I just wanted to see some fresh ones and I was especially interested in the inside stateroom for my three.

 

Sorry about your sons sunburned legs...poor guy! Did their stateroom door open up across from you or around the corner facing the other hallway? I hope Joseph is still there in July.

 

Are you sailing on the Mariner 7/18/04?...Click here!

or HERE!

 

Disney Wonder 3/2000 ~ Disney Magic 9/2000 ~ RCI Vision 2/2001 ~ Carnival Victory 12/2001 ~ Celebrity Millennium 3/2003 ~ RCI Adventure OTS 9/2003 ~ RCI Mariner OTS 7/18/2004 ~ RCI Serenade OTS 9/26/2004

[sharonkaye]

We stayed at the Radisson also and I agree we wouldn't stay there again, mainly because the bed was HORRIBLE. One of those you know where you keep rolling towards the middle, not a good night's sleep.

 

Royal Majesty '89,'90'91

Nordic Empress '95

Galaxy'98

Century '99

Majesty of the Seas '01

Constellation ''03

Mariner of the Seas '04

[karen2cruz]

Hi Rose,

 

We were also on this cruise. I agree with you. Embarkation was a breeze. Our rooms were great. We had connecting rooms a GS (B) suite with a D1 (6 people). We also had a rollaway in the suite and still had plenty of room. I agree the kids were better behaved than some of the older adults, who were quite picky. Our room steward and waiter were awesome. Our only two disappointment were the concierge, who was not very helpful; and disembarking - chaotic and not well organized.

 

Thoroughly enjoyed CocoCay.We snorkeled and did scuba.

 

Our guide was Ionie McBeam and I would recommend her. She is very accomodating. We did the Falls and river tubing too.

 

Cayman was awesome. Kids enjoyed Captain Marvins and we did Divers Down, also great.

Just not enough time there!

 

Cozumel was hot but alot of fun. Some did the Tulum tour and some did snorkel or scuba. Our guides on all the trips were excellent.

 

Everyone enjoy the Mariner - it's beautiful.

 

Sea Princess 2/02

DisneyWonder 6/03

Mariner of the Seas 4/04

Serenade of the Seas 2/05

 

 

[Snow Queen 32]

We stayed at the Radisson long before spring break. We had an outside room away from the pool but it was still too noisy. We were on the second floor and people walked by until late and kids ran up and down. We thought the room was very shabby. Good thing we arrived late so all we wanted was a shower and a bed. If we would have been there all day I would have asked for a different room or possibly switched hotels.

[rosejazz]

Family of 14: The inside cabin was sufficent for the kids. Small, but lots of storage space. It was your typical inside cabin. Two twin beds, small loveseat and small coffe table. They had no problem with it. We even ordered thr Bon Voyage Decorations for them and they kept them up all week long! Do bring a nighlight for them that they can switch off and on at night if they need it.

 

PS> Funniest thing kept happening to our alarm clocks! We always bring alarm clocks so when we wake up in the middle of the night or in a dark cabin we can see what time it is without fumbling for a watch. Both our clock and the boys clock would not keep time! We would reset the time and wake up every AM with the clocks 45 to 60 Minutes fast! It was the funniest darn thing. We kept joking that it must have beem from when we went thru the Bermuda Triangle. In reality we think it probably had something to do with elctrical surges or something, although we never had any problems with using hairdryers etc. We never lost "power" at anytime. Finally after the 3rd day we stashed the clocks back in the luggage. Too funny!

[Nancy O]

Thanks for the great review. I am looking into our next cruise and thinking about doing the Mariner Eastern Carib in Feb '05.

I just have a few questions. Was there a charge for eating in Jade? You said the capt and his wife served themselves, does that mean that Jade is a buffet?

 

Nancy

Voyager 2/04

Voyager 2/03

Grand 2/02