Mariner Review 4/04 to 4/11

[aqusis]

The thing with the clocks has to do with the electrical current. You don't notice it with other electrical appliances becuase the current is sufficient to operate the appliances, it just isn't the same as the current in the US so you notice it with clocks becuase the time is off. The same thing would happen in Europe if you didn't use the electrical adapters which convert the electricity to US levels. You don't have to use the adapters onboard but the principle is the same. We have a battery operated clock we use because of this.

 

Mariner of the Seas

 

 

 

[rosejazz]

Nancy,

Yes, Jade is a buffet and is a basically and extension of the Windjammer. There is no additional charge to eat there.

 

Thanks for the explanation about the clocks. We had never run into that problem before this cruise! Next time we'll bring a battery back up.

[katrina1122]

Rose,

Thanks!

I cruised the Nav Jan of 03 and don't remember any charges for Johnny Rockets other than for milkshakes, have they changed that now?

[mike45orlando]

thanks for all your time with your review and comments. good info. 9 may mariner 10th floor aft deck :-)

[Lil_Bit]

thank you for your review!

 

As for hotels near Port Canaveral, look @ Cocoa Beach right up the road. I have stayed at the DoubleTree and the Hilton. DoubleTree being the most recently renovated. I also think some people have mentioned the Ron Jon's resort, but I have not stayed there.

 

We need a Holiday...

 

my travel pics

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/lynnemaynard

 

[bbfgator]

Hi...really enjoyed your review...

if you have time a question about your 13 yr. old. Did he not enjoy the 12-14 activities or does he prefer to do things on his own? Just wondering as I'm taking 13yr old daughter and a friend in May and have been concerned about the comments of lack of supervision for that age group. Thank you!!

[kcross3625]

Aqusis - thanks for the explanation on the clocks. That happened to me last year on my cruise and I couldn't figure out how my clock kept getting off the time. Our friends didn't use a clock,just their watches and we were always late meeting them (WE thought we were on time!) So if you have a battery operated clock you should be OK.

 

Thanks, Kim

[whfhome]

We were on the same cruise and Lewis, her husband guided us and was great.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by karenduncan_99:

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

 

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Time left until the Mariner sets sail

 

[rosejazz]

Dear bbfgator,

 

My son is pretty independent and tends to hang out by himself alot. He is a highly gifted kid and shall we say "does better socially with the grown ups". He chose not to be involved with the Kids Club and do his own thing. That is not to say he didn't keep busy.

 

I don't know what type of activities they had planned for the 12-14 year old group. But I'll bet your daughter and her friend will have a good time. I will say, my son is not "into girls" yet...he gets really uptight when we discuss girls, But the girls we saw were REALLY into the boys...lots of flirting outside the Promanade and by the pools. It made me happy I had boys! LOL! Good Luck!

[whfhome]

My 12 year old was on the cruise and had a great time in the 12-14 group.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by bbfgator:

Hi...really enjoyed your review...

if you have time a question about your 13 yr. old. Did he not enjoy the 12-14 activities or does he prefer to do things on his own? Just wondering as I'm taking 13yr old daughter and a friend in May and have been concerned about the comments of lack of supervision for that age group. Thank you!!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Time left until the Mariner sets sail

 

[vacationbound]

Hi Rose! Great thread you've started here....I see many names we had the privlege of meeting in person last week! We too have Apr. 2 booked next Spring. We will try for a nice hotel on Priceline I think. Too early for flights...I really like to be organized and booking the next cruise just keeps me going all year long! I look forward to meeting you in 355 days!!! By the way I'm on my 5th load of laundry! Ugh!

 

Lori

[bbfgator]

Hi Rosejazz - I think I really like your 13yr old son and wish he was on our cruise! My daughter isn't into the "boys" yet, but sadly her friend is.

I'm sure they'll have a great time whether they get involved in the activities or if they just hang out with us. If my daughter was going without her friend, she'd hang with us

 

whfhome - Thanks for the encouraging words!

[tonyvee]

Hey great review. I think the last person (GOLDEN PEASENT) to write a review was one of those 30 plus cruisers that would not be happy on a free cruise! Oh well so glad you enjoyed your time we go in 13 days and are ready! One question had you ever had problems with your alarm clocks before? Thanks.

 

fins to the left, fins to the right...

 

 

 

Tony,Vicki,Chad,Melanie,A.J.,Becca

Fantasy99

Fantasy00

Mariner 4/04

 

[rosejazz]

Hey Lori...Yes that is the cruise we are scheduled for. Just talked to my travel agent to make sure she had received all the documents from our booking. We are good to go (in a year!). Last time we were in San Juan we stayed at the Marriott (DH has points) and it was nice.

 

tonyvee: We have never had trouble with the alarm clocks on prior cruises and I know we've used them before. Just something different with the Mariner's system.

[TBRay]

ROSEJAZZ: Excellent descriptive review. You remind me of the reason I always choose the late dining (rushing back from shore trips). We are normally back from any excursion by around 3 PM so that becomes our lunch time and then 8:30 PM fits the 'dinner slot'.

 

I also understand with younger kids wanting the more traditional time of 6 PM.

 

Good comment about Johnny Rockets. With all the threads pro and con about the surcharge we have only eaten there once in three Voyager class trips. It just isn't that big a deal to me, as I pretty much enjoy the Windjammer for breakfast and lunch.

 

And for people checking cruises for 2005, our late January cruise still had some excellent cabins and rates. That will be our first "Aft-Balcony" and I'm looking forward to it.

 

9/19/2004 Mariner of the Seas

*** Royal Hounds Cruise ***

 

 

1/30/2005 Mariner of the Seas

*** Western Caribbean ***

 

[rachelt]

Hi everyone! We were also on the Mariner last week and had a great time. First time on a Voyager class and kids' first cruise. The kids (12 yo daughter, 14 yo son) went to the kids activities the first night. Our son is a freshman, so he went to the 15-17 group. Said there were no freshman boys there. Our daughter just turned 12 and is very petite and she said that the other kids questioned her age (kids can be so cruel!). Neither of our kids has trouble making friends at school, camp, etc., but because there were SO many people on the ship who came in big groups, the kids tended to hang out with people they already knew. Made it REAL difficult for kids who were there to meet people, as ours were. Our son wished he had gone to the 12-14 group the first night, as he had a feeling that the freshman boys were more than likely there. At any rate, they ended up hanging out with us for the first few nights, but that got old by Wednesday. Luckily we met another family with kids the same age as ours and the four of them hooked up for the rest of the week.

The cruise itself was great. The ship is absolutely beautiful. The gym was outstanding-I took several classes, used the equipment and sauna.

Food in the dining room was fair. We all thought that the choices for main courses were strange at times. We ate in Windjammer/Jade two nights and breakfast every day. We were disappointed that Filet/Lobster night was on Cozumel day when we didn't have to be back on the ship until 6:30. We didn't want to cut short our time in Cozumel. It would have been nice to have been served that food on one of the formal nights or sea days.

The pool was very crowded on the first sea day, but there were plenty of chairs to go around if you didn't want to sit right by the pool/music/bars. We were lucky to get chairs by the pool without saving them early in the day. Belly flop contest was funny as usual and I was picked to be a jockey for horse racing (my horse won the first race and it paid out $10!).

Coco Cay was fun but the water was cold! We did the waverunner tour and had a blast. Our daughter had her hair braided there. It was $40 for the top only. They did a good job, were very friendly, and it was very clean and sterile.

We toured with Peat Taylor in Jamaica and had the best time. He told us to meet him at 9:30, but we were early (9:15), so he filled up a van and took us to the Falls right away. We were the VERY FIRST GROUP on the beach at the base of the falls - the first group of the day to climb! It was awesome and a much better experience than that of our table mates who climbed when it was super crowded. Peat had his son with him on the van and he sang to us and took us fo a ride through Fern Gully, showing us the mountainous country and poor living conditions on the island. A real eye-opener. He dropped us off at Margaritaville and offered to drive us downtown to shop after lunch. We just stayed at Island Village instead.

In Grand Cayman, we were on the Buccaneer through Captain Bryan's office. A very nice, clean boat, with about 20-25 passengers. We reached Stingray City and it was very crowded, so we went to our two reefs to snorkel first, then to Stingray City when the big groups were leaving. Again a great experience, and we managed to avoid the huge crowds. I highly recommend booking this tour.

In Cozumel, we went to Paradise Beach. Got a van for our party of 8 for $30 total ($15 per family). We were one of the first ones there. The beach is beautiful, everything is spotless (restrooms, etc.). There are lots of lounge chairs, umbrellas and tables between the chairs. Waiters come around offering drinks and food (extra charge) but are not pushy. The food we ate was very good. The water trampoline and iceberg were free, as were the kayaks and floating mats. There were T-shirts and hats for sale. There were tents set up for henna tattoos, hair braiding, and massage (fee for each - massage was $1/minute). I HIGHLY recommend spending a beach day at Paradise.

All of the staff on the ship were very helpful and friendly. The reggae band Mega 4 was awesome, as was the guitarist in Wig and Gavel,the Latin band in Boleros, and the jazz band in Ellington's (a nice place to unwind and slow dance). The shows were a bit cheesy, but mostly entertaining (hey, it's a cruise). Bowzer from Sha Na Na was a riot.

Embarkation was a breeze. We were off the ship and in our car by 9:15 am for the drive home. We all wish we were still there!

Rachel T
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=00ff00&cdt=2004;4;4;17;0;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]
Mariner 4/04
Monarch 7/02
Majesty 7/01
Regal Princess 12/95

[CruiseMuscle]

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img] Your review was great!

Kevin

[url="http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/users/3c358f49/bc/Yahoo!+Photo+Album/2a04.jpg?pfaP1eABEZgRtjtC"]http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/users/3c358f49/bc/Yahoo!+Photo+Album/2a04.jpg?pfaP1eABEZgRtjtC[/url]

[KEG21552]

Rose,
We are headed out 5/16. Do you recall how many laps around the track = 1 mile. Was it a jogging track by itself or on the pool deck?
Thanks.
Karen [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

[skyking]

KRUZ- NOT SURE IF SOMEONE ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION OR NOT. CAPTIAN JOHNNY WILL BE BACK NEXT WEEK (THE 18TH) CAPTAIN OLSEN TOLD ME THAT HE IT WAS HIS TURN FOR VACATION[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] SO HE WILL BE BACK FOR YOUR SAILING.

TIM

Tropicale 10-7-00
Sovereign Of The Seas 5-6-01
Triumph 9-1-01
Explorer Of The Seas 8-31-2002
Carnival Pride 4-12-2003
Mariner Of The Seas 11-16-2003 (Innagural Cruise)
Carnival Fantasy 1-29-2004
Mariner Of The Seas 3-28-2004

community.webshots.com/user/skyking518

[whfhome]

five laps equals a mile

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by KEG21552:
Rose,
We are headed out 5/16. Do you recall how many laps around the track = 1 mile. Was it a jogging track by itself or on the pool deck?
Thanks.
Karen [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0000ff&cdt=2004;4;4;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]
Time left until the Mariner sets sail

[ruttie]

Hey Rose quick question~~ when you were on your balcony sitting could you look out and see the water. I am pretty sure those are clear balconies but I am not sure if you can see the ocean sitting down... I am very cautious now booking aft as last aft we could not see anything unless we stood up thanks for you help

[rosejazz]

Dear Ruttie,

The Aft Balcony we had (on deck 10 #1388) had no clear plastic or metal barrier at all...it was just the regular metal bars hortizonally across (like on the pool deck). So the awnswer is yes, you can definitely see the ocean from a sitting/reclined position.

Someone else asked about the lap track...it is on Deck 12 and 5 x around is one mile.

Enjoy!

[ruttie]

thank you [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[KEG21552]

Thanks for the info.
Karen [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

[cruiserkcs]

Rose, thanks for all the information. Do you know what times the shows were for late seating guests?
Thanks.