Review Mariner of the Seas 11/7/04 Part 2

[Adventure Girl]

Here is the rest of my review from the Mariner:

Starting with day 4

Wednesday: Jamaica. Here we made plans prior to sailing to hire a driver through A-Z Jamaica Planners. I found this tour company through reviews listed here on cruise critic. I want to tell you all that A-Z Jamaica Planners is the company to book a tour with. They were incredibly accommodating and attentive. I received several emails prior to our cruise and I have received 2 emails from them since I've returned home. A-Z provided an "open tour" and I set the pace and the itinerary. They said "no problem mon". I have friends who live in Jamaica and I wanted to hire a driver to take us way up into the "sticks" to visit with my friends. Oscar was our driver and he was wonderful. (I took him to an area in Jamaica that he had never been to before and HE had a great time). After visiting with my friends, we went to Dunns River Falls. Again, someplace that I had been to before, but the other girl's in my group had not. After all of that we hit Margaritaville for a short while and then back on the ship. If anyone is interested, the website is http://www.a-zjamaicaplanners.com

 

Tonight we all went to the Love & Marriage Game show....another one of our favorite events on the ship. As usual, the show was very funny. We also did the "Summer Breeze Beach Party" on the pool deck at midnight. Another great time. We brought our own glasses...they had a blue strobe light that blinked in the bottom of the glass. Yes, everyone asked if we were trying to draw attention to ourselves....and yes we were....and yes it worked!

 

Thursday: Grand Cayman. Here we had made arrangements for an excursion with grand cayman cruise excurions to take a snorkeling tour to Stingray City. Around 8 am the ship made an announcement that all excursions to Stingray City were cancelled due to weather conditions, (high winds). So, we took our time getting off of the ship only to find out that excusions to Stingray City went anyway. Oh well, we would not have wanted to go anyway....we heard that a lot of people were sick from the high waves. We tried to do some shopping, but we found the prices in the jewelry stores and gift shops to be too high. We tried to hire a private driver to take us to "Hell and back", but no one would take just 7 people. We finally decided to board a tour bus that holds 22 people for a 2 hour tour with 4 stops, but after waiting on the bus for 30 min while the driver tried to fill the bus, we got off and just went back to the ship. We had just as much fun relaxing on the pool deck all afternoon. (The next day I ran into two other woman who were on the same tour bus and they said they wished they had gotten off with us....they were not impressed with the tour).

 

Tonight was the 2nd formal night. We also saw the ice show tonight. I've seen the ice show on AOS and VOS and the show on Mariner is by far the best. We really enjoyed it. Tonight was also the Gala buffet. We went to view the buffet at 11:30 pm and it was overwhelming as usual. We planned to go back at 12:30 pm to taste, but we forgot.

 

Friday: Cozumel, Mexico. Today we hooked up with one of our cruise critic pals, (her DH was golfing today), and another couple who we met while on the ship...(Hi Peter and Loretta). We all went to Paradise Beach together. After leaving the ship, the 10 of us piled into two chevy cavalier taxis...it was like clowns at the circus! We loved Paradise Beach. No fee to get on the beach, $5.00 wrist band for full-day use of all water toys, (trampoline, iceberg, floating mat, kayak, etc). The beach is clean, bathrooms clean, great food and great prices. I had the best salsa and chips ever....and the burgers were great too. After spending the day at Paradise Beach, we headed over to Carlos & Charlies. Another great time. I had been there before and knew that we would all enjoy it.

 

Tonight's entertainment in the showroom was Bowzer from ShaNaNa. We didn't go to the show, and I can't remember why...but I'd venture a guess to say that Carlos & Charlie's had something to do with that.

 

Saturday: Full day at Sea. Today was a very sad day for everyone. After a week of fun and sun, no one was ready to leave. We decided to try and pack in the morning because we knew we wouldn't want to face it later. But, by 11 a.m. we were even more depressed from packing and not having fun. So, we decided to hit the pool deck and find a couple of pina coladas to take away our sorrows. It worked!

 

Tonight at dinner we said good bye to our waiters. Our waiter, Orhan, was at the end of his contract and was going home to Turkey on Sunday. So, we decided to make him a "care package" for his plane ride home. We wrapped up a split of champagne, some jiggers of flavored rum, hershey's kisses, chocolate covered cherries, crackers, etc. and gave him the package after dinner. He was overwhelmed. He said he had never received a gift from a passenger before. (We also gave chocolates to our assistant waiter Peter and bar server Elena). We also brought our matching t-shirts to the diningroom along with sharpie markers and had all of our favorite waiters and bartenders sign our shirts. We were expecting signatures, but they all wrote a book! It is my favorite souvenier from the cruise.

 

Highlights/positives from the cruise:

 

1. Meeting all of my wonderful cruise critic friends. It was so great to meet and hang out with all of the people who I had been chatting with on line for the past 8 months. We also did an ornament exchange at our meet & mingle. That was so great. To bring home an ornament that represents the state one of my cruise critic buddies lives in. (Wickwen: thanks so much for organizing that...it was a great idea!).

 

2. The crew. We found all of the crew to be friendly, professional, accommodating, and a ton of fun. We made so many friends and have such great memories. In the dining room, Orhan brought us anything we wanted. He went out of his way to make sure we were happy with our meals and service. One night I asked Orhan to make my dinner selections for me. Everything he brought me for each course was fantastic. The girls greeting us in the Windjammer every day and pointing out the direction we needed to go in were always laughing and smiling and recognized us every day. The bartenders we encountered were funny, friendly, always called out our name, and were a joy to talk with. We never saw our cabin steward after the first night. I can't even remember her name. But our cabin was always cleaned twice a day and was always in excellent condition. It might just be the nature of the cabin. I've read other reviews from people who stayed in the Royal Family Suite and they too commented that they never saw their cabin steward.

 

3. Ports of Call. We loved Labadee. It was beautiful and very relaxing. Jamaica and Cozumel were wonderful as well.

 

4. Food. I enjoyed the food in the Windjammer and Jade. Of all the ships I have sailed on, the food in Windjammer and Jade was by far the best. I loved the layout and presentation of Jade. I also enjoyed the options of Asian foods in Jade or American in Windjammer. I was surprised to see the same items on the dinner menu that were on the AOS and VOS dinner menus. But, I ordered all of my favorites, (scallop risotto, tomato soup, duck, jerk chicken, pepperpot soup, etc.), and they all tasted better on the Mariner than on the other ships.

 

5. Evening activiites. We enjoyed participating in all of the ship events and activities. We love Quest, Rockin thru the Decades, Love & Marriage, etc. The only thing we didn't realize was that the shows were at 10:45 pm for the late seating guests. We thought the shows would be before dinner, but we were wrong. So, we only went to the shows that we really wanted to see. (I can do w/o the Royal Caribbean singers and dancers....so not a big deal).

 

Negatives about the cruise:

 

7 days is not long enough

 

______________________________________

Memories that you had to be there to understand:

 

1. Peter the toe crusher

2. "The girls are out"

3. Elevator overload

4. Crazy aka Scary

5. Linda checking the tags on other people's luggage

6. Carlos & Charlie's

7. Paul and the waterslide

8. Adventure girl and the bungee trampoline

9. Egg fried rice for breakfast everyday

10. Mimosas

11. Dr. Feel Good

12. Mr. Bean

13. "Oh wella, wella, wella, humph"

14. It's 5 o'clock somewhere

15. Save a horse, ride a cowboy at the Sky Bar

 

:D :D :D

[GranysT]

Kimberly, great review thanks for the memories. We were on the Mariner in April,and I was happy to see her again,thru your review. So Bowser is still on her? I enjoyed his show,as he was always my favorite on Sha Na Na. I would have loved to have his autograph,but the line was a mile long and we would have missed formal night dinner.Glad you thought the Mariner was fantastic,just as I did.

[thegrahams6]

Thanks for a great review. We are going on our first cruise on the Mariner 12/5 and this review really got me so antsy to be already~ Leslie

[Jacquelyn11]

We leave in about 5 months...gotta get thru the winter first! :(

 

I do have one question....Does the Jade serve different food from the Windjammer? I see from a ship diagram that Jade is an Asian Fusion restaurant. How does it differ in Breakfast from the Windjammer?

 

Also, does the Plaza Bar serve pre rolled sushi or do they make it on order? (My DH like sushi, I'm not a fan!)

 

Glad you and the "girls" had a great time! Hope I can go with my friends on a "girls only" trip one day!

 

Jacquelyn :D

[Adventure Girl]

Jacquelyn:

 

Jade offers different items from Windjammer. In the mornings, Jade had scrambled eggs with shrimp and red & green peppers, egg fried rice, stir fried veggies, some type of raw asian veggies and spreads, misu soup, and then bacon, corned beef hash, etc. Windjammer mornings had all types of breakfast items. I'm an Asian food lover and I never thought I could enjoy fried rice and veggies at 8 am., but that is what I ate every morning.

 

For lunches, Jade always had some type of fried rice, a wonderful cold cabbage salad, (with additional toppings), and then items like curried beef lo mein, stir fried green beans, chicken & veggies, etc. I can't remember everything, but there were at least 4 "main dish" items. Windjammer for lunches had salad bar, sandwich wraps, burgers, hot dog, and then at least 4 "main dish" type of items...such as BBQ chicken, fried fish, veggie lasagna, etc. You can fix your plate at both Jade and Windjammer. You can eat in Jade/Windjammer or fix your plate and bring it pool side or down to your cabin. Anything goes.

 

I'm not familiar with Plaza Bar, but Jade had sushi at night....between 6:30 pm and 9 pm I believe. I never saw anyone preparing the sushi to order...it was all laid out already when we walked through.

 

Anytime you and your girlfriends want to join in on a "girl's getaway"....just let me know. We are always ready to go. There is nothing like cruising with your girlfriends.....shopping, sunbathing, salon, spa, dancing all night....and girl talk until the early morning!

 

If you are interested, here are my photos.....

 

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

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[solsticebride]

Quick Question - Did you find Paradise Beach crowded?

[Jacquelyn11]

I had wondered what Labadee looked liked! You pics made a great lunchtime break for me at work...now back to reality!

 

Twenty-seven more Sunday's and I'll be there!

 

Jacquelyn :D

[michelle319]

Thanks for the review. LOVED your pictures! Makes me want to get another "girls only" cruise booked. The last one was two years ago and it was a BLAST! Your pictures reminded me how fun it is to get away with the girls. My next cruise is just DH and I (which I am REALLY looking forward to;)) but I do believe that my friends and I need to get one scheduled for us!

[Adventure Girl]

Solsticebride: Paradise Beach was not crowded at all. We loved it there. When we came off of the ship we ran into "Tom" who I believe is either the owner or manager. He had communicated with some of my cruise critic friends prior to our cruise. Then when we were at the beach, Tom came over to talk with us later in the day. I commented on how "open" the beach was and how chairs were not crowded on top of eachother. He said that during the summer months the beach gets alittle more crowded. Don't get me wrong, almost every chair was taken, but we never felt crowded. It is a great, relaxing place.

 

Michelle319: Glad you enjoyed my pictures. I've done 4 cruises with my girlfriends, one with DH & kids, and one with my DM & kids. The girls cruises are the best. My DH just isn't into cruising....but I'm trying to convince him to try it again just the two of us. But, he's just not interested. (Men!). Maybe your group of girls can travel with my group sometime. That would be fun. I always say, the more the merrier.

[Adventure Girl]

Solsticebride: Hey, I just saw your message back to me on another Mariner thread....you are in Amsterdam...small world isn't it? When I joined the roll call for the Mariner sailing that I was on last week I met a couple who were sailing on the same cruise and they were from Clifton Park. It was great to meet up with them on the ship.

 

Are you cruising anywhere in the near future? Who do you cruise with?

[solsticebride]

Adventure Girl: Yup, I'm in Amsterdam! It really is such a small world...and to make it really weird, we are going on the Mariner in january (western, also!)... For this cruise (our 3rd), it will be just DH and I. That last one on the Grand Princess was for our honeymoon, and the one before that was on the Golden Princess when we went with another couple (who happen to be from Broadalbin!!!)

 

I am very excited about this upcoming cruise. We're ready to try another cruise line and RCCL seemed to be calling our name! Thank you for your review and your pics, it makes me look forward to our trip even more!!!

[solsticebride]

Adventure girl, one more thing, you may be confused as to why I have Albany listed as where I'm from, but I almost always just say Albany because either people don't know where Amsterdam is or they assume I'm talking about Amsterdam, Holland...just thought I'd clear that up:)