Mariner Review March 29th

[LisaT91403]

LDR - great review! I am leaving this coming Sunday, and was wondering if you knew if DECT phones were available for rental. Did you see any passengers with them?

 

Thanks for such a great review!

[whirlybird3]

Every cruise has a good chair hog story and this one is no exception. In fact, there are a couple that I'd like to tell you about.

First of all, this was my 10th cruise and in all that time I have seen the deck patrol removing chair hog items from deck chairs maybe once or twice. On Mariner the deck patrol was very visible and did not hesitate to remove items after these chairs had been saved for more than 30-45 minutes. It seemed that each crew member on patrol had a certain section of the deck they were responsible for.

On the first sea day, Monday, I got up about 7:30am to run and there were only a few chairs saved. It was a little cool that first day out, so it really wasn't a problem to find seating. (Pack your sweatshirts if you go on this cruise in the early part of the year!)

My DH and I didn't lay out in our bathing suits like we normally do, but we did get some chairs to watch the Hogs group Belly Flop Contest in the afternoon.

Friday, the second sea day, was perfect lay on the deck weather. It was crowded and there were a serious amount of chairs saved, especially around the pool and on the stadium-type seats on each side of the pool bar. We got lucky and snagged 2 seats there around 9am after breakfast. It was a little windy on the upper deck, so close to the pool was the place to be. About half an hour after settling in, the first "ruckus" was raised right under our noses. A couple came up to the people sitting in the first row of seats in front of us. They wanted to know where their "stuff" was and why were these people in their seats. The gentleman sitting replied that Deck Patrol took it because the chairs were saved too long. The woman got really snippy at this point, and I couldn't clearly hear what was said. Something along the lines of "Well, I don't believe you!" The gentleman sitting was polite but firm with her, and the angry, seatless couple stormed off to find Deck Patrol. They got their stuff back, but kept complaining that there were no seats, and it was too windy on the top deck! Would you like some whine with your deck chair? They were soon joined in their quest for a chair by another couple. My husband recognized the

man, he had played craps with him the night before. His name was Henry, and my husband said he was playing with about $10,000 worth of chips. Every dealer in the casino knew Henry! These two couple kept circling the area with the Deck Patrol looking for chairs.

Amazing! I heard the second couple say as they passed,"It's too windy to sit up where the suite guests sit!" (Small deck on top of the Sky Bar-there is a sign) Finally couple number 1 found seats, we didn't see them again, and we thought couple number 2 did too.

But wait! A deck patrol man is carrying in one of the seats from the Solarium, AND he brought an extra pad and little table. He set it down next to the recycle bins to the side of the pool bar. Guess who this was for? If you guessed Henry you are correct!!! His wife disappeared, but he sat there and talked on his Blackberry and SMOKED on the wrong side of the deck. No one complained about it, so it must not have bothered anyone. I took a picture of Henry's chair, I couldn't resist. He wasn't in it at the time! A little later a couple of ladies started in on the people next to us. Same story, same ending!

Lastly, on Saturday near lunchtime, my DH and I were sitting at the pool bar when we heard another "ruckus" above us in the same stadium-seat area we had sat in. There was some shouting going on this time, and the magician who was performing on board ran down and asked the bartenders to call security because these guys were about to start throwing punches, I kid you not! The deck patrol came, then someone from security came, then another. It took a while to sort out and a lot of other people were jumping in on the sorting out. We couldn't hear anything, but I didn't want to go up there and gawk or take pictures of this incident. This eventually ended with the man who started everything being hauled off by two security guys, not in cuffs or anything, but escorted. Another security person came back and asked for a witness to help with the documentation of the incident and a lady got up and left with him. We never heard anything else, so we don't know what happened to the guy.

 

Special. :rolleyes:

 

I have a question about the Krystal Resort. :) It looks lovely!

 

Did you have to make reservations in advance; was it an excursion through RC?

 

If you did this on your own, how far was it from the ship?

 

Thank you so much for the review and pictures.

 

This excursion is not through RCCL. You can book a massage by e-mail: Leandro Ivan Arzumendi <milleniummassage@hotmail.com>

[LDR]

fpcruiser-we had blue3 tags and left around 9:30am. The early tags for 8:30 were grey1 and yellow1, express departure is listed at 8:15am, but on our cruise it was closer to 8:30am.

 

doctorlisa-I did not notice any of these, sorry!

 

whirlybird-thanks for posting that email address. I couldn't locate it this morning to add to my earlier post!

[juke1998]

Thanks so much for the review LDR! Could you tell me the walking directions for the Krystal resort? Thanks!

[kerrydee]

fpcruiser-we had blue3 tags and left around 9:30am. The early tags for 8:30 were grey1 and yellow1, express departure is listed at 8:15am, but on our cruise it was closer to 8:30am.

 

doctorlisa-I did not notice any of these, sorry!

 

whirlybird-thanks for posting that email address. I couldn't locate it this morning to add to my earlier post!

 

can you tell me what time the white tags fit in?:)

[LisaT91403]

Thanks so much for the review LDR! Could you tell me the walking directions for the Krystal resort? Thanks!

 

I would love the directions too!

 

Thanks.

[cins240]

Great review and photos! It's always so nice to hear when first time visitors to California have a good time.

 

My questions are....What time is the muster drill? Does the Mariner have ping-pong tables?

 

Thanks so much!

[LDR]

kerrydee-There are no white tags listed, unless that is for the Express departures. These are the earliest at 8:15am, Yellow1, Grey 1, and Beige 1.

 

cins240-Yes, they do have Ping Pong. It is located outside the 19th hole on the deck overlooking the basketball court. They had a tournament on the last sea day at 10am.

Muster is at 4:15pm.

 

Directions to Krystal:

Go up on Deck 12 and look toward downtown. You should see a large supermarket and two large high-rises under construction. I attached a picture where you can easily see the high rises. If you look outside the port area, and towards the beach, you will see a side street. This is where you want to go. Go past the white taxis and the yellow taxis, you'll have to walk across some grassy area, but you can go that way. There was a fence because they are doing some work, but you are allowed to go down there. Unfortunately I do not remember the name of the street, I am so sorry! My map doesn't have it either!

When you go down the street you pass by some resorts, Crown Paradise, Golden Crown Paradise, some restaurants and nightclubs. At the high rises, make sure you walk in the designated areas due to the construction. You will then see a street directly in front of you,(No name here either!) Cross it and you are at the Krystal. There is a gate there and a

guard let us in, almost like he was expecting us. We showed our Sea Pass card and told him we had a massage appointment. No problem. Go past the fountain, look for the yellow

building, which is their gym and head towards the giant palapa/pool area. Walk past the pool area and on the right you will see a white tent. This is where you will have your massage. The ladies who do them were sitting out front, just give them your name.

[LDR]

http://www.vallarta-info.com/hotelzone.html is where I got the map. You'll need to page up or down until you see the cruise terminal/Walmart.

[Sweet Carolina Girl]

Thanks for the info! When you guys took the taxi to Cabo Wabo from Medano Beach, how much did it cost? Also were the taxis easy to find from the beach or did you pre arrange this?

[margaret91326]

If I don't book a massage in P.V. at the Krystal will I need to pay for a day pass to access the resort? Do they just allow outsiders in to use their facilities?!

[LDR]

I hope you do all right from those directions! It really is easy to get to, but I know street names would be helpful.

 

margaret-We saw some people from our ship with wristbands on while at the Krystal, but I didn't get a chance to see what those were all about. We didn't get any for the short time we were there, and we just paid cash for our drinks, no questions asked. They were very welcoming of cruisers.

 

Sweet Carolina Girl-plenty of taxis at the beach, but DH doesn't remember how much he paid. Probably too many Sols;)

[jules815]

We saw some people from our ship with wristbands on while at the Krystal, but I didn't get a chance to see what those were all about. We didn't get any for the short time we were there, and we just paid cash for our drinks, no questions asked. They were very welcoming of cruisers.

 

 

I wonder if this is the all inclusive resort excursion that's available to us?

[MAZANDSTEVE]

Enjoyed reading your review, thanks for sharing it.:)

[Ziggy7]

If I don't book a massage in P.V. at the Krystal will I need to pay for a day pass to access the resort? Do they just allow outsiders in to use their facilities?!

No passes needed, the resort is open to everyone from the cruise ships, you just pay for food and drinks. We had massages scheduled and showed them our sea pass and said we had massages scheduled, they waved us right by and told us how to get to the pool area/massage tent, they never checked on our massages, they didn't even look at our names :)

[Ziggy7]

Great review!!! Thanks!!!!

[wblynch]

Great review!

 

Have a couple of questions:

 

1) What days did they have the Martini classes? What time were they? Where did they hold them?

 

2) What night was there a buffet at the Pool Area?

 

Tinkerme1.... email sent.

 

Thanks!

[tinkerme1]

Bill, you have mail!:D

[wblynch]

Bill, you have mail!:D

 

Thank.You. !! :D

 

Oh, and for the thread... I apologize for the interruption.

 

I didn't have an answer for TinkerMe1's questions so please answer away !

 

Thanks Everyone !!

[whirlybird3]

No passes needed, the resort is open to everyone from the cruise ships, you just pay for food and drinks. We had massages scheduled and showed them our sea pass and said we had massages scheduled, they waved us right by and told us how to get to the pool area/massage tent, they never checked on our massages, they didn't even look at our names :)

 

Hello Ziggy,

 

We have reservations at the Krystal for a couples massage. Should we plan on bringing our own towel for the pool? Anything else you recommend to bring?

[missbogota]

Thanks for the great review!!

[Ziggy7]

Hello Ziggy,

 

We have reservations at the Krystal for a couples massage. Should we plan on bringing our own towel for the pool? Anything else you recommend to bring?

Yes, bring ships towel for the pool. Pavement & beach sand is very hot to walk on, plenty of sunscreen, they have umbrellas for shade (no charge) but get there by noon to get one for sure. They are scattered about. I'm not sure who owns the loungers & umbrellas on the beach. And if you drink, the Madori Coladas are to die for!!!! :)

[LDR]

I couldn't believe how hot the sand was! It must have been a funny sight for others on the beach to see me staggering along;) I had to put the sandals on.

 

whirlybird-make sure you have a hairbrush/hat for after the massages. It will get messed up, no matter what. Worth it though, I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

[OHCruisinDad]

Lela - Great review. Now we will all be miserable for the rest of spring break because we're sitting at home and not out spring break cruising! Summer won't come soon enough. We're counting the days. The Mariner is now a must do. Just have to find the time. :D

 

Best wishes and congratulations on the upcoming graduation !! :)

 

Cheers, Mac, Jane and family

[Sue Dawson]

Can you tell me if ship time and Cabo time is the same? Trying to book a private excursion but don't want to book too early or be too late getting back.

 

Sounds like you had a wonderful cruise. We leave in 2 weeks. Can't wait.

 

Thanks for your review!