Mariner Review with 1-Year Old

[LisaT91403]

I posted this review of our Mariner voyage of 4/12 – 4/19 on the RCCL board, but I thought I’d post one it here as well. I was traveling with my 12-month old DS, as well as my husband and my parents. We have been on this itinerary several times before, so we were happy to spend a lot of time relaxing on the ship rather than out in the ports. We didn't do anything remarkable in the ports, so I will not report on them. The "baby stuff" is at the bottom of the review, if you want to skip right to that :-)

 

Embarkation and Getting Settled In

 

We arrived at the port at around 12:30, and there was no wait in the Diamond check-in lane. We whisked through that, got on the ship, and immediately went to Deck 5 to sign up for My Time Dining (more on that later). Our second stop was Guest Services, where we rented our DECT phones for the week. We used these quite a bit, and they were well worth the $25 rental fee. We also signed up for in-cabin babysitting while we were at Guest Services. Once our chores were out of the way, we dropped our stuff in our cabins, and went to get some Honey Stung Chicken in the Windjammer. That was probably the best food we had all week in the WJ…more on that later!

 

Cabins

 

We were in cabins 9681 (DS), 9676 (DH and myself), and 9674 (Grandma & Grandpa). We chose these cabins because 9681 is an “inside” Category L, which adjoins to 9676 D2 balcony. This was a GREAT arrangement for us – there are only two configurations like this on the whole ship, and we were very lucky to get one. The baby had his own cabin, and we got to enjoy having two bathrooms! The inflatable “duck” tub fit perfectly in the shower, so we had no trouble bathing DS. We used one of those foam pieces on the door between the cabins, and this let us close the door most of the way at night. It was perfect to keep DS’s cabin dark while we were still awake.

 

The mattress was too hard for my tastes, and DH’s side of the mattress slanted downwards. He had to put a pillow along the edge of the bed so that he didn’t roll out! I also noticed that the duvet had a big yellow stain on it, and the pillowcases oftentimes had stains (grease and blood were the ones I noticed). Otherwise, the accommodations were as expected.

 

 

Dining

 

Ah, where to begin. The food was really a mixed bag on this cruise, as some of the food was really good (Chops, Portofino), but most of it was yucky. I admit that I’m a bit of a food snob, but even with reasonably low expectations, I thought the food was below par as compared to previous cruises.

 

Windjammer: The food was consistently terrible, in my opinion, and we almost always had to wait to find an open table. We ate all but one breakfast in the WJ because it was easier to find a variety for the baby, and we didn’t have to wait for the food to arrive. There was a long wait for cooked-to-order eggs in the morning, and the buffet food consisted of soggy pancakes, soggy French toast, etc. Lunches were the standard burgers, dogs, pizza and cold cuts. The entrees were not good either. We did not go to the WJ for dinner.

 

Johnny Rockets: The service was good, as were the fries and onion rings. The burgers were too thick for my tastes, and were cooked well done (that’s the only way they will serve them). It was fine, but I was glad to have used the Diamond coupon to cover the cost of the meal.

 

Main Dining Room: The MDR was open for lunch on sea days. They had the same menu every day, and it was terrible. We asked our headwaiter what he recommended from the menu, and he suggested the salad bar! That was the one highlight of lunches in the MDR. We asked for a grilled cheese for DS, and they would not make one. When we mentioned it to our headwaiter (Majiec), he went and made one for us.

 

We chose to do My Time Dining, and really enjoyed it. We were never asked what time we were planning to come to dinner – we just showed up whenever we were ready. We never had to wait for a table, and while we had 3 different waiters over the course of 5 dinners, we still enjoyed the service (especially the waiter named Rock). Highlights were the lamb shank and Friday night’s Fisherman’s Plate. Nothing else stood out in my mind – it was mostly “okay”. On the final night, I had to send back to entrees (heavily battered fish, dried out salmon) before settling on the turkey. The headwaiter and Rock suggested that we try Portofino and/or Chops on either Wednesday or Thursday nights, as those were the weakest menus in the MDR. We decided to do both nights, and were glad we did.

 

Portofino: We enjoyed both the atmosphere as well as the food at Portofino. The seafood skewer was excellent, and DH said the halibut was great. I really enjoyed the eggplant appetizer. I didn’t care for the flourless chocolate cake, as it was too dense and rich for me. The tiramisu was quite good.

 

Chops: The atmosphere in Chops was a bit more hurried and hectic than Portofino, but the food was quite good. I had the petite filet, and DH had the rib eye – both were cooked perfectly. The sides are served family style, and all were tasty. The mud pie dessert was great.

 

 

Crown & Anchor

 

Everything was pretty much as expected in regards to “perks”. We received our chocolate dipped strawberries, baseball caps, coupon books, etc. Since we were on the 9th deck, we utilized the concierge lounge for a before-dinner drink on most nights. We did not find the lounge to be crowded, and we always had a place to sit and relax. The concierge did not seem particularly friendly or helpful, but maybe that’s because we didn’t spend a whole lot of time in the lounge. Incidentally, the coupon books had all of the coupons that we’ve had on previous cruises – including the free photo coupon, and 3 match play coupons for the casino. The person at the photo concession said that they are discontinuing the free photo coupon once the new books are printed.

 

One item we really missed was the NY Times mini-newspaper that they used to print out each day. Ken Rush said they did away with this as part of their cost-saving measures. I guess there is something to be said for not hearing about the news when you are on vacation, but I really did miss the newspaper.

 

 

Activities

 

Not much to report here, as we really didn’t do much because of the baby. We went to Bingo a few times, and the jackpot on the last day was over $7000 (we did not win!) We went to the ice show a couple of times, as DS enjoyed it. There was also late night comedy each night, with shows at 9:00 and 11:00…and a 1:00 show on Saturday night as well. You need to get tickets to the shows ahead of time. There were two comedians for the first half of the week, and then two new ones who arrived on Thursday. I saw the second set of comedians; the first guy was not funny, but the second one was.

 

 

Baby Stuff

 

There was a Fisher Price class every day at 9:00, and again at 2:00 on sea days. We tried to take DS to one class each day, as this was the only real opportunity he had to crawl around in a reasonably large space. They played music, had lots of toys, and the babies seemed to enjoy themselves.

 

We brought a portable high chair, and fed DS dinner in the cabin each night. We used the in-cabin babysitting every night from 7:30 – 11:30. DS was asleep by the time the sitter arrived, so it was an easy gig for her. She had our DECT phone number in case there were any problems. We had the same sitter every night, and she was very nice. The only complaint would be that she was 10-15 minutes late in arriving each night.

 

We brought an inflatable pool for DS, and set it up on the pool deck a couple of times. The pool staff brought us warm water to fill the pool with (which was great, as the regular pool was “heated” to 73 degrees…brrrr!) It was easiest to do this on port days, as the pool area wasn’t crowded. Also, the last two sea days were cold and windy, so we stayed inside.

 

 

Overall, we enjoyed our trip! It was a nice break from our typical routine, and it was nice not to have to cook or clean (even if the food was only so-so). The best part for us being able to enjoy our baby-free evenings, as we haven’t had too many of those in the past year!

 

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

[tropiclvrs]

Thanks so much for offering your perspective on Mariner with a 1 year old!

 

We will be on Mariner in about 5 weeks with DS (4) and DD (2) and have a couple of questions...

 

For the Fisher Price program did you see some older children participating? My DD just turned 2 this month so we need some things to keep her occupied. I am just wonderig if it's geared more toward babies?

 

I also bought a blow up pool to use on deck or on our aft balcony since DD is not potty trained. When you used it on deck, where were you able to find a place with a suitable amount of room to place it? Did you need to in search of a crew member for the warm water did they just come over to help?

 

I am interested in using the in room sitting a couple of times but since my children are a bit older I'm not sure how that will work out. I should be able to get DD asleep by 8:15 but it takes DS FOREVER to fall asleep. My question to you (or anyone else out there) is would you use it for children a bit older?

 

Finally...When you did go into port, did you just walk around or did you use any forms of transportation?

 

I noticed you're from LA....may I ask where about? We live in Thousand Oaks...

[LisaT91403]

 

For the Fisher Price program did you see some older children participating? My DD just turned 2 this month so we need some things to keep her occupied. I am just wonderig if it's geared more toward babies?

 

They have two different Fisher Price classes -- Royal Babies and Royal Tots. The one we went to, Royal Babies, was for 6-18 month olds (I believe that's right). The ages for Royal Tots were 18-36 months. Those classes were at 10:00 every morning, and also at 3:00 on sea days.

 

 

I also bought a blow up pool to use on deck or on our aft balcony since DD is not potty trained. When you used it on deck, where were you able to find a place with a suitable amount of room to place it? Did you need to in search of a crew member for the warm water did they just come over to help?

 

We used it on days when we were in port, so it wasn't crowded. We asked the pool deck staff for water, and it was no problem.

 

 

I am interested in using the in room sitting a couple of times but since my children are a bit older I'm not sure how that will work out. I should be able to get DD asleep by 8:15 but it takes DS FOREVER to fall asleep. My question to you (or anyone else out there) is would you use it for children a bit older?

 

I don't have older kids, so I'm not sure I can answer. But your DS can go to Adventure Ocean (not sure how late they have it for his age group), so maybe that's an option.

 

 

Finally...When you did go into port, did you just walk around or did you use any forms of transportation?

 

We did not use transportation because we wouldn't put DS in a car/van without a car seat. The laws of physics are no different in Mexico! We just walked around with him.

 

I noticed you're from LA....may I ask where about? We live in Thousand Oaks...

 

I am from Sherman Oaks!

[aflynn3]

I am shocked about your sitter showing up late! That makes me love mine even more that we had on the IOS. We took our son with us to dinner each night for the early sitting and would watch our watches, as soon as 7:15 rolled around we would watch the door to the dining room. Without fail she was at our table to get our son by 7:25!

[kitty9]

I totally agree with you on the food in the Windjammer. I thought it was the worst in all my 59 cruises. I never thought anyone could ruin pizza, but their's was cardboard and tasteless. The hamburgers were really tasteless and the buns were so hard they could have broken a window.

 

As for Chops, I was really looking forward to going there because of the reviews, but I thought it was one of the worst specialty restaurants I've been to. First of all, we had reservations for 6 people, but two couldn't be there because of illness at the last minute (tummy problems). The maitre'd lectured us for two minutes about how rude it is for people not to show up and out of the sheer kindness of his heart, he wouldn't charge us for the people who weren't there. I thought the family style vegetables were very good, but our steaks were tough, stringy and burnt. I ordered the French Onion Soup, and it was served burned---the cheese and bread on top were completely black. Sent it back and got the bisque instead, which was a little better.

 

You're lucky you had babysitters at all. On our cruise a number of parents were commenting on the fact that there were precious few volunteers to do the babysitting.

[sunshinejp2]

My kids are a little older than yours (4 and5) so I am looking forward to kids club and dining alone a couple of nights but it is good to hear the true down low on the food. As a first time cruiser I am preparing to be OK about food but enjoying the rest.

 

Thanks again and hopefully your sitters tip reminded her to be on time.

[tropiclvrs]

How does paying for the babysitter work? Do you pay the hourly fee as soon as you sign up and then give the sitter some kind of tip? If so, how much is appropriate for tipping?

[kitty9]

You pay in cash directly to the sitter. Depending on how things go with the kids, such as if they're older and need more attention, or if it's a baby and sleeps the whole time, would dictate what you'd tip.

[aflynn3]

Best way to do the babysitting is sign up at guest services as soon as you board. You are better signing up for more rather than less as it is okay to cancel. If you are like us, you will end up not cancelling after using the service the first night! We were thrilled that we booked each night and used it!

 

Cost is $10/hour. It seems expensive, and it added up however keep in the mind the cost of the overall vacation and to enjoy the nights seemed worth the extra money to us.

 

Our sitter was the same each night and she was incredible. I can not say enough good things about her. Initially we booked the service for 7:30-11:30 each night and she came directly to the dinning room to pick up our son. She was very flexible with the timing and came earlier and earlier each night to help us out.

 

You pay the sitter directly with cash. We would pay her an extra $15-$20 per night. I don't think they expect the extra money but we felt she was worth it. Tipping is such a personal thing.

 

Honestly, we had reservations about using the service, after the first night, it was a relief to have the sitter! We would watch our watches in the dinning room waiting for the time to come.