Wonderful Mar 27 cruise on Mariner of the Seas

Sorry for the delay. We extended or vacation and did an extra week in Cape Canaveral following our cruise.

First of all we had an awesome week aboard the Mariner. All the negative that I have read for the past 48 weeks really had me worried. I could find very little to complain about.The ship was full capacity though there were 3 empty seats at our table. Out of that there were supposedly 1200 teenagers aboard. With that said, it was the best cruise (in many ways) that I have been on and this was my 8th cruise. (1 carnival, 1 norwegian, 5 cunard-incl QE II) Had main seating. Cabin 7292, port side, great location, LOVED the balcony. Very calm seas. HOT and Humid. Traveled with DH and 17 yr old DS, also brother and sister-in-law.

Sunday-Embarkation 20 min, very organized-room ready at 12:45, lunch in Windjammer, great variety and tasty, muster drill-long, HOT and necessary. Dinner-prime rib-very good. Show-enjoyable

Monday-Room service coffee and rolls for breakfst on the balcony, lunch in main dining room. Same menu all week, but plenty to choose from. Played bingo (lost $50.00) DH saved me and won $68 in slots. 1st formal night, had pictures taken. Filet mignon for dinner-once again, very good. Show-impressionist/singer, very entertaining.

Tuesday-Room service/coffee and rolls enjoyed watching the activity in Labadee waters. Windjammer for breakfast. Tendered to shore about 11:00, no wait. HOT, HOT, HOT. Crossed over to far side of island on the left, then took a right down to where the fences are. Very quiet and had pleasant breezes. Nice selection of burgers, chicken, ribs, hot dogs, fruits, salads and deserts for lunch on island. Checked out market, though found them a little too pushy for me. Only because I felt so bad for them. Did buy a few items and back to the ship. Had either lamb or broiled shrimp this night, in either case, small portion so order 2. Both were good, but can't remember which day. Casual

Wednesday-Room Service full breakfast as we had to get off early. Did tour with Phabulous Phil Lafayette. Did Dunn's Falls, tubing, lunch and tour. Had a great time. Was hot. Had jerk chicken for dinner, different from on the island, but still enjoyable. Went to ice show and was amazed.

Thursday-Forgot to order RS (darn, I hate when that happens).... Breakfast in windjammer. Great selections. If you can't find something you like, you've got a problem. Sometimes chaotic though. Very pleasant girls gree ting you as you enter. Anyway, almost missed our sting ray tour with the Bucaneer as I underestimated the time. Leave yourself pleanty of time to get ashore. No waiting for tender, just to fill it up. It was mass confusion on shore and we hussled to meet our tour. Thankfullly they waited for us and we were off. Very devestating to look around the island. Very interesting to talk to the people that lived through it. Sting Ray City was fantastic and loved the bucaneer. Getting back to the ship was interesting. Long lines of people everywhere, all waiting for their tenders. We walked right up through a gate and were on in minutes, while the others were waiting for a long time I'm sure :( ...... My favorite day. 2nd formal night. This was italian night, though I don't remember what I had, it was good. Show was cabaret style and enjoyable. Great singers and dancers. My DH has really taken to the cigar bar by now.

Friday-RS back on schedule ;) Had breakfast in the main dining room. Very good and nice selection. Rented jeep from Avis and drove to other side of the island. Stopped for lunch at Coconuts and enjoyed the view and the warm breezes. Had big plans to go to Dzul Ha and Paradise Beach but we were too tired from the prior 2 days excursions. (Keep in mind) Went back into town and did a little shopping. Nice store, "$10 Silver", nice people and selections. DH bought a cuban cigar to enjoy in the cigar bar later. Have I mentioned that it was HOT lately? This was the farewell dinner. Lobster, shrimp, prime rib. All were outstanding!!!!!! Word of caution...the portion size on the prime rib this night is twice the size as the 1st night. My son ordered 2 portions and ended up with 3 pounds of meat, I swear :o I ordered the prime rib and lobster so my dh could have 2 lobster tails. (I ate the shrimp, yum) The show was song and dance of the 80's(?) Was good but not as good as the others.

Saturday-RS/coffee and rolls. Windjammer for lunch. Checked out the cooking demo, shopped on board (some nice deals throughout the week), packed :( Was gloomy and what?, cool today. Enjoyed the champagne bar with brother and sister in-law tonight. THis was my least favorite dinner. Roast Turkey or the imfamous "steak". Brother said it was okay...leave it at that. If you want to try Portofinos or Chops, this would be the night. Watched parade, very nice. Packed some more :(

Sunday-Debarkation went faster than scheduled as was very well organized.

Closing remarks. Can't wait until I can go again. The Mariner is a beautiful, very well maintained ship. With all those kids on board, it was "ship shape" all the time. Though things have changed since my first cruise, cut backs as always, I found everything to my satisfaction completely. By the way, the cafe' was a favorite hangout and the pizza and pastries are great.

I was much longer fingered then I thought I was going to be. I'll be happy to answer any questions. Happy Cruizin' (Please forgive errors, I'm too tired to proof-read)

Thanks for the great review! We leave on the Mariner on May 8th!

You mentioned it was "gloomy" and cool your last day. Do you mean no sunshine at all on your last sea day???? Wow. I hope that doesn't happen to us!

We are also booked with Phil Lafayette in Jamaica - glad to hear you liked his tour.

Once again, thanks for your review!

Kim

Thanks for your review! Glad you had a wonderful vacation.

Did tour with Phabulous Phil Lafayette. Did Dunn's Falls' date=' tubing, lunch and tour. [/quote']

 

We are planning to do the tubing with Phil Lafayette. Could you please tell me whether you saw any snakes in the river or many fish? We have someone traveling with us with a bit of a phobia!

wrighka-Unfortunately a cool front came through and the last day. It was terribly windy, cool and gray all day. They cancelled all the outside activities including dodge ball, the sexy legs competition and the climbing wall which our family was planning on doing. Not the best way to spend the last day of your cruise but the rest of the week was beautiful and you just deal with it :)

I notice you're from Lansing..I'm from Holland. Enjoy your cruise, you'll love it.

princess-we did not see any snakes and I had been a bit concerned too. The water moves pretty quickly and is pleasantly cool when you get in. My guess is not ideal conditions for snakes. There are guides to help you get down the river and they take good care of you. Phil was great and I'm sure you'll have a great time....no problem mon! No fish to be found.

Boy, I can sure tell I was very tired last night. After reading my own post today, my spelling is awful. Guess I should have proof-read last night. Oops

We are planning to do the tubing with Phil Lafayette. Could you please tell me whether you saw any snakes in the river or many fish? We have someone traveling with us with a bit of a phobia!

I had heard on the travel channel that Jamaica has no crocs and no poisonous snakes. Whew, I thought. Then my friend shared her tubing story of her tub going into a shrub along the river and tons of timy spiders crawled up her arm and she had tiny bites. She was fine but darn- I keep earning my nickname "Karenoid!" We are still planning on tubing w/ Phil and plan on putting on lots of bug/sun lotion.

Karen

Karen-the guides are there to hopefully keep you out of the bushes on the banks, but it does occasionally happen. Hopefully you'll not have an unpleasant experience. I'm glad I didn't see any spiders!

Thanks for the review, We will be there 11 weeks from today. This will be my first RCI and I understand that the Mariner was a good choice. We have a hump,bump cabin and been trying to learn all I can about this type of cabin it's E1 8th deck cabin # 8318.

Also notice from the deck plans that there is a pool near the spa. Is it as crowded as the main deck pools.

Thanks

Marcy

Thanks so much for the review. We'll be on the Mariner on the 15th of May!!

marcyjane-I don't know much about the hump cabins, but they look great to be able to see down the ship. I was on deck 7 and in an E1 cabin not too far from the hump. The pool near the spa is adults only and is not real large. It wasn't real crowded when I saw it, but the area around it was. All the pool areas were too crowded for me so I just stayed on my balcony. The drawbacks of cruising at spring break and 1200 teenagers. ;)

baabtx-Have a great time....I was in Austin a few years back and loved it.

Happy Cruzin' :)

Thanks for the review, We will be there 11 weeks from today. This will be my first RCI and I understand that the Mariner was a good choice. We have a hump,bump cabin and been trying to learn all I can about this type of cabin it's E1 8th deck cabin # 8318.

 

Also notice from the deck plans that there is a pool near the spa. Is it as crowded as the main deck pools.

 

Thanks

Marcy

Hi Marcy;

Have you joined our Meet N Mingle? I didn't notice you on our roll call board. Looks like we have a good size group going. I'm glad to see all of the great reviews. I've cruised AOS prior to this and loved it so I'm looking forward to this cruise and especially the 3rd day at sea.

Glad to hear it was a great trip. Thanks for the review.

I am getting married on the Mariner on 9/25/05 and have read and heard all the horror stories. Glad to read a good one. This is our first ever cruise and I was hoping we picked a good ship to take our maiden cruise and get married on.

Glad to hear it was a great trip. Thanks for the review.

 

I am getting married on the Mariner on 9/25/05 and have read and heard all the horror stories. Glad to read a good one. This is our first ever cruise and I was hoping we picked a good ship to take our maiden cruise and get married on.

You picked an excellent ship. Don't listen to the horror stories, you will have a great time!

marcyjane - take a look at this site... I have a picture of my room 8320... okay, well it's only a partial picture taken from next to the couch.

http://community.webshots.com/album/318374319YORiUT

My first impression of the room was "wow, this isn't much bigger than the promenade rooms". That impression didn't get better, however the location of this room was WONDERFUL!

cntrydncr1,Thanks, just went to the RCI website and signed up for the Meet & Mingle. I guess I'm stupid, but where's the roll call list? The RCI site said there were 33 signed up for 6-26-2005 Meet & Mingle. So I'll see ya there!!!;)

My real name is Sherry, my dad always called me marcyjane, so that's why I used it for my screen name.

Candleonwater, Thanks for the pic, I just can't wait to "Get Out There".

I'm a baby boomer and this is a girls get-away cruise and we can't wait.:)

Marcyjane

my son decided that he wanted to get married on this ship after he was on it. Now bear in mind he has a few years to go, but if you think about it, after you get settled in after your cruise, send a review or me and e-mail on how the wedding part went. I'm curious as to how you go about arranging all that and how you handled it with friends, relatives etc. His girlfriends dad is all for it. :) Have a wonderful experience, I can't imagine a better way to start a new life together. There were several honeymoon couples on board ours, but to get married too, what an awesome experience.

Best wishes.