Just off the Mariner - Super Cruise!!!!

Just got off the Mariner yesterday.....had cabin 1608 and our friends were in the Royal Suite (it's beautiful!!). Had a super time!! Had the best waiter ever on a cruise....Idris. Our middle son loved Adventure Ocean and spent a great deal of time there. Food was great and the service (as usual) was exceptional. The ship is spotless!! Any questions, don't hesitate to ask. :)

Fantastic!! Eastern or Western? How old is your middle son? How was the motion of the ship?

Eastern......our middle son is 12. Our oldest (16) enjoyed the club for teens (Fuel). I must say though that I was a bit disturbed to see some of the 18 year olds drinking on the ship....many very intoxicated. There were so many teenagers on this cruise......

So glad you had a great time! We can't wait till our turn January 29, 2006.

I also wondered which route, and if it was western did you do any shore excursions? What did you think of the food, which was the best? How were the shows, I understand the ice show is fantastic!

Thanks, MAO

Glad you had a good time - we will be on her 5/15!

Did you have trouble getting a chair at the pool? Or were the chair police working hard?

Which nights were the formal nights?

How was the music at the Wig and Gavel?

How was your CD?

Thanks

hey dreamin....

we will be cruising with you on the 15th !!!

we have quite a group already signed up for a M&M

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=73372

Just signed up for the meet and mingle! Thanks for letting me know about it. Has anyone received their docs yet? E-Docs or Booklet?

Which nights were formal nights? Eastern route what excursions? Good/bad?

dreamin...

so far i believe one couple who has been posting on our thread has received edocs--- everyone else is patiently ( not really!!)waiting for theirs...

Any chance you have copies of the menus? I will going on the eastern and I am trying to decide what night to go to chops. Also curious about what excursions since I will have a 16 and 14 year old boys with me.

Thanks

Randall

You mentioned that your friends has the RS. Could you confirm if they had a hot tub on their balcony? Did you also get a chance to visit their room and just exactly how nice is it???

Would also like to know which route you took and what excursions you did as well.

Thanks for the info.

Are there newer menus out there than the ones at cruiesclues.com? I am actually more interested in recent copies of the Compass and the Kids Compass for the 6-8 set. The boys want to make plans for what they want to do.

18 year olds are like sheep, one of them starts drinking... I remember well being 18, well I think I do. It's all starting to fade ;)

I was on the same cruise this past weekend. It was a blast, and I wish I was still on her. To answer a few questions,

I went to Chops on Wednesday night, which was Caribbean night in the main dining room.

The food in the main dining room was exceptional. All the menus are new, and all the food is excellent. The only exception was the prime rib on the first night, mine came out very dry and not very good.

Formal nights for the eastern route were Monday night and Friday night. That is probably different though for the western.

For excursions, I would highly recommend that you take a taxi to the St. Martin airport. There is a little strip of beach at the start of the runway and the airplanes come into land litterly 20 feet above your head. It is a breathtaking experience and they have a bar and cafe there as well.

The pool side chairs were very difficult to come by. We eventually found one each day on deck 13 which is above the pool. The cruise director was Kirk Detweiller (sp ?), he was excellent as all the shows were great!

For food, the tomato soup is excellent as an appetizer on the first night. I would also recommend the crab cakes and the lobster bisque for appetizers, and shrimp cocktail. The lobster was excellent as well as the tiger shrimp that they serve with it. The new york strip that they served on Saturday night was the best new york strip I have ever had.

I'll try to answer all questions...here goes....

Food was very, very good. I always found many things I liked. I can't imagine anyone not being able to do this....so many choices...especially at the Windjammer. I especially loved all the pasta choices. Dinners were exceptional and as I stated earlier, we've cruised many times and never had such an extraordinary waiter as we did on this cruise. I hope you are all fortunate enough to some day get him. His name is Idris and he waited on us at table 558 second seating (Sound of Music Dining Room). He would bring multiple appetizers and dinners for us to all try even if we didn't ask. Then he would bring us all a sample of each dessert, no matter what we ordered. He made our dinners a truly memorable experience....thanks Idris!!! :)

The Ice show is great, didn't see any of the other shows, as we spent our "before dinner" time in our friends Royal Suite, watching the sun go down. As far as the Royal Suite....we spent a great deal of time there and our oldest son stayed in the suite with his best friend. We were two doors down in a Junior Suite. The Royal Suite is gorgeous. The bathrooms are really something. Huge whirlpool tub in the master suite. Large walk-thru closet behind the bed. Lots of marble, granite, etc. There is no hot tub on the deck of the suite...I believe there is on the Explorer and another ship. The patio furniture was all wood with cushions. Huge bar, stocked with some wine and beverages (included). Baby grand piano, large and small sofa, dining table with chairs, etc., etc. A truly "Royal" room.

The formal nights were Monday and Friday on the eastern route. The cruise director did a nice job as well. We bought a horse for the race on Friday, but unfortunately didn't win.

We were early risers and were in chairs either by the pool or on deck 12 by 7:30-8:00 each day....many chairs were already spoken for, but didn't have too much trouble, especially on deck 12. Many put towels down but didn't show up for some time.....I never saw pool patrol remove anything, but they did walk around.

We went to Chops on Wednesday night which was Caribbean night...our waiter recommended this would be a good night to go. The food was outstanding and well worth the extra $$$. We made sure to tip well all of our staff the entire week, as our waiter was telling us that they rely totally on tips now. We noticed many vacant tables in the dining room all week...how sad for these waiters. We enjoyed our dinners each night immensely and couldn't imagine how you'd skip this experience for a stand in the buffet line.

Be sure to go to the deck party on Wednesday (Caribbean night). It was a blast!! We danced and had a great time.

My hubby and kids snorkeled at Trunk Bay on St. John's and my hubby said it was the most beautiful beach he's been to. I shopped instead. We went to Orient Beach in St. Maarten and my boys parasailed there. We also did some shopping there. Quite a few nude folks at Orient beach, but we've been there before and knew in advance. Our boys giggled and the youngest covered his eyes. There were many families there and it really wasn't that big of a deal. The majority of those we saw should really keep their clothes on...hahaha......

The menus in the dining room are no longer the big, leather bound you get at better restaurants. They are now small and resemble what you get at say an Applebee's....they are paper menus, but nice. Didn't bother me any!

My middle son used the Adventure Ocean program quite and bit and went several nights to the 10-1 am program which cost $5.00 per hour. He loved it! Lots of games, etc. for the kids to do.

Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

His name is Idris and he waited on us at table 558 second seating (Sound of Music Dining Room). He would bring multiple appetizers and dinners for us to all try even if we didn't ask. Then he would bring us all a sample of each dessert, no matter what we ordered. He made our dinners a truly memorable experience....thanks Idris!!! :)

We had a waiter on the Explorer named Idris and he was just as good as you described. Did he say whether or not he was on Explorer before Mariner? We're sailing on the Mariner next year and we would love to have him as our waiter again.

I think we were on the same cruise a couple of years ago SHELLLEYS, your screen name seems so familiar.

PrincessDiane - Not sure about that...maybe?? He's from Turkey. We sailed on the Explorer two years ago, so we probably did cross paths. If I were you, I would request him. He gave us his e-mail address so I can check with him to see how long he'll be on the Mariner.

Thank you both for the day for Chops, I was wanting to do it on the Carribean night, and since you both went on Wednesday since that was the night, it sounds like that will be the night we go.

Randall