Mariner OTS - Spice of SE Asia 6 Feb 2015

Just returned. Not everything was perfect, but in general it is a fun cruise.

Day 1 - EMBARKATION

Around 10.30am we arrived at the new MarinaBay Cruise Centre by taxi. Departure is at the upper level. Our taxi drop us there, right in front of the baggage collection point. There are two ships on that day, so we make sure our baggages goes to the right ship. Then into the terminal where they scan our carry on. The security conficates liquid milks for our grandchildren, but at last allows two packs for the baby.

A bit confusing with Sapphire Princess sharing the terminal with us. Lucky the staff handles it well and gives clear direction. We are early, so we are among the first to do the check in process. They provide blank immigration cards for both Malaysia and Thailand which we need to signed. Well... After that a long wait, and more and more passengers entering the terminal. Royal provides drinking water (in fancy Starbucks plastic cups but it is still plain water). And that is all. We had hoped that we can buy some drinks or snacks. None available so the kids start feelung hungry.

At last they start boarding. Pass thru immigration, then to the gangway. We have to surrender our passports before entering the ship. No receipt, Royal?

Ding... and we are officially on the ship. After the usual obligatory photo session, one of the staff greets us, saying lunch is ready at the MDR deck 3. What a relief! It is still a self-serve buffet at the MDR, but still we consider ourselves lucky we can avoid Windjammer at embarkation.

It is a leisurely long lunch (we have 5 adults but also 4 children and 1 toddler). When they finished eating, they are sleepy so we take them to the cabin for their afternoon nap. We have 2 connecting balcony cabin (6346 and 6348) and 1 inside just opposite (6347). As they are sleeping, we cannot register them for the kids club, which on day 1 only opened from noon to 3pm. (Hallo Royal, odd hours - kids are napping!) I wish they could open 4pm to 6pm instead.

A little after 4pm, our cabin attendant knocks on the door. He introduces himself, Charlie, and points out that some of our luggages have arrived. He asks how many more luggages we have, and promises it will be delivered soon. I took this opportunity to ask Charlie :

a. Sofa bed (he will make it up during our dinner time)

b. Bath robes (he asks how many. I said 4, and we got it)

c. Tote bag (nop, no stock)

d. Empty the fridge (yes)

e. Open the connecting door between cabin (he does, immediately)

f. Open the balcony divider so it can be connected (no, now not allowed by the captain)

We are very happy with his service so he gets a handsome tip at the end of our cruise. But I digress. Let's come back to day 1.

The children wake up, and they are hungry again (and the adults, too). Everybody goes to have our first afternoon snack at Cafe Promenade. And a good timing too. Just as we are finishing our tea / coffee / chocolate, Shrek and Fiona appears on the overbridge and lead everyone to dance for sail away.

After the music, we go to deck 11 to enjoy as Mariner starts cruising the Straits of Malacca. The children are so happy. This is their first cruise. They become more happy seeing the pools. But then become not so happy when we say 'no. Not today. Tomorrow (you can swim).'

First dinner. We go to MDR and found our table. Our server Rogelio (from the Philippine) is so good. He immediately connects with the children. By the time we have to end our cruise, the children are crying and begging Rogelio to come home with us. Ha... I digress again! Back to first dinner, our assistant server is Ms Chinghua Liu (from China. Yes, good guess). She is also kind and attentive, and did I say beautiful?

After dinner we all feel tired from all the excitement, so day 1 is an early day for us. No welcome aboard show for us. We just go back to our cabin to find the sofa beds are ready. The children are happy having their own bed, and sleep peacefully.

Next : Day 2 - PORT KLANG

Cool. What was the itinerary of your cruise?

Hi,

good to read that your cruises started quite good :)

More...looking forward to it..

Not many Sg-cruises thread so this is a nice change

Yes, definitely looking forward to hearing more! Only crickets from my sailing on the Mariner 3/22, so I've been excited to know what others are experiencing. Keep 'em coming!

Boarding in Singapore really soooooon! Delighted to read this thread. We also go to Port Klang..... wonder what your itinerary was.....

What time did you actually board the ship ?

What time did you actually board the ship ?

I don't exactly loiking at my watch. Too happy to board the ship!

I think it is around 11.45 or so. Definitely before noon.

Cool. What was the itinerary of your cruise?

Singapore - PortKlang - Langkawi - Phuket - Sea Day - Singapore.

Wish I can make photo like you do. I always enjoy following your reviews.

Day 2 - PORT KLANG

Bright, sunny (and hot!), and beautiful morning as we are approaching Port Klang. I sit on the balcony, sipping my green tea (yes, there is kettle in each cabin), watching the ship docks gracefully.

We let the crowds disperse, and let the kids sleep in. My grandson (6yo) said he likes the bed  . We have been to KualaLumpur a number of times and decide to stay on board, so no hurry.

Breakfast in Windjammer. Nice varieties, including rice, corn flakes, waffles, cold cuts etc. So something for everybody. We find the congee is too watery, though. The Indian breakfast is not to my liking, neither. Perhaps it's my fault to expect dosai and other southern delicacies?

After breakfast we register the children to the Adventure Ocean. One of our grandaughter is a month short of 6 years old. Upon our request, they let her join the Explorers (ages 6-8), so they are flexible about it. Our two other granddaughters are happy in the Aquanauts (ages 3-5). Our grandsons, one (6yo) in Explorers, and one (20 months toddler) is having quality time playing with his parents in the Open Play area of Rotal Tots and Nursery. We don't use the baby sitting service, there are enough grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, auntie and uncle for that.

We pick up the little ones (Aquanauts) to have lunch with us (again at the Windjammer) and then to have their siesta. But we let the older ones (Explorers) to have lunch with their peers and continue with the Kids Club activities until about 4pm. They have a blast, including a visit to meet the Captain at the bridge, and their first ice cream at the Arctic Zone.

Everybody has been waiting to jump to the pool so it is wet, wet, wet time for the afternoon.

Dinner is a formal attire tonight. So everybody tries to look their best. Especially the little princesses. The others, well, they just 'try'  .

Production show tonight is 'Center Stage'. It is very good and enjoyable, except when half way the little princesses turn into little gremlins and demand to sleep without further ado.

After putting them in bed, some of the adults sneak back for pizzas at the Cafe.

Tonight we got our first towel animals. Three different kinds of animal, same towel. The children are very happy. They play with it, and in less than five minutes the beautiful animals return to their beautiful, albeit flat, towel forms.

Tomorrow Day 3 - LANGKAWI.

Singapore - PortKlang - Langkawi - Phuket - Sea Day - Singapore.

Wish I can make photo like you do. I always enjoy following your reviews.

Thanks.

The irony is that after all my cruises, I have not sailed out of Singapore on this itinerary. LoL!

We sail from Singapore on Legend in September, so will follow your review with interest.

... ...

The irony is that after all my cruises, I have not sailed out of Singapore on this itinerary. LoL!

I will not do this itinerary myself. I'm doing it just for the kids.

Cruising out of Singapore is nice in that we don't have to do a long flight before and after. However, not very interesting in term of itineraries and ports of call, been there done that too often.

The MDR was open for lunch on embarkation day :confused: This is a first, have never had this option on the many cruises we've done with RCI...great news :)

We sail from Singapore on Legend in September, so will follow your review with interest.

Welcome to Singapore! Hope you spend some days here to enjoy my country.

I will not do this itinerary myself. I'm doing it just for the kids.

Cruising out of Singapore is nice in that we don't have to do a long flight before and after. However, not very interesting in term of itineraries and ports of call, been there done that too often.

Thanks for the info. Yes, I agree with you. When we take holidays in the region, we will fly to the destination and spend some time there, rather than cruise.

Welcome to Singapore! Hope you spend some days here to enjoy my country.

Yes, we have 3 days before the cruise. Not our first time in SIN and really looking forward again to the wonderful food!

I did this cruise for NYE a few years ago. Our 1st RC and very different from the rest. Most guests did windjammer- very few MDR- even on new years eve. one of the professional orchestras from singapore were on board as guests and they played at dinner of NYE- it was amazing. Really iked it and would cruise from Asia again, much more relaxed guests

The MDR was open for lunch on embarkation day :confused: This is a first, have never had this option on the many cruises we've done with RCI...great news :)

I am also taken by a pleasant surprise.

They don't announce it on the Boarding Day Cruise Compass, nor on Cruise Compass Day 1. We are told by one if the staff when we enter the ship.

Guess it is not for everyone, just for a few selects [emoji6] .

They select us seeing our tow of children, perhaps.

It is not a sit down lunch. Just a self-serve buffet like the Windjammer, only on a different venue and with limited number of passengers. It is a nice gesture of Royal, and we are happy to having an alternative to the Windjammer on boarding day.

I had lunch on embarkation day at the MDR on my 6th Dec 14 sailing as well. Think they did it to reduce the crowd in the windjammer.

Food items at MDR were similar to windjammer but i think windjammer had slightly higher variety compared to MDR since i went up to take a short peak but nothing too significant i recall.

Day 3 - LANGKAWI

We want to do our own excursion in Langkawi, so I hanged our order of some room service the night before. I put the delivery time as 7-7.30am. Usually it also acts as a kind of morning call, as they ring to inform that they are coming.

Strange. This morning the phone is not ringing.

I was up since 6.30 anyway, so while waitibg for room service, let me review about the cabin.

Room 6348. As you enter, the closet is on your left, followed by the narrow dressing table. Here you got one 220V outlet with 2 round pin. If you want to use this, you have to share it with the kettle, i.e. when boiling water, you cannot charge your gadget. And while charging your gadget, you can't use the kettle to boil water, obviously.

On the other side of the dressing table, there are two US style 110V outlets (two flat pins). Hope you remember to bring your universal adapter.

Above the dressing table, a big mirror help to make the cabin looked bigger. Flanked by two mirrored-door cabinet. When opened, you'll find some shelves to store your things. It is not very big but very useful.

Next come the flat screen TV, which can be adjusted to view from different angles. Above this is a safe deposit box. You can set your own digital code. The safe is big enough to store my 10inch Samsung tablet (it's mine but no, I don't use it. The grandchildren are using it for games!)

Then comes the connecting door, and the long narrow passage between the foot of the bed (on your right) and the wall (on your left), leading you to the balcony. There you'll find two old fashioned plastic chairs and one tiny table, and the vast, vast water and whatever panoromic vista that you love so much.

Hey... but is now 7.10 and still no room service? Perhaps they forgot? I check the phone and it is working. So I called room service. The operator says that our order is being delivered, please wait.

Ok... so let us review the cabin again. This time entering the room and checking the right side. First the bathroom. Not fancy but you get everything you need. The toilet, hand held shower in a cucible with plastic door, and a short hanging rope to dry your unmentionables.

The wash basin with mirror. On one side again there is another mirrored-door cabinet with shelves. Two glass holders. Below the sink is the waste bin.

Now 7.25am and still no room service. Then it occurs to me. Perhaps my old memory bank has made an error? What if last night I wrote 6438 instead of 6348?

Oh no! How could I made such a mix-up? I imagine passengers in 6438 getting angry to have their phone ringing before 7am. Then the room service staff puzzled where to deliver the huge order ( I order huge for the whole bunch of my extended family).

So I call room service again, explaining my worries. His answer is reassuring, saying they have got my order alright (from room 6348), and it will be delivered any minute soon.

Ok, so no mistake in my order, just need some more waiting time.

Let's continue with the cabin. After the bathroom, on your right is the sitting area with a small table and a long sofa. In the evening, Charlie converts this sofa into a full size bed. What he does with the table I don't know but it disappeared in the night and it appears again during the day. Yes, Charlie keeps rearranging the sofa (and the bed) on daily basis. I realise it is much work and ask him not to bother with the sofa for our port days. We will be out anyway so he can just keep the bed as is. But he insists, saying the children will need some space to play.

Oh, I digress, again!

After the sofa, there is a drape about 1 meter wide, to divide the sitting area and the bed area. Then you have the bed with two tiny night tables. The phone is on top of this night table.

And the phone is ringing now!

I pick up the phone, and a lady voice sweetly apologies, saying sorry to be so late but they are really very busy. Now she will come to deliver our order. But there are two problem. I have wrote "cheese omelette", they cannot do it, it will just be the standard "scramble egg". Then I also asked for "peanut butter". They don't have it on stock.

Okay... okay. I was just asking (in the past cruises we have got it). Now let just be hurry and bring the breakfast. The children are up and asking their milk!

At 7.40am the order comes, the children got their milks and cereals, I got my scramble egg, and the lady from room service gets her tip. So everybody is happy but we are late for our excursion.

No problem. We are on holiday. Little bit late is no problem. Just a short phone call to our driver who has come to wait for us at the pier. He'll wait.

I think we also have to wait for the Langkawi excursion part. This post is getting too long. Let us divide day 3 into two parts, so next is :

Day 3 a - LANGKAWI part two

Thanks for your review. We have sailed on Mariner and loved her and hope to do so again in Asia. Can you tell me what the smoking situation is like? Are they smoking inside the ship, apart from the Casino?

thanks!

Sorry for the delay. (Blame it on the slowwwww room service!)

Setting foot on the Langkawi island, the first thing I do is to exchange some dollars into Malaysian ringgit. There is a mobile money changer waiting at the pier.

The sun is scorching hot when we walk to the parking lot. The van is waiting there. Meeting the driver, I ask him to take us all first to the Langkawi Wildlife Park. This is an attraction not covered by the ship's excursion, and it is ranked number 33 (out of 98) on TripAdvisor. No wonder it is very quiet when we reach there. The name has apparently changed to Langkawi Bird Paradise. Entrace fee is RM36 (adult) and RM20 (3-12yo) each.

What a paradise indeed!

Birds sound welcome us even before entering the gate. Plenty of photo opportunity, and you can buy some food to feed the birds. The children have a very happy time, interacting with the birds (and some other animals). It is heaven to see their face when they hand feed the flamingoes! Ducks, fishes, peacocks, the whole array are there. Very happy, very happy, indeed. If you are in Langkawi with children (or with those young at heart), a visit to this park is a must. I heartily recommend this unique Bird Paradise.

The children refuse to stop playing with the rabbit. We can only persuade them to leave when we remind them that there are monkeys waiting near the out gate.

Out of the park, we feel hungry. Our driver suggest to eat at the fish farm at nearby Tanjuung Rhu. As Tanjung Rhu is a beautiful beach, we agree. It turns out that we need to take a boat ride to go to the fish farm, and we are too hungry to do another sailing. So we just settle down at a "kampong" restaurant and order some "nasi goreng". The fried rice is surprisingly very tasty, and the price is unbelievably cheap, commensurate with the hut on the beach style.

It is very hot but the children still want to play some time in the beautiful sandy beach. After that we return the comfor of our AC van, and all children asleep during the long drive to Underwater World.

Only 4 of us go to see the Underwater World (2 adults, 1 kid and 1 baby). This park is okay but we have seen better marine life aquarium in other places. The Underwater World is very quite, in contrast to the Bird Paradise. Obviously as the fish cannot sing like the birds do! On the way out of the park is the usual tourist trap selling souvenirs and other bric-a-brac which we can do without.

We head back to the ship, in time for our afternoon snack at Cafe Promenade. We take sitting in front of the Wig & Gracel pub, reserving the best location for the Dreamworks parade. Sure enough, they start to prepare the Royal Promenade for the parade, and we got good sitting to watch it.

Oh la la ... the children is very, very happy to see the parade.

I am thankful that Royal arrange this parade in the afternoon so the children can enjoy it.

Dinner as usual in the MDR. Rogelio is so good he already has the fruit cups waiting for the children! By now he also knows their favorite food : chicken fingers (they call it chicken nuggets) with rice.

After dinner, still full of energy from the birds and the parade, we head of to the Savoy Theatre. The headliner tonight is singer-entertainer Tamara Guo. She is very good and multi talented. Her show can be enjoyed by all, but will be enjoyed most by those who speaks multiple languages (English, Mandarin, Cantonese and what not).

Unfortunately we have to leave during the curtain call, so we can't say whether she did sing an Indian song as she promises during the early part of her show.

Tomorrow the ship will tender at Phuket. Let's see how they handle the tender process.

Next : Day 4 - PHUKET

... ... Can you tell me what the smoking situation is like? Are they smoking inside the ship, apart from the Casino?... ...

Luckily, no smoking inside the ship. There are some areas on deck 11 and 12 (on starboard side) that allow smoking.

The casino smells of cigarettes every time I need to pass by, so I walk quickly.

Luckily, no smoking inside the ship. There are some areas on deck 11 and 12 (on starboard side) that allow smoking.

The casino smells of cigarettes every time I need to pass by, so I walk quickly.

Thank You!