Mariner Review 9/26-10/03

I live by the theory that if life was void of adventures, what fun would there be to have. This week was almost too adventurous even for me.

Our fun started with riding out Hurrican Jeanne and all that she brought with her. The worst part was she delayed our cruise for two days. Oh well, now I can scratch riding out a hurricane off my list of things to do.

We then found out Monday afternoon that we would be departing out of Miami instead of Port Canaveral. Bummer, but kind of what we expected! We ate Monday night at the Grills in Port Canaveral, and for all of you going out of there, this is a must. What a fun time we had with all of our friends from Cruise Critic.

So, we take the bus to Miami, no biggie. We round the corner and there she sits in all her beauty the "Mariner of the Seas". I was prepared to be overjoyed being a first time cruiser, but I think the hurricane just added to it.

EMBARKATION

Embarkation in Miami was a breeze. No wait at all, and the customer service agents were actually quite pleasant. We took our welcome aboard photos, in which I went for the "I have ridden out hurricane and topped it off with a 4 hour long bus ride" look. Upon getting on the ship, I am amazed by the size of it. Everything looked clean and crisp as if she were brand new.

Lunch at Windjammer was pleasant and dinner was great. I can't say enough about our waiter team (Benji and Rene) and our stateroom attendants (Ariel and Belinda- married from the Phillipines).

The Bon Voyage Parade was good and the opening night show was a Comedian named Blair Shannon. He was entertaining.

DAY 2

Today, our altered itenerary brought us to Nassau. We watched the docking process while eating breakfast at the Windjammer. It was fun to see how we dwarfed all the other ships in port (NCL and Disney Wonder).

We took the excursion to Blackbeards Cay and it was just average. They said that they had been hit pretty hard by the hurricane and their stingrays had gotten out of the snorkel area. So we didn't get to do that. However, we did see a few swimming free in the swim area.

Did get tired of people asking to braid my wives hair.

Tonights dinner was great. Filet Mingon and Cod were the favorites of our table.

Tonights show was a musical and was okay. The singers and musicians were great but the dancing was not great. It was a very good show musically.

Also, tried my hand at learning craps. Broke even so can't complain.

DAY 3- At Sea

Today we slept in and got up in time to play "Cash Prize" Bingo....not so many cash prizes for us. But fun was had by all....while losing their money.

We went to the meet and mingle and we met and mingled. Although most of our group had already met and mingled several times. (I must say we had a really fun group). From Ellington's we watched the belly flop competition and saw "man in g-string". It was fun to watch people walk by and notice!!

Today was also horse racing, in which we won the 2nd race.

I don't want to sound like everyone else but DON'T MISS THE ICE SHOW!!

It was great.

We followed that up with dinner at Chops which was great. I had Prime Rib and it was fantastic. Yasha had lamb.

After that was the Love and Marriage game......laughed really hard all the way through.

Day 4- Cozumel

We did the Royal Swim at Discovery Cove. A really great experience. Cab is $10 per cab to Chakanaab and your entry to the park is included in your reservation. We also did the sea lion swim which was really fun as well. (they feel like giant daschsunds)

After that we did the customary downtown stuff (carlos n Charlies, Senor Frogs, shopping, etc.)

Tonights shows were Pure Energy, 80's singing show, which was really good. I was suprised they didn't do any Michael Jackson or Madonna but realize there could be licensing issues.

Dinner was the Lobster and Shrimp night and my wife enjoyed. Me- not a seafood guy- another steak. However, I did order me a lobster plate and gave it to her....Yeah, bonus points for me!!!!!

After dinner was the Quest. I know hush hush, but man was it fun. Anyone who misses it..shame on you....not as adult as I thought it might be either.

Day 5

Played the black jack tournament and by some stroke of luck took third, so that payed me a little more money.

We also saw the ice show again tonight with our new friends. Our cruise director was awesome (Kirk) and he was right you do make new friends for life on a cruise.

The 2nd parade was today and as good as the first one was this one was equally lame. Really not so good!

The Variety Farewell show featured comedians Marco and Daniel and the were hilarious. I really don't know if I have ever laughed that hard in my life.

THe late night adult comedian was okay. Seemed to be trying more to be dirty than funny.

We also say dolphins off the front of the ship today...That was awesome.

DEBARKATION

The old ladies at Port Canaveral can be quite grumpy and the customs lines seemed to take a long time.

OVERALL

What a wonderful vacation. I realize we lost two days and that sucked but RCI the company, tried to be fair, and in my opinion were. $500 credit and 50% off next cruise seems to be very reasonable.

RCI the ship staff, really went all out to make our vacation fun. What good service we received.

The Mariner is a beautiful lady. She is massive, but yet once you get your bearings, she is easy to get around and very well laid out. We had a promenade stateroom and really enjoyed it. Great storage space and everything.

Food was great in my opinion. One day in Windjammer I spotted the feared "Ranch Steak". It was buffet quality and could see someone's displeasure if this was served in the main dining room.

grand chocalte buffet was really cool.

Lunch in the dining room was disappointing (only did it once)

Shows were for the most part good to can't miss.

Don't know if I will ever vacation any other way. And what a great thing cruise critic is because everywhere we went we were running into new friends. Any questions...ask away....

daniel, great review and i ditto all you had to say!

we all told you that you would become just another addicted cruiser after #1!!!

it was just wonderful meeting you and yasha jeramy and jera. truely hope that we can all cruise again in the very near future!

tell yasha i said hello.

hope to sea ya soon, judy

Enjoyed reading your review!

Sooooooooo WHEN?/WHERE? are you planning to go with your "Half Price on the Next"? Will you use it as an opportunity to book a suite or maybe go on a longer cruise? Whatever ... we'll enjoy reading about it when you return. You do GREAT reviews!

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

When and where was the Grand Chocolate Buffet held? Is it just part of the complete Gala buffet in the Dining room on one night? Or was it held on a different night?

Thanks.....sailing on the Mariner in 25 days and one girl in my group is a chocoholic!

I know that the Cruise Critic meet & mingle is in Ellington's at 1 pm on the full day at sea.....and that coincides with the Belly Flop Contest.....my group and I don't want to miss the excitement of the belly flop contest, but we don't want to miss the meet & mingle either.

Would you tell me please how long is the meet & mingle? Doesn't the cruise director and staff host the Meet & Mingle....I thought the cruise director's staff also runs the belly flop contest. How can they do both at the same time?

If we went to the belly flop contest first, and then ran up to the meet & mingle....would we miss much at the meet & mingle? I guess my main question is how long does the meet & mingle last?

(O.K., I realize this is more than just "one more question" )

Thanks

Thanks for the great review. We go on the Navigator in April, 2005 for the Western Caribbean and with all I've read on these boards the Mariner is almost identical to her.

I'm sure we'll have a blast - and want to book another while we're on board.

Where are you going next ?? With the credit & discount it sure allows a person to choose something different (a suite, 10 day, etc.).

Welcome home and glad you had a great vacation.

I will try to answer a few questions.

Chocolate buffet at least on our sailing was the gala buffet in the dining room. I don't know how this would have been had we had the two days we missed. We also had a poolside buffet one night.

Meet and Mingle was hosted by Tracy, the assistant cruise director, while Kirk the actual cruise director did the belly flop contest.

I would assume that the length of the meet and mingle would depend on the group. Our group was very close before the cruise so we just got our drinks and watched the belly flop contest from Ellington's which overlooks the pool area.

We are thinking of doing the exact same cruise, the exact same week next year. Some in our group thought of doing it and calling ourselves the Storm Chasers.

About the meet and mingle.... It will last as long as you and the other guests want it to. As for the cruise staff hosts length of time, maybe it depends. I only know that on our cruise, there was a member of the staff there handing out the lanyards and a couple of other drawing gifts, then she left very quickly. In fact, I was late getting there (about 1:15) and I met her leaving as I was going in. So, I didn't even get my token souvineer. The others I talked to said she didn't even try to interact with anyone, just did the drawings and left.

Thank you for the answers....greatly appreciated.

I know that most of my group will want to be poolside for the belly flop contest....so I'll have to run into the meet & mingle quickly and then head down to poolside.

Kirk was the cruise director when my group sailed last year on the Adventure of the Seas....we thought he was fantastic. Hopefully he will still be there in November!

Thanks again for the feedback.

Great review Daniel! It was a joy meeting you and Yasha. Did Yasha get a copy of the picture of the two of you? Or do you need Tim to send it to you?

Thanks for your great review! Good reference for our Navigator cruise in December.

Great review Dan. Had a wonderful time with you!! I miss everyone:( I keep meaning to get around and write a review. Just haven't had time. We are in the middle of moving. yuck!!