The LAFFNVEGAS "Live" From the Mariner of the Seas

[Langley Cruisers]

Kind of got that feeling also. I know that it's easy to do. Espcecially when you're not cruising on your favorite cruise line. I did that when I cruised HAL a few years back. Not an experience that I want to repeat anytime soon. :)

 

 

Yes, I'd agree with you. Not to the OP but just in general here, we cruised Princess last year because of the itinerary, and although there were some major differences between Princess and RCI and, I admit, we did compare (I don't think you can help it!), I certainly was blessed to be on a cruise to anywhere and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I think comparing every little thing and finding negatives and faults will just bring you down in general. That's how I feel, anyway.

[startwin]

I think you have to look at them as totally different, rather than try to compare. I love HAL, that's my line of choice, but I also love the Mariner for lots of different reasons:) Each one has something better than the other.

[The Big Booper]

I'm not a HAL cruiser, with 2 sailings on that line, but I do lurk there and I have seen her postings there and on =X= where she took the Solstice a couple of months ago. She has stated that one of the purposes of her live threads is to compare and contrast her experiences.

 

If you want to get a feel for what Lisa considers important, search on the =X= board for the post she started where she does a live on the Solstice report; from that you can get a feel for her filters and what she is concerned about.

 

When we were on the Solstice we found that Celebrity had grafted quite a few RCI activities onto the usual =X= activities; this we liked as we usually are bored on a long Celebrity trip with many sea days. Lisa's trip report concentrated on the traditional Celebrity on-board experience.

 

I know I have diverted slightly off topic but it is important to understand where she is coming from and what she considers important and what she will not bother with. Then you can re-evaluate her viewpoint on RCI.

[kazu]

Thanks Lisa. I am enjoying your reviews and I always find your comparisons educational. Thank you for sharing with us:)

[harryfat1]

Yes, I'd agree with you. Not to the OP but just in general here, we cruised Princess last year because of the itinerary, and although there were some major differences between Princess and RCI and, I admit, we did compare (I don't think you can help it!), I certainly was blessed to be on a cruise to anywhere and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I think comparing every little thing and finding negatives and faults will just bring you down in general. That's how I feel, anyway.

 

I am in the similar situation as Lisa in that we will be sailing on the Mariner next Sunday and coming over from other cruise lines. This will be our fourth cruise line in past four years. Next year we plan to be on Princess so the rotation keeps going.

 

Especially for those people coming over from other cruise lines, it’s inevitable to be comparing different cruise lines. It’s like test driving cars or taste testing food. You need to compare to find the ones you like more. The trick is not to come off as sounding negative and I think she has mentioned that numerous times in her posts in that she is saying she is having a good time.

 

The inherent flaw in posting in “real time” as opposed to “after the cruise summary” is that on a day to day posting, every small event is mentioned and the reader can interpret that a small flaw is given the same amount of weight as a bigger flaw. Only after you have come back from a cruise will you be able to sort out the bigger goods versus the lesser bads and come to some sort of conclusion on the cruise overall.

 

I would suggest people hold off judgment on the overall tone of the post as being either negative or positive until the final summary comes out early next week after she has disembarked.

 

In the meantime, I will continue to follow this thread with keen interest as I enjoy her insights on various cruise lines.

[mlk58]

I agree that the trick is not sounding negative. Too bad this reviewer doesn't seem to have figured out that particular trick! ;)

[Langley Cruisers]

Thank you The Big Booper and harryfat1 - your gentle manner and objective comments are appreciated. :)

[CroozeAddict]

Kind of got that feeling also. I know that it's easy to do. Espcecially when you're not cruising on your favorite cruise line. I did that when I cruised HAL a few years back. Not an experience that I want to repeat anytime soon. :)

 

I agree. Our first cruise was with RCI and it was fabulous. For our second cruise, not knowing any better, we booked with HAL because the itinerary was so appealing. The ports were great but there was zero WOW factor anywhere on that ship. Everything seemed dark and dreary, especially in the main dining room. We felt like going for a midnight swim on day two ... didn't realize that they shut down and netted up the pools at about 10pm. Our third cruise was with RCI and it was just as good as the first cruise.

 

I think that I'll stay with RCI. :D

[midgecruiser]

I have found over and over that ones first cruise seems to set the feeling of what a cruise is for each individual. If your first in on RCCL then that is your standard. Or on HAL that becomes your standard. Then any cruise after that is compared to the first. That being said...my first was on NCL and on a bit of a rust bucket at that. But, I loved cruising. Love the people the social part of the experience. Waking up to another port to explore each day. But, the food was not great. The buffet was a joke (pizza, hamburgers, nachos...oh my..) and the food in the dining room not great. We stayed in a closet of a cabin with a shower curtain clinging to my a.. But, we loved the people. We loved the crew. We loved being on the water. We just loved cruising. So, we went again on HAL and continued to love it. My fav is HAL. My second not my first cruise. But, that being said, I have tried other cruise lines and HAL is just comfort for me. Celebrity is a close second :). Each cruise and cruise line is different for everyone. We have our comfort. What we personally view as what is a cruise vacation for us. I have read Lisa's reviews for many years and understand what she is looking for in a cruise and what it is that she is comparing. I appreciate the same in a cruise so her reviews speak volumes to me about what a particular line has to offer. Which is why I always appreciate her reviews as well as going to her when I'm looking to book a cruise because we appreciate the same types of things in a cruise. You also have to understand that a cruise is a cruise and someone who loves being on the sea as much as she does just loves being on a cruise and will have a great time regardless. The review is to help give insight to all of us that have followed her reviews over the years and are looking for and/or appreciate the same type of cruise experience that she and Tom enjoy. So, does she come across as negative....naaaahhhhh!! She is just comparing the differences of the cruise that she is on for the type of cruise experience that she enjoys. Very individual for sure. I seek these review out for that very reason. I love to cruise and have loved every cruise I have been on but also appreciate being able to book a cruise that fits what I view as my type of cruise experience. I have learned long ago not to take personally or become defensive if someone doesn't enjoy a cruise in the same way I do. I can be on the same cruise and have a VERY different experience as someone writing a review. But, it's just that...different experience and frankly different expectation. We all have a different take on what we want and like. Thank goodness, or life would be truly boring;). Thanks Lisa for taking the time to share another cruise line with us and just give me more options and info to pick what cruise fits me best.

 

Wendy

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Saturday December 4, 2010

 

Greetings from the Mariner of the Seas on our last sea day.

 

Let's see, I think I last posted when we were in Puerto Vallarta at Ine and Ton's place. We had a great time with them and wish we could have stayed longer. I really like the three ports in the Mexican Riviera. It has been since Feb. 2009 we were were last down there. It is such a shame that many of the ships are all leaving the West Coast. I have spoke with many of the cruise line people and a many state it is because the cruise lines are not making enough profit on the West Coast (truthfully it has nothing to do with safety of passengers in Mexico because these three ports are very safe) It all has to do with on board spending /revenue. I will not get into it now but WOW, RCI could be doing a much better job to increase on board revenue. It is almost as if they have given up on the West Coast and the Mariner.

 

Anyway going back to where I last left off, because we had a bit of a late lunch in PV that was wonderful we really were not that hungry when our 6pm dinner time rolled around but we did change in to a nicer clothes and went down to look at the menu. After both of us stared at the menu for a couple of minutes we both realized there was not one thing on the menu we would even order. Now bare in mind I am not a picky eater although Tom is but neither of us could find one thing we wanted to eat. Sadly as this cruise has progressed we have found the food and selection to get worse :( So we decided that we would go back to our cabin and maybe in an hour or so we would go try Johnny Rockets hoping that we might actually get a good juicy cheeseburger. So about 7:30 we went up to Johnny Rockets, there were only two tables with people in the whole place. That probably should have been an indication. Unfortunately we did not find the quality of the burgers to be much different than the saw dust burgers from the Windjammer even though we had to pay $4.95 per person. Plus you had to pay for any soft drinks, floats or shakes. We did have a buy one get one free for being Gold Crown and Anchor but the cost of $4.50 for a very tiny malt is really over charging. No wonder no one was there, kind of like being robbed on the high seas. So far the best meal we have had all week on the ship has been in Chops. I will say that it was totally worth paying the $25.00 per person. While it was not the best ship premium restaurant I have been to, it certainly was not at the bottom. The service was excellent, the atmosphere was very nice but they need a bit more variety for desserts......like maybe a Creme Brulee' ;)

 

Tonight our last night we are going to Portofino, we had a chance to see menu for the last night in the dining room and again were not impressed. Over all it kind of reminds me of the menu my Grandmother would have at her Nursing Home when she was still alive.

 

One thing we have really enjoyed about the cruise was the fact we had excellent weather with calm seas. Our huge aft facing balcony has been wonderful and we have spent so much time out there reading. I have already read 3 books this week and started into number 4.

 

We went down to breakfast this morning and I have learned that my safest bet for food that is not too bad is the fresh fruit and cereal bar that I can add the nuts and dried fruit. When we returned to our cabin our tags for our luggage had arrived along with the pieces of paper and envelopes for the tipping because we Pre paid our tips. OK folks this has me shocked to say the least. Royal Caribbean has to be the very last cruise line left that does this. We have cruised on numerous cruise lines and not one of them makes you hand out the envelopes to the servers/stewards. Unfortunately my opinion is that I have prepaid this many weeks ago and we are dining in Portofino tonight where I will tip extra there. I am not about to go run around and drop off envelopes I personally find it tacky. I am sorry if I get flamed for this, so be it. RCI knows I have pre paid tips and if they can not distribute money they collected from me several months ago like all the other cruise lines including Celebrity then maybe they need to enter the year of 2010. Although I guess there are some people like the lady that sat at our table for lunch that said no way would she pre pay tips nor would she let a cruise line charge the tips to her account if she had bad service she wanted it left up to her who and how much she would tip. I personally do not have a problem with any cruiseline charging me a daily amount to my on board account and most of the time I also add extra to those crew members that have made my cruise special.

 

Today was actually the first day that we finally made it to the main dining room for lunch, I really should have tried this earlier in the week because the salad bar is actually quite good.

 

I honestly had not wanted this to be nothing but a complaining thread and posts but sadly I am just stating facts that I have found. The other thing that I had not realized till lunch today when people at our table commented that they wanted to know if my husband's Coke tasted weird or was really flat. Well, it ends up the Coke has been weird tasting and flat all week, Tom had just not told me, We only purchased the soda card for him since I do not drink sodas. So then there was a brief discussion about the fact that pretty much the whole week the sodas have not been good.

 

Another thing I do want to mention that was actually very surprising to both Tom and I is how people dressed for dinner and specifically on Formal Night. This is the first cruise in 7 plus years (with the exception of NCL) that Tom did not bring his Tux but he did bring a black suit. I brought a cocktail dress and another dress that is long with sequins but we saw sweat shirts, faded t-shirts with faded non dressy jeans, tennis shoes, flip flops on numerous adults all dining in our dining room last night for the last formal night. Most of these people wearing the above mentioned were over 50 years of age. In all honesty people dress up far nicer on NCL for casual dining than we saw here on the Mariner for Formal nights. I really do not want this to be comments about dress code but this is just my observations. Possibly RCI needs to go the way of NCL and have Free Style dining and have Formal or Not nights. I too would love to not have to wear heels and hose but I dress up because that is what the cruise line requests / states.

 

Over all I think that Royal Caribbean is probably just not a good fit for a cruise line for Tom and I. It may have been the very first cruise line we cruised with for our first cruise but you might say we have grown up. We have no small children nor grandchildren and what we look for in a cruise unfortunately was not found but it was still great to be at sea, with a great view of the aft. I am a Spa person and unfortunately this ship does not have a Thermal Suite like HAL, NCL or the Persian Garden on Celebrity. I also tend to not like a whole lot of children, we chose this week figuring there would not be that many being the week after Thanksgiving but this cruise probably had far more kids running around with not a lot of manners especially in the Windjammer than I have ever witnessed on a cruise. Even our Christmas week cruise on the Eurodam in 2008 was not like this.

 

It has been interesting to see and compare cruiselines and it is good that we have choices. It still has been a good cruise, will we return to Royal Caribbean??? Probably not, all the things we remember from RCI in 2002 and 2003 that we did not care for on those cruises were still there along with other things. At one point we thought we might like to cruise on the Oasis or Allure but food quality is important to us I am not willing to pay the prices that are double to Celebrity or HAL when at least for us Celebrity and HAL have that premium dining experience. I do realize that is not important to others and the family activities more important that is what you are paying for. Yes, food is subjective but usually over all quality is not.

 

Time to pack.............

 

Signing off from the last Sea Day afternoon as the Mariner of the Seas heads back to San Pedro, CA

 

 

Greetings from LAX terminal 1, we are now waiting for our flight. Unfortunately LAX does not have free wi-fi like many other US cities do so these final reports will all be posted later this afternoon when I get home.

 

Last night we dined in Portofino, what a great way to end the cruise. The service was great and the food was excellent. Both Tom and I were very impressed. It was definitely worth the additional $20.00 per person and I highly recommend dining in Portofino. I wish now that we would have gone there one more time.

 

I am not surprise that some of you are upset with my posting but this is our experience. We spoke with several that stated they had been on the Mariner before and were shocked about the quality and the lack of good entertainment on this sailing. I do know that cruise lines quality can change based on the revenue base of that week's sailing. So if you sailed this past summer when prices were much higher yes you may have had higher quality food and better entertainment. My likes and dislikes may be totally different than those reading but I know many of you have been following my Live from posts for several years. Trust me I have been critical of HAL on numerous occaisions:D. Basically my opinion is that for this weeks sailings going to the Mexican Riviera there was the HAL Oosterdam, Sapphire Princess, then there was the CCL Splendor ( of course Splendor was canceled) at the time we purchased and the Mariner, for us the HAL Oosterdam would have been a better value, then the Sapphire. The Mariner was the most expensive for almost all categories. Of course prices tend to go up and down with cruises kind of like the stock market but over all an average RCI cruise can be more expensive in most categories.

 

We accomplished what we wanted for the week and that was to relax, read and see a larger RCI ship and sail on RCI again since it has been several years. To my surprised the ship did not feel large in the least bit, we both felt that the Crown Princess felt larger than the Marnier and it is actually smaller. Although it did feel a far more crowded at times.

 

Tomorrow is back to work and by tomorrow night it will feel like it had been weeks since we were on a cruise. Now we just have to wait another 3 and a half months till the next one ;) Then we will go back home to Holland America. It will be interesting to go back after 5 non HAL cruises, will it be as we remembered or has our prospective having cruised other lines changed us. I guess we will find out on March 20th 2011.:)

 

Signing off from LAX terminal one gate 7

 

 

P.S. A note we are now home, totally unpacked, luggage put away and one load of laundry just finished and in the dryer with another load just started. Tom is watching football and we will head out shortly for a bite to eat.

 

 

Signing off from the LAFFNVEGAS home in Nevada:D

[The Big Booper]

Interesting review. If I knew Lisa better I would have said - skip the MDR and eat in Portofino/Chops the whole week.

 

Sad to hear that the West Coast disease of "casual all the time" has totally infected the Mariner. When we go on the Explorer out of Bayonne (for the 4th time in 2 weeks) most people observe formal nights and you don't see people dressed as if they were eating at a beach shack on those nights.

[Ine]

Welcome home Lisa and Tom.

Although we have no cruises planned at the moment, we always love to read your reports.

It was so nice to meet with the 2 of you and have that great lunch.

Greetings from sunny PVR.

[Bob Winters]

[quote name=

This morning we went over the the Crystal Symphony, we were invited guests and were given a tour and had an amazing lunch on board. The Symphony for being the oldest of the two Crystal ships is in amazing shape. Poor Tom was trying to find a way to stay on that ship :D

 

 

Hi Lisa, can you give me some details on how you became invited. I have a card from a lady who works for Crystal who I met at a travel show who invited me for this tour and lunch in LA but it would be easier when we are on the Mariner in January.

Bob

[Mary09]

Thanks for the honest review! I'm sailing the Mariner Sunday so I can't say I'm thrilled but honestly I'd much rather read reviews about poor food than poor service. This is my first RCI cruise. I guess with them leaving the west coast it's not a big deal if they aren't my 'soul mate' of cruise line, anyway (if there is such a thing!) My last cruise was pretty disappointing so I expect RCI to be at least better. I guess I better plan to eat at Chops and Portofino at least once each! Or maybe the MDR food will be better if we eat it on our balcony. :)

[enidcruiser]

When you said this,

Over all I think that Royal Caribbean is probably just not a good fit for a cruise line for Tom and I. It may have been the very first cruise line we cruised with for our first cruise but you might say we have grown up. We have no small children nor grandchildren and what we look for in a cruise unfortunately was not found but it was still great to be at sea, with a great view of the aft. I am a Spa person and unfortunately this ship does not have a Thermal Suite like HAL, NCL or the Persian Garden on Celebrity. I also tend to not like a whole lot of children, we chose this week figuring there would not be that many being the week after Thanksgiving but this cruise probably had far more kids running around with not a lot of manners especially in the Windjammer than I have ever witnessed on a cruise. Even our Christmas week cruise on the Eurodam in 2008 was not like this.

 

It really got me thinking.

You are right. RCCL is not for you.

 

I think RCCL is just great and you wasted too much time in your "evaluations".

Go back to HAL, they will love you.

[Dr. Cocktail]

When you said this,

Over all I think that Royal Caribbean is probably just not a good fit for a cruise line for Tom and I. It may have been the very first cruise line we cruised with for our first cruise but you might say we have grown up. We have no small children nor grandchildren and what we look for in a cruise unfortunately was not found but it was still great to be at sea, with a great view of the aft. I am a Spa person and unfortunately this ship does not have a Thermal Suite like HAL, NCL or the Persian Garden on Celebrity. I also tend to not like a whole lot of children, we chose this week figuring there would not be that many being the week after Thanksgiving but this cruise probably had far more kids running around with not a lot of manners especially in the Windjammer than I have ever witnessed on a cruise. Even our Christmas week cruise on the Eurodam in 2008 was not like this.

 

It really got me thinking.

You are right. RCCL is not for you.

 

I think RCCL is just great and you wasted too much time in your "evaluations".

Go back to HAL, they will love you.

 

 

As someone who has sailed many times with HAL and RCI, I appreciated the time, effort and expense that the OP took to post this review. I agreed with many of the comments - remember, this is "Cruise Critic", not "RCI Sycophant". Answering with a sarcastic non-response achieves nothing.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Hi Lisa, can you give me some details on how you became invited. I have a card from a lady who works for Crystal who I met at a travel show who invited me for this tour and lunch in LA but it would be easier when we are on the Mariner in January.

Bob

Bob, I actually work in the travel industry so the Crystal Rep invited me. For you the only problem I see is the limited times the Crystal ships will be in Los Angeles in January, The Symphony will only be there January 5th before she heads to South America then the Serenity makes a stop January 17th before she starts her 110 day World cruise that heads to the South Pacific first. The Symphony will be stopping in LA 2 more times in December on the 12th and again on the 22nd.

If you can make one of those dates above to LA then I would contact the Crystal Rep because they do limit how many they will invite on the ship.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Interesting review. If I knew Lisa better I would have said - skip the MDR and eat in Portofino/Chops the whole week.

 

Sad to hear that the West Coast disease of "casual all the time" has totally infected the Mariner. When we go on the Explorer out of Bayonne (for the 4th time in 2 weeks) most people observe formal nights and you don't see people dressed as if they were eating at a beach shack on those nights.

 

Actually I think you do know me :D Tom and I said last night that maybe that is what we should have done is alternate between Chops and Portofino all week. But we did need to try the Main Dining Room. We were fortunate that service for us all week was good. With the exception of never getting ice tea when I ordered it. and a few other items we ordered we never got and needing to ask for the special stash of Splenda every night for coffee ;)

Unfortunately it is not just RCI where people are no longer dressing up for Formal nights, we started to witness this a lot on HAL and Princess earlier this year. Although this sailing was by far the worst. Tom kept stating I am surprised they do not stop them at the door to the Main Dining Room. In all honesty the only ship we did not see this was on the Solstice. That was the first cruise in a very long time that we probably saw more than 50% of the men in a Tux and this was September in the Caribbean with bargain basement prices.

[krewzin]

When you said this, <snip>

 

</snip>

It really got me thinking.

You are right. RCCL is not for you.

 

I think RCCL is just great and you wasted too much time in your "evaluations".

Go back to HAL, they will love you.

 

 

 

Man, some of you people are just downright rude. Somebody with a different viewpoint of 'your cruiseline' and it's time for the 'don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out' comments?:rolleyes:

 

Lately, if there's something you didn't like about your cruise, you best not post it here unless you're prepared for a verbal beat-down. Being critical of a cruise ship has become tantamount to insulting another's family member.

 

Pretty sad when the only way somebody can be 'somewhat critical' on these forums is in the other review section (read only) ....where people don't have the opportunity to respond and bash the poster for their (subjective) views.

 

 

The OP posted honestly how they felt.... they didn't care for an RCCL cruise: there *must* be something wrong with them.

[localady]

Lisa-

Thanks for your review of the trip. I enjoyed following your trip and reading your comparisons. I could see how the crowd would be younger, with more younger kids and much more casual. I have found even our cruises on HAL in the Mexican Riviera to be more casual.

It is unfortunate that some on this board had to make snarky comments, as I know you were trying to fairly compare RCCL with the other cruiselines you have sailed on. That is what travel professionals do to best serve their clients. I do understand their protectiveness of their favorite cruiseline, but there is no reason to be rude.

[Stevmead]

Great job Lisa! I was on the ship with you and your comments are 100% accurate. We gave the MDR 3 tries and then gave up for Chops and Portofino.

[harryfat1]

Lisa,

 

Thanks for taking the time to post the various “live” reports during your vacation. It’s always difficult to write in real time as you try to enjoy yourself during the vacation.

 

As I mentioned in my post #55, I am also coming over to RCI from other cruise lines (Celebrity/HAL/Carnival/Princess) and will be on the Mariner on next Sunday (I assume you left at least 2 bar stools in tack from your wild HAL late night parties). But since I am cruising with kids, my perspective on some things will be different.

 

In reading your posts, I wonder if your perspectives would have changed if you have “known" about the issues you described in your various posts? Meaning if you had known prior to sailing there are the inherent flaws of the cruise line (all cruise lines have pluses and minuses), would your expectation be lowered and as such, they won’t even make it on your review?

 

Perhaps an experienced veteran cruisers such as yourself that travels every 3 months don’t need to pay attention to the boards like I do to find the drawbacks of each line , but if you had, maybe you would have known some of these issues ahead of time. I only cruise once per year, so for me, I pound the boards to death and try to know as much as possible about the cruise ship/line prior to sailing so I can change my expectation as well as do whatever preventive measures necessary to ensure my family as a good a cruise experience as possible as we go from cruise line to cruise line.

 

Few items you disliked that could have been remedied with some research on your end prior to cruising:

 

1 – Lack of something you like to eat on day 6. If you had done some digging prior to sailing, you could have obtained a day by day menu of the cruise and as such, know what food is being served every night and plan accordingly. Food is subjective, so can’t get into why something you would like or dislike, but there should be no surprise on what’s being served every night.

 

2 - I haven’t sailed on Mariner yet, but I know the cost and limitation of Johnny Rockets and what you get for your money as it was mentioned in many other reviews. Again, should come as no surprise so you don’t feel like you have been robbed at high seas as you could have avoided that.

 

3 – Prepaid tips. Well known fact about RCI. I knew about this when I booked months ago. Yes, I would be happier if they did it like other cruise lines, including Celebrity, but they don’t. But that’s not something new being sprung on the people just on this cruise.

 

Guess I don’t understand the big complaint here. Since you prepaid, I assumed you did MTD? In which case, all the servers there knows you already paid their tip, so what’s the problem? The only minor inconvenience I can think of is if you don’t prepaid, then you would need to go to guest relations at the beginning of the cruise and ask them to charge your ship board account at the end of the cruise. Opposite of other cruise lines where you have to stand in line to ask them to take it off.

 

4 – Why would you be surprised by the number of kids? This being the cruise line of “Why Nots” where they try more than any other cruise lines to reach out to new cruisers with diverse array of entertainment, there will be lots of kids on board on any sailing. Certainly much easier sell for young cruiser families to sail on RCI than HAL.

 

On my Carnival cruise back in December 2008, not a Christmas cruise, there were over 500 kids and that was on a much smaller Carnival Spirit ship. Given the Mariner is much bigger ship, I would be drop dead in shock if our sailings next week don’t have at least 500 kids on board - cruise lines like RCI and Carnival are magnets for kids and young families.

 

Far be it for me to comment on your reviewing style, but in your post #60, you commented, “ we had a chance to see menu for the last night in the dining room and again were not impressed. Over all it kind of reminds me of the menu my Grandmother would have at her Nursing Home when she was still alive.” Is that editorial really necessary? Just seems to be mean spirited.

 

No question that food is subjective and you don’t have to like what is being offered, but do keep in mind that there were couple thousand people who ate at the MDR that night and some may have liked what they ate that night. Why the need to take this route? Couldn't you have just said, we didn’t find anything we liked at the dinner menu that night and we opted for Portofino instead.

 

If you really feel the need to be critical of menu option, at least have constructive in your criticism by saying, they could have improved the menu offering with “Y” or “Z” items from other cruises that you liked. Surely you could have mentioned couple food items from HAL or Celebrity that you loved but wasn’t offered at RCI.

 

In the beginning of your reviews, you spent a lot of time and effort comparing various cruise lines on things like beds/cabins/shopping and I really enjoyed those reviews as it’s informative to read what each line has to offer. However, on your posts #60 onward, the positive comparisons were gone and all were just negative comments. Even though on one hand you keep saying you don’t want to sound like you are complaining, on other hand, you are comparing the food to nursing homes for grandmas and sawdust burgers and flat cokes.

 

And you are well aware of the fact that many people take criticisms of their preferred cruise lines personally. It’s like the car critic forums. Trying to go to a Chevy forum as a Ford fan and say Chevy cars are bad will stir up a whole lot of animosity. But you already know that.

 

As you have arrived at the conclusion that RCI isn’t for you. I won’t know if RCI is the right cruise line for me until after I cruise next week, but I know that I am prepared for the drawbacks and the advantages of what the cruise line/ship has to offer.

[Langley Cruisers]

Far be it for me to comment on your reviewing style, but in your post #60, you commented, “ we had a chance to see menu for the last night in the dining room and again were not impressed. Over all it kind of reminds me of the menu my Grandmother would have at her Nursing Home when she was still alive.” Is that editorial really necessary? Just seems to be mean spirited.

 

That big font is driving me crazy - I had to downsize it. :p

 

I agree with Harry's comment here. OP, sorry you didn't find the menu to your liking. I actually thought the last night was the best; the turkey was incredibly moist and delicious (and recommended by our waiter), and that's the night they serve the Key Lime pie! (regular and sugar-free - both are amazing and in a side-by-side taste test, the sugar-free wins!!).

 

As you have arrived at the conclusion that RCI isn’t for you. I won’t know if RCI is the right cruise line for me until after I cruise next week, but I know that I am prepared for the drawbacks and the advantages of what the cruise line/ship has to offer.

 

Harry, I hope you have a fabulous time on Mariner. I wrote a review last month and posted here, which basically said DH and I felt this was the cruise with the best overall service. We were absolutely thrilled with Mariner and most aspects of her. Anything remotely considered a complaint was minor, I assure you. We have cruised other lines and do compare (like anyone would) so I am not speaking as a "Royal cheerleader". *rolls eyes*

[Green Recruit]

 

Far be it for me to comment on your reviewing style, but in your post #60, you commented, “ we had a chance to see menu for the last night in the dining room and again were not impressed. Over all it kind of reminds me of the menu my Grandmother would have at her Nursing Home when she was still alive.” Is that editorial really necessary? Just seems to be mean spirited.

 

As you have arrived at the conclusion that RCI isn’t for you. I won’t know if RCI is the right cruise line for me until after I cruise next week, but I know that I am prepared for the drawbacks and the advantages of what the cruise line/ship has to offer.

 

I think you made a fair case about the OP being a bit more objective in the her comments. After rereading several of her 'Live Reports' I found that she made some positive statements about service, cabin size and both of the specialty restaurants. But somehow she seemed to have a definate bug in her bonnet about the Windjammer and brought her focus to that again and again. It seems that there was a reluctance to give credit when it was due. I also found it surprising on her disappointment over no pillow chocolates in the evening when, as a TA, she 'must' have heard of RCI cost savings changes that took effect over a year ago! I also felt it was mean spirited and a bit petty to comment on the 'bad job' of decorating the Christmas tree in post #24.

 

Since we are on the same cruise next week with you, I will be curious as to your impressions.

 

Dion (and Teri)

[twometresplus]

Personally I wish I hadn't read any of this "review", my fiancée and I will be spending part of our honeymoon aboard the mariner in a couple of weeks, Xmas cruise. We've never cruised before, I trawler CC for the last few months checking out reviews and asking questions, when I stumbled upon this review, I thought great a LIVE review, now all my questions will be answered. But now I'm looking forward to some awful cruise, terrible food (puréed steak? Just like in grannies shelter?) and to get ripped off. I should have steered clear, the gloss has been taken off.

Sorry if nobody likes my post, just MHO.