Mariner of the Seas or Jewel of the Seas??

[cawhite]

Hi RCCL Fans!

 

I'm trying to pick a cruise for Spring Break (April) 2006 for a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids - they'll be 14 and 11 by then). My kids and I went on our first cruise last month - a 5 day Carnival cruise out of New Orleans to Costa Maya and Cozumel. We had a great time. Hubby did not go. Now we want to try Royal Caribbean and bring DH this time around)!

 

Should we select:

 

7 night Mariner of the Seas (4 ports: Labadee, Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, Cozumel)

 

or

 

8 night Jewel of the Seas (5 ports: San Juan, St. Maarten, St. John, St. Thomas, Nassau)?

 

Ports of call are important to us and we like to snorkel and scuba dive (DH and DD got certified earlier this year), hike, take in some culture, see beautiful tropical beaches with crystal blue water, and eat at good local restaurants. We'd prefer not to go to places that are overly touristy. We don't really care too much about shopping, except for a few souveniers.

 

My kids loved Camp Carnival, and I want to select an RCCL ship they'll really love (I do know about the ice skating rink, mini-golf, rock climbing wall, etc. on Mariner of the Seas).

 

Soooo.. which itinerary do you think would be best for our family? Which ship?

 

We are from California, and we're mid to late 40's, if that helps.

 

Thanks, in advance, for any help!!

 

Carole

[42trvl]

Can't comment on Jewel Eastern Caribbean yet - that's the next cruise we want to try - but, our family demographics and interests appear to be somewhat similar. We just did the Mariner Western route (our kids are 10 & 12), and we all really enjoyed it - both the ports and the ship. I think anywhere that cruise ships are stopping is going to be "touristy." We hear very good things about the eastern caribbean beaches - we have been to St. John non-cruise and it was beautiful. But both Cozumel and Grand Cayman had very nice snorkeling/diving. I think culture-wise Eastern might offer a bit more. But I don't think you can go wrong either way. I do think it's worth checking out a Voyager class ship (Mariner) at least once.

[NCTarheelsCruiser]

Hi RCCL Fans!

 

I'm trying to pick a cruise for Spring Break (April) 2006 for a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids - they'll be 14 and 11 by then). My kids and I went on our first cruise last month - a 5 day Carnival cruise out of New Orleans to Costa Maya and Cozumel. We had a great time. Hubby did not go. Now we want to try Royal Caribbean and bring DH this time around)!

 

Should we select:

 

7 night Mariner of the Seas (4 ports: Labadee, Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, Cozumel)

 

or

 

8 night Jewel of the Seas (5 ports: San Juan, St. Maarten, St. John, St. Thomas, Nassau)?

 

Ports of call are important to us and we like to snorkel and scuba dive (DH and DD got certified earlier this year), hike, take in some culture, see beautiful tropical beaches with crystal blue water, and eat at good local restaurants. We'd prefer not to go to places that are overly touristy. We don't really care too much about shopping, except for a few souveniers.

 

My kids loved Camp Carnival, and I want to select an RCCL ship they'll really love (I do know about the ice skating rink, mini-golf, rock climbing wall, etc. on Mariner of the Seas).

 

Soooo.. which itinerary do you think would be best for our family? Which ship?

 

We are from California, and we're mid to late 40's, if that helps.

 

Thanks, in advance, for any help!!

 

Carole

 

I have not been on the Mariner but I have been that route on Voyager and just went on the 8 nt. Jewel last month. If I was choosing between the two I would go with the Jewel. The extra night was very nice and overall I like the ports better than on the Western Carib. We do not have kids but are big snorkelers, had good snorkeling in Antigua and St. Thomas several times that we have been to those ports.

By the way the stop you have listed as St. John for Jewel is Antigua(St. John is the capital city) not to be confused with the island of St. John that is just off the coast of St. Thomas.

I think your family would enjoy either cruise, you can't make a bad choice here.

I am posting a link to my review of the Jewel if that helps.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=173341

 

Enjoy whichever cruise you choose!

[cawhite]

NCTarheelsCruiser - thanks for the correction on Antigua! I did think it was the island of St. John, but now I see it's not. Glad you pointed that out!!

[cincicruisers]

Hello

Been on both the Jewel and the Mariner. I dont think you could go wrong with either one. My only comment is there seemed to be more for the teenage kids on the Mariner than the Jewel. The Promande was a hit with the kids on board, along with the large sports area with basketball, ping pong, and putt putt.

I like both eastern and western ports and either would provide good snorkle/scuba.

Enjoy your cruise and let us know your final selection.

[sisocialworker]

just off the jewel in 4/05, eastern. it was our first, we loved the ship. we are booked on teh mariner, only because we got a great cabin.

 

loved the multi ports of the eastern. the jewel was beautiful and new. pleanty to do for the kids. we are hesitant because the M is too big and may have too many kids.

 

we are consid the jewel when it goes on sail, so we want to see others opin. as well.

 

barry

[cawhite]

Thanks, everyone, for the input so far!!

 

I'm leaning toward the Mariner, because I think it is a great ship for the kids.

 

The 3 things that could sway me:

 

(1) Since the Mariner is so LARGE, would many of the ports I mention end up being tender ports? Is that a "pain" because it takes a long time to get everyone off the ship? How much time would this take away from our actual port time? I'm sure we'd have to account for this when booking shore excursions (we would not be booking through the ship).

 

(2) If the Eastern itinerary is best for kids, this could sway me. I know what to expect from the Western itinerary. But I'm not at all familiar with the Eastern ports (especially for scuba and snorkeling).

 

(3) Also, our Spring Break is much later than most schools. I found when we went on the Sensation last month (4/9 - 4/14) there really weren't that many kids. Is this a factor for either ship? I want my kids to get to meet lots of new friends.

 

Thanks again! I would like to book soon!

[42trvl]

cawhite - the only tender port we had on the Mariner Western was in Grand Cayman. We had heard some horror stories about tendering there, but had no problems. Just at the front end, allow enough time to get there, because they waited until the tender filled up before we left. Going back was no problem.

 

I think throughout March and April there will be plenty of kids. We have a very late Spring break (last week of April), and while people kept saying there were a lot less kids, there were plenty and I wondered how they could have handled any more:rolleyes: . Maybe there were less kids on your recent cruise because it was a shorter one and out of New Orleans? RCI attracts a lot of families, so I doubt there will be any shortage of kids on either of the ships that you're considering.

 

I don't know if this is of any importance to you, but if any of your kids are James Bond fans (our son is), a major treat for him was tour of Ian Fleming's estate in Jamaica.

[cawhite]

42TRVL - thanks.

 

My son is a little bit of a James Bond fan... but my hubby is a BIG fan. Is there sufficient time to do that and climb Dunns River Falls in Ocho Rios?

 

Also, regarding the tendering in Grand Cayman, I notice there will be 6 ships in port the day the Mariner is there (per CruiseCal.com). 3 of them get in before the Mariner, 1 at the same time, and 1 after. Does this present any issues?

[42trvl]

Carole -

 

There were many ships (5-7, at least) the day we were in Grand Cayman also. Each ship has its own tender line/area, so that should not matter too much. The worst place we felt the crowds was right in the few blocks where the tenders drop off. But, if you're not that into shopping, you should be able to bypass most of that. We arranged for our own excursion and went directly to them.

 

Depending on what you want to do in Jamaica, my advice would be to hire a private guide/driver just for your family. We used Marva Shaw at www.knowjamaica.com and were very happy. We drove out to Goldeneye first (Ian Fleming's place) - this also gave us a little "feel" for the area, then went to the Wassi Pottery factory, then Dunn's River Falls. We had plenty of time, and could have done even more, but my son was not feeling too great so we decided to return to the ship early. If you are interested in touring Goldeneye, I would call them first (try www.islandoutpost.com - they also do other excursions), to arrange for one. You can't just drive into there. If nothing else, it's a gorgeous setting, and someplace to think about for another vacation... (it's a very pricey resort now). Another excursion in Jamaica that seemed to be popular with families was the river tubing.

 

Oops, sorry - I forgot to mention that we were tendered in Labadee also. But that was just our ship and their own place, so it was pretty easy. The only really bad time we've had with tenders is when we've waited until the end of the day when everyone else is also going back. Otherwise, we tend to be a little off everyone else's schedule, and don't seem to suffer much.

[PVDCruiser]

I don't know how my friends and I would survive without the mall, mini-golf, basketball court, etc. :)