Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Another boring no photo mariner review=1/13/2013

BonTexasNY

By BonTexasNY,
in Royal Caribbean International

Recommended Posts

BonTexasNY

BonTexasNY

Posted
Posted

Has a whole year gone past since my last boring no photo Mariner review?? Guess so.

 

The following are just random thoughts and experiences on board our 1/13 Mariner cruise. All opinions are my own and of course others will feel differently. Here goes.

 

We, myself, my husband, our good friends from NY, started driving down from Plano Sat. morning. Got to Gaido's Inn where we have been staying for the past few years pre cruise. NOT this time. Both our room and our friends room were to the point of being flooded in the bathroom. I mean LOTS of water and when we complained we were told these were the last 2 rooms. So, we were on a mission to find 2 DRY rooms ANYWHERE. Luckily, I remembered some of our roll call folks posting that they were staying at the Country Inns and Suites. After a quick phone call we were in!! OK room but there was an annoying sound like a bird chirping coming from my bathroom. I'm not making this stuff up.

 

Sat night as tradition dictates, for us anyway, we had a wonderful dinner at Casey's meeting some of the fun folks on our roll call. Just so relaxing and so much fun getting to know others we will be with for the next week.

 

Embarkation was a breeze! We FINALLY made Platinum so off we went on the platinum line. No wait, got to the security area in moments, but had to go to a special table to tell them what wine we were carrying in our hand baggage. Didn't have to open our bag. Whole process took maybe 1 minute then we were on our way to check in and get our sea pass card. We also smuggled.. err.. carried on some diet cream soda that I can't live without. :rolleyes: No problem with that. Love hearing that first "ping". You know what I mean, right?? Whole process from the time we arrived at the port until we were on board took approx. 30 minutes. Easy!! Not so disembarkation. That will be a story in itself later.

 

Now for my opinions and ONLY my opinions. Food in the MDR late seating for me was just ok. I never walked away hungry and I didn't have to cook or wash dishes but there were very few dishes that wowed me or my husband and friends (sorry I don't do the DH thing). The lamb shank was wonderful and the prime rib the first night was excellent. However, the prime rib on one of the other nights was dry as toast, no flavor. Lunch on sea days were always in the MDR. Tutti salad was enough for me and never disappointed. One time I decided to have some fish, ordered whatever filet was on the lunch menu, waiter put down a large plate with a small fish filet in the middle. No veggies, no garnish, nuthin, just the pale white filet. Am I being too particular here?? Makes note to self.. stick with the tutti salad. Port days we grabbed a late lunch up at the WJ. Not my favorite place to eat. It seems lots of folks like us came back to the ship early and getting a table was next to impossible. We had to walk around and around until we were able to finally get a table. This never happened on our Mariner cruise in Jan. 2012. Both cruises were filled to capacity.

 

OK, folks, this is long enough for now and I still haven't had my breakfast. Without my "hi-octane coffee" I can't be held responsible for what I will post from now on.

 

More to come later... the entertainment, the ports, my PR cabin, upper C&A tier event (remember, we're platinum now!!!) etc., etc., all for your enjoyment with no photos :p

 

Please ask questions. I don't bite.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BonTexasNY

BonTexasNY

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Did you notice any changes since dry dock? We will be on the Mariner in April and hoping to see some upgrades from dry dock. Thanks

 

Flat screen tvs in the cabins, deck plan touch screens near the elevators, hot dog house on the pool deck, maybe new decking around the pool, not sure about that. New Diamond Lounge....somewhere on a upper deck. Wish they had a platinum lounge lol Large screen up on the pool deck which I HATED. I mean how many times do I need to see the movie Grease as much as I love it. It was distracting, hard to concentrate on my book and I thought it took away from the relaxing, pool experience. Again, just my opinion but it's my review. :p

 

Some other dining things I forgot to mention. Our wait staff was superb; Alroy from India and Lili from.. somewhere in Asia. My husband requested a shrimp cocktail the first night and he was presented with not one but 2 each dinner thereafter. Anytime I asked for something I was told "no problem" and it wasn't! One negative; I ordered bay scallops that were served in the escargot dishes. I had to hunt around to find one tiny scallop in each indentation. Those scallops were smaller than a dinner mint. I know bay scallops are small but.. really!! I was given the menu for the next night and I was able to choose what I wanted ahead of time so that they could make it as low sodium as possible. Glad I was able to do that. My ankles tend to swell up like balloons. You really needed to know this, right? :p The head waiter, (the guy who wears a jacket, comes around to ask how everything is and is phony friendly..sorry my perspective) we sort of named "The Bully", chewed out our assistant waiter we THINK for spending too much time talking to us:eek: Literally it was just a few minutes. We saw both of them in a heated chat. She looked like she was about to cry. Was our fault, we kept asking her questions toward the end of dinner and she didn't mean to be rude and walk away. I noticed she steered clear of us right after. I then went to "The Bully" and told him we thought she was the best assistant waiter we ever had. Everyone at our table told him the same.

 

No more vouchers given when you prepay gratuities. We were told the crew gets a list of names, no vouchers necessary. Even "The Bully" got his tip!! I think next time we'll do the cash thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TEXASMUNK

TEXASMUNK

Posted
Posted

The ship's theme has changed. It now has an oriental flavor since it is moving to the Orient later this year. Some changes you will not see so quickly...the cigar bar will cease to exist, it will become a exclusive high roller gaming area. The focus of Mariner will cater to gambling once the move is made to the Far East.

 

We found the pool area to be much easier to get around, and "cleaner" sight lines....don't ask to define that I saw it on DYI once.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BonTexasNY

BonTexasNY

Posted
  • Author
Posted
When you went over to the special table for the wine, did they write down your room number? Were they keeping track of which rooms had carried on wine? Just wondering...

 

Two bored looking guys were sitting at the table, asked us how many bottles of wine we had, never wrote anything, never asked us anything else. Just gave us a bored wave to move on.

 

The focus of Mariner will cater to gambling once the move is made to the Far East.

 

You're spot on. My brother in law who was on the TA bringing the Mariner back to us in Galveston was told they are taking out the Schooner Bar and extending the casino.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
stewpapa

stewpapa

Posted
Posted

Thanks for your review. Will be on the Mariner on Feb 17th.

 

Comments so far:

 

I always make the mistake of trying fish on Royal Caribbean and am always disappointed. Carnival does fish way better. The other food is usually ok tho.

 

Am disappointed to hear of the pool deck huge TV! Hate it on Carnival and will hate it on Royal. I agree it takes away from the pool deck experience.

 

Also disappointed to have no vouchers. I use the envelopes to give extra tips to those who go above and beyond for us. Guess I'll have to bring my own, like I do on Carnival.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
reney313

reney313

Posted
Posted
Thanks for your review. Will be on the Mariner on Feb 17th.

 

 

Also disappointed to have no vouchers. I use the envelopes to give extra tips to those who go above and beyond for us. Guess I'll have to bring my own, like I do on Carnival.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

They did away with the vouchers to hand out, but they still provide envelopes (even if you prepaid) to provide extra tips if you desire.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BonTexasNY

BonTexasNY

Posted
  • Author
Posted

OK, my fans have spoken so I need to post more of my boring no photo review.

 

Ports of Call were Roatan Honduras, Belize, Cozumel.

 

We're boring folks which is good that my review is boring. We don't snorkel, we don't do cave tubing we don't zip thru the trees. What we do is veg on beaches and shop. See? Boring, huh?

 

First up Roatan, our best experience. We booked a ship excursion to Pirate Beach also called Las Palmas. I did some online research and the beach used to provide transportation to and from the ship for $15 but I guess RCI got into the act and now you have to do it thru the cruiseline for $24. Let me describe the transportant mode. We saw lots of really modern mini vans, buses wondering which one would be ours. Well, folks, our bus turned out to be an old school bus painted a royal blue. Let's just say if you're taller than 5' 5" it's a tad uncomfy sitting in those seats. I still have the marks on my knees which were pressing on the seat in front of me to prove it. OK, not really but it was really not comfy. Luckily the ride was very short, maybe 10-15 mins. The beach is really beautiful, clean and EMPTY. Lots of chaise lounges under palm trees (no umbrellas) and lots of sun beds which are built for 2 with very thick pads. Sand was not rocky and the water and the sky were such a beautiful blue. Very relaxing. For those that wanted food and drink there was a restaurant right on the beach with palapas all over the place to eat in the shade. I'm sure there is a snorkel area since we saw them renting snorkel equipment. They also had a really nice shopping area with about 20 shops. Set up very nice on a wooden walkway. I found an absolutely beautiful necklace for $5, one of a kind, honest. Didn't see it anywhere else. Probably could get it at Sam Moon (you TX ladies know what I mean) but it really looked unique. Took our blue bus back to the ship, walked around a bit and then onto the ship for a late lunch. I highly recommend this beach. Oh and the bathrooms were spotless.

 

WJ was totally crowded. I mean not one table was available! We had to wait a bit and make a dash to anyone who looked like they had enough and were getting up. What we should have done was to go down to the Promanade Cafe but we were with 2 men who like to pile their plates on with FOOD.

 

Belize was getting some bad press including tourist shooting and new State Dept. directives about safety so we opted to just tender into the port and walk around. Actually it turned out very nice and relaxing, almost like a beach boardwalk experience. Sunny and just a beautiful day. Again we had trouble getting a table in the WJ on a port day about 2pm. We tendered back at the ship in a way we never tendered before. We had to exit our tender onto another tender, walk up the small flight of steps to get on the ship. I guess the tide changed? Just seemed weird to me.

 

I need to comment that on our Jan. 2012 Mariner cruise there never was a problem getting a table on port days. Did I mention this already? Well if I did you are twice blessed.

 

Cozumel was a major disappointment or at least the weather was. No sun, just very cloudy and breezy. We took a taxi to downtown and just walked around visiting all of the shops that sell the same exact chochkies. Wasn't interested in expensive jewelry so we just went in to look and not buy. It's what I do best. :rolleyes: 7 ships were in port that day so it made for a very lively, crowded shopping experience but nothing we couldn't handle.

 

Next up, entertainment and other boring no photo odds and ends.

 

Any questions? Ask away, I still don't bite but I'm getting hungry so off I go for some lunch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BonTexasNY

BonTexasNY

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Thank you very much for your review we board next week for b2b on Mariner.....

 

Have a wonderful cruise. Mariner is a great ship. Just the right size, for us anyway.

 

You didn't happen to keep your Cruise Compasses by chance? Excellent review, will be on Mariner 2/24, can't wait!!!

 

No, sorry, didn't keep any compasses. Actually, the entertainment venues change weekly based on the special groups that are on board each particular week. The Lotus Lounge was closed most evenings I assume for special closed events. Oh, and thank you for your kind words :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
stewpapa

stewpapa

Posted
Posted
They did away with the vouchers to hand out, but they still provide envelopes (even if you prepaid) to provide extra tips if you desire.

 

Interesting, thanks for the info.

 

OP, I continue to like your review. It's a good one. Like your style.

 

Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BonTexasNY

BonTexasNY

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Enjoying your review. We will be on the Mariner in March. Do they show movies on the big screen in the evening? I have enjoyed that on Princess, but I agree, the noise of it during the day by the pool drives me crazy!!!

 

We never ventured outdoors at night but I seem to remember reading about movies in the evening. I can't imagine it being too comfy up there since it was windy enough daytime.

 

Darn! :mad:

 

This has been so informative. I can't wait for the rest, but we're leaving in the pre-dawn hours to drive to Galveston for our own sailing.

 

OP, please post about disembarkation early tomorrow so I can get it on my phone before we sail.

 

Janet, I'm getting this in under the wire just for you ;)

Disembarkation was NOT an easy one. If you're in a GS you won't have a problem getting off in a reasonable time. We DIDN'T have a GS, what we had was a PR cabin, one we liked very much but not one that would afford us an easy disembark.

 

The line we got on snaked all around the ship until we reached the exit gangway. We stood on that line for 1 1/2 hours until we passed Customs with flying colors.

 

It was VERY disorganized. If one of your ports is Roatan, be prepared for a long wait. Customs has to do a full inspection when a ship stops at Honduras, scanning each passport thru the computer to be sure no drugs are being smuggled. Honduras apparantly is well known for drug sales. All we had were 2 tshirts and my one of a kind $5 necklace bought in Honduras but probably made in China, but maybe we looked suspicious? Doesn't matter, nobody was exempt.

 

Disembarkation on our 2012 Mariner cruise was a breeze. 15 minutes!!! No computer scanning. And, no, we didn't stop at Roatan that time.

 

The line to grab a porter was much shorter than the regular line BUT..there were very few porters on the floor and waiting for one to get back from loading up someone's car seemed to take forever.

 

A word of caution. There were tons of self assist passengers. More than I ever thought possible. It almost seemed like EVERYONE wanted to shlep their own suitcases and get off early.

 

More to come later or tomorrow. For now my kindle beckons me.

 

Janet have a great smooth sails cruise. Please come back and post a review.

 

Some of you took the time to jot down that you enjoyed my review so far. I'm going to attempt to thank each of you by name. Knowing me, I know I'll leave someone out and you will think I am ungrateful and ignoring you. I'm not. I'm just ditzy. so please forgive me if I left you out. Here goes: THANK YOU to: stewpapa, ladysilver, cruisingcamper, stingraybob, jimaok1945

 

Up next, entertainment, my cabin, our friends ummm bathroom issue and other odds and ends that pop into my ditzy mind.

 

Wasn't I supposed to be reading my kindle by now :confused:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
antiquejunkie

antiquejunkie

Posted
Posted

Bonnie,

Thanks for the review. Me, 2 sisters and a friend are going on the Mariner Feb. 24. Can you tell me if there is still a Jade on the Mariner and if so, is it a venue that you have to pay? Also, who was the entertainment on your cruise? Do you know how we can find out who it will be for the week of Feb.24th?

 

Leah

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...