Mariner of the Seas 1/13/2013 PHOTO REVIEW

[cujosmom]

I also set up a massage for my DW while the rest of the family hung out by the pool. The weather was great on Monday although the water was a BIT cold! That didn’t stop my son though as he had a blast sloshing around the water while the ship was rocking. After that big lunch and playing around, we went to relax in the room a bit and get ready for our first formal night.

I have to say, we are not tuxedo and cocktail dress people so I do apologize to the people who find that unacceptable. We are dress and tie people though so we didn’t try to go in with shorts and tank tops either so I hope we get points for that.

For dinner, I had some type of seafood ricotta appetizer (sorry forgot the name), chicken marsala, and tiramisu. All was very good! My DW had roasted garlic soup (her favorite), chicken marsala, and a chocolate mousse cake. As another surprise, I had a birthday cake brought out for dinner for all us as well. We were so full between lunch and dinner that I don’t know how we ate that cake but man it was SO GOOD! They sang happy birthday to my DW which was nice except that I think we heard the happy birthday song about 8 other times that night too. It must have been a popular night to bring out the birthday wishes. It was a great day for her I hope.

 

Roasted Garlic Soup

Ricotta Appetizer

Chicken Marsala

Waiters Singing for us

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Tiramisu

 

We were on the same cruise as you. I can see my husband in the picture of the dining room (we had the table to the right of the Captain's table). I was sitting next to DH, but didn't make the picture. Such a beautiful dining room.

[cruisn4bruisn]

We were on the same cruise as you. I can see my husband in the picture of the dining room (we had the table to the right of the Captain's table). I was sitting next to DH, but didn't make the picture. Such a beautiful dining room.

 

Very cool!

 

Yes it is a beautiful dining room. This was our first time being on the Deck 4 dining room so the different view was kinda cool.

[cruisn4bruisn]

Day 3

We decided to wake up early to get some pics of the sunrise. It was a very good one with some clouds out on the horizon. Sunrise and sunset pics are always my favorite when looking back on the beauty on the trip. You can only get these at sea.

 

[cruisn4bruisn]

After taking some picture we actually ended up going back to bed for a few more hours. We didn’t have much planned today as it was our 2nd sea day so we went at our own pace.

After we got up and ready, we headed to Studio B and my DW, son, and SIL all went ice skating for a bit. You can tell by his smiles that he had a good time!

 

 

 

After ice skating, we went back out to the pool and spend another afternoon at the pool. The water was a little warmer today and the boat was rocking pretty good so we had a good time playing out there.

After cleaning up we headed to the schooner bar for what became our ritual of playing trivia whenever we could. We didn’t always win but we always had a great time (we did win a few time though!)

This became his favorite spot to hang out.

[cruisn4bruisn]

The show tonight was the Texas Tenors. They apparently won America’s Got Talent a few years ago (hadn’t heard of them) and were very good! They sang a little bit of everything (not all country as would think from their attire) so we really enjoyed the show.

For dinner tonight, I had crab cakes and potstickers. DW had steak and 2 lemon tarts. She said the tarts were very good. She mentioned they are like tiny lemon meringue pie.

I really was bad this time not taking pics quick enough. You can see it was obviously good though!

 

Potstickers

 

Steak

 

Lemon Tarts

[CruisingCamper]

Loving your review!! Gets me so excited about our trip!

[cruisn4bruisn]

After dinner we went to change for the comedy show and found another towel animal. Dog? Rabbit? Now sure by still very cute.

The big screen at night out by the pool

The comedy of Jeff Nease was excellent also. It was said to be “late night adult comedy” but he was very clean and very funny. If you were at the show you probably heard my SIL laughing hysterically at everything!

After the show it was straight to bed as the next day was our first port, Honduras, and we had a busy day scheduled!

[wolfganghowell]

Looking forward to more! Right there with you on the GS - the bathroom is to die for onboard and some great perks. We're going back to a JS next time so I'll really be able to compare and contrast. :)

 

Great review so far.

[CBJ]

Thanks for the review! We are on the Mariner in March and as RCCL newbies it is nice to see picture heavy reviews!

[Cupcrazy]

Thanks for the great review and pictures! I'm getting hungry looking at the food porn. Looking forward to more of your review

[TexasAggieCruiser]

Thank you for your review! We are on the Mariner in April and I am super excited!!

[cruisn4bruisn]

Thanks for the review! We are on the Mariner in March and as RCCL newbies it is nice to see picture heavy reviews!

 

Get ready for many more pics, especially Honduras. It's such a beautiful port that we just couldn't stop.

[AlanS17]

We'll be on the Mariner on March 3rd. Looking forward to it. Thanks for the pics!

[cruisn4bruisn]

Day 4

 

Alright let's get this photo review really going! Day 4 was our first port of call; Roatan, Honduras. This is located on an island to the east of the mainland of Honduras. To me, it was very reminiscent of Montego Bay, Jamaica in the small grassy hills and houses around. This was by far the most beautiful port of this trip and the most enjoyable.

 

We arrived at 8:00am and our excursion was set to meet at 8:45am so we were up early and ready as soon as we hit the dock. These first pics are from our balcony looking out onto the pier, shopping center, and town.

 

The pier from our balcony

 

Shopping area

 

 

 

Some of the background hills

 

 

Very nice taxi/bus pickup/dropoff

 

 

Just an absolutely beautiful port.

[cruisn4bruisn]

These pics are from a feature on our camera called the miniature effect. I'm sure some have seen these but we had a blast taking these pics and then looking at them later.

 

 

 

 

 

It makes the colors very vivid and then focuses a rectangle in the middle of the picture while blurring the top and bottom of that rectangle. Really a fun feature to play around with.

[cruisn4bruisn]

So off the boat we go at 8:00am sharp. We wanted to look around a bit before heading to our meeting place for the excursion. BTW our excursion was the private island beach break at Maya Key. More on that in a bit.

 

We snapped a few pics, looked in a few shops and headed to the meeting place right beside the ship.

 

Looking back at the ship.

 

 

A perfect day

 

 

From the ferry boat heading to the private island

 

[cruisn4bruisn]

More miniature pics

 

 

 

 

Part of Maya Key

[CruisingCamper]

Beautiful place! Great Pics!

[cruisn4bruisn]

Maya Key......our first beach day......and definitely our best beach day! This island was so nice with plenty of stuff to do and everyone was very friendly. As you pull up, there is a sea lion/seal habitat with timees for feeding and show and there is a gift shop with some cool things where you can also rent snorkel equipment for $15 and for as long as you want. More on that in a bit.

 

Our spot we perched upon

 

These monkeys have their own tree to hang out in

 

 

We also got the opportunity to hold an alligator (blind) and a capuchen monkey also hung out with us.

 

 

 

Just hangin around

 

Some of the local flora

[cruisn4bruisn]

Beautiful place! Great Pics!

 

Thanks. Enjoy her next week!

[cruisn4bruisn]

For the lunch included, we had the choice of salad, fried fish, bbq chicken, banana chips, and rice. ALL of it was very good. Even my 5 year-old, who doesn't like fish, ate 3 pieces! It was really a great lunch.

 

Some of the lunch

 

After lunch we headed back to our spot. Me, my BIL, and SIL rented some snorkel gear and checked out the coral out from the pier.

 

Pick of a Carnival ship parked at another pier

 

More pics of the beach. Just beautiful water!

 

 

[cruisn4bruisn]

None of us had never been snorkeling before so having this as a starting point was great. We got in a swam around close to the pier for a little bit.

 

 

 

 

From the end of the pier looking back at the beach

 

 

 

I have to preface this last picture with my experience. Although you can't tell from the pic itself, the guy with me was a guide that will take you around the reefs and show you around. He grabbed me and said, "follow me". So I did. You also can't tell that we got pretty far out there. I wish I had a waterproof camera as it was beautiful looking down at the coral and the fish swimming all around it. I saw no big fish but I did see something a bit more breathtaking. As we were swimming in and out of some cutouts of the coral we came to an opening..................and it was OPENING!!! I was staring straight down at what I can only assume is part of the shelf of the island. You cold feel the colder water rushing at you and it was a very humbling site. There was a couple that were diving back and forth down the drop-off looking around at everything. Man what a site to see! I wish I could describe it better but it was definitely one of the cooler things I've seen while cruising. I can understand why people like snorkeling at different places.

 

I also saw a few schools of fish and as I was looking, I realized that I was getting pretty tired. As it was my first time, I didn't want to get too tired and too far from the pier, so I headed back and meet up with the rest of the family. Definitely something I will never forget.

 

If only you could see under the water

[cruisn4bruisn]

more miniatures

 

 

 

A plane coming in for a landing over the island

[cruisn4bruisn]

I will show off some of my DW artistic side.

 

 

 

And a fun pic

[cruisn4bruisn]

The island also doubles as an animal rescue complete with many types of creatures.