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The Mariner-July 30th sailing...review of a ship we have sailed multiple times

okiedrifters
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okiedrifters

okiedrifters

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We have sailed the Mariner many times and just returned Friday from a 4 night Bahama cruise. We chose this particular cruise because we knew the ship and were excited about the new water and sport activities because we were taking our granddaughters ages 14 and 12 along with us for their first cruise. Hubby and I are frequent cruisers, and have been pretty much "Loyal to Royal" for many years.

 

First and foremost, this is just the review of our trip, so please take it for it is...my review, and my opinion. There are some things I will point out that we encountered, and hopefully this will answer questions for some, or raise questions that can be answered by RCCL.

 

Embarkation was very easy…walked up to counter and 3 minutes later, walked on…less than 5 minutes to board. Disembarkation was also easy as we carried our bags off and by 7 am we were on the road. Could not have been easier! Parked at the port across from the “G”terminal.

 

We LOVE the Mariner..she is a beautiful ship and we chose her because of the new activities for our teen granddaughters to enjoy...the new waterslide, Skypad, etc. That being said, with a ship the size/capacity of the Mariner, and short cruises seem to be filled with more kids/teenagers, the lines are extremely long, and the wait is a lot longer. Our granddaughter loved the Skypad although the wait was over an hour and she was among the first inline. The second time she went during the hours of operation which were posted as “open until 7:00pm” ...we went at 6:40 and were told it was closed because it had to have the last person OUT by 7:00. When I saw open until 7, I thought as long as we got there before 7 it would be open. The lines for the waterslides were long, but moved quickly. They loved the ice show, rock climbing wall (no wait there), and Flowrider.

 

Out of a 4 night cruise, the pool was closed all day and night for at least one of the 4 days. For a ship just out of dry dock, it was very disappointing. Especially since the pool is NOT large enough for the number of cruisers anyway.

 

The food in the MDR was excellent! Our waiters were awesome, asusual, (Alroy and Jing are the best) but the service (from the kitchen) was extremely slow. Our My Time Dining lasted a minimum of 2 hours, and we were seated by 5:30-5:45.. It took forever to get dessert...45 minutes one night. Again, NOT the servers fault...a kitchen problem I suspect, as our waiters were going nonstop. You no longer get a separate dessert menu, you order dessert from the main menu as you place your dinner order.

 

We always visited (and enjoyed) Johnny Rockets on every cruise...we will not do so again. The price has risen to $9.95 per person, and no, milkshakes/malts are still not included...that’s another $5. The burgers appeared smaller (think MacDonald happy meal size... not Big Mac J, the servings are much smaller, and although you can ask for seconds. We are not big eaters Jjust wanted to let those that are know the portions are small. I wanted our granddaughters to experience the“50’s diner” of our youth, with waiters singing and dancing... when they didn’t “start up”, I finally had to ask if they still performed, and was told yes, “if you ask”. I asked and they did a good job! Our granddaughters were delighted with it! Mission accomplished!

 

The cabins (except the new ones on deck 12) remain the same. The beds are very FIRM, although our cabin steward tried his best to pad it, it was still much to firm. The coffee tables have been removed, so morning coffee room service is a bit of a challenge. We used the sofa’s; we had 2 balcony cabins on the 6th deck and it was very quiet. You can still order continental breakfast and coffee free of charge, but anything more such as a regular breakfast, lunch,dinner or snacks now arrives with a $7.95 service charge.

 

The ports were Nassau and Coco Cay. Nassau was an ordeal to navigate as there were 5 ships in port! If not for our grands, we would have stayed on board. Coco Cay was the highlight of the cruise...it is truly a beautiful island! RCCL is adding a pier which is almost completed, so before long, tendering will no longer be required.

 

The internet was reliable and actually faster/better than it usually is. RCCL doesn’t offer an app on Mariner like Carnival has at $5.00 per cabin, to communicate with your fellow cruisers, so we needed their internet to text each other (cheaper than the cruise package offered by our cell provider). We paid $152.00 for 2 devices for the trip and each teen used one. We had some free internet so it worked out OK.I prefer the app as I can do without internet for a few days.

 

Sadly to say, RCCL should now take notes from Carnival...after years of refusing to sail Carnival after my only cruise with them in 2005, we once again sailed Carnival with our children and grands on the Magic, and I can say without any hesitation, that she certainly was that...Magic! We loved that ship, (multiple large pools) and cheers to Carnival for “stepping up” their game! They are certainly strong competition for RCCL more so than ever, in my opinion. Their “faster to the fun” option is worth every cent, and a great idea! $69 per cabin (not per person). If you want to be at the front of the lines, (RCCL please) offer it as an option for those that wanna avoid long waits, to pay for it. At least we would have a choice.

 

All in all it was a nice cruise, but certainly not what we are accustomed to from RCCL. We will go again on another ship to see if it was simply because it was a shorter cruise, and hopefully not “new normal” fleet wide changes. Too bad RCCL is putting such a great ship on a short Bahama itinerary. I understand their rational, I just don't like it :-) I know there area lot of folks that will not agree with me, and I respect that...this is simply my opinion.

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LMaxwell Great Review Rare

LMaxwell

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45 minutes between courses isn’t a kitchen issues, there is not enough waitstaff. Usually windjammer has a larger selection of dessert so we skip that in dining room and walk off dinner first. Still excited to try this shop out in a couple weeks

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okiedrifters

okiedrifters

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Thanks for the review. I just booked Mariner yesterday on a casino comp for October 1st. After 18 cruises on Royal I'm sailing on Mariner for the 1st time.

 

You will enjoy the casino! It was nice, lots of slots, (2) 3 card poker tables, blackjack, craps, roulette...and, free drinks!!

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Namelocg

Namelocg

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You will enjoy the casino! It was nice, lots of slots, (2) 3 card poker tables, blackjack, craps, roulette...and, free drinks!!

 

Did you happen to notice if they had an Ultimate Texas Holdem table. That is my favorite game. I was on a Carnival ship back in 2016 when a Royal Flush came up on the board. It took over 30 minutes for the pit boss to check the cards and pay all 6 of us at the table. I only had a $10 bet but there were 2 men playing table max. They had to bring black and purple chips from the cage to pay everyone. Would love to see that happen again.

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okiedrifters

okiedrifters

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Did you happen to notice if they had an Ultimate Texas Holdem table. That is my favorite game. I was on a Carnival ship back in 2016 when a Royal Flush came up on the board. It took over 30 minutes for the pit boss to check the cards and pay all 6 of us at the table. I only had a $10 bet but there were 2 men playing table max. They had to bring black and purple chips from the cage to pay everyone. Would love to see that happen again.

 

My husband said yes there is.

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LuCruise

LuCruise

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Thanks for the review. We'll be on her in 3 weeks with our kids and can't wait.

That's quite disappointing with the long line ups for Sky Pad and waterslides. Was this prime time? And too bad they are strict with 7pm closing for last ride. Hmm...what happened with the pool closure? Yikes. :-(

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okiedrifters

okiedrifters

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Thanks for the review. We'll be on her in 3 weeks with our kids and can't wait.

That's quite disappointing with the long line ups for Sky Pad and waterslides. Was this prime time? And too bad they are strict with 7pm closing for last ride. Hmm...what happened with the pool closure? Yikes. :-(

 

Our granddaughters did not know what to expect, so in their eyes, it was perfect! Your kids will love it, especially since most schools and football :D have started back and probably won’t have as many teens on board.

 

My 14 yr old granddaughter went 30 minutes early the first time it opened and she waited an hour. But, she said it was so worth it! She did the VR Candy Crush one and loved it! She was so disappointed she didn’t get to do it again.

 

Not sure what was up with the pool...they put yellow mesh all around it.

 

Have a great cruise!

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vickiw0318

vickiw0318

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Thanks for the review

 

Faster to the fun is basically free based on your C&A status. Just arrive early and you will board 5 mins after the people in the suites [emoji13]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

My one experience with Faster to the Fun in Galveston went above and beyond having high C&A status. Not only did you board first, you were immediately able to go to your cabin. Your luggage was tagged for early delivery and you had a special access line at guest services. It was a very positive experience for someone (me) who was not looking forward to her Carnival cruise.

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cleob

cleob

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Do you recall much about the main dining room menus? Were there theme nights? How did folks dress for the wear your best night? I'm a very fussy eater and normally book a specialty restaurant on nights that don't work for me in the MDR.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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okiedrifters

okiedrifters

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My one experience with Faster to the Fun in Galveston went above and beyond having high C&A status. Not only did you board first, you were immediately able to go to your cabin. Your luggage was tagged for early delivery and you had a special access line at guest services. It was a very positive experience for someone (me) who was not looking forward to her Carnival cruise.

 

It was awesome, wasn’t it? Sure wish RCCL would offer similar. It was worth every cent of the TOTAL $69 we paid for the 4 of us. Being able to go straight to our cabin and change, rest, front of the lines, etc was wonderful!

 

As I mentioned I had only sailed Carnival once before, many years ago, and I too, was not looking forward to sailing with them again, but our son,dnl, and grandsons invited us to cruise with them over Thanksgiving and it was an awesome cruise in every way. Carnival has certainly “upped their game” and is now a strong contender with other lines. We have status with RCCL, but the $69 paid for “faster to the fun” went above and beyond status. Wish RCCL would get onboard with something similar.

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LuCruise

LuCruise

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Our granddaughters did not know what to expect, so in their eyes, it was perfect! Your kids will love it, especially since most schools and football :D have started back and probably won’t have as many teens on board.

 

My 14 yr old granddaughter went 30 minutes early the first time it opened and she waited an hour. But, she said it was so worth it! She did the VR Candy Crush one and loved it! She was so disappointed she didn’t get to do it again.

 

Not sure what was up with the pool...they put yellow mesh all around it.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

Thanks for the reply. Hopefully by last week in Aug there will be less kids (but cruise is selling out based on cabin availability). We'll definitely try and go to activities when they open. We've not even exactly sure what SkyPad is, but from pictures/videos, our kids are soooo excited to try it. Looks like so much fun for them.

 

Did Laser Tag have similar line ups? (If you tried it)

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okiedrifters

okiedrifters

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Do you recall much about the main dining room menus? Were there theme nights? How did folks dress for the wear your best night? I'm a very fussy eater and normally book a specialty restaurant on nights that don't work for me in the MDR.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

It didn’t appear theme-ish to me, but maybe I didn’t pay attention, I just looked for things I like. First night I had prime rib which was very good, second night I had New York Strip (it was ok), next night lamb shank which was delicious! Fourth night, we went to speciality restaurant. The food in the MDR received a “very good” rating from our party of 4. As usual, there are several selections that should fit most tastes.

 

On “best dress night”, I noticed mostly Sunday wear, like you would dress for church or wedding. I did not see a formal gown or tux. Some long summer dresses, no ties for men, just slacks and button shirts. I did see some jeans, capris, etc. but no shorts. We dined early, so maybe there were some formals, but I didn’t see any anywhere I went.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Ready 2 Cruise

Ready 2 Cruise

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Thanks for the review. I just booked Mariner yesterday on a casino comp for October 1st. After 18 cruises on Royal I'm sailing on Mariner for the 1st time.

 

Hi, we are also on this cruise as a casino comp. it will be our first time on the Mariner too.

We are taking our 9 year old grandson on his first cruise. Since school is in session, hopefully the waits won't be too bad.

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