Mariner at Christmas

[flossie009]

 

Barbados - a glorious place to spend the last day of 2023

 

 

 

 

Since some parts of the world have already entered 2024, it is probably not too early to wish everyone a very HAPPY NEW YEAR 🥳

 

 

PS: We met Ross, the pianist, coming on board this morning as we left for our excursion; so that will help the musical offerings in the lounges 🙂

 

 

[mrlevin]

Great New Year’s Eve party in Horizon Lounge.  Sadly, this cruise is coming to an end, just five more days. 

[PaulaJK]

Fabulous photos, Flossie.

[ToxM]

I have been to that beach and it is breathtaking, and the drive down to it is amazing!

[flossie009]

Pulled back our curtains this morning to find we are docked in Philipsburg next to a huge block of flats, with very noisy residents.

 

On closer inspection we are next to the mega cruise ship MSC Seaside (over 5000 passengers)

 

The view in one direction is OK

 

………….. but looking the other way 😮

 

The loud music from the ship is now being drowned out by the noise of MSC loading container loads of goods onto this behemoth. 

The ship is also blocking out the sun from our balcony 🤨

 

Time to go and find a quieter spot on our gorgeous ship Mariner; hopefully where we can see the sun 😎

 

 

[flossie009]

………… and on the other side

 

Carnival Magic (just under 4500 passengers)

 

Also one or two other large cruise ships in Philipsburg today, so the attractive port area looks as though it has been over-run with ants.

 

Our first choice excursion (helmet diving) was cancelled so we intend to have a lazy day by the pool 😎

 

 

 

[mrlevin]

2 hours ago, flossie009 said:

Pulled back our curtains this morning to find we are docked in Philipsburg next to a huge block of flats, with very noisy residents.

 

On closer inspection we are next to the mega cruise ship MSC Seaside (over 5000 passengers)

 

The view in one direction is OK

 

………….. but looking the other way 😮

 

The loud music from the ship is now being drowned out by the noise of MSC loading container loads of goods onto this behemoth. 

The ship is also blocking out the sun from our balcony 🤨

 

Destinations has arranged tours to Seaside to ride their zip lines; quite a hit. Only issue is that the zip lines are pretty slow. 

[ToxM]

9 minutes ago, mrlevin said:

Destinations has arranged tours to Seaside to ride their zip lines; quite a hit. Only issue is that the zip lines are pretty slow. 

That is hilarious! 

 

I was on O Riviera last Christmas and spent an enjoyable afternoon floating around the pool watching people flail around on the zip line of one of the MSC ships. 

[mrlevin]

1 hour ago, mrlevin said:

Destinations has arranged tours to Seaside to ride their zip lines; quite a hit. Only issue is that the zip lines are pretty slow. 

Destinations staff member came up to me at pool bar and asked that I clarify my previous post to let people know I was only joking.  They are tired of explaining the lack of Seaside zip line tours. 

[mrlevin]

Jamie and Dana arrived today. 😊

 

Ella arrived today. 😊😊

 

Life is Great 😊 😊😊

[flossie009]

………….. 3 weeks too late for most of us 🤨

 

 

[Brownie54]

Wow! Jamie and Dana and Ella!

[lprp]

2 hours ago, flossie009 said:

………….. 3 weeks too late for most of us 🤨

Definitely - how sad they weren’t here for our Christmas cruise ☹️

[lprp]

22 hours ago, mrlevin said:

Ella arrived today. 😊😊

Ella has already made an impact……she sorted out some Library Books (aka Chair Hogs) who were enjoying an hour and a half in the shade on Deck 11 with no sight of their page turners………😁

[CJANDH]

23 hours ago, flossie009 said:

………….. 3 weeks too late for most of us 🤨

 

 

Agree. And what happened to Ross? He came on board and then disappeared. 

[mrlevin]

22 minutes ago, CJANDH said:

 

Edited January 4 by mrlevin

[flossie009]

23 hours ago, Brownie54 said:

Wow! Jamie and Dana and Ella!

…….. and Francisco (restaurant manager) 🙂

 

[2012_Alaska_bound]

22 hours ago, lprp said:

Ella has already made an impact……she sorted out some Library Books (aka Chair Hogs) who were enjoying an hour and a half in the shade on Deck 11 with no sight of their page turners………😁

 

Go Ella! Lucky World Cruisers!

[ysolde]

Thank you so much for this thread, @flossie009!  We have booked a Christmas cruise on Mariner in 2025, and this has given me a very specific idea of what to expect.

[mrlevin]

3 hours ago, ysolde said:

Thank you so much for this thread, @flossie009!  We have booked a Christmas cruise on Mariner in 2025, and this has given me a very specific idea of what to expect.

We are doing the opposite, although we love Mariner and will be on her for 83 nights this summer, we can’t take a chance on entertainment, Christmas activities, and new year’s activities being as dismal as they were this year so we are canceling our 20 night Christmas New Years cruise on Mariner December 2024. 

[CJANDH]

We are in Miami waiting to disembark. Now that is also a problem. The port authorities have decided that all luggage must be transferred to the terminal before any passengers can disembark and that the ship's crew cannot move the luggage to the terminal. Only port employees can do it. This seems to be a new rule that our CD did not know about. So far it has delayed the start of disembarkation by at least an hour. Folk with early flights are going to be getting nervous. I hate to think what this rule will mean if applied to a 5,000 pax ship!!!

[flossie009]

44 minutes ago, CJANDH said:

The port authorities have decided that all luggage must be transferred to the terminal before any passengers can disembark and that the ship's crew cannot move the luggage to the terminal. Only port employees can do it. This seems to be a new rule that our CD did not know about.

Nothing new. Port and Union rules I believe 🤨

We have never left a ship on time in Miami.

Not a worry for us as our flight back to the U.K. is not until tomorrow evening, but a real pain for those with early flights or with drivers waiting.

 

 

Thanks to those who followed & contributed to this sporadic blog. Will try to do a summary review of our cruise later today.

 

 

[flossie009]

Disembarkation should have commenced at 07:45, with everyone to be off the ship by 09:00

In the event the first groups were not called until 09:30. 
We were one of the first off, but by the time we found a porter and got through passport control (only two officers on duty) it was 10:00 before we were in the car taking us to our hotel.

We are now checked in and enjoying a glass of wine 🙂

[cruisevirgin24]

Thank you for sharing your Christmas cruise with us. I wish you a safe journey back to the UK.

May I ask how you booked a car from the terminal to your hotel? Did you use Uber when you disembarked, or pre-book using a car service?

Thank you.

[flossie009]

On 1/4/2024 at 12:11 PM, lprp said:

Ella has already made an impact……she sorted out some Library Books (aka Chair Hogs) who were enjoying an hour and a half in the shade on Deck 11 with no sight of their page turners………😁

Maybe the same as we saw on a number of days. This photo we snapped on Tuesday

 

 

No movement from 08:30 to 11:30 - presumably while the couple were ashore 🤨

Note the use of newspapers and library books to ensure no personal possessions are at risk !