Mariner of the Seas, 03/12-03/19/06, Short Comments

[Sophiesmom2]

Just returned from our 1st cruise on RCL...over 3100 passengers, over 900 "kids"...but hey, it was spring break. Loved the cruise, loved the ports, did NOT like Chops or Johnny Rockets, couldn't find a chair on the decks on sea days :( but still had a wonderful time....enjoyed it so much DH & I booked our next one on board, Brillance of the Seas, Panama Canal, April 6, 2007.

 

On that note, can anyone tell me about the cabins on Deck 7?? It's category E1 but the cruise consultant said the balconies are bigger and we'd enjoy the room and balcony more than a D1 or D2???

 

Thanks for your help..I appreciate it!

 

 

P.S: Labadee was, by far, the BEST "private island" we have ever gone to...stayed all day, took the last tender back even though we had originally decided to "go over, ride the waverunners, eat & return to the ship to enjoy the pool all by ourselves"...Ya, right! :)

Labadooozzzzeeeesssss..they were wonderful! Everything was!

 

If you have any questions, please ask!

 

******************

Sophie's Mom

[katiel53]

Sophiesmom,

Why didn't you like Chops??????? I have only heard great reviews. How about JR? The shows? The food onboard? I know you made your review brief, but what else can you tell us? Thanks for your info.

[OliverTheCat]

 

P.S: Labadee was, by far, the BEST "private island" we have ever gone to...stayed all day, took the last tender back even though we had originally decided to "go over, ride the waverunners, eat & return to the ship to enjoy the pool all by ourselves"...Ya, right! :)

Labadooozzzzeeeesssss..they were wonderful! Everything was!

 

 

Wow! You have to try Disney's Castaway Cay sometime. Blows Labadee away!

[Sophiesmom2]

:)

Sophiesmom,

Why didn't you like Chops??????? I have only heard great reviews. How about JR? The shows? The food onboard? I know you made your review brief, but what else can you tell us? Thanks for your info.

 

I guess I'm a little spoiled because my DH is a cattle rancher and cooks the best steak I've ever tasted. I found the steaks in Chops ho-hum, to be kind. The service was terrific, the atmosphere nice. The head waiter asked us how we liked it (the next night in the DR) and when we explained the above to him, he apologized. He explained that the steaks were frozen when they arrive at the ship and "sometimes" the taste doen't "come through". We stressed to him that that was just our opinion and should NOT be a reflection on the place. But, I guess he wanted to make it up to us because the next night we had chocolate-covered strawberries delivered to our room, courtesy of the Chops manager.:) What a total surprise that was!! Johnny Rockets was ok, the burgers are the same you can get at the Windjammer, which had great food the couple of times we ate there. (Kind of avoided it due the large number of passengers on board.) The buffet at embarkation was great!!! We had room service every AM in our stateroom for breakfast, which was great. Also, the pastries at the "restaurant" in the Promenade were wonderful.

Shows were ok, nothing spectacular. However, the Cruise Director is very good, funny, personable. The Ice show was terrific, even though I had a group of passengers next to me who would not shut up thru the entire show!! :( DH even loved it "and I don't normally like that kind of stuff".

And everyone on this board knows how great Captain Johnny is so I won't even go there...:)

The ports were great. Highly recommend Island Marketing in Jamaica for the Dunns River & Water rafting. It was a lot of fun, have a video from the Falls which clearly shows how uncoordinated I am. But yes, I climbed it to the top!!!! And then had a Red Stripe to celebrate! Grand Cayman was ok, felt sorry for the passengers on Carnival..their "tender" line was 3 blocks long!!! We just walked up to ours & got right on board. That is one thing I will say about RCI..they do not scrimp on the tenders...large boats capable of handling hundreds of passengers at a time. Never had to wait too long for any of them. Cozumel has changed a lot since the hurricanes but still a nice place to visit. A lot of bargaining, able to buy some nice jewelry and souveniers....

I purposely kept this short because all the reviews tend to say the same things about the ship, ports, restaurants. I am a firm believer that you make the cruise what you want...and we had a blast! Can't wait to go again!!

Any other ????, just ask!! Thanks!

Sophie's Mom (Maggie & Cody's too!) :)

[rose102798]

. . . or from your experience. . . is there any way for my 3 y.o. son to participate in the Dunns River Falls excursion?

[lojill]

We are going on March 31st 2007 and taking our kids on Enchantment because that is when their spring break starts. I guess some area spring breaks are far apart, we are from Columbus ,ohio. I hope there are not 900 teenagers when we go.

[Carl Lafong]

I'm in total agreement about Chop's. Great service, beautiful room but the food was not good in any way. Especially the side dishes. The Layonnaise potatoes had no flavor, and the sauteed corn was gummy to the point that the starch adhered to my teeth!. Wifes steak was ordered medium rare and showed up medium well. I ordered the lamb and it was mediocre at best.

OK, I'll admit though that I work for a steakhouse group whose standards are quite high and everything must be perfect.... but it really could have been better.

Now Portofino's .... WOW .... If not for the surcharge I'd eat there every night!

[Adventure Girl]

Comment to rose102798: Regarding Dunn's River Falls and your 3 year old...from my personal experience, I don't think your 3 year old would be able to climb the falls...(I can't remember if there was an age limit for climbing...my youngest was 8 when he climbed), but there is a staircase that goes along side of the falls. The stairs lead down to the beach and you can all go down to the ocean/beach and swim or hang out at the bottom of the falls. Your 3 year old could walk up to the bottom and feel the water rushing down...and then you could walk back up the staircase stopping along the way at the various "look out" points to see people climbing the falls. So it would be best if you had one person who did not want to climb the falls...and could walk up with the 3 year old...watching the others in your family/group climbing the falls.

[rose102798]

Comment to rose102798: Regarding Dunn's River Falls and your 3 year old...from my personal experience, I don't think your 3 year old would be able to climb the falls...(I can't remember if there was an age limit for climbing...my youngest was 8 when he climbed), but there is a staircase that goes along side of the falls. The stairs lead down to the beach and you can all go down to the ocean/beach and swim or hang out at the bottom of the falls. Your 3 year old could walk up to the bottom and feel the water rushing down...and then you could walk back up the staircase stopping along the way at the various "look out" points to see people climbing the falls. So it would be best if you had one person who did not want to climb the falls...and could walk up with the 3 year old...watching the others in your family/group climbing the falls.

 

Wow! Thank you so much for this description. I was hoping there was a way we could all participate and experience the falls. We will most likely all climb the stairs.

 

Thanks again, Rose

[Sophiesmom2]

. . . or from your experience. . . is there any way for my 3 y.o. son to participate in the Dunns River Falls excursion?

 

There was another family with us on the tour & they had three boys. The youngest was 6 and he had some trouble climbing but did get all the way to the top with his mom & dad's help. I would NOT recommend a 3 year old climb though..the water rushes by & sometimes I felt like I was going to lose my balance. Parts of the climb are tricky & I think he'd probably get a little scared. Stay on the path at the side of the falls and you can still feel the water rush by...the water is COLD, BTW.

 

The tubing was a lot of fun...safe for kids and the tour operators are in the water with you to make sure you don't get stuck or tip over. The water is about 3 feet deep and clear. I highly recommend the tour group we used...

[Sophiesmom2]

We are going on March 31st 2007 and taking our kids on Enchantment because that is when their spring break starts. I guess some area spring breaks are far apart, we are from Columbus ,ohio. I hope there are not 900 teenagers when we go.

 

Spring break lasts until April so there may be as many kids on board. The only problems we encountered were a) room service menus taken off the doors at night and b) no chairs on the decks. We ordered room service from our TV starting on the 2nd day and everything was fine. Never did get a chair tho & then, to top it off, RCI "blocks" the use of the chairs at the back of the boat by the Adventure Club (??) for 12-17 year olds only. There are about 50 chairs there that sat empty most days! My problem with this is that the Solarium and hot tubs were for adults only but this wasn't enforced. If a child had a parent at either then he/she was allowed to go there too. And of course the "chair hogs" were out in full force. The comedian even made a joke about all the books, magazines, etc. getting tans while the chairs sat empty...

 

The Mariner is so large that we never felt crowded though.

[SherriZ366]

Which ship are you asking about? If it is a Radiance Class ship, some E1's on the hump have bigger balconies than others. Study the diagram well. We have 8602 on the Serenade which has a bigger balconies. Confirmed by my agent and the loyalty ambassador. It looks bigger in the diagram also.

[katiel53]

Thanks for the info on Chops and JR etc. I am looking forward to the Mariner and like to read all the reviews and info.