Mariner of The Seas 12/16/07 - 12/23/07 Part 1

[sammyjo882]

I'm not sailing til June - and I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions soon - but I just wanted to say that your review was one of the most entertaining I have read yet! Love the side comments ..... ;)

 

Sherryl

[Ronrocks!]

I'm not sailing til June - and I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions soon - but I just wanted to say that your review was one of the most entertaining I have read yet! Love the side comments ..... ;)

 

Sherryl

 

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it! don't applaud just send money..

[LittleFillie]

Ron ~ Great Review! We took the Mariner for her Nov 25th Eastern Caribbean sailing, had an awesome time. Didn't try room svc though! Sorry to hear you were "under the weather" part of the time. You may have already rec'd these two emails addresses: rfain@rccl.com,agoldstein@rccl.com (one's the president of RCI, and the other CEO) ... I wrote with some recommedations, compliants and rec'd replies back within a couple of days. Good Luck should you decide to write. Susan :)

[GeckoGirl]

You will love the ship. She is beautiful. As far as Grand Cayman I've used Nativeway. It was a few years ago but they were great. You may also want to look at the Grand Cayman thread. Another excursion company would be Island Marketing. They are pretty big. Hope this helps!!

 

 

Thanks so much, I will definitely check them out especially since we hope to have a group of 12 going this cruise so we need a good company that can handle groups.

[loungelizard]

Hiya RL? Wow! LTNH. California eh? I guess you've made some major changes in your life...good for you. I've never done a left coast cruise so I can't help you there. Email me ( I don't think I have your email addy ) and we can catch up. Lots of people were asking "whatever happened to RL?" Hope all is well.

[sandiegonadal]

So glad to hear from you....would like to chat further....email....sandiegonadal@yahoo.com:) Give me a holler...

[petesweet]

Cabins

As I mentioned earlier it doesn’t take too much to impress us. This being my first cruise on RCCL and only my second cruise period Carnival Liberty I wasn’t sure what to expect. We were in 6316 which is a balcony room on the “hump”. The room had all the important things, a bed, a pooper, and a TV. The balcony was just a bonus. The beds were very comfortable and they had no buttons or anything for me to worry about. I am not the largest guy in the world. 6’ tall and about 235 pre cruise the bathrooms were a little cramped to say the least. The shower reminded me of a coffin with a sliding door . If you drop your soap in this shower you don’t have to worry about bending over to pick it up, you can’t. Trust me I tried. Other than that everything worked fine. The water was wet, and the towels dry. I don’t due this often but I am going to offer those of you who have never cruised before a word of advice. Ladies….if you have a man who’s favorite excursion is sitting on the toilet do yourself a favor. TAKE GLADE!!! Or as Staci did take several air fresheners. Trust me….the odor wont stop at the bathroom door. Thank god for the balcony!! The girls were in a Promenade room just down the hall. It was much like ours but different. It didn’t take long before it looked just like their rooms at home. Disaster area

The Ship

The ship was beautiful. Not loud and flashy like the Carnival Liberty. The crew keeps her looking beautiful. It is hard to believe that she is 4 years old. Not that 4 years is a long time but if you think of all the passengers that she has had it is amazing. I wish my house were kept up as well. And came with a room steward, cook, and traveled the Caribbean

The Food

The food was edible for the most part. I wasn’t expecting anything awesome. Staci I think was expecting more because her father had sailed with RCCL once and told her the food was awesome. her fathers favorite food is bread I will say the food in the dinning room was better than expected. I don’t understand how people can complain so much about the food in the dining room and Windjammer. To those people I say what do you expect? They cook meals for over 3,000 people. Do you really expect the eggs not to be powdered? duh? That being said they do offer plenty of fresh fruits to chose from. Not to mention Jade was a pretty good alternative. If you want a pretty decent steak try Chops. I loved it.

The down side to the food is I got food poisoning on the second night. I am not sure what I ate but I know it was from the Windjammer. Tasted like the nachos when it came back up.

Room Service

I would love to tell you something positive about room service but I am still waiting for my meal to arrive. We ordered room service 3 times and I am still waiting. However, I have been assured that it will be here any minute now….

The Islands

Our cruise was of the Western Caribbean which included Libadee, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. Libadee was nice and relaxing. Of course I was up all night with food poisoning so I had no choice but to relax. I was plopped down in a beach chair and that is wear I stayed. However, from what I could see through my eyelids was beautiful!! I have heard complaints about the some of the locals being pushy with setting up chairs and selling things. I can tell you that we didn’t have that problem. They did set up our chairs but they were not rude about it. The girls went shopping and said they had no problem with the vendors. The one thing that we did find funny was that some of the merchandise originally had Hawaii on it but the ‘waii” was crossed out and replaced with Haiti. Made in China

Jamaica. I was still sick this day. The only reason I went ashore is because I was concerned about the girls safety. I’ve read plenty on how unsafe Jamaica is. While I am not one to jump to conclusions or be over protective I can see where Jamaica can be very unsafe. However, I can also think of many places in the U.S that are just as unsafe. In Jamaica we booked Bob Marley’s house with Marva Shaw. While Marva was great I will never go up in the mountains of Jamaica again. This was the only safety concern I had with Jamaica. The roads are terrible up in the mountains. It’s amazing to see how the people live. On the other hand my girls also got to see how fortunate they are to live in such a nice place. As far as the Bob Marley House. I wouldn’t waste my time with it. It’s just one big tourist trap. You pay $45.00 to see where Bob sat on a rock and got stoned all the time. Not to mention all the people sitting around getting stoned. Don’t waist your time! The port area is very dirty for the most part. If I find myself back there on another cruise chances are I will stay on the boat. Should we decide to do something there I will use Marva Shaw again.

Grand Cayman Up all night sick. Stayed in bed all day while the girls went to shop. My favorite excursion on this day was the toilet. Long ride…not very pleasant.

Cozumel I felt much better today. The girls and I went into town shopping. As far as ports go Cozumel was my favorite. It was just a relaxing day. We strolled down the street spending my money. What’s not to enjoy? I only wish we had more time. We purchased some alcohol, and some rings for the girls. Staci, did a shot of something that cleared up her cold. So it was a good day.

My only real issues on this cruise other than room service was that of the sales agents. While on board we tried to put down a deposit towards our next cruise. We spoke with the agent who was very rude and simply told us that unless we knew what cruise we wanted it wouldn’t be worth his time to look. He told us that his computer was moving to slow and to look when we got home. When I explained to him we just wanted to put down a deposit for a future cruise in general we were told again to do it from home. I was told that we could still get the on board credit. On the last night of the cruise I checked with another agent who was there. She told me that he told me wrong. When I asked if she could help she said she was too far behind in her bookings to help me. This kind of took me by surprise. I thought they would be happy to help, but this was not the case. Up until that night was almost certain I wanted to try RCCL again despite the minor issue of room service and food poisoning. I went back to my room discouraged and disappointed, not how I wanted to end my cruise.

Conclusion

All in all I am glad I got the chance to share this experience with the people I love the most. I’ve been on CC for a little while now and I’ve read many reviews and researched many things. Sometimes I feel like people lose site of what’s important. For me the most important thing was seeing those people I love the most smile. Sure this cruise wasn’t a perfect experience for me personally, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. The people I was with made that week one of the high lights of my life. Not to mention meeting the people on our roll call. I feel like I’ve made some great friends on this trip. People I hope I will be able to keep in touch with. It’s amazing how many CC members take the time out of their day to share experiences and advice on a wide variety of topics. They unselfishly give this so others can make the most out of their cruising experience. I for one have enjoyed this site. For me CC is half of the cruising experience. For the past year I’ve looked forward to posting, and reading on our roll call. So to all of you who use this site and take the time to post, to the community managers and host, thank you for your time!!! Happy Cruising!!

 

I must commend OP. Both his review (great sense of humor) and his letter to RCCL were so balanced. Gave the good with the bad, and his complaint was legitimate. He didn't come on with the header, "I'LL NEVER CRUISE RC AGAIN:mad: . Thanks for reminding us all how to do it.:)

[sassystyxfan]

Thanks for your very informative and VERY entertaining review! My GF and I will be taking our first RCL cruise on the Mariner Jan 20th so we'll be sure to share our experiences with everyone here at CC.

 

Ronrocks: GREAT REVIEW - loved it! What a breath of fresh air around here!

 

Loungelizard: Me too - on the 20th - 15 days, 23 hours! Can't wait!

[jandjfun]

One thing I noticed is that, like me, this man LOVES ductape! A man after my own heart!:D

[Ronrocks!]

I must commend OP. Both his review (great sense of humor) and his letter to RCCL were so balanced. Gave the good with the bad, and his complaint was legitimate. He didn't come on with the header, "I'LL NEVER CRUISE RC AGAIN:mad: . Thanks for reminding us all how to do it.:)

 

 

awwwww:o made me blush..glad you enjoyed it.

[Ronrocks!]

One thing I noticed is that, like me, this man LOVES ductape! A man after my own heart!:D

AMEN!!!! I should own stock in the company that makes the stuff!!

[Ronrocks!]

We are booked with Marva Shaw for the Nine Mile excursion too and I guess it is too late to change, although I have read other positive reviews. In any event, thanks for sharing your thoughts and your in-depth review! We will be on this ship in 2 days!!! :D

 

 

You can't go wrong with Marva Shaw and her group. You will have a great time!:D

[Ronrocks!]

I must commend OP. Both his review (great sense of humor) and his letter to RCCL were so balanced. Gave the good with the bad, and his complaint was legitimate. He didn't come on with the header, "I'LL NEVER CRUISE RC AGAIN:mad: . Thanks for reminding us all how to do it.:)

 

Because if I came in with the header "I'LL NEVER CRUISE RC AGAIN" my GF would come in with the header "CRUISING RC WITHOUT BF WHOOHOO!!":eek:

[Shanafan]

As a firefighter I try not to put open flame on gas. I would hate to be the next person they found floating naked in the ocean.:o

LMAO!! What a great review!! How on earth did I miss this almost a month ago?? Thanks for the laughs.

[Ronrocks!]

LMAO!! What a great review!! How on earth did I miss this almost a month ago?? Thanks for the laughs.

 

Thank you Thank you!! Please...hold the aplause....just throw money!

[SmileMom]

Excellent review, it reminded me of when Chevy Chase used to do Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live.

Exactly what I was thinking! Too funny!

 

Great review! Like you said, it's the smiles that count. :)

[Ronrocks!]

Exactly what I was thinking! Too funny!

 

Great review! Like you said, it's the smiles that count. :)

 

 

Chevy Chase?? offed by a gofer and they name a credit card after him

they should name the bathroom in 6316 after me

[Ronrocks!]

I laughed...I cried...I lost 15lbs. :p