Mariner Western 1-13-08

[Arizona Laura]

This was my first RCCL cruise and after reading so many reviews about the Mariner I had high expectations. She is a beautiful ship. The staff were great. I cannot wait to cruise on her Oct 26 08 and Feb 22 09.

We flew from Phoenix to Orlando Jan 12. Art's Shuttle met us in baggage claim and drove us to Country Inn & Suites in Port Canaveral, stopping on the way for water, pop, and beer. I carried pop and water in a bag right onto the ship. I don't think the beer lasted till morning.

Our rooms were $99.00 a night and included a continental breakfast (nothing fancy) and shuttle to the airport. The rooms were nice with the expected ammenities. The hotel shuttle took us to Fishlips for dinner on the pier and returned to pick us up several hrs later. Nothing is better than to sit, have a nice meal and drink, relaxing the eve before the cruise after flying all day. We had fish and chips which were excellent. Had to change rooms due to plumbing problem but because we never unpacked was effortless.

We requested to be picked up by the shuttle at 1030 am, were at the pier at 1045, processed, and at 1130 were allowed on the ship. There was a thunderstorm while waiting on deck 11. Someone told us there had been tornado warnings in Orlando. Did meet some of the M & M group at the hotel and on deck 11. I missed M&M on Monday due to not feeling well in the morning and had to start my antibx and steroids. I felt bad.

At 1 pm were allowed to proceed to cabin 8600 E1. I told myself I would savor every minute of the cruise but it still passed by too quickly. Want to acknowledge Husen our Stewart. Was not really too talkative but very warm and helpful. I hope he did not charge us for the candy bars that previous occupants of our cabin had opened and did not eat.

ENTERTAINMENT: Our favorite Beatle tribute band Beatlemania Live performed 2 shows on Monday and I got to see them for the 14 and 15th time. Since most of our group had seen them in Az we all felt it was frosting on the cake for our cruise.

The Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers were good. We were not pleased overall with the show production themselves, but there definately was some talent amongst the group. Jeff Taveggia the juggler was fantastic. Delisco the vocalist was also good. Graham Seymour our CD did a late night Adult Comedy Act which was pretty good. He was selling his CD outside the theatre. He did sing one eve and does have a pretty good voice. Everyone in our group thought he was a good CD, and he let us know he will be changing ships before landing up on the Independence. The Love and Marriage Game Show was cute. Quest was predictable after reading about it on CC. The disappointing aspect is that some teams anticipated what the requested items were and it was a definate advantage for them. The 70s Dance Party on the Promenade deck was fun. Graham did a great job with that. The Enchanted Night Parade seemed out of place to us. The Ice Show was awesome. Some of the guys waited in line for the tickets early Tues morning. We went to the 5pm show on Thurs. Lasted 45 mins then off to formal dining.

There was always something to do on the ship. We never were bored.

FOOD: Not one complaint from us. We had lunch on the Windjammer waiting to get into our rooms and I did seek out the Honey Stung chicken I had read about on CC. I thought they had decent food for a buffet. We ate at the dining room all but one night. They had the daily dinner choices and then a list of alternatives that were available every night. Lobster on Friday. Formal nights Mon and Thurs. Great service. The guys had vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup every night for dessert. Our waiter and asst Matey and DelRoy were great. DelRoy had been on the ship for 6 months and 2 wks and was leaving to go home after our cruise. We were all so happy for him for he was homesick. We ate breakfast and lunches in the dining room, Windjammer and several times on the Promenade deck. Everyone could not get enough of the chocolate with white chocolate cookies that were in the Windjammer and Deli area. Went to Chops one night. Had filet which was very good. They brought us 2 of every side dish available. Chops was not crowded at all that night.

The drinks were great. I saw someone drinking a drink in a sloozie glass with the RCCL emblem. It was a wildberry lava (Pina Colada) mixture. Was excellent and now I have a set of 6 glasses. Others in our group collected some as well. Not cheap. With glass and tip around $10.00. We bought one soda card on Sunday. Lemonade and Tea readily available on ship. One change I would like to see is that the passengers could have access to ice anytime day and night.

Capt Per allowed free drinks on Sat for sev hrs due to slowness in tendering earlier in the week. They served Bloody Marys and Screwdrivers.

PORTS: Labadee was enjoyable. Watched some in our group do the zip line. They really enjoyed it and felt even though the price is now around $80.00 it was worth it. The BBQ lunch was fairly good, like what you would expect at a picnic. Hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, fruit, cookies. Ocho Rios was a challenge. When getting off the ship the taxi drivers hung all over us making it difficult to get out to go to the shops. Some did Dunn River Falls. We went to Margaritaville, walked some, and went back to the ship early. Grand Cayman..we hired a tour guide. Was 20.00 pp for 90 mins but decided to go with it. I was surprised that you could only rarely see the beach from the roads due to all the hotels and buildings. Cozumel was great jewelry shopping. Got a tanzanite ring from Tanzanite International (same company as Diamond International). Went back to the ship early. Some in the group went to the ruins and were told in the spring it can get up to 120 degrees there.

Capt Per said Capt Johnny will be doing the relocation cruise of the Mariner and the LA inaugural Feb 22 09 cruise as well. He said he will be on the inaugural cruise out of LA as a guest. Did say Capt Johnny will be on the Genesis when completed. I thought he said Genesis 2.

We had a nice thunderstorm heading back to PC Sat night. I have to say with how strong the winds were at times even requiring some areas closed off on deck 11, the ship did not rock as bad as I anticipated.

I was wondering about having 3 planned Mariner cruises in 13 months. After seeing her I am looking forward to them.

I have to admit I loved looking out over the balcony. Our rooms were in a row so we could stand out on the balcony and talk to others in the group. I was surprised how easy it is to look into the next cabin from the balcony.

Disembarkment: Sat around till 9:15 on the Promenade deck waiting for our color to be called and someone came up to us and said we could leave then because all the luggage was almost out. Sure enough it was.

Waited till 5pm to take a non-stop flight home to Az. A long tiring day.

I can see why people like to do B2Bs. It is disappointing heading back to reality.

Capt Per was very nice. Listened to him during Captian's Corner. He told some interesting stories.

The Mariner was great. No complaints here about her.

I will be anxiously waiting for Oct to arrive.

One note here..we were told by one of the staff that the following cruise on Jan 20th was far from being completely booked. A fluke or is it a trend?

I quickly put this together so hope you can make sense of it.

Laura

[Buccaneergirl]

Thanks for the great review and I wish I was there! Mariner is a favorite for us and we will be sailing her again(11/08) before she leaves PC. I really can't wait to sail her out of LA (hopefully in '09)!

[max227]

Nice review, thank you. How was walking around Ocho Rios, and how far from pier is Margariettaville? We want to do the same thing.

[mattwright]

One note here..we were told by one of the staff that the following cruise on Jan 20th was far from being completely booked. A fluke or is it a trend?

Laura

 

I wouldn't mind if this was the case for the January 27th sailing, too. More ship for me! :cool:

[Arizona Laura]

Nice review, thank you. How was walking around Ocho Rios, and how far from pier is Margariettaville? We want to do the same thing.

 

When you first get off the ship the taxi drivers agressively approach you. I must say that I realize this is their means of income. There are such nice looking vans just sitting there. Somehow they have to pay for them. We were hesitant to go out in OR because of readings here. To the right of exiting the ship there are a few shops. Then you head down the street (one block)and there are alot of shops right with Margaritaville. Felt safe in this area due to number of tourists.

Enjoy yourself....Laura

[dmndlil]

Great review Laura. I just can't wait for our Feb 24th 07 sailing!!

 

A couple questions, if you don't mind...

 

Did they have horse racing?

Were there any late night buffets? Rumor is they have been discontinued.

 

thanks in advance.

[Arizona Laura]

Great review Laura. I just can't wait for our Feb 24th 07 sailing!!

 

A couple questions, if you don't mind...

 

Did they have horse racing?

Were there any late night buffets? Rumor is they have been discontinued.

 

thanks in advance.

 

Don't know about horse racing.

There was Poolside Buffet Jan 16 1130 pm- 1230 am.

Enjoy your cruise.

Laura

[max227]

dmndlil,

We have a decent M&M board for this cruise if your interested.

[Dinopoulos]

I was on this cruise ^^

 

First time cruiser too, and my head is still there. I have been going over the pix and videos I shot every night this week since we returned.

I even miss the elevator telling me "Deck 6, going up"

The Mariner, simply put, blew me away. There was not one second where I felt uncomfortable or bored, even though I took part in very few of the ships excellent planned activities.

Anyone on the 1-13 / 1-20 cruise may remember seeing me, I almost always wore a yellow bandana, and upon retrospect a foolish fashion choice for the climate, black t-shirts.

 

Cruise Director Graham cracked me up every morning with his show on RCTV

while my wife got herself ready so we could hit the 'Jammer for breakfast.

Caught his stand - up show at The Savoy and found him to be an excellent comic as well. I'm going to make sure our next Royal Caribbean cruise has Graham as CD, I just can't see the memories of last weeks amazing experience being the same without him.

 

Just about everyone I chatted with at Royal Caribbean was genuinely happy to speak to me, and even happier to help with anything I needed.

Our Stateroom Attendant Lydia was so polite and did such an excellent job that I would feel guilty for leaving anything for her to clean, so I straightened up the room before she made it up daily :)

Trevor our Head Waiter was the definition of old school butler style Headwaiter. I have never been served like that in my life, for I never have truly fine dined or cared to, but my wife and I went just so we could talk to him most nights, and enjoy how well he did his job.

 

I could go on for hours about that cruise, and probably will for quite sometime on my blog ^.~

We are definitely sailing with Royal Caribbean again, much sooner than later I hope.

[Arizona Laura]

I watched Graham's show every morning as well. He really cracked me up during 70s night on the Promenade. How about the Village People?

It sounded like he is going to land up on the Independence if I understood him correctly.

I am in total awe of the ship. I know what you mean about the elevators. How about the day of the week on the floor in the elevators? In the beginning of the week I did not mind but at the end of the week it depressed me.

Glad you had a nice cruise as well.

Laura

[beachgal58]

thanks for the review...looking forward to sailing her in may..do they have the new menus? can anyone post them? is there a beach right where the ship is along by the shops? we would like to avoid the locals if possible without staying onboard..seems like i read there was a beacha nd shopping area very close..what am i thinking of? there is a margaritaville and more shops all together all inside the fenced area...help please..cindy

[Single Cruiser]

And what did you think of your sailaway from Cozumel and that Lovely ship opposite? :D

 

[kittymom65]

Thanks for the review, we will be going in just 2 weeks!:D

Did Graham say when he would be leaving the ship?

[kittymom65]

Thanks for the review, we will be going in just 2 weeks!:D

Did Graham say when he would be leaving the ship?

[kittymom65]

Thanks for the review, we will be going in just 2 weeks!:D

Did Graham say when he would be leaving the ship?

[Dinopoulos]

Great shot Craig ^^ thanks for posting it because I totally neglected to snap a pic and kind of regretted not doing so.

[Single Cruiser]

Great shot Craig ^^ thanks for posting it because I totally neglected to snap a pic and kind of regretted not doing so.

In that case I'll give you this one..:)

 

[Arizona Laura]

Sorry have not been back sooner. Have been sick since getting back.

Never knew of the Ocean Village before seeing it docked next to us. Smaller ship but festive looking.

Sorry do not have the menus. I had caesar salad every night as appetizer. With the alternative menu there is always something to order. One night I ordered the chicken with herbs from the alternative menu and felt it was very good.

I know everyones taste vary but I was happy with the dining room choices.

Graham did not say when he was leaving.

Thanks for the pic of the Mariner. She is beautiful.

Cindy..As far as the beaches in Labadee plenty of beach time. We did not go to the beaches in any of the other ports. Go to the individual port threads and I am sure you can more detailed info. Sorry.

Again the Mariner was great and I am sure you will not be dissappointed. I e-mailed Mr Goldstein and adv him of the great cruise and praised some staff and got a personal reply. I admire that he takes the time and does that.

Thanks all.

Laura

[Dinopoulos]

In that case I'll give you this one..:)

 

 

I get goosebumps just looking at her. ;)

[keasc]

What was the cost for the shuttle from the airport to the port?

[Dinopoulos]

What was the cost for the shuttle from the airport to the port?

 

We paid $25.00 per person both ways using Art's shuttle service.

My Stepdad had it all set up online ahead of time, and they were pretty punctual and made the normally 45 minute drive from Orlando to Port Canaveral in about 35 minutes.