Mariner of the Seas Feb 22 2009 from LA

[pscruzinboyz]

My Partner and I are going on the Inagural from LA, Any other FOD's with us? This will be our Diamond Plus Cruise with RCCL. Can't Wait! All I read is how great this ship is, Any body been on this ship before?:p

[NoNoSco]

Hey guys - two of us here from Scottsdale, Arizona; partnered 10 years, both 40yrs old, this is our 3rd cruise but first on RCCL. Will be on Mariner on Feb 22, 2009 :) Be great to catch-up for a drink, dinner - whatever you have time for. Appreciate any feedback (wisdom ;-) you'd care to share re: RCCL. I take it from your profile (number of cruises) you def like all things RCCL. Hit us up when able. cya guys!

[Ahhh]

Appreciate any feedback (wisdom ;-) you'd care to share re: RCCL.

Hi guys (pscruzinboyz, NoNoSco)

I'll be on this sailing with a (virgin cruiser) friend and we are both looking forward to it. This ship is such a wonderful addition to sailing out of LA. Our first LARGE, West Coast Ship! I like RCI. I think their product is consistent. I've been on Mariner and liked it, though Radiance is my favorite RCI class. There is plenty to do on board. I've found the food on RCI to be consistently good and their desserts to be very good. The gyms and spas are well thought out.

I was a bit taken aback the first time I boarded a Navigator class ship (as there were so many people!) but the crowd disperses once on board so not to worry. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask. I work full time and have found the time to cruise when I can. Working on becoming Diamond+ ;). Look forward to meeting you all. David

[pscruzinboyz]

Hey guys, We are Mike and Bill, Bill turned 50 in May and I am turning 50 5 days before the Cruise, Hence one of the reasons we are going. You will love this ship. We have been on 2 of the Sister ships in the Caribbean and there is way to much to do. This will be our 3rd trip to the Riviera. We are from HB, CA but have a weekend house in Palm Springs. We are out here on and off for the next 2 weeks. We both work in OC. Looking foreward to more corrispondance. We are hoping to meet a lot of FOD's before we go and then we can get the CD to set up a Cocktail Social. We also meet many guys on these cruises so you will have a ton of fun.

Keep in touch, you know these 2 months will go by very quickly.

[pscruzinboyz]

Hey AZ guys and David, BTW, which Cabins are you in. We are on Deck 8 and we will have 8664. Also, have you checked prices lately. We started at $1150.00 early this year and finnally paid about $750.00 pp and traded up to a better Balcony room in the process.

[NoNoSco]

Hi Guys - We opted for a Promenade room this go-round since we've done this cruise before (on NCL Star - balcony, I dont recall the deck) and we thought the Promenade rooms were something different on RCCL (and past cruisers seem to love them). We'll wait to render a final verdict as we've [always] opted for balcony rooms in the past. We are on Deck 6 somewhere dead center of the Promenade - and my better half is a total voyeur so I'm sure you'll see him perched on the seat in the bay window spying on the crowds below :-) I have the exact stateroom info, its fully booked, just not with me at present. We've booked a few excursions, too - kyaking, snorkeling, zip line - the more adventuresome the better for us. I'd make a joke here about water sports but I should probably know ya better first :-p Anyways, we arrive a day early - Crowne Plaza San Pedro has a great Park N Sail package. Part of the attraction (to us) of this cruise was NOT having to fly anywhere first - LA is a few hours drive for us. Throw-in RCCL (new to us), a Promenade stateroom, and assuming the zipline doesn't decapitate either of us - i have no doubt a good time is in store. Our only concern (and it really isn't one, so to speak) is getting stuck at a less-than-fun dinner table - we've never HAD to dine with strangers on past cruises. RCCL's dining set-up/seating is of some general concern - any feedback you have in this regard is also much appreciated. Let's keep the communication going and hopefully a few more people will find their way to this forum pre-sail; it's going to be a great, great trip :-)

Best regards, Chris n Philip, Scottsdale, Arizona

[pscruzinboyz]

Nice to see names, Chris and Phillip. You actually sound like our kind of People. Even though we are 50 we are far from it. Not Gym Bunnies, but in good shape. I am not sure which one is the " Voyeur " but he sounds like me ( Mike ). Bill is the conservative one in our family. We will be going on 28 years in May 09. So needless to say we been there done that...........been in So Cal all of my life, Bill is from Jersey, Moved out to OC in 1980 and that is where our fun began. We have slowed down a bit since we were in our 20-40's but not too much. When we are on the ship you will usually find us at Trivia and the bars. My favorite thing to do in Cabo is to get a Wave Runner on the beach and have fun in the bay, Nothing better. Matzalan we have no plans and PV, if we don't do a tour then we go to Blue Chairs ( Gay Beach) and hang out there for part of the day and then we walk around and sightsee. I really do not need to buy anymore White T-shirts. Dinner....We are second seating, if we can get enough of " OUR KIND " we can probably inquire about getting a Large table together.

If you guys are rolling through PS on Saturday, we will exchange #'s and maybe you can stop by. We need to take care of the yard on Saturday, the 21st, we will go back to HB on Saturday Night and then to the Pier by 11:00 am Sunday.

BTW, where are you Zip Lining from? I wanted to do last year in Honduras but they had an Accident ( fatality ) a few weeks before so it was closed but I might be interested.

Like you said, lets keep this going to see if more of " Our People's" are out there and on our Cruise. Not sure if you realize this or not, but this is the Inagural Cruise for the Mariner ( For LA ) so I have been told lots of Good things are planned. Should be A great time and hopefully lead to more new friendships.

 

Cheers

 

Mike and Bill

[bs83703]

Myself and a friend are joining you on the Mariner February 22 sailing..........great prices for senior single occupancy

[NoNoSco]

Hi All -

 

Great to see a few more have posted-up; we are in for a nice time aboard Mariner! As the holiday is approaching - Christmas right through the New Year - I (we) won't be near the computer much; if you don't hear back from us don't fret - its just that we're off doin' the holiday stuff and we'll be back in-touch shortly after the New Year :)

 

Mike and Bill - yes, maybe we can facilitate some type of dining arrangement (even if just for a night or two or three). Whatever works for you guys. We are extremely laid back and very, very flexible (Philip would say I'm down right bendy ;) To answer your question re: ZipLine - we are doing that in PV; opted for RCCL excursion PV-50 (ZipLine, some donkey thing or another (does that sound perverse or what?), boat ride, rock repeling, river plunge, etc etc. It's a weird combo of activities but the ZipLine is what appealed to us; missed it on all previous cruises. Also, we are familiar with Blue Chairs - never been - but hear it is great fun :) Friends on Star went last time; we opted for some booze cruise to Las Caletas (spelling?). Cabo is our kyak and snorkel port; we've done this same excursion on NCL and LOVED IT. Fairly intense - several miles of kyak paddling to Los Arcos, some beach time there, snorkel around the reefs/rocks, drink :-), then paddle home. Its both exhausting and exhilerating. We had a great time on this particular excursion via NCL; appears to be the same tour operator for RCCL so we booked it again. We have no plans for Matzalan - intentionally left that port open to wonder the streets, relax, eat/drink, etc., as both Cabo and PV are fairly intense days for us. One last note - we are both from the East coast; moved to Scottsdale from Philly/NYC/CT one month prior to 9/11. I'm (Chris) is a former Wall Street'r (investment banking) and Philip manages IT for our Int'l airport (although I'm pretty sure he just looks at porn on the computer all day). We'll be passing through PSprings 2-21 for sure; not sure of our schedule yet as we have a few stops to make en route to San Pedro. Here again, let's keep the lines of communication open (and figure some way to exchange cell/email info., privately) and we'll collectively figure-out something as our sail date approaches. If we can't meet on route - then we'll definitely make plans to say hello (to everyone posting-up) that first afternoon/evening on the ship. And to your last point - yes, I was aware (but thanks for reminding me) this being Mariner's maiden Mexico voyage from LA. We waited - and waited - for RCCL to bring one its newer ships to LA for this itinerary and jumped on it when I read it was Mariner. I believe it was Vision (?) previously running this route for RCCL - we trailed that ship all through Mexico last go-round (while we were on Star). Loved Star - but was envious of those RCCL cruisers having so much more fun :-)

 

Looking forward to meeting you guys, David and his friend, as well as the newest posters from Idaho - hopefully, a few more will find their way here pre-sail.

 

Happy Holidays to everyone and we'll look to catch-up further after the New Year.

 

Chris & Philip, Scottsdale, Arizona

[pscruzinboyz]

OK Chris and Philip,

 

Have a great Holiday Season, Be Merry and not a Mary, We'll catch up after the holidays. I will be on and off over the next 2 weeks saying hi to all new comers.

Hi Guys from Idaho, I guess you have first names if you care to share. As you can see from a couple of the responces we are all getting excited about this adventure. Hope evryone has a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS. Chime in when you have a chance.

 

Mike and Bill

[bs83703]

It will be nice to meet everyone........Myself (Bob) live in Boise and have a place in Palm Springs also. I am traveling with a friend, (Albert) who splits his time between Oklahoma City and Boise. Currently we are on early seating, wish the ship would have converted to "My Time" dining, but that isn't scheduled until March. What dinner seating is everyone on?

 

Have a great Chirstmas

[pscruzinboyz]

Hey Guys,

 

Just wanted to wish all of you A Very Happy New Year! Our New Year was low key this year. I had to work all day Wednesday and we are out in the desert for the next 4 days. Back to reality next week, Oh Well. :(

Hope you all had a great Holiday and will be looking foreward to hearing from all over the next 2 months. Looks like my countdown clock is at 51 days. Give a shout when you get a chance.

Just an FYI, We signed up for the Meet and Mingle which is usually held in the morning hour on the first day. Looks like alot of nice people on Board and Many from AZ. If you guys want to join, Go over to the M+M roll call and follow the thread. So far there are somewhere around 70 people so far.

Hope to hear from everyone!

 

Mike and Bill

[NoNoSco]

Hi All - Happy New Year :) Thanks for the Meet and Mingle tip; I will dig into that thread shortly. It appears to be several HUNDRED pages long?! Hopefully, a few more people will find their way to this forum and thread, pre-cruise. We've worked hard to encourage a friend or two from Scottsdale to join us on this trip; alas, to no avail (so far). Looking forward to meeting everyone!

 

Chris & Philip

[pscruzinboyz]

Hey Guys, welcome back to CC. Sounds all is well. Bill and I have been working on the house out here. Building an Outdoor Kitchen. Should be done by the end of the month. We are cheap so we are doing all of the work ourselves. I am a football fan ( Chargers ) so tonight was a fun night, :) A great game and cocktails, they go hand in hand. Still hoping to get more people to hear from. Looks like if we continue the chat then our thread goes to the top of the heap. Back to the Grind on Monday. :( Looks like we have 48 days before Vaca. Have a great rest of the weekend.

 

Mike and Bill

[pscruzinboyz]

46 days to go, Anybody out there that will be going with us. Let us know!:)

[bs83703]

anyone going to spend time in LA or LB before the cruise......I am thinking of spending a day or two before the cruise in LA or Palm Springs

[pscruzinboyz]

Hey Bob and Albert, great to hear from you, Hope the holidays were fun for all. Bill and I are here listening to Booby Sherman on the oldies station and drinking our 2 dollar bottle of Chuck from Trader Joes. Bill and I are going to be in the desert friday and saturday before the cruise and driving back to Huntington Beach on Saturday Night. We lived in Long Beach for 15 years and miss it so much. There are great restaurants and bars in LB. As you know, we are now in season for PS so either place would be great. If you choose the desert, We should try to meet for a cocktail. Arenas or along the strip would be fun. Have you been to Azul's on Palm Canyon, it is always fun. Let us know, we are getting closer and are very excited.

Weather is going to be in the 70's for the next several days. Have a Great weekend!

 

Mike and Bill

[Rusty311]

Hello

 

I am Larry from Pomona. Love cruising, and know SF David from prior cruises. It is a small world.

 

I am Diamond Plus on RCI - Mike and Bill, you are doing great to reach D+ in just four years. I did many Monarch cruises that helped me get there. THis is my first cruise on this size RCI ship.

 

Past cruises include Solstice last month, my frist Princess LA to VAN last May, and QV New York to LA a year ago.

 

My mother will be traveling with me. We are on first seating. I am giving her the cruise as a present - so I did not have to go to Missiouri for the holidays. This will be a quiet cruise for me, as it is all about spending time with my mother. She is 84, and in great shape. Grateful to have her.

 

Just reguistered for the Meet & Greet. Hope to see you all there. With the size of the ship, not sure how easy it will be to just run into people on the ship.

 

Larry

[NoNoSco]

Hey All -

 

Updated our profile with RCCL to request early dining; and Mike and Bill, we are canceling our Zipline tour in PV. Heard horror stories about the condition of the facility and other parts of that tour; looks like we'll be heading to Blue Chairs that day.

 

Hope everyone is well. Hope we find some way to meet-up aboard ship!

 

40 days to go - give or take. WOOHOO! :)

 

Chris & Philip, Scottsdale, Arizona

[pscruzinboyz]

Hello

 

I am Larry from Pomona. Love cruising, and know SF David from prior cruises. It is a small world.

 

I am Diamond Plus on RCI - Mike and Bill, you are doing great to reach D+ in just four years. I did many Monarch cruises that helped me get there. THis is my first cruise on this size RCI ship.

 

Past cruises include Solstice last month, my frist Princess LA to VAN last May, and QV New York to LA a year ago.

 

My mother will be traveling with me. We are on first seating. I am giving her the cruise as a present - so I did not have to go to Missiouri for the holidays. This will be a quiet cruise for me, as it is all about spending time with my mother. She is 84, and in great shape. Grateful to have her.

 

Just reguistered for the Meet & Greet. Hope to see you all there. With the size of the ship, not sure how easy it will be to just run into people on the ship.

 

Larry

 

Hi Larry, Nice to see another Family member on Board. You should Have FUN with Mom. I lost my Mom last year, She was 82, so what ever you can do to spend time with Mom is Terrific. We are from Huntington Beach and work in the OC and have a weekend home out in Palm Springs. Looking forward to the Mariner. We did the Voyager last April and that was our first Concierge Club and used it everyday. Keep posting and we will talk to you later. We will all get together and have a drink once we are on Board. I will have Bill Buy! :)

 

Mike and Bill

[Rusty311]

Mike & Bill - Diamond + in four years, you like cruising as much as I do. Every vacation day is spent on a ship. Last year I had 36 sea days - 17 day Queen Victoria NYC to LA through Panama Canal - 3 day Monarch - Golden Princess LA to VAN - Paradise 3 day Halloween Cruise - Solstice Caribbean. I like trying different lines. With Monarch - I was able to leave work at noon - hope the ship and go to work a little late on Monday - no vacation days.

 

Do you know if the C&A gift is a baseball cap? I have a collection or really nice beige with blue handle canvas bags - then they went to leather picture frames (ick) - my last RCI was a blue canvas bag, not as nice as the first.

 

This seems to be the year for great cruise deals. I'm hoping the quality holds up. I just changed cabins on the 14 day Radiance Alaska to SD cruise and saved a lot.

 

I have a place in Palm Desert - but don't live there. My home is a loft condo in downtown Pomona. It's four miles from my office and I moved in five years ago. I like the downtown living and secibd Saturdays - they have an art walk.

 

Looking forward to meeting you - we are on main dining.

 

Larry

[pscruzinboyz]

Hey guys, greetings from Beautiful Palm Springs, Bill and I came out last night for 3 days. Bill worked all day from the house, I had a Vaca day, finally took down X-mas stuff and packed it all away for another year today. It was a wonderful 80 degrees today. I am tempted to jump in the pool but in the 8 years we have been out here, I have NEVER been in the pool in the month of Jan. Pool is still in the high 50's. But a few cocktails during the weekend who knows..........Hope all is well with everyone. I been going back and forth between this blog and the Regular blog. Bill and I are going to play with some of the " STRAIGHT " folks on the cruise and participate in some of the things they are going to do. YES, I bought one of the T-Shirts that Laura is selling. We are actually sailing with some of these people in Sept on the Radiance and on the Inagural Oasis cruise on Dec 5th.

Bill says HI! Or does He! I had to force him With a night of Passion........YA RIGHT! :)

 

Blog when you get a chance..............

 

C + P, Blue chairs WILL be fun, We Will be there!

[Rusty311]

Mike & Bill - I joined the Slot Pull on the other line, so will look for you. I also got three shirts - 2 for mom as I am sure she will want to wear them when returning to MO. I want to do the cabin tour. I like seeing the different cabins - as I think I will be doing Mariner a lot because of it being in LA. I did Monarch so many times I had the menu memorized, and did get bored with it, even though it was good.

 

I signed up for a Whale watching tour in PV through Dot - small boat, 4 - 4 1/2 hours, $95, so should be interesting. Limited to 6 to 12 people. Includes lunch. I did Blue Chairs last time and it was quiet. Time before I did an afternoon pool party at a gay resort. It was more fun and the lead singer from the ship was there. That was when the Vision stayed in PV until 10 pm. On a bridge tour on a later Vision cruise - the captain said that by leaving PV at 8 and not 10 - they saved $10,000 in fuel.

 

Paradise couple overboard - I've done Paradise twice for week ends. The CAT 11 balcony is on the veranda deck / but if you jump you would land on the deck below - so they must have been in a CAT 12 penthouse on the upper deck. If you ever do Paradise - the CAT 12 is about $200 more that the CAT 11 and realy worth it. Do you think the couple could have been that disappointed with Carnival?

 

Have fun - can you believe our weather?

 

Larry

[pscruzinboyz]

Hey Larry,

 

Just got back on line, we have a lap top in HB and do not turn it on everynight, Hope all is well. We just made reservations for Chops for the 28th. All of the other nights were gone except the formal nights. Not 100 percent sure what to do in PV yet. We have done Blue Chairs during the day and have done happy hour upstairs in the hotel but with the ship leaving at 7:00 that will change our plans. I guess we will play it by ear, see how the weather will be and decide when we get to the ports. What hotel was it that you mentioned? That might be fun. I am a walker so don't be surprised to see Bill and I walking everywhere.

Yes we are doing the slot pull and I think we will also do the Cabin Crawl. I agree it might be fun to see all of the cabins. Funny, last April, We were on the Voyager of the Seas out of Galveston, since we had a night flight we were some of the last people off the ship. As we waited, we went exploring and found our way to the suites and got to get into all of the suites, They are the WOW!!!!! cabins. I think we will try to decorate a bit, since we drive we can bring an extra suitcase. Many years past, I was doing the circuit thing around the country and we always did door decorations, I might still do that. I am bringing my little gay Flag to hang off of the balcony, I AM SO GAY!

Other the that........Did you receive your Doc's?

30 days and counting, getting more excited everyday.

 

Hi to all of you other SISTER"s :)

 

Chime in when you get a chance

[NoNoSco]

Hi Guys :)

 

Logged-on to the RCCL site for our reservation today (for the first time in weeks) and read '29 Days To Embarkation". WOOHOO! We made these cruise/travel plans only last month and time-to-sail is going by F-A-S-T. Its going to be a wonderful trip! We like how RCCL (as opposed to NCL) handles pre-sail registration and documentation; the SetSail passes are printed!

 

The weather here in Scottsdale has been absolutely gorgeous since the New Year; upper 70s to low 80s most days. Even by Arizona standards (mild winters) it has been downright balmy. Accordingly, we've been spending A LOT of time outdoors hiking, biking and mountain climbing (along with everyone else in metro PHX; the trails and such are jam packed). I hope we enjoy similarly warm weather on our cruise as we plan to avail ourselves of every last ammenity aboard this RCCL ship (rock climbing wall, jogging track, etc). We are big fitness buffs and love to stay active - something we found easy to do on past cruises but RCCL seems to take it a whole 'nother level :)

 

We're still planning on arriving in San Pedro the day before Embarkation (Park N Sail package at Crown Plaza); we had a great time meeting other 'pre-cruisers' there last year prior to boarding NCL's Star.

 

Our best to everyone. We look forward to meeting aboard ship and sharing a few laughs!

 

Chris & Philip, Scottsdale, AZ