Mariner of the Seas Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,332 reviews

Mariner of the Seas - Western Caribbean

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Mariner of the Seas
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kruz
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Dec 2003
Cabin: Superior Oceanview Stateroom with Balcony

Here's my review of the absolutely stunning Mariner of the Seas , 5th sailing on 12/14-12/21,2003. I must begin this review with Captain Johnny to whom I must thank for a perfect and wonderful week. This Captain is friendly, personable and a bit "off the wall" in a good way! I truly believe that it his wonderful relationship with each and every one of the crew members that made this my favorite cruise to date! I spoke with a few of the staff and they told me that when other Captains call a meeting they dread attending. However when Capt. Johnny calls a meeting they can't wait to get there! It's amazing how this attitude dribbles right on down the line to the passengers ....this is the very first time I did not hear one (none/zero) complaint from any fellow cruisers!

Now here are some notes...thoughts and others.... Day one: First we awoke to hear that Saddam Hussein had been captured! What a way to start a vacation! We began the 2.5 hour drive to the port to weather that was bad... .getting worse. Rain and winds made for a difficult drive. We arrived at Port Canaveral at about 1pm. Parking and unloading is a disaster....but I won't go into detail as there is a lot of construction being done in that area at this time and I am sure all will be smooth in no time! Parking is $10.00 per day, pre paid. You may use cash, Master Card or Visa...but you may NOT use American Express. We entered the terminal, through x ray with our carry on bags...one of which contained a bottle of champagne and 2 champagne glasses, a bottle of wine, some beer and a bottle of Kirshwasser (horrid stuff!) . The latter was a gift to a couple of Swiss guys we had met on the Cruise Critic board before our trip. Being a little nervous about this being confiscated. Our fears were calmed when we reached the end of the belt and the x-ray tech smiled and said "Good Stuff"!! We entered the welcome area and although the lines were long they moved rather quickly. Somehow our Seapass card was misplaced so we waited while new ones were being made for us. I would have to say that from the time we arrived at the port until the time we actually boarded was somewhere about 1.5 hours. We entered the ship on the 4th deck...forward. Arriving in a stairwell I didn't feel the full WOW effect that I would have for the rest of the week that followed. Up stairs we went to check out our first ever balcony cabin! Beautiful, clean, fresh and new! But we didn't linger long as we really needed to check out parts of the ship as well as make our way to Ellington's (part of the Viking Crown) to meet up with Meet and Mingle members for an ornament exchange. It was so great to finally put humans to pen names! Back to our cabin to grab our life jacket for the most painless muster drill ever. Basically you just showed up and it was over before it began! Back to our cabin for sail away with champagne on the balcony. We also took a moment to adorn our balcony with xmas lights we had packed for this purpose! We met one of our next door neighbors who I spoke with several times throughout the cruise! Never did exchange names though! That's the way the whole week was! Everyone so friendly and happy! One big block party all week long!

Our luggage had been place in our cabin so we began to unpack and settle in for the week. Also getting ready for late dinner which was at 9pm this evening but 8:30 pm for the rest of the week. Dress was casual this evening. Our table #550 was just wonderful! I don know how Royal Caribbean does it but we were at a table for 8 and all of us got along wonderfully! What a great group of folks we met! Our waiter Alex and asst. Cruz were terrific. The atmosphere at our table and all the other tables in the area was fun the entire week.

Cabin Review

Superior Oceanview Stateroom with Balcony

Cabin D2
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