My wife and I cruised aboard the Mariner for our honeymoon in June 2005. We enjoyed it so much that we booked this cruise before we got off of the ship. This time we brought along both sets of our parents, my grandparents, and some friends of the family. My wife and I, along with her parents and sister decided to fly down to Orlando ahead of time. We flew in from Providence Friday night and stayed at the Rodeway Inn in Kissimmee. The hotel was nothing special, but it had a bed and a TV and was very economical. Saturday we spent the day at Seaworld and snapped a wonderful picture of my wife and sister-in-law touching a dolphin.

Sunday we awoke bright and early and went back to the airport to catch the first Royal Caribbean transfer to the port. Embarkation was easy, we arrived at the port by 11:00 and were on the ship by 11:30, enjoying a delicious lunch in the Windjammer Cafe. What can I say, the ship was incredible. From the promenade, to the sports deck, to the dining rooms, everything was just immaculate. At over 1000 feet long and 138,000 tons, the ship is just massive, but everything is so accessible that it is not overwhelming. Even though it holds 3600 people, you wouldn't even know it from the way it is set up. The expressions on the faces of my mother-in-law and sister-in-law as we saw the ship for the first time were priceless. The activities on the ship are endless and very enjoyable. We loved the "Love And Marriage Game", and "The Quest" (although I would say that parents should probably not bring their kids to this), and the ice skating show was as good as we had remembered. The casino is really nice but we didn't have to much luck this time. My grandparents on the other hand seemed to be hitting big everyday.

The service on the ship was incredible, our head waiter Emmanuel was very good and fun to talk to, and his assistant Katarina was there for everything that we needed. The head waiter, David was very attentive, my grandmother had a bad reaction to something she had eaten, and every night after that David checked in with her to see how she liked her meal. Our stateroom attendant Stanley was great, he did a fantastic job with our room and always had a smile on his face and a joke ready to tell. Captain Johnny was fun to have as our captain. His morning and afternoon announcements were quite enjoyable, and his Chinese proverbs were funny. (Man who live in glass house should change in basement.) He is very approachable and happy to talk with guests as he walks around the ship. The stateroom was great, it had plenty of space, the balcony is incredible to stand on at night, and there is plenty of closet space. Our room was on the side of my in-laws so we opened up the divider between the balconies so we made one big balcony. My sister-in-law was in the 15-17 year old age group, and she was having a great time. They have lots of activities and she enjoyed hanging out in the teen disco. Read more