Mariner of the Seas Review

Mariner of the Seas - Western Caribbean

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Mariner of the Seas
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Claudia
First Time Cruiser • Age 20s

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Sail Date: Sep 2007
Cabin: Interior Stateroom
Traveled with children

This is a review of my vacation on Mariner of The Seas, September 23-30 (Western Caribbean). I have a feeling this is going to be a long one- Traveling from Tampa, was myself, my husband and my daughter. We are in our early 30ies. She is 4. Instead of driving our car to the port, and paying the 84. parking, we rented a car- and did a one way rental each way. This alone saved us 25.00, plus the gas, wear etc. (We have an SUV). So, we got to the port....the wait to drop off bags was not horrible. There was an entrance where they check your passports..the line was ridiculous. We saw a door on the opposite side, so we checked it out, and sure enough we handed our passports and walked right in. It seemed everyone crowded around the one entrance. So...lucky for us, we were in there in a jiffy!!! Once we got in, the check in was also a breeze. A few minutes later we were on board. The Mariner is BEAUTIFUL! This was our 3rd cruise. We have traveled on Carnival, and Disney. So, we went straight to the pool area, which was so nice (lots of chair hogs) and to the Windjammer to have our buffet lunch. They have a great amount of food set out. I will be honest. I was not crazy about the lunch. It seemed like the food didn't change so much.... salads, burgers, hot dogs, pizza... everyday and then a few items added in that changed daily that were not so impressive. HOWEVER, that is just my opinion. Their were many people ranting and raving. I myself am a picky eater, lunch just did not do it for me. And thank goodness it didn't because I gained about 4-5 lbs from the dinner! Anyway, on with the review...the drinks were plenty...iced tea, lemonade which was very very good, water (which was not bad at all), various teas, hot chocolate, and coffee. The Windjammer is kept very very clean and the service is impeccable. I noticed everyone had a smile on their face. After lunch, we checked out our room. We were on deck 10 in an inside cabin. Decorated the door- lei necklace was stolen off the door, no biggie! The room was standard to all other cruiselines. Disney may be a little bigger, but it was fine for the 3 of us. I brought an over the door shoe holder for my bathroom toiletries, and a 6 shelf hanging storage for in the closet- between this and all the storage the rooms offer- It was plenty. I had room to empty out my suitcases and be organized with no problems. Also the mirrors in the bathroom, and behind the desk open up to allow storage as well. We took our small table, and put it in the closet...we put the life jackets under the table, this made a lot more room. We checked out the ship- my daughter loved the Adventure Ocean club. She usually is very attached to us- I don't know what they did to her ...LOL I kept asking if they had a candy buffet. She wouldn't even make it through dinner without asking us to drop her off! It was nice to get a break for us as well. We did the after 10pm late night party zone for $5. an hour so we could enjoy a few of the adult only shows- which were all not to be missed!!! These were the highlights of our cruise. The cruise director "Dennis" was incredible! One night there was a comedian, another night they had the standard "Love and Marriage"- except when you have a newlywed couple on their honeymoon, a couple married for 8 years and a couple married 56 years 9 months and 22 days..... it made for a night of laughing till you cry. The oldest couple were hilarious! Another show not to be missed is "The Quest" OH MY GOODNESS!!! This was very very funny and very wild. Battle of the sexes was cute too. We liked these shows, and there were adults of all ages! Which makes me want to point out...when I booked with Royal Caribbean, I kept hearing..."Oh that's going to be a lot of old people...blah blah" I myself hold a lot of respect for elders, so this was not a problem. I am also a mother so the fact that this was not a spring break party boat was ok for me as well. When we sat down to dinner...we were seated with 3 older widowed women. I'd say in their mid- 60's. It's sad to say that sometimes people have a tendency of thinking that this would have been a bad thing because by the end of this cruise, I felt like I was saying goodbye to my family members. We exchanged phone numbers and since we only live about an hour away- we plan on meeting up for dinner/ keeping in touch. We shared so many laughs during dinner~ these ladies were worse than my friends here at home (In a good way)! We flirted with the waiter , we told hilarious jokes, they were like the Golden Girls- Blanche included!!! On my husband's birthday, they bought him a cake and had the staff sing happy birthday to him-I'm so glad we gave them a chance...of all my cruises, I'd say these were the best tablemates ever!!! Dinner was great, always seasoned perfectly. The waiter's Leontin and Jorge were wonderful! Jorge was so genuine....they were both very accommodating. Dinner was very tasty...the risotto with scallops was my favorite and a desert that had white chocolate and strawberries....OH MY- I could've eaten these everyday!!!! On with more review...sorry about the topic jumping, but I want to tell you everything! : ) On with the ports... Haiti was just as beautiful as I thought it would be. No one pressures you to buy anything unless you walk over to the market area. I went to the area...and I found that a polite no thank you was enough. Sometimes you say it more than once...but it's not "scary" these are poor people begging for you to buy their wares. I found them all to be kind. Just my opinion- it got really old reading about everyone being scared. No one has a knife-no guns- they won't hit nor verbally abuse you....what's so scary??? I bought 2 bottles of Haitian Rum... $13.00 and $8.00, bring cash. I was told you could use a credit card, and then at the register they said only on purchases over $40. So, just a hint. My daughter went to Adventure Ocean water park (Free) while my husband and I rode the trolley down to dragon breath point. It is a free trolley but you should bring some singles to tip the drivers, the music players as your coming in, and the kind people who get your beach chairs. I believe in karma, and Haiti being one of the poorest places, I felt good tipping them. Haitian's seem to be very friendly, hard working people. (No I am not Haitian, I'm Italian, for the record). We walked over to Dragon's Breath Point. We heard the "dragon" we walked over to the bar and had the famous Labadoozee drink...YUM! Then we picked up my daughter and enjoyed the beach. This was a relaxing port...bar-b-que lunch is free. The scenery was beautiful...I can't say enough. It was great for a first port. Our second stop was in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL place. We pre-booked a tour with Phil Lafayette. ($20 for adults, $15 for children). He came highly recommended and I see why- during our short stay in this port we visited Dunn's River Falls. ($15 for adults, $12 for the little one). Since we had my daughter, we didn't climb them but hung out at the beach at the bottom and took pictures. We rented a jet ski, which I haggled from $60 down to $20.00!!!! It was great. After the Falls, we went river tubing down the white river, ($20 each for adults, my daughter rode with my husband so no charge for her)-we took a driving tour of the area and stopped to get lunch for $7.00 a person- this included trying jerk chicken, jerk pork, jerk sausage, and a festivale bread stick w/ drink. Pork was delicious!!! He finally dropped those of us that wanted to shop and some shops next to the port. We ended our tour there....I bought some Jerk seasonings, Rum, Jablum coffee $25.00 a pound big bag. I did however get ripped off buying a Walkerswood jerk seasoning for $14.00. I bought the same size one in Grand Cayman for $6.00!!!!! I was not happy about that- but it was probably the Karma biting me for getting the jet ski down to $20. ! HAHA! So after the shopping we got back on the ship...It was a very eventful day! Grand Cayman was our next port...we had a tour booked with Soto's to go see the Stingray sandbar..$30.00 each for the adults..no charge for my little monkey. We met at a parking lot and a bus came to pick us up. We were so lucky- this ended up being like a private charter!!!!! Normally these things are loaded with passengers we had about 10 people on board. We went out about 25-30 minutes...the water was to die for. If you dropped a penny you could see it. Incredible. We went snorkeling, which normally I am so afraid of water...I think I know why now. I felt much more in control, I bought underwater cameras and took tons of pictures. Fish, coral reefs....truly amazing. After about a half hour we went on to stingray city. The water was not choppy. I am 5' 1" and I could stand fine....the stingrays were huge and gentle. I took tons of memorable pictures. After the tour we had asked to be dropped off at Sea Grape beach. I wanted to cry. Heaven on earth. Powder sand....clear blue water. We grabbed a bite (an expensive bite) at Calico Jack's, and played in the water a while. We caught a cab back to the port for $5.00 each- and shopped at the duty free for some Rum cakes, tortuga citrus honey. rum punch mix, and walkerswood seasoning. Back to the ship for some Bingo $35.00 and casino time. I played .25 slots- broke even. FUN TIMES!!! They had loads of onboard entertainment- parades in the promenade, 70's parties/dancing, belly flop contests by the pool, Adventure Ocean pirate parades, Ice carvings, mid-night buffets, pool side buffets, ice skating shows, as well as ice skating for you, rock climbing wall, mini golf, internet room, library, board game rooms, ping pong, basketball, golf simulators, PADI diving instructors, teen only clubs, arcades, 24 hour pools and cafe's. Chapels, work out rooms, full service spa's, adult only solarium area, 24 hour ice cream- anytime room service including breakfast. As long as you hang your tag outside your door by 3 am you will be delivered your breakfast at your chosen time. AHHHH! The luxuries of cruising. Our final stop was Cozumel Mexico. We arrived here late because we had a passenger on board with a medical emergency that had to be brought back to Grand Cayman 3 hours after we left there. I personally did not mind. The captain said the person had to get a blood transfusion, so it was a good decision that he had turned around. Safety for all is key- they turned on a 5th generator to make us go faster. We got to Cozumel about 1:00 (I think it was one) and left at 8. The port was great we got out and did some shopping... tequila, silver jewelry, tequila, toys for the kids, tequila, purses made out of gum wrappers (these are so cute!), tequila, hand made jewelry boxes, tequila, vanilla, tequila, coffee, and did I mention Tequila? All and all this was a wonderful and very memorable vacation. I will try to post some pictures...as I have over 300! YIKES! I hope you enjoyed my review. If you have any questions- feel free to e-mail me...Strangelove007@Aol.com. Thanks for reading~ and have fun cruising!!!!

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Interior Stateroom

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