This is my review of the Mariner of the Seas for the sailing of 1/20/08. Little background...This is my first time on this class of ship with RC. Have been on the Radiance and Freedom class before. There were 4 of us that went on this sailing, all previous cruisers, age ranges from 40-60. We flew Saturday morning to Orlando and pick up our mini van from Thrifty and headed to the Cape Canaveral area. Checked into the Radisson and then went to Fishlips to eat dinner and watch the Carnival and Disney ships sail by. Great location to do this. The Radisson...Very nice hotel, had a suite with a Jacuzzi. Rooms are very nicely done. Had the sleep number beds. They are nice as well. One bad thing about this hotel is the noise. We were on the 2nd floor, out of 3 and around 6am there was a woman that was walking around upstairs that we could hear her walking around in her high heels. The areas in the bathroom and around the Jacuzzi were tiled. It was as if she was walking in our bedroom. If you stay here, get a room on the 3rd floor!! We took the van back around 10 as we wanted to get to the port early. We dropped off the van and found out that they do not take anyone over to the port until after 11 as the port doesn't take anyone with luggage until then. We met up with another cruise critic couple that was there before us and they ran into the same issue so they called a taxi. That same taxi came back to pick us up. We drove over to the port and we drove right up and dropped off the luggage with the porters and went to go wait in line to get into the building. I do believe it was around 10:45 when we got in line and there weren't that many people in line. We walked around to the left entrance of the building and waited about 5 minutes and they started to let people in. Walked right up and waited in line to check in, which was less than 5 minutes and was taken care of very fast. I think we waited for about 15-30 minutes and they let us board the ship. This has to be the easiest and fastest boarding on a ship we have ever had. The weather was very cool and windy. Even after we set sail, the Captain came on the PA system and said that we would be encountering waves of 9.5-11 feet. It was a rough ride until we hit San Juan. Many times the winds were in the range of 55-60 mph. San Juan...We just walked around the part of the city that was close to the port. Stopped at the Hard Rock and Harley stores. Since we were late getting there, 40 minutes late because of the weather, so that got us into port around 3:40, we didn't have much time to do anything else as we had main seating for dinner. St. Maarten...Always a very nice island. 2 of us opted to go to Orient Bay for some sun. Came back and met the other 2 in our group and went downtown shopping using the water taxis both ways. Very easy. St. Thomas...Went downtown for some shopping and then did some more shopping at the shops right at the port while 2 of the group went and took the tram. They took some really nice pictures. Found out that taxis don't go up there, only the open air buses go up there. The last 2 days were at sea. One very nice day and one not too warm day. The closer we got to FL the cooler it got. Dining room staff...Very nice, no complaints there with our waiter and assistant waiter. Food, usually very good. Had some issues with the ceaser salad the last two nights with the taste being different than usual. Didn't come across a dessert that no one like. Cabin Steward...Very helpful and very responsive. Always had a towel character waiting in the evening. He kept the cabin spotless! Windjammer staff...Always had a smile and very helpful. Even heard a few singing or humming. Went there for dinner one night and encountered the same type of staff. Purser's desk...Very helpful! One of us misplaced her handbag when we first got on the ship and once it was discovered that it was gone, we went to the desk and someone had turned it in with it all intact. If you are reading this....THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had issues with some shipboard credits that were suppose to be applied. Went down there and they got it straighten out within a few hours. Ship...Nice size ship. I like the bigger ships, but out of my group, I'm the only one. The other 3 like the Radiance size. As far as service, we had the best on the Jewel of the Seas in December of 2004, but I like the things to do and I feel that the bigger the ship the better the ride. It was very clean and well kept.

After arriving back at Port Canaveral, we waited for our color to disembark the ship and pretty much walked right off the ship. We just handed our declaration papers to the guys in uniform and that was it. Crossed the parking lot to wait for the Thrifty shuttle, approx. 20 minutes and went to pick up the van. It took a while to get the van. There were 4 people ahead of me and I think it took approx. 30 minutes. If I were to do it again, I might think of another rental company, but they were the cheapest. But we were off and on our way back to Orlando. We went to Downtown Disney for a few hours, then headed to our hotel/condo. Check in was good and fast, had to drive to get to the condo approx. 3 miles. It was a nice 3 bedrooms, 2 bath condo. No real complaints there although we did come across two of Florida's inhabitants crawling on the floor at different times. After unloading the van, back to Downtown Disney and then to Sleuth's Mystery Dinner Theatre. What a great place! Had a great time and would do it again in a second! We came across coupons on line and saved 5.00 each, so it was approx. 45/person. Well worth it, very funny. Dropped off the van at their office and took the shuttle to the airport. Very fast drop off.

Anyway, to sum it all up, had a really good time and met some great people from this site!!