Mariner of the Seas Review

Bucket List Trip

Review for Asia Cruise on Mariner of the Seas
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gi_pam
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Mar 2015
Cabin: Grand Suite
Traveled with children

We are a family of 4 from Canada, with a 12-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son. We have cruised both with and without the children in the past. The opportunity to take a trip presented itself and Asia was on our bucket list. The dates of this cruise, the fact that it was a reposition, and the fact that it was with Royal Caribbean all pushed us toward picking this. I was a bit concerned about some of the negative reviews, but we approached the trip with an open mind. Overall, we didn’t notice the rudeness that other reviewers have commented on. We’re pretty patient on vacation, and maybe I just didn’t notice it. Maybe it was because the ship wasn’t full.

We flew into Singapore a couple of days ahead of the cruise and stayed at the Marina Bay Sands, a bit of a splurge to say the least! It didn't disappoint. One thing that surprised us about hotels in Asia, was the fact that it is rare to find hotels that take a family of 4 in a room. They exist but they're hard to find. Our splurge in the Marina Bay Sands was made possible by the fact that we occupied one room, rather than 2. The room was big enough, but the bed options are either a king or 2 large singles (or small doubles, depending on perspective). We chose 2 beds, and added a cot. Cozy for the grownups sharing a bed, but it worked. A big draw for this hotel was the amazing infinity pool on the roof, 57 floors above the city! Due to jet lag and the heat, we didn't see as much of the city as we planned, but we did enjoy the pool.

It should be noted that the ship was only about 2/3 sold for this cruise, likely because it was a reposition from Singapore to Shanghai. There was rarely a line for anything, lots of seats for shows, no problem finding deck chairs, and usually easy to find seats in Windjammer.

Cabin Review

Grand Suite

Cabin GS

Port Reviews

Singapore

Singapore is an amazing city! Unfortunately, we were jetlagged, and it was very hot. We saw a bit of the city, but mostly spent our time enjoying the pool in the hotel.

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) has a lot of interesting history and culture to explore. In our short visit we were able to see Reunification Palace, the War Remnants Museum and The Ben Thanh Market. Walking in the city is not for the feint of heart! The traffic is insane and they do not stop for pedestrians.

Hong Kong

Our stop in Hong Kong wasn't long enough - we took a Hop On/Hop Off tour, but had to be back on the ship too early (3:30 pm) to really get enough out of it. We did go up the Peak Tram as part of the tour and in spite of the rain, the views were excellent.

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