I know some others have already posted reviews of their Mariner voyage of 4/12 - 4/19, but I thought I'd post one as well, as it might provide a different perspective. I was traveling with my 12-month old DS, as well as my husband and my parents. Because we had the baby with us, our vacation goals/priorities were probably different than most, so keep that in mind while you read. Also, we have been on this itinerary several times before, so we were happy to spend a lot of time relaxing on the ship rather than out in the ports. We didn't do anything remarkable in the ports, so I will not report on them.
Embarkation and Getting Settled In
We arrived at the port at around 12:30, and there was no wait in the Diamond check-in lane. We whisked through that, got on the ship, and immediately went to Deck 5 to sign up for My Time Dining (more on that later). Our second stop was Guest Services, where we rented our DECT phones for the week. We used these quite a bit, and they were well worth the $25 rental fee. We also signed up for in-cabin babysitting while we were at Guest Services. Once our chores were out of the way, we dropped our stuff in our cabins, and went to get some Honey Stung Chicken in the Windjammer. That was probably the best food we had all week in the WJ...more on that later!
We had 9676 and 9681, connecting cabins. It's perfect, as 9676 is a balcony and 9681 is an "inside", which we used for the baby. There are only two configurations like this on the ship. It was a great find!