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For me there are three factors which make up a successful and enjoyable cruise, and this ticked all the boxes. I have deliberately omitted itinerary, as quite frankly that is relatively inconsequential to us as we would be more than happy to cruise 7 days in ever increasing circles with no stops whatseover.
1) Ship. Mariner is a beautiful ship, the MDR is stunning and the staff adequately reflect the general RCCL service ethos. The cabin was superb. Considering the size of the ship, it was kept in an immaculate condition and was constantly cleaned and tidied. The Viking Crown area was wonderful and a focal point for us to meet at 4pm every day to partake of BOGOF Margeritas and Rum Punches (Buy one get one free), to interact with other guests and generally to watch the world go by. Service up there was pleasant but never pushy.
2) Food quality. As a relative newcomer to cruising I am constantly astonished by the comments that the food quality at RCI has gone down hill. I did not have one meal that I would consider as anything less than excellent. The MDR in the evening was superb, Windjamer or MDR for lunch equally so, and Windjammer or MDR for breakfast fulfilled all expectations.
3) Other passengers. I realise that this does not really help in the context of a review but for my part the people on this cruise were just "the best". I had deliberately opted for Traditional late sitting dining on a large table, and our table mates were great fun. On at least 4 of the evening meals we were literally the last in the entire MDR to leave which I appreciate must have annoyed the staff, but it is indicative of the people that we shared with that we all got on so well. We had also met up with peopl through the Meet and Mingle (and I seriuosly urge anyone to involve yourself in the M&M as the epople we met at it really enhanced and added hugely to our holiday enjoyment.
The cruise deviated slightly from the itinerary advertised mainly because of Tropical Storm Patricia but as we virtually did not leave the ship it did not matter.
The sea days were great and never felt over crowded, and the port days were great, as most people go on land and we were left with a nice peaceful ship.
The ice show was the only show we went to see and it was, quite frankly astounding. Far, far better than I had ever envisaged.
Some final points. One, I think that having been on Voyager, Radiance and Vision class ships I have no desire whatsoever to go larger to Freedom or Oasis class. For me bigger is not necessarily better, but there are endless itineraries in the classes that I have been on to keep me fully occupied for a long time to come.
Embarkation/disembarkation. Absolutely simple and seamless. I heard people moaning about having to queue on the final morning to get through customs in the MDR (yes we were actally queueing in the MDR, but really it was no problem and some people will find anything to moan about.
The one thing I would change on the ship, and that comes from being somewhat of a frequent Vegas visitor. The casino needs a re-design. Not enough tables, and too many slots at peak times. They should look to have a couple more Blackjack tables, and also concentrate on organising a couple of Sit'n Go poker tournemnts. The poker table lies dormant for far too long to be cost effective and they should maybe look beyond the offer of a free cruise for winning a tournement and maybe utilise the table for some tournaments which can be revenue makers.
All in all a fantastic time was had and we are now looking to repeat the itinerary with a couple of extra days on the Radiance in April
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