It was our first cruise with Royal C. Our first cruise was on the Crown Princess last year. We expected a lot from Royal because of all the nice comments from other people. Embarkation was a breeze. we took a shuttle from LAX and arrived at the port around 11:00 AM. Thirty minutes later we were on the boat. We went straight to the cafeteria which was very spacious and nice. But after a tour of what they were offering, I didn't find anything that I wanted to eat, very ordinary food. My husband and I thought that maybe they would upgrade the food for the next meal but no, it was always the same there.

We got to our cabin around 1:00PM. It was clean and spacious, more than our cabin on princess. Since we got an aft cabin, the balcony was huge and very quiet. I would surely take an aft cabin again. We could have some music in the room which was nice and romantic. Our cabin steward was very nice but not as present as in our Princess cruise.

The Mariner is a very beautiful ship. It is clean and very well laid out. It is easy to find your way around. The promenade is just gorgeous with it's shops, pub and cafe. I liked the fact that there are teas and herb teas available in the cafe and it is free. The activities are numerous for all ages. I took a cooking class and that was very nice. I would highly recommend it. We did not take any excursions, we just wanted to relax on the beaches. Even in the dining room we found the food just OK. The food on the Crown Princess was way better. It was very disappointing. Our server was very nice. Read more