My 85 year old mother and I set sail on December 21, 2008 on the Mariner of the Seas. What a beautiful, elegant ship! The service was top notch. Everyone was falling over themselves to take care of us. Our Promenade cabin was lovely. The view from the large window was great. It felt like looking down on a busy street. We ate in the Rhapsody in Blue dining room for all our meals, except for hitting the buffet in the Windjammer when we first got onboard. Breakfast and Dinner were wonderful. Lunch grew boring. Same choices everyday. Our waiter was Mark from the Philippines. He was great. Our cabin steward was a lady named Smorty. We called her Smarty Pants! I just can't say enough nice things about the people on this boat. The shows were amazing. We had two ice shows. One was Circus themed and the other was a Holiday Extravaganza. The comedian on the last night was so funny we were crying. I don't think I have ever heard my mother laugh so hard! We will definitely cruise with Royal Caribbean again.

I do have three complaints. 1. A passenger had a huge, hairy, dirty-looking dog that she said was a service dog because she has diabetes. I have never seen an uncontrolled service dog in my life. The thing drug the lady because it did not walk next to her. During breakfast one day it got loose in the dining room. The animal came and laid it's head on the table next to me. Scared the daylights out of me. The waiters were running around like the three stooges trying to catch it because it didn't have it's harness on. There was no vest identifying this animal as a service dog. I like dogs but not romping around my food. 2. The computers and internet connections were so slow they ate up the money in my prepaid account. It took me twenty minutes to get signed in and read two emails. I won't waste my money on that anymore. I wanted to email my children and grandchild for Christmas. 3. I went to a seminar at the Shipshape Spa only to find out after one hour that it was a sales pitch for a $700.00 toxin cleansing program. I missed some other things I wanted to do to go to this seminar. I never imagined they would try to sell me something like that on a cruise. I am now educated!

Other than that we had a fabulous trip. Coco Cay was lovely, St. Thomas and St. Maarten were beautiful. I found some lovely little shops to take my friends to when we go there in March on another cruise on another cruise line. I booked that trip in September and this Christmas cruise 10 days before the ship sailed!