Let me first say that we loved our cruise on the Mariner of the Seas.  We loved the new itinerary to the Pacific Northwest (due to the flu in Mexico) and we thought Royal Caribbean was very generous with their on board credits and future cruise credits they offered due to the itinerary change.  We would have been happy with just the itinerary change and no credit, as they have the right to change the itinerary at any time, but we came out ahead big time with the credits!  I only wish this itinerary was offered more often.

While this review will contain some criticism of the cruise, almost all of the negative things were very minor and really didn't affect the wonderful time that we had.  The biggest problem is that 7 days just seemed to short and we wished we had just a couple more days to spend on the ship!  We are a younger family of four...our kids are 11 years old and 8 years old.  This was our 6th cruise over all, and we have cruised various ships on various cruise lines (we like the variety and like to see what each line has to offer over the other).  Our past cruises included a 4 day cruise on the Monarch of the Seas, a 7 day cruise on the Grand Princess, an 8 day Norwegian Star cruise, a 5 day Carnival Elation cruise, and an 8 day cruise on Holland America's Ryndam.

We arrived a day before the cruise and stayed at the Double Tree in San Pedro.  We originally had booked the Crowne Plaza, but due to parking restrictions, had to move to the Double Tree.  We actually like the Double Tree better, so it worked out well for us.  We drove our motorhome to California, and even though we made sure to confirm with our travel agent about the parking availability for high profile vehicles at the Crown Plaza, it turned out we couldn't park it there due to limited height and a small parking lot.  The Double Tree has a nice open parking lot, and was very able to accommodate our motorhome for the cruise and park package.  When you check in at the Double Tree, I recommend you immediately sign up for the morning shuttle to the cruise terminal.  We had a group of eight, and it was tough to find an open slot for all of us.  They fill up fast. Read more