This ship review is based (compared with) on our previous 15 day Hawaiian Cruise on the Diamond, and our 7 day Mexican riviera cruise, that began the day we disembarked from this ship. OK lets start with The good: The ship does look beautiful, they did a very good job on the much publicized remake. Movies under the stars is great, concerts, Monday Night Football, Etc. They serve pizza, popcorn, and cookies at no additional charge. Stateroom televisions are now flat screen, in believe 25". As noted on another review, the remote can be difficult to use, the TV sits high and way back on a shelf. Announcements were very few. The Bad: The Rocking. The ship was not taking moderate swells very well, we were suspecting that the stabilizers were not working, but who knows. The Promenade. This ship is one of the original Grand Class, The Diamond and Sapphire are also of this class, but a newer version. Sailing on the Diamond Princess to Hawaii in Oct 2007, we were able to enjoy reading books and relaxing on deck lounge chairs on the wide promenade deck during the 8 sea days. This ship promenade deck is much narrower, not allowing room for lounge chairs. The Spoiler. OK, the 'spoiler look' to this ship is ugly enough, the theming (lets leave star wars for Disneyland, princess)is just dumb, but the use of the moving sidewalk leading to the skywalkers lounge it makes you wonder if anyone cares about the passengers. This itinerary caters to mostly older folks, say, 50 years of age and above. So very few go to this lounge at disco time. However, many folks do enjoy it in the daytime as an observation lounge. The problem is Princess only has this moving sidewalk running at night time when no one is using it, in the daytime when people may need it it is turned off!!! The area also was home to contests, Bill W. and Church meetings, so we were constantly getting pushed to another area. The food. Taking back to back cruises on different criuse lines, makes it very easy to compare food. RCCL offered much better tasting, and larger portions of food. Dinning room service. Was rushed, never was asked if we wanted more, or giving anything to 'try'. Coffee was always late, sometimes coming after desert was already served. The Cabin. the cabin itself is smaller than on Mariner of the Seas, although the balcony is much bigger. The Piazza, I don't get it. Street entertainment, noisy (really noisy) contests, Very few chairs (the ones they have are very uncomfortable). On the Diamond both this area and skywalkers lounge were nice quite areas to read a book, no more!!! Very disappointed that they did not include a scenic cruise past the lava flow and steam arising from the ocean, they changed our itinerary so this was our final port.The Ugly: The beds are horrible, we asked for egg crates but they do not help to much. The filthy dirty windows, we have sailed princess for a total of 29 days on 4 cruises, and they have all had dirty windows. This ship was be far the worst. In the Skywalkers lounge there were some panes on glass that from 6" in on all sides you could not see through!! Smokers, smokers, smokers, some day one of these cruise lines will adapt a no smoking policy on all their north American itineraries, and they will see not only a huge net increase in bookings, but a happy customer will spend much more on board. For what we were looking for, quiet areas to relax, and enjoy the view, good food and service, we were disappointed. We will never sail on Mariner of the Seas again, Hopefully, Diamond will return to this hawaii itinery. Look forward to Diamond / Sapphire getting Movies under the Stars.

By Category Which Ship was best:

Dining room Service Mariner Buffet Service Golden Food Taste Mariner Overall ship appearance Golden Beds Mariner TV Programming Golden Announcements (not too many) Golden Ships public areas Mariner Window you can see through Mariner Cabin Size Mariner Read more