My husband and I take two vacations a year...one for just us and one for the entire family. We love to cruise and have travelled previously with Royal Caribbean on Rhapsody of the Seas to the Western Caribbean and Freedom of the Seas to the Eastern Caribbean. We live in California so we set off for Los Angeles from the Central Valley. It was less than a four hour drive and we arrived at the San Pedro port at approximately 11:20 a.m. EMBARKATION - By following the signs we drove around the parking lot and dropped off our luggage with a porter. Royal Caribbean had mailed us our luggage tags beforehand so this was a fast and time efficient process as our luggage had been pre-tagged at home. We then found a parking space ($84 for the week) and took the short walk to the building where we went through security fairly quickly. We were directed to a queue to check in and given a group number. At the window we displayed our passport, signed our documents and presented our credit card to the representative. We were then given our Sea Pass cards and asked to take a seat in the lobby. After a short wait, group numbers were called and those guests were asked to start boarding the ship. We walked onto the Mariner at noon and headed up to the Windjammer for a buffet lunch. Now I had read the reviews before we left for the cruise that said the food on the Mariner was lacking. This was not our experience. We found the Windjammer to be clean, the staff friendly and attentive, and the food fresh and appetizing. We ate in the Windjammer several times during our cruise with no problems or complaints. Guests were told as we boarded that staterooms would be ready at 1:00. My husband and I prefer an inside stateroom because other than showering and sleeping, we aren't there much and would rather spend our money on other things. We were in stateroom 8211 and it was clean and waiting for us at the promised time. We dropped off our carry ons and headed out to explore the ship. We found Mariner to be very easy to navigate. We walked around the ship and then found a place to sit on the Royal Promenade to review the schedule for the day and have a glass of wine. Information booths were set up on the Royal Promenade for various activities and services that were available on the Mariner. We decided to take a tour of the Spa as we wanted to set up appointments for each of us for a massage the next day which was to be our first sea day. We were given a very informational tour and met many of the spa personnel and learned what the spa had to offer. We made an appointment for the Couples Massage and an hour in the Rasul Chamber (more on this wonderful experience later!!!) immediately following our massages. After the spa tour we returned to our stateroom to start getting ready for dinner and we met our stateroom attendant, Daniel. Throughout the week Daniel provided us with excellent service. He was friendly and always greeted us in the hall with a smile. He would ask about our day and how we were enjoying the cruise. The first night we dined in the Sound of Music Dining Room but we had been placed at a table where three couples were vacationing with their seven between them) pre-teen and teenage children. We sat with the parents at an eight person table while the teenagers sat at the table behind us. My husband and I were fine with this and found the teenagers to be well-behaved and the parents interesting to talk to. They kept apologizing for the situation but we didn't think anything about it. They next day we received a note that we had been moved to the Top Hot and Tails Dining room (I believe the parents asked us to be moved thinking we would enjoy the dining room experience more since we weren't travelling with our own children) We would have been fine if they had left us there but being moved turned out to be a blessing. We were seated at a six person table with two couples who we had alot in common with. My husband and I feel like we've met some long-term friends and have exchanged emails with them since returning home. Our waiter was Niranjan and our assistant waiter was Mete. They were so good to us all week. Our head waiter was a very elegant Filipino man who was attentive and very accessible (I'm sorry, I can't spell his name). He de-shelled my shrimp entree one night and my lobster entree another. I just can't say enough about the service we received or the quality of the food we were presented with. I'm not a foodie but I'm not going to eat bad food either. I can't criticize one thing about our dining room experience. After dinner we changed into more comfortable clothes and headed to the Royal Casino to try our luck. In our experience on every ship we've been on, the casino tends to be really tight. There isn't much winning going on. (Although, I can't say that Vegas is very good to me very often either!) I actually played for quite awhile before finally losing my $40. Off and on all week we gambled after dinner and I ended up bring home a Royal Casino t-shirt with the points I earned on my SeaPass card. We then visited the Cafe Promenade and had a croissant sandwich (loved the ham and cheese!), a great cookie and hot tea. We were then ready to call it a day and headed up to our stateroom. The Cafe Promenade is a great place to grab a snack 24 hours a day. Hot coffee, hot chocolate, hot tea and ice water are available plus breakfast baked goods in the morning, sandwiches at other times, cookies and desserts and fresh fruit. The next morning after having a blueberry muffin and hot tea in the Cafe Promenade, we headed up to the spa for our appointments. We had a wonderful relaxing and much needed hour massage. Our therapists were wonderful. It is the Rasul Chamber than I HAVE to rave about and you HAVE to book this experience for you and your special someone! The Rasul is a room for a couple to use where you have a private steam room and shower. You spend an hour giving each other an exfoliating scrub, facial and body mask and then apply lotion to each other. It was so romantic and totally relaxing. I will book this every cruise from now on. This cruise we didn't attend any of the production shows. Normally we do but this trip we decided to try activities we missed on our other cruises. We sat through a seminar on art history and the methods artists used for creating their art in Boleros. We attended the Port and Shopping Guide presentation in Studio B and was able to learn about the ports we were visiting. We went to a Trivia Challenge session in the Schooner Bar and it was alot of fun. We attended the Quest one night in Studio B and that was a hilarious event. (It is adult-themed and not for the easily offended but this is not to be missed by us from now on) We went to the Karaoke Superstar Finals in the Savoy Theater and WOW!, we had some talented singers on our ship! Usually we play every session of Bingo but we only made it to the Final Session this time that followed the Karaoke Superstar Finals. We had a drink in the Schooner Bar and listened to Angelo play the piano and sing well-known songs that we could sing along with. We thoroughly enjoyed the Crown and Anchor Society's Welcome Back Party. Drinks were replaced frequently and appetizers were offered to us. There was great music being played. Captain Per gave a talk and discussed what was new with Royal Caribbean and what we could expect in the future. It was a very nice event. We sat in the spa in the Solarium after dinner one night and had a relaxing soak all by ourselves. They close that section surprisingly early to clean and while you can go to the other pool, it was windy this trip so I was too cold. The spas are smaller at the main pool and tend to be more crowded too. Please note that the saunas and the spa inside the ShipShape Center is open to everyone but they close at 8pm. Two things I didn't like and was disappointed in on Mariner: was the system for obtaining pool towels and the availability of deck chairs. You have to check out towels now at the pool instead of being given two in your stateroom and then being able to exchange them at the pool for clean ones. Also, if you don't return them by 10pm on the last day, you are charged for them. I was also disappointed that on the last two sea days available lounge chairs were nonexistent and while deck attendants are supposed to make available chairs that have been empty for 30 minutes or more, we couldn't find a place to enjoy the sunny day after walking around the entire deck area of both pools and the multiple levels. That was very frustrating! DISEMBARKATION- The smoothest disembarkation we have ever had! We met in the Savoy Theater about 15 minutes before our scheduled departure time. They had juice, coffee, etc. available for us. Our group was called and we were led off the ship, down the escalator to a large hanger where our luggage was waiting for us. A porter loaded our luggage onto a cart and guided us through the customs line where we turned in our form. He pushed our cart of luggage out to the parking lot where I got the car while my husband waited with the porter until I drove up. The porter loaded our car and we were off! Off the ship and in the car in twenty minutes or less. I only have high praise for the Mariner and it's staff. We would definitely sail again on this ship and this itinerary.