Tendering was fairly simple once it got going, but because the ship pulled in late a lot of people were already waiting to get off and it was very crowded at first. 
We book an independent excursion through a third party to do a combo SCUBA/snorkeling trip. They took us out to Pelican Rocks. It was great for the divers but very choppy for the snorkelers as every glass-bottom boat in the area cut through here. I felt like I really had to watch my kids closely. They had fun but half an hour was enough with the chop and rented equipment for the younger ones. 


Cabo San Lucas

They take you out of the industrial port in a shuttle bus, no big deal. The area after that is crawling with tour vendors, but we'd already arranged our own with Randi's Happy Horses. They shuttled us by taxi and water taxi to Stone Island, where we took a horseback ride on the beach. They were so good with our kids, even the little ones. They loved being on horseback and I felt very secure. It was so beautiful. 
We ended up on the beach at Victor's and Randi buys the first round. The kids played on the wide, shallow beach and we had lunch there as well. About the only blemish was the endless parade of vendors asking us to buy things -- even putting them in DS5's hands! 


Mazatlan

We split up on this day. I took DS14 and DD11 to the zipline at Los Veranos, booked independently. It was a group of about 35 people on the tour but didn't feel too crowded. There is a good deal of hiking and we were breathing hard in the 85-percent humidity. The kids loved the zipline. We sat around in the restaurant at the bottom afterward and shared lunch and sodas. A DVD is $40; individual stills are $10 each. 
DH took DD8 and DS5 to Vallarta Adventures' dolphin center for a program called "Dolphin Kids." No dolphin ride, but the smaller kids can pet them and kiss them, play ball and dance with them, etc. They were the only 2 in their group and were in the water on a shallow shelf for 45 minutes. DH was far away, making the pictures difficult, so he got talked into buying a CD at the end for $99. At least they let them pick the pictures from the many they took. 


Puerto Vallarta

They had us sign all of the activity waivers at once so they could go ice skating, rock climbing, etc.I'd have to say our cruise was about as close to a perfect 10 as we could hope for with our family.

Mariner of the Seas Review

Our kids loved the Mariner!

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Superior Oceanview Stateroom with Balcony

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