Seven Seas Mariner Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We have previously travelled with mainstream cruise lines such as P&O, Princess, Celebrity, RCI etc and thought we would try a more expensive '5 star' cruise. While many elements of the ship and the cruise were excellent and merited the extra cost, there were some surprising negatives also.
Food varied from acceptable to excellent, with the exception of the Signatures restaurant - pretentious menu and average to poor food! The main restauarant was great for couples with lots of tables for 2 by the windows! The food was often great - lunches in the main restaurant were particularly unusual and excellently flavoured; also the portions were not too big which is great at lunchtime. Occasionally, however, there were some very odd and definitely second class offerings - one afternoon tea, the only sandwiches were cheap potted meat or jam (I haven't been offered a jam sandwich since I was a child when it was definitely food for the poor!!!)
The upsides first:-
Cabin Review
Deluxe Suite
Big, beautifully furnished, well equipped, great balcony. Wonderful in every way
Port Reviews
Venice
Wonderful but very very very busy. You need to get out on your own and walk away from the main centres if you want some peace and quiet
Dubrovnik
Beautiful and lots to see but very busy, which almost spoiled it for us. Also, we only had hald a day which is not long enough to do it justice
Kotor
Lovely old town with lots to see. We did a trip to Perast in the bay which I would strongly recommend - beautiful place and lots to see. We also walked up the hill over Kotor - hard work but great views
Corfu
Lovely island - very green and scenic. Corfu Town is lovely with lots of interesting old buildings and shops. The Old Fort is well worth exploring
Athens (Piraeus)
Having visited Athens before, we took a trip to Cape Sounion and I couldn't recommend more highly - it was fabulous. It is a long but wonderful coach ride along the lovely coastline. Cape Sounion is spectacular with the Temple of Poseidon wonderfully positioned on aheadland. While we were there, it was quiet - only about 20 of us in the whole site - fantastic tour!!
Santorini
Just one of our favourite destinations - spectacular scenery, beautiful villages, lovely people. We were lucky - only 2 small cruise ships there - so it was easy to get around by coach and on foot in the villages. My sister went when there were 8 cruise ships and all they saw was traffic!!!
Kusadasi
Took the trip to Ephesus - just magnificent - interesting countryside, wonderul ruins. Only downside was the crowds - be ready to be one of the multitude. We visited the House of the Virgin Mary and St John's Basilica where he is buried - you really feel you are walking into history!
Istanbul
It would be 5+ if it wasn't for the crowds. We sailed in at lunchtime - best arrival I have experienced in any port as you sail close to all the main sights. Lots to see and do but incredibly busy everywhere. Blue Mosque, Topkapi, Kariye Cami, Grand Bazaar all well worth visiting but Yerebatan Sariye (the underground cistern) is the highlight for me!