This cruise was offered to us at a considerable discount in return for relinquishing a similar itinerary on Explorer. We liked that it started in San Francisco and ended in New York. Staff was wonderful for the most part, and we felt pampered throughout our cruise. The cabin (concierge D) was smaller than expected and quite cramped, but our steward and stewardess supplied our every need with a smile. Main dining room food was tasty and varied, excellent service. Also enjoyed Prime7, Signatures, La Veranda (Sette Mari). Best drinks were at the pool bar, with bartender Inna managing to make my virgin drinks taste like the real thing. Unfortunately the weather was too hot and humid to spend much time on the pool deck. We enjoyed the Jean Ann Ryan entertainment, and we're sad to learn that this was their last time on Mariner as Regent has opted to hire entertainment in- house. It was difficult to enjoy most shore excursions in Mexico and Central America due to the heat and humidity. The Panama Canal day was everything we had hoped for and more. Disembarkation was quick and easy. Getting a cab on our own ( because we had booked our own hotel for a few days) in NYC took an hour standing in line in unseasonably hot weather. Read Less

The cruise started badly, my wife and I ( she is confined to a wheelchair ) were left stranded at San Francisco airport by the Princess rep, who had no transport to take us to our hotel, or from the hotel to the ship, even though we had filled in all the disability requirement forms that we were sent. There was no disabled room at the hotel they booked us into, it had a bath, so I had to wash my wife on the bed. The cabin on the ship was large enough, but grab rails running behind the shower seat and toilet meant that it was painful for my wife to use either. Their solution was to put a stool in the shower, which she could not sit on and did not address the toilet problem. We ended up tying towels round the bars to give her something to lean her back against. The door to the cabin had a strong spring and made entering and exiting difficult to say the least. All disabled toilets apart from a couple were inside the normal toilets so we couldn't use them. The door in the unisex disabled toilet had a spring so powerful that it was impossible to hold open and negotiate the wheelchair without it slamming back on my wifes legs Entertainment was mediocre, with disabled places at the back of the theatre, which were not policed by staff, so on most nights able bodied people had usually put easy chairs there and were sat in them. The ship was very hard to get around with sun beds blocking the decks and cleaning trollies continually left in the corridors. Food was poor, both choice and quality and even though we had wine with our evening meal I actually lost weight The ports of call were fine although no trips ( walking or otherwise ) were organised for prople who could not walk or could not manage to get on a coach unaided. My wife and I have done 20+ excellent cruises with other companies and princess are the only company we would not recommend to anyone else Read Less