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Royal Caribbean's
Mariner of the Seas
December 14 - 21, 2003
Cruise Review
by
Karen
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 13:32:32 -0500
From: kruz@atlantic.net (karen)
Subject: Review
Here's Johnny...and my review!!
Here’s my review of the absolutely stunning Mariner
of the Seas , 5th sailing on 12/14-12/21,2003.
I must begin this review with Captain Johnny to whom I must thank for a perfect
and wonderful week. This Captain is friendly, personable and a bit “off
the wall” in a good way! I truly believe that it his wonderful relationship
with each and every one of the crew members that made this my favorite cruise
to date! I spoke with a few of the staff and they told me that when other
Captains call a meeting they dread attending. However when Capt. Johnny calls
a meeting they can’t wait to get there! It’s amazing how this
attitude dribbles right on down the line to the passengers ….this is
the very first time I did not hear one (none/zero) complaint from any fellow
cruisers!
Now here are some notes…thoughts and others….
Day one:
First we awoke to hear that Saddam Hussein had been captured! What a way to
start a vacation! We began the 2.5 hour drive to the port to weather that
was bad… .getting worse. Rain and winds made for a difficult drive.
We arrived at Port Canaveral at about 1pm.
Parking and unloading is a disaster….but I won’t go into detail
as there is a lot of construction being done in that area at this time and
I am sure all will be smooth in no time! Parking is $10.00 per day, pre paid.
You may use cash, Master Card or Visa…but you may NOT use American Express.
We entered the terminal, through x ray with our carry
on bags…one of which contained a bottle of champagne and 2 champagne
glasses, a bottle of wine and a bottle of Kirshwasser (horrid stuff!). The
latter was a gift to a couple of Swiss guys we had met on the Cruise Critic
board before our trip. Being a little nervous about this being confiscated.
Our fears were calmed when we reached the end of the belt and the x-ray tech
smiled and said “Good Stuff”!!
We entered the welcome area and although the lines were
long they moved rather quickly.
Somehow our Seapass card was misplaced so we waited
while new ones were being made for us. I would have to say that from the time
we arrived at the port until the time we actually boarded was somewhere about
1.5 hours. We entered the ship on the 4th deck…forward. Arriving in
a stairwell I didn’t feel the full WOW effect that I would have for
the rest of the week that followed. Up stairs we went to check out our first
ever balcony cabin! Beautiful, clean, fresh and new! But we didn’t linger
long as we really needed to check out parts of the ship as well as make our
way to Ellington’s (part of the Viking Crown) to meet up with Meet and
Mingle members for an ornament exchange. It was so great to finally put humans
to pen names!
Back to our cabin to grab our life jacket for the most painless muster drill
ever. Basically you just showed up and it was over before it began! Back to
our cabin for sail away with champagne on the balcony. We also took a moment
to adorn our balcony with xmas lights we had packed for this purpose! We met
one of our next door neighbors who I spoke with several times throughout the
cruise! Never did exchange names though! That’s the way the whole week
was! Everyone so friendly and happy! One big block party all week long!
Our luggage had been place in our cabin so we began to unpack and settle in
for the week. Also getting ready for late dinner which was at 9pm this evening
but 8:30 pm for the rest of the week. Dress was casual this evening.
Our table #550 was just wonderful! I don’t know how Royal Caribbean does it but we were at a table for 8 and all of us got along wonderfully! What a great group of folks we met! Our waiter Alex and asst. Cruz were terrific. The atmosphere at our table and all the other tables in the area was fun the entire week.
One word about the wine and dine package-it was $160.00 plus 15% gratuity
for 7 nights. We did run into a problem one evening when we decided to dine
more casually in the Windjammer. Our Head Waitress , Marianna (who was wonderful!!)
had told us the evening before that all we needed to do was show up at the
Windjammer and give our table number along with our name and there would be
no problem enjoying a bottle of wine with our dinner…..!!! Haha…All
in all, I don’t think we will purchase this package when we return in
April! I feel it would be much easier to just order wine by the glass.
After dinner we went back to our cabin to meet out Steward Hussen (imagine
the ribbing he got all week long!) I requested a larger ice bucket and from
then on found not one but 2 ice buckets in our cabin! Always full!
We checked out the ship a bit and finally succumbed to much needed sleep.
We slept that night with our balcony door opened. Ahhhh…..
Day two:
At sea…..
We awoke to room service calling ahead to see if it was OK to bring our order!
Breakfast on the balcony. Nice. I couldn’t wait to get going to explore
the ship!
We ascended up to the upper level of the ship and walked the mile loop along
with about 60 other folks! Did some exploring. Went to the duty free shop
and bought several bottle of Rum and also a couple bottles of Absolute to
take back to our cabin with us. After learning that there was a $9.50 per
BOTTLE charge for bringing it to our room we opted to save all but 2 bottles
until departure day.
Let’s see…oh, we ate lunch at Johnny Rockets…very
good but the double burger wouldn’t fit in King Kongs’ mouth!
Then at 1pm it was off to our Meet and Mingle once again to take place in
Ellington’s Lounge. We met Tracy, the ships social hostess. She is very
sweet, from York England! Considering the fact that she was in need of a root
canal that week and had to wait until we reached Cozumel she did a wonderful
job!
After this we strolled around the main pool area and
got there just in time to see Mr. Skinny Legs! Now, I am not a huge fan of
this type of activity but let me tell you it was about the funniest thing
I had seen in a long time! We really were sailing with a bunch of fun loving
folks!
At 3pm we met my Mom at the wine tasting…..a word
here. ..don’t waste you time!
Because it was formal night and I had never had an “up” do I made an appt. for the spa for 7:00. Another word here…do NOT have too many cocktails before you get your hair done! The price for the do wasn’t too bad…but I am now the proud owner of a diamond barrette that I need to lock in a safe!!!!!! I won’t even tell you what I paid for it!
I scrambled to get dressed and get out of our cabin to go watch Captain Johnny
welcome us all aboard! What a show!!!
Then to dinner and the Kareoke talent contest (more laughs!) ! Then to bed
since tomorrow we would be at Labadee and we wanted to get up early to watch
us sail in!
Day three:
Labadee…
Haiti is absolutely beautiful from the ship. Steep. Lush green mountains rushing
down to meet the blue Caribbean Sea….
The tenders here are huge and virtually no waiting at all to get off the ship.
Labadee is very pretty…the area is broken up into coves and beaches.
The far side of the island has a longer beach but because of the steep incline
it really isn’t the type beach to just take a nice long walk on! I guess
I am spoiled living here in Florida and the endless beaches to walk on!
Word of advice here….don’t rush to be the first one off the ship….there
are lots of lounger chair people just waiting to set up lounges for you …for
a tip…of course!
If you wait a while a lot of lounges have already been abandoned and you can
just ease on into one!
The second and most important word of advice….if you want to shop…when
you are looking at the shopping area there is a store on your left hand side
where no one bothers you at all!! Matter of fact you have to ask for help!
Now.. you go in the store on your right and there are more people selling
you things that there are things to buy (if you catch my drift!) I couldn’t
wait to get out of there…I needed air! I have never had to say “NO”
so much in my life…and I have raise 2 kids…so if this gives you
any indication at all of the hagglers…..
After the BBQ lunch we decided to head back to the ship so we could be chair
hogs!
Oh….tonite was 50’s night ….C&A repeaters party in the
Lotus Lounge starring Ken Rush and Capt. Johnny! We learned that the new Ultra
Voyager would be about 100 yards longer than the Mariner! When asked what
the new ship may have to fill in extra space Capt. Johnny suggested Tennis
and a bowling alley! Who knows!!!
After diner was the Quest!!! I can’t say too much about it….I
laughed so hard I hurt myself a couple times! Oh and one other thing…my
Dad “James” decided to be a team captain! Nuff said!
Day four:
Ocho Rios…..
I was so hesitant about this port…but don’t believe all that you
read!!!! That is all I can say! Jamaica is beautiful!!! The rails leading
into the duty free shops are painted Caribbean blue and green!! In our usual
“vacation” mode of strolling off the ship we were a bit late for
our Peat Taylor tour. But.. When in Jamaica there is always no problem mon!!
Peat arrived within minutes and gave us a special ride over to the falls!
I had e-mailed him way back in August. It totally amazed me that when we got
on his bus he greeted me by my name!!! We were careful to walk the way Peat
told us to…avoiding the hagglers that lurked off to the right and left
of the park. There is one very comical man dressed up as a woman and he has
a donkey all covered in flowers. DO NOT take his picture.. it will cost you!
We met up with our group and proceeded to venture down to the bottom of the
falls! This is a spectacular site to see…. The river flowing right on
out to the open sea! We held hands a!
s a human chain and proceeded to ascend the falls! What great fun we had!!
Now..as you leave the park you must be careful not to stray. A couple on our
buss were told they HAD to go through the marketplace. One of the young men
was asked his name and the next thing he knew his name was engraved on a wooden
statue! Lucky thing for him his wife had all their money and she was able
to get him out of his jam!
Peat then took us on a wonderful ride/tour through the fern gulley and way
up into the mountains! Jamaica is some rugged territory! Then it was back
to the ship for a quick lunch. We decided we would go to Margaritaville after
lunch and Peat insisted he give us a ride. It was barely at the end of the
parking lot!! Pretty funny! We said our goodbyes and checked out Margaritaville!
Lots of folks having lots of fun! There is a shopping area, very new, called
Island Village and there are a bunch of little shops located here. I got a
really different wooden wind chime.
We walked back to the ship and found an invitation to come join some of our
friends in their owners suite for sail away! Very nice J.
After dinner this night I think we were beat and never made it to the Caribbean
pool party up stairs.
Day five:
Grand Cayman…
Oh boy…this was the day I had waited months for….Grand Cayman…swimming
with the sting rays! I just couldn’t wait! One look at the shoreline
and I knew..I just knew there was no way in the world we were going to Grand
Cayman today. You could see the waves breaking on shore..they must have been
40 ft. high.
To compensate Capt. Johnny bought us screwdrivers,bloody Mary’s and
Mimosas for one hour! We visited the Solarium pool…no retractable roof
and actually gets quite stuffy during warmer weather. Then it was finally
up to the gym. Tons of new,modern equipment. There is nothing better feeling
than pedaling and looking out over the front of the ship…almost makes
you feel like the faster you pedal the faster the ship will go!
The weather wasn’t too great this day so we did stuff like check out
and make our donations to the casino…had a Molito at Boleros and basically
just checked out the ship some more.
Tonite was the Platnuim/Diamond repeaters party…very nice and Ken ,Johnny
and Tracy were all there to chat with us again!
Day five:
Cozumel….
Got off the ship, met up with our Swiss friends and hopped in a cab to Dzul
Ha…found there really nother is there and headed back to the pier. The
water was still very rough from the storm that had passed through the day
before. We decided to rent a car fro the day. What a great idea this turned
out to be. I believe it was $85.00 from Hertz for a Jeep Wrangler. We headed
out along the coast and found Paradise beach. A very large green lawn leads
up to a well manicured parking area! Nice J. They must have imported the sand….soft
and white. There were chaise lounges there with small tablkes and umbrellas.
A great bar and new,clean bathrooms. The service was great! Chi was our waiter
for the day and he made sure we had plenty of cervesas! We snorkled and lounged
and
drank and ate had a very , very nice day here. The time was up before we knew
it and decided to take the long way back to the ship. There are so many pristine
beaches along the south side of the island.. Very picturesque. We decided
to make a pitt stop at the Mayan Ruins….don’t bother…waste
of time and money…although I did get a great photo of an iguana. We
about made it back to the ship for sail away! The first time I was in Cozumel
I didn’t care for it..now I can’t wait to go back!
We were so exhausted from the daytime activities that we skipped dinner…slept
right thorugh!
Day 6:
At sea….
Well…you know what day this is….time to pack up, say goodbyes,hand
out tips and promise to e-mail everyone! Oh and don’t forget it’s
Snowball Bingo! Yes..I went down to play for the jackpot! A very lucky lady
from CO. won over 8 grand!
The weather was cold..that’s right, Cuba was off to our side and yet
the weather was cold!
We pretty much stuck to indoor stuff today.
There is a lot we did that I am not going to go into detail with but I will
say make your way into the Dragons Liar at least once and say Hi to the bartenders
there! We witnessed a Michael Jackson dance off contest one evening….these
guys were professionals!
Also Kevin and the boys up in Ellingtons as well as the folks in the Plaza
bar. There truly wasn’t enough time to sample the different bars..for
example we never did make it to the Vintages Wine Bar, the Champagne Bar,
the English Tavern (name slips my mind right now) The 19th Hole, boy..there
are alot of bars on this ship!
The staff in the Windjammers were truly helpful,friendly and happy! The entire
atmosphere of this ship just blew my mind! So much so that we are going back
in April!
Sorry this dragged on….and also for any typos!
If you have any questions and I can help I would be more than happy to answer
you!
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