United We Stand
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 19:39:19 -0400
From: "Vicki Schwab" <vschwab@charter.net>
Subject: Review
We did a pre-cruise to Walt Disney World, which was very enjoyable.
We rented a Budget car - and drove to Port Canaveral on Sunday morning. Budget took us directly to the ship within a few minutes of our arrival. Very nice.
The Mariner of the Seas is very pretty - I did not care for the artwork as much as the other ships. It tended to be too strange for me - although the pool area was much nicer visually.
The Mariner is almost the same as the other large RCCL ships with the exception that the verandas have glass fronts - that you can see through rather than the metal.
We stayed in a Grand Suite - which was large with concierge service. Our concierge was very nice and arranged everything for us.
The ice show as wonderful, so was the casino. The Idol Karaoke was great.
But - the food left a great deal to be desired. The luch dining menu was the same every day. Several nights I was tempted to eat only appetizers because the meal selections were poor. The food was never very hot. The soups were just okay. Same salad dressings every night. Portofinos was good for the appetizer, salad and dessert. Chops grill was much better. I actually lost five pounds from the walking on the ship.
Debarkation was much smoother in Port Canaveral than Puerto Rico or Miami. Quicksilver Tours as there at 8:30 a.m. to pick us up and deliver us to the airport. We arrived at 9:20 - very good service in a clean van. Cost was $105.00. (My son and his wife also cruised with us.)
All in all - for the $6,000.00 it cost us, I really have to think twice about doing RCCL again with their food quality. I realize that this tends to be a site that only compliments RCCL, but since I have checked it religiously for the past two years for reports on Mariner, and there were very few, I thought that after 9 RCCL cruises, I could give an honest one. Sorry.
| |