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nhrich
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| Joined: | Thu Jun 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Windham, NH |
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Posted: Sun Nov 5th, 2006 11:28 pm | 1st Post |
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My wife, Jeri, & I led a group of 60 passengers on Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas, sailing from Port Canaveral to Labadee, Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. While, except for Labadee, we had sailed to these ports previously, having booked this group gave us an excuse to visit them again. Most of this group was first-time cruisers, and it is fun reliving the excitement of a first cruise.
Orlando/Port Canaveral
Our entire group flew into Orlando the day before the cruise, and we had a block of hotel rooms at the Amerisuites Orlando Airport Northeast. This hotel is convenient to the airport, and offers a shuttle between the airport and hotel along with a breakfast buffet. While nothing fancy, it was clean and comfortable, and we would not hesitate to stay there again.
To get to the pier, we had contracted with Mears Transportation to provide bus transportation from the hotel to the pier, about 45 minutes away. Buses arrived a few minutes before the appointed time of 10:45, our luggage was loaded, and off we went. As we approached the pier, since we were sitting in the front seats of the bus, we saw the ships in the distance (the Mariner was in port with Disney Wonder, and Carnival Ecstasy), and pointed them out to the group. Since many of them had never seen a cruise ship up close and personal before, there were lots of oohs, ahhs, and wows.
Embarkation
Once we arrived at the pier at about 11:45, the porters unloaded all of the luggage from our buses and sent it through to the ship. The line was out the door of the terminal, but once it started moving at about 12:00, it moved right along. The first stop is the security checkpoint, which is just like the airport checkpoints (except the people are friendlier). From there, the line goes to the check-in counter. Even though it looked like a long line, the RCI reps keep it moving. As soon as one spot opens up, they move folks right along.
Once we had checked in and gotten our Sea Passes, we were off to get the usual embarkation pictures taken, and also our security pictures which are contained on the magnetic strip on the Sea Pass. Any time that you get off or on the ship, your Sea Pass is scanned, and the picture checked (supposedly). We were on the ship by 12:45 and in our cabin by 1:00.
The Ship
Since we had sailed last year on the Voyager of the Seas, a sister ship to the Mariner, finding our way around on the Mariner was very easy.
The centerpiece of the Voyager-class ships is a large four-story atrium, based on deck 5 with stores, restaurants, and bars lining both sides of the main promenade, which serves as a Main Street, and a central gathering place on the ship, much like a small town square. Cabins overlook the promenade from the three decks above (make sure to keep your drapes closed if you don’t want people to be able to look in, especially those directly across from you). Oftentimes, there is entertainment along the promenade, whether it be musicians performing, or one of the twice per week late night parades.
Among the stores along the promenade are the usual…clothing, jewelry, cruise line paraphernalia, liquor, and cigarettes (the latter two items at great duty-free prices). The bars include the Wig & Gavel, where there are seats along the promenade (much like a sidewalk café), along with inside the bar.
Deck 8 contains the Internet cafe, complete with Internet Access for $.50 per minute. If you have your own laptop computer with you (as we did), unlimited access is available from your cabin for $100 for a 7-night cruise. The connection speed is similar to a 56K dialup; not great, but it works. If you’re going to take advantage of the unlimited access, go to the Guest Relations desk on deck 5 (at the aft end of the promenade) right after you board to get a CyberCabin kit, as they have a limited number of these.
Deck 11 features the main pool deck, which is broken into two areas. The first is the main pool, complete with bars and hot tubs. The other area is an adult only pool, also complete with hot tubs. Also on this deck is the Peek-a-Boo Bridge, where you have the opportunity to watch the activity on the bridge of the ship. Since bridge tours are no longer allowed, this is your best chance to see what goes on at the ship’s command center. There is also an explanation of what the different parts of the bridge are for. The Windjammer (buffet) is also located on this deck.
Deck 12 contains the upper deck for the pool deck, Johnny Rockets, and the Adventure Ocean (the kids’ area and teen center – no adults are allowed in the teen center). The teen center was a popular place during the week for the teens in our group.
Decks 13 and 14 feature the sports center for the ship, complete with a full-court basketball court, in-line skating track, a 30-foot rock-climbing wall (which, at the top, will put you about 200 feet above sea level), miniature golf course, and golf simulator. There is no additional charge for any of these activities, except for $25 per hour for the golf simulator.
The captain on this ship was “Captain Johnny” Faevelen from Norway. He is very personable, and his daily announcements were entertaining. His biography is also available for purchase onboard the ship and he does hold an autograph session during the week. The cruise director was James Andrews from Australia. He was okay, but for us, we’ve never had a cruise director make or break our cruise. Frankly, we don’t get involved enough in a lot of the shipboard activities to really care that much about who the cruise director is.
Our Cabin
Our balcony cabin was #7260, on deck 7. This was a spacious cabin, and the balcony had plenty of room. There was a sofa and vanity/work area. For the two of us, the cabin was quite comfortable, and there was plenty of storage space left over after we unpacked our two large suitcases and two carry-ons. The beds were pushed together into a queen bed, and the bump in the middle of the two beds was barely noticeable.
The Itinerary
The itinerary for this cruise, as I mentioned before, was the Western Caribbean – Labadee, Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.
Labadee is a private beach resort area owned by Royal Caribbean. Due to the shallow waters, there’s a tender operation, with 3-4 large tenders running constantly throughout the day. There is plenty of beach space here; if one area is too crowded, just keep going. If you’re looking for shade, make sure to get off the ship fairly early, as there aren’t a lot of shady areas. Lounges are available, and there is a staff on the beach to bring lounges wherever you’d like. There is a water park there with plenty of water activities, most at an extra cost, of course. Also there is a craft market, where we found most of the artisans to be quite aggressive. We just told most of them “no, thank you”, and kept walking. Beyond the craft market is a store where we found the shopping to be more pleasurable, just for the normal small souvenirs that we wanted to buy.
While on Labadee, the ship provided a barbecue lunch…ribs, hot dogs, burgers, etc. The Windjammer was closed on the ship for lunch. Also, bar waiters from the ship are on the beach offering beverages for those that are inclined. The stop in Labadee is a very relaxing, fun day.
The next stop (Wednesday) was Ocho Rios. We had been there several times, and this time had a day pass to visit Sandals Grande Ocho Rios. We were able to tour the property, use their facilities, and enjoy cocktails and lunch there. It’s a nice all-inclusive resort for anyone planning on staying in Ocho Rios.
On the way back to the ship, we stopped at Island Village to do a little bit of shopping. There’s also a Margaritaville here for those looking for a fun time. Between Island Village and the main pier, where we were docked, there is additional shopping, and for the most part, the prices are better along this section.
The people in our group who went to the craft market all commented on how much they were harassed by the vendors, not to mention how many offers they got for drugs. Of course, we had warned them all beforehand, but they had to see for themselves. This type of environment does sour many people on Ocho Rios.
On Thursday, our port of call was Grand Cayman. We had arranged a special customized charter trip for those of our group that were interested. Starting at Captain Marvin’s office (a couple of blocks up from the pier), we boarded buses to take us to their boat where we headed out to Stingray City. Arriving at Stingray City, we watched as quite a few stingray started swimming towards our boat. We entered the water (it’s only waist deep), armed with food, and the stingray would come right up to us and rub along our legs (they’re very smooth, and don’t hurt you). When you put the food right in front of them (their eyesight’s not the greatest), they will take it.
From Stingray City, we went to another spot to snorkel. The crew on the boat said that it wasn’t the area they usually went to, but because the seas were so calm they could do it. The snorkeling was good in the area, and a couple of our group found some large conch shells that they took. After the snorkel stop, we went back to the dock, and re-boarded our buses to go to Seven Mile Beach.  From here, some of our group went parasailing, while the rest of us soaked up the rays and water. The final portion of our special excursion was a glass-bottom boat to take us from Seven Mile Beach back to the dock across the street from Captain Marvin’s. This was a wonderful excursion, and made for a busy day.
Since we had been to Grand Cayman several times before, and because it was so hot, at this point we walked back to the tender pier and got a tender back to the ship.
This was also a great day of celebration. We had made arrangements for two of the couples in our group to get married on Grand Cayman.
On Friday, our final port of call was Cozumel. We docked at the International Pier there, which is about 3 miles outside of downtown San Miguel. We again had a day pass for a resort, this time the Grand Cozumel Occidental, located about 10-15 minutes from the pier. While we were not able to get a full tour of this property, the parts that we did see were very nice. Again, we were able to use the facilities, and have lunch and drinks.
Dining
Our group was all assigned to early dinner seating (by our request), and were all seated in the same general area of the Rhapsody in Blue dining room (the lowest level of the three-level dining room). Our waiters were Sandu and Felix (although other tables had different wait teams), and they were excellent. They were very personable, and made sure that everyone had a pleasant dining experience. Sandu would have recommendations, and would strongly suggest some of them, even to the point of insisting that people tried them. We were very pleased with both of them, and would love to see them again on another cruise.
We found that the dining room food was very good, although some nights the selections were not the best. Over the years, we’ve found that on some ships, it would be difficult to make a decision what to have for dinner because of having several excellent choices…not so on the Mariner. Usually there would be one entrée (except on the nights such as lobster night, when we also ordered the beef) that stuck out above the rest.
The Mariner also has two extra charge restaurants at dinner…Chops (steak house) and Portofino’s (Italian). While we did not try either of them, some in our group did try Portofino’s, and raved about the food and service. The charge for these restaurants is $20 per person.
For breakfasts, normally we would just get pastries and coffee from the Promenade Café, although we did try the Windjammer and the dining room. We found that the food and selection were better at the Windjammer. Royal Caribbean serves Seattle’s Best Coffee. We’ve read many complaints about the coffee on some of the on-line cruise forums, but we loved it. I think that the reason some people complain about the coffee is that it is quite strong, but since we both like strong coffee, we didn’t have a problem with it.
At lunch, we tried the Windjammer, the dining room, and Johnny Rocket’s during the week. The dining room menu was limited and constant throughout the week with one daily special which would vary by day. The food and service were very good, however. Again, the Windjammer offered an excellent selection, and for buffet fare, was excellent.
Johnny Rocket’s has a $3.95 per person cover charge. Crown & Anchor members (past passengers) receive a coupon book in their cabin which includes a coupon for the cover charge for one visit. When we ate there (the first sea day), we got there when they opened at 11:30, and it was not busy, but by 12:00 it was full. The burgers, fries, onion rings, and apple pie a la mode were all very good, and are included in the cover charge. Shakes and soda are at an extra charge.
Entertainment
Monday night’s show was BeatleMania Live. This is a talented group of musicians who tour throughout the country, performing Beatles hits. If you did not know better, you would think it was the real group. Even if you do not catch them on a ship, if you’re a Beatles fan, be sure to catch them when they come to your area.
One of the highlights of the week is the ice show. This is performed four times during the week during the Western Caribbean itinerary – Monday and Thursday afternoons, and two shows Wednesday evening. You must get tickets in advance, and these are available Monday morning. We attended the Wednesday show, and it was absolutely fantastic. Not only are the skaters extremely talented, but everyone was left wondering how some of the costume changes were done so quickly. The rink opens about _ hour prior to the show, and it is open seating.
On Friday night, we attended the comedy show performed by “Two Funny Guys” – Mario & Daniel, who perform regularly at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. They were a refreshing break from the regular cruise ship comedians who comment only on what they’ve seen going on during the cruise. Again, if you’re in Las Vegas and they are performing, you might want to see their show.
While we did not attend the other shows during the week, they were another comedian (Miguel Washington), the Royal Caribbean Singers & Dancers, and the farewell variety show. The normal horse racing and Quest also were done during the week.
Disembarkation
Unfortunately, we had to end the cruise when we got back to Port Canaveral. Everyone must be out of their staterooms by 8:00. Breakfast is available in the Windjammer and dining room, but there is no room service after 2:00 AM. Since our buses (again from Mears Transportation) were to be waiting for us, we got luggage tags which were estimated for 9:00 AM disembarkation. For those people packing light enough to carry their own bags off the ship (rather than putting them in the hallway the night before), disembarkation actually started shortly after 7:00 AM. Somehow, they fell behind in the schedule, and our color was not called until 9:50. We went off the ship, and got our luggage, which is brought through on baggage carousels similar to what you’d see at an airport, rather than all lined up in a warehouse. We quickly cleared Customs and Immigration (one stop) and found our buses for the return trip to the Orlando Airport, where we arrived at about 11:40.
Summary
We had wonderful weather the entire week, and very calm seas. I don’t believe that we encountered any waves more than about 2 feet the whole cruise. Our whole group had a great time, and I think we’ve made some lifetime cruisers out of most of them.
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Rich, ACC
Carefree Vacations
http://www.carefree-vacations.net
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Catnip
Charter Member
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Posted: Mon Nov 6th, 2006 01:34 am | 2nd Post |
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Great review, Rich!!!!!!!! :dude: I am hoping that they choose this ship for the FOMT cruise in Nov!!!!!!!!
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33 previous cruises..
Next up: Celebrity Solstice 1-09/Jewel of the Seas 3-09/ QM 2 11-09/ Queen Victoria 1/10
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