Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas - Cruise Review

Royal Caribbean's
Mariner of the Seas
May 24 - 31, 2009
Cruise Review
by
David Handrahan

From: "David Handrahan" <dahandra@msn.com>
Date: Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 16:31:29
Subject: Cruise Review - Mariner of the Seas - May 24 - 31, 2009

Embarkation: Was a challenge for several reasons specific to this limited time itinerary, so we’ll skip those. I will say that RC worked hard to overcome the challenges and pulled off the boarding as well as possible under the circumstances. An issue that pertains to all cruises out of LA is the terminal. Don’t look for much in the way of seating or amenities; even if you are Platinum or Diamond level guest, there ain’t much. The first on-board disappointment we had involved the soft drink packages. We had paid in advance to take advantage of this deal which we use every cruise. We thought it would help control our end of the cruise bill total, which it did; the problem is nobody briefed the RC folks on how to deal with someone who pre-paid. We could not get the stickers from anyone to put on our cards to get the drinks with our welcome aboard lunch and our insulated cups that came with the package were up in our cabin which was not ready for us to go into…there were no stickers there either. Eventually, a very nice gentleman at one of the bars near the Windjammer found someone who made no less than three phone calls to get us taken care of. We had lunch and by the time we finished, our cabin was ready for us to check out.

Cabin: We got a really good deal on the price of the D1 category balcony cabin on the RC website and our Platinum status got another $100 total knocked off the fare. We met our Cabin Attendant Althea who took outstanding care of us the entire trip. Our luggage arrived later that afternoon after the mandatory lifeboat drill and we started to map out our plans for where/what to eat for dinner. We had been placed in the second seating in the dining room, but decided to skip that and have very good room service meals. In fact, through the entire cruise, we did not even go into the main dining room. More on that later.

Food: I know what you’re saying, how can he talk about food if he did not go near the dining room? We took advantage of all the other eating venues on the Mariner. Our favorite is Chops Grille. We ate there 3 evenings out of the seven we were at sea. The food is phenomenal, the service impeccable and I know some people say “I don’t want to pay and extra $25 per person” but in our opinions it is well worth it. We had already pre-paid for two nights (we added the 3rd night because things were so good the first two) and unlike the soft drink program debacle the folks in Chops had this one down pat. Our servers all three nights in Chops (Vaz and Mihaelea) spoiled us rotten and we were more than happy to present them with gratuities we would have otherwise given to the dining room staff. The Windjammer on the Mariner is very nice, clean and well stocked----it has to be. There were a couple of mornings where trying to find a table was like attempting to locate the Holy Grail---I think they need to have a bigger eating are for a ship of this size. We also had dinner one night (or late afternoon actually) in Johnny Rockets. It was OK, a nice change from the other spots. You have to pay a $4.95 cover charge per person for your food; there are extra fees for drinks and milk shakes.

The Ship: The Mariner is HUGE! It’s hard to believe the about to be launched (in December) “Oasis of the Seas” will hold twice as many (over 6,000) passengers. The ship’s features are numerous and impressive. From the ice skating rink to the Royal Promenade to more clubs and bars than you can count, you will never run out of things to do on the Mariner. The ship’s Master, Captain “Johnny” is a riot. He works very hard to ensure everyone has a good time and his talents as a “Mariner” were evident on several occasions as he kept our voyage on-time, smooth and even impressively guided the ship under the Golden Gate Bridge with about only 20 feet of clearance (you can watch the short video I took on youtube titled “Golden Gate Close Encounter”). Abe, the Cruise Director, was active and effective without ever coming across as “pushy” like some of the folks we’ve sailed with before. My wife Debi even said for once she went to the spa and had her hair done and nobody tried to do the hard sell on the product they have for sale there; like almost everyone else we met in the Mariner crew, they were focused on customer service and making our trip enjoyable.

Debarkation: Extremely uneventful and smooth. We got up, got dressed and having chosen to handle our own baggage, we walked off the ship and got in our car and were on the road heading home (we drove to L.A. from AZ) before 8 AM.

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