Mariner May 9, 2010 through May 16, 2010

Mariner of the Seas Cruise Review to Mexico

GregoryJ

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 0

Helpful Votes: 15

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Mexican Riviera (Los Angeles Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 09, 2010

Ship: Mariner of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Reviewed: 14 years ago

Review summary

The Mariner of the Seas is a beautiful ship (huge!!!!) and our D2 balconey cabin on Deck 9 was incredible. The staff were attentive and not at all imposing on our time and space. The food-in all dining venues-was not very good but we don't consider that a deal breaker. In the main dining area you do get the feeling that you are being rushed but it is a big ship with lots of people waiting to occupy your space. Ports of call were terrific. A lot of people seem to not like Mazatlan but we loved it. We limited our touring to the Zona Historico having gotten enough of the modern in Cabo San Lucas the day before. We hired a open air cab for $20 for an hour and saw a lot but we really enjoyed walking around exploring. Puerto Vallarta is in a class all its own. We did splurge and took an older British couple up to Chico's Paradise up in the mountains for $40 cabride round trip (have your cabbie wait for you while you have lunch-we had ours come into the restaurant and treated him to lunch). We did not utilize ship run excursions (too controlled and geared for shopping and too expensive. We also did not use the supplemental restaurants as we've done so on other trips.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Bland and unimaginative. Same lunch for breakfast and menu in dining room day after day after day. Food in Windjammer was the same.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Shipboard entertaining was not entertaining.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Excellent everywhere. The only disappointment was the bartending/wait staff at Schooner's. Islynn in Ellington's/Viking Crown Lounge is the best. Lloyd-our cabin steward was incredible.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Beautiful, incredibly big and spicspan clean. The elevators were generally inadequate but noticed most people on elevators were using it for one or two floors rather than taking the stairs.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

D2 Balcony on Deck 9----big, lots of storage, quiet and impeccably clean.