Lots of fun with room for lots of improvement

Item: Mariner of the Seas
Rating: 4.7
Author: Ant2323

Mariner of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas

Ant2323

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 22

Overall rating:

4.7 out of 5

4 Night Bahamas (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 20, 2018

Ship: Mariner of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

Overall the ship itself is very nice with the new upgrades. The waterslides are awesome. It seems there’s a lot of room for improvement in training as much of the staff seems very new and multiple times I was given incorrect information and had to spend extra time getting it fixed. Since Royal Caribbean is more family oriented I would like to see them maybe reach out to you prior to your departure to go over with the kids services are explained them better get you registered for them and maybe have information ahead of time on volunteers for the in room babysitting.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Entertainment

We unfortunately did not get to do any shows as the interim babysitting was not available and didn’t really get a breakdown of how the kids services worked at night since every time we went to talk about it they were too busy to really explain it.

Children's Programs

This was something we were most excited for especially the in room babysitting. However the website lists it as first come first serve but when you arrive they tell you that it is by volunteer basis. And unfortunately there are no volunteers on our itinerary therefore we had no way to utilize the into room babysitting for our one and a half-year-old and eight-year-old. They also did not do a very good job explaining what the kids services were like when we went up to sign my son up so he had no interest in attending and was really only interested in being outside not playing inside. I would like to see them come up with a system where they’re able to take the children outside to the waterslides are other activities outdoors. Also watch out for the arcade even if you don’t allow your children charging access once they’ve exceeded the pre-paid credit on their account it lets them go over my son somehow ran up $60 over the credit we had bought him and had to fight with them to get it credited back something that should’ve very easily either not have happened or when it happened them acknowledging it was their mistake and crediting her right away not a 45 minute argument about it.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

We had a balcony room. Overall the size was bigger than I expected. My only wish was that when they came in in the morning they turned the couch bed back into a couch to give us more room and when they came in at night for the turndown service that’s when they converted it back to a bed. Had it been the couch the whole time it would’ve felt less cramped but overall the size was good for my family which includes myself my wife and two children.

Ship tip

If you’re interested in in room babysitting definitely find out the first day if it’s even available we didn’t know it till day two in the morning as no one had called us the night of the Telus. If you’re cruising with smaller children skip Nassau and spend your Nassau day on the ship doing all the waterslides and fun stuff because when it’s a cruising day everything will be very busy and you won’t get to experience as much.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

4 out of 5

Cococay (Cruise Line's Private Island)

5 out of 5

Cococay was very nice. We rented one of the daybeds as a way to be comfortable throughout the day and keep her young daughter out of the sun so we could enjoy as much time on the beach as possible. The only downfall the location of the daybeds is in a rather Maki soft area of the beach so once you get past your lower legs new sink down like it’s quicksand. We had to walk to the other end in order to go anywhere where you could be in water above your waist. The daybed rental was definitely worth the added cost as we had a private bathroom area bar a premium lunch package that was delivered to us and the overall comfort of the beds. I would assume if traveling with adults the Bungalo option would be equally worth it

Thumbs Up 0

Nassau, Bahamas Did not visit port

We got off the ship and were immediately hounded by the hair braiders tour guides and all of that other stuff that comes along with NASA my wife said she felt uncomfortable with the kids so we turned around and went back to the ship. It was probably the best decision we made as the ship was empty we were able to find chairs by the pool and pretty much unlimited rides with no wait on the waterslides.

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

1 Comment

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