The Perfect Everything

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 20

Review summary

My wife and I left the Mariner of The Seas after cruising Feb. 17-21. And we were not disappointed at all! As Mary Poppins would say, it was “practically perfect in every way.” Her check-in time was 1:30 PM and mine was 2:00 PM. We pulled up to the terminal at 11:15AM and were onboard the ship by 12:00. (This included the 15 minutes we spent in the terminal “gift shop” choosing our lanyards for our Sea Passes.) NOTE: We paid $85 (upon arrival) for parking in the garage at the terminal, and paid $5 each to two porters to take our luggage to the ship. To us, this was money well spent just for the convenience alone. To board the Mariner, you are directed to the gangway on Deck 4. Once we entered the ship, we were immediately in awe! It’s so massive and beautiful, with so much to explore. We went up a flight of stairs to Deck 5. This is where the Promenade area is, with so much to do and see! We grabbed some pizza slices and sandwiches at Cafe Promenade, and enjoyed a delicious, quick bite. After eating, we went up to decks 11, 12, 13. This is where the majority of the ships “outdoorsy stuff” is. Pools, hot tubs, movie screen, mini-golf and much more can be found here. We got a pina colada and strawberry daiquiri at one of the area pool bars and found some nice chairs to lounge on. NOTE: We did the refreshment beverage package, which includes sodas, specialty coffees and mocktails. We are not really drinkers, so we decided to just pay individually for any real cocktails. Each drink was around $12 and I left a $2 tip. After “paying” for the drinks with our Sea Passes, I noticed an additional $3 tip was automatically put on there - on top of the $2 cash tip. We did not make the mistake of double tipping anymore from this point forward. We found some lounge chairs, laid back, and enjoyed a view of the ocean, other ships, and even could see a glimpse of Kennedy Space Center wayyyy in the distance. The required muster drill was around 3:30 PM, and the Mariner pulled out around 4:00. We went back towards the top decks as the ship pulled out of the port. What an experience to see from above, as the ship sets sail. NOTE: If you are interested in going to the foremost part of the ship (where the helicopter pad is) this is an easy way to do so: From the front part of the ship, get off an elevator (or take the stairs) to deck 5. From here you should be able to easily locate the Star Lounge. Just before entering the Star Lounge, there is a door to the right that says “Library”. Enter this door and go into the library (it’s cool to see!). Go across the room and exit out of the opposite side door. Take a left, and walk to the front of ship. There is a small flight of steps that take you to the helicopter landing. There are also benches to sit on here. You can go to very tip of the ship, and recreate the “I’m the king of the world!” scene from “Titanic”. (Be safe, though, and don’t climb the railing.) We enjoyed the view as the ship pulled out into the Atlantic Ocean, turned south, and set sail along the coast of Florida. The stateroom: After experiencing the above, we finally went to our stateroom. We were in mid ship, on deck 8, with a balcony. Once again, we were not disappointed! The luggage is left outside of the stateroom, and your paperwork (with your Sea Pass) is folded up on the room number placard outside the door. It was so nice to have a balcony, and I loved having free room service with fruits and coffee each morning to enjoy on the balcony. At 5:30PM, we had a My Time Dining reservation in the Main Dining Room. This was a beautiful restaurant, and the food and service was phenomenal. We dressed up, but you can seriously dress almost however you want. We saw all styles. We only ate at the MDR once, as we liked the freedom to choose when to eat the rest of our meals, and did not have to devote much time on dining. The Windjammer and Cafe Promenade, have plenty of good, free foods and drinks, and it was simple. Perfect Day at CocoCay: We woke up the next morning (Day 2) as the ship was pulling up to CocoCay. And let me say, what a sight to see! Royal Caribbean has done a phenomenal job with this island, and really makes it the perfect day! NOTE: We paid extra to experience the Coco Beach Club. I think it was $80 a person for us, but I see it has been as much as $200 a person. This was definitely a beautiful, exclusive section of CocoCay, and the food you get is some of the best around. We got fillet minion and lobster, and you can ask for as much as you want. Also, there is a buffet that goes along with it. While the Coco Beach Club was wonderful, you do NOT need to go here to still get a wonderful experience while at CocoCay. You can save your money, and still enjoy the rest of the island with plenty of beautiful beach and scenery. Also, the other restaurants on the island offer wonderful, free food. So, again, don’t feel obligated to go to the beach club if you are indecisive. Back to Perfect Day at CocoCay... The ship docked around 7/7:30AM, and you were allowed off at 8AM. We exited the ship around 8:30 AM, and there was already a crowd of people heading to the island. Also, we had another ship there with us on both days. The crowd leaving the ships was not like a crazy, huge, “Disney” type crowd. CocoCay has PLENTY of lounge chairs with umbrellas. HOWEVER, if you want a chair and umbrella right on the water, I recommend getting there sooner than later. Those spots will go first. If you get off the ship later, you will most likely be behind a bunch of people, with the crowd being between you and the water. As I said, we stayed on the beach at Coco Beach Club on the first CocoCay day. On the second CocoCay day, we got front loungers with an umbrella on South Beach. South Beach has a very cool sandbar that you can really enjoy during low tide, and the view from this beach was perfect. The Chill Island area wasn’t quite as pretty to us, as you are staring out at some rocks. We prefer the pretty waters and views of South Beach, which is just pass Coco Beach Club. On another note, the snorkeling in the Chill Island area was WONDERFUL if you swim out to the sunken ship area. I saw so many beautiful fish, and got very close to them (see pics). On our second day, we did the jet ski excursion. It was fun, but nothing too fantastic. Out of the 90 minutes, half that time is just covering the dos, dont’s, and safety issues. It was cool though to go out on the open water and see the island and ship from a different perspective. Nassau: For our day at Nassau, my wife and I did Resort-for-a-day at the Breezes resort. It boasted all-you-can-eat food and drinks. While it’s true it was all you could eat, it wasn’t much different than the ship’s food. And the drinks are served in rather small plastic cups. We had to take a cab to/from the resort (about a 20 minute ride each way) and the Bahamians we dealt with were very hasty and rude. Next time, we will most likely just stay on the ship, or maybe get off just long enough to walk the Straw Market. The time spent at CocoCay was much better, and more easily managed. Heck, we’d rather have just spent all 3 days at CocoCay! In closing, the whole experience was just as good as could be! I need to say, the staff for Royal Caribbean was absolutely the best. They were so friendly and warm for every leg of the cruise. (We have been to Disney many, many times, and we felt the RC staff outshined Disney by far.) The crew on the ship was very multi-cultural and from all over the world. This was wonderful, but some of the accents would cause just a little bit of a language barrier. The shows on the ship were so much fun! We got to each show around 30 minutes early, and that was more than enough time to get your choice of seats. We were blessed with ideal weather and seas for the whole trip. It was a wonderful cruise, and we are already planning on doing this same cruise again in the future!

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Port Canaveral, Florida

Perfect Day At Coco Cay, Bahamas

Nassau, Bahamas

Disembarkation

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