Mariner of the Seas Cruise comeback review
Mariner of the Seas Cruise Review
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 8
Helpful Votes: 91
5 Night Western Caribbean & Perfect Day (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)
Sail date: December 09, 2021
Ship: Mariner of the Seas
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 9642
Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Reviewed: 2 years ago
Review summary
This was my 3rd RCL cruise and my 7th cruise overall. Embarkation went relatively smoothly. Took about 20 minutes from curb to ship, even considering they were also checking the COVID tests and vaccination cards. In addition, we showed up 15 minutes prior to our assigned check in time and they didn’t make us wait. We were able to walk right up to security and start checking in. One new aspect is once you get on the ship before you can go anywhere you must check in at your muster station and get that out of the way in less then 5 minutes. It’s by far the smartest and best change in process. Now the muster gets done without crowds and nobody has to be chased down to get it done. My mother and I had a standard balcony cabin. The room was an older room without USB chargers but it had plenty of closet and dresser storage space. The room had a couch, the two beds, on the balcony two chairs and a table. Also included are the safe, phone and tv which were all functionally easy to navigate. The bathroom, was small but functional. It had some storage behind one of the mirrors and thankfully had a glass shower. The only items provided by the cruise line was a little bar of hand soap at the sink and a combination body soap/shampoo in the shower so you should probably bring your own toiletries. Due to our specialty unlimited dining package we were able to eat at most of the restaurants on the ship: as complimentary food goes first we ate at the Main Dining Room (MDR) only once for breakfast on the last day. We enjoyed the breakfast better then the buffet and the service was good, however, if you need a quick breakfast the buffet is the way to go. We ate at the Windjammer Buffet almost every morning. Due to the amount of passengers being only about 2200 of a max 3000 capacity only 1/2 the buffet was open. There were plenty of options and the food quality was ok. I was always satisfied but never Wowed. The best part of the buffet for me was the egg station that cooked your eggs to order. For lunch I did have the pizza at Cafe Promenade twice. It was quick service, a thin crust style and considering I live in NJ and have some great pizza by me I thought the cruise pizza was pretty darn good. For specialty dining we ate at Jamie’s Italian twice, Chops twice, Izumi Hibachi once, and Playmakers (lunch) once. All the restaurants were extremely good but Jamie’s Italian was our favorite by far. The burrata and arancini were phenomenal appetizers. The appetizer portions were on the smaller side as compared to most American restaurants but I thought the portion sizing was perfect as the amount of food for the meals were at times overwhelming. The arancini was probably the second best I ever had only to the arancini I had in Catania, Sicily. The main dishes I had of the lamb chops and two pasta dishes were also quality. Our server at Jamie’s was Yanyan who was probably the best server I’ve had on 7 cruises. Without going into too much detail for Chops and Izumi, both were very good with good service. Chops cooked our steaks to perfection. Always remember for all the specialty restaurants to make reservations when you first get on the ship to make sure you get the times you want. Finally we ate at Playmakers. The wings and pork sliders were extremely enjoyable. We were too full to try dessert. The one negative was the service as the food took well over 30 minutes to arrive after ordering, not terrible for land based restaurants but it was significantly slower compared to everything else on the ship. Entertainment and Activities RCL always is quality. You can make reservations for all the shows when you get on the ship (through the app), however, due to the decreased capacity reservations weren’t really necessary except for the ice show in Studio B. The main production show was entertaining and the cast was talented. The one drawback was the show really had no story line. The other stage shows were entertaining but compared to the shows in the bigger RCL ships, these were nothing to write home about. The ice show, however, was fantastic. Definitely make sure you catch the ice under the big top show. We didn’t get to do the escape room or most of activities on the sports court. I did try both water slides and the flow rider. The slides were nothing special, especially when compared to coco cay but they were still enjoyable. Of course there was bingo, dancing, trivia, etc but there is only so much time in the day to do everything. We spent most of our pool time in the Solarium. The venue was great with a nice pool and comfortable chairs. I will point out even with the decreased capacity and chair reservers/hogs, chairs were all taken during sea days. RCL really should start implementing the 30 minute rule again, which they currently do not have due to the reduced capacity. The casino was packed every night of the cruise. Smoking definitely was happening but thankfully the smoking didn’t seem to permeate too much beyond the casino. Ports - Coco Cay was amazing. We did swimming with the pigs and the up up away balloon excursions. For me they were both fun but one time only excursions. The swimming with the pigs would be extremely entertaining with a child getting to interact and feed the pigs. One thing to note about the balloon excursion, due to wind or is an extremely fickle excursion. There will be many times the balloon will be grounded due to high winds in the air. Just realize if you book it there is a good chance it will be cancelled at the last minute. Also, even if it goes, you may only go 200’ in the air instead of 450’. We only were able to go 200’ up but it was still a great one time experience. I can’t speak for Cozumel on this trip because we stayed on the ship. In between the excursions we hung out by the Oasis Lagoon Pool and shopped at the straw market. We also ate at the snack shack which had pretty good mozzarella sticks and a good chicken sandwich. To summarize my experience, I found the room a pretty good size but without the USB port modern touches, food quality in the specialty restaurants great, ship service for all aspects amazing, entertainment mostly good with a couple great shows (make reservations for the ice show) but not quite the quality you might expect from the newer and larger ships. Remember to make reservations for any specialty restaurants you want to go to on the first day when you first get on the ship.Ship tip
Book specialty restaurants and ice show reservations day 1
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