Mariner of the Seas Dec, 18 ‘21

Item: Mariner of the Seas
Rating: 3.5
Author: ShawnandChris

Mariner of the Seas Cruise Review

ShawnandChris

Contributor Level: Second Mate

50 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 5

Helpful Votes: 97

Overall rating:

3.5 out of 5

5 Night Eastern Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 18, 2021

Ship: Mariner of the Seas

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

We are loyal to royal but what we experienced with our Nov ‘21 cruise and now a Dec ‘21 cruise on the Mariner is not cutting it. The food quality has degraded and it’s obvious some changes has been made somewhere. Entertainment is nonexistent! Your given food that isn’t good and trivia is passed off as the daily entertainment. I don’t understand how Royal Caribbean can say a belly flop competition, The Quest game show, or most other staple R.C entertainment offerings can not be organized at this time due to public health BUT they can fill a lounge area with as many people that can squeeze into the space for a game of trivia or Bingo and consider that safe. If these was solely my thoughts then I would keep them to myself. But when other passengers speak out with the exact thoughts we are having in general conversation, then I feel what we are experiencing is legitimate and should be expressed to others. We love Royal Caribbean but at this time we do not feel they are delivering on the cruise vacations they are selling with their marketing.

Embarkation

3 out of 5

A little chaotic but it was of no fault of Royal Caribbean, port staff was just rude and pushy.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

We have traveled exclusively with Royal Caribbean since our first cruise with them in 2016. Our dinning experiences was always amazing and we bragged about Royal Caribbean to everyone we knew. This is no longer the case! Our last 2 cruises (Allure of the seas Nov, 2021 - Mariner of the seas Dec, 2021) the food has not been good at all. As I said in my review for the Allure, it honestly bothers me to type negative remarks about Royal Caribbean and it’s sad to be typing them again about the Mariner. Is the food edible, yea sure it is but that’s about all I can say for it. This goes for both the Windjammer and Main Dinning Room, the food recently has just sucked!

Windjammer Café

1 out of 5

After a cruise in Nov ‘21 on the Allure and now a Cruise in Dec ‘21 on the Mariner it is in our opinion the food quality is not a ship to ship issue, 2 ships back to back has provided food that really isn’t good. We spoke with many other passengers who are loyal to Royal Caribbean with FAR more sailings than us who echoed the same feelings, the food quality has degraded drastically. Although we all was merely assuming and can’t say this with accuracy, we feel like Royal Caribbean has changed to different suppliers and distributors recently as whatever changes that have occurred is very noticeable across several ships.

Main Dining Room

2 out of 5

Service in the main dinning was amazing. These crew members are extremely dedicated to giving the best service possible. The menu quality is of no fault of theirs. On the very first night of our cruise both the server and his assistant informed us there had been complaints on the previous cruise and to please let them know if we wasn’t happy with our menu selections so they could bring other options. We never sent anything back because we didn’t want the hassle of waiting for other options. Everything was edible but many items was simply not good.

Johnny Rockets

5 out of 5

We have never had a bad experience at Johnny Rockets on any ship in the fleet, the JR aboard Mariner OTS also provided great service and excellent burgers. We had lunch here several times due to the quality of food for lunch in the Windjammer not being so good.

Entertainment

1 out of 5

What entertainment? The ice show was nice and the stage shows was fair but other than that Royal Caribbean passed off constant trivia games as entertainment. When CoCo Cay was canceled due to high winds the cruise director added more trivia and gift box wrapping to the entertainment to make up for the missed port. More trivia and learning how to wrap a box was not the entertainment most passengers was hoping for.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

The service from the waiters and room attendant was amazing. We have always had excellent service aboard Royal Caribbean ships.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

The voyager class ships are great! It was this class that changed the game of cruising across the entire cruising industry. The ship was clean but considering Royal Caribbean advertises that this ship was Royal Amplified with a massive investment, it looked worn in several areas. We was surprised to see the amount of rust considering it sat for over a year thanks to covid with maintenance personnel being mostly all that was onboard.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Cabin was a typical balcony cabin. Nothing special but didn’t lack anything either.

Ship tip

Wait until the covid restrictions are over. This was truly a boring Royal Caribbean cruise! That is no exaggeration! We was required to be masked at all times unless eating/drinking or outside. There was basically no entertainment! Trivia was the highlight ALL day EVERY day with the occasional game of Bingo. If you have kids that are unvaccinated, your cruise will consist of being shut out of many of the ships spaces being that it’s “vaccinated only areas”. We spoke with several parents who was extremely disappointed in the lack of things they was able to do or places they was able to go on board. Although I don’t have kids, I absolutely could see the parents point of views.

Thumbs up

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

If covid has done anything good for cruising, it’s disembarkation! This has become the easiest thing about cruising, basically just walk off the ship with no hassles and no waiting!

18 Comments

PiratesWorld 2 years ago

Thanks for the info

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ShawnandChris 2 years ago

@marjan131313 Im sorry you didn’t like what you read. I stand by the fact that stuffing a small interior bar/lounge full of people for trivia and considering that safe but not allowing people to be outdoors around the pool for the entertainment that used to be offered because that’s unsafe is absolutely stupid logic. If 150 people can be crammed into the casino laughing and having a good time smoking/drinking then why can’t those same 150 people gather for a game of The Quest? Why is 20 people not allowed to play laser tag or ice skate because that’s unsafe but they allow 100 people to pile into a lounge to play bingo and that’s considered safe? If more people knew about this app and based upon the ship capacity (2800ish passengers) there would be far more reviews after each cruise. Maybe they would be more positive, but based on our conversations with passengers I would place my bet on more negative reviews than just mine. In regards to the food, we cruised in Oct ‘21 with R.C and the food was great. Something has happened with the food and it’s noticeable during the past 3 months and last 3 cruises. I’m sorry that is negative reviewing but it’s my review and I didn’t like the food. Like all reviews on all sites/apps, it’s up to the reader to take what they want from it. I have wrote FAR more positive reviews for Royal Caribbean across multiple platforms than I have negative. We have spent a large sum of money (not near as much as many others however) traveling with R.C and currently we are not happy with some decisions. My review has nothing to do with the crew! The crews are amazing! My complaints and review is directed towards those in the corporate office.

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marjan131313 2 years ago

Thanks for the negativity Covid has changed a lot of things maybe you should try a different vacation

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ShawnandChris 2 years ago

We speak from experience with Royal Caribbean as well, thank you

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ShawnandChris 2 years ago

@lpicillo ah ok, I guess I didn’t understand what you meant in your original post when you typed “last October”

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Lpicillo 2 years ago

ShawnandChris we sailed October 2021 on Mariner and will be sailing her again in 10 days then again in March for 11 days for our first B2B. I speak from experience thank you!

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Lpicillo 2 years ago

ShawnandChris we sail October of 2021 😁

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ShawnandChris 2 years ago

@lpicillo how did you cruise aboard the Mariner of the Seas last Oct? Wasn’t cruising shut down the majority of 2020? If you last sailed in 2019 aboard the Mariner then you have yet to experience much of what is being reviewed here. I truly hope you have an amazing vacation on your upcoming cruise however. We sailed in Oct 2021 with Royal Caribbean and it was a great cruise. We sailed in Nov 2021 with Royal Caribbean and it wasn’t as good but overall nice. And now with this Dec 2021 cruise with Royal, we have witnessed the drastic change in food quality over the last 3 months. We have talked with enough passengers on 3 different ships to realize more guests than not think the entertainment offerings doesn’t make sense. We can pile passengers into the casino to spend money and breath in the smoke and that’s safe but we can’t be in a group outdoors to watch pool side activities because that’s unsafe? Look, to each their own with what they enjoy. I’m just being honest with what our experience was like. We love Royal Caribbean but they are advertising with TV spots and with their online marketing one experience but delivering something completely different, that’s just not right. We expect more from R.C. I look forward to your honest review in January.

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Lpicillo 2 years ago

We sailed on Mariner last October and are sailing again on her in 11 days. Food was fantastic in the MDR. Windjammer was hit or miss. We have adjusted to only eating in Windjammer on the first day for lunch. Royal is doing everything the CDC will allow them to do in order to continue sailing! We all wanted cruising to come back, with whatever “restrictions” it took to get back on the seas. I find it extremely hard to fault them for giving me what I basically BEGGED for all of 2020! I will take a day at sea with whatever restrictions and lack of activities over a day at work on land ANY day! Maybe you should wait to cruise again until this “pandemic “ is completely behind us.

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javawoody 2 years ago

Thanks for the update, some ships seem to be hit and miss

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AuntPinkie 2 years ago

Sorry this cruise didn’t meet your expectations.

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ShawnandChris 2 years ago

For those that want to defend Royal Caribbean, go right ahead. We defended them for years. After MANY cruises and being exclusive to R.C since 2016 for the majority of them we are well aware of the food quality Royal Caribbean is known for. What they are currently serving is NOT that quality. As far as entertainment, if you can stuff 75 people into a small INTERIOR lounge for trivia or bingo you most certainly can put together a OUTDOORS belly flop! The excuses of “pandemic” only makes sense for 1/2 of the entertainment not to be present. The other 1/2 of staple R.C entertainment offerings not to be offered makes ZERO sense.

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izrgreen 2 years ago

Thank you for taking the time to write a review.

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daisydoozy 2 years ago

We had a similar experience on Liberty of the Seas. Still enjoyed ourselves but not enough to want to cruise again any time soon. Willing to wait for better days.

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CleanCruiserPod 2 years ago

Sorry your cruise was subpar. I enjoyed my experience on the Mariner and thought the food was excellent except Windjammer. Keep in mind the pandemic is the reason for all these restrictions abstain fault of Royal.

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NJCruiseGuy 2 years ago

I would like to know what the people who think food on a cruise ship “sucks” normally eat when they are not cruising. Apparently we are missing out when at home on some incredible food since we think food on a cruise ship is excellent.

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cruising2004 2 years ago

Thank you for sharing your experience.

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CruzeFan 2 years ago

Thanks for the review. We’ve always had a great experience on Royal Caribbean. I would not make any judgments about any cruise lines with the current Covid restrictions.

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