Disappointing Experience
Mariner of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 20
5 Night Cozumel & Perfect Day (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)
Sail date: November 20, 2023
Ship: Mariner of the Seas
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 8690
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 11 months ago
Review summary
For myself and my family we will never sail on another small Royal ship. Thank goodness our next cruises are on Oasis class and Icon. Fingers crossed that it will be better and that this was just a fluke! To old, small and dingy. Nothing to do and very disappointing.Embarkation
No problems, and fairly quick
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The MDR food was horrible. We ate there for dinner and breakfast and everything was cold and disappointing. We took the cruise for Thanksgiving and did not expect a home cooked meal, but this was way below subpar. It was cold turkey roll that was very salty and had two weird disc shaped pieces of dark meat which tasted disgusting. There was one tiny spoonful of stuffing and a small amount of mashed potatoes, both of which sucked. The lasagna on the last night was the worst that I have ever had. The meat had no flavor and fell apart when you tried to put it on your fork. Chops was the absolute worst! It took an hour and a half to get our main entree. The shrimp cocktail I ordered for an appetizer smelled bad and was very fishy smelling, uneatable. The salad was okay - but the filet mignon OMG! The waiter brought me a ribeye when I ordered the filet. After waiting another 45 min they brought me a piece of meat that you could flip open, it was cut in half and flapped over! That was it - I had enough at this point. I called the waiter over and asked him "what is this"? he could not answer and said he would get the filet I ordered. I told him I had enough and did not want anything else but to get out of there. The manager came over and apologized profusely saying he would take care of it. I told him also I had enough and just wanted to leave. He called the executive chef to straighten out the situation and there was yelling and arguing from the kitchen which you can see into the kitchen and they can see us. Totally unprofessional and embarrassing. The manager agreed to buy as dinner at any specialty restaurant on the ship on his dime. My family decided on Izumi's which was wonderful! Definitely do Izumi, it was delicious and entertaining! This was the best meal by far! The Windjammer was decent for what it is, and Playmakers was awesome, as usual. Stay away from the MDR and Chops. The room service, don't do it. The scrambled eggs were liquid COLD chunks totally uneatable! Needless to say we only did that once. All other food from room service was cold and even though I had 3 people on the request still had to wait for silverware. No attention to detail at all.
Onboard Activities
There was not much to do on this ship, but we knew that when we booked the cruise. The pools were okay on port days but packed on sea days (like usual). Bingo was fun and the casino was fun also but still having smoking inside should not be a thing! It is super strong and you can smell it throughout the whole 4th deck! We had booked a reservation for the escape room but they overbooked so we decided to get a refund. The gym was very small and smelt so bad in there that I couldn't even stay in there for 5 minutes!
Entertainment
There were a very limited number of "shows". No Broadway show which was very disappointing and the shows that they did offer happened at a very limited capacity without reservations. having people show up 45 mins before the show!! To me with a smaller ship there should have been no reason why there wouldn't have reservations for the shows. If the oasis ships can do that there should be no reason why they couldn't do it!
Service and Staff
5 nights on the ship and the steward never cleaned our bathroom and did not remember our names. It's bad enough that Royal has changed the cleaning of the rooms from 2 times a day to one but when the steward doesn't even do a total clean that one time it makes it really unhygienic. We asked for towels because he didn't replace the dirty ones, and it took me calling customer service to get them. Because they don't clean the room twice a day anymore he forgot to come back and pull the pullman bed back down and it was 9pm when I had to call customer service, again for no one answered the phone in housekeeping. When he did come to the room he was laughing about it the whole time and forgot the towels and had to go back and get them. The waiters were clueless and appeared to be in training. They seemed very confused and kept forgetting things and bringing the wrong plates to the wrong people. Asked us 3 times about filling out the survey and actually stopped my son and I to tell us about it again! Totally unacceptable. Most of the ship's crew were not very friendly and seemed like they did not care about the passengers. Didn't feel festive at all for a holiday, sailing again was very disappointing.
Ship Quality
The ship was clearly old. From floor to ceiling you could feel the age of the ship. Rust on the ship and wood rails outside fading, it wasn't just the inside of the ship but the outside. The chairs in the MDR are tattered and scuffed, every one we saw had some type of damage, see pictures. The carpets are stained in the halls, rooms and venues (Ellingtons, see picture). The handrails were filthy down the stairs in the casino especially. The soda machines for the beverage package were dirty and smelly. And the ones in the Windjammer are so far into the back we couldn't even find them and when the Windjammer is closed there are only 2 machines available!! Why? Why not outside the Windjammer?
Cabin / Stateroom
Very small cabin. On the RC literature and website the room was labeled as a room for 4 and having a pullout couch. There is no way that 4 people could fit. The couch was a loveseat, no table, no room, dirty, old, small, smelly and stained carpet and curtains. The pullman bed is above the head of the bed in the room. No weight limit on the pullman and when calling to ask they couldn't understand what I was asking! Not safe not having that information. Finally had someone else call me back to tell me it was 125 kgs. Bathroom so small, shower no bar to shave. Bring your own soap! The 3 in one soap is the shower is horrible. The TV was missing the channel with the map so we never knew where we were.
Ship tip
Dont do it, your will regret it for sure!
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Nope never again! We got off the ship and it was like walking into a flea market with people screaming at you! If you do get off make sure to have an excursion. We will not get off there again without one.
Perfect Day At Coco Cay, Bahamas
AMAZING this saved our vacation!! We did swimming with the pigs super fun!! Had the food at the shack, chicken sandwich, best ever!! And the Oasis pool, even though there was a ton of people we still found 3 chairs with an umbrella and plenty of room in the pool!
Disembarkation
Of course getting an eleevator was horrible and the line but once off the ship easy to find bags and to get thorough customs. We got to the car and out of the parking lot without any issues.
Traveler Photos
19 Comments
KateVan 11 months ago
Connie60 11 months ago
I have never been on the Mariner, however I was on the Navigator which is the same size and age. I LOVE this class of ships, why because there isnt so much stimuli and its relaxing. As far as food...we never eat at the MDR, its always windjammer so we can pick and choose what we want to eat every night. Pools, no matter what ship is small and always crowded. Ive been on the Harmony and Oasis, we had to fight for chairs. We go on the smaller ships to get away from the large crowds. You make the cruise what you want it to be. It sounds like nothing would make you happy.
Bertfish 11 months ago
I had to chuckle over the “crowded pools” if you thought these were crowded wait till you try to even get a deck chair on Oasis class or (I’m sure) Icon. Food in MDR will be basically the same through the fleet as they changed the food post Covid. Honestly I can’t say we like the MDR food and policies as well since the changes. Cozumel port is a typical Mexican port. Be polite and keep walking when they call to you.