A Cruise with Hurricane Beryl

Embarkation was very smooth. The new Galveston terminal handles guests very quickly, and I basically never stopped walking until I got on the ship.

I was very impressed with the specialty dining onboard Mariner of the Seas. Jaime’s Italian was phenomenal, and by far the best of royal’s Italian restaurants, and Chop’s Grille never misses. The pile on nachos and campfire cookie at Playmaker’s were phenomenal and worth every extra penny, and was arguably being the best food I had onboard. I also did Izumi sushi, but left a little disappointed. I’ve been in the past, and this time just didn’t quite meet the level of flavor and freshness they’ve set before. It could be the extremely small amount of restaurant space dedicated to sushi, just a single bar, or could be the fact that I went on day one and they were still serving remains from the previous cruise. Either way, Izumi wasn’t as good as I’ve come to expect and left me a little disappointed. I never went to the main dining room, but I did often go to the Windjammer buffet. The quality was about what you’d expect, maybe a little worse than the buffets on Royal’s newer ships. The buffet was always fine, just never something I really craved. There was also a number of quick service options, from ice cream at sprinkles, the dog house, or pizza at the cafe promenade. This all seemed in line with the rest of the fleet, and good for a quick bite, but never very high quality.

It was very difficult to be bored on Mariner of the Seas. I loved the solarium pool, which was a proper pool with walk in steps, separate from the family areas. Freedom/Voyager class have the best solariums by far. I enjoyed watching poolside movies, and even not participating in things like the flowrider, it was a good time just watching the people who’ve mastered them. There were always events like trivia, karaoke, or singers on the promenade bridge to keep people entertained inside, with ample area to relax and get out of the sun. The only real complaint I could think of is the screen for outdoor movies didn’t always have the best sightlines with hot tub canopies in the way.

Entertainment onboard Mariner of the Seas was such a mixed bag. We went from a phenomenal ventriloquist like Ronn Lucas to the most soulless show I’ve seen in my entire life, Gallery of Dreams. The cast of the ice show was as talented as always, and I thought the idea to decorate the Zamboni as a circus train was very playful and fun. The lead Broadway style show on Mariner of the Seas is a production called Gallery of Dreams, a jukebox musical with no story, and no dialogue. Royal Caribbean themselves have expressed the idea that they want to move away from Broadway shows in favor of experiences that can appeal to all cultures and languages, and expand their demographic to everybody. It’s an idea that results in an absolutely passionless show that only a marketing executive obsessed with expanding demographics could love. The cast was talented, the set design was impressive, but all of it was wasted. There was no story. There weren’t any original songs, not even a single line of dialogue. The show was like watching karaoke, a profound disappointment, when we know Royal is capable of putting on full Broadway shows, but choosing instead to do whatever this was. Additionally, there was also some special entertainment, with the Fourth of July celebration that had speakers, singers, and a balloon drop. This was overly crowded, and definitely didn’t make the near triple increase in cost to sail over the holiday worthwhile. The game shows like Crazy Quest and Battle of the Sexes were very fun and entertaining. With Battle in particular, it was put together last minute for the extra day, and ended up being one of the best things I went to. The comedian was very good, the ice show entertaining, and the game shows were hilarious, but the production shows were just terrible.

The layout of Voyager class ships have become a staple of Royal Caribbean’s fleet for a reason. The Royal promenade is an incredible idea that opens up the entire ship. Studio B pairs with the main theater so perfectly, and Mariner has one of my favorite pool decks of all time with the solarium pool being a proper pool. It’s always easy to get around, and the only thing I truly miss from later ships was the cantilevered hot tubs. I love the sense of verticality onboard, being able to see from deck three all the way up to the promenade, or being able to look down, all the way up from deck nine. The layout is just so open, and connected, it makes the ship feel enormous. Mariner also has a truly unique feature in the peek-a-boo bridge, which I absolutely loved. Guests could go to a secluded spot at the front of the ship and look in on the bridge and see the bridge crew as they piloted the ship. The only bummer was the weather, which kept the peek-a-boo bridge closed almost any time we were under way.

The cabin was nearly identical to the interior cabin I had onboard freedom of the seas. The decor was a little dated, but it got the job done. I like to think of a cabin as a locker, a ticket to get on the ship, and this cabin was perfectly serviceable at doing that. A few extra outlets wouldn’t have hurt, not extra storage, or a larger bathroom, especially if I cruised with others, but sailing alone I had no issues. It was an interior cabin. It did what it was supposed to. I did get this cabin decorated for my birthday though. That was fun.

Leaving the ship was very weird, due to Hurricane Beryl. The hurricane made landfall in Galveston on July 8th, the day we were meant to disembark. We were notified in the evening that we were delaying our arrival until the 9th, and then late the following day, we were told the port still needed to pass inspection before admitting any ships, and that we would not be arriving until 2pm the next day. Communication was a little bit lacking. There was no announcement or document delivered that explained how bags would be handled, or if we still needed to vacate the room by 8 am. I went to customer service, and it seemed like they weren’t clear either, but guessed we would be fine. Additionally, by the time we actually docked, people were so ready to leave the line was so long that it wrapped all the way around the promenade and took close to forty minutes to get off the ship. On the flip side, I was very impressed with how Royal Caribbean handled the additional days. They introduced new programming, game shows, and movies, brought back Ronn Lucas for another show, and kept everything open, from water slides, to pools, to restaurants, even on our half day. The only real issue I saw came with the app, which kept thinking the cruise was over and not updating correctly with the additional days. Furthermore, the compensation seemed pretty decent. We were given bonus crown and anchor points for the extra days, and offered $200 to make up for missed airfare costs. Those were definitely appreciated, even if the departure day itself was a little chaotic.