Just back from the Mariner of the Seas

[SpideyHulk24]

Great info! Thanks! Will you be posting any trip reports?

 

[Disneycrazymom]

This is my first week at school so I doubt that I will get much of a chance at a real trip report. But I'll do my best at any other questions.

 

[laurenk]

We just got off the Mariner on Sunday. We are HUGE DCL fans, but have to say we LOVED this cruise. The ship is beautiful, and the activities are great. My kids did everything including skating 4 times. Even though the ship is huge, we never felt overwhelmed with crowds. Only on formal picture nights. Great photography too. Once you are midship, everything is VERY easy to get to. We went to Cocoa Cay. This does not compare to Castaway Cay, but was still nice. The crew was just as friendly as any CM. Captain Johnny was quite a character. Shows were not as good as DCL, but overall my family votes Mariner as the winner over the Magic. We thought the food was better by far on the Mariner for breakfast and lunch. Dinner was hit or miss. We had a DCL cruise booked this same week in a category 5. I got a Grand suite for $800.00 less on the Mariner. This included concierge lounge with free drinks, free slippers, treats every night in your stateroom, tickets for the ice show without waiting in line for them, priority boarding(we were first on the ship at 11:45), and Ricardo, who is a wonderful concierge that will help with anything and everything. I am apparently the only one in my family who feels that there was just "a little something" missing on this cruise.

 

[misseulalie]

We just got off the Mariner on Sunday. We are HUGE DCL fans, but have to say we LOVED this cruise. The ship is beautiful, and the activities are great. My kids did everything including skating 4 times. Even though the ship is huge, we never felt overwhelmed with crowds. Only on formal picture nights. Great photography too. Once you are midship, everything is VERY easy to get to. We went to Cocoa Cay. This does not compare to Castaway Cay, but was still nice. The crew was just as friendly as any CM. Captain Johnny was quite a character. Shows were not as good as DCL, but overall my family votes Mariner as the winner over the Magic. We thought the food was better by far on the Mariner for breakfast and lunch. Dinner was hit or miss. We had a DCL cruise booked this same week in a category 5. I got a Grand suite for $800.00 less on the Mariner. This included concierge lounge with free drinks, free slippers, treats every night in your stateroom, tickets for the ice show without waiting in line for them, priority boarding(we were first on the ship at 11:45), and Ricardo, who is a wonderful concierge that will help with anything and everything. I am apparently the only one in my family who feels that there was just "a little something" missing on this cruise.

May I ask the ages of your kids? What did they like about it better than DCL?

 

[cruisemutt]

Hi everyone... I just found this post and wow! Its right up my alley... My wife and I went on our first 4 night DCL cruise last Thanksgiving. We enjoyed it so much we booked an eastern for this November and decided to book a western on the Mariner next May. I'm really glad there is some positive feedback on here because we were starting to wonder if we were making a big mistake straying from Disney. The one thing I keep hearing is that the drinking age on RCCL ships is 18 and that, at times it can get a little "spring-breaky" if you take my meaning. Anyone experience anything like that? I'm sure its not going to be a problem and we'll have a wonderful time...just curious.

thanks ahead of time for any advice....
Bill- or mutt, I answer to either... (Cheri, I saw your posts...the banana is for you, dear---haha)

 

[Mjasp]

Lauren...Glad you had a great cruise. we sail on Explorer of the Seas out of New Jersey next August. So looking forward to it even more now.

Thanks

 

[skoi]

Thanks for the report. I like to read about other lines here, because there are comparisions to DCL and we're all speaking the same language.

We're going to be a family of 6 soon (as per the sig line) and Disney is getting too pricey for us. Glad to hear the littler ones liked RCCL. We have to do at least one more Disney cruise with our newest, but might look into RCCL in the future.

Julie

 

[Disneycrazymom]

As of Aug 6th the drinking age was changed to be 21. There were a few 18 -21 year olds on our cruise that were upset. The new policy is stated on the RCI web site. We saw no one all week that had too much to drink. I would guess that 80 -90% of the passengers were families. And the atmosphere was very family friendly. On the 2 shows that were not they put a note in the daily planner.

My kids are 6 and 13. They really liked all the active sports. We skated, both roller and ice, everyday. And played mini golf in the evening. There seemed to be more for us to do as a family outside on deck than Disney offered.

 

[DWeaver]

Does the Mariner have a slide for the kids at the pools? Do they have a kids only pool? We spent a lot of time at the kids pool/slide both times we were on DCL. We are also considering RCI not only for the price but we want to try another cruise line with DS (8). He actually suggested it. Any info on the pools and kid's play areas would be great.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

There is no slide and the pools are for everyone, with the exception of the adult-only pool. They are also salt water pools so bring goggles. The first day DD was a bit timid about both the salt water and how deep the pool was, but quickly got over it and had fun. The water in the pool was deep, over 5 feet. There are also areas where there is just a little water to sit in for the smaller kids or adults that just want to cool off.

The club area was big! They even have an outside deck that the kids go out to play games on, that is accessable from the club rooms. The only thing I didn't like about the set up is that we had to walk through the arcade (and it is big) to get to the club rooms. It was loud! And of course tempting . To me the club rooms seemed almost the same as I remembered on the Disney ship. Games, computers, art projects, craft projects, a play area in the 3 -5 room and TV for late night movies. They had an introduction "show" the first night at the ice rink to give all the details. I was glad we went. Then you go up and register. If you register the first night the kids get a lanyard for their room key. On the first morning they practice taking the kids to the lifeboat stations. I liked that they thought about that. Both my kids reacted to the program on both ships the same. DS lived there, DD went to certain activities that looked fun but spent a lot of time with us. What she went to she enjoyed on both ships so no difference there. DS and most of the kids his age were in the teen center most of the time. He made some really nice new friends and they are still IMing 3 weeks later. Again, I think that would be the same on either ship.

Sorry this is long! Any other questions I would be gald to answer!

 

[Mjasp]

I am getting even more excited about going next year on the Explorer!

 

[Debbie H]

DH wants to try Caribbean Princess for the anytime dining option and we heard service on Princess was slightly better than RCCL.
(10/11).

We love the Caribbean Princess....the anytime dining is great. We don't have little ones any more so I can't comment on kids clubs but the adult activites are so much more than on DCL. We are leaving the 23rd for our 2nd CP cruise. We are doing a RCCL through Panama Canal next year along with another DCL.

 

[laurenk]

misseulalie- My twins will be 13 in October.

At one point during the cruise I saw a bunch of little ones dressed up like circus animals parading around the ship. They all seemed to be having fun. My kids really liked all of the sports activities available to them. Another plus was the fact that the kids seemed to be kept occupied enough that there wasn't any time for them to hit all of the floors on all of the elevators

I will definetley be booking another RCI cruise next time. For the price it can not be beat.

 

[logan1_2000]

We're almost even on the number of cruises between DCL and RCCL. For a variety of reasons, the Voyager class debut for us will have to wait until the Adventure of the Seas in 2008, but we are very comfortable recommending either cruise line to families. DS is now 10, and last winter after going on the Radiance for the first time I asked him to compare DCL to the Radiance and he said "Equal". There was more for an active, sports-minded boy like DS on RCCL than on DCL, but he was not bored or lacking on DCL. We found the rotational dining restaurants to be a bit more preferable to RCCL's main dining room for dinner, based on food and service, but that is so subjective that there are probably as many who feel the opposite as there are those who agree. We did give a thumbs up to RCCL's casual dining options over DCL, the windjammer layout and hours and variety vs. Beach Blanket and Topsiders--there was not one long cafeteria line, the stations allowed you to get to what you wanted instead of being behind the child who couldn't decide which muffin...even getting grilled to order dinner items on the Radiance at the Windjammer. But then again, a Mickey waffle makes everything seem better in the morning...(and truthfully we take more buffet meals in Parrot Cay than up on Deck 9 now, and find that a bit more civilized, except for the option to dine outside upstairs).

Disney seems in our experience to do a better job enforcing the adults only areas vs. RCCL, but that hasn't been too much of an inconvenience. In general we have found Disney guest relations to be, well, more DISNEY (happy, cheerful, smiling, going out of your way even if its not your job) than RCCL, but then again, the all-time best cabin steward we ever had was on the Enchantment (which is saying something, we've had mostly good ones). We've had a pair of great head servers on Disney, whereas the head servers we've experienced on RCCL were of the variety that make people ask "what does he do again, and whyam I tipping him?)(sorry, but the head waiter on enchantment, when i spoke to him about our server bringing more than once course at a time, looked at me blankly and said, "and that is something you do not want him to do?")--Again, acknowledging that these experience can vary room to room and table to table.

I'd go on and on, and later I might--but gotta go pick up Sunday School carpool and get to the Braves game.

 

[mom_of_2_princesses]

Thanks for starting this thread. We just did our first cruise on the Wonder and loved it. Now we are looking to do a Western Caribbean. Disney is doing the Eastern during DD's spring break so I am forced to look for another cruise line. You have taken away some of the worry for me.

 

[MemereMouse]

Have been on the Wonder and Magic and did the Caribbean Princess in April. While it was very nice and we enjoyed it we felt the "magic" was missing especially with regards to the crew (cast members). The shows were pretty good when you could get into them but not on a par with Disney. And we really missed the sailaway party a lot. Not saying we would'nt go on Princess again but given the choice would prefer Disney.

 

[mom_of_2_princesses]

Have been on the Wonder and Magic and did the Caribbean Princess in April. While it was very nice and we enjoyed it we felt the "magic" was missing especially with regards to the crew (cast members). The shows were pretty good when you could get into them but not on a par with Disney. And we really missed the sailaway party a lot. Not saying we would'nt go on Princess again but given the choice would prefer Disney.

Thanks for the info. I am sure it won't be the same but if my expectations are not too high maybe I won't get so disappointed.