Our First Experience w/ the Mariner

[cruisnfamily]

I just PMed you but I thought I'd post here since I found your trip report.

Could you post some of the nitty gritty details of the club for the 12yo's? Sign up, hours, activities, etc.....any details you care to provide. Did you son participate alot? What was his opinion? Did you allow him to roam the ship alone? I assume they can come and go as they want without signing out. Do they give you any kind of pagers? All the details!

Also, can you provide any more info on the shows? Was there a show each night? And then entertainment in the clubs? What did your kids do at night?

Thanks!

And, anyone else who's cruised on Mariner feel free to chime in!

 

[disneyholic family]

thanks for sharing your experiences..
i guess it was the mariner we saw on sunday when we boarded in port canaveral....i was wondering why we didn't see it in nassau....now i know..

my sister and family cruised on an RCCL ship (i can't remember which, but it's in the mariner class of ships)...
anyway, she had two main complaints....that there were long lines for "everything" (whatever that means)...
and her stateroom and bathroom were tiny....
of course, she probably took the cheapest rooms (since she tends to do that), but any comments you have would be welcome....

my nephews both very much enjoyed the cruise on RCCL.....they were 18 and 21 at the time.....

as for your comment about the CMs.....that's one thing about the wonder.....the regular CMs, like dining room staff, stateroom hosts, and even those guys in the yellow jumpsuits, are all so amazingly friendly and helpful.......just like in WDW....that's the one thing i would truly miss if it weren't the case on another ship...

 

[westjones]

Just wondering, are there TAs that specialize in RCCL the way there are TAs for DCL? If not, how did you book these cruises? Directly through a RCCL website?

Thanks,
DJ

 

[LisaGoeke]

What a great thread. Thanks so much. I finally, this evening, booked our Mariner cruise for 10/9/05. It looks like we'll be doing the same itinerary as you did. I really want my husband to see Labadee (he does as well). I was also thrilled to find out that all six of us were able to be in one cabin, and we're all going for $3,500!!

Do you know how late the kids clubs are open? I thought one time I read on here that they charge if you keep your kids there late? DH and I are hoping to finally get some alone time and be able to do some of the evening activities, unlike our last two cruises when we had the baby/babies with us. Our youngest, the twins, will be four when we sail.

 

[RKB]

I am also interesed in finding out if the kids went with you to the shows - or are they aimed too much to the adult audience. One thing that I like about DCL is that you can still spend the evening with your kids - family dance and Karoake as well as the DCL shows. I am trying to imagine what our evenings would be like on a different cruise line. Thanks!

 

[NCRedding]

On Our radiance cruise, the kids clubs were open til 12 or 1, but charged $5 per hour per child after 10 pm.

Our DD didn't go with us to most of the shows. In fact, we didn't get to most shows because the shows were after dinner--starting at about 10-10:30. This was a cruise to Alaska, so we were already 4 hours later --we just couldn't make it thru the shows. WEe did see the Osmond Brothers (not including Donny) and saw an ensemble production--thought the talent was good, but the staging and correography reminded me of a high school production.

Again, these were just our experiences with RCCL Radiance to Alaska.

 

[disneyholic family]

DCL has excellent staging, however this time on the Wonder the talent was not at all at the level it was 2 years ago....
i'm not sure how many performers there are, but of those we saw, there were only about 2 or 3 women with truly stage quality voices and 1 or 2 men....the rest were ok, but not nearly broadway level, which was what they were 2 years ago...
we were quite surprised.....of course, the truth is, we were very surprised at the talent level 2 years ago, so this year's was probably closer to what would be expected from a cruise ship...

 

[Carol RN]

Our family of four sailed on the Mariner in April '04. We sailed on the Disney Magic twice prior to the Mariner. I have to say I didn't like the Mariner nearly as much as the Magic. The ship was too big for me.....way too many people onboard. The only thing that was better than the Magic, was the food.

I must say, though, that we got two rooms onboard the Mariner for the cost of one room on the Magic. On the Mariner I booked a verandah room and an atrium view room for the same price as one verandah room on the Magic.

I am looking forward to our upcoming September '04 Magic cruise though!

 

[disneyholic family]

does anyone know what my sister meant by "standing in line" a lot?..
she claimed you have to get in line for everything on RCCL...
when i told her that on the Wonder, you're preassigned to your dining rotation and seating, she thought that was great...
so i guess her complaint had to do with that...

anyone who's been on both DCL and RCCL, can you comment on the difference in terms of standing in line and things like that?

 

[NCRedding]

Embarkation and de-embarkation are so easy on DCl (or have been the 4 we've been on). On RCCL, the system isn't quite as smooth. Also, the dining room is large, so there is always a line the first night as people try to get in and find their table--it eases as people get more familiar with. There are more people on RCCL than Magic/Wonder, so it takes more time to serve them, etc. I did stand in line more on RCCL, and felt more crowded than I have ever felt with a Disney cruise, but it wasn't horrible.

 

[disneyholic family]

well after a bit of research i think we're going to stay on our side of the atlantic the next time around...
Costa Cruise lines here we come....i'll let you know if it was a disaster or not...

after that, i'm thinking of a transatlantic voyage on the Queen Mary 2.....should be interesting......last time i crossed the atlantic by water was on the original Queen Mary and that was in 1963....if this one is half as good, it will be amazing....

however, if we decide to cruise without the kids, then it will be radisson seven seas....destination unknown....