2004 Mariner of the Seas Cruise Review

2004 Mariner of the Seas Cruise November 14th - November 22nd Eastern Caribean - Bahamas, St. Thomas & St. Maarten Pictures from the trip can be found here
This was my 3rd cruise & my wife's 4th cruise. Demographically we are 35 & 34 years old, no children, living in the Northeast (Boston-area). Voyager Class ship Pros/Cons Pros: Royal Promenade (more shops), more bars/lounges, Café Promenade (24 hour snacks), Ice skating show (fantastic), bigger rock wall?, inline skating, Johnny Rockets (great milkshakes!) Cons: Less personal feeling, ship design leads to some congestion (WindJammer & exiting theatre) This itinerary/ship Pros/Cons: Pros: Manageable itinerary (our last cruise had 5 ports of call vs. 3 ports on this cruise), cabin size (we had more storage space than we had stuff), Concierge lounge (double espressos in the morning & no hassle tix for the ice show). Cons: Awful customer service in the spa, feels like RCCL is continuing the trend towards more extra charges on a cruise, not as many activities during At Sea days as we remember from previous cruises
Embarkation – We flew into Orlando airport from Boston on the morning of our sailing. Other than having to get up very early, there were no issues with our flight. We used Happy Limo to pick us up at Orlando airport travel to Port Canaveral. We had booked a Ford Excursion for ourselves and the couple we were traveling with and the vehicle easily fit our 7 pieces of luggage (and my wife and I are not light packers). The Happy Limo driver was right on time and parked right where she was supposed to be.
Deck 11 Upon reaching Port Canaveral it was very easy to find Mariner as the signage at the port is clear. We arrived at the port around 1:30pm and while there was a fairly long line of cars waiting to drop off passengers and luggage, the line moved steadily. The lines for checking in were a bit long but since my wife and I had booked a suite (#1282) we were able to bypass the lines. Check in went smoothly and we were on board by 2:30p. The Welcome Aboard show was a very funny comedian who also did an Adult's Comedy set on Day 2. Our Cabin
Day 2 – Nassau – The winds were very high while sailing to Nassau and we experienced more ship motion than we had ever felt on any of our previous cruises. In fact we were supposed to arrive at Nassau early in the morning (2a or 3a) but didn't arrive in port until approx 6:30a. We had booked the Crystal Palace beach excursion with our cruisemates so were out on the pier at 8:45a for the bus. Unfortunately there seemed to be a problem with the transportation to Crystal Palace and we didn't end up getting onto a bus until 9:30 . Also, upon arriving at Crystal Palace we found out that pretty much all of the beach activities were closed due to the high winds and high surf. Also the Crystal Palace casino only had a couple of blackjack tables and a craps table open so that didn't offer much of a diversion. My wife and I laid in a hammock for a bit but there wasn't much else to do so our group ended up taking a taxi back to the port early to do some shopping. I'd have to give a thumbs down on this excursion. If you wanted to go to Crystal Palace you could take a taxi ($10 round trip/person) and pretty much have the same time rather than paying $42/person. The shopping in Nassau was average. I bought a few cigars but none of the shops we went into had any exceptional deals. YMMV.
Disney Wonder & Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas in port in Nassau, Bahamas
Day 3 – At Sea – Once again the winds were very strong and there was a good amount of ship motion. We had lunch at Johnny Rockets – excellent milkshakes and very filling hamburgers, definitely a nice change of pace.
Day 4 – St. Thomas – While still windy the weather started improving on Day 4. In St. Thomas our cruisemates went on the B.O.B excursion (Breathing Observation Bubble) which we had done before and loved (they loved it too). This excursion is definitely recommended. My wife and I went to Trunk Bay which is our favorite beach on the planet. While it takes a little effort to get over there on your own (taxi to Red Hook $8/each, ferry to St. John $3/person & a taxi to Trunk Bay $9/couple) it is a beautiful beach. The surf was high so snorkeling wasn't an option but it was more than enough to just lay on the silky smooth sand and swim in the soft, blue water. Definitely a beach to get the full Caribbean experience.
Trunk Bay Panoramic
In the afternoon we met up with our cruisemates at the ship and took a taxi to downtown Charlotte Amelie to do some shopping. Prices in St. Thomas seem to have gone up on many things though a couple we met on the ship found a good price on Movado watches. Royal Carribean Electronics also still seems like a good place for cameras and electronics though we weren't in the market for anything this year. The constant hawking by the taxi drivers got annoying quickly and the traffic back to the ships was heavy with 3 ships in port. We went to the ice skating show this evening which was amazing. The stunts and choreography they execute is incredible. Doubly so when you realize they are performing on a moving ship! Highly recommended.
Day 5 – St. Maarten – This was our 3rd time in St. Maarten and my wife and I were very impressed by the improvements they are undertaking in Philipsburg. In the past Front St (the main road in town) was dilapidated and a little depressing. They are in the process of rebuilding the street and it definitely adds to the ambiance of the town. Also they are expanding the shops farther down each direction from the water taxi pier. It will be very interesting to see St. Maarten next year as even while underconstruction it has significantly improved, at least in our eyes. We didn't book any excursions in St. Maarten as this is usually where my wife makes most of her jewelry purchases. Majesty Jewelers is her shop of choice as they have always treated us well and been very helpful on the rare occasions that we have had any problems. Even our cruisemates for whom it was their first time on St. Maarten commented how courteous the shop personnel at Majesty were as opposed to some of the other shops they had gone into.
After my wife got her jewelry fix we rented a couple of beach chairs on the beach next to Front Street and basked in the sun for a couple of hours. The improvements to Front Street seemed to be mirrored by the improvements to the beach in Philipsburg. Another reason why St. Maarten is moving up in our estimation. The entertainer this evening was another funny comedian (sorry, not remembering names) whose show was certainly suitable for all audiences (a nice change of pace in today's trend of vulgar comedy). We also went to the Liar's Club show which ended up being a vocabulary based version of To Tell The Truth. Fairly amusing but a bit weak in spots.
Day 6 – At sea Traveling back to Florida from St. Maarten . Surprisingly not as many activities on board as we remember from last year on Serenade. We worked out this morning and were very happy with the ShipShape gym and the equipment that was available. The entertainment this evening was the Pure Energy show with the Royal Caribbean singers and dancers. Very entertaining show though some of the choreography seemed a little loose. We went up to the Schooner Bar and watched a little of Matt Ye's singalong show which was very entertaining but the bar was very smoky.
Day 7 – At sea – Took an East Coast swing dancing class which was entertaining. The dance classes onboard were well taught without being overwhelming. The Bon Voyage show featured a comedian (also very funny) and a balancing act that was originally scheduled for earlier in the cruise but postponed due to the heavy waves. The comedian also had a late night adult comedy set which was very funny.
Disembarkation – As we had an afternoon flight we had breakfast and waited for our color to be called on one of the outside decks. Customs & baggage claim went smoothly and we were on our way to the airport (where the airline proceeded to lose one of our bags - which have now recovered).
Miscellaneous Observations: The Mariner is a lovely ship and in excellent condition (as I would expect given her inaugural sailing was 11/16/2003 ). This was our first cruise on the Voyager class and while overall she seemed well designed there were a couple of issues. The Windjammer seems poorly designed given the number of passengers on board. There were several times when finding a table was very difficult. Exiting the Savoy theatre was also difficult. The main exit puts you right at the bottom of a stairway up to Deck 4 which ends up being a bottleneck. The Royal Promenade is a neat touch but with retail tables set up in the middle it can get quite congested, especially around dinner time. The dining room is lovely but if you are on the upper levels you can feel removed from any activity going on below (especially during any of the waiters singing and dancing routines). Customer service at the spa varies from bad to atrocious. My wife just wanted to make an appointment to use the hair dryers for the formal nights (and didn't mind paying for it) but was subjected to numerous runarounds and rude people. The Guest Relations desk varied from helpful to rude depending on the person you got. The Explorations desk wasn't great about communicating what they were going to do about our poor excursion in the Bahamas but on the day of disembarkation we got a note that they credited half of the excursion cost back to us. The Concierge service was a nice treat. There was a continental breakfast available in the lounge in the morning and an open bar (limited selection) with hors d'oeuvre from 5p-8p. Also the concierge had tickets to the ice show reserved for the suites which was much easier than having to wait in line. Certainly one of the best features was 24 hour coffee/espresso/cappuccino/lattes in the lounge! Alas, it seems that RCCL (like many of the other cruise lines) is moving more towards a vacation where many of the activities/features are extra charges and more of the departments are outside of the RCCL umbrella. Its very frustrating to go to Guest Relations to resolve an issue to hear “Sorry, that's not our department. You have to talk to [so & so].” Right now we are likely to cruise again on RCCL but probably on the Radiance class ships (like Serenade).