February 29 - March 6, 2004

by Tim Larison, CLIA Master Cruise Counsellor (MCC)

"No cruise for us this winter," I thought when my wife accepted an offer for a new job
in mid-February. We had planned to take a family cruise the first week of March before
this unexpected job change.

"Don't let my new job stop you from enjoying a vacation. Go ahead and take the boys on 
the cruise without me," my wife said. I took her advice!

Below is my cruise trip report of our Royal Caribbean Mariner Of The Seas cruise during
the first week of March 2004. Can one parent handle two 10 year old twin boys during a
one week cruise? How does this Port Canaveral based cruise compare to similar cruises
Disney offers? I'll answer these and other questions in my trip report below.

The Itinerary

Our cruise followed this itinerary:

Sunday depart Port Canaveral 5 pm
Monday Nassau
Tuesday At Sea
Wednesday St Thomas
Thursday St Maarten
Friday At Sea
Saturday At Sea
Sunday Disembark at Port Canaveral - am

This is definitely a cruise for those who like "at sea" days! On our cruise we spent 
three days at sea and at Nassau we stayed on the ship rather than do a shore excursion.

I found the highlights of this cruise to be the many wonderful features of our ship, and 
not necessarily the destinations. St Thomas and St Maarten are ports I haven't visited 
before which I found interesting (more details on that below). I wish instead of Nassau 
we had visited Royal Caribbean's private island (CoCo Cay). 

Shore Excursions

Nassau - While we stayed on the ship at Nassau, we were there for such a short time on
Monday that it was difficult for others to get the scheduled shore excursions in. We 
arrived one hour late which caused the Dolphin Encounter excursion to be cancelled. Our 
ship left Nassau at 1:30 pm - much earlier than when I had visited this island on Disney 
cruises in the past. Most other passengers I talked to just went shopping here.

St Thomas/St Johns - The best shore excursion we took this cruise was the St Johns 
Snorkel and Beach tour. I am not a snorkeler but I was impressed with the organized snorkel
instruction taught at Trunk Bay on St Johns. The boys and I enjoyed this beautiful beach
for an hour and a half. The boatride to and from St Thomas was also fun (but maybe too
rough for those prone to seasickness). We took a short island tour of St Johns before
arriving at the beach and there were some beautiful views. I would recommend this tour.

St Maarten - At St Maarten I took the "Island Tour" while the boys stayed in the kids club
on the ship. This was a wise decision, as I think the boys would have been bored with the Island tour. The tour gave the history and overview of the Island, and we stopped at an open air market for about 45 minutes of shopping. The tour bus was large with comfortable seats and air conditioning. Our tour guide was friendly and informative. While I thought the tour was OK, there just isn't a whole lot to see in St Maarten and I would recommend a more active tour. One passenger I talked to said he really enjoyed the snorkeling at St Maarten - he said they could see a number of ship wrecks while snorkeling and some unusual fish. 

One feature I liked on board was the ability to order shore excursions from your stateroom
tv. I ordered both our St Thomas and St Maarten shore excursions in this way. You 
received instant confirmation and the tickets were delivered to your room the next day.
This was much easier than going to the shore excursion desk to order your shore excursion
tickets.

I didn't think the shore excursions were as well organized as what I have seen on other
cruises. For both our excursions we were told to meet "on the pier" and we had to hunt
down the appropriate line to be in. On Princess and other cruise lines we have met
a cruise line shore excursion onboard in a theatre or lounge, and then were escorted off 
the ship together. Once the tour started the Royal Caribbean offerings were fine - I just 
thought there could have been better coordination at the start of the tour.

The Ship (The Mariner Of The Seas)

As a travel agent I enjoy trying different cruise lines. I sailed on Princess, NCL,
and Disney in 2003 and this cruise gave me a chance to try Royal Caribbean for the first
time on one of their "Voyager" class ships. The Voyager ships are among the largest 
passenger ships today (only the new Queen Mary 2 is bigger). The Mariner Of The Seas is 
the newest member of this class (first sailing in November 2003). This ship had many 
innovative features - I will discuss my favorite ones below. I did not find the size of the ship intimidating (over 3800 passengers). I only found the main pool area to be overly crowded.

Main Dining Room

This ship featured the most beautiful main dining room I have seen on all my cruises - an
elegant three story structure with a "Sound Of Music" theme. Eating here for breakfast
and dinner many mornings in such elegant surroundings was a real treat.

The beauty of the dining room was matched by the excellent service we received from our
main waiter at dinner - a Frenchman named Guy. Guy was great with my boys, spending extra 
time to teach them how to make different shapes with their napkins. The 
boys were to spend each meal duplicating the folding tricks Guy taught them with the 
napkins - they talked about it the whole cruise. "Our waiter is really nice" said my son 
Andrew. "Other waiters just take my order then go away. Our waiter talks to me."

The ambiance of the main dining room unfortunately was not matched with the quality of food.
I found the food to be good but not great most nights. When I talked to other guests
on the cruise the most common criticism I heard was "the food is not as good as I expected."
Again the food wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good as the dinners I had on other cruise
lines. For example, one night I had "Chicken Marsala", a favorite dish of ours back home.
I have had Chicken Marsala in many restaurants (including a few family owned Italian
places). This is the first serving of Chicken Marsala that did not come with pasta
(instead it came with mashed potatoes). The Marsala sauce had a unusual sweet taste.
I talked with one veteran cruiser the next morning who agreed, she said "that didn't taste 
like Chicken Marsala to me". I did find the desserts to be excellent each night in the
main dining room.

Other Dining Venues

One neat feature of this ship was a "Johnny Rockets At Sea" - a branch of the nationwide
hamburger and shake chain. We had lunch at Johnny Rockets a couple of times on the
cruise. The hamburgers were 1/2 pound monsters that were well cooked and very tasty.
The onion rings were especially good. My boys loved the french fries. The burgers,
hot dogs, sandwiches, fries, and onion rings all were at no extra cost. The shakes were
priced from $3 to $4 and were worth buying. Every half hour the staff at Johnny Rockets
performed a dance for you (on our cruise this was to the "Love Shack" tune). This "free" 
burger place certainly featured better food than the poolside "burger and fries" places 
I have experienced on other cruise lines.

UPDATE: I just learned that RCCL is going to start charging $3.95 a person cover charge to eat at Johnny Rockets. My cruise was one of the last where JR was free.

Another "free" dining venue was the Cafe Promenade on the deck 5 Royal Promenade shopping
plaza. We particularly enjoyed getting free chocolate chip cookies here during the week.
Other desserts and small sandwiches were also offered free of charge 24 hours a day. 
Next to the Cafe Promenade was a free self serve frozen yogurt stand. I 
enjoyed the strawberry yogurt offered here.

The ship's buffet - the Windjammer Buffet - had a nice atmosphere for a buffet and 
acceptable food. I found the Asian portion of the buffet, "Jade", very good.
The boys liked the pizza here. We ate at the buffet for lunch on most days. Unlike other 
cruise lines I found the main dining room was closed for lunch on most days.

The Mariner has two Specialty restaurants - Portifino for Italian food and Chops for
steak. These restaurants come with a $20 per person cover charge, and are for guests
aged 13 and over. You can make reservations for one or both of these restaurants by
phone once you board the ship - no need to stand in line.

I dined at Portifino one night while the boys ate with their friends in the kids club. 
Portifino had a very nice atmosphere with many window tables overlooking the sea. 
Musicians played violin music as we dined. The food and service here were very
good - I felt the dining experience was worth the cover charge. I liked most 
everything I ordered at Portifino (Caesar salad appetizer prepared at my table, shrimp 
appetizer, cream of asparagus soup, lobster ravioli, and a chocolate Mousse dessert). The 
only part of my meal that was average was the main course - grilled lobster tail. It was 
"surf and turf" night in the main restaurant this night and I suspect the lobster was the 
same as was served in the regular dining room. I would try something different for the 
main entree if I dined here again.

I did not dine at Chops, but heard good things about it from other passengers who ate there.

One final "kid" story about the dining:

In my "nagging parent" mode the only thing I really stressed for the boys during the cruise
was that they wash their hands everytime before eating any food. "If you don't wash your
hands, you might get sick" I warned.

On Saturday as we were sailing back to Cape Canaveral the captain came on the ship's 
loudspeaker around 4 pm and said "because of a medical emergency onboard we have to divert to Nassau to drop off an ill passenger."

"He must not have washed his hands," my son Andrew said.

Entertainment

The Voyager class ships have one unusual feature - a skating rink at sea. In addition to
public skating sessions the rink is used for a production show called "Ice Under the Big
Top" with professional figure skaters.

I was a little skeptical of the ice show at first. "What kind of skaters could they have
on a cruise ship?" I wondered. I could not have been more wrong. The ice show is a
not to be missed show, and one of the best shows I have ever seen on a cruise ship! The 
skating was amazing. We sat on the first row which further enhanced our enjoyment of the 
show. Unlike ice shows I have seen back home in big arenas, for this ice show I was just 
a few feet away from the many acrobatic twists the skaters performed on the ice. The show 
featured many different themes and colorful costumes. This was one show everyone on the 
ship I talked to raved about. 

TIP: I recommend going to the first ice show of the week (ours was 5 pm on Monday). 
We found this show to be about 3/4ths full. As word spreads about the show tickets are 
hard to get later in the week. The show is free but you do need to get a ticket for each 
guest. On our cruise the show was repeated 5 times during the week - tickets for all 
shows were handed out on Monday morning.

I took the kids to the skating show and they enjoyed it. The other shows did not seem
suitable for kids and I was unable to attend most of them because the kids club was closed
at show time. I heard from other passengers the impressionist singer was very good.
I did attend one show by the Royal Caribbean dancers and did not think they were as good
as dance performers I have seen on other cruise lines.

Recreational activities

The Mariner Of The Seas, like her Voyager Class sister ships, featured some of the most
unusual recreational opportunities on the high seas.

The most famous feature, the Rock Climbing Wall, was very popular with the cruise 
passengers. While I didn't attempt the climb myself, others I talked to got a sense
of accomplishment by reaching the top and ringing the bell. The rock climbing is very
safe (you are secured with ropes).

The ice skating rink was very popular. Royal Caribbean requires that you wear long pants
if you try this so don't forget to pack a pair of jeans!

I played basketball and mini-golf with the boys. The basketball court is much bigger than
I have seen on other cruise ships (it's a full sized court). The times I played there
were always basketballs available to shoot around at one end of the court or the other.

The mini-golf course was 9 holes. I found it more like a real miniature golf course than
one I had played on the Star Princess last year. Playing miniature golf in the wind and
with the turns of the ship is a bit tricky, but I did manage to make one hole in one!

For such a big ship there are very few ping pong tables - I saw only two. I really
enjoy playing ping pong on cruises and I was disappointed there weren't more tables available.
We never did find ping pong balls and paddles to play on the tables.

There are two pools available on deck 12 and another in the Solarium. I saw at 
least three hot tubs. The main pool area gets quite crowded on the "at sea" days.
TIP: For a quiet place to relax on a lounge chair try deck 4 under the life boats.
Here you can relax in the shade and gaze out over the open ocean. This deck also
has shuffle board games that we found to be available for play most of the time.

Other Activities

While there was an abundance of recreational activities offered on the Mariner, I found
there were less programs offered for those not interested in athletics. The movie theatre on deck 2 is in a small conference room - it seemed like an afterthought. There were very few movies offered during the week (3 or 4 over the 7 days). I missed the first run movies I have seen on other ships. There were no educational talks, cooking classes, or crafts offered as I have seen on other lines.

The Royal Promenade shopping area on deck 5 was a nice area of the ship. Throughout the 
cruise we spent some time here browsing through the shops and getting free snacks at the 
Cafe Promenade. There were also a few nighttime parades performed here.

I did not participate in as many activities as I had originally planned because of a
a bad cold I caught on day 2 of our cruise. Instead I often relaxed on a deck 4 lounge 
chair with a good book on the "at sea" days.

Our Stateroom 

We had a small inside stateroom on deck 9 - stateroom 9517. This stateroom was considerably
smaller than other staterooms I have sailed in (the Royal Caribbean brochure state it is
133 square feet, compared to 184 square feet for the smallest stateroom on a Disney ship)
We really didn't have a problem with the small size except for storage space. We barely
fit all of our clothes and luggage in the storage space provided. If my wife had come on
the cruise we would have had more problems storing all of our stuff (though my wife's 
closet organizational skills are much better than mine!)

TIP: If you want to book an inexpensive inside cabin on this ship, I recommend spending a
little more for one of the inside cabins that actually has a window overlooking the
Royal Promenade Shopping area. One passenger I talked to said this type of inside stateroom
has an extra couch and more room than the standard inside staterooms. The view of the
promenade is also interesting - a type of "window" stateroom at an inside price!

Our stateroom attendant, Walter, was very good. He was prompt in cleaning our room each
day and left the boys some interesting towel "animals" each night.

Internet Connectivity

TIP: If you are bringing a laptop on your cruise, be sure to go to Guest Services right
after you board to get one of the few "cybercabin" phones available. With a special
cybercabin phone, you get unlimited internet access for the week for a $100 fee. I thought
this was WELL WORTH IT. The internet connection speed was not as fast as DSL but faster
than dialup - I found it sufficient and I didn't have any connection problems the whole
week. It's the best internet setup I have experienced on any cruise. I was told there
are only 40 of these phones available for the whole ship.

If you aren't lucky enough to get one of the cyberphones, regular internet access is
available through the internet cafe for 50 cents a minute. The Internet Cafe had a good
number of terminals available.

Kids' Program

My kids really enjoyed the kids program. Andrew said he liked the many games offered with
the other kids - like crazy tag and ga-ga ball. Josh liked playing on the computers and 
playstation. In the 9 to 11 year old age group there were about 15 kids in a normal 
session (and 50 kids in that age group on the cruise). The kids got a ticket for each
session they attended, and on the last night of the cruise they could exchange the tickets
for prizes. 

The ratio of counselors to kids was good. In the 9 to 11 year old age group there were two
full time counselors. With an average of 15 kids attending each session that meant 1 adult
counselor for every 7 or 8 kids. 

At the end of the cruise the kids gave a talent show (for those who wanted to participate)
which was cute. Each talent show kid got a "1st place" ribbon. The talent show was repeated
on the stateroom tv's throughout the ship later that day and night.

The scheduling of the kids program was not the best. The hours were typically 9-11:45 am,
2 - 4 pm, and 7 - 10 pm. After 10 pm you could pay an extra $5/hour for each child for
additional time (until 1 am). The show times and other adult activities were often not coordinated  well with the kids program times. The show times were usually 9 pm and 10:45 pm - requiring that second seating guests buy an extra couple of hours of kids program time if they wanted to go to the dinner show that night. On a couple of nights they had shows
at 7 pm, but that required signing in your kids at 7 and then going to the theatre 9 decks
below on the other side of the ship and hoping to get a seat in the back. In the afternoon
there were some adult activities that started at 1:30 pm that I couldn't attend because I
needed to get my kids to the club at 2 pm.

The one good scheduling option was an early show for the excellent ice show at 5 pm - that
worked well with our late seating schedule.

The kids program published a schedule of activities each day, but often they would deviate
from the schedule and do something different. Some deviation from the schedule was OK but
I would often hear from my kids "we had fun but we didn't do what was on the schedule"

The kids club had a large arcade of games at the entrance - by far the largest arcade I
have seen on a cruise ship. The arcade was impressive but in the few games we tried I
found 3 that were not working properly. I think Royal Caribbean needs to maintain the
arcade games better, and put "out of order" signs on the ones not working instead of 
having frustrated customers lose credits when they attempt to play these games.

Overall I felt comfortable when my kids were in the program that they were under good care
and had interesting activities to participate in. My boys wanted to keep going back to
the kids club on most days. They still had plenty of time with Dad during the cruise - 
the kids club was a good opportunity for them to interact with others their own age.

Embarkation 

Embarkation on Royal Caribbean can be confusing. We had heard people can arrive at the
terminal at 11 am. When our towncar delivered us to the Royal Caribbean Cruise Terminal
at 10:45 am, the guard said in a stern voice, "these people can't enter the terminal
until 12 noon! You can let them off at the parking lot and I'll send a golf cart over
to get them at noon"

TIP: Don't believe the guard! We went to the shelter in the parking lot and found a
porter that would take our bags to the cruise terminal at 11 am. With this porter we
walked right past the guard and the guard said nothing. The porter certainly earned his
tip! If you are in the parking lot look for a porter to help you with your luggage.

Once in the terminal, checkin was quick and we were on the Mariner by 11:45 am. The
opening buffet at the Windjammer was very good.

Our bags arrived in our stateroom around 2 pm. There was a loud knock on the door and a
porter wheeled our bags in, waving a large wad of bills. I was put off by this - the porter
was begging for a tip. On all other cruise lines I have been on our luggage
delivered outside our stateroom without ever seeing the delivery person. I don't mind
tipping for good service (like the porter outside the cruise terminal) but this was
excessive.

Disembarkation 

As I mentioned earlier, because of a medical emergency with a passenger we took a side trip
to Nassau on Saturday which delayed our arrival to Port Canaveral by 4 hours. This
disrupted many people's flight schedules and put a damper on our plans on Sunday - we
had planned to spend most of the day at SeaWorld this day.

I think it is unfair to judge Royal Caribbean on their disembarkation procedures just
based on this cruise. I will say this was the worst cruise disembarkation I have ever 
experienced. We arrived at Port Canaveral at 10 am and we didn't get off the ship until
around 1:30 pm. There were many people still waiting to get off the ship when we departed. 

Royal Caribbean had a color coded system where groups of people were called off the ship
at different times. The groups were small and it took lots of time to work through
all the colors. To their credit Royal Caribbean did offer some additional food and
activities onboard while we waited, but the long wait was frustrating for everyone.

Even if we had been on time, it seemed with their system disembarkation would take longer
than what I have experienced on other cruise lines. Instead of having luggage organized
in separate groups in the terminal, each group was called to leave the ship when their 
luggage was ready (much like claiming luggage at an airport).

Port Transfers 

We used Quicksilver Towncar (http://www.quicksilver-tours.com) to take a towncar from an airport hotel to the port, from the port to our SeaWorld hotel, and from Seaworld back to the airport. Service was excellent!! Our driver arrived 15 minutes early when picking us up at our  airport hotel. Upon pickup from the port our driver waited an extra hour until we finally
got off the ship. I told Quicksilver I would recommend them highly to others, so if you
use Quicksilver on your trip tell them you heard about them from me!

How does this cruise compare to a Disney 7 night cruise?

The Mariner Of The Seas is another 7 night cruise option at Port Canaveral - about a 1
hour drive from Disney World. Now that I have taken both the Disney Cruise (3 times) and
this Mariner Cruise, which is better?

In my opinion the Disney cruise is still the best one for families. The youth clubs on
the Disney Cruise are open for more hours and the other programming on board is more
in synch with the kids club operating hours when compared to Royal Caribbean. While our
kids liked the Royal Caribbean kids program, the Disney program is better.

The night time shows on Disney are more appropriate for kids than the Mariner's. Most of
the Mariner's shows are geared towards adults, while the Disney shows are for the whole
family to enjoy.

We ate dinner with another family that had two 10 year olds (a boy and a girl). This
family was more into swimming than my family. The boy said he liked the Disney cruise
better because the Mickey Pool had a slide, and the water wasn't as deep as the Mariner's
pools. The girl said the Mariner pools are 5 foot deep at the low end - too deep for many 
kids.

Comparing the itineraries, Disney visits St Maarten and St Thomas and has 3 "at sea" days 
on its Eastern Itinerary - just like the Mariner. So the itinerary difference between the 
cruises is that Disney goes to Castaway Cay (its private island) for a full day while 
the Mariner goes to Nassau for 1/2 of a day. Castaway Cay is far superior.

I found the food quality in the main dining rooms to be similar on both cruises - good but
I have had better food on other lines (such as Princess). Palo on the Disney Cruise is
better than the Mariner adult restaurant options. The "free food" on the Mariner is
superior to Disney's - Johnny Rockets and the snacks at Royal Promenade are better than
the poolside offerings for Disney. The buffets are similar (I think the Mariner's has
a little better food selection and it is open more hours compared to Disney's). The 
Mariner pretty much has the same buffet offerings every day. Disney's opening buffet is
excellent and better than the Mariner's, but their daily offerings after that aren't
as good.

The Mariner has more recreation options onboard. The internet connection options on the 
Mariner are better. 

For movies Disney is far superior in offering first run films in its theatre. I
was surprised that the Mariner offered X rated films for purchase through the stateroom tv - 
there were parental controls but still you'd never see adult films offered on a 
Disney cruise.

Disney handles the embarkation/disembarkation process better.

Overall, I'd say if a family is considering a cruise and has not sailed on either the
Mariner or Disney, I'd recommend Disney. If a family has been on the Disney cruise a few
times and they are looking for a different cruise experience, then the Mariner is certainly
a fun cruise to take. 

For adults, the Mariner has some features not offered by Disney (a casino, the Rock 
Climbing Wall, etc). Adults who aren't Disney fans may like the shows on Royal Caribbean
better, though overall I thought the Disney shows were better in quality (aside from 
Royal Caribbean's excellent ice show). There are far more kids on a typical Disney cruise 
than a Mariner Cruise. The two ships are very different, and I think adults will enjoy 
the unique features of both.

How does Royal Caribbean compare to the recent Princess cruises I have taken?

Princess does not have a cruise option from Port Canaveral (instead they cruise out of
Ft Lauderdale). I have taken 2 Princess cruises and 1 Princess land tour in the last 2
years and I would rate my overall Princess experience as better than this cruise because:

1. Princess has better food. As you can tell that's a big part of the cruise 
experience for me!

2. My boys rated the Princess kids' program as better. While they enjoyed the Mariner
kids program, the Princess kids program had more activities and more games for prizes.
Princess stuck to their schedule, too. One thing that impressed me about Princess was
that at the start of the program they told the kids "if there is anything you don't
want to participate in, just tell us". My boys told me on the Mariner they were
expected to participate in all the activities when they were in the club. A couple
of the activities on the Mariner the boys said they would have passed on if given
the chance.

3. Princess overall handled the details better in my experience (shore excursion 
coordination, embarkation/disembarkation, precruise documents, etc). On Princess' 
Caribbean sailings they also stop at their private island unlike this cruise.

Summary 

Top Ten Things I Was Disappointed With On This Cruise:

10. Arcade not well maintained - 3 machines not working.

9. Aggressive porter begging for a tip when luggage delivered to the room.

8. Itinerary did not include a stop at a private island (I knew this before I booked the cruise, but still
think RCCL should add that instead of a Nassau stop)

7. Few non-recreational activities (movies, trivia contests, crafts, educational lectures)

6. Embarkation at the cruise terminal - the time you could arrive was not clearly stated.

5. Kids program not sticking to schedule.

4. Average main dining room food.

3. Small stateroom with not alot of storage space.

2. Long disembarkation process.

1. Lack of coordination of kids program schedule with the rest of the cruise schedule. 


Top Ten Things I Liked About This Cruise:

10. Three "at sea" days which allowed plenty of time to enjoy this beautiful ship.

9. Ability to order shore excursions over stateroom tv, and dining reservations by phone.

8. cybercabin internet connection - allowing internet access from a laptop in your cabin.

7. Royal Promenade Shopping Mall on Deck 5 - great shopping area.

6. Classy ambiance of the main dining room.

5. Free food and snacks at Cafe Promenade and at Johnny Rockets near the kids club.

4. Good kids club facilities and a good ratio of counselors to kids

3. Excellent waiter and stateroom service

2. Fabulous ice show

1. Many recreational options (mini-golf, climbing wall, ice skating, inline skating, etc)

Overall we had a fun time on this cruise!

Tim Larison