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Final Thoughts: I am repeating myself but overall, RC has a great product here in Mariner. As many of you know, I am a huge OA class fan and I am quite critical about the ships I sail. Happy to report that Mariner is smaller but does not feel that small. With all the new additions, she has an OA class feel to her. Rest assured, I am not turning into a small ship girl, but I would not hesitate at all to recommend Mariner to anyone, especially those sailing for the first time. The crew on this ship is excellent. Not one single crew member that I came across seemed overworked or tired or rude. All were excellent and friendly and very personable. The CD, Hugo, was a hoot! Such a character! An amazing amount of energy. Very funny and animated guy. My kids had a great time on Mariner. They really liked the Sky Pad. When we talked over dinner, they said they still prefer Anthem over Mariner because of the Sea Plex and the fact that they did not care for the salt water pools on Mariner. Other than that, they fully enjoyed themselves. One random thought I did have here regarding kids is that they should have put in Splashaway Bay. If I had younger kids, it would bother me that there would be not as many outdoor activities for the younger kids. My sister (her kids are 4,6) said that she would not sail Mariner for that very reason (lack of water activities for young kids). Our stateroom location on Deck 11 (1104) was a perfect location. The hallway was so quiet and private and it was great being so close to the solarium, pool, and WJ. It was nice having the room new and fresh. This sailing I did realize that with tween girls, it is getting very difficult to share a room with one bathroom. Thank goodness I have a patient husband. There were times this cruise where things got quite dicey with the kids. Lol. First world problems. Thank you all for following along with us this cruise. Like I've said before, having you with us makes it more fun. Sadly there really will be no more cruising or blogging for us for the next 6 1/2 months ? For real this time! Heading back into the classroom to shape our next generation. But the wait will be worth it because our next cruise over March break will be our very first Star Class sailing on my favourite ship, Harmony of the Seas. And of course, I will be back to blog and scope that ?

Dinner Night 4: Wine List Menu: Greek Salad: Pork Tacos: Chicken Cordon Bleu: Garlic Tiger Shrimp: Tagliatelle: Probably the best dish this cruise. Warm Donuts: Overall dinners in the MDR were satisfactory. We were not "wowed" by anything but it was not terrible either. Service was beyond excellent. That was all to the credit of our waiter, Jonathan. Best waiter so far on any Royal Caribbean cruise, and that includes CK. And yes, I did miss CK ??

We wrapped up our last night on Mariner with a drink at the Schooner Bar. We were lucky as Billy Pando is on this sailing and he is well known amongst RCperiscopers so we had to check him out. Not much luck two nights ago as it was my daughter's bday and last night he did not play. So with our last night, we left the kids in the stateroom and headed down to see Billy. I've heard him on Periscope many times, and was already impressed. As a piano player myself, I simply love to just sit and listen. In person, and live, he did not disappoint. I could have sat for hours if I did not have my kids with me. Hopefully one day we will run into Billy again. To top off the evening and the cruise, I had my first Kraken Lava Flow in honour of @Matt and all who are sailing Mariner before him. I scoped it as requested by @PRC so those of you who are interested can watch the replay. Sad to report that I could not taste the difference between Kraken and any other rum. But then I am not a rum expert either. Lol.

The peach Margarita is really good too! I can't remember if I said that already.

Same for me, but hoping they bring a similar offering to Galveston because honestly these revamped ships have even more to offer than other cruise line's best ships. It looks incredible. Boleros drink menu is awesome! It has been my favorite place to get drinks on our cruises on Navigator and Liberty. My wife is absolutely obsessed with the Coconut Mojito. It's really good.

Land Vacation?! Banish the thought! ?

I am still going to bring my therapy wife on future cruises if they like it or not. I will make sure her vaccinations and papers are in order. She does not bark a lot but her moans can be bothersome .

For those who were wondering, the self carry Disembarkation call came in at 6:58am ?

I did get “the call” and upgraded from interior to CP Balcony on Oasis for $50. Seemed like a steal!

You ma'am have done an outstanding job blogging and taking photos. Thanks for taking the time.

Send selfie to friends and family. Wait for the bird-flipping emojis to come in.

So, I keep seeing these "chilled soups" discussed on dining room menus and seem like a popular cruise ship option overall. ... isn't a cold fruit based soup essentially a smoothie consumed in bowl and spoon format?

I am the original poster of this post and I received the email and clicked it and was told I was on the "wait list". I am STILL waiting for the call. I've answered ALL calls and it's been SOOOOOO annoying. Since June 25th, I've listened to 10 seconds of the following recordings: Have you found Jesus... You've won a cruise... This is Audi calling from the warranty department... Do you have outstanding student loans... This is the IRS... And last but not least, no one there after I say hello 3 times!!!!! It's been oh so much fun answering all of these calls pre-recorded sales and fake/fraudulent calls. I only have 23 more days until sailing so I will continue with the answering until then. IF I get the call, the agent better hold on to their hat because I will flip out/scream/yell when I get the actual call from RC!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks a bunch for another great live blog and all the pics, @Lovetocruise2002!

I am in the camp that use to purchase a drink package and have stopped since they implemented the new rule. Hubby does not drink anything other than water and Coke so even if we did one deluxe and one refreshment, it would not be worth it. We finally made Diamond so I am almost positive that we will not be purchasing from here on out. What we've done the last two cruises is grabbed the Refreshment package for myself. That way I still get all my coffee and bottled water. If I want an alcoholic drink, I will just pay for the shot and add it to my drink or pay for the drink (with more than one shot) out of pocket.

Guess this will have to be my go-to bar on Anthem, then! On Freedom I never tried them out, wishing I had instead of getting all my drinks at the pub or Schooner Bar. I'll also have to find the other bars on board, make more of an effort to try each place at least once.

Nope, both kids have said they're solidly done with WDW. I think the problem is they're both still too young to fully appreciate a multi-day visit to just Epcot and all the cultural displays. They loved the food there (sushi was to die for, and our dinner in the France section was also outstanding), but found the rest of Epcot boring. That's honestly the only part of WDW I have any interest in re-visiting, and I could easily spend a week there; especially during the flower gardens display and the food and wine festival! Magic Kingdom -- I can't ride Space Mountain any more due to my feet, and that's the only ride I care about there; kids have no more interest in that area Animal Kingdom -- No real interest in revisiting this area from anyone; done the safari a few times now, and while it's definitely interesting Hollywood Studios -- We're not Star Wars fans, and having done all the special effects shows and couple of thrill rides once, we're good EPCOT -- I love the place, wife is cool with it, kids as noted are bored by it outside the dining options; the rides there were just... odd... by everyone's standards, and the recent changes to make them more Frozen-themed don't appeal to us. Yeah, with just one out of four parks of interest, it'll be cruise-only family vacations for a while! ?

On our June 3rd sailing on Empress, WJ was open 10:30pm - 12:30am. Only cold sandwich options avail from 12:30am-1:30am.

Finally made it to FLL. Lyft Plus from POM to FLL was $76.78. It was about a 40min ride. A few notes about disembarkation.... If I have one complaint about this cruise it's going to be right here. To sum it up, this morning's walk off was the longest I have ever waited for any cruise! We self carried all our bags off at 8:45am. Disembarkation is from Deck 4 either aft or forward. Because of the location of our cabin, we used the forward elevators. Once you get to deck 4, the line was past Izumi, past the Schooner Bar, and well into the casino. To make it an even longer wait, the line actually wrapped all around the upper levels of the theatre and you have to wait through all of that before you can walk off the ship. And the line was not exactly moving at a steady pace. Once off the ship, there was a lot of waiting at the terminal as well. They seemed to be holding people from entering the baggage claim area and only let in small groups at a time. This created huge backups in the area between the ship and baggage claim. Once past baggage claim, it was smooth into customs. We did not claim bags and ship to curb was 50 minutes! Perhaps I've been spoiled by Port Everglades in recent years, or we walked off too late (but we always get off around 9am), but I cannot remember a disembarkation ever that took so long! So for those who think that the big ships are busier, at least they have their embarkation and disembarkation down to a science. . @WAAAYTOOO this morning while waiting, I was reminded of your comments about POM and wasn't sure if this is what you have experienced as well?

We were on the Explorer in May for a 4 night sailing out Seattle and the WJ was open til 12:30am as well. It was a limited offering, only about 1/4 of the area was open, but had a good selection of warm and cold food. Maybe it's a new Voyager class perk?

Appears to be unique to Mariner so far. This is something new, so we are all waiting to see if any other ships follow this trend.

Just caught this. The button itself is pneumatic (like a hot-tub button) and the flushing operates off a vacuum bus. Branches off the bus are dedicated to a set number of staterooms. This means that it can run off a small number of vacuums, yet if there is a leak in the system it only affects a small number of rooms not every unit on that same bus. Every however-many staterooms you'll find a small main panel in the hall when the vacuum can be checked, adjusted, etc - along with other electrical, mechanical, and plumbing stuffs. When you hit the button it's pushing air through a tube to open the valve that lets the force of the vacuum pull everything from the toilet. Not sure about the brand of grease.

When she moves to Port Canaveral, can piggyback a trip to WDW!

I wouldn't want to end my cruise with that much stress!! It is stressful enough just knowing you have to return to the real world...

We always fly Delta and they open up 330 days (+/-) out and we were able to book ours then with no issues. If they have the aircraft chosen then you should be able to get your flight. Maybe their website is acting likes RCCL website ?

Thank you for your great review. A question about late night in the Windjammer Is this new? I sailed on Navigator in June from Southampton and as far as I can remember the only late night offering was Cafe Promenade

We always follow twangster.We have been cruising with Royal Caribbean for 25 years and he always manages to teach us something new.

Then you need to plant the seed of a family Christmas cruise! LOL. I hope you have a safe journey home. I really loved your blog and scopes. Felt like I was right there!

Don't believe it. You'd never be awake at that hour to hear it.

I am a witness.

Thank you for you wonderful insights, commentary, pictures of the scenery and did I mention pictures of food. I am on a B2B on her next August. I can't wait.

Thank you so much for being so generous with your time. My husband and I have really enjoyed your blogs and scopes. We prefer Oasis class ships as well however thanks to all your wonderful information we are considering booking the Mariner.Have a safe trip home and we are looking forward to hearing all about your Star class experience on Harmony next year.

We are not really WJ dinner people. We prefer to sit down for dinner always. In all our cruises we haven't done WJ at night.

Short cruises on most lines don't include lobster. Typically 5+ nights.

Thank you for the wine list photos!! Sorry you have to go home now... ?

^that!

What WhiteSoxFan said is correct. On the larger ships they have reservations for the shows a month or more before sailing and they book fast. I usually make my reservations online because you have to stand in line and the seating can be pretty bad. Since I am a long time cruiser, I believe in booking excursions way before the cruise, but I also like to book private excursions not offered by the ships. You have to be very careful doing this and I wouldn't recommend it for a first time cruiser. My first time in any port I usually do an excursion that introduces me to the port city and the culture, after that I venture into other excursions. BTW, the specialty restaurants offer reservations online, so if you want to book any meals at one of these restaurants, I highly advise to do it before getting onboard. On my last cruise in March on the Liberty, every specialty restaurant was booked full before we sailed and the ship was not taking any new reservations. Candie

Monctonguy, I do what you do. I walk the ship, at least the parts they let me into. I find where the library, internet cafe, etc. are. By the end of the first two hours I have my bearings and can pretty much find everything from there on out. I love to people watch. I usually find a window seat that over looks the Royal Promenade and watch the crazy people. It is funny to me that you can usually tell the first time cruisers right away. Candie

ok aren't the ships confined spaces and the lack of personal sanitation the cause of noro virus with all the people crammed into small spaces now we add dogs cats turkeys hamsters and whatever to the mix where does the litter box go where does the dog poop and pee I have seen a great dane that its owner said was a support dog the smell will become overwhelming and what about fleas and ticks does the ships doctor certify the health of the animal I think not I applaud you Royal for doing the right thing in my humble opinion animals do not belong on cruise ships yes it costs me a lot of money to board my 3 cats and 2 dogs when Im cruising but I accept it as part of cruising it would never occur to me to bring little poopsie or Sylvester on a cruise its not fair to all the passengers with allergies or just don't want to cruise with other peoples pets

You certainly can wing it, just be aware of the drawbacks. As far as entertainment, if you do not have reservations for the majority of the show, you will be seated on standby on a first come/first served basis pending availability. This is OK if you are okay with less than prime seating and standing in line prior to the shows in return for that flexibility. As far as excursions, it is possible that popular ones will sell out. I honestly do not know the frequency of this happening. I rarely pull off a last second excursion purchase.

I would under the right conditions. I would still pick a 7+night sailing any day over Mariner but if I am looking for a quick getaway and the airfare is good then yes, I would definitely sail her again.

I guess. But then again aren't spaghetti, lasagna, and ravioli all essentially the same thing served in different formats?

Some additional menus from wandering around today... Schooner Bar: Pub:

Technically you could make it if everything falls into place, but there are far too many variables, and I wouldn't risk any flights earlier than 11 am even if I am getting off the ship as soon as it clears.

wouldn't even think about an 8:30 flight....no matter how smoothly things go for you. My experience is that it takes about an 60-75mins...from the time I leave my room on the ship till I am at FLL....that's with everything go smoothly..self check out..no long wait for a cab/uber etc.....but with check in time for an 8:30 flight of prob 7:30?....no way to make that...imho.

The bar crawl needs to be accompanied by intermittent runs to El Loco Fresh for Guac and chips. ?

Chops Grill for embarkation day lunch. Perfect way to start the coming gluttony! its also my favorite place to eat every day.

My next cruise (6 and a half months to go, but who's counting, amirite?) will be my first cruise solo and only my second cruise ever. (Explorer, South Pacific, March 2019) This thread has been hugely informative for planning purposes! I hadn't got much past the "drink package, here I come - cue the party goblin!" ? So, here's the plan: 1. Arrive early! 2. Drink - and toast to the beginning of the rest of my new life sans overgrown man-child 3. Find a spot to sit and people watch 4. Spa open day - forgot totally about that! 5. More drink! More people watching. 6. Check out cabin when ready 7. Food at some point, depending on hunger 8. MDR visit to secure two person table for solo dining 9. Muster drill 10. Sailaway party And, like @KWofPerth, I'll be happy to achieve any part of this, so long as the first two items are done. Oh, and I will be photographing my drinks, my stateroom, my view when people watching and everything else, and then posting it to social media. I want people to know just what a great time I'm having!

You could join Periscope too and watch others scope from their cruises. It's nice to see scopes from your ship too ahead of time. @CruisingKat(Kathy) runs the RCperiscopers group, you can find out who is scoping during what month/weeks and follow them to catch their scopes. There is a list here on the message boards under the Periscope Peeps forum. There is also a FB group run by Kat as well. Also, if you follow @Matt on Periscope @theRCBlog, he does scopes 3 times a week and he just talks cruising. The scopes get funny sometimes.

You're right about Galveston politics @twangster. It's been a crazy political climate with a thriving "good ole' boy (and girl)" network since the pirate Jean Lafitte arrived on the island in the early 19th century. It continued through the gambling and prostitution of the first half of the 20th century, and is alive and well today. Up until now the Port of Galveston has invested in improving the cruise terminal assets on a shoestring budget with local funding. Early this year the Port hired new Port Director Rodger Rees (the Deputy Executive Director and CFO at Port Canaveral). He's brought an outside perspective and knowledge of how to run a large cruise port. I think his leadership was key to Royal agreeing to build and pay for the terminal instead of the Port building and paying for it. Of course the Port being many months late on expanding Terminal 2 for Liberty of the Seas a couple years ago probably helped Royal decide they need to control the Terminal 3 project. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.