WannaCruise

Great to hear...we would rather be front and on the side vs further back. Thanks for the note.

We love our igloo..lol Sorry to hear that you are not as impressed with the MDR. And of course, CK is only on Oasis (and I think Quantum) class. Yes very true....the two are very similar. Indy does have the kids pool/splash area which seems to help with crowds on sea days (and great for kids). And Indy has Grease (and I loved Once Upon a Time as well). But that back area with the Sky Pad and climbing thing, etc is identical. I agree too that overall the ships are almost identical. Its funny though...on Mariner I found my way quickly and knew which way to go. On Indy for some reason, I always felt lost. Could be though, because on Indy we had a mid stateroom vs Mariner we were by aft elevators (so just knew go to the elevators and at Windjammer/waterslides/MDR side).

Hope you both enjoy your cruise! Would love to see photos of those aft rooms when you return.

Loving your review and "re-living" Indy. Amazing photos. Neat too how you can also compare Mariner and Indy as can relate tot eh comparison. Agree with your ice show comments with it being more fun on Mariner, and more skating skills on Indy. But I loved the different era theme. If your cruise is like ours, they'll replay it again on the next sea day, but also in the day (although I think your cruise is one day longer so could be different). And totally agree with you about getting seats on Indy. I lined up early but was also able to grab front row. We have Symphony booked in March, and Harmony in the future too and with all these reserved seating options and crowd size, can imagine front row (and next couple) will be an impossible task. Neat for you to compare the same show on different ships. So sorry you and your daughter weren't feeling well..but good that the dramamine kicked in. Hope seas are smooth for you going forward. (Where are you from? We're from Ontario)

Thanks. Love Jim Zim's videos, and he's quite informative. Will look for it. Enjoy your cruise. Will add you on periscope. Great to hear. Thanks.

Were you aft facing? 9292 looks like more central and it's starboard side.

That looks like a nice wider balcony too. Thanks for the feedback. Did you feel the engine vibrations much?

Great review so far. The CD was quite funny. Neat you got a picture of the two of them in the candy shop. Your room looks great...and although not a JS, at least its a step up from oceanview. Spacious and great views with those windows. How was the welcome show? We found it odd that they only had one show first night and it conflicted with dinner time.

Just came across your review. We were on Mariner in summer and DH and I got off Indy a few weeks ago. We loved the ship...and perfect for your kids ages. Looking forward to hearing more. Ps - we stayed at Holiday Inn Express too. Decent hotel for the price.

WhiteSoxFan, thanks so much for the photos! These are great. I've seen similar ones for the room one before, but the balcony gives me a good idea of size and shape. Great that they give you both loungers and regular chairs (and I see what people mean when they say you can bump your head). Looks like you can see off to the side just slightly?

LS54S, thanks for posting. See what you mean by infrastructure. I think the one we have booked goes right to the end of the side (i.e. no front area blocking where the Royal logo is) but is an odd shape balcony with angles from ontop.

LS54S, thank you so much for the pictures. Is the one right above from deck 7 room 7688? That certainly lessons the aft view. Brilliance and Serenade view looks amazing....so peaceful. I think our view from 1688 does have infrastructure that is mentioned above (but not seeing the front of the ship like above) but we don't often get balconies so just seeing water for us is nice. Since on these 4 day cruises, Mariner is mostly staying still (moved at night) , we won't see the lovely wake and would prefer a side view of port. However, we moved from a standard spacious balcony to this one for the extra space inside the room, which will work well for 2 adults and 2 kids. Hoping it isn't too hot on the balcony (in August....prob will)

Thanks. By the time we sail Mariner (summer 2020), its out of Port Canaveral. But guess either way, we'd get a pretty sail away from our stateroom. Good to know the higher the better. We typically go more central top to bottom, but will be nice being closer to pools, waterslides, etc (well, once we walk all the way down the hallway to the stairs....lol)

Thanks...would love to hear comments. I'm guessing some love them, and some hate em. ?

Deck 10 - one of those aft corner ones.

Anyone been in an aft facing balcony? We just switched to one on Mariner as the room looks quite large. My main concern is if the view is limited since you can only see behind you (and you are staying still more to handle moving on the short cruises). Also , the walk is longer. For those that have stayed in aft facing, do you like it? Or prefer port/starboard balcony?

Thanks...we'll most likely keep the 2 rooms (which means 2 bathrooms) unless there is a big drop in the JS. I actually think our kids will get a kick out of having their own room, and other times we've all been in the same stateroom.

Interesting. Thanks for the info. So the Navigator rooms on Deck 11 are smaller than standard JS (but with huge balcony). Good to note as the room space is probably most important to us (of course the super huge balcony would be great too). They also seem an odd shape so wonder how the layout works inside?

I like how the Royal site says the current sale ends in "5 hrs" (which makes it Dec 24). But of course, you know tomorrow's numbers will be just like todays starting the countdown again until the next "sale".

Ah yes thanks for clarifying. Not sure how accurate the deck plan drawings are, but on Navigator, they are on the "corner " circle part (if that even makes sense...lol) and so by the shape, the room and balcony looks bigger. On the Mariner, it looks like the standard rectangle room and balcony.

On Mariner, the new rooms are 1100, 1102 (one you mention), 1104 and 1106 right? These seems to be the only rooms at this part of the ship so guessing these are pretty quiet. (We have this ship booked too, but one balcony)

Lol...I hear you (but still like the idea of booking a gazillion cruises for other reasons ?)

True, thanks. Diamond seems to be the only real benefit (except for bit more savings on balconies with each level) but we're obviously a long way from that. I'm sure we'll keep our 2 promenades...unless the JS drops a good amount.

Great...thanks so much. We'll definitely watch prices and those staterooms. Only one is taken at this time. We prefer being aft (so near the waterslides , Windjammer and dining room)....but then again if on deck 11, then you are horizontally close and can avoid those nasty elevators (or stairs that our kids complain of...lol) Great to hear you also found movement a non-issue on a 4 day cruise with stops close.

Yeah...2 bathrooms and extra space is nice (esp as our kids would get their own bed). Having said that, my younger one still needs help with the shower and drying her hair, so it's not like we can just say 'go shower' or 'brush your teeth' and saves much time (but our older one is 100% independent). Yeah...2 JS would be great...but even one raises our budget a lot (we've been cruising more, so it lowers budget overall across them...esp with flight costs) One thing I should mention though...we have 5 Royal bookings at the moment. When those are done, we will move up to Emerald. If we move the Navigator to a JS, then with the double points, we would move up after the next 4 bookings. But guess overall, it doesn't make much of a difference. Good luck...I hope prices drop for you so you can book for a good deal! PS - Unless you can successfully get a bid from royal-up for a small amount, then I don't see much point. You don't get double points (if moving from lower-suite to suite class) and you don't get to select your room number.