PMPMarty

Totally agree and I think everyone is saying the same thing, There is an obvious lack of communication from RC to their passengers.

Being a first-time cruiser I thought I would give my impression of the experience we had sailing on the Mariner of the Seas 19 – 23 April. Boarding the ship at Port Canaveral: I was very impressed; this was a well-oiled machine. Drive up, drop off your bags, hand the nice man some money, and go to park. The only issue I had was with some guy named Wade (not sure if he worked for RC or for the port). Wade thought himself a drill sergeant barking orders to people, “Stop talking, get in line”. Rude!! The process of checking in and getting on the boat was very simple and moved along quickly. Once on the boat is where our inexperience kicked in. What do we do, how do we get our room keys? There is no one to tell you how it all works. We eventually figured it out after asking a few people, but I felt this is something that could have been explained prior to boarding. Once on board we explored the ship to see where everything was located and how to get around. It was during this time that we overheard other passengers discussing that our ports of call had changed. Instead of being at sea on the first day, we were now going to Freeport. We later found out that this was due to a maintenance issue, but again, this was not communicated very well to the passengers. Day one at Freeport: Why are we here!! There is nothing in Freeport. A fenced in area with a pretend straw market. It was also during this time that we were hit by another ship while tied up to the dock. The whole boat rocked! Luckily it was high up on the rear of the ship. Day two at Coco Cay: We had a blast, what a wonderful place. Very relaxing without a care in the world. The blue waters were amazing. Day three Nassau: Loved it, lots to do and see. Day four, coming home: Getting off of the ship was as easy as getting on, very smooth process. Overall impression: Our spacious balcony room was very nice and had plenty of room. Our porter did not disappoint either. Big thank you to Orlando!! We loved exploring the ship, especially at night when there was hardly anyone up on deck. It was almost as if we had the place to ourselves. We ate in the main dining room twice. The first night it seemed that they were having some “coordination” issues. Overall the food was very good, but we were not impressed by the prime rib. Cut was very thin and dry. Not at all what I expected. If you’re a morning person (I am) you will enjoy being on deck as the sun comes up. Magical! Not to mention breakfast in the Windjammer. It was a wonderful experience, and the entire Mariner of the Seas crew were awesome. Thank you all!

I was curious if anyone can tell me the process for parking at Port Canaveral and what the cost is? Drop off bags and then park? This will be our first cruise.

We sail on Mariner of the Seas 19 April and we were just notified yesterday that our bid had been accepted for a spacious balcony room.

We are about to go on our first cruise and I was wondering if we needed to have a test 2 days prior or if it was administered at the terminal. There seems to be a lot of confusion around what is the correct answer.

Thanks all, looking forward to this!

This will be our first cruise; I was wondering what everyone normally wears to dinner. I read that they do not allow shorts?