ChaosCoordinator

Days 5 and 6 - Sea day and departure - Our last sea day was was mostly spent relaxing. We had nothing planned and enjoyed the heck out of it! We did wake up early to go see the sunrise and it was beautiful. So refreshing up in the cool morning air. - Departure was quick and easy. We had everything packed and bags set out the previous night by about 8pm. That allowed us to just relax and enjoy the last night on board. Our departure time was not until 8:45am so we had a leisurely breakfast at Cafe Promenade. We were just about to head to the Star Lounge to wait for our time when they announced our departure number was ready. We walked around the corner, got in the quickly moving line and were off the boat in about 5-10 minutes. Line through departure/customs area didn’t take long and we quickly found our luggage. We all had passports so, quick face scan and we were out the door. Random thoughts and observations - Overall a very enjoyable cruise! I enjoyed the bells and whistles of Wonder but liked the smaller scale of the Mariner. Most areas seemed less hectic and crowded which made for a relaxing trip. - The Windjammer was one area that I did not really enjoy. Food was generally okay and the space looked very nice and had plenty of seating. However, I thought the layout of the buffets was odd and a bit chaotic. Things were spaced very close together leaving little room for traffic flow. Food placement was also weird in some instances - i.e. bagels at the beginning of the buffet with fruit and pastry but all the bagel toppings at the very end of the buffet, after the hot foods. - The MDR was okay in terms of food quality. There were a few misses but most of the food we received was tasty and served at the correct temperature. That being said, service was very slow. It was 2+ hours most nights. I don’t know if our waiters were new but our tables and the others they served were usually the last tables to finish each night. I don’t mind a leisurely meal but we were usually one of the first groups in the door for early seating and tables around us would be receiving dessert before we even finished appetizers. We did request quicker service on the last evening and it did improve to a little over an hour and a half. - On both this ship and the Wonder, I will say that the servers were very friendly and accommodating! We especially appreciated the efforts of the head waiters/ area mangers. On the Wonder, the head waiter visited our table every night. After learning that my daughter loved the broccoli, he would have a large plate of broccoli sent to the table every night. He also had a platter of baklava sent to our table when one of our group asked if it was available (it was served in the Solarium that night but not in the MDR). On the Mariner, the manager Maria seemed to be everywhere! She was always checking in on us and, multiple times, stopped to help the younger kids cut up their food. She was wonderful and made us feel taken care of. - We enjoyed the variety of trivia sessions, games and productions on board the Mariner. The Mariner had multiple large lounge and stage areas that provided good accommodation for the various activities. On the Wonder, we felt that some of the spaces were too small/awkward for the the activities they held (like the very small karaoke room). Although we missed the excitement of the diving show from Wonder, we enjoyed the ice show and musical medleys Mainer had to offer. I thought the ice show was very entertaining, beautiful costumes and impressive skating. For the music productions, I am easy to please. I enjoyed the medleys of popular music - I liked Gallery of Dreams more, due to the fun sets and beautiful costumes, but also liked the Center Stage production. The musicians, singers and dancers are all very talented. We also attended performances by a comedian and a magician which were entertaining and family friendly. - We read so many great suggestions on the blog/message boards. Here are a few small items that made our trips more comfortable. Small USB fan (lots of options on Amazon) - being from the South, I feel a fan in the bedroom is a must! The USB fan was small, easy to pack and provided just enough cooling and air circulation. The Mariner did not have outlets next to the bed but the bedside telephone does have a USB jack! Pop-Up Hamper (we got ours from Wal-mart and I think it was around $5) - this isn’t a must have but our small hamper fit nicely in the bottom of the closet. Convenient to just throw all dirty clothes in and, when we packed, we just put the whole hamper in the suitcase. It is small and flexible so easy to do. Liquid Hand Soap - cheap, easy to pack, and so much nicer than using the little hotel bar soap. - This is not a must have but just something fun and silly to do. On our Wonder cruise, we ordered fun temporary tattoos (ours were from InkBox). They stayed on for about a week. We planned to do them for the Mariner too but didn’t order in time We thoroughly enjoyed both our cruises. I am pretty sure my SIL is already planning the next one! Thank you for reading

Yes, Christmas cruising was great! All the decorating, cooking and cleaning taken care of leaving time to just relax with the family Days 4 and 5 - port days in Costa Maya and Cozumel Day 4 - Christmas morning!!! Arrival into Costa Maya wasn’t until about 11am so we had plenty of time for opening a few presents and going to breakfast (in our matching Christmas PJs). After breakfast, the kids got to visit Santa. There was a nice set up in Studio B and all the kids received gifts - the two younger kids received light up AO Whales and our daughter got a cool RC beach towel. Very nice way to start the day! - For Costa Maya, my SIL and her family stayed at the port and the rest of us went on the Chacchoben Mayan Ruin tour. The tour was great - we did the exclusive tour which was 4 hours, on a smaller van/bus and provided drinks. We appreciated the cold drinks because, if I had to guess, it was around 250 degrees outside! Actually, I think the temp was around 83 but it was extremely humid. In the shade or with a slight breeze wasn’t too bad but it still felt very hot. We had a great tour guide and, with a group of only about 10 people, we could easily interact and ask questions. Day 5 - For our Cozumel port day, we all booked the Deluxe Playa Mia Beach Break. Transportation was on a large bus and it took about 10-15 minutes to reach the beach. This was a nice day at the beach and included all the activities, food and drink. Based on reviews, I think there are probably nicer day resorts in the area but this was through RC and had a lot of stuff for the kids to do. There were several pools, a kids splash area, water slides and a nice beach with inflatable obstacle courses. Plenty of loungers and umbrellas were available and the attendants were very friendly and helpful. There was a large shaded area with buffets and the food was simple but good - just Mexican staples (fajita steak/chicken, rice, beans) and a few kid friendly options like pizza and hot dogs. Service was great, beer was cold and the bathrooms were clean! Not really a part of the attraction but we got a kick out of the wild animals roaming around - huge iguanas/lizards and cute little raccoon like creatures (Coati?).

Day 2 - Christmas Eve, Sea Day - We made reservations for the escape room so, after (our second!) breakfast in the dining room, we headed up to deck 15. A few in our group had done escape rooms before but this was new to me and it was so much fun! The room was fully themed, the puzzles were challenging and we finished with just a couple of minutes to spare (after one helpful hint from the attendant). We were paired up with another family and they were very clever! I think we held our own but, without them (and the time limit) we might still be there to this day, Lol. - After the escape room, it was almost time for our lunch. We booked Jamie’s during one of the promotions (National Pasta Day?) and the price was very reasonable at around $13 for the adults. I have read that Jamie’s can be hit or miss but we had a fantastic meal! The servers were super friendly and the food was plentiful and tasty! We started with the meat plank and a few selections from the appetizer menu. The only thing I didn’t love was the burrata with (I think) honey and truffle - it was okay, just a little overpowering with the different flavors. For entrees, we had lasagna, penne arrabbiata, truffle tagliatelle, penne carbonara and I think a shrimp linguine. The younger kids had spaghetti. My daughter is the one who ordered the truffle tagliatelle but the truffle flavor was a bit much for her. And we all benefited from it! The waiter very kindly brought her a different dish and we all got to sample the tagliatelle and it was delicious! This was our first time trying a specialty restaurant (other than apps at Playmakers) and I would definitely book again. I think the dinner prices are a smidge high but there are great deals for lunch and it was a perfect treat for a sea day. - The afternoon was spent exploring the ship and lounging around. On the way to dinner, we got in the elevator with the piano player. We experienced this on Wonder too but it was just as fun on the Mariner. I honestly don’t know how they shove the piano into the elevator, it only leaves room for about 4 people. But we had a rousing sing a long to jingle bells and I think we scared the teens in the lobby when the doors opened. - Christmas Eve dinner in the MDR was nice but mostly unmemorable with the exception of dessert. My husband ordered a chocolate Noel dessert (I believe this was French night and the actual name translates to Yule Log). The picture is below - we seemingly all have the minds of 12 year olds and laughed until we cried. I think the table behind us caught on and they were laughing too. For fans of South Park, there were many jokes about Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo. Howdy Ho! Though rather unfortunate looking, my husband did say it was very tasty. - After dinner, the kids went to AO and we went to the pub for drinks and cards. I liked that many of the pubs/lounges on the ship had larger tables to play on. The English pub was rarely crowded or noisy and made a good spot to play in the afternoons/early evening. We also briefly hit the casino. None of us are big gamblers but we all like to play the slots for fun. Unfortunately, the casino was very smoky throughout and we didn’t spend a lot of time there. Even in the adjacent schooner bar, the smell of smoke was often very strong.

Hello fellow cruisers! First off, I would like to say thank you to Matt and the great community here. We took two cruises this past year and the detailed info, tips and tricks were all extremely helpful! Even though it isn’t live, I wanted to do a mini-blog/trip review to share our experience on the Mariner A little about our group - I was cruising with my husband, our daughter, my MIL, my SIL, BIL and niece and nephew. We all took a weeklong trip on the Wonder this past summer and enjoyed the cruise so much, we booked this Christmas cruise on the Mariner. I had best intentions to post about the Wonder but, 6 months later, here we are, lol. Although some of as had cruised before, these were our first RC cruises and first long(er) cruises with children and extended family. Mariner of the Seas, 5 nights, Port Canaveral to Costa Maya and Cozumel Day 1 - Boarding was quick and easy! We arrived just after our boarding time of 11:30. Parking in the garage was a breeze and, after a very short wait at the check in desk, we were on the ship. We headed to the Windjammer for lunch (with a brief detour to the bar) and rooms were ready before we finished eating. - The ship was decorated beautifully for the holidays! The tree on the promenade was beautiful and our kids loved the gingerbread house displays. - Overall first impression of the ship - everything seemed to be clean and well maintained. The ship really is beautiful - we were worried that, after being on Wonder, we would be disappointed but the Mariner is great! I know Mariner was upgraded around 2018 and everything still looks really good. We did miss having the Central Park/Boardwalk areas but loved the slightly smaller size and that so many public spaces had large windows and great views! - For rooms, my SIL and her family selected a panoramic view on deck 12. They seemed happy with the location and the room had a great view with floor to ceiling windows. For my family, we chose promenade view rooms on deck 7, above Playmakers - 2 adjacent rooms with my husband and myself in one and my daughter and MIL in the other. The rooms were not connected as having the connecting door cost extra and we figured side by side was close enough! We really liked these rooms and the location! The rooms were maybe a little on the dated side but everything was in good repair and we liked the widow seat overlooking the promenade. Beds were on the firm side but I prefer a firm mattress and was very comfortable. We read some complaints about noise but the rooms were very quiet (we could hear music from the 70’s party one night but that wrapped up around 11pm and it was silent again). We were only a few doors down from the elevator/stairs and being on the 7th floor made it very easy to get up/down to things and avoid the elevators which were often very crowded. We all had balconies when we cruised Wonder and, although we liked the outdoor space, we are rarely in the rooms and didn’t miss them on this trip. - Since this was was a Christmas cruise, we did bring some fun room and door decorations. We had LED battery operated lights to hang in the windows, stockings and goodies for Christmas morning and big red bows (the outdoor plasticky kind which held up well to packing) for the doors. Also for the door, we thought it would be fun to do “gifts” for people passing by. We had a basket with candy canes and we had magnets made for the trip. We weren’t really sure if people would take them or not (we did make a sign so people knew they were okay to take). We had 30 magnets and about 70 candy canes. They were all gone by about 3pm on day two!!! So we will plan to bring more if we do this again it was fun to see the magnets on doors as we walked around the ship. - Our niece and nephew were super excited to get back to Adventure Ocean so their parents got them signed up ASAP. I think my nephew would have spent the entire trip in AO if he could. My daughter had just turned 12 on our Wonder cruise and was sort of caught between the kids and teens clubs and she ended up not really participating in either. But, for this cruise, we had her go to the teen club, Fuel, the first night for the intro/meet and greet. She ended up making a few friends and they were like peas in a pod for the rest of the trip! We were so happy that she had friends to meet up with - they met up for pool/water slides, did scavenger hunts, the silent disco, attended shows together and generally had a blast! A few photos from our first day on board…