Search the Community

Booked and soooo ready to go! Never been to Labadee!

Hello All I have cruise booked with the mariner of the seas July 21st out of Port Canaveral (this is my first cruise with Royal Caribbean) and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions where I should book a hotel. I am trying to find something fairly close to the terminal. Thank you

Excited to celebrate our 15th anniversary & our oldest boy’s 6th birthday with our family of 4. Andrew (36), Ambere (35), AJ (6), and Alex (2). This will be Ambere & my second cruise and the first one with our boys. Our first one was a 4 day Bahamas on our honeymoon aboard Sovereign Of The Seas (RIP) in 2008. Excited to go back to Nassau & CocoCay & see Bermuda for the first time!

We are less than a year out, people! Who's sailing to Puerto Plata, Labadee and Coco Cay?

My husband and I are going on a 4 night cruise (boarding day, Sea Day, Cozumel, Sea day) - Which of those days would you all suggest is the best day to do a dinner at Chefs Table? This is our first ever cruise and I am clueless about what to expect each day.

My husband and I will be on this cruise, kid free, for our 10 year anniversary.

Since my introduction to participating in a live blog with @Lovetocruise2002 on her Star Class take over I'm going to document our family sweet 16 celebration cruise. Note: Daughter celebrating, me still scratching my head looking at baby pics thinking where in the heck did the time go? I had her when I was 40, so shocked and happy! Please be kind and don't do the math! Best thing that ever happened to me, after meeting hubby of course, married 30 years in August....together 32 years. Harmony to celebrate our Anniversary 01 August! Mariner of the Seas June 13-18, 2022 Cabin: 1804, it's been a 2X canceled cabin due to pandemic really happy to sail from this perspective. Bringing my motion patches just in case. VP Ocean view Panoramic Suite. Royal Up Bid: Royal Suite still pending, while that would be nice I'm perfectly fine trying out the cabin I have. Antigens negative yesterday, so happy! Stepping off the Allure last Sunday we all felt good but were just a little nervous, all for naught! Concierge contact and host Dudley! Yay, we met him on the first sailing of the Adventure out of the Bahamas back in June 2021. Our only request was a private table for the three of us in the MDR. There are no birthday decorations at all on board as reflected by the cruise planner so I am just bringing some small sweet 16 items to decorate the cabin. The Labadee cabanas are really high so we are just going to skip breakfast and go over early for some chairs in our hidden nook. Embarkation lunch at Jaimies Italian. We have never dined there. We are doing MDR for a change for dinner. Asked for a table off to the side as it usually gets really loud in there. Itinerary: Leaving out of Port Canaveral Terminal 5, Sea Day, Labadee, Sea Day, Coco Cay, Port Canaveral. A quick sailing, I will want to stay on for sure! I asked Dudley if I could bring him anything and he needed some laundry detergent and such, I purchased and packed to discretly give to him, I was so happy he felt comfortable enough to ask. It made me feel good to get something he needed. We are driving over from Tampa FL to Port Canaveral today and staying in the Hampton at Port Canaveral. With the sailing embarkation on a Monday Interstate 4 is never fun, but on a Monday just no! Would rather arrive a day earlier I'm just more comfortable because you just never know! Please be patient and kind, this is my first time doing this blog thing alone, I will try to channel my inner Sabrina to make it as fun as possible. Mariner here we come! Cabana prices are high! Last pic was me last week in Labadee, that is what I plan to do this entire trip....I love the water!

For today's birthday sailing I booked Jamie's for embarkation lunch. We don't have the UDP because quite frankly I wasn't that jazzed about the specialty dining on this ship for 5 nights. Can we order more then 3 apps and all share? Or is it one per person? Is it the same with the lunch offerings? Thanks so much, reservation at 1200. I figured better to ask late then not ask at all. Thanks everyone!

Was anyone on Mariner of the seas may 23-28? The last night the captain said he was going to go faster because of a medical emergency and I’m just curious what happened.

So I have some cruises in my app - we sail in Mariner this year, but the app doesn’t open to allow me to see dining, etc. Yet our sailing next year on Allure DOES have that option. I also see the allure sailing has the “my sailing tag” on it but the Mariner doesn’t. Any thoughts on why this is happening or how it can be fixed? Thanks in Advance

Hi All - planning a 9 day cruise summer of 2022 and booked 4 spacious balcony cabins together on the Mariner. Does anyone know if the balconies can be connected by opening/removing doors? Any issues? Thanks

If I am reading things right, in order to sail with children 12 and older they must be vaccinated? Okay, so is the company going to refund my four after this date sailings? My daughter is 15 and while vaccination isn't off the table we want to wait for additional education before we give her this vaccine, so clearly our sailing 01 August 2021 is a no go. I paid with my FCC's please, will they be issuing refunds now? As an adult I am vaccinated, but I want to do my due diligence not be forced into something before I am ready. Thoughts? Anyone in the same boat here? @Matt am I understanding this correctly?? @Sharla what now?

I'm going on Symphony of the seas in March 2022. I looked at the port schedule for CocoCay and it looks like the day I'm visiting (March 18, 2022), both Symphony and Mariner are docking. How crowded would that be with 2 ships, especially the waterpark? I know Royal frequently docks 2 voyager class ships (ex. Navigator and Mariner), but I don't know about an Oasis class + Mariner.

For those of you have sailed on the Voyager class would you prefer a 2 bedroom grande suite to the 1 bedroom? I really wanted to book the panoramic in front but the two are unavailable. I REALLY prefer 2 bathrooms with our teenage daughter but it's only 4 nights. I watched the you tube videos and am not sure I would enjoy the aft balcony as it appears very obstructed. Also can you smell the exhaust, feel the rock of the ship more? Thanks for your thoughts. Seriously I would stow away in the bottom of the ship to sail already.

Since only sailing the Oasis class I have never sailed the Mariner before. As far as the Grand Suite on this ship, what are the main differences ? Will I need to book embarkation lunch for a more relaxed lunch? Internet also not included? Is there a suite lounge? I know there is no Coastal Kitchen, what do you do in this case? Thank you ahead of time!

We were set to go in August, but ended up cancelling on our fully refundable reservation before all of this got crazy back in March (you really could see the writing on the wall). So happy to reschedule for the end of April! Got the same itinerary (double dip at CocoCay), and while I doubt we'll see a repeat of the two-day pass for $69 in the cruise planner, we did get a good price for our drink package at $53. Oh, and our room is bigger (got the spacious, panoramic oceanview this time) and we are oh-so excited to have something to look forward to again. Hooray!

Okay, crazy question I think. Can anyone here remember the type of car on the promenade of the Mariner? Anthem? Are they the same as on the Harmony? Curious minds want to know. Any additional ships cars identified will also be greatly Appreciated. We love this random stuff! Thanks in advance ? I resort to anything I can to lure my husband into booking new sailings?

Our previous sailing on the Harmony we had our WOW bands scanned at muster (they squished us in the rear) in guest services area and it was worse then awful and long....then, to add insult to injury so to speak they sent us multiple "threats" accusing us of not being there. Finally we were issued an order to appear to watch that dreaded movie again, just a nightmare! Does anyone know where the muster station is for cabin 1252 on the Mariner? Also 1752 on the Harmony? I want to plan to attend with the sea pass cards and make sure they are correctly scanned this time, thanks so much!

We are going on Mariner in October 2020. Does anyone know the cost of the Escape Room onboard? Is the room worth it (good puzzles, the rooms actually put together well?)?

Hello everyone, I was on Mariner last week. It was a good cruise. I created a journal to share my experience. It was my first time on Royal, first time solo, 2nd cruise overall. Here is how Embarkation day went for me. https://www.traveldiariesapp.com/en/PublicDiary/2cb02767-7602-43ed-bf1f-cdbc9639f709/Chapter/1cbc9a77-5835-4447-a36d-c7b05d506f58 https://www.traveldiariesapp.com/en/PublicDiary/2cb02767-7602-43ed-bf1f-cdbc9639f709/Chapter/7a1e7edd-27d3-4e94-8913-8178ef228fdb Enjoy. William

Hi, we were on this cruise out of Port Canveral to Perfect Day, to Nassau. My son (Ian) met a sweet young girl on the cruise, named Addison, with a younger sister named Ireland. Apparently with a family that does this cruise every year with work? Hes sad now, and was hoping to connect with her somehow just to say hi or maybe write letters? If anyone has any more info, that would be awesome?

Hi, we were on this cruise out of Port Canveral to Perfect Day, to Nassau. My son (Ian) met a sweet young girl on the cruise, named Addison, with a younger sister named Ireland. Apparently with a family that does this cruise every year with work? Hes sad now, and was hoping to connect with her somehow just to say hi or maybe write letters? If anyone has any more info, that would be awesome?

I wasn’t entirely truthful…. or that’s what Hubby told me when I first presented the idea of this cruise to him. The last time I blogged in March, while on board Anthem, I said the next live blog would be on Harmony in March 2019. At the moment, it’s only August… Here’s the backstory: It all started around April (@Skid, it was not as spontaneous as you thought), when Hubby let me in on an innocent fact. He said, “I took a week off in August while you and girls are still off.” My response, “What do you want to do during that week?”, but really, the gears already started turning and I’m thinking, “What cruise can I book that won’t break the bank (since we’ve already taken double the amount we usually take in one year)?” We tossed around the idea of doing a land vacation to New York or Chicago. I even went as far as to price it out and research things we could do with the kids there. All the while, in the back of my mind, I’m thinking, a cruise is still better value. I consulted the kids in the land vacation planning and I was met with two responses, “Is there going to be a lot of walking?” and, “Why can’t we just go on another cruise?” Yes! I have raised cruise addicts…scary thought. With all the hype surrounding Mariner’s revitalization, my curiosity was piqued. I priced it out and the price was not as bad as I thought it would be. With that, I pitched the idea to Hubby. I was met with a firm, “NO!” Not because he doesn’t like cruising, but because this would be our 5th cruise (6th if you count the one that we treated my parents to) within a one-year period (we don’t live the @twangster or @Matt life), we are 211 days away from a Star Class sailing ???, and we just got off the Seaside two weeks ago. However, fittingly, as my title by @Matt would have it, I’m not called a “Stubborn Canadian Scorpio” for nothing. I continued to monitor pricing and air fare, and as luck would have it, somewhere near the end of May, both went down to a decent rate. Hubby, as I suspected, did not have any other ideas for a land vacation so he finally agreed, and I said, “YOLO, I’m Booking It!” The reality of it is that I am, “Blessed by God and Spoiled by my Husband”. Who is going? Hubby and I, and our two girls (D12, D9 about to be 10) Flight: Once again, we are flying out of DTW to FLL. Mariner leaves from Miami, but flights were cheaper to FLL and we prefer to stay there anyway. Our plan is to use Lyft Plus to get us to the Port of Miami in the morning. Pre-cruise Stay: Normally, we like to stay at the Renaissance (on 17th Street) but this time we have our kids with us and HYATT PLACE FORT LAUDERDALE 17TH STREET CONVENTION CENTER is better suited for our family. The hotel provides a free airport shuttle from FLL, complimentary Wi-Fi, and a complimentary hot breakfast in the morning. Anyone travelling with kids knows what a relief it is not to have to find food for the kids in the morning. In addition, the best part about this hotel, is that it is right next door to our favourite restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, La Bamba! The call of margaritas and fried ice cream is strong! I also discovered a really nice surprise when booking this hotel. There is a website, valuetrips.com, that discounts the rate at this hotel considerably. They act as a third party. They reserve and secure a great rate for you, you pay for it upon arrival and you will still receive loyalty points if you collect them. Their communication is horrible, but I knew this from reading online reviews. Upon securing the reservation with the hotel, Valuetrips should send you a confirmation through email. As per the reviews I had read, the email never came. About ten days after submitting my request online, I called the Hyatt directly, and my reservation was on file with them. They confirmed the rate that I secured through Valuetrips and everything worked out. I finally received an email from Valuetrips about a month after submitting my request. For anyone thinking of using valuetrips.com, be prepared to confirm the booking on your own but you’ll save a bit of money in the process. We saved almost $100 by going through Valuetrips. Itinerary: This 4-night Mariner sailing brings us to Nassau and Coco Cay. As usual, the ship is the destination for us. Last time, on Anthem, we missed Coco Cay and we asked the girls if they wanted us to re-purchase the excursions that we had planned. They declined. I also thought it would be fun to take them to explore the aquarium at Atlantis in Nassau, but they declined that too. If you ask my kids what they are looking forward to this week, the answer is simple (and cheap). They want to eat ice cream and pizza, have free reign over food in the WJ, ride the waterslides, and swim. So, we have no excursions booked and we will be roaming around with no set plans for this cruise. Cabin: We are booked in a JS up on Deck 11. There were no plans to upgrade this because of two reasons. One being that this is one of the new Junior Suites installed during the recent dry dock, so I know this room is new, fresh, and in good condition. Recent reviews and scopes have indicated that existing staterooms have not been refurbished with the rest of the ship, so I am happy with our choice here. The second reason is that this cruise is an extra for us. I wanted at least a JS to get the double C&A points (we are currently 5 points out from Diamond, so this will do it for us), and because Voyager class ships don’t have the same suite benefits as Oasis and Quantum class for GS and above, there is no real incentive to go higher for a 4-night sailing. Pre-cruise thoughts: - The most special thing this sailing will be my daughter’s 10th birthday. She has big plans. She wants to sleep in, check out the ship, swim a bit, go on the water slides, and spend time together as a family. She is the sweetest! I also think she is what finally convinced Hubby. Those of you who have children know that you cannot take one daughter on a cruise three years ago to celebrate her birthday and not have the other daughter want the same eventually. - Really looking forward to this sailing since it will be a return to the beginning for us. We have not sailed a Voyager class ship since our first cruise back in 2002. - We are booked for MTD. This will also be a return to the MDR since 2016. I have mixed feelings about this. More on that later. But again, keeping this cruise as low cost as possible, we will not be doing any specialty dining. - I am excited to be literally steps away from the Solarium. - It will be interesting to see what my kids think of this ship. They have now sailed DCL (which is similar in size to Mariner) three times and Anthem. This will be the first time that they can skate on a ship. - I cannot wait to check out the late night WJ offerings. - We purchased VOOM for 2 Devices again. - Once again, in the spirit of a live blog, please do not hesitate to ask any questions. I will do my best to find out whatever I can for you. - When responding to a post with a series of pictures, please do not include the pictures in your reply. It just makes for easier scrolling. - Lastly, I will do my best to bring the cruise to you LIVE through Periscope – you can follow me @LoveToCruise2002.

By FlowBro Ty - Day One Port Miami - This Is On A Three Night Bahamas Voyage On The Mariner Of The Seas To Coco Cay And Nassau Bahamas. On This Cruise I Will Be Staying In A Interior Cabin. So With That Said Lets Start This Blog. At Seven I Left My House And Is On The Road To Breakfast. At McDonald's I Got A Egg And Chesse On A Bagel. It Was Pretty Good. After Mc Donald's We Started To Drive The Four Hour Drive. After Just Ten Minutes In The Car We Ran In To Bad Traffic. Really Bad Traffic. At One We Got To The Port And Check In. There Was No Line And Here Are Some Photos Of The Skyline. At Four Thirty We Went To Muster It Was So Long And Hot.Then After Muster We Stared To Sail Away From Doge Island. Love The Sail Away From Doge Island. After The Sail Away I Hit The Flowrider. For Dinner We Had Diner On Deck Three. It Was Pretty Good And The Wait Staff Was Amazing. After Dinner I Went To Play Laser Tag At Studio B. It Was So Fun And Cool. I Hope All Ship Get It. After That I Went To Bed, It Was A Long Day . Tomorrow Will Be A Fun Day At Coco Cay.