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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.

Far too early in the morning on July 4th of this year, I was checking prices on cruises. Prices tend to drop when kids go back to school, so I searched for cruises out of Florida between the Friday after Labor Day and the end of September. One of the best rates that came up was a 4-night cruise on Mariner of the Seas out of Port Miami. I’ve followed the news on Mariner’s renovation and the other ships receiving upgrades as part of the Royal Amplified initiative. Seeing what Royal Caribbean had planned, I thought this could be a ship for me. My other requirement was getting a real bargain on the fare. It looked like I would be sailing solo, and I resigned myself to paying a 200% single supplement — that is, covering the price of double occupancy even if only one person sailed. In the case only one person sails, Royal Caribbean collects taxes and fees for only one person. To make sure I was seeing this rate, I would select 1 passenger when pricing out a sailing. Usually, I’d see the base fare for one person at the same as when priced for two people, but one time… I didn’t. The price was much lower. I found a rare solo cruiser cabin and there was no single supplement at all. I’m a big proponent of travel agents, but 4am on July 4th is not quite the time to get someone on the phone. I decided I needed to book this cruise directly through the Royal Caribbean site or else someone else would. My Crown & Anchor account already had my contact information, so all I had to enter was my credit card. Well, that didn’t work for some reason. After a couple of other hiccups, I decided to call a Royal Caribbean agent. This turned out to be the right move. A really friendly guy saw that the cabin I wanted had a reservation lock from a purchase in progress. I chuckled and told him that was probably me. I gave him the email address on my Crown & Anchor membership and he was able to confirm my contact information. He put me on hold for a little under a minute to talk to someone who could release the reservation lock and allow him to complete the booking over the phone. Before this time when I needed to book at 4am on July 4th, I had worked with the same travel agent on all but my first cruise. When you find a travel agent who is a good match for you, there are benefits. Over time, your agent will get to know your cruising preferences. At the same time, I’m glad to know that when I needed them at an odd hour, there was a Royal Caribbean agent there to help me make the booking I wanted. In my case, I was after final payment date, but if I hadn’t been, and I had not yet paid for the cruise in full, I would have been able to transfer the booking to my usual travel agent. I’ve noticed my Crown & Anchor membership already saved me time twice making this reservation. It occurs to me that even though we affectionately tease the Pre-Gold membership, in my case, even being Pre-Gold would have saved me time when I was on the phone with the Royal Caribbean agent. If you’ve taken a Royal Caribbean cruise and you haven’t signed up for a Crown & Anchor membership, it’s an easy recommendation. I can’t think of any downside. You might get a gift in the room. You’ll get some onboard offers loaded onto your Sea Pass card the next time you sail. I guess I’m also saying if you’re reading this blog because you think you might take a Royal Caribbean cruise, but you haven’t booked yet, go ahead and sign up for a Pre-Gold membership. (All of this is free.) You might find the emails to be another source of Royal Caribbean news. Celebrity Constellation and Disney Magic, both medium-size ships, have been my favorite experiences so far. When I cruised solo this past December, I was on the mega-ship Norwegian Epic. I’m curious to see how those two experiences come together cruising solo on the medium-size Mariner of the Seas. If you’d like, you can read my liveblog from the Norwegian Epic sailing. Follow along as I liveblog here this week. That drink package was paired with streaming internet access, so I’ll also be on Periscope. If staying connected is important t you I recommend checking out the below posts: Keeping in Touch on Ship and Shore & How to Stay in Touch with Someone on Your Royal Caribbean Cruise You can follow me @cruisehabitric and while you’re at it, follow the main account @cruisehabit where Billy covers sail-aways from Port Everglades and Port Miami. Leave your questions in the comments and I’ll see what I can do to track down some answers. I’ll be on Mariner of the Seas to Nassau and Coco Cay with one sea day starting Monday, September 17th.

Looking for some advice — we are going on our first family cruise next year on Mariner of the Seas (my wife, 10 year old daughter, and me with what will be an almost one year old) and I have never booked anything more than an ocean view. Currently we are booked in a corner aft cabin balcony on deck 10 but there are hump balconies available on decks 8 and 9. I know the deck plans will change with the extreme refurbishment but which room would you recommend?