In May 2018 I sailed on Mariner of the Seas to deliver it to Barcelona for a 120 Million dollar upgrade. It was a fairly run down ship so it was going to be great to see what they had done.
Day 1
Mariner of the Seas – Miami.
There were 80 people going from Symphony to Mariner, so Royal very kindly offered to organise transfers for us and our luggage.
We were to use special tags and the luggage would be taken for us to the other ship.
I met at the time in the meeting place and waited. They were only about 45 minutes later than advertised. We were walked down as a group and taken to the gangway. Then we were sent o our merry way. We had to collect our luggage. They decided not to truck it all up to us.
Going through the immigration hall was painless, thank to yesterday! But then we hit the chaos. There was no guidance as to where our buses were. No staff to tell us, no one had a clue. We all wandered up and down the most crowded ‘airport’ exit you have ever seen, bragging our suitcases.
We got sent to the far end. 60 minutes later we got sent to the other end. It was about 35 degrees in there, must have been high 90% for humidity.
One interesting observation of the new squillion dollar terminal was that ….. surprise ….. a coach could not make the first turn. It as too tight ..they had to do a three or five point turn. #EpicFail and then there were only four bus bays. Not so good for a terminal that will be dropping 6,000+ and picking up 6,000+ every Friday!
We finally found the bus – and had to watch the driver throw tantrums and quit! Then come back, then quit again.
He eventually packed our luggage – we were not allowed to as we were going to get hurt and sue, and go after his house!
We finally got on and had to listen to him lecture us, about safely, about suing and all kinds of rants, for the 15 minutes to the other ship (that we could see). We finally got there. I can easily say that this was the hottest and sweatiest I have even been to board a ship. Lucky it as an easy boarding process.
A $20 taxi would have been so easy!!!!!
Sadly while all this was happening we got the email to do our review of the cruise. So sad they so many people just focused on the last 24 hrs.
My room is an inside – promenade view. So an inside room but with a big bay window over the promenade – so better than an inside.
Then up to the new suite lunge. And WOW impressive. Gone was the terrible ‘cell’ on deck 9. It was replaced with a new suite lounge. Really large and stunning. The wall was all glass and it opened onto a private deck. Mariner has gone from THE worst to one of the nicest lounges on the fleet. It also had a few tables in it. I always said they should have a few. Great for computers, games etc.
The view over the back of the ship was great. It looks at the new slides and trampoline thingo. And since we sail away was to the east it was beautiful.
Sail away from Miami was amazing. I knew it was pretty when I did a trip early this year. But to see it from up high was amazing. One word – M O N E Y ! ! !
I thought I saw big money homes from the day trip. But some of these were insane. Many had yachts bigger than many houses. One had a mast, taller than our ship – and it has 14 floors.
There were a few thousand people on board from a pyramid selling cult. They all wore blue tee shirts saying “Win a free cruise. Ask me how”. I hope they all had more than one shirt as they wore them for all four days! In the lift one ay I asked one of them what they sold. ‘Oh, we assist people to get going. If we assist two we get point”.
I made lovely new friends in the lounge and had a super dinner at Jamie’s with them. Jamies is such a great restaurant. Our waiter form Brazil was great, but look so like Robbie Williams the British singer. When I said that he thanked me and was so excited. Most Yanks have never heard of him.
It was then own to the Ice Show! It was really good. A Big Top theme with very talented skaters doing amazing things.
Two of the clowns had truck inner tubes in their costumes. They would throw them selves over and bounce back up. Very very funny.
Day 2
Cococay, The Bahamas.
COCOCAY is a private island owned by Royal. I was here a few years ago and it it was a lovely little island.
It’s now undergoing some massive major works. They are building a pair. At the moment it is a tender port. A short tender but still a time consuming process. Giant flat bottomed tenders came and got us.
I walked around and looked at many of the great facilities. Cabanas at $350 a day. Lounge chairs everywhere. Then things to hire – Float mats, Snorkel gear, Umbrellas.
And there are lots of activities. A floating bar. And water park. Sports courts. And games lead by cruise staff everywhere. And the little shops selling hair braiding et al.
But they are amplifying it. And wow. If you are a beach person it will be amazing. Like a theme park. Slides etc. Disney has already signed a five year deal to use the island on the off days.
“Australian Pines” aka Casuarina are everywhere!
Then I went back to the ship.
That evening we were invited to the bridge by the captain.
Yay. “Achievement unlocked”. One of the things I have really wanted to do on a ship was one of the infamous cocktail parties on the bridge.
It was sunset as we sailed away from COCOCAY. Wonderful. How exciting.
Then back to Jamie’s for more wonderful food.
Day 3
Nassau. Bahamas
I started the day with a game of laser tag. You ever a vest and run around shooting the other team (Electronically) – Aliens. Much fun.
Then went for a walk around Nassau. It was Remembrance day and a Sunday so much was shut.
But not ‘Senor Frogs’. The famous bar for cruisers. I went and had a frozen mango daiquiri. And wings. Doesn’t come more island then that. Then wandered around some more.
I had a lovely walk around town. Very pretty. Apart from a sad visit to the Slavery Museum. Good on Queen Elizabeth who’s first act here was to abolish slavery in 1837.
Sail Away was pretty. I decided to skip dinner and went ad got some take away – “to Go” from Playmakers, the new sports bar. The Sunday night games was about to start and it was wild. Until the anthem came on. Dead silence, hands on hearts and tears in eyes!
Debarking the next morning was extremely easy. I know it was half the people, but Royal have sure solved a few problems in a few days. Took me about 7 minutes from the elevator to the kerbside pick up. And that included a slow walk to look at the fancy new terminal. The major art work is two life sized gold propellors – that spin. Pretty.
And a Suites Pinnacle lounge for waiting to board. A bit if overkill but pretty nice!
There were plenty of porter. Immigration was done with a camera. A new one to me. You just walked up to the iPad like devise and looked at it. It flashed green and I was waved through. DIdn’t even have to get my passport out. And that was that.
Next adventure – a visit in Miami.
Click below.