We're freshly-back from a 4-night Bahamas cruise that I would normally rate as average aside from one crew member's attitude nudging things lower. Previously, we have sailed on NCL and Princess cruises with a similar itinerary out of Miami. Aside from the newness of Mariner OTS, we've had more positive experiences on those other lines as a couple in their late 30s not traveling with children.

We traveled in cabin 1260 which is a Grand Suite. The cabin itself is very nice, but we would really be just as happy in a window or even inside cabin. We don't make use of the balcony, and while the large bathroom and bathtub is nice, we mostly booked the suite to get the perks. One of the perks, priority boarding, was obliterated by a computer malfunction which required the use of hand-written boarding passes causing a major backup in the terminal. The boat didn't set sail until around 11:30PM due to the glitch. Nevertheless, we were still able to make use of all onboard amenities and the itinerary was only minimally affected.

Although it's not our aim to avoid the MDR, we usually rely heavily on specialty dining. On this cruise, we ended up in specialty dining each night. Our first meal was at Jamie's Italian which we decided to try only because they were offering 35% off as a promotion. Despite this, the restaurant was nearly empty. At no point during our meal were more than 4 tables occupied. A sandwich board outside the restaurant says something to the effect of "We're all about beautifully-sourced ingredients." While my wife's lamb chops were fantastic and my crab pasta was also very fresh tasting and delicious, the side of "Seasonal Greens" was unmistakably frozen broccoli. This is a menu item and was not a special request. The boat was docked in Miami for over 12 hours. In all that time, they couldn't procure one single fresh vegetable for this restaurant? Read more