Mariner of the Seas Review
2-Star Experience for a 3-Star Price
Rating by category
Additional details
My husband and I went on the September 8 sailing on the Mariner of the Seas to the Eastern Mediterranean. Before the cruise, we took a 5-day land tour of Italy, as part of a RC Cruisetour package. The land portion of the trip was excellent.
We had a Promenade cabin. It was noisy. I do not recommend them.
We usually cruise with Celebrity. We chose this package because of the itinerary, especially Alexandria and Naples (Pompeii). Alexandria was cancelled because of unrest in Egypt. Perfectly understandable. Istanbul was a very fine substitute. When we got to check-in, we saw a letter stating that the port call to Naples was also being cancelled, ostensibly due to the ship being bumped from its pier space. They gave passengers $100 per cabin shipboard credit, and substituted a call on Valletta, Malta. When we arrived, we decided to go into Valletta, since we could not get on the shore excursion we wanted. It was Sunday, and the entire city was CLOSED!! Only a few restaurants and cheesy souvenir shops were open. People were just trudging up and down the streets in front of closed shops. This was RC's substitute for Naples. We returned to the ship. The other ports, Athens, Taormina, Rhodes, Istanbul, Kusadasi were very good, as were the shore excursions.
Cabin Review
Promenade Stateroom
Cabin 8579, Promenade cabin. I was concerned about noise, and did all the research I could think of. I even Googled the cabin number to see if I could find anything about cabin noise. All indications were that Promenade noise did not reach deck 8. Not true! On the first night, we were trying to sleep when we were practically thrown out of bed with the noise of the parade, which began after 11:00 pm. We also heard other musical events in the Promenade. If you are interested in a quiet cabin, I do not recommend a Promenade cabin.