Seven Seas Mariner
by
Darrell Deming
Baltic Sea
July 12, 2002
We sailed on her last July 2001 in Alaska, a few months after she
was launched. Last year the service (dining room, room service,
ect.) was spotty due I'm sure to the fact it was a new ship, and
a much larger ship than Radisson had experience with. What a difference
a year makes. The service was well polished. We also saw a lot of
crew and staff from our Alaska cruise. That is a good sign as too
much turnover keeps you from achieving that polished state. Dinner
is open seating and house wines are included. The house wines are
actually quite good. There are 3 specialty restaurants. One is Cordon
Blue gourmet. Its as good as it gets!!! One is a tasting menu where
you get a taste of several outstanding items in each course. The
third is mediteranian type foods (also very good).
Article continues below
We did not get a chance this time to watch the shows but I remember
them being very good last year. Our cruise was a jazz cruise so
they had a great jazz band. 6 or 7 guys. Some of the people on the
ship knew jazz and apparently these guys were known and well respected.
It was great to listen to them.
There were lots of events like bingo and bridge. Lots of movies
you could borrow and watch in your room and of course lots of books
you could borrow to read. There are about 25 PCs you can use to
check email or surf the net when classes are not happening.
The cabins on this ship are great. All rooms have a balcony so
even steerage (deck 7) is choice. 2 bottles of booze (your choice)
and a fridge with mixers all included. An iced bottle of champagne
in your room when you get on is a nice touch. All tips are included
which I find makes the cruise more relaxing for some reason.
Check in: Drop your luggage off outside by the conveyer belt that
takes it on the ship and hop right on the ship. Check in is in the
ship's theater. Goes real quick if you have your passports and credit
card out. They have people to carry your hand luggage up to the
room for you.
We really enjoyed the cruise. We will continue to leave the Mariner
very high on our list of choices. After talking to lots of people
that really liked the smaller Navagator, I think we will try it
in the future.
Only other cruise was on the Crystal Symphony which we also loved.
