In summer 2010, I went on a cruise to Mexico. I cruised on the ship “Mariner of the Seas” which is part of the Royal Caribbean cruise line. Although some of my memories are a bit of a blur, the overall trip was quite hot and enjoyable.

Living: All passengers stay in a “stateroom.” The room was clean and comfortable, and we had a balcony with 2 chairs for tanning. There was a TV, desk, table, and a couch. We also had a very kind housekeeper, because she folded all my clothes. I always woke up late and left everything lying around, and I remember coming back to my room after, everything neatly folded.

Relaxing: Apart from chilling in my stateroom, I spent most of my time on the cruise’s “Royal Promenade.” The royal promenade is a floor where it is designed like a boardwalk and you are walking through a mini, cobbled street with shops and treats to stop by. There is a cafe, called “Cafe Promenade,” where I spent my mornings, afternoons, evenings, and late night to snack. They served mini sandwiches, brownies, cookies, pizza, coffee, and tea. It’s always crowded due to the long line ups of people wanting a snack after a long trip of walking.

There are also duty free shops along royal promenade, where one could buy wine, jewellery, makeup, and clothes to bring back home.

You can even build a bear!

Food:

There are two places (other than Cafe Promenade) where we ate. For breakfast and lunch, we went to the “Windjammer Lido Buffet.” The servers there are very kind and they bring you tea and juice if you ask. The breakfast was the same every single day, so I ate bacon for 7 days in a row. I tried different omelet variations as well, which is served fresh. I also had miso soup for breakfast one time and it was not very good, compared to authentic Japanese miso soup.

For lunch, there is a wide variety of food and dessert. I always had salad with honey mustard sauce, and numerous flavours of soup, pizza, and other side dishes. There was also sushi; but once again, not very tasteful. I was still satisfied with the lunch selection. They also have an ice cream trolley rolling around at night with different toppings and sauces. The man probably thought i was 15 or something since I showed up constantly. I didn’t eat dinner there, as I spent all my dinner evenings at the main restaurant for my 3 course meals (or 4 course meals; when I asked for an extra appetizer or dessert!)

The server will give us our menus and tell us which item on the menu is a special. Another waiter would come around give us  bread and take our orders. The server also eventually comes around to ensure our food was satisfying. When it was dessert time, they come to each one at the table and asks if we want coffee or tea.

There were two nights that were formal, so people had to dress nicely for the dinner. Other than that, there was no extreme dress code!

How grand!

Here’s some snapshots of some desserts I had!

This is the Bailey’s Banana Creme Brulee. I ordered this because creme brulee is one of my favourite desserts, but the taste of the alcohol kind of destroyed this experience. The banana did not mix well and I ate a couple bites and gave it to my dad.

Another night they served a regular creme brulee and this was definitely tasty! The lychee was a wonderful garnish.

As I recall, the quality of the food was excellent as well as the service.

Recreation: Other activities, besides shows, eating, casinos, was having fun in the outdoors! There are swimming pools; however they are not deep- they are more for families to bring their kids in and let them tread in the water. There are a bunch of decks surrounding the swimming pool, and many people came to read and tan, or sip on a cool drink in their swim suit.There is also rock climbing!

There is also a soft serve ice cream bar hidden near the poolside.

Evening Surprises : One of my highlights were the napkin animals my housekeeper made every night. We would come into our stateroom after dinner and find one of these on our bed.

We also get a newsletter called “Cruise Compass” which gives a schedule of the events, dinner times, shows for the next day.There are also movies playing in theaters on the cruise, which I watched at night when I was bored.

Shows to See:

The ice show. It was amazing. I have an appreciation for figure skaters.

And there is a parade on the last night!

Cruise Decorations:The decorations on the cruise walls was a lovely sight. I took some snapshots of the more memorable wall decor and displays.

Mariner of the Seas was a smooth ride; there was one night where it was a bit rocky as there was a rainstorm in Mexico, and I had to swallow some anti-seasick tablets and went to bed for 12 hours straight, which was extremely relaxing.

The food was wonderful, and I always had something to do. I had a lot of me-time, as I barely had any access to internet, except when docking on land and I hung out at an internet cafe.Needless to say, I gained a bit of weight from eating endlessly!

If you ever board the Mariner of the Seas, you won’t be disappointed!