I finally found a reasonable price for a Royal Caribbean cruise, which we have never tried before, from Galveston where we could drive too. I first found a better deal on AA cruises, but the price did not work and seemed to be in some places and not others. I never got the best price to work. We got a guaranteed oceanview because it was not much more than an inside. It was a 5 night on Mariner of the Seas.

We drove the morning of the cruise, not our normal approach, but I thought that we were close enough. It was a 4 hour drive. We picked a 1pm check-in time and left home at 8am. We had an hour buffer for stops, traffic, and traffic on Galveston Island. Though our cruise left on Monday instead of on the weekend, so we hoped it would not be too crowded. It was not. We pre-booked Lot/Pier 12 parking. At first it looked like a full lot, then we found an awesome guy that got us parked. It was very close to walk to the terminal, no shuttle needed. We arrived at 12:20 pm (worrying about the arrive in your 30 minute window threats) but had not problem getting on. We had a later boarding time so thought maybe it would not be too busy and not be problem. We showed our boarding passes (they only wanted all on one phone) and passports at the first stop. We carried on our luggage (a roll-a-board each and backpacks) since it was later. Then through security and boarding. This is a newer terminal; it looked nice. We breezed through it, so that we did not see much of it.

It was close to the cruise before our room was assigned. We got 3544, which looked a little close to the theater and the ice rink. We had no noise issues.

We also went to the late show, so heard it from the theater instead of the room, because dinner was later than I expected. I picked anytime dining, which I thought (per the TA website or my bad memory, don't remember which) was 6-9:30pm, but was actually 6:45-9:30pm. This was too late for us. At the end, I thought that the later time might be preferable. We'll see if I pick it again. We had amazing waiters and table mates too; more on that later.

I enjoyed the porthole. However, the sun got bright early in the morning going south though. The room had two beds that dropped down from the ceiling. That would have been cozy and hard to get in and out of bed. The rooms were ready at 1pm, so we had pizza at Cafe Promenade and found a place to sit in Playmakers across the promenade (interior promenade). There was plenty of room for our luggage. At 1pm, we unpacked and then went up to the buffet. Note that Royal has VERY short buffet hours -- early morning to 11:30am for breakfast, 11:30am to 3pm for lunch, closed 3pm-5:30pm, dinner 5:30-8:30pm, and closed the rest of the night. No late night snacks, afternoon snacks, or late back from port meals at the buffet. Cafe Promenade was open but could get crowded. The hot dogs were also open after 3pm.

The rest of the room. It was dated but had good storage. I do prefer the open shelves in the bathroom. This had an opening, mirrored cabinet, but it was rough and a little gross inside. Pre-cruise Royal sent a request form -- I requested ice, extra towels, and paper Cruise Compasses. This was a hard toss up between environmentally friendly and including in the blog. The extras came later after they completed the rooms.

Though an older ship, the toilet always worked. The shower was too small though, missing a piece in the middle in the shower head and did not spray well, and Travis said that the water was always too hot/water temperature did not adjust at all. I liked the temperature. Our sink water was also never cool.

The TV was small, with no on demand or interactive features, and not much on. We watched the map and BBC nature shows. Really, it was when I was getting ready, and Travis was waiting on me :/ . Again, good storage, good drawers and shelves. We did not use all the space though it was only a 5 night cruise. The closet had a light that came on when you walked toward it. It was nice for night time restroom breaks, but I also felt bad lighting up the room. Though we both wore our eye masks, so not an issue.

They fueled the ship with a tanker semi; I would not expect it to be big enough. Maybe they had multiple. I have only ever seen the barge next to the ship fueling.

On to dinner, we got in the no reservation line; we did not know that we should make a reservation (hehe, see Celebrity Beyond post on Anytime Dining). They wanted us to share. We don't mind sharing; it was just how appalled they were that we showed up, within the anytime window, without a reservation. We had amazing waiters and table mates/now friends! Our head waiter set us up for the same table every night at the same time and went out of the restaurant to watch for each party's arrival. We did also start with one more group. A father and daughter; they did not come back after the first night. It was okay. Spanish was his first language, so it was hard to understand him. His daughter did some translating. I know that he said "Norway" a lot; I'm not sure what about Norway.

Welcome Dinner Menus:

What we ordered:

  • Spinach and artichoke dip with tortilla chips. The dip was okay; I like NCL's from O'Sheehans better.

  • Crab cake - good

  • The NY Strip and baked potato with sour cream - good - Spaghetti bolognese - okay

  • Dark chocolate, sugar free - good, even without sugar

  • Keylime pie - good

Our waiters and table. The almost full moon off the water.

We went to the 9:15 pm show. It was a comedian and pretty good.