Since this is a 4-night cruise (shortest we’ve done), I decided to drive our family to port instead of flying. It’s a 16+ hour drive that we gave ourselves 3 days to do. On our first day we made it to Clarksville, TN. For the car entertainment I had checked out DVDs from the library of shows the kids haven’t seen before. For this leg of the trip it was introducing them to The Simpsons. It was a hit.
The next day we still had over 10hr of driving left. As we approached the Florida border I was thinking we would stop for the day before it got dark but the boy insisted we make it into Florida. That added about 70 miles to our trip that day and landed us in Lake City for the night.
Due to that last push into Florida, we only had less than 2 hours of driving left. We arrived at our hotel (Country Inn & Suites) at Port Canaveral around 1pm on Sunday (we left home at 10am on Friday). After all that traveling we needed some exercise so after walking to Burger King for lunch we walked half a mile to the Manatee Sanctuary Park. It was nicely overcast when we started but on the way the sun came out making it hot and a reminder that we didn’t put sunscreen on. We’ll just say it’s a “base tan” (or burn) for the cruise. The kids thought the small little lizards at the park were pretty cool.
After a night sleep it was time to head to port to get on the ship. I decided to park at the port which is a first. A short 5 min drive and we pulled into the parking garage before 10:30am, dropped off our luggage, and then made our way up the garage to find a spot. I was happy we got a spot that is still covered and not upper level.
This is the same port we left out of last year for the Oasis of the Seas. For that departure there were long lines and lots of waiting. Yes the Oasis has 5,000 people compared to Mariner’s 3,000 but the check in was night and day difference. No lines to get into the building, no security lines, in the waiting area for 20min and then boarded the ship. We did receive “Expedited” boarding which let us get scanned by iPads and walk through checkin.
First thing after boarding we did was check out the ship. The Mariner was recently remodeled which added some cool new features. There’s slides, sports deck climbing/relaxing area, escape room, laser tag, etc. Then it was off to the Windjammer for lunch. I like that they added a hand washing station right as you enter the Windjammer so we don’t need to make an extra stop at the bathroom to get cleaned up to eat.
Around 1pm our room was ready which had our luggage we had checked at the port. Our room this time was an interior cabin but with a view. It faces the Royal Promenade with a bay window seat. This is the same type of room we had on the larger ship Liberty of the Seas a couple years back (except this one wasn’t a Ben & Jerry’s Sweet Suite). Our kids are right next door in the same type of room. These rooms do have an adjoining door inside but so far we have chosen to keep it closed for space and privacy reasons. Instead we just get spare key cards made for each room so the other room has access if needed.
We had some time to spare until the required muster drill at 3:30pm so off for more exploring and getting things organized. One of the new locations is the sports bar Playmakers. We wasted some time playing pool. Actually it was a lot of time since the 4 of us weren’t doing so well. I’ll blame it on the poor condition of the cue sticks not having any tip on them.
As I mentioned at 3:30pm was the required muster safety drill. Our station was outside on deck 4 which normally would be a hot mess crammed in there with all those people for a while in the heat. Luckily a rain storm had just passed through and it was cloudy in the 70’s.
After the drill came the sail away party. We first waved bye to the other ships leaving while playing mini golf. One ship had a dolphin swimming in front of it. We also headed over to the Peak-a-boo bridge where we were able to see down into the bridge and watch them work their magic.
Like usual we chose early traditional dining (6pm) where we have the same table and waiters all cruise. Our waiters are from India and the Philippines. Being seasoned cruisers we’ve learned that if it sounds good or interesting just order it. More than one item is not looked down upon.
After dinner I dropped by Playmakers to watch the Blues Stanley Cup Finals game. Majority of people watching were cheering for the Blues. During this time Hannah was resting due to a headache she developed over dinner. When everyone was ready we headed to Studio B to watch the ice show “Under the Big Top”. Like always the skating show was impressive. Directly after the ice show was a welcome aboard comedy show in the theater.
By the time the show was over it was after 11pm. The Promenade was starting up the 70’s party which we could watch (and hear) from our room. It wasn’t a big deal since we weren’t ready for bed yet and even if we wanted to sleep we probably could even with the noise leak.
At midnight we said goodnight to the kids and happy birthday to Ethan. Tomorrow is our only sea day which also means we can sleep in.