Mariner of the Seas Live Blog: Pre-cruise Eve

Tomorrow we leave for Miami! We are heading down one day early so we can arrive and stay over for the night. We always like to be closer to the port on arrival day than having the long drive the same day. Living in Florida gives us the opportunity to cruise from all the Florida ports, so a drive to Miami is not bad at all. By going the day before it gives us that peace of mind for the drive just in case any issues occur. Plus, we can arrive at the port nice and early on embarkation day with a good night sleep the night before.

We are cruising with good friends this cruise. Part of our Royal Castaways group! (A cruise is always fun when you can be with friends and family!) We have a group of 7 this trip. We are very much looking forward to the whole experience. It’s a four night cruise + the night before, so it is shorter than the normal 7 night cruises we do, but we are really looking forward to the new Mariner! So much to see and do!

We are staying in Junior Suites this cruise! We originally booked Balcony staterooms and one day we saw that there was a really good sale on the Junior Suites for the same prices as what we were paying for the regular balcony. Now we get some more space and we also have an aft view. It will bring back some great memories from our presidential suite which was in the same location on the Freedom of the Seas!

More to come all week!

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Coronado Springs Resort Refurbished Room 2018

We got to stay in a refurbished room at the Coronado Springs Resort in late July 2018.

The area we were in is known as Casitas 2. Casitas 2 is closer to the main building, as preferred, but starting to get a little further away. Not as far as the other areas. From what I can tell these areas were the first to be refurbished as the resort is still going through the existing room refurbishment.

The entire resort is getting its own extreme makeover. Besides the guest rooms, the common areas and restaurants are getting a new look as well as the pool area later this year. In addition they are building a brand new 15 story tower with new rooms as well. The theme is the southwest. They are toning down the heavy theme and making the rooms more upscale for the heavy convention clientele as this has one of the largest convention areas on property.

In our eyes they did a great job! Very updated, modern but a hint of theme and not over the top. The use of granite topped furniture and bath…

Mariner of the Seas Live Blog: Day 4- Sea Day

It’s Sea Day... we decided we were going to do breakfast in The Dining Room. The group met on level 3 to start the meal. The breakfast has hot meals that can be ordered from the wait staff and a buffet for all the cold and continental items. The wait staff was great and the food came out just right. Nice and relaxing compared to the Windjammer.

After breakfast K and a friend went to Jaime’s for a pre-reserved Cupcake decorating class. K says: "It was so much fun! We worked with pre-made cupcakes from the chef. He showed us how to ice them with special designs. He showed us how to make a rose out of fondant. It was so cool. We decorated four cupcakes each." 8 cupcakes for the whole gang to eat later!

While the decorating was going on, the rest of the group walked around the ship and everyone met up at our cozy Starbucks corner. Drinks and snacks just like on land with a great view outside the big ocean view and promenade window.

The gang went up to the Viking Crow…

Mariner of the Seas Live Blog: Day 3- Nassau

Today’s title should be really called "Ship Day in Port"! As is customary for our group we like to utilize the ship facilities and explore when we are in a standard port. In this case Nassau. The ship was docked really early at about 8 am and left at 11:59 pm.

We woke up late at about 9 am. We got dressed and went to a packed Windjammer buffet. Nothing really good to write about. The place was jam packed and no room anywhere. We were there late enough to get a seat in Chops after they stopped its use for real suite guests. Junior Suites don’t rate this special perk. I found the food to be cold and very blah. Oh well. Maybe it was late, but it seemed half the ship was there. Another part of our party went to the dining room and said it was good. We shall try there tomorrow.

We then all met for mini golf at the Mariner Dunes. Very nice refurbished golf course. It used to be in the back of the ship where the new Flowrider, Skypad and water slides were addded.
Th…

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