Mariner of the Seas Oceanview Balcony Cabin 7280 *Cruise Deets in Description

We cruised Mariner of the Seas from May 31st - June 5th. Any cruise is a great cruise, IMO, but here are few details for this one. TRAVEL TO GALVESTON: We left our home in Leander, TX around 7:15 AM and arrived in Galveston around 10:45 AM. Traffic on 45 coming from Galveston was completely backed up. Our navigator had us take an alternate route through H-Town, which clearly had a bad accident that caused all that back up. EMBARKATION: Our arrival time appointment was 11:30, but we entered at 11 AM and checked in with no lines at all. They were already conducting general boarding, so we went through security and boarded the ship on deck 4 then headed to our muster which was immediately to the right after stepping on the ship. LUNCH: We headed up to deck 11 for the buffet. There was plenty of seating available and they had the typical fare. I settled on fish, mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. It was all delicious. SPA: I made a 1:45 appointment for a mani/pedi a few days before the cruise. The cost was $133 total including the 20% gratuity. I was turned off immediately when my spa specialist told me I had purchased a basic mani/pedi and shellac would be extra. NOT TRUE because what I ordered clearly was advertised as including shellac. She went off to confirm then returned satisfied and ready to apply shellac. The mani/ped was so basic. There was no massage included which I am used to getting at home included as part of the service. There was zero exfoliation of my feet, and when the girl quickly put a tiny bit of salt scrub on my heels, she added that she was doing it as a favor. *sigh There was a constant upsell approach throughout, including an attempt to get me to purchase teeth whitening, a massage, a blow-out for formal night and stress relieving bath products. I was a bit annoyed that the girl doing my mani/pedi was not very careful and kept hitting wet polish before it had gone under the light to cure. She also applied super thin coats that I had to strengthen once home by applying more top coat. just hate the constant upsell attempts, and given the mani/pedi was so basic, I will not return to the spa for this type of service again. A positive for the spa is that they did offer refreshing water and it was empty on embarkation day with only one other client getting a manicure. CABIN: Room access was not available until 1 PM. Our cabin was clean and comfortable other than a hard mattress and a balcony door that was very difficult to open and close. It seems the track of the door was full of a gritty white substance. This improved over time. We asked our room steward, Ronald, if he could add something to the bed to make it a bit more comfy. He added a mattress pad that helped. COSTA MAYA: Never got off the ship here. COZUMEL: I was shocked to port downtown at Punta Langosta rather than the International terminal which we have always been at with RCCL in the past. Still, I loved that we were so close to the Mega Mart (think Mexico WalMart) so I explored that along with all the other shops. DINING: All of our meals were great and we had just one negative on night 4 when my hubs discovered shell pieces in his escargot. This has happened to him once before but he still orders escargot whenever it is available. Our server, Epie and her assistant Ryan, were great. FELLOW GUESTS: The ship was fully booked but never felt that way. While there were a lot of children on the cruise, we actually expected more since many are already on summer break. For the most part, parents/guardians were supervising their children, but on the last day, there was a group of about 8 preteens running up and down the hallways like fools. The only truly obnoxious guests were a group of young men who were clearly raised by wolves (no insult intended for the wolves) given their complete lack of courtesy to anyone else in their vicinity. ENTERTAINMENT: We witnessed an amazing pianist in the Schooner Bar. He engaged the guests and they were truly enjoying singing along to his popular tunes. I watched Wicked in the Royal Theater on day 2 but the casino is what kept me entertained throughout the cruise. CASINO: I've always wondered why RCCL casino staff doesn't engage with guests like Carnival, but this time, Reann and Kune were constantly greeting us and checking on us. Hubs even won a snowball raffle of $250 on night 4. We had fun but never won anything significant. There was 14K winner, though with a $30 bet. DEBARKATION: I did not prearrange our debarkation since we were not in a hurry to hit the road and encounter Houston traffic. We figured waiting for a later departure would be best and had tags 48 with an estimated departure at 9AM. We had a leisurely breakfast then were called to debark at 8:40 AM. We spent 55 minutes in that uncomfortable debarkation line that snaked around the outer the decks to get off the ship. Lesson learned, we should have just waited comfortably in the AC and been last off the ship!