Cruising with Caribbean

The last time I boarded a cruise ship was in 2010, precisely 7 years ago, aboard Star Virgo with my then boyfriend (i.e. my hubby today). Hence, I'm pretty excited to see what Caribbean has to offer. I've signed up a 5 days 4 night cruise aboard Mariner of The Seas to Penang and Phuket. Although it was short vacation with my family, it was a much needed break for me. My two little boys were so excited that they have been counting down every single day to 27 Nov 2017 - the day where we sail off for to the sea.

At Marina Cruise Centre

We were allocated 2 separate rooms on deck 7 and deck 8. The check in was a little confusing and not well-planned. Instructions were not that clear and we had to queue up to photo-copy our passports before collecting our sea pass. While the check in for deck 8 was faster, the check in for deck 7 was horrendous. It took my parents over 1 hour to get their sea passes and by the time we boarded the cruise, we were famished. Still, my boys squealed with excitement when they saw such a huge ship in front of them.

Then came another irritating experience where we had to look for seats at the restaurant that was over-crowded with people.

MS Mariner of the seas is one of the five voyager-class cruise ships from Royal Caribbean and has a capacity of slightly over 4000 passengers. There were various activities on board to cater to everyone's need such as basketball, football, rock-climbing, golf course, table tennis, pools and Jacuzzi with movie screening, spa, skating, movie theater, shopping at the promenade and a spectacular three story dinning room. Parents even have the option to sign the kids up with the Ocean Adventure Club so that they can have more time to themselves. Indeed, this was way better than Star Virgo. Nevertheless, this big ship would also mean more capacity to host more passengers and hence everywhere was so crowded. I hated the crowd. Otherwise, this would be a perfect holiday for us.

Food and service was really good at the spectacular fine dinning room. I love the grandness of the dinning room and most importantly no worries over finding/chopping seats like some kan cheong spiders. While this place is my preferred dinning option, for elderly parents, they disliked it and very much preferred the buffet dinning option - I called it the mediocre food.

The fine dinning selection for the western meal was pretty appealing to me. On the first day, I had mushroom soup and scallops for starter, grilled herbal chicken as main and ending off with a scope of strawberry ice-cream. I was so full that I had to keep walking for the next 30mins.

Kids' meals were delicious as well. My boys even emptied their plates by finishing up their food.

Nice fruit platter for the kids

Other than the great dinning experience, the room cleaning services were impeccable as well. The crews ensured that our rooms were sparkly clean the entire day with frequent housekeeping services. What's even more surprising is that they even folded the towels into shapes of different animal everyday, very talented and entertaining to the kids.

Perhaps, a much favorite spot for the kids - double decker bed.

Every night, after dinner, we frequented the outdoor decks, either enjoying the cool breeze or have some golf with the kids. They totally enjoyed themselves.

Early on the next day - Day 2, we arrived at Penang. While some passengers opted to leave the ship for travel inland, we decided to stay aboard as it was raining lightly. The weather hasn't been very good for the day, not great for a swim or outdoor activities.

Hence, we mostly keep the kids occupied with arcade games, indoor movie as well as the cartoon parade at the promenade. Some notable characters were Shrek and Fiona, Puss in Boats, Kungfu Panda.

Another great show is that of Ice on The Big Top, where the professional skaters really stunned us with their graceful and heart-throbbing performance. The show was really world-class! Fantastic!

Again, I managed to get my parents to go for fine dinning. Hence for day 2, I had a wonderful plate of salmon in herbs. Alas, I forgot to take pictures of my food :(

Again, our room was well-tidied!

Day 3, we arrived at Phuket and I was feeling ready to visit the island. Alas, the weather was not good, with light showers. Anyway, we signed up for the Phuket sight-seeing tour that brought us to a few places such as a beautiful beach look-out, cashew nut factory, Gem centre and Jungceylon shopping mall at Patong.

We were allocated 1 hr 30 mins for lunch and some shopping at Jungceylon shopping mall located at Patong beach. It was here where we savoured tasty pineapple rice and deep-fried sweet and sour fish. The fish was really a delight - crispy on the outside but yet so tender inside.

Day 4, we had fun swimming in the freezing cold salt water pool, followed by a dip in the heated Jaccuzi. The kids were required to wear the life jackets at all time unless they are competent swimmer accompanied by parents.

For the last day of fine dinning, we were required to dress formally for the dinner. We were also greeted with a dance performance to the tune of Gangnam Style by the crews to express their gratitude and farewell to us.