The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps
There are many activities on Mariner of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) for you to choose from. If you are a sporty and active kind of person, here’s a consolidated list of activities that you might be interested in. But first… What’s the peak period for …
After you’ve checked in and boarded the Mariner of the Seas, what to do on Mariner of the Seas now? Time for lunch or to start exploring the ship! When everyone is busy lunching, this means that there are not many people in other parts of …
Comprehensive Guide to Mariner of the Seas (Royal Caribbean)
So have you decided which deck to book your room? Get my booking tips here. :) Or are you planning to book an Ocean View Stateroom (regardless double, triple or quadruple room)? Know what to expect in my review of the Oceanview Stateroom.
Once you are done with choosing your ideal room, now you can choose if you want to add on a special touch to it! Are you celebrating an occasion on board? Birthday, honeymoon, anniversary, etc?
One particular room along our corridor caught our attention when we passed by it the first few times. We couldn’t help but wonder why this particular room had a special decoration on their door. Then one day, we happened to walk by the room while it was being made up by the stateroom attendant. The room door was open and we peeped in.
Woah! Special pillow case and lovey-dovey decoration.
We later learned from the stateroom attendant that it’s a purchased Happy Anniversary Room Décor Deluxe Package, US$75.
Other than Romance Packages (also good for honeymoon), they also have a Birthday Package and other decorations and floral arrangements.
More details and purchase can be made at this official Royal Caribbean (“RC”) page for various packages. You can check with the agent for the decor packages when you book with them. You can also purchase during the cruise trip itself. :) Place your Gifts & Gear order through Room Service at the Guest Relations Desk, or dial “0”. Orders will be charged directly to your SeaPass account.
If you are intending to surprise your loved one with a surprise gift, RC thought it out for you. They will deliver gifts to your room, keeping everything under wraps until the perfect moment.
They have different gifts ranging from luxury robes and slippers, tote bags, champagnes/wines to flowers!
More details and purchase can be made at this official Royal Caribbean (“RC”) page for the gifts available for onboard delivery! You can always purchase during the cruise trip itself. :) Place your Gifts & Gear order through Room Service at the Guest Relations Desk, or dial “0”. Orders will be charged directly to your SeaPass account.
For those who love a cake and a song, do note in the reservation remarks whose birthday, anniversary or special celebration it is when making your cruise reservation. Don’t forget to also mention it for your dining reservations at the specialty restaurants.
If you want a whole cake to go along with your celebration, you can order a 6″ round special occasion cake during the trip (min. 6 hours advance notice) at US$7.95. Though there’s really no point, there are already so much food onboard!
A good alternative is to inform your head/Main Dining Room waiter about the special occasion and a group of waiters will sing a birthday / anniversary song, along with a slice of cake with candle. Though the cake is from the menu that evening, but that means It’s FOC! :)
IMO:
They really do try all means to sell you more stuff (or “experiences”, that they like to say) on the cruise. And they don’t come cheap.
This cruise was sort of our anniversary trip. And it would have been nice if they could have given us small complimentary niceties, like changing our pillows with special pillow cases. In the purchased package, I think the couple get to keep them, but for FOC ones, they could have simply reused them. It’s at of no extra cost to them, except the effort to clean and reuse.
Or there could be two glasses of champagne – welcome drinks, since they were giving free champagne at certain cruise events anyway.
Or something sweet.
It would have been nice with the extra touch, but people probably might abuse the system. Oh well, I’m just a cheapo. :P
Travelled in December 2015 | Trip is fully paid by us and in no way sponsored.
Images Credit (Except the first one): royalcaribbean.com
All Rights Reserved: All photos (unless credited) on travel.joogo.sg. Disclaimer: All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. Travel.joogo.sg and/or the author shall not be held responsible for any injury, loss, expense or damage of any kind whatsoever suffered or incurred by any person who accesses or uses the information and external websites stated above. Full disclaimer here.
There are many types of room on the Mariner of the Seas, and if you are looking for a review of Ocean View Stateroom, you are at the right place. Anyway, after our Check-In at Marina Bay Cruise Center and clearance at the immigration, we …
So it’s the end of our trip! It’s time to check out and depart from Mariner of the Seas. For passport collected during the check-in, it will be ready for collection at Deck 5 the day before the disembarkation at Singapore. Departure Information Here’s the …
Nowadays, there are more people booking cruise trips and becoming a popular holiday option. So what’s the check in process at Marina Bay Cruise Center (“MBCC”) like?
Read on to find out:
You will be able to see your designated embarkation time in your guest ticket booklet. For our cruise, the first batch of guest check-in starts at 11:30am. All guests are to check in 90 minutes or earlier prior to the scheduled sailing time. Latecomers will not be permitted to sail.
We were supposed to check in only at 3:00pm. But we decided to check in early at about 1:00pm to have lunch on-board. However because of the long check in process (you will see in a while), and the super duper long queue at the dining area, we were only able to have our lunch at 3:00pm! So I advise you to check in earlier than 1:00pm.
Other than lunch, your early check-in will give you time to enjoy the facilities before the crowd comes in. The Cruise Compass (activities schedule) starts from noon. This means that there are things in store for you from noon. We wanted to go for the ship tour and first timer cruisers club at 2:45pm, but couldn’t make it on time. :(
Note: For crowd control purposes, they might delay your boarding time. Read on to find out how they do that.
Check-in online and save time during the actual check-in process. You have to do it at least 3 days before the cruise. Check out Royal Caribbean website about online check-in.
TIP: Register your credit card for the Onboard Expense Account. This will save you from joining the long queue to settle the account in cash towards the end of the cruise.
The place to deposit your luggage is just outside the door entrance on level 2. Be sure to print and attach the personalised luggage tag to your luggage. This will greatly expedite the process – you just give them the luggage, that’s it.
Staterooms will be ready for occupancy at approx 1:00pm. Luggage delivery commence at 1:00pm to 9:00pm.
After depositing the luggage, join the queue for the security check for your carry-on luggage. You should be able to “sneak” a bottle of water and a few sealed packets of snacks. Do avoid unsealed food such as takeaway packet food. They will very likely ask you to throw them away.
Next, it’s another long queue to check-in with Royal Caribbean. We were given a lime (green) card/ticket as we entered the queue. We didn’t know what it was and later asked the lady serving us at the counter. She told us to proceed after the check-in to a waiting area and wait for our turn to board. Thank God, her colleague overheard and told us there was no need for the card anymore (at the point in time). We could simply “throw” the card away and head to the immigration counters.
Tip: So we were thinking, if the card system was still in place at our time of boarding, we could have just entered without showing any staff the lime card, and they would not have directed us to the waiting area. Not sure if that works, but you can try. :)
There’s a separate queue for suite guests to check-in and a pink card/ticket will be given. This indicates that the guests will be the first to board the ship. If you’re a Platinum, Diamond or Diamond Plus member of Crown & Anchor Society, be sure to take advantage of priority check-in.
Although there were many registration counters, the queue was still relatively slow moving. Because we had checked-in online, we only had to give the following items to the counter staff:
At the counter, they will process your check in, take a photo of you to link your face to the sea pass (card) for security purposes. They will print the sea pass on the spot for you. Our sea pass is blue, as seen in the picture above. It’s silver for those in junior suite.
For those with Singapore passports, proceed to the enhanced-Immigration Automated Clearance System (eIACS) for an efficient immigration clearance using your biometrics.
After the immigration clearance, and just before you board the ship, the crew will collect your passport. This allows them to expedite the immigration clearance at the various Port-of-calls. Everyone’s passports will be cleared at one go. You will just need your sea pass to alight and board at these ports. They will return you your passport at the end of the cruise trip.
The cruise center is quite out of the way, so many people, especially those with elderly or children might opt for taxi or car for convenience’s sake.
For Mr S and I, we decided to take the MRT (North South Line, Red Line) to save some moolah. We alighted at the Marina South Pier Station, and walked ~200m to the station’s exit, and walked another 600m under a sheltered walkway to MBCC. However, there’s an unsheltered part from the walkway to MBCC, so be sure to bring an umbrella. Though it’s quite a long walk, the city view is really nice!
There’s also an option for people who want to take the MRT but don’t want to walk such a long distance.
From the long sheltered walkway, we crossed the road to the building. Then we had to walk across the building at ground floor to the entrance.
You’re now ready to check-in! :)
Travelled in December 2015 | Trip is fully paid by us and in no way sponsored.
All Rights Reserved: All photos (unless credited) on travel.joogostyle.com. Disclaimer: All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. travel.joogostyle.com and/or the author shall not be held responsible for any injury, loss, expense or damage of any kind whatsoever suffered or incurred by any person who accesses or uses the information and external websites stated above. Full disclaimer here.