Writer Robin Fowler based this independent review on her 7-night Eastern Caribbean cruise departing from Port Canaveral, Florida.

Where are the paparazzi? From the Old World ambience of the Royal Promenade to a playfully modern Pool Deck, Mariner of the Seas delivers a rich experience that gives passengers a taste of celebrity lifestyles. Better yet, it’s bling-bling that comes at a price within reach of the average cruiser.

With expanses of glass, tile mixed with traditional teak, and art that stops passengers in their tracks, Mariner is simply a beautiful ship. But if there’s a rhyme to this modern Mariner, it’s in the cadence of the nonstop activities for children and active adults. Launched in November 2003, her 15-deck profile includes an unusual horizontal atrium four decks high that is lined with taverns and shops. Kids have plenty of play space to call their own, and their parents can often be found in a fitness center that is one of the largest afloat. At 142,000 tons and cabins for 3,114 passengers, Mariner shared with four older sister ships the distinction of being the world’s largest cruise vessels until the recent launch of Queen Mary 2.

Why Mariner?

• Unique sports options: Passengers who are active, or aspire to be, can keep muscles toned on the rock-climbing wall, basketball court, and ice rink -- venues generally not associated with cruise ships.
• Much ado about much to do: From big-bucks bingo to advanced ice-skating, activities are so extensive that you won’t be able to do it all in one trip -- but go ahead and try.
• Leave no one behind: An excellent children’s program, combined with age-restricted spaces and activities for adults, means everyone in the family will have a good time.

Who should go
This ship largely caters to active adults traveling with families. Extensive children’s programs and nonstop sports options are alluring to families and active adults. A wide array of activities, lectures, demonstrations, and competitions makes Mariner an excellent choice for extended families of different generations, all of whom want to pursue their own interests and meet up later.

Who shouldn’t go
Couples seeking to evade children should avoid booking in summer and during school holidays. The ship easily accommodates wheelchairs, and even seeing-eye dogs, but passengers with mobility problems may prefer a smaller ship as Mariner’s immense size requires a lot of walking.

Hits and misses

• Don’t miss: The imaginative ice show extravaganza, “Ice Under the Big Top,” is so popular that tickets are required for admission. Tickets are free and distributed early in the cruise.
• Best part of the ship: The Royal Promenade, a four-story horizontal atrium, is reminiscent of a European shopping boulevard. The street level is lined with shops and bars, and upstairs apartments (inside atrium-view cabins) have bowed windows that overlook the action.
• Best experience: Enjoy a romantic sunset and perfectly prepared meal at a table for two in one of Mariner’s high-end alternative restaurants, Portofino and Chops Grille.
• Best shipboard activities: Catch any of the instructional sessions and tournaments associated with the ship’s unusual sports venues, including the rock-climbing wall and in-line and ice-skating rinks.
• Needs improvement: Spa personnel push expensive lotions and potions to the extreme. After a facial, you may feel as though you paid for a product demonstration. Avoid the annoyance by telling them that you’re not interested in any products, and stand your ground.
• Activities to skip: It’s nice to know who to trust if you’re contemplating a major duty-free purchase ashore, but port talks are little more than pep rallies for recommended merchants.

Heard on the deck (from a husband to a sympathetic friend after returning from port): “She shopped until I dropped.”

How to meet the captain
Your best chance to meet the captain is when he makes himself available for photos with passengers on one of the two formal nights. The captain’s table is in the center of the dining room’s lower level and can best be viewed over the railing from the two upper tiers, usually during the main seating. Frequent passengers are most likely to get a dinner invitation. For a simple viewing, watch him in action on Deck 11 from the peek-a-boo bridge overlook, just outside the fitness center.

Traditions can be endearing, and Mariner adheres to them with the time-honored two seatings and assigned tables at dinner. Buffets are also available for casual dining, and two alternative restaurants provide a gourmet experience for an extra charge (and with reservations). Snacks and room service are available around the clock. Each venue has selections for all palates, including passengers watching calories or carbs.

Main Dining Rooms: Sound of Music, Top Hat and Tails, and Rhapsody in Blue
The formally appointed main dining room is comprised of three levels named for musicals, thus helping passengers find their way to assigned tables at dinner. A sweeping staircase connects the three levels and provides a landing for musicians to perform at dinner. Warm maroons and golds contribute to décor so elegant that shorts look out of place at lunch (though they are accepted attire during the day). Lobster night is the dinner favorite among most guests, and the master chef‘s recommendations include duck a l’orange, rack of lamb Provencale, and blackened tilapia. Our favorite: Vidalia onion tart with Gruyere cheese in an herb custard as an appetizer, followed by oven-baked, herb-encrusted filet of cod served with saffron-Champagne sauce.

Rhapsody in Blue, the lowest level, is open daily for breakfast and most days for lunch (open seating), where a set menu is supplemented by daily specials. Dinner seatings on all three levels are at 6 and 8:30 PM. Vegetarian entrées and low-fat desserts are available nightly.

Portofino
One of two specialty restaurants, Portofino features varied Italian cuisine in an intimate atmosphere with romantic sunset views and strolling musicians. Start with sautéed tiger shrimp with roasted garlic and fresh herbs served with truffle oil-scented mashed potatoes, then proceed to the saltimbocca (thinly sliced veal) or grilled halibut topped with sun-dried tomato confit. Tiramisu, an espresso-Kahlua cake filled with mascarpone cream and dusted with cocoa powder, is the traditional favorite to finish. The cover charge is a well-deserved $20 per person, plus gratuity.

Chops Grille
This specialty restaurant is a popular steakhouse at sea with the ambience of a perfectly appointed private club. Start with Portobello caps marinated in garlic and olive oil, grilled and served with roasted red peppers and goat cheese crostini. Then move on to a filet mignon or prime rib and finish with warm brioche pudding. A cover charge of $20 per person, plus gratuity, is worth the price.

Johnny Rockets
At this ‘50s-style diner, employees clearly like their jobs. You never know when staff will set down their trays and rock and croon to jukebox tunes like “Love Shack.” The specialty is burgers, fries, and onion rings, and there’s a $3.95 cover charge per person, including gratuity. It’s a good place to meet up with the family.

Jade and Windjammer
Indoors on Pool Deck are two buffets: The Asian-fusion Jade, and the traditional salads/burgers/carved meats Windjammer. The buffet lines are only a few feet apart, so you can choose the best of both. (Tip: Try the succulent salmon at Jade.) At night, dishes served in the main dining room also appear on Windjammer’s buffet table.

Other dining options

• Café Promenade: Snacks, including pizza, croissant sandwiches, wraps, and sweets, are available around the clock at this atrium-based coffee shop.
• Room service: A set menu is available 24 hours per day. Passengers whose cabins have balconies often like breakfast delivered for an al fresco start to the day.
• Midnight buffet: Two are planned per cruise, one on Pool Deck, the other in the dining room. The latter is an eye-popping affair that brings out the cameras as passengers stand in line to gawk -- even those not planning to eat.
• Afternoon tea: Tea is almost an afterthought at this late afternoon buffet in the Windjammer Café. It’s a meal that may include ribs for dad, salads for mom, and hot dogs for the kids -- a good option if you skipped lunch or need an afternoon pick-me-up.

Best dining

• Dish: At Portofino, order the double-baked goat cheese soufflé served on a bed of mushrooms and garden greens with sage-infused cream and drizzled with truffle oil. And that’s just an appetizer.
• Dessert: Chocoholics should try the calorific Mississippi mud pie at Chops Grille.
• Restaurant: While Chops Grille serves exquisite steaks, our vote goes to Portofino’s complex dishes. Passengers who can only choose one restaurant should base their pick on their favorite menu -- steak at Chops, Italian at Portofino. Both restaurants are sure to please.
• Dining seminar: Tastings and lectures at Vintages Wine Bar make it easier to choose the perfect complement to dinner entrées.

How to…

• Get a table for two: Tables for two in the main dining rooms are rare and should be requested when the cruise is booked -- don’t wait until you get to the ship. Those wanting to dine à deux can always do so at the buffet and specialty restaurants.
• Celebrate a birthday or anniversary: Gifts can be ordered in advance for special occasions. A romance package includes a bottle of champagne, robes, a framed portrait, flowers, and canapés. Special cakes and cabin decorations can be arranged at the guest relations desk.
• Change seating: The maître d’ takes requests for a smaller or larger table, different tablemates, or another location in the dining room. (Tables near food stations can be unappealing.)
• Dress for formal night: The fashion police are on vacation, but wardrobes can be fancier than might be expected. Guests like to have their portraits taken on formal night while waiting for dinner, so many dress in long gowns and tuxedos. If you’re feeling underdressed, gowns and beaded tops can be purchased on the Royal Promenade, and tuxedos can be rented and delivered to your cabin. Other couples choose cocktail dresses and suits.
• Dress for casual nights: In the dining room, most guests interpret casual as slacks and colorful shirts that nicely show off new duty-free jewelry. Some nights are designated “smart casual,” which means dresses or pantsuits for women and jackets for men. Guests still in shorts and T-shirts head for the buffet. The only no-nos are bare feet, shorts, and tank tops in the dining room; bare feet and tank tops at dinner buffets; and short pants in the specialty dining venues.

Heard on the deck (from a woman to her dining room tablemates): “I forgot my cocktail dress and thought about buying one at the shop upstairs for formal night. But, you know, I’ll never see any of you people again.”

Tips:

• Say it with flowers by the stem or dozen from the European-style flower cart found along the Royal Promenade. Enlist a waiter’s help to have them waiting on the dinner table.
• Soda drinkers can purchase a package that allows unlimited refills, along with a souvenir cup.
• Don’t feel like dressing up on formal night? Try the dinner buffets at Jade and Windjammer where dress is always casual, or get a reservation at Portofino or Chops Grille, where the recommendation is “smart casual.”
• The early seating is most popular with families. If you want to avoid children at dinner, choose the late seating or dine in the specialty restaurants, where guests must be at least 13.
• Seating is open in the dining room for breakfast and lunch, so ask for a large table. It’s a great way to make new cruise friends.
• End-of-cruise tips can be added to your shipboard account. Vouchers are provided to distribute to stewards, waiters, assistant waiters, and the maître d’.

Of the ship’s 1,557 cabins, 939 have ocean views and 707 have balconies. Standard cabins are decorated in shades of teal, gold, coral, and green with light woods. All are equipped with minibars, safes for valuables, and interactive TVs where shipboard accounts can be monitored as the week progresses.

Even some inside cabins offer rooms with a view: Atrium-view cabins line the Royal Promenade above the shops and bars with bowed windows overlooking the action. It’s the best place to watch parades and monitor late-night entertainment. Higher up is the ship’s top cabin, the Royal Suite, with a baby grand piano, king-size bed, and whirlpool bath. Most suites include concierge service, with access to a private lounge and help with reservations.

Cabins for guests with disabilities
Wheelchair-accessible accommodations include 26 cabins with roll-in showers and drop-down closet rods. A pool and a whirlpool are outfitted with hydraulic lifts, and wide corridors and automatic doors make access easier. Deck numbers are in Braille on stairwell banisters and elevator buttons, and Braille menus are available. As a symbol of commitment to disabled passengers, the ship‘s godmother is Jean Driscoll, eight-time winner of the women’s wheelchair division of the Boston Marathon.

Tips:

• Special family suites sleep eight and hold two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and 512 square feet of living space, plus a 208-square-foot balcony. Smaller oceanview family cabins sleep six in 328 square feet. There are only a few family suites and cabins, so book them early.
• Cabin sizes range from 153-square-foot inside cabins to a 1,325-square-foot suite (with an additional 248 square feet of balcony space).
• For little more than an oceanview cabin, book a balcony, where you can catch rays in privacy to get rid of those pesky tan lines.
• To check e-mail, passengers can use one of 18 computer stations at the Internet café. Passengers with laptops can activate Internet connections from their cabins, but only a few cabin kits are available, so make rental arrangements early.

Heard on the deck: “Once you travel on these big ships, you don’t want to go back to the little ones. I’ve heard the same about balconies, and we booked one this time.”

With more than 3,000 passengers, there’s a lot going on in a lot of places. Public spaces and activities are arranged to avoid crowding, although a few areas sometimes feel busy. The art deco Savoy Theatre hosts major productions, and the Asian-inspired Lotus Lounge is the place for bingo and smaller shows. The ice rink, Studio B, is occasionally used for events like port talks as well as fanciful shows on ice two evenings a week. Get there early to snare seats in the end section or the first two rows of the side sections to avoid interrupted sight lines.

Bars, lounges, and casino
Entire bars are devoted to some passengers’ favorite drinks -- a martini bar, a champagne bar, a daiquiri bar, a beer tavern, and a wine bar that sells by the glass, half-glass, and bottle and will even serve a free “splash” to taste. Smoking is allowed in very few places, but those who enjoy an after-dinner cigar will find a bar for that, too. The state-fair themed casino is as glitzy as any you’ll find ashore -- notice the delightful glass floor at the entrance covering a treasure of glittering trinkets.

Shows
The circus-themed ice show inspires wonderment that lets adults feel like kids again. Make it a priority to pick up free ice show tickets early in the cruise (giveaway times will be announced). Productions featuring the ship’s cadre of singers and dancers are quite athletic, and passenger-participation shows also draw a crowd. One example is the “Love and Marriage” game show that tests how much spouses really know about each other. You’ll find out way too much about their sex lives but you’ll laugh yourself silly.

Shore excursions
Extensive options range from beach parties for $35 to deep-sea fishing for almost $200. Excursions can be booked before the cruise and should be if missing a particular adventure would break your heart; however, most excursions are available at embarkation and can be ordered via interactive television in your cabin. While excursions can greatly enhance a port call, passengers need not feel obliged to take them in most Caribbean ports, as beaches and shopping are often just a short cab ride away.

Heard on the deck (from a couple going ashore to shop): “Honey, do you have the credit cards? All of the credit cards?”

Weddings and vow renewals
The Skylight Chapel, the highest public space on the ship, is the locale for weddings and vow renewals. The ship can provide receptions, photography, flowers, invitations -- the works. When contacted ahead of time, Mariner staff can also assist with planning a wedding shore-side, and prices vary by destination.

Looking for…

• Quiet spots:

Most teens wouldn’t be caught dead in the all-too-quiet deck space reserved just for them. Midway through the cruise, adult passengers figure it out and take over the space. Indoors, the ship’s quiet library is open 24 hours.

• Liveliest spots:

Poolside bands playing island music draw an appreciative crowd, and there’s an occasional poolside contest, including belly flop and sexy legs competitions. (Tip: Beer guts have the edge in the men’s belly flop.) At night, the liveliest passengers dance to a Latin beat at Bolero’s, just outside the busy casino.

• Best view:

Ellington’s Martini Bar has panoramic views high atop the ship on Deck 14.

• Best drink:

Purchase the daily special -- Piña Colada, Tom Collins, Margarita, Goombay Smash -- for $5.95, and you can keep the glass. Some passengers collect them.

• Best show:

“Pure Energy” is a 1980s tribute appreciated for its frenetic dancing and singing. It wears you out just to watch.

• Best activity:

Two lavishly costumed late-night parades along the Royal Promenade are occasions to let the kids stay up.

Heard on the deck (from a mother with a guilty conscience): “I dropped my son at college on Saturday and left the next day for this cruise. Is that awful?”

Spa and salon
A divine day spa menu includes an Exotic Lime and Ginger Salt Glow where warm oil is massaged into your skin, an Ionithermie Algae Detox aimed at reducing cellulite and firming the skin, and a Hydrolift Facial claiming to reduce fine lines and wrinkles in just one treatment. There’s even teeth whitening for just under $200! But don’t be too quick to pay full price -- watch for discounts and specials, especially when the ship is in port. There are also free lectures in the spa and $1 a minute poolside massages.

Fitness areas
If fitness is the goal, one-hour private sessions with a personal trainer are $83 and a body analysis is $33. Four to seven fitness classes are scheduled each day, many of which are free, including weight-loss seminars, kickboxing, and aerobics. Yoga, spinning, and Pilates cost $10. Oceanview fitness equipment is in plentiful supply in the ShipShape Center, but sign up early for classes to avoid being wait-listed. A quiet but very popular adult-only solarium pool is a contrast to its neighbor, a boisterous pool area for all ages designed by Florida pop artist Romero Britto. The rock-climbing wall is popular with almost everyone in good shape, and many try it at least once (instruction is provided). There’s golf, both in a simulator and on a putting course, as well as in-line and ice skating. A full-size basketball court also hosts soccer and volleyball games, and the dive shop offers Scuba certification for a fee. In short, this may be a good time to learn a new sport.

Tips:

• Can’t stand to be apart? Several spa treatments are designed for couples, including a massage class for $49.
• Pitches for expensive hair and skin products start almost as soon as you arrive in the spa or salon -- tell them “no” or tune them out.

Heard on the deck: “I went for a spa treatment and they said I needed $300 worth of stuff for my skin! I go to a spa at home, and I’m not changing products.”

Royal Promenade mixes boutiques and bars just the way they might be found on a real street. Shops sell jewelry, scents, duty-free liquor, souvenirs, and sportswear, and if the shelves seem a little bare at first, just wait for the daily sidewalk sale. Art auctions feature high-dollar works by Peter Max, Salvador Dali, and Pablo Picasso, but pieces by lesser-known artists go for as little as $100. Some passengers come just for the free champagne.

Tip: Shipboard shops will match prices if identical items are found cheaper ashore.

Heard on the deck (from a woman serving notice to her husband at the ship’s art auction): “For every dollar you spend on art, I spend on jewelry.”

Excellent children’s programs and facilities are geared toward kids ages 3-5, 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, and 15-17. Teens come and go as they please, but younger kids are supervised until parents pick them up. Babysitting in cabins and group sitting for kids ages 3-11 are available for a fee. Sample activities include kids ages 6-8 rehearsing for a circus performance and teens training to be deejays. Each time they participate in activity sessions, children collect credits that can be traded for prizes like T-shirts and CD cases. Parents also get prizes at special youth program activities like family bingo.

Tips:

• Ask about spa specials for teens.
• Temporary tattoos are popular with kids and young adults. They last 3-7 days and cost $8-10. The tattoo cart is generally found in the pool area.

Heard on the deck (from two guys checking out swimsuits at the pool): “Have you ever seen so many tattoos? On women, the message is, ‘Stay away, I’m bad!’”

Mariner alternates between one-week Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries departing from Port Canaveral, Florida. All sailings depart on Sunday afternoons.

• Cruise line - Royal Caribbean
• Year entered service - 2003
• Passenger capacity - 3,114
• Decks - 15
• Total cabins - 1557
• Private balcony cabins - 638
• Total crew - 1185
• Officers nationality - Norwegian
• Ship length - 1,020
• Tonnage - 138,000