| Overview
It's cool to be trendy, but sometimes it's cooler to buck the trend. In an era where cruise ships and passenger loads are growing at a rate where soon they'll almost need their own zip codes, along comes Radisson Seven Seas Cruises with a totally retro concept: Build medium-size ships with reduced passenger loads to foster service that's attentive and gracious in an onboard environment that's open and spacious.
RSSC's 50,000-ton Seven Seas Mariner is a perfect embodiment of that philosophy. With a double-occupancy capacity of 700, it sports a phenomenal passenger space ratio of 71.43, and a none-too-shabby passenger/crew ratio of 1.57. Is it pricey? Sure. Cruise fares start at about $350 per person, per day. But take into account that even the bottom-most accommodations are suites, and every cabin has a balcony; couple that with a firm no-tipping policy and add into the mix that your fare includes two bottles of your favorite libation stocked in your cabin and wine is included free of charge with dinner. There's no doubt about it: If you can spring for the fare you get a lot of bang for your buck.
There is much that is retro -- in a good sense -- about Mariner: For one, running counter to the current trend of two-deck dining rooms situated at the very aft end of the ship, Mariner's main dining venue, Compass Rose, recalling classic ship architecture, is a single-deck room set squarely mid-ship. Another inheritance from architecture of earlier generations of passenger ships is the absence of a bar in the main entry lobby, even though the lobby sits at the bottom of a very modern eight-deck atrium. Instead, Mariner has an intimate, deeply carpeted, softly lit lounge set off the foyer, between it and Compass Rose. The result: the reception area remains quiet and uncrowded, a comfortable place to relax or rendezvous with fellow passengers.
The style of the ship is classic without seeming to be a self-conscious imitation of the past, sophisticated without pretense. Service is prompt and, for the most part, gracious and warm. Passengers are well traveled, with many experiences to share without drifting into braggadocio.
There are, of course, a few glitches. For one, the boarding procedure is slower and more cumbersome than it should be for a 700-passenger ship, ending frustratingly in a mandatory wait until 3:30 p.m. before being given access to one's cabin. Though passengers have total run of the ship and there are plenty of options for food and refreshment, it is still irksome, especially since passengers from the prior cruise are all disembarked by 10 a.m. Another issue -- but it only rises to the quibble level -- is that there is a surprising lack of quality art displayed in public rooms and hallways. Instead, with the main exceptions of restaurant walls and a multi-deck sculpture installation that climbs the atrium, the walls mainly bear samples from Park West's art auction inventory.
Entertainment
Daytime activities are lightly scheduled, even on sea days, unlike many cruise lines where days between ports are chock full of overlapping, and sometimes conflicting, activities. Early activities include computer classes, enrichment lectures by outside specialists, and bridge lectures by onboard experts, as well as a daily art auction and film screening in Constellation Theater, Mariner's main show lounge. Teatime in the Horizon Lounge is a hugely popular afternoon diversion, brightened by expansive views from the picture windows aft and to either side, and punctuated by the daily cluster of activities (including the only scheduling of bingo and trivia quizzes, none of which ever take place in the morning or early afternoon hours). We initially found this bottom- and top-heavy arrangement of typical onboard pastimes to be curious, especially on sea days, but once adjusted to it, we came to appreciate its low-key, non-frenetic pacing.
A small casino offers craps, roulette, slots, table poker and a small number of blackjack tables. The casino remains open a surprisingly limited amount of time, with tables open for only about four hours during the day -- even on sea days -- and not reopening until 9 p.m. for evening play. Even so, we found it lightly attended.
On our sailing, musical entertainers included a harpist, a pianist and a vocal duo, which rotated through the various lounges at various times of day and evening. The show lounge orchestra also contributed to the live music experience.
Constellation Theater, the main show lounge, is one of the best designed we've seen. On two levels, but with the balcony pushed far enough back to reduce the number of obscuring columns, it has nearly perfect sightlines; there are few if any bad seats. A combination of banquettes and comfortable chairs are arranged in a manner that allows ample room to stretch one's legs, or for audience members to easily navigate to their seats. The nightly entertainment is comprised of three production shows alternating with the usual shipboard comics, singers and instrumentalists.
The shore excursion department gets high praise. There is very little hype and pressure to purchase their offerings, and there is plenty of support for the independent-minded to find there own way, including well-rendered maps, suggestion lists and video presentations on in suite television. ShoreEx personnel are knowledgeable and helpful, and most excursions include one crewmember to monitor and assist.
Fitness and Recreation
Mariner's fitness center and spa are located on Deck 7. The spa, operated by Carita Paris, includes a salon offering full service hair, manicure, pedicure, even waxing services. The adjacent spa offers sauna and steam bath, facials (from $60 through $185), and a range of body treatments and massages, including reflexology, Shiatsu, Swedish massage and aromatherapy (from $60 through $195). In-suite massage can be booked ($120 for 50 minutes).
The nearby fitness facility, open from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m., has an adequate number of machines, though the complement is weighted toward the aerobic, rather than strength training and conditioning (multiple treadmills but only one stair stepper and one elliptical cross trainer), which might be expected on a ship with a relatively mature passenger demographic. There are a number of organized physical activities and classes taught on the top deck (Deck 12) or in the fitness center's aerobics room. Deck 12 is also home to the ship's jogging track (eight circuits to the mile), though it is not marked clearly as such. At the aft end of Deck 12 are a paddle tennis court and golf driving cages. The pool area has a main pool and three whirlpools, and there are a more than adequate number of lounges there, and on the additional sunning area on Deck 12.
Fellow Passengers
Though mature by chronological standards, this is hardly a ship of old fogies. They are well-traveled, sophisticated, and, for the most part, tolerant and patient: there is a very low whine level. Affluent retirees form a substantial percentage, especially on longer itineraries. Most passengers are repeaters.
Gratuity
No "tipping not required" ambiguity here. Tipping, though not prohibited, is not expected, and certainly not encouraged. Most passengers seem to take the policy at face value.
--By Steve Faber. South Florida-based Faber is a longtime contributor to Cruise Critic and also columnist for Cruise Critic's Cruise News & Reviews. Beyond our publications, Faber's work has appeared in a myriad of outlets, including Cruise Travel Magazine, "The Miami Herald" and "The Total Traveler Guide to Worldwide Cruising."
Cabins
When it comes to Mariner's accommodations it's hard to find anything significant to criticize. After all, this is a ship with no room less than 301 square ft., every one of them a suite with balcony and walk-in (or -through) closet. There's not a single obstructed-view cabin on the entire ship. The decor is predominantly soft blue carpeting set off with burnt orange and wood accents. Trim in the bathrooms is marble. All accommodations include balconies (with padded chaises and small tables), bathtubs with showers, robes, hair dryers, TV/VCR combos, refrigerators, safes, telephones, and Aveda bath products.
The largest suites measure 2,002 square ft., and suites in the top seven categories (Penthouse Suites Category B and above -- approximately 18 percent of the total) include butler service. Besides handling dining reservations and delivering nightly hors d'oeuvres and room service orders, the butler duplicates some of the functions of cabin stewardesses, shore excursion booking, concierge services -- in short, acting as a single 24/7 point person for any request the guest has for the ship's various independent departments. In addition, the butler is there for special requests, such as we requested: setting up a private sunset champagne and caviar service on our balcony one evening.
There are 13 channels of in-suite television. Channel 1 features the day's menus from each of the restaurants. Channels 2 and 3 are the bridge cam (along with PA system announcements), and GPS/Nautical/Weather information, respectively. Two additional channels offer rebroadcasts of onboard presentations (port talks, enrichment lectures, etc.), and one channel offers documentaries on ports and shore excursions. There are three channels devoted to closed-circuit movies. Four channels carry satellite or local television broadcasts (News, Sports, TNT movies and CNBC Financial).
Each suite has a small refrigerator, but these are not set up as mini-bars in the conventional sense. They contain only water and soft drinks, but, in lieu of the typical airline bottles of liquor, each guest receives, gratis, at embarkation, two 750-milliliter bottles of his favorite spirits. If in the course of the cruise these bottles are both depleted, the butler or cabin stewardess will replace it and charge the guest's onboard account. In addition to tending to the suite's drink requirements, the butler or stewardess also refills the fruit basket with fresh fruit each morning (even if the fruit is untouched). Each afternoon he delivers a selection of snacks and canapes.
There are six staterooms designated for handicapped passengers.
Dining
Michelin may give a maximum of three stars to restaurants, but in our book Mariner rates a nearly perfect five. Meals invariably came out piping hot, deliciously prepared and beautifully presented. Mariner's cuisine shows deeply planted French roots, though only the alternative restaurant, Signatures, claims the Cordon Bleu pedigree. Emphasis is on finely tuned delicate flavoring and larger numbers of small portion courses.
Compass Rose, the main dining room, is an airy, comfortable space stretching the full width of the ship, with plenty of space between tables. Service here, with the exception of turnaround days when waiters and weary travelers in equal measure tend to run short on patience, is superlative. Seating is open, and the doors remain welcoming, typically, from 7 until 9 p.m.. Passengers, for the most part, may choose to dine alone or with tablemates of their own choice, or may allow being seated with strangers. All three meals are served in Compass Rose, and all are ordered from a menu. Breakfast here offers few embellishments on what's available at La Veranda, the Deck 11 buffet, but lunches, like dinners, have a wide range of choices, reflecting multiple nationalities. A single lunch, for example, included dishes from Mexico, Norway, Argentina, Italy, France, Greece, Denmark and Germany. Selections from the main menu are flagged for a fixed "Light & Healthy" menu and there are always vegetarian, salad, sandwich and pasta choices.
Dinner is where Compass Rose truly shines. Each night features a red and a white selection from the ship's extensive wine list poured gratis, though guests may purchase bottles of other vintages as well. The main dinner selections include an appetizer, soup, salad, pasta and main course, with two or three choices of each (except for the single pasta dish), followed by a separate cheese, after dinner drink and dessert menu. Most intriguing, however, is the nightly six-course degustation (tasting) menu. In addition to the categories on the main menu, this special menu includes dessert and a palate-cleansing sherbet course. Few, if any, choices are repeated between the two menus, but, of course, mixing and matching is allowed. In addition, dinner features four additional specialty menus: "Low Carb, Light & Healthy," "Vegetarian" (lacto- & ovo-appropriate)," "No Added Salt," and "Simplicity" (pasta with tomato sauce, plain steak, chicken breast or salmon). A children's menu is available only during the Alaska season.
La Veranda, the breakfast and lunch buffet eatery, is a large, pleasant space that occupies nearly the entire aft half of the Pool Deck. It is offset just forward enough to allow room for outdoor seating for about 50 under a canopy on the fantail -- another nice retro aspect reminding us of days aboard the classic ocean liners where breakfast and coffee outside with an open view of sea or port was the norm. There is additional outdoor seating forward of La Veranda near the pool, and plenty of comfortable inside seating on both port and starboard sides of the ship. There are complementary buffet lines on either side, as well as a pair of omelet stations. Adjacent to the forward outdoor eating area are two lunchtime grill areas, which, at breakfast serve a crack-of-dawn "Fitness First" breakfast, a combination of fruit, pastries and do-it-yourself juices (a juice maker plus platters of fruits and vegetables). At both breakfast and lunch the ambience is gracious and elegant with white linen and sterling tableware; it's barely necessary to even pick up your plate -- there's always a server standing by to help you to your table. Even the omelet chef hand-carries your eggs to the table.
At night, La Veranda dons the mantle of Mediterranean Bistro, Mariner's casual alternative restaurant. Each night in this no-reservations-required area a different Mediterranean cuisine is featured. The appetizer course is a fairly unchanging tapas (Spanish hors d'oeuvres) bar, followed by changing regional dishes ordered from the menu.
There are two other alternative dining venues aboard Mariner. The 100-seat Signatures has the distinction of being the only Cordon Bleu restaurant at sea. Not unexpectedly it is tops on everyone's dining wish list so it makes a great deal of sense to book reservations early in the cruise. Somewhat less popular is the 70-seat Latitudes, which boasts a fusion cuisine that is purported to represent elements from Mariner's globe-spanning itineraries. We found the theme or style of cuisine simply tended more toward pan-Asian. Reservations can be made with each specialty restaurant's maitre d', with waiters in Compass Rose or through the butler in upper category suites. There is no additional charge for these restaurants.
There is a separate menu for 24-hour room service. During dinner hours guests may also order from the Compass Rose dinner menu. Menus for all dining venues are broadcast daily on in-suite televisions.
Public Rooms
Mariner's public rooms' placement and allocation continue its classic attributes. While some contemporary ships have ramped up the number and winnowed down the size of their lounges, to reduce the ships' feeling of "bigness" and to increase intimacy, Mariner's lounges return to the basics: a main show lounge, a secondary activities and entertainment room, a top-deck panoramic observation lounge, a disco/nightclub, and a "rendezvous" lounge next to the main dining room for pre-dinner drinks, hors d'oeuvres and conversation.
There is a bright, airy and well-stocked library, which includes videos and board games as well as books. One nice aspect is that nothing is locked away in the library, so it is possible to have access to any of its materials night and day, without needing the presence of a crewmember.
On a down note, Club.com, the Internet cafe, though long on workstations, is seriously short on functionality. This system is molasses-slow, and Champagne-pricey (75 cents per minute) and often fails to reach the Internet at all.
Adjacent to these rooms is The Garden Promenade, along whose windows passengers can gather for games, reading or -- an idea that charmed us -- they can participate in communal jigsaw puzzles. (The cruise staff puts out an unassembled puzzle and passersby usually yield to the temptation to "just put in one piece." As soon as the puzzle is completed, it disappears and a new one takes its place.) The Garden Promenade is the location of a 24-hour self-serve coffee/espresso/cappuccino machine, which is complemented by trays of mini-pastries and breakfast time and finger sandwiches late morning.
Dress Code
Except in Alaska, where the nightly dress code is country club casual, there are two formal nights per cruise, whether one or two weeks in duration. Men tend to lean toward tuxes and dark suits in approximately even numbers, while their female companions often dress to the nines. There are a couple of informal nights; the remainder are country club casual.
Family
Mariner is without question an adult ship; there is little to occupy children and no kids' facility. However, there is a nod to youngsters during the Alaska season, mainly educational sessions for two groups, ages 6 - 11 and 12 - 17. Subject matter varies from Alaska's wildlife to setting up their own Web sites at the Club.com. Baby-sitting can be arranged in the cabins, but there are no structured group arrangements. They can't accommodate infants under a year old and don't accept reservations from women who will be six months or more pregnant by the end of their cruise. |
