Mariner of the Seas – Soccer Mom Travels

Mariner of the Seas…Amplified! The Dining Part – Chops Grille

September 4, 2018 Rachel Harrington1 Comment

Our last night on board we had reservations for Chops Grille, the steakhouse offering. We have eaten at Chops at least once on every cruise since 2012. And if I am being completely honest, its hit or miss. When it’s good, it’s REALLY good. But its not always good. So how was the Mariner? Let’s See!!

Since we have been here multiple times and the menu hasn’t changed recently, we ordered our favorites…

Grilled Black Pepper Bacon. If you like bacon, this is always good.

Forest Mushroom Soup. I generally go back and forth between this one and the Three Cheese Roasted Onion Soup. Both are really good.

Crispy Goat Cheese Salad. We love this one!!

Next up…Entrees. So no big surprise here…we both got steak. I mean, its a steakhouse for heaven’s sake! Plus, the real reason to eat at Chops is the sauces!!! You can choose from Bearnaise, au Poivre and Bordelaise and they are all pretty fantastic…but for me, there is only one…

A medium rare Filet drowned in Bearnaise!!! It’s almost embarrassing how much sauce I ask for, but those awesome waiters at Chops just keep it coming! Not everyone is quite as gluttonous with their sauces…

But I guess if you are getting a 20 oz. Porterhouse, you really don’t need the extra sauce to be a glutton!! But hey…we are on vacation, we certainly can’t eat like this every day!!

The sides are served family style and honestly, I usually don’t eat any because I am so full but I do still have some favorites.

So the fries are really just there in case there is some Bearnaise left after my steak. I can’t let that go to waste! The Gruyere Tater Tots are super yummy though! Some other favorites are the creamed spinach, the roasted mushrooms and the salt jacket baked potato, if your in the mood!

By the time dessert rolls around I am so full I can barely move. I am not a big dessert fan anyway, so it is super easy for me to skip this all together. I do, however have a Haute & Steamy…caffeine! That’s what I need!

It is a super yummy layered coffee drink, with vanilla vodka.

And some ice cream and berries…You know ice cream doesn’t fill you up…it just fills in all the cracks and crevices in your stomach. At least that is what my BIL tells me!

So after a thoroughly satisfying meal at Chop’s, it was time to pack our stuff for disembarking in the morning. Always the saddest day of the cruise!

As I said in the beginning, Chop’s Grille can be hit or miss depending on the ship. On the Mariner of the Seas, it was certainly a hit. I may not have raved about it like I did the other two dinners…that’s what comes with a comfortable familiarity I guess. The other two restaurants were new and shiny. Chop’s ended our trip like an old friend telling us: “See you soon. I’ll be here when you get back.”

And when will I get back? Actually in January I will be repeating this trip. This time with the other kid. I haven’t decided if I will do all of the same restaurants…but we will see.

But before that, I have a 14 day Journey’s Cruise in September, a trip to Universal Studios for Halloween Horror Nights, a solo cruise (my first solo) over Thanksgiving, and a big 21st Birthday/New Years Eve cruise to experience. Plenty to come! Hope you’ll stay with me!

Mariner of the Seas…Amplified! The Dining Part – Jamie’s Italian

August 26, 2018 Rachel HarringtonLeave a comment

For dinner on night two, we decided to go to Jamie’s Italian as part of our Ultimate Dining Package. This was the restaurant I was most worried about. We loved Portofino’s and were not happy when they decided to transition them out. But eventually, we came to love Giovanni’s Table almost as much. And now this. More changes to our favorite restaurant on board. I mean, we like Chops just fine but its a steakhouse…there really are plenty of good ones on land. But good Italian food is harder to find, at least where I live. Add to that, the reviews that I had read previously were really mostly negative and the menu did not excite me that much.

So basically I went into this dinner expecting to be disappointed. Was I? Read on and see!

A little tidbit about me: I LOVE appetizers! I could skip dessert nine times out of ten, but apps? I want them all! So that’s what we did…No, not really. But we did have 4 appetizers between the two of us.

The famous Antipasti Plank. From the top: Rainbow Carrot slaw (yummy), Pecorino with chili jam (yummy), buffalo mozzarella (yummy), fennel salami (yummy), pistachio mortadella (kinda weird), prosciutto (yummy) and on top some black and green olives (yummy). So overall, a win with two little exceptions: the mortadella was strange, but I don’t like it usually so no big surprise; and one other little item: caper berries. YUCK!! Now I know that they are in the olive family and I Love olives…black, green, kalamata, all of them. But I cannot stand caper berries, or capers for that matter. But at least caper berries are easily avoided!

Crab & Avocado Bruschetta. This is basically avocado toast with crab. Its good. If you are a fan of avocado toast, and not allergic to shellfish you will probably enjoy this appetizer. I had a bite or two and was done.

Ultimate Garlic Bread. Well what can I say. Its bread. Good bread, and there is plenty of garlic and Parmesan cheese and the rosemary adds a nice touch. If you have a picky eater in your group, you can’t go wrong with this.

Which brings us to this:

Crispy Squid. An almost certain no go for that picky eater, but if you are not…GET THIS DISH!! That garlicky mayo is the bomb. The squid were tender and well cooked and they were indeed “crispy.” Granted I only ate the tubes, not the tentacles, but fortunately my kid is not so squeamish!

And that was our appetizer spread. I would certainly order the plank again, and I could probably eat that squid (and aoli) at every meal and be pretty darn happy. As for the other two? I will probably skip them next time…I know I say that now, but in January when I’m back on the Mariner, I will be with the picky son so Garlic Bread is most probably in my future.

Next up: Entrees!!

I had the Mushroom Tagliatelle . It was fantastic. Earthy, creamy, goodness. I love me some mushrooms so this dish was one I expected to love, and it did not disappoint!

Jarod ordered Silky Penne Carbonara. This was really good as well. There was plenty of pancetta, and a healthy dose of cracked black pepper gave it some balance against the saltiness of the parmesan and pancetta.

Overall, I would order either of these dishes again, however there are some other items I would like to try as well so I will probably go for them first.

And Finally…DESSERTS!!!

Like I mentioned before, I am not a big dessert eater, but in the interest of research, I ordered one anyway!

Fortunately for me, they have Affogato on the dessert menu. This is a scoop of vanilla ice cream drowned in a shot of hot espresso. It has the benefit of being both dessert and after dinner coffee! It was the perfect end to a somewhat heavy meal for me.

My son, however, judges every Italian restaurant on their Tiramisu so of course that is what he ordered. And according to him, it was pretty good. It was not as good as Portofino’s tiramisu, but it was good.

Final Thoughts: Overall I was pleasantly surprised. It was rustic and homey, casual and comfortable. The food was well made and the service was helpful and professional. It was certainly better than I had anticipated going into the meal and I am happy to say that I will definitely eat there again on my next Mariner sailing in January.

One last restaurant left…Chops Grill. Stay Tuned!

Mariner of the Seas…Amplified! The Dining Part – Izumi Hibachi & Sushi

August 21, 2018 Rachel HarringtonLeave a comment

In my world, if someone else is going to do all of the cooking and all of the cleaning, I am pretty much in heaven. So for us, the MDR has always been just fine. Oh sure we have eaten at the specialty restaurants, we LOVE the Chef’s Table experience, but we are usually just as happy to eat every night in the Main Dining Room. We have (mostly) always had excellent service and by this point we all have our favorite dishes on each menu (let’s not talk about the great escargot shortage of 2015).

But for this trip, I purchased the Ultimate Dining Package. This allows us dinner in a specialty restaurant every night of the cruise, plus Lunch at Jamie’s on boarding day (I learned this too late for me, but still a good option for next time). It does not include the Hibachi experience at Izumi’s, however they will give you a discount if you want to eat there one night.

We had originally planned to do Jamie’s Italian the first night, Chops Grille the second night and then repeat whichever we liked best on the third night. However, when we got on board and talked to the dining people, we decided to take the discount for Izumi’s Hibachi on the first night, eat at Jamie’s on the second night and finish at Chops on the third night.

Up first: Izumi’s

Since we were only two, we were seated with another group…fortunately they were really awesome and celebrating a birthday! The meal begins with Salted Edamame Beans and a green salad, pretty typical of many hibachi restaurants.

Our waiter described the process of hibachi in case anyone was unfamiliar. Next you choose you protein, I chose the steak and shrimp. I love hibachi shrimp so I am always going to choose this. As it turns out, we had someone allergic to shellfish so it was interesting to see how they handled it. Suffice to say, if you have an allergy, just let them know and they will make sure you are safe.

Then…the show begins!

Our chef was from the Philippines and I thought he was great. We LOVE hibachi so we eat at our local restaurant at least once or twice a month so we have seen great chefs, really good chefs, and just okay chefs. I would certainly place him in the really good category. The food was pretty standard hibachi, our meat was cooked well and my shrimp did not get overcooked. My only TEENY, TINY complaint was that the only choice was rice and I usually don’t get rice, I get lo mein, that was not an option. But overall the dinner was really good, onion volcano and all!

I also have a full 30 minute video of our chef preparing everyone’s meals, but goodness that is too much for a review! Also, a note on meal timing. The first picture of our waiter at the beginning of the meal was taken at 7:09pm, the dessert pictured below was taken at 8:52pm so count on a full two hours for this dinner.

Then, if you’re not already full…dessert! We were actually pretty full so just ordered one of each to see them.

Sorry about the half eaten one…I didn’t get my picture fast enough! And don’t forget…Is’s someone’s birthday! They brought out cake!

I am fairly certain that I rolled out of this dinner…I was that full!

Final thoughts on Izumi: I think it is a great addition and it will continue to be a big draw. It has the potential to be a “one and done” restaurant because of the limited menu, but I for one already have reservations for my next Mariner cruise in January. Now if I could only convince them on the noodles!!

Next Up: Jamie’s Italian

Mariner of the Seas…Amplified!

August 19, 2018 Rachel HarringtonLeave a comment

Just returned from a quick 3 night cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas. I booked this ship so I could check out the new “Amplified!” options. The itinerary was one I had done many times before so this trip was all about the ship.

We arrived at Port of Miami at about 10:30am. Earlier than our planed 11am check in time, but we had to check out of our hotel so it was either sit in the lobby of the DoubleTree or at the port so we headed over. They checked us in immediately and we spent about 30 minutes in the lounge until boarding began. We were the literal first people on board…that the first time that has happened to me!!

The ship is beautiful!

The buffet has been completely redone – New “washy washy” stations so you don’t have to use that anti-bacterial goo that usually sits outside the entrance.

New fancy seating areas

And one of my favorite bars on the entire ship…never busy, great drinks, and cool bartenders! I hesitate even telling you, because really its great…with one little tiny exception. See those bar stools? They are the highest bar stools I have ever had to climb on to. And if you sit there and have, say three martinis, you may forget exactly how high they are and miss the floor on your way down. Especially if you are just a smidge over 5 feet tall. But since the bar is never busy no one will ever know!

The Solarium pool area got some cool new seating too!

And of course the Amplified! additions:

Water slides!

A really neat mini golf course:

And one of the main attractions…the sky pad!

Some other new activities that we were not able to get to on this short trip include the Escape Room and the Laser Tag Arena. However, I will be back on board in January with my 16 year old son, so I am sure I will have the opportunity to see them then!

There are also some new concept bars. There is the Bamboo Room – a rum based, tiki style bar complete with talking macaws, plastic flamingos and a LCD porthole to give you a constant view of a tropical paradise outside.

This balloon sign will eventually be replaced with a more permanent Insta sign, but even as balloons, almost everyone that walked in took a picture here!

The menu was certainly rum based, but the bartenders could pretty much make you anything. The bar also offers some small bites for a fee. We did not try any of these, but they do look good!!

Another new bar is Playmakers, a sports bar. Surprisingly we spent a ton of time here, but usually when the bar was closed as the TV’s were on regardless and it was opening weekend of the Premier League soccer season (soccermom travels, after all!). This bar also has bar snacks for an additional fee but I did not get a picture of the menu there. Basically its typical bar bites: wings, sliders, etc. This bar was very often packed when it was open and it felt like the bartenders had a hard time keeping up…but maybe it was just me! They also have some cool bar games, they were free when we were there but that may not always be the case.

They also had mini games on each table, Connect Four and mini Corn Hole. I believe that this will remain one of the more popular spots.

In my next post, I will review the three specialty restaurants on board. We purchased the Ultimate Dining plan so we ate every night in a different restaurant. Two of them were new for us and pretty much new to Royal so stay tuned!

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