Which ship would you Recommend? Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas or Liberty of the Seas?

Question

Which ship is better for 18-21 Year olds? It looks like both have a rock wall and good fitness centres. Is the H20 Waterpark any good or is it mostly for little kids? Are the Comedians funny? Is the putt-putt on Mariner any good? How are the Casinos, Pools, Etc.

Also, how much are excursions, (both ships go to Labadee, Ocho Rios, Cancun, and George Town, Grand Cayman) and if you had to pick ONE for the entire cruise, what would you choose? THANKS FOR THE HELP!!!!!

Dave

I've been on 1 Disney Cruise about 6 years ago.

Answer 1

The H2O Zone is more for the elementary school aged kids.  Here is a link to some pictures of it ...

http://images.google.com/images?client=f...

Nonetheless, there is something important to consider here.  If all the young kids are in the H2O Zone, that leaves the regular pool to the adults.  Another consideration is that the Liberty of the Seas has a Flowrider (a surfing simulator) that the Mariner does not have (the Mariner has an inline skating tract instead).  Here is a link to some photos of the Flowrider ...

http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10...

Otherwise the Liberty is more or less just a bigger version of the Mariner.  I don't believe either ship is better or worse for 18 to 21 year olds.

By the way, both ships have a miniature golf course.  

If I was going to pick an excursion it would be swimming with the stingrays in Stingray City (Grand Cayman).  I have done it twice and it is my all time favorite shore excursion.  Second favorite was swimming with the dolphins at Cozumel.  Here is a link to some picture of Stingray City in Grand Cayman ...

http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10...

I would recommend that you don't take a shore excursion on Labadee.  Labadee is Royal Caribbean's private beach.  It is a great day to just relax and enjoy yourself.  Here is a link to some picture of Labadee ...

http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10...

One of the big attractions in Ocho Rios is Dunn's River Falls.  You might be able to save a little money by taking a taxi to and from the falls (they are near by) and purchasing an admission ticket yourself.  Walking up the falls is very popular and likely to be crowded.  Thus you might want to go as early as possible.

Answer 2

I don't have a great answer as I'm just in the process of booking my own cruise.  However if you don't already have these resources, they are great:

www.tripadvisor.com - go to the cruises forum

www.cruisecritic.com - you can read all about the cruise lines and those particular ships.

Have a great trip.

Answer 3

Liberty of the seas is part of the freedom class wich is bigger and basicly just better so i would say that one. as for excusians i cant help u out but the two guys with the long anwsers seem to really know what their talking about so their advice is probally right on.

Answer 4

Mariner of the seas and the comedians are too funny

Answer 5

I have been on the Mariner and on its sister the Freedom, which is identical.  The essential difference between them is the Liberty is larger (holds more passengers) and it has the RC exclusive "flowrider" that allows you to body surf on a boogie board right on the back of the ship.  The Mariner does not have the flowrider but does have a roller blade track which the Liberty does not have.  Both have a pedestrian mall in the center of the ship with souvenir shops and eating and drinking places.  Both have the ice skating rink and a fantastic free ice show.  The Mariner has a roller blade track and the Liberty does not.

The H2O Zone is basically a water park area for small kids, but adults can play around there too.  Both ships also have Adventure Ocean which is an area of the ship just for kids and includes a teen disco and a video arcade.   The other feature that the Liberty has that the Mariner does not have is the two cantilevered hot tubs that hold about 12 people and extend out over the side of the ship.  The hot tubs are in the Solarium area of the ship that is reserved for adults only and is enclosed.  Then there are other pools and hot tubs on the open deck.

The mini-golf course is fun.  The casinos on both ships were nice but the slots on the mariner were not the latest versions of slots available in land based casinos.  Probably because the slots have not been upgraded since the ship was built.

Labadee is THE best cruise line private island I have ever been to.  It is huge and has multiple beach areas, a water park that cost $5. to use.  It also has a "zip line" ride from one side of one of the beaches to the other.  You can otherwise use Labadee without any charge.

Grand Cayman is a great place to just go to the beach.  You don't have to do a ship's tour; just walk off the ship and catch one of the mini-buses/taxis to the beach for $4 or $5 per person, depending upon which area of 7-Mile beach you want to go to.  Most any of them will do and the whole beach is beautiful.  Otherwise you can pay $60 to $75 to go swim in the same ocean with dolphins or stingrays.

Both cruise ships stop in Cozumel, not Cancun, but you can take tours from the ship to the mainland to go to Chichen Itza or Excarat (near Cancun).  Otherwise Cozumel is a beach, snorkel and swim stop, or some trinket shopping.  The best tours in Cozumel if you want to see Mayan ruins would be to the mainland to see Chichen Itza and will probably cost near $100 a person and will be all day as it will require a ferry ride to the mainland and then a bus ride (and back).

There are two main attractions recommended for Ocho Rios, Dunn's River Falls and a river raft (not rapids) trip.  I have done both and highly recommend them.  (You can only do one per visit; not enough time for both.)  In Jamaica I recommend tours from the ship; you don't want to go off too far on your own there.

You can do the beach thing in Cayman and Labadee for little or no money so if I had to pick one excursion I would do the Chichen Itza trip to the Mayan ruins.

Answer 6

Both the Voyager Class and Freedom class ship are good ships. But the Liberty (freedom class) has the surfing pool that fits your age group.The H2o water park is cool but I don't see 18 to 19 year olds hanging out there. The adult pools and the main pool will be tons of fun. We did the Freedom in Oct. and have done 2 voyager class ships, we would do the Liberty if we had a choice.