Seven Seas Mariner: first all-suite/all-veranda vessel sets standards of spaciousness - cruise ship

Cruise Travel, May-June, 2002 by Theodore W. Scull

Radisson Seven Seas Cruises' Seven Seas Mariner, measuring 50,000 gross register tons, is the largest ship in the company's expanding fleet. She boasts a passenger/space ratio of 71.4, one of the roomiest in the industry, and her design, building on the 28,550-grt Seven Seas Navigator, represents the line's future. The 490-passenger Navigator is an all-suite ship, with 80 percent of the staterooms featuring private verandas, while the 700-passenger Mariner is an all suite/all-veranda ship--the first with a veranda in every cabin.

Built at Chantiers de l'Atlantique and registered in the South Pacific French Territory of Mata Utu, the top officers are French and the staff is European and Filipino. While most of her passengers are well-heeled, well-traveled Americans, Radisson Seven Seas also attracts other nationalities, mostly Europeans. The line's closest competitors in this upscale neighborhood would be Silversea Cruises, whose ships are smaller and more expensive, and Crystal Cruises, whose ships are similar in size to the Mariner but do not offer all suites and have far fewer veranda cabins.

The Mariner's roominess has pluses and minuses, and the latter becomes evident in the public lounges and bars, where except for the cocktail hour before meals, the ship often seems empty of life. After dinner, the show lounge is a draw, but otherwise most passengers have retired to their suites. The occasional younger passenger list will pep things up and enliven the bars. That said, the European-modern public rooms are lovely and varied in atmosphere and function.

Spaciousness and sparseness are evident in the eight-deck open Atrium, whose sculpture decor and visible elevator machinery have a raw, unfinished look. The starboard side gallery leading off the Atrium on Deck Six serves as a wide connecting boulevard running aft past the open-plan Library to the Garden Promenade. Windows provide natural light, and the generously proportioned space is furnished with wicker chairs, planters, and greenery. Art auctions, with some decent paintings for sale, take place in this pleasant place.

The Observation Lounge, located two decks above the bridge, offers comfy rust and tan-colored seating to enjoy hot hors d'oeuvres and soothing piano music before dinner, while taking in the grand 180-degree view. From a perch along the horseshoe-shaped bar, the room takes on a magical quality at night. The semi-circular Horizon Lounge, facing aft on one of the lowest passenger decks, is the handsome setting for a served afternoon tea, with music, and for light after-dinner entertainment. Additional covered outdoor seating is little used and makes a quiet daytime reading spot. Nearby the Connoisseur Club is a sophisticated tan leather chair and electric fireplace setting for smoking Cuban and Dominican cigars and sipping liqueurs and wines.

The liveliest venue is the Mariner Lounge, drawing a crowd before dinner time in the adjacent Compass Rose or Latitudes restaurants. The curvy Art Deco design is highlighted by deep blue chair fabrics and glass tabletops, embedded with a translucent star pattern and framed by raised wooden rims.

Stars Nightclub cum disco, decorated with black and white celebrity photos of Fred Astair, Ingrid Bergman, and Katherine Hepburn, is an oddly designed space with a spiral staircase in its midst that links to the mid-size Casino above. Forward, the semi-circular two-level Constellation Lounge, joined by a symmetrical pair of two stage-flanking staircases, features continuous brushed blue cotton banquette seating and presents full shows and cabarets acts under a star-lit ceiling of changing colors. A Welsh comedian was the highlight on my cruise.

It's the choice of dining venues that gives the Mariner her most distinctive quality. Two restaurants are open-seating with no reservations, and two take reservations for specific tables, and there is no cover charge. Complimentary wines are served with dinner in all four restaurants.

The very large Compass Rose is the main dining room, most attractive and spacious with a recessed arched ceiling and faux lightwood columns topped with banded stainless-steel capitals. The daily changing menu may offer homemade crab cakes as an appetizer, cream asparagus soup, two salad selections, pasta dish, and main courses such as sauteed jumbo prawns and Black Angus beef. The choices also include well-being and vegetarian selections, plus a Menu Degustation--a sampler of dishes appropriate to the cruising region.

For dinner, a portion of La Veranda lido restaurant, also open-seating, becomes a Mediterranean bistro with a tapas, mezze, or antipasti buffet then a served soup of the day, salad, pasta, main course, and dessert trolley. The stylish wooden chairs with double rows of hollow vertical squares cut into the high backs are reminiscent of the work of Scottish designer Charles Rennie Macintosh.

Signatures is Le Cordon Bleu reserved-table restaurant, and with a much wider choice of entrees and main courses, it is worth revisiting several times on a long cruise. Marinated fillet of red snapper and roast breast of quail with turnips in a morel sauce are two examples from the list of six entree choices. One appetizing dessert included warm chocolate tart with cinnamon ice cream. The sophisticated setting seats 110 and features rust-red chairs with gold tassels, an etched-glass divider between the serving and dining area, and black glass against the aft wall.