Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog podcast, a weekly look into the world of Royal Caribbean cruising.

I'm your host Matt Hodgeberg, and this is episode number 262.

Royal Caribbean's $120 million makeover of Mariner the Seas is turning heads and getting more people than ever taking a weekend getaway cruise on this fabulously updated ship.

There's a lot to love about what Royal Caribbean added to Mariner the Seas.

And so this week, we're going to be talking about what was at it and what stands out about Mariner of the Seas.

Here we go.

In the entertainment industry, pundits and critics like to declare which movie is the movie of the summer or the movie of the year

because it is the far and away standout must-see film of the time.

And in cruising, I think we sometimes get something similar with cruise ships.

And while the attention often goes to new ships,

revitalized cruise ships can sometimes sneak in and grab the spotlight much like maybe an indie film in the movies.

This summer, Royal Caribbean went all out with an epic upgrade to Mariner the Seas

and fusing $120 million to make her the de facto getaway ship of the summer from Miami.

The result has been a home run with guests as so many people have booked cruises on Mariner the sees already,

and this week I wanted to talk about what makes Mariner so darn fun.

Showing me back on this podcast this week is not only a friend, fellow New Englander,

and appreciator of getting a photo of a bar with no one in the shot,

but he also milks those precious vacation days to get the most cruises in, like no other. I'm talking about Don from eat sleepcruise.com. Welcome back, Don. Wow, thanks, Matt. That is such a unbelievable introduction. I appreciate it. Anytime. I am always amazed by the, just for you guys are aware, when, you know, we all get on a roll

agreement ship, we're excited, we're happy, we're overjoyed.

This guy will literally run around the ship getting photos of all these venues before people

go there.

And you know what?

...