One of the newest venues to hit Royal Caribbean International ships is the Playmakers Sports Bar and Arcade. This venue is currently on two ships, Symphony of the Seas and Mariner of the Seas.  On our recent cruise on the newly amplified Mariner of the Seas, we made multiple stops at the bar to test out both the drink and food menus. We are back to give you our honest review of Playmakers Sports Bar and Arcade on Mariner of the Seas.

Review: Playmakers Sports Bar and Arcade on Mariner of the Seas

On Mariner of the Seas, Playmakers Sports Bar and Arcade is located on the Royal Promenade, Deck 5. Located on the portside of the ship, the lounge is directly across from the Cafe Promenade coffee shop and cafe.

During our three-day cruise onboard the ship, the bar portion was open at 11 am daily. This makes it one of the few bars that is open inside during the day. However, on our port days the kitchen did not open until 3 pm.

Inside Playmakers Sports Bar and Arcade

The venue has a bright, clean decor with a few booths and several tables. The setup and decor is reminiscent of a pub venue you will find back home at land. In fact, the venue reminded me a lot of a Buffalo Wild Wings, or similar style restaurant.

Virtual every wall is covered with flat-screen televisions portraying various sports games and matches. During our July cruise, most of the sports were international games.  Of course, you can always ask the staff to change the channels to find a specific game you want to watch.

The “arcade” section of the venue was rather small. It consisted of a foosball table, a pool table, and three or four video games located in a back corner.

So, if you are really looking for some digital action, you will have a much better opportunity at the Challengers Arcade on Deck 12. Actually, that arcade is one of the largest we have seen on a Royal Caribbean ship in quite some time.

One downside to the venue is that there was limited waitstaff. The bar tenders working behind the bar also had to act as the servers. This can make it difficult to order a drink or food when the venue gets busy. Given the popularity of the restaurant, we hope Royal Caribbean adds some additional staff to improve the overall service.

The Drinks in Playmakers Sports Bar and Arcade

The drink menu (which you can download here) consists of a wide selection of different beers. Of course, this make complete sense as it is a sports bar, and most fans like to through a few back when watching the game.

That said, there were a few specialty cocktails on the menu. So, the Princess had to try one of them!

All of the drinks are covered in the Royal Caribbean Deluxe Beverage Package, except for the bottles of wine and the pitchers of beer.  For those paying a la carte, the beers were between 6 to 8 dollars a piece. All of the specialty cocktails were priced at $12.

During our stop I decided to try something different and went with a Fullers Vintage Ale and the Princess tested out the Knockout Punch cocktail. Let’s just say the Princess won the battle of the beverages as her selection was a much better choice.

The Food at Playmakers Sports Bar and Arcade

The food menu (download here) is same all day long and consists of a variety of different snacks. All of the food is priced a la carte, and the specialty dining package is not accepted at this venue.

One good thing about Playmakers Sports Bar and Arcade is that the venue serves food and drinks until midnight. For our test run we popped in one afternoon for a late day “light” lunch.

Looking around at a few other tables, we decided to go with the nachos and an order of buffalo wings. I went to the bar to order, but the bartender told me he would come by to take our food order. Our order took about 15 minutes, which we both felt was superb timing.

The Buffalo wings were giant. They were hot from the oven, and the medium sauce had a decent amount of heat. These crispy and fresh Buffalo wings were well worth the additional costs.

If you have the time, and the stomach, you can try to conquer the Playmakers’ Challenge, devouring 100 hot wings in 45 minutes. The prize…a t-shirt, and some heartburn.

Our order of nachos was also a hefty portion that had a great mixture of nacho cheese and vegetables. We were both very happy with the flavor and combination of toppings on the nachos.

The only problem was the order was room temperature. Given the drastic differences in the temperature of the two plates it was apparent that the nachos had probably been sitting in the kitchen for a while.

Recap of Playmakers Sports Bar and Arcade

This new bar and restaurant is a welcome addition to Mariner of the Seas. A lively location to watch the game, or have some snacks, Playmakers is great spot to catch all of the action.

Given the location you can always pop-in for a quick drink in between the Royal Promenade events like the parades and parties. While we are among those who are not huge fans of paying for food on a cruise, grabbing snacks at this restaurant was a nice alternative to the other dining options that were open when back on the ship.

Given the a la carte pricing, it was reasonably priced, and we would certainly try out Playmakers Sports Bar and Arcade on a future sailing.

Comments

Have you had a drink or some food at Playmakers Sports Bar and Arcade? Drop us an anchor with your review of this establishment.