Monarch - a good first time ship
Written: Apr 05 '06 (Updated Apr 06 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Friendly, helpful crew; great live music; efficient arrival/departure routine
Cons: Too much mediocre food eaten in too great a quantity by people who shouldn't
The Bottom Line: A good introduction to cruising, or an enjoyable weekend getaway.
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| doglover4120's Full Review: Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas |
This was a trial cruise for my wife and I - we are both experienced, independent travelers who would normally NEVER book an organized tour with planned activities, etc, who decided to try a short cruise to see what all the fuss is about. Since cruising is the fastest growing sector of the travel industry, I was curious, and I found a cheap fare and figured there was little to lose as long as the ship didn't sink. The 3 night Baja cruise seemed ideal, and is not port intensive so we could primarily experience the shipboard scene; I have always felt that the relatively brief port calls would not be a good way to see a destination as I enjoy spending time getting to know an area instead of a whirlwind overview of the "highlights". This review does not compare the Monarch to other cruise experiences - it is only a description of what we experienced as first time cruisers.
CRUISE LINE: Went with Royal Caribbean over Carnival (the other LA area company offering this itinerary) because of price more than any real differences between them. RC was about $100 per couple cheaper for what seemed to be a comparable experience. The reputation of RC being a more active cruise line vs Carnival's reputation as a "party boat" played a small role as well, as we are both fairly active, "outdoorsy" types.
ITINERARY: This cruise was 3 nights at the end of March '06 out of San Pedro, CA; the ship left the pier at 5:30 PM on a Friday and arrived in Ensenada for Day 2 at 8 AM, then departed 5 PM and spent Day 3 at sea. Arrived back in San Pedro by 8 AM Monday.
SHIP: Monarch is an older ship (1991 launch) which was renovated in 2003 during a move to LA from the Caribbean; it looked pretty clean and well-maintained overall with a few slightly worn spots here and there. Given the high turnover (a 3 night and 4 night cruise every week) with only a few hours between for cleaning and maintenance, I felt the ship looked remarkable good. The public spaces had clean carpets, comfortable seating, and a good look to them, although a bit too much shiny brass for my taste. The layout flowed well without bottlenecks, and the cabins were nicely separated from potentially noisy areas.
The ship has two small saltwater pools and two hottubs in between - the pools had pleasantly warm water, but forget the hottubs; they were dominated by a couple of large groups who never relinquished them once the whole time I was on the pool deck on any given day. Besides the weirdly bright blue artificial turf on the deck, it was a fun place to hang out with a decent band, crowds of not-too-rowdy not-too-drunk people dancing, sunning and swimming.
One of our favorite places was the Viking Crown lounge - it circled the funnel and provided a 360 degree glass wall at the top of the ship - a good place to drink, read, play cards, watch the ocean drift by or the belly flop contest at the pool without being in the midst of the chaos. The Boleros lounge was THE late night spot with an excellent Latin band and affordable Mojitos.
CABINS: Going cheap because of the short duration, figuring (accurately) that we would be spending very little time in the room, we went with an inside stateroom. We booked it as a guaranteed inside stateroom for the cheapest website price of $249 + tax per person - this means RC decides on which cabin you will get but you are guaranteed one in that category. Within 4 days they had assigned us a cabin in the highest inside cabin grouping - on a middle deck in the center of the ship. We got lucky - once on board I checked out the ones on the lowest deck farthest forward and the pitching/rolling was quite noticeable, whereas we could barely tell we weren't on land in our cabin. If you are prone to seasickness you may want to spend a bit more to be sure of your cabin location rather than leaving it to chance.
The cabins on this ship are small by today's cruise standards - inside cabins are a tiny 119 square feet compared with 150 - 175 sq ft on many of the newer (and bigger ships). It was amazingly adequate, however - we never felt that we were too cramped to tolerate it, and were able to move around, change clothes, shower, etc without one of us stepping into the hallway. A qualifier is needed, though - we are both people of normal body weight-to-height ratio, which after this cruise I must admit seems an ever more unusual characteristic. We were astounded by just how BIG people are becoming ... overweight is the new skinny, and unless someone is morbidly obese you hardly notice their size as everyone is so freakin' heavy. Even the kids more often than not are pudgy. The point is that to the "average" sized American, the cabins on Monarch are probable a lot less comfortable than we found them to be. Even so on anything longer than 3 or 4 nights I too would have gotten a little tired of having to retrieve the suitcase from under the bed to get a pair of socks, and then shove it back to get to the bathroom - this is probably why RC assigned it to the Baja route.
The beds proved to be surprisingly comfortable, even with the thing that joins the two twins to make in into a queen. The room was so soundproof we never heard any noise from neighbors, the hallway, announcements ... given the lack of a window if we hadn't arranged for a wakeup call each morning we might have slept to noon every day. We didn't mind the lack of a window, as we had great views from most of the public spaces around the ship and spent minimal awake time in the room. The color scheme was tastefully muted - no wild tropical colors to increase the claustrophobia. Overall, we were pleasantly surprised by the cabin.
FOOD: This seems to be the thing I alway hear "cruise people" rave about when they talk about why they enjoyed their latest cruise; we are not picky eaters and while we enjoy fine food we can enjoy more modest offerings as well. Our expectations were not high, and RC met them with plentiful but average cuisine. Breakfast buffets had the usual offerings of eggs, bacon, potatoes, breads/pastries, lox. Lunch buffet was similarly adequate but uninspired, and was supplemented on the at-sea day with a poolside BBQ with burgers, hotdogs and ribs. We ate in the main dining room twice, and the starters proved to be the best part of the meal with escargot (excellent) and lobster bisque providing a little flair, but the salads were bland and the entrees ranged from lamb shank (pretty good) to salmon with orange lime salsa (dry and fairly tasteless) to some vegetarian selections as an alternate to the beef-heavy menu. Desserts were pretty good and the waiter always brought his recommendation as well if you didn't order it. The Grand Marnier souffle and cherries jubilee were great - the cheesecake was not. This was OK - not everyone will like everything - but the service was spotty and there seemed to be a turf war going on between the waitstaff and the bar staff - we ordered wine from the first guy who asked us for our drink order, and when our waiter found out that the bar staff had taken our order he chased him down and words were exchanged. This seemed unnecessary to do in front of the passengers, and worse still was NEITHER of them brought our wine until we were forced to get the assistant waiter to bring a couple glasses of Pinot Noir. I'm sure this violated the dining room hierarchy but I just wanted a drink. The room was nicely decorated, not over-the-top with three tiers and a fountain like some of the big new ships have, but nice none the less.
Jade, the forwardmost restaurant on Deck 11 with an Asian motif, had more ethnic choices , and was the best place to eat with nice muted decor and panoramic views (it offered sushi for an additional price at dinner). We chose to do the dinner buffet at Jade the final night, with all of the same menu choices present as in the main dining room that night and the same buffet as in the Windjammer cafe PLUS an Indian buffet section - all in a room with a better view than the dining room. I didn't have to fight to get a glass of wine, either.
ENTERTAINMENT: Primary evening entertainment was the show in the theater - an ode to dance films of the 70's and 80's the first night (about as good as you would imagine a tribute to Flashdance, Fame and Dirty Dancing can get), better (no, seriously) was a celebrity impersonator who sang and did comedy, and the last night was a comedian who started off OK but fell flat about halfway through. The best part was the "throwaway" filler material from the cruise director and other staff including a Village People parody, "Top Ten Silly Questions By Passengers" (#6 "what elevation are we at now? #2 "has this ship ever sunk?" #1 "do the crew sleep on board?") and a fairly witty presentation by the Captain at the Captain's Gala (maybe the free champagne made him seem witty - I don't know). It wasn't GREAT but you are a captive audience on a ship and it just seemed better than it had to be.
We did a round of Bingo (wife insisted) - didn't win but the numbers-calling "Bingo Boy" (his name for himself) was pretty funny (maybe less so if it was NOT your first and only round of Bingo). Again, better than expected.
OTHER SHIPBOARD ACTIVITIES: Skipped the casino (the cruise already felt a bit "Vegas-like") but it was alway full but not crowded. Seemed adequate for those in the mood - slots and tables, typical casino stuff. The vaunted "rock climbing wall" that is featured in every RC ad seemed moderately popular - the wait time was minutes at most but never deserted. I didn't try it - I rock climb for real and this particular wall didn't excite me but for non-climbers it actually seemed pretty decent, and if it hadn't been for the horde of 8 year olds swarming over it the one time I was in the mood I might have tried it. Didn't try the gym but neither did anyone else - this explains the average onboard BMI. My wife skipped the spa but I did overhear some people who seemed happy with it. There actually was shuffleboard - and people playing; kinda nice and nostalgic. Shopping consisted of gold chains by the inch, RC logo wear, trinket crap, an art auction featuring overpriced reproductions ... NOT a place to do your early Xmas shopping. Poolside contests would have been at home in Cancun on spring break - dumb but harmless. Number one most popular activity ... trying the "drink of the day" .... they were pretty good too.
PORTS OF CALL: Just one - Ensenada. A smaller, less dangerous Tijuana. Bars. Drunken college students. Dozens of stores all selling the same tourist trinket crap. Hussongs (a classic) - great Margaritas and cold Coronas. Decent Mexican food. All in easy walking distance from the pier - with most passengers riding the shuttle to/from "downtown". Forget an educational "cultural experience" and just enjoy a few hours strolling the streets, grabbing a fish taco and a beer, and hiking back to the ship in time to grab a quick swim and change for dinner. Thats all I wanted, and that's all I got 'cause that's all there is. Doesn't sound appealing? Try a different cruise.
Some RC sponsored shore excursions were offered - didn't do them and didn't talk to anyone who did. Dozens of guys in town willing to take you to the wineries or the blowhole for a fraction of RC's price - if that's what you want to do with your few hours in Ensenada.
FELLOW PASSENGERS: ranged from a large group of high school kids who won a choir competition to 30-40 somethings in pairs or small groups to retirees; families seemed well-represented but it didn't feel like a Disney cruise. Very few obnoxious drunks and loud partiers - people seemed relaxed and in control; no pools of vomit or loud parties in the staterooms. Mostly middle-class people having a good time without ruining everyone else's good time. Other than the selfish hot tub hogs, a pretty decent mix of decent people.
EMBARKATION/DISEMBARKATION: Easy, easy, easy. Drove up, parked, checked baggage curbside, checked in at the counter, boarded and were in the cabin in less than 30 minutes. Friendly staff - every one of them.
Had to put the bigger suitcase out in the hall by midnight the night before arrival. Ate breakfast as our assigned departure color time was 9:00 - color was called at 9:10 and breezed through customs in 10 minutes (bring a passport or expect a considerably longer wait). Luggage was waiting for us. No lines to leave the parking lot due to staggered departures. Efficient. Easy.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Well, we had a good time and enjoyed ourselves $540 cruise + $200 onboard expenses worth. Not in a hurry to book another one, and this confirmed that we are definitely not the 12 day Mediterranean cruise types. MAYBE a one-way Alaskan cruise followed by a self-guided trip around the interior. Someday.
The worst part ... the emphasis on non-stop gluttony with midnight buffets, cooking "demonstrations" with samples, 24 hour room service, pizza 'round the clock ... we ate only 3 times a day and still felt bloated - and watching the endless between-meal feasting by everyone else began to feel a bit perverse. I know this is a big draw with cruising - it's just not my thing.
The best part ... the live music everywhere, and GOOD live music at that. From the "orchestra" that accompanied the shows, to the jazz band in the Schooner bar, to the classical guitarist in the 6 story lobby, to the hilarious "dueling piano" guys, the Latin dance band, and the old time sing-along piano guy - really, really nice.
Can't compare this ship or Royal Caribbean to any other ship or cruise line, but RC and Monarch of the Seas seemed to do what they do quite well - and if you like the cruise thing you should be happy. If you are REALLY in to the cruise thing you may be disappointed 'cause it's not the Uber-mega modern cruise behemoth with an ice rink and golf simulator. If you are looking for sophistication and gourmet cuisine - try a different cruise line. We aren't really in to the cruise thing and we were still happy with what we got.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Friends
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Epinions.com ID:
doglover4120
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Location: Modesto, CA USA
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 1 member
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