Monarch of the Seas 7/31-8/3 Review/Day Log Part I (LONG)

This review is a day by day account of our experience on the Monarach and our travels to and from Florida. I'm not sure if I'm posting it in the right place, but it could be in travelling with kids, travelling on a budget (I include prices for everything I can remember), or All things Monarch of the Seas.....

We too our three kids, all boys, with us on a three night cruise to the Bahamas. Our party consisted of myself (37 - banker - fisherman - Gamecock fan), my wife (38 - social worker - organizer - Mommy), three sons - 10 yr old (homebody), 7 yr old (future Marine), and 2 yr old (wild child). Yes, you are right, we are crazy. It turned out much better than I expected.

Pre cruise - We had been thinking seriously about a cruise since Christmas, but we finally pulled the trigger on this cruise late in the game - July 6th. We originally booked a single room that could hold five with a pack-and-play, but we then switched to two rooms. We did not have a lot of choices at that point, so we picked the second deck - rooms 2020 (outside) and 2509 (inside). We got a state discount for being from SC on the day we changed our reservation. Our total was $1610.50. Not bad for two rooms and five people. I have to thank Scubagirl and all of the posters on this board. I gained a ton of knowledge that helped me every day of the cruise from reading this board and posting questions.

Day 1 - Leaving Lancaster, SC for Jacksonville - I planned our trip so that we would have a stop-over on the way down and on the way back. It would be an 8 1/2 hour drive to Port Canaveral if we drove non-stop. I knew we would have several stops to eat (and whatever else) with the kids, and I knew the 2 yr old would wear out and be miserable. We drove about 6 1/2 hours to Jacksonville. We had pre-booked rooms both ways with Holiday Inn Express. We have always had good experiences with them in Florida and in other states. This one was nice. It was near I-95 which was important to me. The room price ($83.91) also includes breakfast which is great for a family of our size. The room was nice, but it was raining so we couldn't enjoy the pool. We drove down to the beach and "Ate at Joe's." This was fun. Great atmosphere and good food.

Day 2 - Jacksonville to Monarch of the Seas - We left Jacksonville around 8:30am with the intention of arriving by 11:30, but a few longer-than-planned stops put us behind. We arrived at the port around 1:00pm (we were suppose to arrive no later than 3:30). We found our way to the Monarch's parking area and followed the signs to the luggage drop off. We only had three bags to check. The porters were extremely friendly. I saw the signs saying that tipping was not required and I had planned not to tip them, but I gave him $3.00. I only had three singles - the rest 20's. Anyway, they did a great job. It was hot out there. He said "We appreciate anything you give us." Moving along…this port is very clean and very easy to get through. I did not encounter one rude or unfriendly person during the whole boarding process. We had the 2 yr old in his stroller. The port staff went out of their way to put us on elevators and ramps. They genuinely seemed to enjoy entertaining the kids. Our passports had expired, so we had our driver’s licenses and birth certificates plus our marriage license for the wife. We also had certified copies of the kids’ birth certificates. The port officials thanked us for having everything in order. Again, thanks to posters on this board for helping us figure out the docs we needed. We had our pictures taken and our credit card scanned for the Sea Passes. This all went smoothly and quickly.

On to the Monarch of the Seas - We went through the concourse to enter the Monarch. Our group was greeted by a funny staff member that can only be described as an Indian with an Afro. He had one of the biggest Afro’s I have ever seen, and I have never seen anyone from India with any kind of wild hair. Anyway, he gave us a few basics about the ship and pointed out the complimentary hand sanitizers stationed at the entrances to prevent disease. We made our way to level 2 and found our rooms. They were small, but bigger than I expected. We had cruised once before with Carnival on the Fascination without kids. Both of our rooms seemed bigger than Carnival’s. We split up the luggage between the two rooms. On our way, we met Reeci (sp), our room attendant. He was very nice and he did a great job. My wife ended up with the outside, port-hole room (go figure) and I took the inside room. (When you are married for 16 years and have three kids, the chance for romance on a cruise is slim to none.) The inside cabin was #2509. Both cabins were near the front of the ship. This room had one single bed on the left and bunk beds on the right. I had planned on having the 7 & 10 year old with me, but it didn’t work out that way. This room was in the center of the ship, so I didn’t feel the side to side swaying but I definitely felt the up and down motion, especially on the first day. I took Bonine and had my see legs in no time. I did hear the anchor going down in Coco Cay around 7:00am, but I was already awake. My wife’s room, #2020, was just 20 or 30 steps away around the corner. Her room was initially configured with two singles. Reeci offered to put the beds together, which made a huge difference. There was a shelf-like area above the bed in front of the port-hole. The 7 yr old decided this is where he wanted to sleep, and he did. It was small, but just right for him. We asked Reeci to remove all the sodas, water, and mini-bar items from our desk area under the mirror. He showed me that I could just store all of it above the mirror which worked fine. The bathrooms in both room were small, but well laid out with plenty of towels and bath-cloths. The shampoo dispenser in my room was out and the TV’s were small, but those are my only complaints with the rooms. After settling in a little, we went up to the Windjammer for lunch. The kids loved the selection. Even my 10 yr old found things he liked. They also liked the animals carved in fruit - swan in a watermelon, penguin made of various fruits, etc. Very cute. We both tried the honey stung chicken. It was good, but I’ve had better. We next heard the announcement for the Muster drill. I knew this would not be fun, and it wasn’t. We had two different Muster stations on opposite sides of the ship due to being in two rooms. Luckily, one of the crew members told us we could all be together. We were next to the back of the group. It was hot and tight. The 2 yr old had his first tantrum of the trip. (He had one per day, which is not bad for a 2 yr old.) This one was the worst. He wanted to be held which was all but impossible to do with the lifejackets on. It got worse and worse. There were some foreign passengers behind us who were sitting on a cabinet of some sort. They did not move or offer any help. One of the instructors heard the baby and came over and instructed them to move over and let my wife and the baby use the cabinet. That was nice, but he was in full tantrum mode by then. A few minutes later, another instructor came back and told my wife and the baby to go ahead and remove the lifejackets. He also led them to the front of the group where he let the baby help lead the drill. I was very relieved that they recognized our situation and made it better. I hate that the others around us had to endure his crying, but it really only lasted five to ten minutes. It did seem longer. After returning to our rooms, my wife finished unpacking and the baby took a nap. Myself and the older two went up to the front of deck 11 for sail away. We were right under the horns when they sounded. This could be a great practical joke - those horns are LOUD and will shake your bones. Sail away was nice. We then explored the ship a little before returning to our rooms. I got a nap with the baby while the wife and older boys went up to the pool for a while. We then all got dressed for dinner at 8:30pm. We had our pictures taken by the professional photographer while waiting for the dining room to open. Again, this is hard to do with three kids. We only came away with one good professional picture the whole trip. The kids then entertained themselves by riding the elevator up to the top floor and looking down at the Centrum. The Centrum was beautiful, btw. It was elegant without being gaudy. On to dinner…..We are from a small town in the South. We’re not used to being served and attended to. We have Mom and Pop restaurants and lots of fried chicken where we live. Our waiter was Rajeesh from India and his assistant was Maria from Lima, Peru. I cannot say enough good things about them. They cut up our 7 yr olds’ steak. They were friendly and very conservational. Rajeesh noticed that the baby liked the grapes in the fruit cocktail, so he brought out a bowl of just grapes for him. He also made excellent suggestion for our entrées and deserts. The food was superb. We explained to him that we would not be in the dining room the next night - formal night. We decided to pack light and not bring dress clothes for everybody. We were also afraid the baby might ruin other people’s evenings if he had a bad night. Rajeesh tried to convince us that we would be fine. As long as we were not in shorts, we would be allowed in. We stuck to our plan though. More on that in the next section.

Day 2 on the Monarch - Rock Wall/Nassau/Atlantis Resort - The older boys and I went out to sign up for the rock climbing wall at 9:00am, when it opened. We had to go all the way back to our rooms to get socks, as they were required to climb. None of us had ever tried this before, so we were excited. We all made it to the top, but I’ll tell you, rock climbing is hard. I was worn out. The big fellow holding my rope and giving instructions must have thought I was a Romanian gymnast. He said things like “left foot where your right hand is” - yeah right. As I stated earlier, I’m 37. I failed to mention that I am also out of shape and at least 25 lbs over my fighting weight. My 10 yr old started out beside me about two minutes after I started. He was up the wall like a cat and back on the ground before I even got close to the top. But I made it. The 7 yr old was really too short to do it. He did his best, but he more or less swung like Tarzan for most of his climb. He made it as well and all was good. My wife had taken the 2 yr old to Aqua Tots while we were doing this. They were the only ones there. The instructor (Erica from Mexico) told my wife that they were hired by RCI for five month contracts. Not always on the same ship. She said this was only her second time around. She was very nice and the play area was clean with lots of toys. BTW - we signed the older two up for Adventure Ocean, but they did not attend any of the activities. We did not have a day at sea, so we stayed pretty busy the entire trip. I wish they had at least tried AO, but it was good to have everybody together. We went back to our rooms to get ready for Nassau at noon. I had worried myself sick over what to do there. I wanted to take the older boys snorkeling, but I was worried about keeping a baby safe and happy on a catamaran. Again, this board helped a lot in that area. I told my wife about the Wyndham day pass and we agreed that it was the best option. So off we went. I had booked myself and the older two on the Rainbow Reef Snorkel excursion which departed at 2:00pm. We all left the dock together to find a taxi to the Wyndham. We were met by a lady and she told us to follow her- she would find a taxi for us. This was a little easier said than done. Most of the taxis were heading to Atlantis. She passed us around a little until we finally found a driver that agreed to take us to the Wyndham and wait for us until we got the wife and baby in and registered. It is on Cable Beach which is a 15 to 20 minute taxi ride. The Wyndham is very nice and the hotel staff was friendly. Afterwards, my wife said the beach and pools were nice and relaxing. So relaxing the baby fell asleep in her arms in the pool. She missed the buffet which was included in the $40.00 because the baby was still asleep. OK, back to the taxi ride back. The driver did wait on us. He was extremely friendly and his minivan had cold A/C . We had agreed to $40.00 round trip. That was probably a lot more than I could have spent, but we were on a tight schedule and had never been there before. He gave a tour of the city as we were on the way. The older two and I arrived back at the pier with twenty-five minutes to spare. We were part of a large group for the Rainbow Reef Snorkel. I would guess 75 to 90 people. Very diverse age range. We made the seven minute walk to the other side of the dock to board. We were on a wide, single-deck catamaran with a canopy that provided lots of shade. It was fast. The excursion expert on the Monarch told us that it left an hour later than the Seahorse Sail and Snorkel and that it provided a half hour longer snorkeling time. He said the Seahorse had a sail, but they really just used their motors the whole time. Anyway, I learned that all of the snorkeling boats went to the same reef (except Stuart Cove which is on the other side of the island. We did not arrive in port early enough to go with them.) Rainbow Reef cost $84.00 for the three of us, which was about $30.00 cheaper than other boats we had considered. The ride out to the reef was relaxing. The captain gave us a small tour of the harbor. I had snorkeled twice before - Key West and Cozumel. This trip blew both away. There were fish within inches of me as soon as I jumped in the water. Most were light silver with black stripes and some yellow accents. There were also much bigger, more colorful fish deeper below us. I would guess we were in 10 to 20 feet of water most of the time. Some folks bought fish food in Ziploc bags. Man, the fish really responded to this. I was amazed. All three of us got close enough to touch at least one fish. The two boys had a blast although I had a tough time keeping track of the 7 yr old (future Marine). He has one speed and that is wide open. My biggest regret of the trip is not buying an underwater camera. We looked and looked for a Fuji with a flash but never found one. I wish I would have just settled for the Kodak. Anyway, we had our non-waterproof digital camera, so I got out early and snapped a few shots of the boys from the boat. The ride in was nice - they offered bottled water, coke and chips for sale for $1.00 each. The captain gave us a really nice “celebrity homes” tour on the way back in. We saw homes of folks like Oprah, Tiger Woods, Elvis, and the Sheik of Saudi Arabia where he lives with his four wives. We arrived back a few minutes before 5:00. We had made plans to meet up with the wife and baby at 5:30 at the Wyndham. This time I found a taxi myself and made a deal for one way for the three of us for $18.00. This driver was friendly as well. We found my wife and baby easily as they were coming out. We decided to look for the city bus/jitney. We found one quickly. He took us all back to the pier for only $5.00. I guess you live and learn. We went back on board and had dinner in the Windjammer as we had planned. It wasn’t nearly as nice as I am sure the formal dinner would have been, but I think it was a good decision for us. We then made a quick stop by the rooms to change and headed back out to the Atlantis. One more taxi trip - we found a driver to take us over for $16.00. It was dark by then, around 9:00pm and the place was still extremely busy. There were four or five ships in port that day. This place is unreal. We had the baby in a stroller so we had to go outside to find an elevator in the free area. We made it down below to see the huge aquarium and the manta ray that had to be 20 feet across. Definitely impressive and worth the trip. We got a little lost when we left and had to carry the baby in the stroller up some stairs outside, but we ended up at what had to be the Predator Lagoon. We were looking down or dorsal fins and menacing dark objects in the pools. There was not much light out there and the pool did not have lights, but that made it even better. The older boys loved spotting the sharks. We wrapped up our visit with a final taxi ride back to the Monarch. Another nice taxi driver, another $16.00. All and all I was very please with Nassau. Maybe we were lucky, but everyone was friendly and we were not hounded by people trying to sell stuff. The city is dirty and the streets are narrow, but it was beautiful in many ways.

--> I’m tired. Look out for part II - Coco Cay, departure, Daytona Beach and manatees.

Could you break it up into shorter paragraphs, please? It's kind of hard on the eyes...:)

nm...

Great Review!!! Makes me feel like I was there. Only a few more months till my next cruise!

This review is a day by day account of our experience on the Monarch and our travels to and from Florida. I'm not sure if I'm posting it in the right place, but it could be in travelling with kids, travelling on a budget (I include prices for everything I can remember), or All things Monarch of the Seas.....

We too our three kids, all boys, with us on a three night cruise to the Bahamas. Our party consisted of myself (37 - banker - fisherman - Gamecock fan), my wife (38 - social worker - organizer - Mommy), three sons - 10 yr old (homebody), 7 yr old (future Marine), and 2 yr old (wild child). Yes, you are right, we are crazy. It turned out much better than I expected.

Pre cruise -

We had been thinking seriously about a cruise since Christmas, but we finally pulled the trigger on this cruise late in the game - July 6th. We originally booked a single room that could hold five with a pack-and-play, but we then switched to two rooms.

We did not have a lot of choices at that point, so we picked the second deck - rooms 2020 (outside) and 2509 (inside). We got a state discount for being from SC on the day we changed our reservation. Our total was $1610.50. Not bad for two rooms and five people.

I have to thank Scubagirl and all of the posters on this board. I gained a ton of knowledge that helped me every day of the cruise from reading this board and posting questions.

Day 1 - Leaving Lancaster, SC for Jacksonville -

I planned our trip so that we would have a stop-over on the way down and on the way back. It would be an 8 1/2 hour drive to Port Canaveral if we drove non-stop. I knew we would have several stops to eat (and whatever else) with the kids, and I knew the 2 yr old would wear out and be miserable.

We drove about 6 1/2 hours to Jacksonville. We had pre-booked rooms both ways with Holiday Inn Express. We have always had good experiences with them in Florida and in other states. This one was nice. It was near I-95 which was important to me. The room price ($83.91) also includes breakfast which is great for a family of our size. The room was nice, but it was raining so we couldn't enjoy the pool. We drove down to the beach and "Ate at Joe's." This was fun. Great atmosphere and good food.

Day 2 - Jacksonville to Monarch of the Seas - We left Jacksonville around 8:30am with the intention of arriving by 11:30, but a few longer-than-planned stops put us behind. We arrived at the port around 1:00pm (we were suppose to arrive no later than 3:30).

We found our way to the Monarch's parking area and followed the signs to the luggage drop off. We only had three bags to check. The porters were extremely friendly. I saw the signs saying that tipping was not required and I had planned not to tip them, but I gave him $3.00. I only had three singles - the rest 20's. Anyway, they did a great job.

It was hot out there. He said "We appreciate anything you give us."

Moving along…this port is very clean and very easy to get through. I did not encounter one rude or unfriendly person during the whole boarding process. We had the 2 yr old in his stroller. The port staff went out of their way to put us on elevators and ramps. They genuinely seemed to enjoy entertaining the kids.

Our passports had expired, so we had our driver’s licenses and birth certificates plus our marriage license for the wife. We also had certified copies of the kids’ birth certificates. The port officials thanked us for having everything in order.

Again, thanks to posters on this board for helping us figure out the docs we needed.

We had our pictures taken and our credit card scanned for the Sea Passes. This all went smoothly and quickly.

On to the Monarch of the Seas -

We went through the concourse to enter the Monarch. Our group was greeted by a funny staff member that can only be described as an Indian with an Afro. He had one of the biggest Afro’s I have ever seen, and I have never seen anyone from India with any kind of wild hair.

Anyway, he gave us a few basics about the ship and pointed out the complimentary hand sanitizers stationed at the entrances to prevent disease.

We made our way to level 2 and found our rooms. They were small, but bigger than I expected. We had cruised once before with Carnival on the Fascination without kids. Both of our rooms seemed bigger than Carnival’s.

We split up the luggage between the two rooms. On our way, we met Reeci (sp), our room attendant. He was very nice and he did a great job.

My wife ended up with the outside, port-hole room (go figure) and I took the inside room. (When you are married for 16 years and have three kids, the chance for romance on a cruise is slim to none.)

The inside cabin was #2509. Both cabins were near the front of the ship. This room had one single bed on the left and bunk beds on the right. I had planned on having the 7 & 10 year old with me, but it didn’t work out that way.

This room was in the center of the ship, so I didn’t feel the side to side swaying but I definitely felt the up and down motion, especially on the first day. I took Bonine and had my see legs in no time. I did hear the anchor going down in Coco Cay around 7:00am, but I was already awake.

My wife’s room, #2020, was just 20 or 30 steps away around the corner. Her room was initially configured with two singles. Reeci offered to put the beds together, which made a huge difference. There was a shelf-like area above the bed in front of the port-hole. The 7 yr old decided this is where he wanted to sleep, and he did.

It was small, but just right for him.

We asked Reeci to remove all the sodas, water, and mini-bar items from our desk area under the mirror. He showed me that I could just store all of it above the mirror which worked fine.

The bathrooms in both room were small, but well laid out with plenty of towels and bath-cloths. The shampoo dispenser in my room was out and the TV’s were small, but those are my only complaints with the rooms.

After settling in a little, we went up to the Windjammer for lunch. The kids loved the selection. Even my 10 yr old found things he liked. They also liked the animals carved in fruit - swan in a watermelon, penguin made of various fruits, etc. Very cute. We both tried the honey stung chicken. It was good, but I’ve had better.

We next heard the announcement for the Muster drill. I knew this would not be fun, and it wasn’t. We had two different Muster stations on opposite sides of the ship due to being in two rooms. Luckily, one of the crew members told us we could all be together.

We were next to the back of the group. It was hot and tight. The 2 yr old had his first tantrum of the trip. (He had one per day, which is not bad for a 2 yr old.) This one was the worst. He wanted to be held which was all but impossible to do with the lifejackets on.

It got worse and worse. There were some foreign passengers behind us who were sitting on a cabinet of some sort. They did not move or offer any help. One of the instructors heard the baby and came over and instructed them to move over and let my wife and the baby use the cabinet.

That was nice, but he was in full tantrum mode by then. A few minutes later, another instructor came back and told my wife and the baby to go ahead and remove the lifejackets. He also led them to the front of the group where he let the baby help lead the drill.

I was very relieved that they recognized our situation and made it better. I hate that the others around us had to endure his crying, but it really only lasted five to ten minutes. It did seem longer.

After returning to our rooms, my wife finished unpacking and the baby took a nap. Myself and the older two went up to the front of deck 11 for sail away. We were right under the horns when they sounded. This could be a great practical joke - those horns are LOUD and will shake your bones.

Sail away was nice.

We then explored the ship a little before returning to our rooms. I got a nap with the baby while the wife and older boys went up to the pool for a while.

We then all got dressed for dinner at 8:30pm.

We had our pictures taken by the professional photographer while waiting for the dining room to open. Again, this is hard to do with three kids. We only came away with one good professional picture the whole trip.

The kids then entertained themselves by riding the elevator up to the top floor and looking down at the Centrum. The Centrum was beautiful, btw. It was elegant without being gaudy.

On to dinner…..We are from a small town in the South. We’re not used to being served and attended to. We have Mom and Pop restaurants and lots of fried chicken where we live.

Our waiter was Rajeesh from India and his assistant was Maria from Lima, Peru. I cannot say enough good things about them. They cut up our 7 yr olds’ steak. They were friendly and very conversational.

Rajeesh noticed that the baby liked the grapes in the fruit cocktail, so he brought out a bowl of just grapes for him. He also made excellent suggestion for our entrées and deserts.

The food was superb. We explained to him that we would not be in the dining room the next night - formal night. We decided to pack light and not bring dress clothes for everybody. We were also afraid the baby might ruin other people’s evenings if he had a bad night. Rajeesh tried to convince us that we would be fine. As long as we were not in shorts, we would be allowed in. We stuck to our plan though. More on that in the next section.

Day 2 on the Monarch - Rock Wall/Nassau/Atlantis Resort -

The older boys and I went out to sign up for the rock climbing wall at 9:00am, when it opened. We had to go all the way back to our rooms to get socks, as they were required to climb.

None of us had ever tried this before, so we were excited. We all made it to the top, but I’ll tell you, rock climbing is hard. I was worn out. The big fellow holding my rope and giving instructions must have thought I was a Romanian gymnast. He said things like “left foot where your right hand is” - yeah right.

As I stated earlier, I’m 37. I failed to mention that I am also out of shape and at least 25 lbs over my fighting weight.

My 10 yr old started out beside me about two minutes after I started. He was up the wall like a cat and back on the ground before I even got close to the top. But I made it.

The 7 yr old was really too short to do it. He did his best, but he more or less swung like Tarzan for most of his climb. He made it as well and all was good.

My wife had taken the 2 yr old to Aqua Tots while we were doing this. They were the only ones there. The instructor (Erica from Mexico) told my wife that they were hired by RCI for five month contracts. Not always on the same ship. She said this was only her second time around. She was very nice and the play area was clean with lots of toys.

BTW - we signed the older two up for Adventure Ocean, but they did not attend any of the activities. We did not have a day at sea, so we stayed pretty busy the entire trip. I wish they had at least tried AO, but it was good to have everybody together.

We went back to our rooms to get ready for Nassau at noon. I had worried myself sick over what to do there. I wanted to take the older boys snorkeling, but I was worried about keeping a baby safe and happy on a catamaran.

Again, this board helped a lot in that area.

I told my wife about the Wyndham day pass and we agreed that it was the best option. So off we went.

I had booked myself and the older two on the Rainbow Reef Snorkel excursion which departed at 2:00pm. We all left the dock together to find a taxi to the Wyndham. We were met by a lady and she told us to follow her- she would find a taxi for us.

This was a little easier said than done. Most of the taxis were heading to Atlantis. She passed us around a little until we finally found a driver that agreed to take us to the Wyndham and wait for us until we got the wife and baby in and registered.

It is on Cable Beach which is a 15 to 20 minute taxi ride. The Wyndham is very nice and the hotel staff was friendly. Afterwards, my wife said the beach and pools were nice and relaxing. So relaxing the baby fell asleep in her arms in the pool. She missed the buffet which was included in the $40.00 because the baby was still asleep.

OK, back to the taxi ride back. The driver did wait on us. He was extremely friendly and his minivan had cold A/C . We had agreed to $40.00 round trip. That was probably a lot more than I could have spent, but we were on a tight schedule and had never been there before. He gave a tour of the city as we were on the way.

The older two and I arrived back at the pier with twenty-five minutes to spare. We were part of a large group for the Rainbow Reef Snorkel. I would guess 75 to 90 people. Very diverse age range.

We made the seven minute walk to the other side of the dock to board. We were on a wide, single-deck catamaran with a canopy that provided lots of shade. It was fast.

The excursion expert on the Monarch told us that it left an hour later than the Seahorse Sail and Snorkel and that it provided a half hour longer snorkeling time. He said the Seahorse had a sail, but they really just used their motors the whole time.

Anyway, I learned that all of the snorkeling boats went to the same reef (except Stuart Cove which is on the other side of the island. We did not arrive in port early enough to go with them.) Rainbow Reef cost $84.00 for the three of us, which was about $30.00 cheaper than other boats we had considered.

The ride out to the reef was relaxing. The captain gave us a small tour of the harbor. I had snorkeled twice before - Key West and Cozumel. This trip blew both away. There were fish within inches of me as soon as I jumped in the water. Most were light silver with black stripes and some yellow accents. There were also much bigger, more colorful fish deeper below us. I would guess we were in 10 to 20 feet of water most of the time.

Some folks bought fish food in Ziploc bags. Man, the fish really responded to this. I was amazed. All three of us got close enough to touch at least one fish. The two boys had a blast although I had a tough time keeping track of the 7 yr old (future Marine). He has one speed and that is wide open.

My biggest regret of the trip is not buying an underwater camera. We looked and looked for a Fuji with a flash but never found one. I wish I would have just settled for the Kodak.

Anyway, we had our non-waterproof digital camera, so I got out early and snapped a few shots of the boys from the boat.

The ride in was nice - they offered bottled water, coke and chips for sale for $1.00 each. The captain gave us a really nice “celebrity homes” tour on the way back in. We saw homes of folks like Oprah, Tiger Woods, Elvis, and the Sheik of Saudi Arabia where he lives with his four wives.

We arrived back a few minutes before 5:00. We had made plans to meet up with the wife and baby at 5:30 at the Wyndham. This time I found a taxi myself and made a deal for one way for the three of us for $18.00. This driver was friendly as well.

We found my wife and baby easily as they were coming out. We decided to look for the city bus/jitney. We found one quickly. He took us all back to the pier for only $5.00. I guess you live and learn.

We went back on board and had dinner in the Windjammer as we had planned. It wasn’t nearly as nice as I am sure the formal dinner would have been, but I think it was a good decision for us.

We then made a quick stop by the rooms to change and headed back out to the Atlantis. One more taxi trip - we found a driver to take us over for $16.00.

It was dark by then, around 9:00pm and the place was still extremely busy. There were four or five ships in port that day.

This place is unreal. We had the baby in a stroller so we had to go outside to find an elevator in the free area. We made it down below to see the huge aquarium and the manta ray that had to be 20 feet across. Definitely impressive and worth the trip.

We got a little lost when we left and had to carry the baby in the stroller up some stairs outside, but we ended up at what had to be the Predator Lagoon. We were looking down on dorsal fins and menacing dark objects in the pools. There was not much light out there and the pool did not have lights, but that made it even better. The older boys loved spotting the sharks.

We wrapped up our visit with a final taxi ride back to the Monarch. Another nice taxi driver, another $16.00. All and all I was very pleased with Nassau. Maybe we were lucky, but everyone was friendly and we were not hounded by people trying to sell stuff. The city is dirty and the streets are narrow, but it was beautiful in many ways.

I’m tired. Look out for part II - Coco Cay, departure, Daytona Beach and manatees.

Thanks for posting. We are on 4 day in 3 weeks and I will read your post in any format.

We are not traveling with kids but I am very interested in all you have to say, especially the prices you paid for different things.

In Nassau was there a charge for the aquaium? I would like to go to Atlantis and see it, but just want to plan finances.

Keep it up, can't wait to read more.

I'm not even going on the Monarch and I'm addicted to your post so far! lol. Can't wait to read some more!

Thanks for the wonderful review, please don't forget to post part II, we have been on carnival many times and never RCCL, so your review is most informative. Will wait with abated breath for the second half. Again thank you!!!!!!

Nice review...Waiting for part two!! :D

Welcome back! I can't believe it's over already! Great review and sense of humor!:D:)