A Weekend to Nostalgia - Monarch of the Seas Review with Pictures!

[RicardoC]

A Weekend to Nostalgia - Monarch of the Seas Review with Pictures!

 

 

Background: I'm a 16 year old Junior in High School and interested to be a naval engineer/marine architect. Due to that and the fact I've been living in Florida for the past 3 years my parents and cruise a lot not only to getaway, relax, and see the world but to also "test", as we like to say, the ships. This cruise showed me somehow how life makes fun of us.....I'm always planning cruises and trying to convince my dad about them....but this time I was in New York with a friend from Brazil and his family spending the weekend when my dad calls me and asks if I was sad to fly back to Fl and start the week. I said It was ok since I had a blast that weekend and the following week would be shorter, that we had Friday off. Then it was HE who suggested the two of us to go on a cruise! Ended up that as soon as I got home that Sunday afternoon I called Royal Caribbean and in about 10 minutes we were booked on the Monarch of the Seas sailing in less than 5 days, a record for us in last minute cruises! We are usually 3 but this time mom was still in Brazil and would be back the Monday we arrived so it was only dad (56) and I (16) who drove to Port Canaveral that Friday ready for a last minute weekend getaway to the Bahamas.:cool:

[RicardoC]

EMBARKATION was very nice as always in PC. We truly love this port since its a nice 40 minute drive from home and wish more ships would sail from there. Since everything happened so fast the week prior to the cruise was crazy and we did not have time to do the online check-in. I had to finish homework before leaving so we ended up getting at the port around 2pm, passed through x-ray and were asked to go to the desk in order to fill up forms which took us no more than 5 minutes. Then got the preferred line for Crown & Anchor Society’s Platinum members and in about 10 minutes were boarding the ship.

MONARCH is a truly impressive ship given her age. We had been on the Sovereign on the same exact itinerary so found both really similar, despite some minimum details that most of people would never pay attention to. It was very interesting that even though we'd been on older ships our last 4 cruises were on cruise lines' newest and biggest ships (Celebrity's Solstice, HAL's Eurodam, Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas and Carnival's Dream) so it was surely a shock to see such low ceilings, small pools, few hot tubs, and the list goes on......but for a weekend getaway it was perfect because who needs a ship with the Bahamas outside!? Despite the size and age I did see some things I'd say are Royal Caribbean standards and should be on this ship as well such as doors instead of the curtains on the shower (HOW I HATE THOSE!!!) and the larger flat screen tvs on staterooms in place of the old, REAALY SMALL tvs. Actually while public areas looked renovated and pretty nice, the stateroom was not that great, looked older, and once we got there both the hallway and the bathroom had a bad smell. Windows were always dirty as well as rusty. In my opinion if RCI plans on keeping this ship for weekend cruises (which I think is great), they should have a little "facelift" for it.

FOOD was outstanding as well as service. In our opinion the food offered by the MDR was even better than the one on Oasis, a surprise! Menus offered nice variety and everything I had was perfectly tasty, especially the escargots & duck on the formal night, two classics :D Breakfast at Windjammer was ok while lunch had few options in my opinion. I enjoyed the iced mocha I had once at Latte-tudes by the centrum as well as the complimentary cookies,cakes, and that kind of tasteless, bad stuff :P The bars were always full, especially Schooners on deck 5, but we went to the Viking Crown on deck 14, a classic and always my favorite.

[RicardoC]

Since we had no sea days the pool area was never full so very easy to find spots and enjoy the sun. For our stop in NASSAU we decided to spend the day at Atlantis due to the fact the last two times we cruised there we did not have enough time and the weekend my parents spent there was raining so they could not go to the water park. We got a taxi to Paradise Island and paid the absurd of 110 bucks per person to spend the day there! Since we were already there my dad decided to stay but we got to a conclusion it is worth to stay at the hotel and enjoy the included pool areas and water park, which is awesome full of slides a lazy river that is not that lazy and ends up at 3 water coasters! By the end of the day we went back to the ship just in time to see MSC's Poesia set sail (btw besides Poesia and the Monarch there were Carnival's Imagination and NCL's Sky in port that day but the island did not feel that crowded).

[RicardoC]

COCOCAY has always been my favorite as compared to Labadee. I was afraid it would lose its position due to all the new attractions added to the one in Haiti but we were, once again, more than satisfied. We were told by both friends who sailed the Monarch the weekend before and some crew members that due to winds and consequently waves out of the ordinary it had been a couples cruises they did not stop in the island, but were lucky enough to have a sunny, cloudless, a bit windy, perfect day outside. We decided to spend few hours at the beach but have lunch in the ship in order to enjoy the pool area and then head to the spa for our massages scheduled for the end of the afternoon. The island was amazingly empty, and far more beautiful than I remembered. I think they might have expanded it due to the fact larger ships like the Freedom are now stopping there as well, and so when ships like Monarch stop without maximum occupancy stop it feels like a private island!!! Hahahaah ok I’m exaggerating….but you understood what I meant right!? I wish we had stayed more but after a nap in between the palm trees and a couple minutes in the sea we headed back to have lunch, relax more and end the day with a massage….ohhh what a difficult life!

 

[RicardoC]

After dinner I headed to our stateroom to try to study a bit for my test on Monday, the following day….something I tried to study all weekend and ended up being able to actually sit down and study….but I think this getaway was so relaxing that even though I studied far less than what I should have studied, I did really well on the test….which for Chemistry was a surprise….what a great excuse to go on more weekend cruises….

 

DEBARKATION could not be easier. We decided not to have breakfast and wake up at 6:30 in order to do the express checkout at 7….7:10 we were already in the car! I personally love the cruise experience, not only for the amazing places to visit and relaxation but for the incredible engineer marvels ships are and that we get to visit. When my dad decided to go on Monarch I confess I was not sure out since it is an older ship. I was actually pretty tough with my opinions on the first day given the size of cabin and older ship, but throughout the weekend I actually found out this ship has nothing to do with image or the “outside”. I saw so many crew members that have been working on her for the past 10, 15 years, so many couples who sailed with her in different times of their lives, even someone who seemed to have been an officer on the Sovereign which knew every server, maître, crew member around. And it was when this person told the maître to take care of a couple of friends that would return the following week and that they were “Aluminum Crown & Anchor Members” that I figured out the Monarch is more like a huge family that, a couple years ago, lost the matriarch Sovereign of the Seas but turned all the attention to the Monarch. I saw people who have their lives, their stories tied to this ship and even thought I kind of felt I did not since it was our first time onboard the Monarch, I found out I was part of it because even we were not on the Sovereign we were on her younger sister, that is now Royal Caribbean’s older ship. I started feeling nostalgic, remembering of that first cruise after I moved to the US and that certainly was an important time for my life. It was then that I, like many others onboard, was onboard a weekend cruise of nostalgia.

[Scotty G]

Excellent review Ricardo, you nailed it!!!!

[HB Cruiser]

Nice review.

 

Really liked the nostalgic touch and agree 100% about the older, smaller ships.

 

Tim

[LBumb]

great pictures

[pscruzinboyz]

Hey Ricardo...great reveiw...She was ours for 5 years here in LA and the crew was/is amazing......We do miss her a lot. Glad you guys can take advantage.

 

Mike

[RicardoC]

Hi everyone!

Glad you all enjoyed it and hope it brought some good memories to those of you who haven't sailed on her lately :)

[constansl]

Very enjoyable review. I am glad you had such a nice time. And I am impressed you were able to study at all -- good for you. I think you do need another weekend cruise.

[luvmysox1]

Thanks for posting this review. We booked our first Royal cruise on Monarch yesterday for a steal of a price. I am excited about a smaller older ship again. We were introduced to cruising on a small ship Carnival Holiday and totally loved it.

 

This will be an awesome 4 day getaway!:D

 

You seem very mature and cultured for man your age. Enjoyed your writing style.

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Ricardo, great review and pictures! They are beautiful! Brought back some memories as I've cruised on Monarch's sister, Majesty, over 30 times, so I felt nostalgic reading your review and looking at your pics. The MJ is like my second home, so I appreciated your comments on the MN.

 

Thanks again!

[Cruisingfamilyfun]

Great job! It's snowing here in michigan so it was great to see such NICE WARM PICS! We too will be sailing on the Monarch --- cannot wait!

[RicardoC]

Great job! It's snowing here in michigan so it was great to see such NICE WARM PICS! We too will be sailing on the Monarch --- cannot wait!

 

Thanks! I was in Michigan last week visiting U-M...that's my first choice so I might be in that snow a year from now :eek:

[GranysT]

Ricardo,

 

Great review. It's always great to get a young person's view of cruising. I've sailed on Majesty,Sovereign, and Monarch, each of them once. I enjoyed all 3.

 

One question, I think you mentioned you were platinum. Were you invited to a special breakfast, for platinum and above, one morning? We were on Monarch last Jan, and were invited for this breakfast. They had everything you could think of on a buffet, and several ship officers there, to serve drinks, and chat with us. It was the 1st time we had ever had such a breakfast, and it was delightful. Our cruise was 4 nights, not 3, so that might have made a difference.