My first DIAMOND cruise! 7/1/11 Monarch pictorial with Coco Cay Cabana Club report!

[PH8]

Come on..tell us about the Cabana's...:D PULEEEEZ??

Tell ya what Karen........since you're going a few weeks before me,rent one and tell me all about it(since odds are high that i would ever pay to rent one):o

[kc320]

Tell ya what Karen........since you're going a few weeks before me,rent one and tell me all about it(since odds are high that i would ever pay to rent one):o

 

I'm planning to rent one of the Cabanettes...you know I'm to cheap to rent a full out cabana...:D but for $35 I'll give the little ones a try...

[Rewind]

Darth,

 

Great pics. I was on the Monarch just a few days before you (June 24th) and I see you took a lot of the same pictures I did for my memories. I really need to get to posting.

 

To everyone, this was my first cruise and now I am completely hooked. Monarch is a great ship with an excellent crew.

[PH8]

I'm planning to rent one of the Cabanettes...you know I'm to cheap to rent a full out cabana...:D but for $35 I'll give the little ones a try...

Oh,you'll have to let me know!:)

[giswam]

Don't mind at all, its a Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS-10.

 

This was my first cruise with it, so I'm still in the learning curve. I used to have a Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ-28 and loved it, but it was too big. I like one that can fit in a pocket. So I've been very happy with the ZS-10 so far, it has a lot of features in a fairly small package. Its low light performance is a little less than the FZ-28, but I'm happy with the trade off in size. Plus, the ZS-10's zoom is only slightly less than the FZ-28's.

 

DarthGrady,

Thank you for your prompt response and all of the information about the camera. Special thanks for going out of your way to even attach pictures:D. I will definitely check the camera out and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your pics. Thanks again!!!!

[Cruising89143]

Monarch still looks good at the ripe old age of 20.:) Good to see that RCI has taken good care of her.

[DarthGrady]

Looks great!!! Can not wait to board her!!! Did you have a CC or menus?

 

Thx!

 

T

 

I'll ask the wife to find them for me and I will try to get them scanned in. She keeps some of them, and I believe she kept all three from this cruise since it was kind of special.

[DarthGrady]

Grady,

We were also on the July 1st cruise and also love the Monarch of the Seas. I must complement you on your photos. The Monarch looked even better in your photos than it does it real life. No, not really, but you captured the lighting that made everything sparkle to make your photos come to life.

 

I've noticed that you haven't commented on the CocoCay Cabanas yet. We also had a cabana. Please be careful what you say about them. By the end of the day I decided I would NOT even mention the CocoCay cabanas and the Cabana Club on Cruise Critic. I feel confident you feel the same way about the Cabana Club as we did and understand my concerns about shouting about it too loudly! ;) Oh No! You'll have pictures too, we've had it! :D

 

Thanks for the great review, we can't agree more with everything you said about the Monarch and the fantastic crew.

 

Steve

 

I know what you mean, but unfortunately I think I will be letting the cat out of the bag! :o:D

[Leesbrug Land]

Come on..tell us about the Cabana's...:D PULEEEEZ??

 

 

Now if people find out about the Cabana Club then it won't be a secret anymore!!:mad:

 

whisper.. whisper..DH and I rented a cabana a couple of weeks ago and man they are flipping awesome!! They are soooo worth the money..end of whispering

 

I'll be nice and let OP tell you about them since this is his thread and he does a hell of a lot better job of it then me. (and he has figured out how to get his pictures off of his camera:D.)

[PH8]

I know what you mean, but unfortunately I think I will be letting the cat out of the bag! :o:D

I havent been on the MN since last Oct,nor have I been to CocoCay in a long time.........I usually dont go over to the island.............Ok,what am i missing???:confused:

[DarthGrady]

Can I ask how you made it to Diamond in less than 4 years?! What's the secret behind the curtain?!? We're limited to taking 1 cruise a year and we just barely took our first on the Oasis this May!!

 

Its kind of a long story. This was only my 6th cruise with RCI, so those who dislike cruisers that take the cheap and easy way to Diamond SHOULD NOT READ ANY FURTHER! :eek::D

 

Back on topic, I mostly thank my wife who cruises RCI more than I do. I give the rest of the credit to C&A since they grant the same status level to all members of the household. Before they switched to the new points system she had 8 cruise credits:

 

5 three-night cruises on Monarch (two with me)

2 seven-night cruises on Freedom (both with me)

1 four-night cruise on Radiance (without me)

 

So we booked a suite for our Radiance cruise in February because it was a fairly cheap upgrade, and to get her the two points for Diamond.

 

Well, RCI pulled the old switcheroo on us and changed to the new system before we sailed on Radiance. She ended up with 69 points after the conversion. That meant that after our four-night cruise in a JS she would have only 77 points and still be Emerald.

 

We were both fairly disappointed since getting Diamond was one of the main reasons we upgraded. So I called, wrote emails, and generally badgered C&A long enough that they finally granted us Diamond status (although our credit count would stay at 77).

 

That's it, the nasty truth. :D She's paying me back, so it's okay. She got the benefits of my Platinum status on Carnival for three cruises before she got there herself. CCL doesn't do the "household points" thing, it's everyone for themselves over there. ;)

[DarthGrady]

I havent been on the MN since last Oct,nor have I been to CocoCay in a long time.........I usually dont go over to the island.............Ok,what am i missing???:confused:

 

Gimme about an hour, gotta grab some din-din and I will be back on here to wrap this thing up! :D:D

[PH8]

Gimme about an hour, gotta grab some din-din and I will be back on here to wrap this thing up! :D:D

Okey doke!:)

[DarthGrady]

Day 3: Coco Cay Cabana Club

I learned about the new cabanas on Coco Cay from Cruise Critic. As soon as we got on board we booked one. After our tender over to the island, we headed to the Cabana Club. The area surrounds the faux lighthouse, and has it’s own bar and massage rooms. It also has a separate dining area just for the cabana guests. The cabanas themselves are available in different configurations. We got a two-person “clamshell” style cloth cabana that came with two loungers, floating mat, bottled water and the dining. The larger wooden cabanas can accommodate two or more and offer full shade, extra floating mats and champagne. The whole experience was very nice. Just having a semi private area to lounge and eat was worth the $35 price tag (the wooden cabanas are more). I think they will definitely expand the program, since all of them were sold out. I just hope they don’t raise the price. That’s about all I’m willing to spend on an island where the other loungers and food options are free.

My only complaint was that the area doesn’t have a beach. You have to walk out of the Cabana Club to one of the other beach areas. If it had a private section of beach it would be perfect. The package was also supposed to come with a photo. A photographer never came around to take a picture, and the Cabana Concierge didn’t know anything about it. So my wife went to the Shore Excursion desk later and they gave us the Coco Cay arrival photo for free. The arrival photo was a better deal in my opinion, so we were both happy.

 

Leaving the ship on the tender

 

 

 

Arriving at the island

 

One of those cabanettes had our names on it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[foxesden1]

Wahoo!

[DarthGrady]

First a walk around the island:

 

 

The dining area

 

The buffet

 

Both good options to have

 

[DarthGrady]

A Power Wheels race track for the kids

 

The huge water slide

 

 

Sea Doo rentals

 

Floating water park

[DarthGrady]

The beaches

 

 

[DarthGrady]

And now the Cabana Club!

 

Central sitting area

 

One of the full size cabanas

 

 

The "Cabanettes"

[DarthGrady]

The best Cabanette, OURS! Lucky #7!

 

 

 

The view

 

[DarthGrady]

IMPORTANT NOTE! Although you see towels in one of the pictures, the Cabanas do no come with them. You will have to bring them over to the island like everyone else.

[DarthGrady]

Birds eye view of the area from the lighthouse observation deck

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

The Cabana Club dining area

 

 

 

 

 

Mmmmmmm.....Yes, that is a steak, BBQ ribs, shish kabob and, of course, the obligatory hot dog!

[DarthGrady]

A nice present after we got back on board

 

For our final evening on board we were joined by the Carnival Imagination

 

 

 

 

 

One last sunset on board

[DarthGrady]

Back on the ship we got cleaned up and went to the last Diamond event. Afterward we had dinner at the Jade Steakhouse, which was an interesting experience. Upon arrival, I noticed that the “Jade” sign looked very nice, but the “Steakhouse” lettering beneath it looked like adhesive mailbox letters (that weren’t even placed properly). This oddity would forshadow the entire experience. We were invited in by the hostess and asked to sit in some chairs near the door. She said we would need to wait a few minutes for a table. She then returned about 5 seconds after we sat down and asked up to follow her. We were then seated, and then waited about 15 minutes for someone to come back and give us water.

Another few minutes went by, and our waitress finally showed up to take our order. We ordered two sushi rolls, and each ordered the filet mignon as the main course. The sushi came fast, within 5 minutes or so, and was very good. The steaks were a different matter. We waited another twenty minutes or so for the raw steaks, and hot stones to cook them on. Once we got the steaks, we placed them on stones and watched them sizzle. We cooked them and they were delicious! Even better than the filet mignon Chops served me on Freedom OTS. If they can get the service kinks worked out, the Jade Sushi and Steakhouse will be a fine addition to Royal Caribbean’s portfolio of fine dining alternatives. As it stands now, it's a great sushi bar with marginal service that you can order steaks in. A good dog with a few fleas.

 

The Jade Sushi "Steakhouse" sign, an allegory of the experience to follow

 

 

 

You get free Sake when you order an entree.