4-Night Monarch of the Seas - Suite Life - Picture Review

[Ander026]

Great review and great pics. The Monarch is one of my favorite of the fleet. I have a sailing on her during Christmas this year with my family.

 

Keep up the great work.

[dacsmom]

I love your review. I was on the Monarch in May and I miss it. The pictures are wonderful.

[zetalove08]

LOVE LOVE LOVE your review!!! :) I was on the Monarch in April, and I'm going again in September. Your review has me SO excited!!! I think you have me convinced to do the aquapark lol. I'm 25 and my husband is 27- will we look weird? lol! It looks like fun and also a good workout! haha

 

Can't wait for more!!!

[LittleMissMagic]

This is a really kick-ass cruise report.

 

Is the part coming up pretty soon where you get the fake ID's and head to Vegas?

 

Haha, just wait until Nassau!!! :D

[LittleMissMagic]

I reported the ignorant comment. I'm willing to bet I wasn't the only one though. :p

 

I enjoy your reviews. I think you post a good amount of pictures but they aren't overwhelming. I like that you don't post 50 photos of the exact same thing from different angles. :rolleyes: There was another review thread I saw recently where the poster appeared to post every single picture she took on the trip, and most were of her standing in front on some unidentifiable building. She was several pages in and hadn't left Venice yet. Not good at all. That's what links to Flickr are for :D I enjoy your pics, and since I'll be doing this same cruise next year they are really getting me in the mood for Coco Cay.

 

I do post an awful lot of pictures, and I hope it's not too many. I'm working on organizing the Flickr - I have a LOT of photos! :D

[LittleMissMagic]

Did you ever make it to the concierge lounge?

 

Sadly, no concierge lounge on the Monarch. Instead, we were invited to the nightly Diamond Plus event in the Viking Crown Lounge, which I found rather dull.

[LittleMissMagic]

LOVE LOVE LOVE your review!!! :) I was on the Monarch in April, and I'm going again in September. Your review has me SO excited!!! I think you have me convinced to do the aquapark lol. I'm 25 and my husband is 27- will we look weird? lol! It looks like fun and also a good workout! haha

 

Can't wait for more!!!

 

Definitely do it! There were plenty of adults out there, so you'll fit right in. It definitely is a workout! I was sore the next day... :D

 

BTW - I enjoyed your Monarch review from April and read it to get excited about our cruise!!

Edited June 20, 2012 by LittleMissMagic

[Hunwolf]

Sadly, no concierge lounge on the Monarch. Instead, we were invited to the nightly Diamond Plus event in the Viking Crown Lounge, which I found rather dull.

 

That's a shame. The VCL is a great venue on the Royal ships and is often woefully underutilized or poorly utilized IMO.

[Just The 3 Of Us]

I do post an awful lot of pictures, and I hope it's not too many. I'm working on organizing the Flickr - I have a LOT of photos! :D

 

 

 

You have to know us by now, LMM - there can never be too many pictures for us CC'rs... I just so enjoy your reviews!!!

[LittleMissMagic]

That's a shame. The VCL is a great venue on the Royal ships and is often woefully underutilized or poorly utilized IMO.

 

I agree - it provides wonderful views, but I haven't found it to be very lively on many ships. It as the best on the Grandeur back in 2009 because they used it as their nightclub. I feel like on all other ships I've been on, it's been overlooked due to organized activities and entertainment in other areas of the ship.

[LBumb]

i like when the DL is on vcl. makes for great view like on liberty.

[LittleMissMagic]

Suite Party on Coco Cay

 

After the aquapark, everyone headed to lunch, and we went to the suite party. We brought Rachel along with us because our suite ambassador, Derik (awesome guy!), knew that my parents had a daughter in another room (we were linked via credit card) and invited her to come, too (he actually hand-wrote her name on all of our printed invitations addressed to the three of us - so cute and thoughtful!).

 

What I determined was that the suite guests were invited to the nightly Diamond Plus party in the Viking Crown, and the Diamond Plus C&A members were invited to the suite party on Coco Cay.

 

Now THIS was a party! The atmosphere was just so much better - it was outside and everyone was wearing their beach attire. There were kids there (they were actually staying in the suite next door to us), too. It had a much more relaxed feel to it. Not to mention, the drinks were so much better! Derik brought us all Coco Locos, and they didn't skimp on the alcohol like they normally do with freebie drinks at the Captain's Party and C&A events. They had hors d'oeuvres and a bar where I'm pretty sure you could put in requests.

 

It started raining briefly, so we joined tables with an older couple sitting by themselves. They were Diamond Plus (no suite) and had been on the Monarch several times.

 

The cruise director was driving the Coco Limo back and forth between the party and the barbecue, but we decided to just walk since we were capable. And that let us get these pictures...

 

DSC_5939 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

DSC_5942 by vshingl, on Flickr

[LittleMissMagic]

I didn't eat much from the BBQ because I just wasn't feeling it. Rachel and I finished quickly then went back to the beach. We ran into the other girls at the bar, and they told us to order Coco Locos because they were "good" (wink, wink), but the bar staff had changed over, so they gave us two virgin Coco Locos. I was not happy that I spent $6.90/each on two virgin drinks! I didn't like it, either - wayyy too sugary for my tastes. At least I got the souvenir cup!

 

We then went to go slide -

 

DSC_5948 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

DSC_5950 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

DSC_5951 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

DSC_5953 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

DSC_5962 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

And we seriously just kept going down the slide for the rest of the time we were on Coco Cay. I feel like everyone took a break except for me. I was like the energizing bunny (while the others were recharchable, haha! :D)

 

The people working the slide got to know us pretty well. After Rachel blew our minds by standing and "surfing" the entire bottom length of the slide (really - it was weird, and she only came close to standing the length that she did the first time once again), she dubbed her "Queen of the Slide." She then got to use the other side of the stairs to climb up for a separate entry (there was never a very long line, though). It was then the game to see who could stand up the longest. I was the next to gain special entry with "Princess of the Slide" until Meredith stripped me of my title at the end of the day by standing for the entire inclined portion of the slide (it was really impressive...) A 15-year-old (who sat by the girls at dinner) was dubbed the "King of the Slide," while Will, Meredith's little brother, was the "Prince of the Slide." When it was about time to close the slide, someone asked her if we could go head first, and she said that it was fine since her boss wasn't around anymore! (It's really next to impossible to get seriously hurt on that thing, as long as you don't do something ridiculously stupid.)

 

We had a great time sliding all day - and we really got our money's worth out of the slide!

[LittleMissMagic]

DSC_5966 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

I think we were the second-to-last tender boat to go back to the ship. The other parents had left a good hour before us, but for some reason, they waited for us to tender back (the girls were getting really sick of Helicopter Paula).

 

These are Meredith's photos I'm stealing -

 

 

[just4kixx]

DSC_5962 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

And we seriously just kept going down the slide for the rest of the time we were on Coco Cay. I feel like everyone took a break except for me. I was like the energizing bunny (while the others were recharchable, haha! :D)

 

The people working the slide got to know us pretty well. After Rachel blew our minds by standing and "surfing" the entire bottom length of the slide (really - it was weird, and she only came close to standing the length that she did the first time once again), she dubbed her "Queen of the Slide." She then got to use the other side of the stairs to climb up for a separate entry (there was never a very long line, though). It was then the game to see who could stand up the longest. I was the next to gain special entry with "Princess of the Slide" until Meredith stripped me of my title at the end of the day by standing for the entire inclined portion of the slide (it was really impressive...) A 15-year-old (who sat by the girls at dinner) was dubbed the "King of the Slide," while Will, Meredith's little brother, was the "Prince of the Slide." When it was about time to close the slide, someone asked her if we could go head first, and she said that it was fine since her boss wasn't around anymore! (It's really next to impossible to get seriously hurt on that thing, as long as you don't do something ridiculously stupid.)

 

We had a great time sliding all day - and we really got our money's worth out of the slide!

 

It's pretty hard NOT to notice that you all wore bikinis on the slide. Dare I ask if this presented any type of ... ahem... wedgie problem? :o

 

A~

[LittleMissMagic]

We got back on the ship and went to Sorrento's for pizza. Then, we decided to go hot tubbing (yes, it's a verb!)... and that turned into swimming for some of the girls... napping for Meredith and me. Everyone had left to go get ready for dinner except for Meredith and I who had fallen asleep in our pool chairs! We then couldn't convince ourselves to get up until the last possible minute...

 

But we did clean up for formal night!

 

Here's all of the grads:

 

IMG_0001 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

IMG_0006 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

We were mocking Emily who was posing seductively as her 13-year-old brother took her picture! :D (It was really funny)

 

IMG_0003 by vshingl, on Flickr

[LittleMissMagic]

IMG_0008 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

The insulated Coke cups are great for hoarding alcohol from the Captain's Reception.... :cool:

 

IMG_9992 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

IMG_9993 by vshingl, on Flickr

[LittleMissMagic]

The sibs (goodness, I needed to run a hand through my hair!)

 

IMG_0007 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

IMG_0009 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

IMG_0012 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

At the Captain's Party, they told us about how the Monarch is getting replaced with the Enchantment and will no longer be sailing with Royal Caribbean after April. They also told us that the Monarch has the most repeat cruisers of all Royal Caribbean ships (of course, it is the oldest ship, so it does have an advantage...).

[LittleMissMagic]

It's pretty hard NOT to notice that you all wore bikinis on the slide. Dare I ask if this presented any type of ... ahem... wedgie problem? :o

 

A~

 

Haha, if you go down on your butt, it's hard not to. However, towards the end of the day, we were going down backwards on our stomachs and standing up at the end.

[just4kixx]

Haha, if you go down on your butt, it's hard not to. However, towards the end of the day, we were going down backwards on our stomachs and standing up at the end.

 

Ok, thanks... :p you girls sure did make it look like fun!

 

A~

[Smith0154]

The pictures of your suite just blew my mind. There is some type of irony here as my wife and I are booked in suite 1038 on the November 12th sailing of the Monarch. My wife couldn't believe that I remembered the cabin number with all the bookings we currently have.

 

Thanks for the review, it has been several years since I last sailed on the Monarch. We now have a little insight of our cabin for our November sailing.

 

Smitty

[LittleMissMagic]

The pictures of your suite just blew my mind. There is some type of irony here as my wife and I are booked in suite 1038 on the November 12th sailing of the Monarch. My wife couldn't believe that I remembered the cabin number with all the bookings we currently have.

 

Thanks for the review, it has been several years since I last sailed on the Monarch. We now have a little insight of our cabin for our November sailing.

 

Smitty

 

It's a good location for a GS because it's the closest to the stairs/elevators. We really enjoyed the room - one of the best parts of our trip!

 

Look for my name - I carved it into the desk!

 

(I'm KIDDING! :D)

[CruisinDawn]

Here's my lovely gold Sea Pass:

 

DSC_5847 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

I was initially very excited when they didn't hole punch my card, thinking that in all of the confusion, they had forgotten. However, it still says M2 (18-20 years old) and has the dancing kids in the background (next cruise there will be none!). This is the first cruise I've been on in a while when I haven't gotten my card punched for quick identification. Weird, too, it being a 4-night cruise with lots of teens.

 

In case you want clarification, several girls in our group got "the speech" (not us - yay for priority!). M1 = 21+, you may purchase and consume alcohol onboard, M2 = 18-20, you may gamble but not purchase or consume alcohol onboard, M3 = 0-17, you may not gamble or purchase and consume alcohol onboard.

I accidentally grabbed my daughters card on our last cruise, I OBVIOUSLY look over 21 but when he swiped my card he said sorry Can't give ya the drink! Thinking they days of hole punching is gone, computers give the full story.

 

BonVoyage

Dawna

[CruisinDawn]

Well, I'm not sure if I'm the right person to ask that question to because I was there for the party! :D :D :D

 

I thought that cruise was short enough (and in port two days) that I really didn't miss out on all of the activities that the large ships have to offer. I wouldn't have had time for them, honestly. They still did my two favorite activites - Love and Marriage (which I actually missed - oops!) and Quest.

 

Dining - our wait staff was nice and friendly and always called me by name (maybe because I left my card on the table for soda), but we didn't really have a lot of time to connect with them on longer cruises. That's just something you have to sacrifice with a shorter cruise. The food, however, wasn't different in portion or quality (at least not that I noticed). Yet, there wasn't a lobster night, which really bummed a lot of people out.

 

Yes, there were a lot of drunk people. However, I think there are a lot of drunk people on most any cruises. I did notice the second night a woman passed out drunk on the pool deck (I had seen her in the club earlier and noticed she was really, really drunk) and the crew had to move her. I creeped the scenario, but I was afraid to get too close. Nassau, I heard we left some people in port. What do you expect when people don't have to be back onboard until 11:30 PM? And then the last night, there was a drunken male lover fight in the bar of the Circuit Lounge (their nighttime 'club').

 

So, yes, it's kind of a party boat - but that may or may not bother you. Honestly, if you aren't a night owl (most night owls are the party animals anyway, right?), you probably won't witness that many way-too-drunk people. The drunkens are where you would expect them - in the clubs, in the bars, wandering the pool deck in the wee hours of the night. And then they sleep in until noon or later, so they don't really bother you in the morning. That's my take of it.

Perfect take on a Monarch cruise! :D

 

BonVoyage

Dawna

[LittleMissMagic]

I accidentally grabbed my daughters card on our last cruise, I OBVIOUSLY look over 21 but when he swiped my card he said sorry Can't give ya the drink! Thinking they days of hole punching is gone, computers give the full story.

 

BonVoyage

Dawna

 

Yes, before I had times where they'd take my card and scan it. I think the two vs. one hole punches were really just the most helpful when security is patrolling the ship, sending the minors to bed (since they wouldn't necessarily be near a computer).