Any Monarch of the Seas 4-day cruise Reviews?

[SightCRR]

Has anyone taken the RCCL Monarch lately and written a review? If so please provide a link. Any general comments? We go this comming August.

Thanks

Sightcrr.

[AUNTDEBBA]

Was on the Monarch in March.

 

First let me say I have never had a bad cruise. I have cruised Celebrity, Princess, Royal Carribbean and Carnival. My order of preference of cruise lines is above. When it comes to the 3 and 4 day cruises I think Carnival has an edge. The rooms on the Monarch are very small and they don't have a safe in the rooms thus requiring you to carry you wallet with you. It was extremely smokey in the public lounges and although the steak on formal night was great there was no lobster. Only cruise I have ever been on that didn't serve lobster on formal night. Food was good but waiters/assit waiters had to many tables. They gave the best service possible. They do serve sushi although you pay for it but it is quite good.

 

Don't get me wrong you will have a nice time but I will stick with Carnival on the short weekend cruises until RCI rotates out the Monarch and then I will be back. On the otherhand if a great deal comes up I wouldn't turn down a Monarch cruise! Like I said not my favorite ship but I still had a great time!

 

Haven't been to Catalina but was pleasantly surprised by Ensenada. Have been twice. Went to the Bufadora. Not through the ship cheaper off ship and the shuttle to town takes you to the bus. Last time we just to the shuttle to town to a bar/restaurant that had tables on the street and sat around drank beer and people watched. Also part of our group rented Quads to drive around. All around enjoyable. Next time I think I will try the Wine tour as I have read on the boards that it is a nice tour

 

Have a great vacation!

[Happy ks]

I have to politely disagree with the above post. While the cabins on Monarch are indeed smaller, it is much nicer than the Carnival cruise we took. Monarch has a definite edge over Carnival on the 4 day itinerary, with a stop in San Diego, Carnival has a sea day. The Pacific is not always a pleasant ocean to be sailing on, even in August. Our sea day on Carnival was cold and gloomy, this was in August. I know it's not Carnivals fault. I ended up staying in the cabin much of the day because I couldn't stand the heavy smoke smell all over the ship, we really haven't noticed smoke smell on Monarch, except for the piano bar (a shame). Monarch has more attractive pricing, we have been able to get 2 cabins (2 ppl each) on Monarch for less than one cabin (4 ppl) on Carnival. We very much prefer having 2 cabins, 2 bathrooms for the 4 of us.

 

We have sailed on Monarch 4 day twice so far and have a 3 day cruise booked later this year. We only sailed on Ecstacy (also 4 day), not the current Paradise, but my family refuses to even consider Carnival again after our experience with them.

 

The activities and food are about the same on both ships. Service, well, it can be subjective, but we felt more taken care of on Monarch. Our waiter on Carnival would have been fired from our local Dennys for his attitude. Overall appearance (if that is important to you) hands down, Monarch. Monarch is more subdued in their decor, Carnival is too flashy and glitzy for us. Perhaps because orange is one of my least favorite decoration colors and the cabins are predominantly pumpkin orange and I remember thinking the walls were speckled formica. There also seemed to be a bit of a difference in clientele between the two ships, which is a sensitive subject, but I felt more comfortable amongst the guests on Monarch than Ecstacy. We are more into understated elegance than Las Vegas flash. About the only plus on Carnivals side, for us, was their photographers and the fact their food was better than we had expected.

 

We had a minor problem with one of the bunks on Ecstacy, it was coming loose from the wall. They fixed it promptly in the morning which was nice, but then they left sawdust all over the cabin and did not clean it up until while we were at the second seating for dinner. They also would turn down our beds for the night early in the afternoon, which made it difficult to get 4 people ready for dinner. On Monarch, no problem, all the beds were on the floor.

 

Both cruiselines could benefit from stopping all the announcements over the PA system. We took our first Celebrity cruise last summer and we noticed how nice it was to not have someone hawking art auctions and bingo games all day.

 

I will repeat that the best part of the 4 day Monarch cruise is the San Diego port stop. We live within an hour or so drive of San Diego and we drive down there at least a couple times a year and never tire of it. It's a great city and lots to do. Catalina is wonderful, a jewel so close to us. Ensenada, well, we haven't yet gotten off the ship in that port. The countryside is pretty and the ocean, of course, beautiful. I haven't been into the town for some years and don;t really have any desire to do so. We have always enjoyed staying aboard the ship in Ensenada.

 

Whatever your choice, I hope you have a great cruise!

[Happy ks]

I just have to add something. If it's lobster you want, a cruise ship is not the place to eat it, they always overcook lobster, the same way they overcook burgers on the pool decks. This is all ships, none of them get it right.

[AUNTDEBBA]

True about the lobster you would think that since it is a staple on most ships they would fix it properly but I find even Celebrity has trouble with it of course feeding a couple thousand people make timing difficult:p As far as which cruise line is better well that really depends on the cruise itself. I hated my first Carnival cruise and swore I would never cruise them again but then my family (20+ per cruise) decided to use the 3 day cruises as a way to get together. The first was on the Ecstasy and eveyone had a great time the last one this year was on the Monarch and although everyone had a great time eveyone agreed that the Monarch was laking and the next family cruise we will be back on Carnival. But we also had a great time as there is never a bad cruise. And just for perspective we are a family of cruises with combined cruises among the group of over 60 on all the major mass market lines.

 

No matter what you will have a great cruise enjoy:D

[AUNTDEBBA]

Just a little added info

 

Monarch of the Seas built 1991

 

Cabins

Superior Ocean View 157 sq ft

Ocean View 122 sq ft

Interior 119 sq ft

No safes in room

 

Paradise built 1998

Cabins

Ocean View 220 sq ft

Interior 185 sq ft

safes in room

 

as prices are the same you have a new ship with bigger rooms and more amenties with Carnival not saying the previous poster is wrong about there bad expierence but then I can say I wasn't please with my Monarch cruise and it really came down to for me Cabin size. The rest of the ship was nice food was good but I felt really cramped in the small cabins and I hated not having a safe in the room and having to carry my purse everywhere. But that is me. I love Celebrity cruise and my brother wouldn't be caught dead on one as he hates dressing for dinner so it all depends what floats your boat:D

 

happy cruisin to all of us

[lesharona]

My sister and I want to book this 4 day cruise and take my grandson 11

and her granddaughter 10. At first I considered a quad cabin, but after

reading how small they are think perhaps 2 outside cabins would be nice.

My question is can we get two that are adjoining?

 

thanks,

Sharon

[AUNTDEBBA]

It looks like they have a lot of connecting rooms on deck 8 and some on deck 6 I would check to see if the family suite is available and then compare the cost and room of this room or two rooms

 

enjoy your cruise

[lesharona]

Good idea, we will check that out.

[DareTooDream]

We enjoyed the Monarch last summer. We've never sailed on Carnival and we're not too particular - pretty much go with the flow. There were just 2 of us and had an outside cabin - I believe it was the superior ocean view. I didn't pay attention/think about how cramped it would be with 4.

 

In San Diego we took a bus to Sea Port Village. I believe it was free (tips accepted). It picked us up right where we got off the ship. We walked around a bit - I was recovering from a broken foot and in one of those up to the knee "boot" thingies. Fortunately I was out of the cast!!

 

In Ensanada we went to town for a very short time and shopped a little. We took a van/bus thingy for a couple of bucks I think. A lot of the recommended stores were the same - just different locations. I had thought about the wine tour - didn't get up in time to see if there were any spaces left. Some of the friends we made took it and really enjoyed it. I regreted not going. I was not impressed in town at all. We did hear that Bufadora was nice - but I was skeptical with my foot. A quiet day on the ship isn't so bad either.

 

Catalina was nice. You can rent a golf cart and take a scenic drive around. I'm really not sure but I think it was about $40 for an hour??? I don't know since DH rented it and then picked me up. They are popular and had to wait a short time for one. Then we shopped a little and had a wonderful lunch. I can't remember the name of the restaurant but it was across from the beach, on the second floor and had big open windows with a view over the beach looking out at the ship beyond.

 

Make sure and play Quest! They had it on the Monarch as well as one of the other RCL cruises we took. It's an evening (kind of later I think) adult activity. That doesn't sound too good.....it's clean! For the most part!:p

 

Enjoy

Sherry