Monarh of the Seas REVIEW/DIARY

[Sher811]

:) We just got home from our first cruise...I have written a diary/review of sorts...feel free to sit back and enjoy the read below...

any questions: email me at sher811@socal.rr.com

FYI: I am 34, DH turned 40 on the cruise and we brought our toddler who is 16 months old named Dylan :)

 

Monarch of the Seas

 

Royal Caribbean Cruise

 

Mexico Baja: Los Angeles – Ensenada

 

June 3-6, 2005

 

 

Day 1: Friday, June 3, 2005

 

 

We were all packed up and ready to go by 1:00pm. Lucky for us, San Pedro Port is only a 20 minute drive from our house! The directions were easy to follow and we pulled up to the cruise ship terminal and a porter was there to help us right away unloading our checked bags and took them for us. We put Dylan in the stroller and only had to carry the diaper bag, a backpack with electronic/breakable valuables and Greg’s kites. We were in line to check in for only about 10 minutes, and another 10 minutes at the window while the attendant made copies of our identification and provided us with our “Sea Pass” cards. These are your cruising id…you must swipe to get on and off the boat and you can set up an account and swipe it all the time like a credit card and get billed at the end of the cruise so you don’t have to carry cash all the time. After the check in window we walked about 200 feet to another line…to go through the metal detector machines. Then we walked across the plank and on to the SHIP!!

 

 

 

We found ourselves in the Centrum on Deck 5 which is all shiny with brass railings and lots of glass windows. A band was playing and there were already people dancing below. We went straight to the “Guest Relations” desk and I lined up. We wanted to make arrangements for babysitting for dinner 6-8 each night for Dylan. Also we signed up for the “automatic gratuity program” so we wouldn’t have to leave tips everywhere all the time. This way it is automatically billed to your account and you pay it in one lump sum. It was basically 15$ a day (2 days) per adult. This gave a tip to: your stateroom attendant, your head waiter, and your assistant waiter. Greg was walking around with Dylan while I stood in that line…and he lined up to purchase the soda package. For 22.19 he got a souvenir coke cup and could have unlimited soda all day every day.

 

 

 

We went directly to our stateroom to drop off our carry on luggage and see what it looks like! We met our stateroom attendant, Michael, from Trinidad, right on our way to our room. Our room number was 3001, located on deck 3 at the very very front of the ship…the end of the hallway. I picked that location on purpose…yes, we had to walk alllll the way to the end of the boat to get to our room, but I figured there would hardly be any traffic past our room door and it would be nice and quiet…and I was right! Someone else at our table had a room on deck 8 and was complaining about having trouble sleeping since they could still hear the poolside live band playing on deck 11 late into the night!

 

 

 

The room was just like I expected, small, but cosy. Everything was very clean and well organized. Michael introduced himself to us and showed us around the room, a few features…where the light switches are, how to reach him on the phone, how to put the tab in the door for “do not disturb” or “please make up my room”…then he hurried off to get Dylan’s playpen. The bathroom was tiny and just has a shower (no tub…but I knew that ahead of time). A blow dryer, soap, shampoo and towels are all provided. We brought our own airfreshener/night light to plug in (no fans in the bathroom). The clothes closet has ample hanging space for both short and long items and several shelves on the side as well. There is a vanity with lots of mirrors, cabinet doors and drawers below with a chair. I put Dylan’s toys in the left bottom drawer and his snacks in the right bottom drawer!

 

 

 

We didn’t stay long in the room…we wanted to explore! The first place we went was the Windjammer Café…they were serving a buffet lunch. Lots of selection of coldcuts, buns, salads, and hot food too…chicken, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, hot veggies…and of course a whole section of DESSERTS and fruit, cookies, cakes, pastries etc. Water, juice, coffee and ice tea is all complimentary.

 

 

 

At 4:30 all the travelers had to report for a Muster Drill. We had to don our lifejackets (found on our beds) and Michael even got a baby size one for Dylan. He was NOT impressed with that and refused to wear it. He was SCREAMING and it was next to impossible to hold him wearing it without choking him so we took it off and just carried it. It was hard to hold him with lifejackets on ourselves too…but we managed somehow…taking turns. He did enjoy blowing the whistle attached on a string and he was sucking on the emergency light…it looked like a pacifier to him! The whole drill took about 30 minutes.

 

 

 

After the muster drill we took Dylan back to the room…he really needed a nap. We still hadn’t left the port. We were happy to see the playpen already set up including sheets. I nursed Dylan, he fell asleep easily in the pitch dark room, and I left Greg resting with Dylan and I took the camera and went up to the Pool Deck!!

 

 

 

The boys slept right through our port departure including a very LOUD ship horn! The poolside band was playing loud celebratory type music and people were singing and dancing along. It was quite the pool party! I took lots of pictures of the boat, the port, and all the people!! It was 5:30 when the ship left port…so I needed to head back to the room to get ready for dinner. We signed up for the early seating (6pm) rather than 8…figuring there would be activities to do after dinner and would rather eat sooner and make room for more snacks later before bed! J I got back to the room to find the boys both still snoring. I woke up Greg and we got dressed up for dinner. The babysitter arrived promptly at 6pm. Dylan was still sleeping. We told her to come find us in the dining room if he woke up/fussy.

 

 

 

We were seated in Vincent’s Dining Room at table number 844. We were the first to arrive at our table that had seats for 8. Our head waiter’s name is Eddie and he is from Mexico. His assistant’s name is Gorge. The dining room manager is Romeo. Everyone was so friendly and nice. They went out of their way to make you happy and the service was above and beyond “normal” expectations. The menu selection was plentiful each night. You could ask for anything you want or as many of anything you want. There were several choices in Appetizers, always a salad choice, breads/buns brought to you, water filled up without needing to ask for refills, about 6 choices of main entrée and several dessert choices as well. There were specialty drinks/coffee/liquors that were not included for free. I had: salad, focaccia bread, chicken marsala with mashed potatoes and asparagus and tiramisu for dessert. Greg had the same bread, scallop appetizer, shrimp, creamed spinach with rice pilaf and he cant remember what he had for dessert…I think it was strawberry cheesecake.

 

We were about half way through the meal when the babysitter brought Dylan to us. He woke up and was upset in strange surroundings and understandably wanted his mom and dad. We still paid her for the hour (8$ / hour for in cabin babysitting) and included a couple bucks tip for her trouble. Dylan was fine once he was with us. He enjoyed eating a cookie off the bowl of icecream!

 

 

 

After dinner we went back to the room to get out of our dress up clothes and into something more comfy. Then we wandered around and conducted our own informal “tour” of the ship…tried to get ourselves situated…and figured out where to go to find stuff that is going on. We found the dueling pianos in the Boleros lounge…this turned out to be Dylan’s favorite show. He loved the music. People in the audience would write requests down and leave tips on the piano. The two guys playing were great, funny and very talented…both singing and playing. One guy even had props and stuff. They did some audience participation stuff too. A boy about 9 years old got up and put on an Elvis wig and danced along to “blue suede shoes”. Someone was having their 90th birthday and she got called up and sat on the bench next to the piano man and he sang “let me call you sweetheart” to her! After the music we went back to the room, ordered room service for Dylan (cheese plate), watched some cruise info on the tv, unpacked and got organized and got ready for bed. Dylan was asleep by 11pm and Greg went to check out the casino for a couple of hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2: Saturday, June 4, 2005

Greg’s 40th Birthday!

 

 

 

 

 

Dylan slept from 11pm-10am waking only twice to nurse…not bad considering the new environment. At 7:45 we were awoken by the noise of arriving in the port of Ensenada. Our room, being located at the front of the ship, we could clearly hear the sound of the anchor being lowered. But we went back to sleep until 10am. Then we got up and went for breakfast buffet at the Windjammer café. Dylan enjoyed a box of froot loops! We had a large selection of both hot and cold traditional breakfast items. There was bagels, muffins, croissants, fruit, yogurt, cereals, waffles, sausages, scrambled eggs etc.

 

 

 

After breakfast we went back to the room to shower, dress and figure out what we were going to do for the day! We decided to disembark and go on our own little walking tour of Ensenada. We took Dylan in the stroller and Greg was carrying his kites. He had to get permission from the security officers to go beside the boat to try and fly the kite. It was very windy, but because of the position of both our ship and carnival’s ship, the wind was coming in two directions and swirling around. It was not ideal for flying at all…I had so wanted to get a picture of him flying the kite with the big cruise ship behind him…but as soon as the kite would rise in the air it would fall out of the sky again! So we gave up on that idea and walked into the town…it was a short 10 minute walk to a bunch of booths set up selling stuff like tshirts…turns out there was a huge off road car race of some kind going on that day…so everywhere we saw Baja 500 tshirts for sale. We did see several young children trying to sell us stuff like necklaces and gum. We didn’t have any small change so we didn’t buy anything. Greg’s highschool Spanish came in very handy. We then walked to the marina where all the fishing boats were and took pictures and looked around. We did buy a few souvenirs for the kids. The boy and his grandma were very sweet…he was about 12 and knew English very well…his grandma only spoke in Spanish. All along the marina fishermen would ask us if we wanted to go out on a boat fishing. We saw lots of pigeons, a couple seals, a few wild roaming dogs, and lots of seagulls. We walked past a playground/park area and there were lots of children playing and riding bikes around. There was a huge Mexico flag in the courtyard of the park. We saw a bunch of naval officers and got a picture of Greg and Dylan with one. There were horse drawn buggy rides…reminded me of Victoria…but these were pinto horses…not Clydesdales! The city of Ensenada has a population of about 350,000 people. The drivers were crazy (including a motorcycle police officer) and there were lots of strange sights and smells all around us. We walked around for maybe 2 hours and then headed back onto the ship. We didn’t eat or drink anything off the ship!

 

Back on board…we headed to the pool deck. There was an airbrush tattoo artist painting on “fake” tattoos…Greg lined up! It cost about 12$ for a large tattoo of a cross on his calf. Dylan had fun watching and looking at all the kids in line…he also liked climbing around in the towel bins! Then we just walked around some more…watched kids playing basketball…checked out the rock wall (but nobody was climbing) and then headed back to our room. We got Dylan to take a nap and got dressed up for dinner. Dylan woke up about 10 minutes before the babysitter arrived. I put him in his stroller and she walked him around the entire time we had dinner…and he did great! She said he would kick his legs up and down in delight anytime they went near the band playing in the Centrum.

 

 

Tonight was formal night. It took me a whole hour to do my hair and make up and get dressed…that is a lot of work…no wonder I don’t look “that good” every day! Hahaha Thanks to a friend I borrowed fancy clothes from…I looked great if I do say so myself. Greg wore a new suit coat and silky dress shirt that he bought a couple months ago for a wedding we attended. The meal was excellent. Greg had lobster bisque soup, shrimp cocktail, duck a la orange with asparagus. The staff knew it was Greg’s birthday…they brought him strawberry cheesecake with a candle and we all sang to him! There were at least 6 other birthdays being sung/celebrated also around the dining room that evening! I had new york steak, French onion soup, and chocolate layer cake.

 

 

 

After we picked up Dylan and changed out of our fancy duds…we headed to the “Sound of Music” hall for tonight’s performance. The Monarch’s own singers and dancers put on quite the professional live show of singing and dancing. It was songs from the 70’s-80’s from stuff like Fame, Flashdance, Dirty Dancing and Saturday Night Fever. They were all great singers and dancers! Dylan LOVED the lively songs (he danced along like crazy!)…but got bored on a couple slower ballads. After the show we took him up to Sorrento’s pizzeria for his dinner…he ate a whole piece of cheese pizza and a cookie by himself. Greg got some a spicy tuna roll from Jade Sushi Bar. Then we went back to the room and had the bright idea to go for a night swim…unfortunately the hot tubs were both FULL to the max and we could only handle about 5 minutes in the big pool because the wind made it rather chilly! So we hurried back to the room in our towels and I put on my pj’s and Greg took Dylan into the shower to warm him up. I put Dylan to bed for the night around 11 and Greg went to the casino for a couple of hours.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 3: Sunday, June 5th, 2005

 

 

 

Dylan woke up several times during the night…it seemed like every hour but I didn’t look at the clock to find out. The boat was really bumpy and rocky starting around 1am…so I think it was bothering Dylan as much as it was upsetting us. We got up at around 10am and headed to the breakfast buffet…but didn’t have very big appetites. We were all feeling a little green around the gills. After breakfast we went back to the room, showered, dressed, and tried to relax…watched a movie on tv and let Dylan play on the floor in the room with his new ball that he liked so much. We weren’t feeling any better…Greg took some anti-nausea medicine (I couldn’t since I am nursing) and I said…we have to get some fresh air…so we headed up to the pool deck. Everyone on the ship was feeling the same way we were…lots of people napping poolside under towels all curled up. Greg said the medicine took about 30 minutes to make him feel better. I had a pretty bad headache…and took a Tylenol…it helped a bit. We just lay low all day and took it easy.

 

 

 

We didn’t really feel like lunch…but there was a barbeque poolside. I just had a hotdog. Greg got some stuff at the casual buffet. Dylan had some fruit and jello…then a big ben and jerry’s icecream on a stick! There was a very hilarious belly flop contest we enjoyed watching (and filming) and they were showing a movie somewhere…but we wanted to stay outdoors in the air. The weather was cool and cloudy all day again. We also saw the ice carving demonstration…it’s amazing the creation that was carved in just 13 minutes…the ship has 3 carvers on board to do all the food decorations.

 

 

 

We went back to the room for nap time, got dressed for dinner, the babysitter came…Dylan woke up about 30 minutes before she arrived…and he was happy and showed that he recognized her/remembered the night previous. He went to his stroller and started pushing it…so we put him in and off they went again!! Dinner again was really good. I had the steak with béarnaise sauce and Greg had the clam fettuccini. We ordered three desserts between us to share since we couldn’t decide…baked Alaska, chocolate brownie and apple pie with icecream. The servers put on another song/performance and they were all very funny. We took a bunch of pictures! The people at our table were all on their first cruise and all from California as well. An Asian family (mom, dad and 4 year old girl) Hi, Elise, and Madeline were from Riverside and Per and Tammy were from Hanford (near Bakersfield).

 

 

 

We found Dylan and the sitter still walking around…then back to our room again to change. Then we went to see the “Farewell show”…Dylan did fine with the singing again…but the comedy/magic guy…to boring for his taste. Greg really enjoys that sort of thing…so I opted to take Dylan out of the theater and we headed to Boleros to see if the dueling pianos were playing yet. They were just setting up and doing sound checks…they remembered Dylan by name and let him come over and “play” the piano too. We stayed for about 20 minutes of that show and Dylan was dancing and crawling all over the place. Then we went back and found Greg. Together we headed upstairs to get Dylan his pizza dinner again…and then we went back to the room. It was still rough and bumpy and not quite late enough to call it a night…being our last night we wanted to stay up still!!! I did pack all our checked bags and get them out the door…then we went to the casino with Dylan in the baby bjorn…that lasted for about 20 minutes…then security told us no kids allowed. So Greg finished up on that machine and met us outside in the Schooner Lounge. We walked around still needing fresh air…and thought about the hot tub again…but found it was already drained and covered!! Everywhere you go…even at midnight there is music playing and people partying and staff cleaning! We got back to the room around 1 and went to sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4: June 6, 2005

 

 

 

We didn’t get much sleep at all. Dylan woke up a couple times between 1-5…then he woke up at 5 miserable and screaming and wouldn’t go back to sleep. Greg ended up getting dressed and taking him outside for an hour walk around. At 6 I got him to go back to sleep and we tried to sleep more ourselves. By 6:45 the announcements started on the overhead public address system. We had already docked and people were disembarking. Everyone gets called by the color of their baggage tags. Lucky for us we had red which was second to LAST. We stayed in bed until 7:30 and then got up, dressed, packed up…and put still sleeping Dylan into his stroller wrapped up in his blanket like a cocoon. We had to be out of our room by 8am. There were lots of little odds and ends, paperwork etc. to do for disembarking etc. We headed to the Vincent’s dining room for breakfast. Greg had the traditional eggs, hashbrowns, toast…and I had blueberry pancakes. Dylan slept thru the entire thing. We then went out on the pool deck to sit around and wait our turn to be called. Dylan woke up out there…and wanted in the pool…so we went back inside and sat in a lounge until we could go. The lines getting off were slow…if everyone has a passport you get to go in an express line (Greg and Dylan don’t have passports but I do) so we were in the slow line. No problems going thru customs…you have to fill out a declaration card just like when flying in and out of Canada. We only brought home about 50$ worth of stuff. Then we found our luggage and managed to get it all to the car without help from a porter. We drove out of the lot and only had to pay 11$ a day so 33$ for parking. Greg said it felt weird to be driving a car again! Dylan fell asleep on the ride home…and we all took a nap when we got to our place. Its Tuesday as I type this and we are both still feeling the motion of the waves…the cruise was a fun adventure for us all and we would definitely like to go on another cruise in the future…but next time we wont be taking any children! ;) it was a lot of work having Dylan with us…but Greg only has a 40th birthday once in his life and it was worth it all go have such a great celebration in honor of his birthday. Lots of great memories and next time we’ll be seasoned and experienced cruisers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dylan’s Favorite Things:

 

 

 

Centrum Band Music

 

Watermelon, strawberries, cookie (what a mess)

 

Listening intently to stateroom attendants welcome/instructions

 

Crawling in the hallways

 

My tiramisu dessert

 

Cookie

 

Cheese Pizza

 

Dueling piano players show

 

2 little boys in the front row

 

Room service/cheese tray

 

Chocolate on the pillows

 

Towel animals

 

Chocolate covered blueberries

 

Froot loops

 

Donut

 

Watching kids playing basketball

 

Pillow fight with daddy on the bed

 

Little 2 year old fancy dressed Mexican girl / wedding party

 

Music everywhere

 

Toy venders: ball and toy snake

 

Other little children everywhere riding bikes, playing on playground

 

Crawling everywhere…going up and down stairs

 

Elevators lights and buttons

 

All the people to say hi to and wave and smile at (flirting with the girls)

 

Reggae band

 

Orange jello with fruit (what a mess)

 

Watching daddy get a tattoo

 

Babysitter: walking him around in stroller for 2 hours while we ate

 

Sound of Music hall Show: he danced like crazy

 

Pizza again

 

Pool (but mom and dad froze!) (it was 11pm)

 

Peekaboo with little girl at breakfast

 

Music/band

 

Dried fruit/apple rings

 

Croissant

 

Ben and Jerry’s icecream on a stick

 

Shops: towel dog and Christmas ornament

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sher’s Favorite Things:

 

 

 

The desserts (chocolate layer cake, brownie, baked Alaska, cheesecake, tiramisu, apple pie, cookies, icecream…) J

 

Having my bed made for me

 

Not cooking or doing dishes

 

Walking around on the windy pooldeck

 

People watching

 

Having dinner leisurely without Dylan

 

Looking in the shops

 

How everyone looks at Dylan and talks to him and tells us how cute he is

 

Seeing children playing at the park in ensenada

 

Meeting and talking to different people

 

How friendly and attentive all the ship staff were

 

The cruise director was funny

 

The dueling piano players were fun to listen to

 

Making an adventure into a great birthday memory for Greg

 

 

 

 

 

Greg’s Favorite Things:

 

 

 

 

 

Dueling pianos

 

Getting the airbrush tattoo

 

The musical shows

 

The comedy show

 

The magician…he was hilarious

 

Duck a la orange

 

Apple pie with ice cream

 

Belly flop contest

 

The most amazing thing was the quality of service

 

He will never forget Romeo de-shelling and cutting up his shrimp when Dylan was in his lap so he could eat his dinner. (Romeo was the HEAD waiter for the entire dining room)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advice and Tips for First Time Cruisers:

 

 

 

 

Pack anti-nausea medicine (and take it the first sign of wooziness)

 

(I saw several people with small dime size patches behind their ears)

 

 

 

Take a nightlight if you have an inside cabin

 

 

 

Take an air freshener for the bathroom (no fans)

 

 

 

Don’t over pack (I wore maybe 1/3rd of what I took)

 

 

 

Pack for any kind of weather (it was cool/cloudy most of our trip…I never wore shorts at all…lived in capri’s and a yoga pant/hoodie set)

 

 

 

Go on a short cruise the first time to make sure you like it (that is what we did and we will definitely go again in the future on a longer one)

 

 

 

Get passports (it will speed up your check in and out process immensely)

 

 

 

You can express depart if you can carry your own luggage without assistance (and if you have passports)

 

 

 

Don’t be afraid to ask: whatever you need or need to know…the staff will help you out…they are great!

 

 

 

You can reserve a playpen for your room if traveling with toddlers/babies

 

 

 

Take more than one swimsuit…one is drying while the other one is being worn!

 

 

 

Pack comfy shoes…you will do lots of walking around

 

 

 

Use the stairs not the elevator and you won’t gain any weight J

 

 

 

If you drink soda: buy a soda package (22$ unlimited for the cruise)

 

 

 

If you drink wine they have a package for that too

 

 

 

Set a limit for spending on mixed drinks…they are pricey (6-8$ each plus tip added on automatically)

 

 

 

Sign up for automatic gratuity program so you don’t have to deal with paper / cash all day long.

 

 

 

If you want to do shore excursions sign up 2 weeks before cruise

 

(we just walked around on our own…no problem)

 

Book your cruise in such a way to earn air miles if you collect them (ours granted us 1500 points each!)

 

 

 

Room service is “free” included in your ticket price…and is open 24 hours a day.

 

 

 

Casual dining is available for all three meals. We ate breakfast and lunch casual each day and dinner in the formal dining room.

 

 

 

These cost extra: jade sushi, alcoholic drinks, gambling, spa services, gym classes/personal trainer, ben and jerry’s icecream, seattle best coffee, and shopping/gifts.

 

 

 

Read the Cruise Compass (daily planner) and take a highlighter pen to mark what you want to do…so you don’t miss anything!

 

 

 

Don’t try and do too much…there is always next time! (we came home exhausted...)

[kaaaathee]

Are you only supposed to tip for the adults? I have 2 children with me in our cabin. Did they say the tips were per adult? Just curious.

[Sher811]

Our folio says:

 

Gratuities 29.25

 

Gratuities 29.25

 

(only listed twice...and we were on a 3 day cruise...so i think that means they only did for the adults 9.75 per day per adult)

 

:)

[Sher811]

Our folio says:

 

Gratuities 29.25

 

Gratuities 29.25

 

(only listed twice...and we were on a 3 day cruise...so i think that means they only did for the adults 9.75 per day per adult)

 

:)

[lephysteria]

This was a great review! Dylan sounds like an angel. I'm glad that he enjoyed himself too. My mom and I (or Naren and I) do this cruise a couple times a year, and you really recounted what each of our trips is like. Thanks for posting!

 

FYI - The caribbean isn't as rough, in my opinion :D

[harrodsfan]

I loved your review!

So glad to hear about people traveling & having fun with their kids.:)

Sounds like you planned ahead for things ...glad you got a sitter so you could have a little "date" time. But itsn't it fun to see how your child reacted to new expereinces.

You did really well considering that the front of the boat is the bumpiest.

Suggest a middle of the boat cabin and ear plugs for the noise. It is more stable in my experience.