Monarch at Catalina Island

[Foffie232]

Hubby and I were on Monarch last week for the 4-night version of their short cruises. I was wondering if anyone else has had this experience when tendered on Monarch at Catalina:

 

When we woke up, our room was facing the port of Avalon, with a perfect view of the casino. That was at about 8AM. Around 1PM, when we got back to the ship (on the same side, we thought, that the tender originated from), we went up to our room and our view was the ocean! No Avalon to be seen! I thought it was humorous that the ship was during around the anchor... but it did strike me as very odd that the ship didn't stay put like it usually does when we tender in the Caribbean.

 

Anyone have any insight? I'm marine stupid ;)

 

Thanks!

[rubrrick]

I guess the simple answer is that the Monarch swings with both the tide and the wind.

 

Unlike newer ships that can stay in one position without anchoring, by using the azipods and bow thrusters...........the ship can hold any position put into the GPS.......automatically.

 

The Monarch has none of the equipment.......save for the GPS.

 

Rick

[Leejnd4]

Currents do shift out there. We've sailed our own sailboat out to Catalina Is. on many occasions, and woken up to find ourselves facing the opposite direction from when we anchored in the evening.

[ehfl]

The tide comes in, the tide goes out....when the current changes direction, so does the ship. Winds also shift, which will move the ship around.

 

I'm curious what you thought would keep the ship in place as the currents and wind changed? Were you thinking they ran the propellers and thrusters all the time?

[Leejnd4]

The tide comes in, the tide goes out....when the current changes direction, so does the ship. Winds also shift, which will move the ship around.

 

I'm curious what you thought would keep the ship in place as the currents and wind changed? Were you thinking they ran the propellers and thrusters all the time?

 

Welll....you CAN drop two anchors, one from the bow and one from the stern, which will keep you facing the same direction. There are some anchorages in the Channel Islands where we do that. But we usually don't, and just swing around the anchor from the bow. I have no idea about cruise ships...

[Foffie232]

I'm curious what you thought would keep the ship in place as the currents and wind changed? Were you thinking they ran the propellers and thrusters all the time?

 

We've been on this particular cruise on Monarch before and the ship didn't move while we were at Catalina.

 

I've tendered at MANY different ports and have never had the ship move while we were anchored. It just struck me as different than I'm used to so I thought I would throw it out there. No need to get snotty.

[PHXscuba]

I'm sure conditions change daily there, but we had the same experience as the OP a few years ago. It made for some neat pictures from shore because we could see different sides of the ship as time passed.

It did happen to be a blustery day that day. The parasail place wouldn't go out that morning. Of course, by the time we were back on the ship mid-afternoon, the sun was out and they were parasailing again!

PHXscuba

"You can't have everything -- besides, where would you put it all?":D

[mohavemommy]

This happened every time we were in Catalina on the Monarch.

[cruiserbryce]

I dont believe that MOS is as stabilized as some of the newer vessels...yes we did have the same experience

[tinkerme1]

The Monarch does indeed move during its stay in Catalina. Rick is so right, the equipment on the Monarch does not allow it to stay in one position. The reason for the movement is called "high tides and low tides". We tendered facing one direction and returned to the opposite side of the ship when coming back from Catalina.

[love2relax]

We have never tendered back to the opposite side, but we always start the AM looking at Avalon (from a port balcony); and later in the day, we swing so that we can just barely see the casino building.