Royal Caribbean International
Monarch of the Seas Cruise Review
Baja, Mexico

Sammy
Age: 51
Occupation: Engineer
Number of Cruises: 1
Sailing Date: October 16th, 2006

As a first-timer, maybe I misunderstood the point of this thing. But, frankly, unless your idea of a good time is attending a high school pep rally, remembering old TV theme songs, walking through a really bad mall, bidding on really bad art, or being approached daily by one of the 300 multi-level marketers on board for their conference  networking outreach, you'd want to pass on this cruise too.

To RC's credit, the staff was very friendly, the food was quite good, and the singers and dancers were energetic and entertaining. To those reviewers who criticized them, I say what did you expect - Broadway? Its called "paying your dues" and these kids are doing it by working for peanuts on your boat. That part of the cruise, as well as the comedians that worked the room two of the four nights were the best part of the experience.

Also good were the breakfasts and dinners in Vincent's' dining room. The food was interesting and well prepared. By all means, you should not skip this for the buffet alternative which is only a slight improvement on your local Home Town Buffet.

But I expected a livelier night lounge scene and a louder happier casino - the former was dominated by guys watching TV and the bingo/trivia contests noted earlier. The latter was a depressing ring of slot machines and a severely underused craps table. Poker, the most popular game now was relegated to a single converted blackjack table while 4 or more other blackjack tables went unused.

Of course there is nothing to look at on this cruise - a river or Alaska cruise would be more interesting.

As for this, the next time my wife and I want to go to the San Diego Zoo or Catalina Island (both great times, btw) we'll just go there. With the money we don't spend cruising, we'll dine at restaurants as good as Vincent's and without the staff behaving like cheerleaders and wanting us to scream approval back to them.

 

Ask a Question About Royal Caribbean Cruises

Ever thought about becoming a home based travel agent? Check out my web site for home based travel and cruise agents located at;

Home Based Travel Agent