Michelle Stavrou

Age: 23
Occupation: TV Analyst
Number of Cruises: 3
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean
Ship: Monarch of the Seas
Sailing Date: February 28th, 2005
Itinerary: Baja, Mexico

My sailing on Monarch of the Seas was my 3rd cruise in 3 years, and showed me that I’ve probably had my fill of cruises for awhile. I suppose it’s not fair that I compare this cruise to my very first one on Celebrity, but I can’t help it. There were so many little things that should have been better on this cruise and could have made all the difference.

Our first day on the ship got off to a rocky start. We boarded the ship around noon, having given our bags to the shore men outside the ship. When it got to be past 5:00 and our bags still hadn’t made it to the room, we began to get worried. A search of the ship uncovered my bag waiting out by the elevators (no one bothered bringing it to our room) and my boyfriend’s bag missing its tag, left with some other unclaimed bags in the main lobby. I have no idea how they managed to lose the tag in between getting it from the dock to the ship, but they did. Also, no announcement was made regarding those who hadn’t received their bags yet, so my boyfriend was running around the ship, trying to see where his errant bag could have been left.

Our experience the next day was much better. Our first stop was in San Diego. We took the excursion to the San Diego Zoo which was great. We spent about 5 hours at the zoo and still didn’t get to see everything. When we returned to the ship we took a walk into downtown San Diego and stayed there up until the ship was about to leave. The ship left around 5, which was my only problem with this port. I would’ve liked more time in San Diego, especially since our next stop was Catalina Island, which was rather boring.

Catalina Island offered mainly shopping, as well as some boat trips. We chose to just walk around town and played mini golf. By 2:00 we were bored, and returned to the ship. A rather uneventful day.

Next stop was Ensenada. We took the winery tour there which was very nice. We got to visit two wineries and try a lot of different wine. The weather was great, and so was the scenery. The actual town of Ensenada wasn’t much to look at…more stores and bars.

Okay, now what everyone’s wondering about. The food. I was rather unimpressed with the food. Breakfast was fine (how can you screw up breakfast?), but lunch was very repetitive. The same sort of food was offered each day. Other people may think differently…I’m a vegetarian (though I do eat fish) so my options were probably more limited than most. But lunch ended around 2:30, and there was little available between the end of lunch and dinner. Pizza was offered, but it was disgusting. They also had sandwiches, none of which I could eat. Other ships I’ve been on have had fro-yo, but this ship only offered Ben & Jerry’s which you had to pay extra for. Dinner was fair. Our main problem with dinner was how much they rushed us. As soon as we finished, they took our places away and put the next course down. I don’t know why it was so fast; we had the late dinner, so it’s not like they had to get ready for the next set of people. Other than that, the service in the dining room was good, though I’m used to the waiters being more friendly and talkative.

There was one midnight buffet, the chocolate buffet. This was unremarkable, with most of the offerings tasting the same and seemingly all using the same cheap chocolate. As my bf said, “It tastes like Magic Shell.”

The frozen drinks were very yummy. I recommend The Love Connection. Prices aren’t awful either. We did have a problem with two Amstel Lights that were somewhat skunky. My bf also ordered a Bass that was so cold it hardly had any taste.

Our cruise didn’t end on the best note, either. My bf had purchased a bottle of alcohol our first night there, but it was never delivered to our room. So the last day he had to rush around and get them to deliver another bottle before we left.

My lasting impression is that this is a good cruise with just some little flaws that detract from its appeal. If they could remedy these things and have the cruise run like the well-oiled machine it should, then I think a lot of people will be much happier.
 

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