Dave & Sue Thomas

Age: 55
Occupation: Program Director & Sales Service Consultant
Number of Cruises: 2
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean
Ship: Monarch of the Seas
Sailing Date: April 11th, 2005
Itinerary: Mexican Riviera

This was our second cruise on Monarch of the Seas. Our first cruise was during spring break of last year and we tagged along with our son, daughter-in-law and 2 grandsons. On this last trip, we invited 2 friends to go with us. This was their frist cruise experience. Both trips were very enjoyable and upon returning, I have already gone online to see where next year's cruise will be!

We ate breakfasts at the buffet in the Windjammer. The food was good and the service was great. At lunch time, we were usually off the ship at an excursion, but did eat onboard once at a Mexican buffet. Dinner was excellent. Our waiter, Sandra from Lithuania, was very professional, warm and friendly. After only our first dinner there, whenever she would see us anyplace on the ship, she would greet us and even called us by our first names. The assistant waiter automatically brought us our beverages even before we asked during dinner. They really work hard at pleasing their customers. We were really impressed by both of them. There was a good selection of dinner choices, but the only criticism my husband would have here would possibly be to have a little better variety of bread choices available. So, we would rate our dining experience as a 9 (there's always room for a little improvement in anything!).

Once again we booked an inside cabin, small yet comfortable enough. It was very adequate, since we did not spend much time there -- too many other things to do on a cruise! Our room attendant was great and whenever we left any special requests for him, he took care of it. He gave us very good service.

We left the ship in every port for side excursions. In San Diego, the retired Navy aircraft carrier, USS Midway was docked right next to us. We took a bicycle taxi over to it and for only about $13 per person had a 3 hour tour of the carrier. It was a self-guided tour with headsets and was very interesting. Our only suggestion on the tour would be to have more areas assessable by elevator. There was quite a bit of stair climbing necessary to see it all. The elevators to the upper decks were limited. If you decide to go on this tour, it is geat but make sure you check ahead regarding the schedule for the elevators. I believe the last one was at noon. So, we did miss a little bit of it we would have liked to have seen -- next time!

Catalina Island was nice. We rented a golf cart again and took our friends for a tour of the island. The weather was beautiful and we had a very good time. My husband enjoyed the afternoon sitting on the green dock, enjoying the weather and sun while the three of us ladies did alot of shopping!

In Ensenada, we took the bus tour to La Bufadora. I was surprised by this excursion. Last year we took the winery tour and really enjoyed that. La Bufadora only cost $17 per person for a tour that lasted about 3 hours. The "blow-hole" is only one of three in the world. It was really something to see and hear (sounded like a bull snorting -- hard to believe but true) and the coastline where it is was amazingly beautiful. From where the bus dropped us off, there was a street of all types of shops, on the walk to see "La Bufadora". I enjoyed the shopping there more than going downtown in Ensenada. You have to see all the shops to appreciate it. Our tour guide Enrique was a young engineering student and was very informative and friendly. I think I would visit there again.

Back on ship, the evening shows were very good. Since we had taken the cruise the year before, the shows were quite abit repetitive. I would suggest since alot of us really like cruising on the Monarch of the Seas, they change the show more from year to year. It was good, but not as good as seeing it for the first time. The drinks onboard were delicious and reasonable. People are not aware the first time, but you are actually being charged for the souvenir glasses with the Royal Caribbrean logo on it when you order a drink. My husband requested a few times not to get a sounvenir glass when ordering and got a plain stemware glass. It was $1.50 less per drink on the bill. So, if you plan on drinking very much and would like a set of glasses, allow luggage space!

The only let-down of our trip was disembarking on our return to San Pedro. Being our second cruise, we were more acquainted with the process. Royal Caribbean have everything well organized. If you read the information sheets they provide you with, things should go pretty smoothly. They even suggest what times to have breakfast on that last morning according to the color tags you have been given to mark your luggage and tell you the exact order they will be called to leave the ship. We followed their instructions and things went very smoothly to that point. Probably our worse experience was waiting in long lines to go through US customs to re-enter the San Pedro port. We were told they had staff working that was new and in training. Since our plane did not leave until 3:30 that afternoon, the long lines were frustating but did not interfere with our flight home. We had originally planned on taking a bus from the pier to the airport as we had the previous trip, but since our color was the last to get off the ship, all the buses were already gone and the only transportation available was taxi or super shuttle. We arrived back at LAX about an hour and a half before our flight. I would definitely allow for something like this happening in the future . . . and feel sorry for anyone who might have had an earlier flight booked.

Thank you Royal Caribbean once again! You gave us another vacation to remember and talk about until next time!
: ) : )



 

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