Ben Cayabyab

Age: 37
Occupation: Buyer
Number of Cruises: 5
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean
Ship: Monarch of the Seas
Sailing Date: May 6th, 2005
Itinerary: Baja, Mexico

My wife and I wanted to try Royal Caribbean for a change, so we booked a cruise with Monarch of the Seas. The whole trip, we couldn't help but to compare this ship with the Carnival Ecstasy because we've sailed on the Ecstasy and with Carnival 4 times before. I don't think we'll take another cruise with this ship.

First of all, the room was really small. We barely had room to walk to our bed. My wife and I had to hop over each other because there was no space to walk on the other side.

Then, there was the service. We saw our cabin steward the first night and the last night. They only cleaned twice-a-day. On Carnival, they cleaned just about every time we stepped out of our room.

Then, there was the dining room. There was one incident that really left a bad impression on me. I kept getting confused whom I should ask my soda...the assistant waiter or the bartender. It was never clear to me. On the last night, I asked our assistant waiter for a soda. She didn't acknowledge me. The bartender walked by and asked me if I need a drink, so I asked him for a soda. He walked over to the assistant waiter and told her to get me a soda. She replied angrily "I know! I know!" So, I apologized to her and she could've simply said "It's ok. It's no big deal." Instead, she replied "Don't you remember the first night? I gave you your soda."

Our waiter never really had a raport with us. On the Carnival, our waiter was like our friend by the end of the cruise.

Finally, the food. The food was horrible. Breakfast was the same every day. By the 3rd morning, I didn't want to eat breakfast anymore. The food in the formal dining was just so-so. There was no lobster night like Carnival. What was worse was that the food in the formal dining was also being served in the buffet.

RCI was really disappointing to us and it would take a lot for us to do another cruise with them.
 

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