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

Karen
Age: 46
Occupation: Realtor
Number of Cruises: 1
Sailing Date: February 3rd, 2006

Since this was my very first cruise, I have nothing to compare it to. I had never really had any interest in taking a cruise, but when my college girl friends came up with the idea to do a reunion cruise, it sparked my interest.

Starting at the beginning, if you park, you should know that you need cash to get out of the port. The cruise book that you receive with your reservation indicates parking is $10 per day when in fact, it’s actually $12. Not a big deal, just something to note.

The book says that there is no boarding until 2:30 PM, when in fact, they allowed us to board at 1:30 PM, along with hundreds of other people. I recommend getting on as early as you can so that you can enjoy the buffet luncheon and relax before leaving port. Our luggage was delivered to our room door before we got to our room, I suspect due to the early boarding. We were pleased about that because all of us wanted to change our clothes as soon as we got there.

The rooms are small, but again, I have nothing to compare them to. We had an inside cabin for three, and the other half of our group had a inside cabin for four. Although they are virtually the same size, the only difference is the cabin for four had an extra “Murphy” style bunk bed. We were definitely tripping over each other the entire time, and therefore, spent as little time in the state room as possible. Not much storage space, I recommend you pack as lightly as possible. You will not need half of what you bring to wear, trust me on this!

We had the early dinner, which we liked. However, the meals start to almost run together, so if you want to have a good appetite for dinner, you may want the later seating. There is a ton of food served at every meal, and they let you have anything you want. So, order as many appetizers as you like. They’ll even let you order two entrees if you care to.

The cocktail bill can add up pretty fast, not cheap! The shows were pretty good, but not well attended. The nice thing about the shows is that they are only about an hour long, it’s fast entertainment, and you still have time to go and play elsewhere.

I think the service was all around excellent. The staff was always trying to please, and did a good job at it. They are also a very nice, pleasant group of people who work long hours and have very little time off. So, be nice to them!

Be sure to inquire about tipping. If you don’t know for sure how that works, I recommend you go to guest relations and ask. There are a couple options, but even if you go with the option to pay at the end through your credit card, there are several employees that won’t fall under that umbrella. For example, the room service waiters do not, so you should tip them separately.

The ship was quite lovely, except for the carpets. The carpets were all stained; it was bothersome to me because they stood out immensely. The ship seemed a little “dated” in my opinion, but all in all, for a three day cruise, it was certainly acceptable.

We had one electrical outage while waiting for an elevator. That was a alarming for only a moment but the generator lights came on, as did the captain, who explained all would be fine soon. It was!

They have shuttles to Ensenada, $3.00 round trip. When you get to Ensenada, they have private tours that charge next to nothing. We took a private wine tasting trip. It was fun; the driver was nice, and very knowledgeable. They charged us $15.00 per person plus we handsomely tipped the driver, not a bad price for a private excursion. I bought some olive oil, it was sealed, yet still managed to spill out all over my luggage. Be sure to keep things upright, they don't package items as well in Mexico as they do hear in the U.S.

If you want to get off the ship early, use the express departure. You will be given colored luggage tags which will indicate what your departure time is. However, you can go to Guest Relations you can pick up any color tag you would like. I recommend you get the earliest departure time, and then you can depart at what ever time you like. It was fairly organized, but took about 45 minutes from the time we lined up until we got into the parking lot.

All in all, a great time was had by all.
 

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