A Monarch review from 1992!!!!

[av8tr21]

What a classy, useful post. :rolleyes:

 

Care to share a picture of your slim, hottie bod for us to critique?

 

What's wrong with stating the obvious? It is true, America has become obese. Why take personal offense to a general statement? :rolleyes:

[cruisindoggie]

I wish I could find my pics from my first cruise in 1985. Or in lbs 70 pounds ago.

[Cmx3d]

Thanks for posting, love the nostalgia!!

[sailingawaysoon]

Love going down memory lane and also seeing what the ship looked like back then. Thanks for sharing! I think this is a wonderful keepsake to have. Happy future cruising!

[F27TW]

What's wrong with stating the obvious? It is true, America has become obese. Why take personal offense to a general statement? :rolleyes:

 

Who says I took it personally ?

 

But to answer your question .. ignorant statements that generalize like that make a person sound like they feel they are superior. And besides, what purpose did a snarky judgemental statement like hers have in a thread like this one ?

[Puffinater]

A fun thread thanks for tasking the time to post.

 

F27TW...agree

[TBone2K]

Except for the addition of a rock wall at the back and replacing the deck chairs, most of those views look the same as when we were there last month.

 

I guess we don't have many cruise ships one can "look down" at from Majesty anymore. Most of them you have to "look up"at now.

[teddie]

What's wrong with stating the obvious? It is true, America has become obese. Why take personal offense to a general statement? :rolleyes:

 

Because this is a cheerful and nostalgic thread started by the OP. The "general statement" was random and lent no value whatsoever. It just comes across as mean and superior. The nutrition and obesity police here need to calm it down.

 

*********************************************************************

 

To the OP: thanks for the great pictures and review! I've enjoyed it very much.

 

Teddie

[critterchick]

What a fun read that was - thanks for sharing! Wish I had some pictures of my 1994 cruise on the Nordic Empress, but other than our photo in front of the paper moon, we didn't take any.

[anthk333]

Thanks for posting this. Our first cruise on Royal was on the Monarch out of San Juan in 1997. We cruised again on her out of L.A. years later and it was like coming home.

[DarthGrady]

Thanks for posting, this was a very cool thread! I just came off Monarch yesterday, so it was neat to see how the interiors have changed.

[The Big Booper]

I really enjoyed you photos and brief nostalgic writeup.

 

Like everybody else, we used film cameras then and rationed our picture taking, what with the cost of film and developing and printing costs. After finishing this thread I went and found, in a storage carton, some pictures (50?) we took on the Monarch in 1995. This was our third cruise after trips on the small old Dolphin SeaBreeze in 1993 and the small NCL Starward in 1994.

 

I have a new Epson color all-in-one and will attempt to scan and maybe post some. Most of them appear to be of people and not the ship.

 

That is what I like about digitals, take all you want, memory cards are cheap and high capacity.

 

(edit - I have two shots of the Monarch docked head in at Antigua; and a picture of my wife after coming off the Jolly Rogers pirate boat, in Barbados)

[snoles00]

Thank you for such a great post about a wonderful ship that sadly will go the way of her sister (I think sooner rather than later). I introduced my girlfriend to cruising aboard Monarch last year and she is forever hooked. Since this is the woman I know I am going to marry, Monarch will always have a special place in my heart. Again, thank you, and congratulations to a wonderful 20 years for you!

[vavasmom]

Thanks for taking the time to post this. Our first RCCL cruise was on the Sovereign (after the big dry dock) in 2006. I would sail Monarch or Majesty as a long weekend getaway if airfare was not so expensive

[DarthGrady]

I have a couple of questions for any old-school RCI cruisers that might know:

 

Why/when did they move the hot tubs instead of just adding more (which she needs IMO)?

 

Was the little pyramid shaped thing between the glass elevators (at the bottom landing) a fountain? It looks like it once had water flowing down it.

[RazorbackIslandGirl]

What fun!!! Thanks for taking us all on your trip of nostalgia!!! Our first cruise was also on the Monarch in the early 90's (can't remember the exact year) We've been hooked ever since! I do remember our waiter's name was Bulent from Turkey. Does anyone else remember the HUGE pile of luggage you had to retrieve your bags from? And back then 99% of them were black!!!:rolleyes: I also remember filling out all our paperwork there on the pier before we started our embarkation! Fun times! Fun times! I remember thinking she was HUGE! After sailling on the Oasis & the Allure, it makes me giggle!;) Thanks again for this fun journey

[The Big Booper]

The old Carnival Festivale was leased to the late, great Dolphin Cruise line in 1996, sailing as the IslandBreeze. We did a quick summer 5 nighter out of NY up to New England and Halifax on her. She had the Carnival food operation running on her and the CD, Sammie Baker, apologized to all the Dolphin regulars for the junky food and food operations.

 

All of the Dolphin ships have now been broken up in Malang, India with the exception of SeaBreeze. Dolphin had gone bankrupt and the ship was sailing empty from New England down to Florida to be determined if she was worth auctioning off when the engines died for the fifth time. They were unable to get the engines running and the ship was caught in a ferocious Force Ten storm. She couldn't maneuver with no main engine power and capsized and sunk. The Coast Guard managed to rescue the entire skeleton crew but the ship now sits on the bottom. Somewhere I have a video tape of the rescue on one of the 200 tapes with no index listing that I have.

[Eng23]

Nice review. Thank you for taking the time to scan and post the pictures. It's interesting to know that when Monarch was new she was the second in the first generation of "Mega Ships". She was the Allure of the Seas of her day!

[TBone2K]

Thanks for posting this. I loved reading all of your info and the comments. Especially the photos. One question, why were the pools empty?

 

I can't remember if they do this on the larger ships, but on Monarch one of the Engineers mentioned they do it to keep the centre of gravity lower so the ship can maneuver better.

[clochette]

Thanks for your review, loved it, loved the fanny packs as I remember wearing one also, they were convenient :).

[Coolcruise02]

Loved it! Brought back great memories of our cruise on the Monarch. :)

[tahoemc]

Buffetphan, thanks for the notalgic review and pics - lots of fun to break up an otherwise dull winter day here in the west. Our first was Viking Serenade 2001, the second was Monarch 2003. Had two cruises on her and lots of fun.

 

Congrats on the 20 year mark and wishing you many more!

 

Now, where did I put those fanny packs.............:D

[bionicman97]

Great review! Love the photos :)

[IsItTime]

Thank you for doing this review! We also honeymooned on the Monarch, just a little before you, in March 1992! We also had an inside... And were so much in awe when we stepped on board! We did that pirate ship excursion too....so much fun. We met 2 other couples on their honeymoon and hung with them the whole time too! I remember the horse races around the pool and the reggae bands.

 

We loved it so much that we sailed on the Sovereign of the Seas the following year with a group of friends....my favorite part was definitely the crown lounge...beautiful views....watching sunsets and having a cocktail!

 

And then...well...life happened and kids...and no more cruises until this past February, when we took the kids on their 1st cruise, to celebrate our 20th. This time we sailed on the Carnival Miracle and I have become obsessed with cruising again! Which led me to search reviews of the Monarch tonight and what a surprise to find a review from the same year!!

 

Thanks for the memories.....and Happy 20th to you too!:D

[Isaboo]

Loving the memories My first cruise was on the Monarch in May 1994. We (mom, dad, and husband) were in awe of this beautiful ship. We were so spoiled by the service. Thank you for posting.

 

 

I wonder if we were on the same sailing?!!! We honeymooned on Monarch May 24, 1994 our of San Juan. This is a fun review to read.