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Live" From the Monarch of the Seas- July 20-23, 2012

MrFunInTheSun

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MrFunInTheSun

MrFunInTheSun

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Embarking:

Was a breeze, I was wisked through the gold line and right to a check in person. Only delay was getting into the building which isn't all that organized.

 

Room:

My room was at the very bow of the ship on the 7th floor. Think this was a first at the bow of the ship as most rooms I stay in are mid ship. This was a great location and the movement of the ship was just right. This was also a great location as it was easy to get to decks 4,5 & 6 where most things were with the exception of lido deck. My neighbors in the room next to me liked their room and the cruise a lot too. Lots of rumpy pumpy.

 

Food:

Food is very subjective. I read so many reviews where people go all out on food and some to the extent if the food isn't to their liking it ruins their cruise. My thoughts on this is some travelers don't go into cruises with Royal Caribbean or Carnival with the correct expectations. Experiences will vary from ship to ship and class of ship to ship. While I had some good food, I had some that was good but not Wow'ing. But my expectations were set and I wasn't expecting 5 star food, if I was cruising on Cunard, Holland America, Celebrity I'd have different expectations. All wait staff and all those involved with food on Monarch were very good and met all expectations.

 

Monarch:

She's a very nice classy old gal. This was my second time on her and while I had a great time the first time with her and met some wonderful people from that cruise I'm still in contact with now, I liked this cruise better than the first time.

 

I didn't notice an over abundance of kids on this ship, but like I said before it may have been because I really wasn't looking for kids. What kids I did see by the pool, common areas and what young teens I saw they all seemed well behaved and having a good time.

 

I didn't view any of the shows.

 

Other items:

While a majority of my cruises have been with Carnival I wasn't looking at this cruise comparing the two as there will always be differences to some extent. While I wasn't looking for it, I will say they are a lot a like in many ways. Carnival gets a bad wrap from some that it's a party ship, while on the three RC cruises I've been on they have all had the same clienteles so in that regard they are very much alike and none of the Carnival cruises I've been on were "big party cruises" . Know some will dispute me on that, but its the same to me from what I've experienced. Clientele will also change to some extent from a 3/4 night cruise to a 6/7/8 night cruise.

 

Time of Year Cruising:

For those new to cruising its important to cruise during the summer with the proper expectations. If you book a cruise from June-November, expect that your cruise might get altered or disrupted to some extent. If you don't go into your cruise with that expectation, you'll be very unhappy, as read on many posts and reviews. Expect the un-expected! (An example of that is what happened on Sunday on Coco Cay.)

 

This was a great cruise and I'm looking forward to "Enhancement of the Sea's" moving to Port Canaveral taking Monarch's place next spring. I didn't end up booking a cruise with Enhancement but I will be sailing on her next spring. This was my 2nd solo cruise and this cruise certainly re-affirmed that solo cruising is lots of fun and I'm looking forward to my next one. If one thinks about it when you go with a group you split up at times and in esance are "solo" for a period of time during you're cruise. Those that have been thinking of cruising "solo" but afraid to pull the trigger, go for it, you'll never regret it.

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MrFunInTheSun

MrFunInTheSun

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Great Review!! I am also going solo on this ship in October. When you get back is there anyway you could scan the cruise compass in to make them larger?

 

I'll see what I can do, not sure I still have them complete but may try to post what I did scan as it's normal size and not reduced.

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MrFunInTheSun

MrFunInTheSun

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Thank you for posting this live review. Our situations are very similar. My father passed away 3 months ago. I truly understand how you feel, the need to get away. I have to get away or I will lose it. I have never traveled solo and my husband and son can not travel with me in Aug. when I actually have time off. I put solo travel out of my mind until I read this. I may just go for it and cruise solo because of this review. Looks like you are having a great time.

 

Go for it, you'll have a blast!! Nothing more refreshing than a nice quiet night out on deck listening to the waves and the movement of the ship.

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MrFunInTheSun

MrFunInTheSun

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Thanks for the "LIVE" posts, MrFun! I am enjoying your reports everyday. . .

I have never sailed on Monarch, but it seems that you are having a great time !

 

Keep up the good work, and have fun !

 

 

Radio

;);)

 

Thanks Radio, I had big shoe's to fill to live up to your's and Trainman-2's "Live" updates. :-)

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MrFunInTheSun

MrFunInTheSun

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We will be sailing on the Monarch in Sept., for the second time. Our first cruise with RCI was on the Monarch back in the early 90's, so it will be nice to see her again.

Really enjoying reading your thread, and seeing the pictures, so I thought I would post ones of your departure for you.;)

Nice pictures, thanks for posting Kathy. :-)

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dacsmom

dacsmom

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Thank you for posting this live review. Our situations are very similar. My father passed away 3 months ago. I truly understand how you feel, the need to get away. I have to get away or I will lose it. I have never traveled solo and my husband and son can not travel with me in Aug. when I actually have time off. I put solo travel out of my mind until I read this. I may just go for it and cruise solo because of this review. Looks like you are having a great time.

 

I cannot say enough about solo cruising. You meet wonderful people and never have to ask, "What do you want to do." If I want to do something I do it. I recommend it. You might try a short cruise like this one just to test the waters. The only drawback is the single supplement.

 

Thanks again for the live review. I enjoyed reading every post.

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MrFunInTheSun

MrFunInTheSun

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Great Review!! I am also going solo on this ship in October. When you get back is there anyway you could scan the cruise compass in to make them larger?

 

 

Hopefully those load bigger so that you can read.

 

They are located at the link below.

 

http://photobucket.com/july2012compass

 

They also have loaded backwards so starting from day three and day three's last page.

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MrFunInTheSun

MrFunInTheSun

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Love the forecast for Day 3!!! I didn't notice that before looking at your pic for the Piano Bar guy's name. You didn't get any videos of him playing did you?

 

Hi Smd,

 

Unfortunately I didn't get any of his recordings but they were good. Especially with some of the "sing along's". :-)

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MrFunInTheSun

MrFunInTheSun

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Is the Crown & Anchor party in the morning in Nassau? If Not, when? Is there a formal night on a 3 night cruise? We are leaving Friday on the Monarch..

 

C&A party was the morning before arriving at Nassau 10:45-11:30 am,held in the circuit lounge. Formal night was the 2nd night. I ate in the Windjamer that night.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Please excuse typographical errors.

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MrFunInTheSun

MrFunInTheSun

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great solo review..like short solo cruises...mysef as well..Thank you.

 

Thank you. Am looking forward to hopefully what will be a longer solo cruise in November. Fully solo or not it'll be a great cruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Please excuse typographical errors.

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kc320

kc320

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Great Live Reports! I did a 4nt Solo cruise on Monarch last August...had a great time in spite of Hurricane Isabel chasing us around the Bahamas! Only 5 more months till I get to sail her again!

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WeIsCruisin

WeIsCruisin

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Thanks for posting the review!! I was on the cruise with you - what an interesting Sunday.

 

I do remember the Captain(I think) coming over the PA system saying the winds were gusting up to 100 mph as we were waiting for the rest of the guests to get back on the ship!!! That was about the time I woke up from my nap with the ship tilted towards the side :-P

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MrFunInTheSun

MrFunInTheSun

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Thanks for posting the review!! I was on the cruise with you - what an interesting Sunday.

 

I do remember the Captain(I think) coming over the PA system saying the winds were gusting up to 100 mph as we were waiting for the rest of the guests to get back on the ship!!! That was about the time I woke up from my nap with the ship tilted towards the side :-P

 

Can imagine waking up from a nice nap and all that going on being in that post sleep fog. Thinking what the heck is going on? From the few people I spoke with about it with when I got back from the island it really moved the ship quite a bit. Not sure who had the better adventure, us on Coco Cay or those on the ship. :-) Glad you had a good nap though. That was my plan once I was on Coco Cay, didn't quite work out.

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MrFunInTheSun

MrFunInTheSun

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Great Live Reports! I did a 4nt Solo cruise on Monarch last August...had a great time in spite of Hurricane Isabel chasing us around the Bahamas! Only 5 more months till I get to sail her again!

 

Bet that would have been a fun cruise to have done a "Live" report from. :-)

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