Monarch Of The Seas Review In Pictures 1/2/09

[bajathree]

Norwegian Cruise Line uses the island right next to CoCo Cay as their private Island....funny that their ship is actually more visible from the beach than RCCL's....you are starring right at it.

 

The beach was empty when we got there. We continued to the right off the tender past Coconuts Willies Bar and stopped to enjoy the hammocks for a while.

 

The water slide and water park are also right in that area.

 

The waver runners are just to the left.

[bajathree]

We wanted a bit more of a quiet spot so continued right past the hammocks and found a real nice stretch of beach. This is a great area to sun but not to swim as the bottom is real soft and it's very shallow for a great distance out.

 

This was my perfect spot....and it was quiet all day there.

 

Fishing excursion that stopped right in front of us and caught 2 fish.

 

Private enough but still close to the bar;)

[bajathree]

The BBQ lunch on CoCo Cay is as good as is to be expected....actually the ribs were better than I remembered past. Seems like they are in the process of adding some additional volleyball courts and facilities around them.... probably getting ready for Freedom when it comes over to Port Canaveral later this year.

 

This is the best beach area for swimming. It's pretty much a straight walk off the tender. Off to the left is the snorkel area.

 

More directions.

 

I don't have any pix but they have a nice straw market area complete with hair braiding. It's easily has probably a dozen vendors and is VERY low pressure....no hassles here at all....some neat stuff.

[bajathree]

Well then after a fun day at CoCo Cay it was back on board for our final evening. My daughter wanted to try the rock climbing wall so we headed that way.

This is the one place that the ball got dropped. We got there right at 4 when they are supposed to open and found the guys who run it standing talking to each other. I leaned on the sign in desk and was told not to as I will get dirty. So I backed off and stood there politely waiting for them to open...they knew we were there to climb as there were also a few other people. Well after waiting about 10 minutes and seeing nothing starting, I asked whats up. They said we are waiting for a crew to clean the soot off (which I really didn't see any and I looked) and then it would have to dry so it would be at least an hour before opening.....wouldn't you think they would of told us that when they saw us all standing there waiting.....everyone was like DDDAAhhhh:eek: This was the only place that I saw the staff less than eager or pleasant. I actually wonder that these guys aren't staff but franchised as there was such a huge contrast between them and all the rest of the staff....seemed as if they had some issue going on or something....they were almost laughing when they told us they weren't opening. Well enough of the only bad I could find....we quickly moved on and forgot about rock climbing.

 

Upon return to our room each evening we were to find our towel animals.

 

And contrary to much stated here we had our chocolates on our pillows nightly.

 

This was a great fun weekend. Monarch did not disappoint and I would and will go on her again without a second thought. The ship is very nice, shows her age well and has an incredible staff that looks to please.

I just want to make some last closing comments. This was a full ship with over 500 kids on board. Being pretty much still a holiday it showed in the people on board. This was much more a family cruise....lots of larger groups on board and the staff did a great job to keep them together. They had tables of 16 in the dining room as not to have to split them up. While on the topic of dining I should mention formal night. Much to my surprise I would have to say that during our early seating over 90% of the dining room had either formal wear or jacket and tie. HOWEVER many of those same people who showed up on formal night all dressed up were in the dining room in t-shirts and shorts the other 2 nights.....real big contrast....either they dressed up or down it seemed. In any case I found the crowd very pleasurable for the most part.....even the kids seemed to be well controlled, and with so many that says something.

Embarkation was the easiest I ever experienced. We were Red 1 and our waiting are was the Bolero lounge on deck 7 for a ~ 7:35 departure. We had breakfast that morning in WindJammer at 7am....no problem seating and very orderly...breakfast was pretty good. We then went down to Boleros at 7:30 and found plenty seating. We were there no more than 15 minutes before our color was called. We were lead down to deck 4 where we walked right off the ship....no line at all....we continued right to customs where again there was no line. We continued on to luggage where we had about a 5 minute wait before our bags came out and off into the parking lot we went....I wish it was always that easy.

 

I hope you all enjoyed my review and if there are any questions I will do my best to answer:)

[newbiecruiser09]

Thanks again for the great review! :D I really feel like I was there and now have a really good idea about the ship and activities. Now all I need is the next 110 days to go by quickly so I can board!!! ;)

[bajathree]

Thanks again for the great review! :D I really feel like I was there and now have a really good idea about the ship and activities. Now all I need is the next 110 days to go by quickly so I can board!!! ;)

I hear ya!

Planning however is all part of the fun.....glad you enjoyed:)

[beach410]

Thanks for your review, enjoyed the pictures. I have tried several times to book this cruise, but always too late and sold out. When we were on SOS we missed coco cay because of weather and were really bummed and that was even before seeing what we missed. It looks lovely and will have to keep this in mind for future cruises.

[tahoemc]

Baja, thanks for the pictorial review. Brings back fond memories of our good times sailing on her during her time on the left coast. She is looking good - glad to see her spruced up, especially the SOM theatre as it was getting pretty tired looking prior to her arrival in FL.

[bajathree]

Baja, thanks for the pictorial review. Brings back fond memories of our good times sailing on her during her time on the left coast. She is looking good - glad to see her spruced up, especially the SOM theatre as it was getting pretty tired looking prior to her arrival in FL.

She looks great....I figured that the SOM had to of just gotten pretty spruced up as it was looking good.

[bajathree]

Thanks for your review, enjoyed the pictures. I have tried several times to book this cruise, but always too late and sold out. When we were on SOS we missed coco cay because of weather and were really bummed and that was even before seeing what we missed. It looks lovely and will have to keep this in mind for future cruises.

CoCo Cay is a fantastic stop....missing it is a real big disappointment...I know that first hand as i missed her last time around on SOS in Aug.

[kittymom65]

Thank you for your review and the pictures, and especially the video of the Segways. We were thinking about doing this while in Nassau, but we were not sure about it. I think your video has helped us decide to give it a try.

[cranneberry]

My husband and I are booked on MOS for 1/23 and it is my first cruise. Any "must dos"? My husband scuba dives, I hammock and snorkel. We are planning to snorkel at Coco Cay, weather permiting, and he is thinking of diving in Nassau. Any suggestions for me while he is diving? I would be content sitting on the deck with a good book, but don't want to miss out on something worth doing on my own. Speaking of reading, anyone know anything about the library? Thanks in advance

[bajathree]

My husband and I are booked on MOS for 1/23 and it is my first cruise. Any "must dos"? My husband scuba dives, I hammock and snorkel. We are planning to snorkel at Coco Cay, weather permiting, and he is thinking of diving in Nassau. Any suggestions for me while he is diving? I would be content sitting on the deck with a good book, but don't want to miss out on something worth doing on my own. Speaking of reading, anyone know anything about the library? Thanks in advance

 

If you have never been to Atlantis, jump in a cab and take a ride over....it's amazing! As far as diving for you husband there are 2 great facilities that I would recommend....the first is Bahama Divers...they are located right near the Paradise Island bridge on the Nassau side. You can actually take a cab over there with your husband, drop him off and then continue on to Atlantis. The dive shop and Atlantis are a 10 minute cab ride from the pier. The second but further dive operation is Stuart Cove....another great operation but a good 35-45 minute(traffic depending) ride away as they are located all the way on the west end of the island.

[bajathree]

Thank you for your review and the pictures, and especially the video of the Segways. We were thinking about doing this while in Nassau, but we were not sure about it. I think your video has helped us decide to give it a try.

The Segways were a blast....like I said it's more of an adventure excursion than a tour.

[Freo]

Great review. Hope to be on a 4 day cruise in November.

[allseas1586]

Great pictures and review...I really want to try her sometime soon!

[bajathree]

Great pictures and review...I really want to try her sometime soon!

 

Glad you enjoyed:) I don't think you would be disappointed....it's a great 3 night get-a-way;)

[SHELBZ5]

Well, we're leaving in just about a month 4/20/09, we just signed up for this cruise last week because of the price and need to get away from it all without really looking into it much and I'm really getting excited! It looks amazing and I think we made a great decision!

 

Thanks so much for all of the photos and narration, it just made my day :D

[bajathree]

Well, we're leaving in just about a month 4/20/09, we just signed up for this cruise last week because of the price and need to get away from it all without really looking into it much and I'm really getting excited! It looks amazing and I think we made a great decision!

 

Thanks so much for all of the photos and narration, it just made my day :D

 

 

Glad it helped you make a decision....ENJOY:)

[missbogota]

I will be on her soon!!! Enjoyed your review!

[Cuz1]

We are going to be on the Monarch 3/16/09.First time Cruisers!

I am a little worried about our 15 year old daughter though.

I feel we will need to watch her all the time,for her safety that is.

She is a very good,trustworthy young lady,but you never know

who she might run into.

 

Do you know if walkie-talkies will work on the ship to stay in contact?

 

Thanks

[Cruisepucks]

Welcome, we too are on that sailing- see the roll call for other cruisers.

We did our first cruise with our kids when our youngest was approx the same age as yours and the older one 19. We did use the walkie talkies, but as they have become more popular, you may need to try a few channels, to find one that several others on board are not also using. Just test out the channel before you send her on her way.

We found them particularly useful on the private island (not Cococay as we were on another line- but same setup). We could wonder down the beach while they stayed in the thick of things with the music, beach volleyball, etc. We could still keep in touch, but mind you, there were 2 siblings together with the older one being almost 20

Hope that helps.

Cruisepucks