Monarch cruise to Ensenada August 11 15 2008 Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas
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This 4-day cruse to San Diego, Catalina Island, and Ensenada was a very good value for the money; I wouldn’t say that it was great, but it was a very enjoyable cruise overall.
The food was very good and had a lot of variety. Although they don’t serve lobster on this cruise, the jumbo prawns are delicious. You can order more than one entree or dessert and they are happy to customize the side dishes to your taste. The chocolate buffet was beautiful but the line spanned several floor staircases, and there isn’t a chocolate in the world worth that kind of a wait to me. Get there 45 min. early if you really want to see the chocolate buffet, which will no longer be offered after October 2008.
The Monarch is a smaller vessel and it’s aging. There were water stains on many of the carpets. I would consider traveling on a much larger and newer ship next time. Also there are no days at sea, which we missed because we were always out at the port. The traveling at sea is done at night. The various activities were open for use, including an awesome rock climbing wall, which I didn’t try out. This was much nicer overall than our previous Carnival experience, where several main attractions on the ship were closed for repair.
Bingo was a riot, Bingo Dan is really funny. The employees are very friendly overall and have the right attitude of service for the guests. Don’t bother with the nighttime shows; the singers and dancers, as well as the cruise director, are boring.
Don’t hesitate like I did to call for maintenance if something is bothering you in or around your cabin. We had a problem staying in the end stateroom, next to a door which leads to the 7th floor walkway. One side of the door had been left unlocked after the muster exercise and slammed continually as passengers went in and out, at all hours. This made our cabin shake like an earthquake and it woke me up every time. I endured it for 2 days with interrupted sleep before reporting it; within 10 minutes of my call, the door was secured and I could rest.
We enjoyed the ports of call without spending the elevated excursion prices of RCI. They warn you about venturing out without their excursion protection. Our taxi did break down in Mexico - we had a 2 hour delay and a bit of a fright until we were able to tag along with another family on their taxi, making it to the boat on time. It turned into an adventure where we met some nice new people, but we could have easily gotten stuck in Ensenada.
Wait until the last night of the cruise to buy your onboard trinkets. T-shirts, glass figurines and jewelry go on sale on the last evening, and the sale prices are great. I got beautiful glass figurines for $6 each, which make great gifts. The T-shirts were nice and priced at 2/$20 on the last night.
I would go on this cruise again, except I’m hoping for a longer cruise with a couple of at-sea days, a bigger and cleaner ship, and more exciting destinations. San Diego was OK, Catalina was great and Ensenada was OK.
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