Dan Bucasas

Age: 19
Occupation: student
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean
Ship: Monarch of the Seas
Sailing Date: February 11th, 2005
Itinerary: Baja, Mexico

This was my very first cruise so I guess you can say this is my non-bias review.

Service - all types of service was excellent. room service was very good, they made my bed in the morning and prepped it for bedtime with a chocolate on my pillow. main dining was great as well, my waiter, Vien, and assistant waiter, Vincent, were very nice and attentive. not once was my glass empty but always full of water. head waiter was a very nice gentleman by the name of Collins Gomes. he made for a very interesting conversation and always made sure everything was fine.

Food - food in general was ok. whenever I had pasta in the main dining or windjammer cafe it tasted like that of chef Boyardee out of the can. breakfast in the windjammer was the same thing everyday but different choices for lunch and dinner everyday. however what I ate the first night in the main dining, I saw they were serving the same thing for lunch in windjammer. the dinner menu in the main dining was different each night. as for the sushi in Jade, if you're use to good sushi, you wont get that in Jade.

Stateroom - my stateroom was on deck 4 room number 4521. the room was smaller than I expected but livable although I had to share the room with 2 of siblings. bathroom was even smaller with little room to move.

Entertainment - casino was fun even though I lost about 200 bucks. there was some activities by the pool which was cool. rock climbing was fun, really worked me out. didn't attend any of the shows but I did watch them on the television in my room and they were pretty entertaining. my parents went to the comedy show and said that it was pretty funny and had a good laugh. my parents did some salsa and said they enjoyed the atmosphere in there. my dad said the bars was a good place to have a drink and talk with the other people on the ship.

Ensenada, Mexico - I took the La Bufadora tour which was cool. our tour guide, Levi, was very knowledgeable about the area even though he's from Lake Tahoe, CA. when you get to the location there is a flee market and if you don't want to buy anything just keep on walking but the people will haggle you to come and buy something from them. I went to go look at the blowhole and the views first and snapped some photos with my family before I did any shopping. nothing really caught my eye except for some of the art (I love art). didn't buy anything though because everything was over priced in my opinion, although you can bargain with them for a lower price. only thing I bought was a sandwich bag of churros for 1 dollar.

Embarkation/disembarking - fairly quick process. when we arrived took no longer than 20 minutes to board. when we were leaving we had this sort of fast-pass I guess you can call it. with it you can get off the ship fairly quick, took no more than 15 minutes and we were able to carry our luggage with us off the ship.

Anything else? - I thought the spa was a waste of money. my mom and I went for a deep tissue massage which cost about 160 dollars, or around there not quite sure, and it wasn't a very good massage. I could barely feel her rubbing my back and mom agreed that it was a waste. on the way back to the san Pedro port I was looking at the ocean on the side of the boat and I saw a pack of whales so keep an eye out for that, its truly a sight to see. the gym facility was impressive, they had good equipment and a basketball court. if you like to drink soda, I recommend the soda package. 1 can alone without the soda package is $1.62. if you drink alcohol, alcohol was very cheap. 1 bottle of Grey Goose Vodka was 29 dollars whereas it would be 60 dollars at Costco. Smirnoff vodka was 9 dollars a bottle or 24 dollars for 3 bottles. make sure you are of the CA drinking age limit if you intend to bring it home with you because U.S. customs will take it away if you are not. I had to ask my parents to hold my 2 bottles of grey goose vodka so U.S. customs would seize it. although anyone, regardless of age, can buy alcohol in the shops.

This will conclude my review, I hope it has answered some questions you might have prior to your cruise.
 

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