Craig Mac Donald

Age: 35
Occupation:
Number of Cruises: 3
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean
Ship: Monarch of the Seas
Sailing Date: April 11th, 2005
Itinerary: Baja, Mexico

This was our third cruise and the first with Royal Caribbean. The ship is a bit old but in decent shape.

Boarding - We got to the pier at about 11:00 and were able to board the ship at 12:30. We headed to the Windjammer Cafe and got some lunch, which was pretty good. We located our room after lunch and our bags were waiting for us. We were on the third floor in the middle of the ship so everything was real close. Our room was clean but small but that’s what we expected. The only complaint about the room was a foul odor from the bathroom when we would stop at a port.

San Diego - we toured the USS Midway, which is docked next to the ship. That took about three hours so when we were done we headed back to the ship and got lunch and decided to stay there for the rest of the day. There were a couple of carriers in port as well. They are quite impressive.

Catalina - We shopped and took a tour of Avalon. It was the first time we had been to Catalina and we enjoyed it.

Ensenada - Well the only thing that was good was the beer. The town is dirty and not much to it but a few bars, pharmacies and stores selling items for the bars. Kids selling Chicklets and their mother holding out a cup asking for money are all over town. They would also love to braid your hair. Info they use the same comb on everybody I would not recommend getting your hair braided. You can also buy some jewelry that appears to be silver. Back to the beer which was good. It has 6% alcohol it's not cheap $3.00 a bottle. Stay away from the VIP they say you get two beers for the price of one. I found that not to be the case. If you have no desire to buy anything in Ensenada I would stay on the ship and drink a beer. The price was about the same.

Food – I thought overall it was pretty good. I had steak or shrimp just about every night. My wife said the pasta tasted like it came out of a can. Our waiter was new and was afraid to stray from his script. It was the assistant waiter’s first cruise and he was funny. He made sure you always had bread whether you wanted it or not.

Ship – Old but in decent shape. After reading some of these reviews I was expecting a lot worse. This ship was built before they started building the “Las Vegas” type of ships. They make due with what they have. The Cruise Director and his staff always had something going on. The stage shows were a bit corny. The comedian was funny. The “Island Band” is very good.

Disembarking – Don’t be in a hurry to get off. It was a slow process. If you have a passport it will be faster for you going through customs. Another traveler accidentally took one of our suitcases. I found a bag that was left behind and called the phone number listed and found my bag. Luckily they were headed home in the same direction and met up with us to return our suitcase.

Overall - We enjoyed the cruise very much. Would recommend it to anyone. We paid $299.00 a person, which was well worth the money.
 

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