rccl-monarch11

Note - this page contains multiple reviews.

Name: Betty Li
Email: betty.li@home.com
Age: 43
Occupation: IT Project Manager
NumberOfCruises: 3
TravelAgent: No
Ship: RoyalCaribbean-Monarch
SailingDate: May 14-21, 2000
Itinerary: Southern Caribbean
Cabin: #8564 Cat F
FoodDiningRoom: 79
CruiseDirector: 83
CabinComfort: 89
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 80
CabinAmenities: 87
FoodLidoDeck:
DiningRoomService: 70
CabinQuietness: 85
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 80
ShoreExcVariety: 81
FoodVariety: 81
DeckService:
ShoreExcValue: 69
GoodForHoneymoon: 85
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService:
TenderService: 83
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 79
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge:
OverallPortsofCall: 92
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside:
CruiseActivities:
Casino: 79
AirSeaProgram: 50
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 80
EmbarkDisembark: 75
DiscoNightclubs: 70
DeckSpace: 85
Stabilization: 88
ShopsOnBoard: 80
SpaceRatio: 85
OverallCruiseValue: 90
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 08 Jun 2000
Time: 08:19:07
Remote Name: proxy2.mtnk1.on.wave.home.com
Remote User:

Comments

One-Week Cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas - May 14-21, 2000 Written by Betty Li

Who are we: Two computer professionals in our early 40’s from the Toronto area.

We had booked off the week of May 15th for vacation since May 14th was our anniversary and we were
looking for somewhere special to go. I had looked at the Outer Islands of the Bahamas, St John, USVI, a
sailing resort in Antigua, Barbados and possibly St Maarten. In March, we figured we better make up our
minds soon or there would be nothing left. I suggested a cruise as a great sampler of Caribbean islands. I
had cruised twice before, both times with Costa, and loved every minute of it. In years past, I could never get
my husband on a cruise. Friends who had had bad experiences cruising were filling his head with many
negatives. Always watching your watch to make sure you don’t miss the boat! Being told when, where and
who to eat dinner with. Plus even what to wear. Well, we did finally decide on the cruise, or should I say he
finally gave in. <g>

We booked through a travel agent at Cruise Holidays. They have several franchises in the Toronto area
and only sell cruises, so they know their stuff. (I had used them on my last cruise 4 yrs ago.) I had figured
we could afford the top inside cabins, Cat K, on decks 5-6-7. When my TA called, they had a special for
Canadians where we would get a guaranteed Cat K for less than the early booking price of the lowest
category – Q. We took it. We also let the cruise line book our airfare, only because it was to San Juan,
which is not easy or cheap from Toronto. With a guarantee, you don’t get your cabin assignment until the
last minute and my husband was a little suspicious thinking we were sharing the closet with the brooms and
mops. <g>

A week before sailing, we got all our documents. We had been upgraded 4 categories to Cat F on deck 8,
Cabin #8564. We were told this had an obstructed view and I must admit I was wondering what we were
really going to get. (It turned out fine, as I will explain later.) Our flights were with US Airways leaving Toronto
at 7:35am and flying to Philly with an hour until our flight to San Juan. We were excited about arriving in SJ
just after two. We figured we could drop off our stuff on the ship and be checking out old Sand Juan by
3:30pm. Nope. I’ll explain later. The only bad part of the air package was the flight home included a
four-hour layover in Philly. Yuck! We tried paying extra to get better flights but our TA said nothing was
better. There’s not much flying Toronto to San Juan out of season.

Day One

Our flight to Philly was uneventful. First time with US Air and it was okay. Sitting at the gate in Philly looked
promising with the plane already there. Almost everyone was heading either to the Monarch of Carnival’s
Inspiration (?) and were very excited. Then things started to turn for the worse. US Airways announces that
the plane we see at the gate is broken and not going anywhere. Neither are we. <g> They will try and find a
new plane. I was amazed that within half an hour, they’re announcing that they have one coming in. They’ll
turn it around as quickly as possible and we will be an hour delayed. Not bad. Could have been much
worse! Once we board the plane we find out that the plane’s radio isn’t equipped to fly over water so we
have to fly down the eastern seaboard and then over the Bahamas and T&C to San Juan which will add
another half hour. All in all, we arrive 1½ hrs late in San Juan. The procedure to round us all up doesn’t go
too bad except for the drunk lady who kept trying to bud into the front of the line. (I believe drunk because
US Air offered free alcohol due to the delay. They didn’t announce this, but we heard this when the people
sitting in front of us tried to pay. They originally were charging for the headsets but I refuse to pay (I guess
I’m spoiled on airlines in Canada where they’re free!) but then started giving them out free, like the booze,
and even gave back the original guys their $5. Non of this was announced. You just had to find out by
asking, I guess.

There were 4 buses to transport everyone. We were in the front seat on bus two but he passed the first bus
so we ended up being the first people to check in. Empty terminal so it went fast but I was a little
disappointed. No one to take our picture. (They were taking them – I guess we were too early. <g>) Staff just
kept pointing where to go. I kind of liked Costa’s routine of having an officer to welcome you on board and
then assigning you the next in line of white-gloved staff to escort us to our cabins. With Royal Caribbean it
was 'there’s the elevator. Take it up to deck 8'. Thank goodness I knew where we were going. (I’m one of
those people who studies the ship’s deck plans.) Our cabin steward was there to greet us and explain where
and how everything worked in the cabin. Others we met later said they didn’t see their steward until later
that night or even the next day! I was surprised to find out that the ship isn’t docked downtown were she
usually is. We were out in the boonies in the industrial area. No explanation as to why this was. You have to
take a cab downtown. Since we were late and wanted to move our dining assignment (we were still wait listed
for the late seating) we decided to stay on the ship.

My husband’s first impression of Royal Caribbean is not a good one. We are told when coming on board, to
move our dining assignment, we have to ask at the Purser’s desk for the Maitre ‘D. We do this at 5pm only
to be told he was available between 2-4pm but not again until 5:45pm. But that’s when we’re suppose to be
in the dining room for the early seating. (Times are adjusted the first night because of the Muster Drill.) We
go to the table they point to and wait until he shows at 5:45pm. By then, there is a huge line, everyone
pushing. But after standing 45 minutes I am first…only to find out that he is the M.D. for the upstairs dining
room, not the downstairs dining room, which we are assigned to. Great! The Purser’s desk sends us to the
wrong place. The M.D. says he will put us on his wait list (way way down at the bottom) and will talk to the
other MD. I asked what happened to the wait list for first come first serve in the order the cruise was booked.
'oh, that one is thrown out once we’re on the ship and we start again.' Not good news. Anyway, we go to our
assign table. One reason we don’t want the early seating is because of the kids. (We don’t have any –
enough said.) Monarch sets is up nice in the dining room with all the kids at tables together in the back
corner. Great idea as not to disturb the rest of the dining room but guess where our table is? Yup, right in
the middle of it all. If we have to stay here I think we’ll be eating in the Windjammer Café.

Our cabin is small but well laid out. Our window is just that, a window (approx. 3x2) not a porthole. Only the
top part is obstructed with the lifeboats. Great little room. Not on Deck 7 where the people walking on the
Promenade deck can look in your cabin if your drapes are not always drawn and not on Deck 6 which is
below the walking/jogging track on Deck 7. The only thing I didn’t like about Deck 8 is everything seemed to
be on Deck 1,2,3 or 4. You get on and off the ship on Deck 2 and 1. The dining rooms are on Deck 3 and 4.
Plus the Shore Excursion Desk and Purser’s desk are on Deck 4. Deck 8 is closer to Deck 11 for the pool
and stuff, but we didn’t spend as much time there and anyway, I can always push 11 in the elevator. I think I
would have been just as happy on Deck 3 or 4. There is lots of cupboards and closet space. The only main
problem is the one and only electrical outlet, which happens to be in front of the mirrored cabinet. We have
an electric toothbrush and kept having to move it every time we needed something in the cabinet. The
shower is small but great and only once did we NOT flood the bathroom floor. I guess this is a regular
occurrence since there it is a raised floor with it’s own drain. I spoke to several others who had the same
problem. Became a bit of an annoyance having to push the water to the drain so I could put down the bath
mat.

Sail away isn’t as nice since we’re starting out from the industrial part of the harbour. I had made plans to
meet a fellow cruiser who I met through one of the Internet cruise forums. She had picked the fountain by
the pool. Who knew that would be the location for the sail away party. We never did meet that night but I did
manage a Caribbean line dance or two and got 'lei’d'. <g> We didn’t stay up too much later since we’d been
up since 4:30am and had a full day planned in our first port. We were pleasantly surprised to return to our
cabin to find a note slid under the door saying that we had been moved to the late seating for dinner. Great!
This meant we could spend a full day in each port.

Day Two

We woke up to look out the window (I learned to love that window) to find out we had already docked in St
Thomas. We grabbed a quick breakfast at the Windjammer and then headed ashore. In St Thomas, we went
on our own to the neighbouring island of St John. Two thirds of the island is National Park. Beautiful and
very under developed. Ferry from downtown C.A. doesn't run every hour (the one from Red Hook does). We
managed to have a taxi take us to town. $2.50 each. We then just caught the 9am ferry to Cruz Bay, St
John. The ride was about 45 minutes (versus 20 minutes from Red Hook). Cost was $7 each one way. We
then stopped by the Park office to get the 'scoop' on the best place to snorkel other than at Trunk Bay. I
wanted to avoid all the crowds. We finally got a taxi to take us to Lennister Bay ($12.50) on the other side of
the island near Annaberg Plantation. We then hiked 20 minutes to Lennister Bay where we set up camp for
the day. We actually should have walked all the way around the bay and started our snorkeling trip right at
Waterlemon Cay since this turned out to be the only real place to see anything. There is a bit of a current
so the Park ranger had advised us to snorkel counter clock wise. The snorkeling was great! We were
rewarded with lots of big and beautiful coral, tons of fish, even a large size turtle. Back on shore we even
saw a small (2-3ft) reef shark swim by. Not too sure how I’d feel if I happened to be in the water when I saw
him. <g> IMHO, this was the best snorkeling of the entire trip. We then hiked back to the taxi drop off where
we were told we could easily grab a taxi back to the ferry. NOPE!!! It’s kind of a dead end road going to the
plantation. There were no tours going there that late in the afternoon. I wasn’t panicking yet since we still
had 3-½ hrs to sailing. We started to walk up the road and about a half-hour later we caught the shuttle bus
going between Maho Bay Campgrounds and Cruz Bay. Definitely worth the $8. I guess we walked off $4.50.
We had missed the 2pm ferry and got a coke while we waited for the 3 o’clock. It was a pleasant ride back to
Red Hook ($3 each) where we caught a taxi (van - $5 each) back to the ship. We then did a little shopping
in Havensight next to the ship.

Back on the ship, we dumped our snorkeling gear and headed to the Windjammer Café. My husband
wanted to take part in the 'snacks'. When he pointed out it was 4:30pm and dinner wasn’t for another 4 hrs, I
joined him too. The hamburger was just so-so, but the french fries were amazing. Skinny little things with
some kind of spiced coating on them. Missing lunch and having the late afternoon 'snacks' became a daily
routine for us.

After eating, we went back to our cabin, where my husband took a nap while I planned our next day. We
couldn’t decide what to do so I went to check out the short excursions. The Bird Island snorkel trip was still
available and I had heard good things on the Internet about it. I came back to ask my husband what he
thought. We decided to go for it. My mistake was waiting until we went down for dinner. By then it was sold
out so we picked another one. The Catamaran Snorkel & Sail.

We came down about half an hour before dinner to buy the shore excursion. We should have given
ourselves more time as there were 4 'stations' set up for formal portraits. We waited a long time in one and
got our picture taken before hurrying into the dinning room to meet our new dinner companions. As we’re
walking to the table, I remind my husband that they did move us to the late seating so we couldn’t be picky
about our tablemates. We had originally requested, and received, a large table for ten. I told him we had to
take what we got. They turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It was a table for six and when we arrived only
one other couple was there. One thing I should mention. My husband is Chinese. I’m Caucasian. This
couple, Pierre & Dee, were inter-racial as well. She turned out to be Vietnamese and he’s Caucasian. We
said our hellos. Where are you from? They say Toronto. We say we’re from Toronto too. Where about?
They say Richmond Hill. We choke and say we’re from Richmond Hill too. Where about? Turns out they live
less than a mile from us. What a coincidence! I knew RCCL tried to match your dinner partners but this was
uncanny. It turned out to be the best part of the cruise. We sat talking for quite a bit after dinner and finally
were politely kicked out at 11:10pm. (Everyone else was gone by 10:30) We moved out to the couches right
outside of the dining room where we continued to talk until I realized it was after 1am. We both had busy
days planned so we said our good-byes and headed to bed.

Day Three

Since we only had booked an afternoon shore excursion, we had a late start and enjoyed a relaxing
breakfast in the dining room. My husband was surprised to find out we didn’t get our own table. That we
were herded into large tables for 10. I kind of liked meeting new people. One couple sat opposite my
husband and when he said 'hello, where are you from?', they abruptly said 'We’re from Columbia and we
don’t speak English!' That was the end of that conversation. We spent the remainder of the morning visiting
the shops just off the pier in town. My husband bought a nice T-shirt for $9. Not many small sizes to choose
from so his selection was limited. We found it funny that that was the only T-shirt we bought on an island
and it turned out to be our least favourite island. <g> We grabbed a quick lunch in the Windjammer Café
and then got ready for our Catamaran Snorkel & Sail. The cat was docked right next to the ship so it was a
short walk. I was disappointed when they herded over 60 people on board. The cost was $39 each and a
waste, really. We powered out to a reef that was 90% dead, with rough waves and current. Not exactly the
best place for beginners. Then they sailed to a private beach (also where the Jolly Roger boat goes) and
are hounded by people selling stuff. Waste of money. ($78 US = $115) Enough said.

Back on the ship, we enjoyed our 'snack' before heading back to our cabin where we enjoyed a Disney
movie on the TV. Dinner was casual and the other couple showed up. It turned out they didn’t want to dress
up for formal night so they went to the Windjammer instead. They were very nice, from the Chicago area.
Everyone enjoyed talking about their day. This time we left the dining room at a reasonable time. Found a
nice lounge to sit in and again sat talking till almost 1:30am. We have so much in common with Pierre & Dee
and plan to continue to see each other once we return home.

Day Four

Next was Barbados where we had heard the snorkeling was just okay, so after Antigua, we decided to go
touring ourselves. We hired a taxi for the day. His name was Barry Young and he was actually the
supervisor getting taxis for everyone else. He first suggested we go with another couple to cut down on
costs but they didn't want to go where we did and visa versa. When I went back to tell Barry, he said that it
would cost $100 by ourselves. That was okay by us so he ended up taking us himself. We did the Wildlife
Nature Reserve, which cost $24 for the two of us. Nice place but we thought a little expensive for what it was.
Plus we didn't get to see the green monkeys. Seems they are wild and are free to come and go and they
normally go from 11am-3pm. We were there around noon. Best time to see them is between 3-4pm. We
then went to the Andromeda Gardens. They have 2 tours –20 minutes and 45 minutes. We took the shorter
one. It was very pretty. Well laid out with informative signage. This cost $12 for the two of us. Much better
value and they even took AMEX. We then went to St John Church and then slowly drove down the east and
south coast. I had almost booked us a hotel for a week on the east coast and Barry said, lucky we didn't. It's
now a dump. It sure didn't look like that on the Internet. Hmmm Anyway, he told us about another hotel that
is really good so he dropped us off there to check it out. It’s called the Causarina (sp?). It actually is another
one I had heard good things about and had looked into. We walked around the grounds for 15 minutes and
decided this is where we'll spend our next vacation. Nice thing about this cruise. It's a sampler of several
Caribbean islands. In total we were out 6 hours. Could have pushed it to 7 but I was getting tired.

Back on the ship, we had our 'snack' and then back to our cabin for a nap. I still couldn’t decide what to do
at our next port – St Lucia. My husband & I had spent a week there 2 years ago and we were hoping they
would have been offering a snorkeling trip to Anse Chastenate, the best reef on the island. (That's where
we stayed in 1998). But no snorkeling trip of any kind was offered. I guess they figured it was too far away.
90-min car drive. I think it's only 45-60 mins by boat. We decided to just take it easy and go to the beach.

Dinner was another pleasant evening with friends and ended up going to bed after 2am.

Day Five

As planned, we got up late this day and grabbed a quick breakfast at the buffet. After getting our snorkeling
gear together, we went to get a taxi to head to Renuit Beach, there was no one to share a taxi with. Cost
was $12 each way. I had a problem spending $24 US for 2 hours at the beach. So we did a little shopping
beside the ship, then took the $1 ferry ($4 total) to city centre and visited the market. (Where we didn’t buy
the chocolate sticks everyone kept talking about after.) Then we were back on the ship for a swim in the
pool and relaxing reading a book for a couple of hours. I wouldn't suggest doing what we did if you've never
been there. St Lucia is very lush and beautiful. Our friends did the 7 hr sulfur hike and even though it was
long and tiring, they enjoyed seeing the island.

Dinner was another pleasant evening with new friends.

Day Six

Last stop was St Maarten. Another favourite and possible vacation spot. Here we rented a taxi but this time
Pierre & Dee joined us. The taxi driver wanted $150 all day for 4 of us but we negotiated it down to $130.
First we stopped at Dawn Beach for snorkeling. The beach is very pretty and quiet but the snorkeling was
lousy. Deck chairs were $3 each and she threw in the umbrella. We stayed for about 1½ hrs. Next we went
to Orient Beach. Very big beach with wall to wall lounge chairs, umbrellas, snack bars, and sport vendors.
Here Dee & I went for a para-sailing ride, (2 for $80 or $45 each). (Tip: Don’t pay the $12 for professional
photos. They shoot a roll of 12 with a stupid little camera with no zoom. Only 2 pictures of us being pulled
back into the boat were any good. They also hand you the film for developing so it ends up costing a lot
more than $12.) We went together while the guys went and checked out the nude portion of the beach. One
end is normal, middle is topless and the far right side is in front of a nudist colony so there was lots of it. We
then had the driver take us to Grand Chase, a small town on the north shore known for fine restaurants. We
went specifically for the outdoor restaurants selling BBQ lobster, chicken and ribs. We had a feast of lobster
($30), ribs (huge rack for $4), and shrimp kabobs ($4 each) Plus 4 drinks (Code & iced tea) - cost $47 + $5
for tip. A great value for $52. The other couple had a smaller lobster ($20), snapper ($5), baby stuffed
crabs ($4 or $5 each) plus ribs and drinks too. Their total was $45. We thoroughly enjoyed this lunch, our
only meal off the ship. We then slowly took the cab back to Phillipsburg leaving ourselves a 2½ hours for
shopping. This was not enough. There are sooo many stores. We started looking at Tanzinite rings and time
just slipped away. We ended up catching the 2nd last tender back to the ship at 5:20pm.

Tonight was the second formal night and we took the advice of one of the photographers and arrived early
and had our picture taken at all of the 'stations'. Better chance of getting one we like. We were pleasantly
surprised to find our other dining couple, Becky & Scott did come to this formal. They were also celebrating
an anniversary and received the traditional cake for dessert. (We received ours at the first formal night.)

Day Seven

Today was the last full day of our cruise and we were at sea. I like this relaxing 'holiday' at the end of a busy
week. Some itineraries have them at the beginning or in the middle. The last day is best. Since there was no
where to go, we slept till almost noon. We missed breakfast and only had to wait a few minutes before lunch
was being served in the dining room. After eating, we ran into Pierre & Dee buying gold chains in the Atrium
and ended up spending the afternoon together. Joe & Pierre played ping-pong at the bow of the ship, only
losing one ball over the wall. <g> Dee and I went to the casino where she lost $20 and I lost $6. (I had
visited the casino earlier in the cruise to play roulette. My husband is not into gambling but said he’s
accompanied me to the casino while I lost $20. Huh! I actually won $70 on one bet putting me about $85
ahead. I set aside $60 and played till I lost everything above that. Then I was smart and walked away.)

Dee mentioned that she had packed in the morning and I realized that we should do that too. Luggage has
to be out in the hallway between 8pm and midnight. Our dinner started at 8:30 and I didn’t want to ruin our
last night packing. So we went back to the cabin where my husband had a nap while I packed. We had only
taken 2 suitcases and two small carry-ons. We had spare room coming down but all of a sudden I was
having trouble making everything fit. No, we didn’t buy anything, except for fridge magnets, which we collect
from all over the world. It finally fit and we put the luggage out just before heading for dinner. Besides the
two suitcases, I included one of the carry-ons. Saw no reason to haul it around on the trip back. I’m glad we
packed early since we didn’t get back to our room until almost 2am.

Day Eight

This too turned out to be another long day. It started off with the surprise of our bill. We hadn’t spend much
and was only expecting about $200. Was very surprised to find out it was almost $500. It seems we had
'bought' a painting at the art auction. I must admit we did register. We were interested in only one painting
but the opening bid was too high. We never once even raised our number even though Pierre & Dee urged
us too. (They had bought two paintings earlier in the week). Pierre and Dee arrived and we all went to
Immigration, which was, opened 6-8am. (The ship cannot clear Puerto Rico until all non-US citizens are
seen. We had been told there were 2500 people on board. 2,000 Americans. That meant that there were
only 500 of us to be checked through. The line was long but moved quickly. We then went to the dining
room for breakfast. Then it was back to our rooms to get our carry-ons. (You have to be out of your cabin
by 8am). We met Pierre & Dee in the Dancin’ Lounge where we picked a nice couch & 2 chairs combo for
our long wait to disembark. It was actually pleasant with someone to wait with. Too bad there was no place to
get something to drink. Actually my husband sat with P & D while I spent over an hour trying to get the bill
fixed. We had to wait for the auctioneer to arrive. He did remove the item from the bill but he did make me
feel like I was lying and had changed my mind about buying the painting. I told him we never even raised our
number card once. I don’t think he believed me.

Everyone left the ship according to their flight. P & D had a late flight so they were taking a San Juan tour
and left before us. I should mention that they bought their cruise only 3 weeks before sailing and they ended
up with better flights. While we had a 4-hr layover in Philly, they got to spend the 4 hours touring San Juan.
My TA explained that it was just the luck of the draw when they called. Ya, okay. Next time I’ll book my own
flights.

Our flight was finally called and we left the ship. We were told to find our luggage and then go outside to
catch the bus to the airport. When we got outside, we were asked who our airline was. We said US Airways
and were directed to a long line at the end of the parking lot. We put our luggage with the rest and while
we’re standing there, this woman comes up and asks 'Where are you flying to?' We say Toronto. 'Ohhhhh!
You can’t put your luggage here. They won’t take International flights.' First we heard of it. We then had to
carry our luggage all the way back over to the bus and take it with us to the airport. Also worth noting is the
fact that there is no RCCL staff at the airport to help with check in. For example, we lined up at US Airways
counter only to find out that we had to put our luggage through the scanner looking for plant material, etc.
Finally got that figured out and checked in. The wait at the airport was uneventful. The new part of the San
Juan airport is quiet nice and air conditioned too.

We arrived at Philly and set in for the 4 four layover. First we checked our one carry-on luggage into a
locker and set out to visit the stores. Funny, we actually bought more here at the airport then on the entire
cruise. We started to head back to the assigned gate only to hear that the gate had changed. We settled in
for the hour wait. And wait we did. No plane. Delayed 20 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour. Some problem all
along the eastern seaboard. We ended up flying one hour and 45 minutes later.

Flight home was short and sweet. Immigration was quick and painless. The ride home tiring. Thank
goodness the Monday was a holiday for people in Ontario. It took us that day just to relax and recoup before
heading off the work on Tuesday.

Good points: Well laid out ship so it was easy to get around. Cabins are small but everything fits. Great
itinerary with Barbados and St Maarten our favourites . Bad points: Dining experience not as good as we
expect for Royal Caribbean. One thing I didn’t mention in my report was the fact that most of the
music/dancing entertainment was geared towards the Spanish speaking clientele. One evening the Host
only spoke in Spanish totally ignoring the English speaking quests. This cruise did not live up to the Royal
Caribbean reputation, unless that reputation is really slipping these days. My husband commented 'If this is
the best RCCL can do, how bad can Carnival be?' I replied, 'Probably similar, not worse.'

Will I sail again? Most definitely. Will my husband? Well, not probably in the Caribbean though he did say
something about Princess offering open seating for dinner. (How’d he hear about that?) He’s also talking
about doing the Renaissance Tahiti cruise for our 10th anniversary in 4 years. He likes the idea of no
smoking, no kids, two days in most ports plus no dinner assignments or formal nights.

All in all I would say it was a good vacation. If you have specific questions that I didn’t answer in this novel,
<g> please feel free to e-mail me at betty.li@home.com. If I’m not preparing for a cruise, I’d love to talk to
someone who is.

Name: Beverley Sherman
Email: nugrad82@aol.com
Age: 41
Occupation: Controller
NumberOfCruises: 5
TravelAgent: No
Ship: RoyalCaribbean-Monarch
SailingDate: 05/28/2000
Itinerary: Southern Caribbean
Cabin: 4574/G
FoodDiningRoom: 85
CruiseDirector: 80
CabinComfort: 90
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 85
CabinAmenities: 85
FoodLidoDeck: 85
DiningRoomService: 85
CabinQuietness: 80
FoodMidnightBuffets: 85
CabinSteward: 90
ShoreExcVariety: 80
FoodVariety: 88
DeckService:
ShoreExcValue: 80
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 95
LoungeService:
TenderService: 90
GoodForSeniors: 95
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 85
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 85
OverallPortsofCall: 90
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 85
CruiseActivities: 88
Casino:
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 90
EmbarkDisembark: 85
DiscoNightclubs: 85
DeckSpace: 88
Stabilization: 85
ShopsOnBoard:
SpaceRatio: 88
OverallCruiseValue: 90
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 05 Jul 2000
Time: 17:43:56
Remote Name: 208.2.35.100
Remote User:

Comments

My review of Monarch of the Seas - May 28, 2000 to June 4, 2000

This being my fourth cruise, I was put in charge of planning this trip to the Southern Caribbean. (My
8-year-old son and I had previously been on Carnival Ecstasy, RCCL Enchantment, and Grand
Princess. My husband and daughter have sailed on three of the four cruises with us.) Our ports of
call were:

San Juan St. Thomas Antigua Barbados St. Lucia St. Martin At Sea San Juan

Although I had not originally intended for this to be a family/friends reunion, that's how it turned out. I
originally booked this cruise with Chuck at Cruise.Com. However, before our final payments were
due, Chuck left the company. Jodi at Cruise.Com then handled my group. Jodi is the group manager
and she did a great job meeting my many requests. I was accompanied by:

1. My husband and our two children, April 11 and Steven 8 2. My brother, his wife and their two
children, Glen 13 and Nenika 9 3. My youngest brother and his daughter, Louisa 11 4. My cousin
from England and her two kids, Loretta 13 and Robert 11 5. My best friend, her mom, and her 4 year
old son 6. My Aunt, Uncle, Dad, and Friend 7. My brother's mother and father in law and 4 of their
friends.

All said and done we had 26 people whose ages ranged from 4 to 74. We occupied 10 cabins, 7 of
which were on the Main deck. For many, this was a FIRST. All of us had a fantastic time, as there was
something for everyone.

Most of us flew into San Juan on May 27, 2000, one day prior to the cruise. We all stayed at the
Wyndham Old San Juan. This was a nice Hotel, but we were there during the Regatta and the place
was a mob scene. There were people everywhere. Usually, the ship docks right across the street
from the Wyndham, however, due to the regatta, the ship docked about 5 miles away. Had I really
understood the ramifications of staying at the Wyndham during the Regatta, I would have selected
another hotel!

Our reunion at the hotel was fantastic. Our kids got to meet their cousins from England and were
able to immediately start getting aquainted. That night, the kids went up to the pool and had lot's of
fun while the adults looked on.

The next day we all loaded into taxis and went over to the port. We left the Hotel at about 12:00
noon. When we got to the port they had not yet started the embarkation process. So we had to wait
outside until they began the process. The process began at around 12:30 and we were on the ship
by 1:00 p.m.

As noted in many reviews, once on board, there is really no on there that shows you to your cabin.
You are however, pointed to the direction of the cabin. Yes, the cabins on Monarch are small, but
one gets used to them. For the first time, my husband and I had a cabin to ourselves without the kids.
That was nice and made our journey a lot more peaceful. We put the 4 girls in the cabin next door to
us and two of the boys shared a cabin with my youngest brother. My teenaged nephew shared a
cabin with his grandfather and uncle. All in all, the cabin arrangements worked well.

Although I had asked that my family be seated together for dinner, we were somewhat separated.
During dinner on the first night, I went to the Maitre D and asked if our seating arrangements could
be changed. We played musical chairs with two other families and my goal was accomplished. We
had two tables for eight and one table for ten, one right behind the other. It was very nice to be able
to gather as a family in the evenings. That night, the teens (Loretta and Glen both aged 13) attended
the teen get together. From then on, we barely saw them. In fact they did not arrive back to their
cabins before 2:30 am most mornings. The regular kids program did not start till the next day. The 5
other kids in my group aged 8 to11 all hung out together.

St. Thomas In St. Thomas, we left the kids on board and went out on our own. Having been to St.
Thomas before, I knew that Timmy provided an excellent tour. After getting off the ship, I asked the
cab driver if he knew how I could find Timmy. Sure enough he radioed Timmy to let him know that
there was a group of 8 people looking for him. Timmy met us downtown. He provides and excellent
tour of the Island in a safari tour bus. If I remember right, he charged $15/person. Timmy's tour lasts
about 3 hours and I would highly recommend it. He offers soft drinks to the ladies and there is a
"special drink" for the men!

Antigua All 26 of us did RCCL's shore excursion to a beach in Antigua. This excursion included a
barbecue lunch. My Aunt from England was able to make contact with a friend of hers from the Island
who also met us a t the beach. We had a wonderful day lying out in the sun enjoying the beach.
However, The local people were really annoying as they tried to sell their wares. Every two minutes
someone would approach us to buy something. Additionally, there was a $12 charge for beach
umbrellas. My son, my brother, my two young cousins and me opted to go horseback riding on the
beach. This was one of the highlights for my son as he is a young cowboy at heart. We rode for
about an hour. By the time we got back, my butt was killing me and my brother hurt his back, but the
kids really enjoyed the ride. Lunch was served at about 12:00 noon and we returned to the ship at
about 3:00.

Barbados About 15 of us opted to do our own thing. We hired a van to take us on a tour of
Barbados. The tour was OK but definitely not as good as Timmy's tour. It lasted about 4 hours but we
drove through many of the parishes of Barbados.

St. Lucia This was the highlight of the cruise for me. St. Lucia is a beautiful Island. We did the
Catamaran shore excursion. We visited a drive through volcano and a plantation. JUST BEAUTIFUL.
The catamaran ride was ever so relaxing. My aunt, who just recently lost her husband won a bottle of
rum since she had been married the longest (42 years) and my cousin Cheryl, took part in a beer
drinking contest. We all had a wonderful time. The catamaran also makes a stop at a beautiful black
sand beach and the kids were able to swim for about an hour. Again, we all had a wonderful time.
They also served lunch on the Catamaran on the way back to the ship. This was a 7hour tour.

St. Martin My husband and I decided that we were not going to travel with our entourage so we
tendered over to St. Martin together (without the rest of the family). We have been to St. Martin
before, so we opted to do some shopping. Again, the vendors put a lot of pressure on you to by their
items. Everyone seemed to be having some kind of a sale. This is how they lure tourists into their
shops. We walked around for a couple of hours and then took the tender back to the ship.

My brother Al, who loves golfing, did many of the golf shore excursions. He and my brother Tony also
did the fishing excursions. They were really unhappy about the fishing excursions and complained
that no one caught anything. Since these excursions are very expensive, they did not feel as if they
got their money's worth. Also, my brother Tony went on a helicopter excursion in St. Thomas and
said that he really enjoyed it.

The kids had the time of their lives. First and foremost I lectured them about the behavior that I did
and did not expect on this cruise. They were warned that if the rules were broken they would spend A
LOT of time in their cabins doing nothing. We have really good kids, but I wanted to impress upon
them the importance of being well behaved. As I said before, we barely saw the two teenagers. In fact
my young teenage cousin fell in love with a teenage boy from Dallas. Additionally, my little 11 year
old cousin fell in love with a girl that he met in the kids program. Every night after dinner they would
head over to the kids program. I asked my son about the activities and he said that they did
adventure science, played with goo, went on scavenger hunts, and threw the kid program director in
the pool. On two nights I let my son and his cousin stay at the kids program till 1:00 am in the
morning. They kids made a lot of friends and they are still emailing each other to reminisce about
their trip.

The service on board was good. I'll especially remember Dr. Booz. He would visit our table every
evening with those little after dinner drinks. He was really cute and made a big fuss over the ladies at
the table.

The older folks in our group had a wonderful time donating their money to the casino. Actually, a few
of them did win quite a bit. I never did make my donation to the casino though.

Debarkation - We met as a family one last time in the April in Paris lounge and said our tearful
good-byes. We were off the ship by 9:30 and at the airport by 10:30. Our flight did not leave till 1:45
so we found a seat and took a long nap. When we got back to Houston, we realized that one of our
bags did not make it to Houston with us. After calling RCCL and American Airlines, we located the
bag in Dallas. American shipped that bag to me the next day.

We enjoyed this cruise immensely. A cruise is what you make of it. Sure everything was not always
perfect but no vacation is perfect. My sister in law and her mom have booked another cruise on
Monarch for next May. Also, in order to combat cruise depression, I have booked a cruise in
December aboard the new Carnival Victory.

So far, I have sailed on Carnival, Princess, and Royal Caribbean. I prefer Royal Caribbean. Carnival
does seem to cater to the younger, partying crowd, and Princess seemed to cater to an older
Caucasian crowd (we are African American). Royal Caribbean seems to cater to the most diverse
group of people from all ages, races, ethnicity's, and income brackets

I could go on forever about this cruise, but I better stop here. Feel free to email me at
nugrad82@aol.com if you have questions.

Name: Johnny Barrington
Email: ufcfansr1@aol.com
Age: 32
Occupation: Truant Officer
NumberOfCruises: 1
TravelAgent: No
Ship: RoyalCaribbean-Monarch
SailingDate: June 11, 2000
Itinerary: Southern Caribbean
Cabin: 6579K
FoodDiningRoom: 85
CruiseDirector: 96
CabinComfort: 89
FoodRoomService: 88
CruiseStaff: 90
CabinAmenities: 80
FoodLidoDeck: 83
DiningRoomService: 90
CabinQuietness: 90
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 88
ShoreExcVariety: 85
FoodVariety: 85
DeckService: 81
ShoreExcValue: 83
GoodForHoneymoon: 95
CasinoStaff: 75
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 77
TenderService: 75
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff: 88
EntertainmentLounges: 80
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 89
OverallPortsofCall: 95
BeautySalon: 88
EntertainmentPoolside: 79
CruiseActivities: 86
Casino: 89
AirSeaProgram: 80
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 85
EmbarkDisembark: 95
DiscoNightclubs: 81
DeckSpace: 83
Stabilization: 79
ShopsOnBoard: 77
SpaceRatio: 83
OverallCruiseValue: 86
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 16 Jul 2000
Time: 19:39:25
Remote Name: spider-wk043.proxy.aol.com
Remote User:

Comments

My wife and I took our first cruise ever and enjoyed it very much. My overall satisfaction was better
than I anticipated. The food was much better than I had read about and the service was really good.
The embarkation/disembarkation process was very simple and painless.

Our favorite aspects of the trip were the ports of call. Our favortie island, and that of many of the
others we talked to on our cruise, was St. Lucia. Our waiter and busboy were great, although they did
not speak English very well. Our cabin steward was efficient and thorough and we didn't see him very
often, which is probably what most passengers want.

Our only negative impressions from the cruise came from the staff that worked the photo area and
the purser's inability to correct the problem to our satisfaction; and also the smell of sewage that
permeated the halls in the cabin areas on all floors. It was not a strong enough smell to make one
sick, but it was definitely noticeable by all on board.

As far as shore excursions go, I would recommend that first time cruisers use shore excursions to get
familiar with the islands except for possibly St. Thomas and St. Lucia. We went with my mother and
her fiancee. They took excursions at every port. My wife and I did our own thing at every port. We
enjoyed ourselves and had no problems at St. Thomas (St. John) and St. Lucia. We did not have
many problems at St. Martin except a lack of time. However, we would have enjoyed ourselves more if
we had taken excursions in Barbados and Antigua and probably St. Martin. My mother and her
boyfriend's favorite must-do shore excursions were the Land and Sea Adventure in St. Lucia and the
4X4 excursion in Antigua. My wife and I recommend a full day, or at least half a day, at St. John while
in St. Thomas.

We will definitely go on another cruise and we will more than likely choose RCI again. However, we
will try to find a price that is more affordable and one that will give us a better feeling of value for our
money.

Good luck!

Name: Sherry Schucker
Email: angel501@home.com
Age: 50
Occupation: Secretary
NumberOfCruises: 2
TravelAgent: No
Ship: RoyalCaribbean-Monarch
SailingDate: July 16, 2000
Itinerary: Southern Caribbean
Cabin: #3054 Cat. H
FoodDiningRoom: 79
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 90
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 95
CabinAmenities: 75
FoodLidoDeck: 90
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 92
FoodMidnightBuffets: 70
CabinSteward: 87
ShoreExcVariety: 100
FoodVariety: 88
DeckService: 90
ShoreExcValue: 92
GoodForHoneymoon: 100
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 95
LoungeService: 95
TenderService: 95
GoodForSeniors: 80
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges:
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 75
OverallPortsofCall: 100
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 70
CruiseActivities: 70
Casino:
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities: 80
ShipCleanliness: 90
EmbarkDisembark: 90
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 95
Stabilization: 100
ShopsOnBoard: 95
SpaceRatio:
OverallCruiseValue: 80
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 30 Jul 2000
Time: 13:53:11
Remote Name: proxy1-external.nwptn1.va.home.com
Remote User:

Comments

This was mine and my husband's second cruise. The first was on the Carnival Immagination in June
of '97. Our friends of many years went with us on the first cruise, and also went with us on this cruise.
We were told by several people that RCCL was so much better and we should give them a try the
next time we go on a cruise. Frankly, I didn't see how that could be since we had such a wonderful
time on the Carnival cruise and the service couldn't have been that much better. Well I was right.

We chose to have Royal Caribbean make our plane reservations for us since we couldn't get any
better rates on our own. The flight to Puerto Rico was long with one lay-over in Charlotte, but we
made it just fine. Embarkation went really smoothe. I was surprised at how quickly we were on the
ship. We didn't have to wait at all. Just showed our tickets and necessary papers and we were on the
ship in no time. The first thing we did was go find our rooms. Our rooms were on the third deck and
halfway between the middle of the ship and the front. Great location. The dining room was one deck
up, the Purser's desk was on our deck, the show lounge was two decks up, and we were pretty close
to everything.

Our rooms were small, but we expected this, so we weren't surprised. There was enough room for
comfort and we didn't plan to spend that much time in the room anyway. We had a porthole for a
window, but at least we had a window. I would never book a cruise with a room without a window. We
used that window all the time. The first thing we did in the morning was look out the window to see
land.

After checking out our rooms, we filled out the papers for our shore excursions, which we had studied
on the Internet and planned before we even got on the ship. Then we went upstairs to the 11th deck
to find food. There wasn't any. We didn't get on the ship until about 4:00 p.m., and it was two hours
before dinner (we had the early seating). We were surprised to find no food or drinks. The ice
machine didn't work, the tea was empty, and the water was warm. There was food 24/7 on the
Carnival cruise ship. We decided to explore the ship and learn our way around until our luggage
arrived.

Our luggage arrived at about 5:15. We unpacked, got dressed, and headed for the dining room. We
were seated at a table for six. The couple that was seated at our table with us were wonderful people.
This was their eighth cruise (one with Carnival and seven with RCCL). They said they liked RCCL
better because there were fewer kids and the guests were a little older than on Carnival. We talked
to them a lot and got to know them pretty well. The waiter and drink man were wonderful. They were
always helpful and did everything we asked, even when we asked them to substitute different things
on our plates. I'll have to admit the food was not that great. It was much better on the Carnival cruise
ship. We all had a hard time making up our minds what we wanted to order because a lot of it didn't
sound very appetizing.

After dinner, we had to attend the lifeboat drill. This took too long, and it was very hot. Someone
questioned what cruise ship that was docked next to ours. The guy that was directing the drill told us
that it was the Carnival Inspiration. He said Carnival was more fun...that it truly was the fun ship. He
said he used to work on one of the Carnival cruise ships. I was disappointed to hear him say this.

After the lifeboat drill, we went to the show lounge. I was really looking forward to the shows because I
came back from the Carnival cruise raving about how fantastic the shows were. Well the first night,
they had a guy on stage playing the piano. He was good on the piano, but we didn't like the kind of
music he was playing (Spanish music). We sat there for about 15 minutes, until we could stand it no
more, then we left. We decided to go out on the pool deck to see what was going on out there. It was
quiet as a mouse. There were very few people out there. No music, no nothing. We walked around a
little while in the moonlight. It had been such a long day with the flight, so we decided to go on to bed,
get a good night's sleep, and be ready for St. Thomas in the morning, where we planned to do some
snorkling and shopping.

Monday morning, we looked out the window, and there was St. Thomas. We got dressed and went to
the Windjammer Cafe for breakfast. Breakfast was really good. Only disappointment was there was
no grits. Every morning, they had oatmeal or cream or wheat, but no grits. You could get grits in the
dining room, but we tried that one morning, and they herded you to a table with lots of strangers (you
weren't allowed to sit wherever you wanted), and you could place your orders there. We chose not to
do this and walked out, as we didn't feel like making conversation with strangers that early in the
morning. We went into town in St. Thomas and went shopping. After the shopping trip, we went back
on board the ship and had lunch. Lunch was really good. Only complaint about lunch was the
deserts. You'd better like rice pudding. They had that every single day. But I liked lunch the best on
the ship. After lunch, we boarded a double-decker boat that took us on our shore excursion over to
St. John's for snorkling at Trunk Bay. The trip over was really nice. The tour guide told us a lot of
very interesting things about St. Thomas and St. John's. We even saw Michael Jordan's house.
Trunk Bay was beautiful. White sandy beaches and the most gorgeous turquoise water you ever
saw. We brought our own snorkling equipment. The snorkling was great. The coral was beautiful and
colorful. They even had an underwater trail that you could follow with signs under the water telling
you about the coral. We even saw a squid (which looked like a small octapus). We had a great time
there.

Back on the ship, it was formal night. We had the early seating, so we had to hurry and get ready,
but we made it in time. The choices were, again, so-so. My husband got a steak that he really did
enjoy. We all ordered two entrees. I had the salmon, which was pretty good. The deserts were only
okay. After dinner, we went to the show. They had a juggler/comedian on the stage, and he was
really great. We really enjoyed him. After the show, we went to the Windjammer to get something to
drink and maybe something to eat. There was nothing to eat and, again, the ice machine was empty.
We had warm tea and water. There was going to be a midnight buffet, but it didn't start until 1:00 in
the morning and lasted until 3:00. Well we were tired, so we went to bed. There was nothing else
going on anyway. I wanted to play the slot machines, but they only had quarter and dollar slot
machines. On Carnival, you could play the nickel slot machines, which means I can lose my money a
lot slower. He-He. So we never used the services in the casino.

The next day, Tuesday, we were in Antigua. We had planned a 4 x 4 shore excursion. We had a lot
of fun on this trip. It was bumpy and took us to the top of a mountain where we could see forever.
Then we went to a beach where we didn't swim, but bought jewelry from a lady selling it on the beach.
She said the beads were from the volcano that exploded that we could see across the water at
Monserrat. We fell for it. We later found out that the beads were called Hemotite and not from the
volcano at all. But the jewelry was pretty anyway, and we bought some more of it when we went to St.
Lucia. After the 4 x 4, we went back on the ship, ate a wonderful lunch, got our snorkling gear, hailed
a taxi, and went to a beach called Fort James to snorkle. We practiced our snorkling, but it was only a
beach for swimming. We still had fun. Then we got another taxi and went back on the ship. That
night, dinner was pretty good. We had lobster, which we had all been looking forward to. We all
ordered two each. We went to the lounge afterwards for the show. The Tokens were there that night.
They were fantastic. Got a standing ovation. No midnight buffet. Nothing going on on the pool deck.
Went to bed.

Wednesday morning, we were in Barbados. I didn't care too much for Barbados. We went on the
Harrison's Cave shore excursion that took all day. The bus ride took us across to the other side of
the island to Harrison's Cave, but on the way, we stopped off at St. John's Church. The church and
the view were pretty, but it took about an hour-and-a-half to get to the cave. We had to wait about 30
minutes before boarding the tram to go through the cave. The cave was interesting, but not all that.
Then we had another boring ride back to the ship. A friend of mine had told me to try the flying fish at
a little shop/grill at the marketplace at the dock. He said they were delicious. I was really looking
forward to the flying fish. But by the time we got back from the boring Harrison's Cave tour, the grill
was closed, so I never got to try the flying fish. I was disappointed. However, we did actually 'see' the
flying fish in the water just over the bow of the ship. They were flying all over the place. That was
really interesting. We watched them all the way back to Puerto Rico.

That night, back on the ship, we went to dinner. Again, dinner was a hard choice. Most of the time,
we ordered two entrees so we could try it all. But honestly, nothing was worth raving about, except for
the steak my husband got. Another midnight buffet tonight at 1:00. Our shore excursions were at
8:15 in the morning, so we had to be off the ship early, so 1:00 was just too late. So we missed
another midnight buffet.

The next morning, we awoke in St. Lucia. St. Lucia was our favorite island. We had planned a
sulphuric hiking trip through the rain forest. And guess what it did in the rain forest. Yep...it rained.
But we kind of expected this. It was wonderful. We hiked to the waterfall and climbed in. One of the
tour guides smeared mud all over us, which is supposed to make you look younger. We got great
pictures. They fed us the best coconut candy you ever ate, and water. Then we hiked some more.
The path was muddy from the rain, but it was a whole lot of fun. At the top of the mountain, we had a
buffet lunch (which was part of the excursion). The buffet was pretty good, but greasy. This was a
7-hour excursion, so it took all day, but was well worth it. We had dinner on the ship, which was pretty
good this night. It was Italian night. For a starter, we had something with octapus, scallops, and
shrimp in it. I knew which was the octapus when I put the tube in my mouth. Actually, it was pretty
good, though. Most of the people at our table ordered the scampi. My husband ordered veal. They
were both really good; however, I wasn't feeling too good. I think the greasy bar-b-qued chicken we
had for lunch on the shore excursion made me nauseous. I didn't finish my food, went to my room,
and spent the rest of the night in bed. My husband and friends went to the show. They said it wasn't
that great. They went to bed and the next morning we were in St. Maarten. I was feeling much better
by then.

St. Maarten was another favorite island. We had planned a shore excursion that included a
catamaran ride on the Golden Eagle over to an island called Ten-Ten-Maire where we would do
some snorkling. This was so much fun. They served us drinks and donuts on board. Our husbands
wanted to go to the nudie beach, but we wanted to go on the catamaran ride. In the end, all four of
us got what we wanted. Another catamaran pulled up at the island we were at and the people on
board stood up and were all naked. We were in shock. Nobody snorkled anymore after that. We just
watched. We got a bottle of champagne at the end of the trip. This was a trip well worth
remembering. Afterwards, we went shopping in St. Maarten. That night was another formal night. The
couple that was seated at our table with us came to the table and told our waiter that they had
already seen the menu and didn't see anything on there worth eating. She said she was tempted not
to even come to dinner that night. We ate, but it wasn't great. We only chose something from the
menu because we had to eat. The juggler/comedian was back that night. He was good again.
Another midnight buffet at 1:00 again. This time we set our alarm to get up for it. I wanted to at least
attend one midnight buffet on this cruise before we went home. The buffet was good, but all the
cheesecake was gone by the time we got there. We took the food back to our rooms and ate it there.
That's the only midnight buffet we attended. In my opinion, midnight is at 12:00...not 1:00 a.m. That's
too late.

Saturday, we were at sea all day. We lounged on the deck in the sun. It was relaxing. There is a
cinema theater on the ship on deck two, so we went there and watched a movie. That was pretty
nice. We had had a full week, so this was a nice relaxing day, which we spent most of the day doing.
That night, dinner was, again, so-so. They were supposed to have something to eat in the lounges,
but we never went there. We did go to the show again. They had the cruise staff on stage doing a
little song and dance routine. That was entertaining. After the show, we went to our rooms and
packed for the trip home. We sat our bags outside our stateroom and went for a walk on deck. Again,
it was quiet as a mouse. We went to bed and woke up the next morning in Puerto Rico. We went to
breakfast and then went to the lounge to wait to disembark. The wait was approximately an
hour-and-a-half. Disembarkation wasn't too bad. We didn't have as hard a time finding our luggage
as we thought we were going to have. We went to customs and paid a few taxes on the stuff we
bought, then headed for the bus to take us to the airport. At the airport, I looked at our tickets, and
they had assigned my husband and I seats apart from each other. He was in 7-A and I had 7-D.
Come to find out, this had happened to a few other people, also. The stewardess said we could try
and switch with somebody when we got on the plane. I was very, very upset by this. I mean you would
hate to think you would be involved in an airplane crash, but if you were, you would at least want to
go down holding your husband's hand, not some stranger's. As it turned out, they overbooked the
plane and offered free flights to people to get off the plane. The people seated next to my husband
took the offer and left the plane. So I got to sit by my husband after all. I was very relieved. This was
a three-and-a-half hour flight to Charlotte and I wanted to be with my husband. Some people weren't
so lucky.

Over all, we had a wonderful time. What the ship lacked in entertainment and good food, the shore
excursions more than made up for. We had already been on a Carnival cruise and people told me
Royal Caribbean was so much better, so I had something to compare with. Royal Caribbean was a
little more expensive than Carnival, but Carnival was, by far, more fun. We went to all the midnight
buffets on the Carnival cruise and did more things on the ship (Carnival was a Western Caribbean
cruise and we had three days at sea), and I only gained 4 pounds on the Carnival cruise. On this
cruise with Royal Caribbean, I gained 10 pounds. Lack of exercise due to nothing to do on the ship.
One thing we missed were the towel animals in our room every night. All we had were pillows
arranged on our bed in different ways. Our next cruise will be with Carnival. You get more for your
money!

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