12-28=09

By sailingrose

• January 5, 2010

This was a special 5 day cruise for New Years. This is the 4th time I've sailed on the Monarch but this was a special trip as we went with my parents. The ports of call were CocoCay and Nassau and we have all been there many times.

We boarded the ship and had lunch before our rooms were ready. The rooms on the Monarch are small but enough room for 2 without a problem. Our cabin steward Othneil was great, very efficient.

We had dinner in the Vincent Dining room and our waiter Abigail did a fine job. This is the first time I've experienced this chef and the food was much better then our recent Constellation cruise. My parents sat with us at a table for 4. We had the opportunity to sit with the Hotel Director and the Inventory Manager at the Captain's table and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It also made the trip quite special for my parents who have never done this.

New Year's Eve was filled with friends, drinks, balloon drops and fun in general. The atmosphere was wonderful the RCI did a great job as usual with this holiday.

Crown and Anchor has revised their perks for Diamond members on all their ships. We were give access to a special lounge in the Viking Crown each night for wine or champagne and also got to have lunch in a special area of the dining room for breakfast. The food was served piping hot and the attention you received was wonderful. Specialty coffees were included in the morning. Nice to see RCI remembering their past guests.

The casino was pretty good to me (for a change) and it was wonderful to see some old friends again. Howie didn't do well but I won $450.00 in the slot machine on the last night! We decided to book another trip on her for Howie's birthday.

I must say debarking was a horror. The Express carry your own luggage was a mess, way too many people doing it with too much and too big luggage. Something has to change with this method. Also you had to walk down 3 flights of stairs which was difficult for my parents. Fortunately a kind young man carried my mom's luggage as well as his own. RCI should have allowed them to use an elevator.

All in all a great trip with many wonderful memories made. Looking forward to our next sailing aboard the Monarch of the Seas.