We found plenty of space to store our belongings and an adequate amount of hangers in the closet. Too bad that our luggage wouldn’t arrive until later. As we had already eaten lunch, we decided to explore the ship, but first I checked out the bathroom. The toilet seat looked like it had been through several battles with claws. Perhaps a dog had inhabited this stateroom before us. Two of the floor tiles were scratched and cracked. Neither of these things bothered me as much as the dark hairs that covered the floor. I had read numerous times about the cleanliness of the ship. Maybe that only referred to the public areas. I called and requested that the floor be cleaned. Obviously, it wasn’t thoroughly cleaned after the previous occupants left. The housekeeping person assured me that it had been cleaned and that I was wrong, but would send somebody to look at it.

We went to the top of the ship hoping to find a suitable spot for walking. There is a jogging track, but you had better keep your elbows close to your body and watch out for all the others standing in the middle of the track. We don’t run, but enjoy walking and wish that all ships had a nice promenade deck, which this one lacked.

The gym, although small, comes equipped with decent equipment. It’s necessary to sign a release before you are allowed to use any of the equipment, a new concept to us. Right next to the gym is a relaxation room from which you can access a sauna and steam room. The spa is just outside the gym and consists of only five treatment rooms. Unlike other ships, there were no spa tours or drawings taking place.

Our tour was interrupted by the muster drill, which was done in five languages – English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. This takes place on Deck 6, which looks like it might have a promenade deck. Don’t be fooled. This deck stops at the stern and bow, so would only be good for doing short turn-around walks.

The ship itself is very pleasant with an understated, but elegant decor, which we found quite pleasing. The areas seemed well maintained and clean. We found the Lord Nelson’s Lounge quite overwhelming with a strong stench of tobacco smoke. After all, it is a designated smoking lounge, but it’s necessary to walk through it to get to the Broadway Theatre.

Next time: The Food on the Lirica

Sail Away

The breakfast and lunches in the main dining room were good, but the quality of dinner varied, although the food was always edible. My worst meal was the one that I decided to choose what the server recommended rather than what I was originally drawn to. Of course, I could have ordered something else, but never felt the necessity to add yet another course to the already huge meals.

We had an assigned table at the second seating and sat with a couple and three siblings, whose company we enjoyed. We were lucky to have such pleasant dining companions. Our servers were very good and always aimed to please.

The Stateroom - We had been upgraded to a Superior Ocean View from an ocean view. Although this was a short cruise, we still enjoyed the extra space. The one odd thing about the room was that the desk chair had large arms that prevented it from being slid under the desk. It stuck out into the traffic path, but really was no big deal. It just seemed that somebody wasn’t thinking when they chose that style of chair.
The bed and linens were very comfortable and in good shape. The room came equipped with a refrigerator, which we only used to store milk for my tea.

The Public Areas – This ship is a smaller ship put still carries many passengers. We kept looking at the tonnage and the passenger capacity and compared it to the other ships. The reason seems to be that there are far fewer public spaces than on other ships. There are not many alternative restaurants at all. In fact Jade is the only alternative restaurant, which we never tried. The gym and spa areas are small. We never felt crowded on this ship, except the night of the chocolate buffet when people lined up for miles and screeched at every person coming off the elevator.

Although the ship is older, everything is well-maintained and clean. We did find a lack of rest rooms, especially on Deck 7, even though the conference room, Boleros and the upper level of the Sound of Music Lounge are on that deck.

The Entertainment The shows that we went to were good, but there was a real problem with seating. The first night, they only offered one seating of the show. What a mistake that was. We stood as did many others. The staircases became seating areas and people squeezed in wherever they could. The theatre is another poorly designed one, with poor viewing from much of the balcony. Sit on the main level or get some of the first row balcony seats, but be aware that even some of those have obstructed views.
Johnny O, the cruise director, ranks as one of my favorites. He is immensely talented and even plays with the musical groups onboard. His demeanor is that of a calm, yet enthusiastic person rather than of a carnival hawker.
I did not enjoy one of the lounge singers who played the piano well, but couldn’t sing at all. Some woman joined him in singing. At first I thought that it was karaoke. It definitely wasn’t.

The PortsMonarch of the Seas visits San Diego, Catalina Island and Ensenada. Although there were some jokes about cruising to San Diego, we found each port interesting enough to entertain us for the entire port call.

The Passenger Mix The shorter cruises have a reputation for their party atmospheres. There wasn’t any noticeable difference in the level of partying from longer cruises that we had been on. We met some very nice people on this ship, but we have never seen so many people who must have spent their money on the cruise rather than on the dentist. Each to his own.

Locals are bemoaning the fact that the Monarch will be moving to a new home port on the East Coast. It’s easy to understand that sentiment because this short getaway was definitely one worth repeating.

Sail away

Do you love a bargain? Check out the Royal Caribbean Cruises that cost just $50 per day. Keep in mind that this is before taxes and fees and the dreaded fuel surcharge. But, what other vacation could you do that included all meals, accommodations and entertainment for this rate? We especially recommend the 3 and 4 day cruises on the Monarch of the Seas, which we
recently enjoyed. A review of that ship and itinerary will follow the NCL Star review. In the meantime, feel free to contact us with questions. (To make a long story short, we really enjoyed our Monarch of the Sea cruise.)

The Casino

The casino provides a bit of diversion and they have mastered the easiest way to to get you to part with your cash as quickly as possible. Located on Deck 6, the casino offered a buy $10, get $20 in slot machine credit, so we both fell for that promotion. From the start, we had problems. We each got our promo cards and found machines, followed the instructions for using the credits and got a message saying that the available credit on our cards was $0. After several trips to the cashier, we finally got cards that showed our $20 credit. We found two penny machines, big spenders that we are, and I quickly spent the $5 that I had downloaded into the machine. The plan was to do $5 per casino visit. Bugsy on the other hand, played his machine for hours, eventually earning $60, all from that initial $5.

The next day we returned again and inserted our cards. I first went to a machine that wouldn’t accept the card. Certain machines do not take promo credit. Maybe this should have been a hint that perhaps these machines pay better. There was nothing different about them from other machines. I eventually found a suitable machine, but Robert went to one that said that his remaining credit was $0. Since he had only spent $5 the night before, this was obviously a mistake. He went to the cashier and explained the situation, never realizing what an event this would become. The “records” showed that he had used his card in a 25 cent machine after 9:30 pm the previous night. Since we were still on EST, we had gone to bed at 9:30 pm the night before so were definitely not in the casino. We also had not played the machine that the computer print-out indicated. The casino woman implied that perhaps Robert was so inebriated that previous night that he had forgotten which machines he had played. The other implication was that he had given his card to somebody else. At this point, we started to get annoyed and also became curious about exactly how much control there is over these machines. We talked to the casino manager and suggested that they look at the video tapes to see that we were NOT in the casino at 9:30pm on that night. We suggested that perhaps somebody hacked into a machine as there are keypads on the slots. The manager said that would be impossible.

On one hand, we understand that anybody could spend their credit and claim that they weren’t at the casino or they could have given their card to a cruise companion. Originally, we thought about just letting the missing credit slide. After all, Robert had made more than that, but then when we considered all the trouble we had getting the cards to show the proper credit in the first place, we felt it worth pursuing, not knowing that it would be implied that we were liars of questionable ilk. The manager told us to wait and bought us a drink while he waited to hear back from security who would view the tapes. After an inordinate amount of time, we said that we would simply return later.
Many hours later, the manager had still heard nothing from security. We played another penny machine and I quickly lost. Now paranoid that they simply tightened the machine when they saw my Casino At Sea card in the slot, I just didn’t bother putting the card in.
That reminds me that since until this time, we always put our Casino at Sea cards in, we had also asked the manager to see if our Casino at Sea card was used in the machine where we allegedly spent the last $15 of the promo card. The manager said that we could have just used the promo card without the Casino at Sea card, since it was not used at 9:30 that night.

I was waiting for Columbo to show up or maybe the Candid Camera crew to come on the scene and tell us what the trick was, but that didn’t happen. We went back to the casino another time and the manager told us that the tapes only show the back of heads and he didn’t want to examine the back of either of our heads to match them to the tape. So what’s the point of tapes if you can only see the back of a head? Don’t they monitor movement in the casino? Couldn’t they see who originally sat down? How did somebody else gain access to our credit? These are questions that will never be answered. It appeared to us that after viewing the tapes, the manager seemed more inclined to believe our story and gave Robert a card with his remaining $15 credit. It isn’t as if they would tell us that they discovered a problem or that some other irregularity was discovered. We never won another dime in the casino after that point and speculated that whenever they saw us at a machine, they set it on extra tight.

We did mention this problem to the hotel manager and explained that although eventually, the casino manager satisfactorily resolved the problem, that treating us like criminals was entirely unwarranted. The casino should accept responsibility for problems created by them.

We had been in the casino to learn to play some of the table games. We tried 3-card poker, regular poker and Texas-Hold’em, which I didn’t understand at all. It looked like a losing proposition all around (not that anything in the casino is a winning proposition). Although that game and many others have a $5 minimum, it was necessary to put down two chips to be part of the game. No wonder there were so many Texas Hold’em tournaments. It must be very profitable for the ship.

Maybe one of these days, we will try to lose some money at the table games. Shouldn’t be too hard.

Sail Away

Looking for a luxurious getaway on a cruise ship? Book now on Oceania before their fares increase on January 1, 2008.

Cabin 8632, Category C, Oceanview

As previously mentioned, our cabin was opposite the doorway to the elevator lobby on Deck 8. This proved to be an ideal spot for a stateroom although originally, we had some concerns about traffic and noise. Those worries turned out to be unfounded. The cabin was quiet and in a very convenient location for easy access to the elevators, the Versailles Dining Room and Endless
Summer.

We had plenty of closet space, which included both shelves and a rack for hanging. The refrigerator was on a shelf that was high enough so that we didn’t have to bend over. The coffee maker was absent from the desk, but I did request one, which should come in every cabin, and it appeared shortly thereafter.

Our beds were still in a twin configuration, so we asked our kind room stewards to combine them into one bed. In this particular cabin the head of the bed is along the window. I have never figured out if there is an advantage to having the bed facing in a certain direction when traveling through rough waters. On each side of the bed is a table and reading lamp, but we never found switches near the bed to turn off the main light in the room.

The desk had drawers and shelves and enough room for more storage. We removed the Bible from the drawer and tossed it up onto a high shelf that we weren’t using. I had brought my own reading material along with me. The chairs in the room included a regular desk-type chair and a round, backless stool best suited for a dressing table. There was but one outlet at the desk, but we brought along a multi-plug so that we had plenty of places to plug in the laptop and chargers. The coffee maker had its own outlet. We found the cabin adequate at 140 square feet. This cabin is set up for four people with a pullman bed and a trundle bed. It might get a bit crowded with four adults.

The bathroom is divided into two areas. When you enter, the sink, which had a kitchen faucet on it, is directly ahead, with the toilet compartment to the left and the shower area to the right. Both the toilet and shower have sliding doors. The entry into the toilet area was about 18″ which could pose a problem to those who have overindulged in one too many midnight buffets. The compartment itself was rather narrow as well. The shower had a wider opening. The bathroom came supplied with a shower cap, body lotion, shoe mitt and dispensed hand soap. In the shower both shampoo and soap were dispensed. We found the pressure and temp of the water to be good.

On the large bathroom mirror, there is also a magnifying mirror, which I think some refer to as shaving mirrors. I can tell you that looking into that mirror sent me looking for a razor. It’s amazing how much those little mirrors expose – chin hairs, broken capillaries, enlarged pores… Use that mirror at your own risk. NCL should hook a razor right on that mirror. I felt like never leaving the confines of my cabin again.

We had some issues with the room being a bit warm, but had this resolved. It simply involved somebody coming and pulling a panel in the hall and making an adjustment. Within a short time our room was comfortably cool. As luck would have it, the outside temperature dropped several degrees the next few days, so we had to warm up the room a little, which for us means just slightly warmer than a meat locker.

The pillows on the bed were fine for Bugsy, but not for me. I asked our steward, Suyatno, if he could find me a feather pillow to which he responded that those are usually for guests in the higher category cabins. I didn’t expect to see a pillow change, but sure enough, there was a feather pillow on the bed later that day. That made me a very happy camper. NCL might consider replacing these beds, which are a little worse for the wear. The only other NCL ship that we have sailed is the Spirit and that had worn-out beds as well. When you can see that the mattress has a big impression in it, it should be obvious that it is time for a replacement.

Our stewards sometimes brought us chocolates for our pillows and occasionally created the much sought after towel animals. We both find it fascinating that some judge a cruise on the number and type of towel animals that they find in their rooms. When or why this tradition started, I don’t know, but it will certainly, if ever it does, die hard.

Our cabin was always clean. With the Freestyle concept, it isn’t always obvious to the room stewards when we were at dinner. A simple turn of the dial outside the room assisted the stewards in figuring this out and getting the rooms cleaned while we were on shore or at dinner.

On the first day, there was a pressing special for $1 per item. I didn’t worry about the tux being a bit wrinkly because I figured I would take advantage of this offer, which is only for embarkation day. Well, it turns out the fine print says that suits, dry clean only items and other fancy-dancy stuff don’t qualify. The tux would cost $6.50 to press, but $10.50 to dryclean and press. Compared to our local cleaners, this was quite a deal, so we had it cleaned. When it came back the next day, the jacket was missing. Bugsy told the person who delivered it that something was missing, but that person seemed a bit baffled but said that he would hunt it down. When the next day came and we still didn’t have the jacket for formal night, we asked our steward about it. He pleasantly explained that we should have let him know about it in the first place. We assumed that the other person would really go looking for it. Obviously not. Suyatno attended to this immediately and when we returned later that day, the jacket was there. Throughout the cruise, he and Dinkie made sure that everything was fine, although we really didn’t ask for much other than the jacket. They greeted us even when they were far down the hall and always had smiles on their faces.