Monarch of the Seas still attracts a wide variety of cruisers. When she entered service in 1991, Monarch was the world’s largest and most innovative cruise ship. Today, she is far from the largest. Her older sister, Sovereign of the Seas, has been transferred to Royal Caribbean’s Spanish affiliate Pullmantur. However, Monarch has found a market niche that keeps her viable in the American market.
That niche is small get-away cruises from Port Canaveral, Florida to the Bahamas. Monarch does three and four day cruises that call at Nassau and at Royal Caribbean’s private island Coco Cay.
Port Canaveral is not far from Orlando and families vacationing at the theme parks in the Orlando area often want to add a short cruise to their vacation. Because the cruises on Monarch are shorter and less expensive than the cruises done by such first tier ships as Freedom of the Seas, Disney Dream and Carnival Dream that also sail from Port Canaveral, Monarch is able to attract some of the theme park vacationers.
The price and the short length of the cruises also make Monarch attractive to young people looking to try cruising for the first time.
They also make Monarch attractive to veteran Royal Caribbean cruisers who live in Florida. Without much planning, travel or expense,, they can hop onboard for a few days in familiar surroundings.
Although much has been spent to refurbish and maintain the ship over the years, one cannot expect all of the features of the new Royal Caribbean ships. Still, the core features of the Royal Caribbean product are there. One will find that many of the bars and lounges are signature Royal Caribbean venues. Similarly, the ship offers many of the activities that are popular with Royal Caribbean cruisers. Furthermore, while Monarch is not as big as Oasis of the Seas, she is still a big ship with big ship facilities.
Beyondships’ profile of Monarch of the Seas is at http://www.beyondships.com/RCI-MONS-Profile.html and the multi-page photo tour and commentary is at http://www.beyondships.com/RCI-MONS--Tour-1.html
No comments:
Post a Comment