MS Monarch of The Seas

MS Monarch Of The Seas

MS Monarch of the Seas is the second of three Sovereign class cruise ships owned and operated by Royal Caribbean International. It was built in 1991 at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyards in Saint-Nazaire, France.

At 73,941 GT, Monarch was one of the largest cruise ships in the world at time of its completion. It can carry up to 2,744 passengers.

Monarch has an outdoor basketball court, an ice rink, two shuffleboard courts, and a rock climbing wall, which is marketed as an exclusive feature of Royal Caribbean International. There are also two full-sized salt water pools. It was completely refurbished in May 2003 prior to beginning service from Los Angeles. The refurbishment added a rock-climbing wall, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and Seattle's Best Coffee, a Latin Bar, disco, Asian-fusion restaurant and conference center. The fitness center, spa and children's area were also enlarged. Today Monarch sails 3 and 4 night cruises to the Bahamas out of its home port in Port Canaveral, Florida with stops in Coco Cay and Nassau, Bahamas.

In 2007, Monarch became the first major cruiseliner in the world to be captained by a woman, the Swede Karin Stahre Janson, who remained the only one until 2010 when the British captain Sarah Breton took charge of MS Artemis of P&O Cruises.

Navigation of the Monarch of the Seas is currently handled by Trond Holm and Kjell Nordmo.

On March 20, 2012, Royal Caribbean announced that they will transfer her to Spain's Pullmantur Cruises. Transfer date will be April 1, 2013.