Monarch of the Seas anchored off Coco Cay with tender along side |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | MS Monarch of the Seas |
| Owner: | Royal Caribbean International |
| Operator: | Royal Caribbean International |
| Port of registry: | Norway → Nassau, Bahamas |
| Route: | Bahamas-Departing from Port Canaveral |
| Builder: | Chantiers de l'Atlantique; Saint-Nazaire, France |
| Launched: | 1991 |
| Maiden voyage: | November 11, 1991 |
| In service: | 1991-present |
| Identification: | IMO number: 8819500 MMSI number: 311735000 |
| Status: | In active service as of 2010 |
| Notes: | CDC sanitation score: 97% (06-23-2008)[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Sovereign class cruise ship |
| Tonnage: | 73,941 gross tons |
| Displacement: | 47,508 tonnes |
| Length: | 268.33 m (880 ft 4 in) |
| Beam: | 32.20 m (105 ft 8 in) |
| Draft: | 7.55 m (24 ft 9 in) |
| Decks: | 12 |
| Installed power: | 21,840 kW from 4 Pielstick-Alsthom diesels |
| Propulsion: | Two controllable pitch propellers rear; two thrusters each side forward |
| Speed: | 22 knots (40.7 km/h/25.3 mph) |
| Capacity: | 2,744 passengers |
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 gross tons, 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, 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.[2] 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.[3][4]
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After evacuating a sick passenger at Philipsburg, St. Maarten, the Netherlands Antilles on 15 December 1998, Monarch of the Seas grazed a reef while departing opening a 40 by 2 metres (130 by 6.6 ft) gash along the starboard hull.[5] The ship started taking water and began to sink by the head. Three of its watertight compartments were completely flooded and several others partially flooded.
It was intentionally grounded on a sandbar to prevent further sinking. All passengers were evacuated by crew members and local tender operators. No lives were lost. The grounding breached 2 diesel fuel tanks and an overflow tank causing a small fuel spill of approximately 100 US gallons (380 l; 83 imp gal). There was also severe damage to the ship.[5][6] A joint investigation by the Norwegian Maritime Investigator and the United States Coast Guard found that the accident was due to “…a myriad of human performance deficiencies.” Reports also indicate that navigation out of the port was done visually rather than using of electronic navigation and that the relocation of a vital buoy was not reflected on charts.[7][8]
The ship was drydocked for repairs for three months at Atlantic Marine’s Mobile, Alabama facilities. One-hundred and fourteen of the ship’s compartments had to be cleaned. The work also included the replacement of machinery, 460 tons of shell plating, and 18 miles (29 km) of electrical wiring.
While docked at the port of Los Angeles in August 2005, maintenance on a sewage pipe caused a small amount of raw sewage and an unknown amount of hydrogen sulfide gas to escape. Three crew members, Boris Dimitrov of Bulgaria; Willie Tirol of The Philippines and Radomilja Frane of Croatia, were killed and 19 others were injured. Reports said that the deaths were almost instantaneous as the crew members were not wearing breathing apparatus at the time.[9][10]
38 year old Captain Joern Rene Klausen was found dead in his stateroom aboard the Monarch of the Seas early the morning of January 30, 2006. The ship was returning to Los Angeles from a three-night cruise to Ensenada, Mexico.[11] According to reports, the death appeared to be of "natural causes".[12]
A 23-year old woman passenger jumped off the 11th deck of the ship around 4am on Thursday, December 31, 2009. The woman was reported missing by her husband, a Royal Caribbean employee.[13][14]
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