We are getting ready to book a weekend cruise to Baja Mexico out of the Los Angeles/Long Beach area and can't decide which cruise line to choose.

We cruised on Royal Caribbean out of Cape Canaveral a few years ago and had a great experience. However, people are telling me that Carnival's Paradise is better than the Monarch of the Seas that does the same cruise.

Have you been on both? Which one would you choose? Help?!

Been on both RCL and Carnival. We like Carnival better. Cabins are larger and we have more fun on Carnival.

Hello Sunshine2, welcom to Cruise-Chat. I was on the Monarch a couple of years ago and had a great time. You have to remember the Monarch is old and small compared to the newer RCCL ships. You can look at some pictures of the monarch if you go to my photo site. Just click on the Monarch of the Seas gallery after you CLICK HERE

Hope this helps...

Sonny

I would suggest you try the Monarch of the Seas, it has better itinerary. You'll be visiting San Diego,CA on your 4-night cruise. Carnival ship will have a day at sea instead! Besides, Monarch of the Seas had been refurbished in June 2003 and it looks great.

We were on a 4 day Halloween cruise on Monarch from LA that included San Diego, Catalina, and Ensenada. The ship was much,much nicer than we expected. It has been refurnished and is in fine condition. The bed linens were Egyptian cotton and the beds were extremely comfortable. The food was quite good, and we enjoyed the entertainment. Yes, the cabins are small, but the storage is adequate. We had previously been on Celebrity Mercury and Golden Princess, and found this food to be as good as Celebrity, which was a surprise to us. The buffet lunch on embarkation day was the best I have had. I think you cannot go wrong with this ship.

My first-ever cruise was on the Majesty of the Seas, sister ship to Monarch. I haven't been on Paradise, but have been on her sister ships also and, other than not having a water-slide, the Monarch is probably the nicer ship of the two.

Now if you happen to be traveling "solo" I'd go with Carnival which usually has more "singles" on board.

Hello. Well, I have been on the Monarch twice since it has been refurbished. The last time was Jan 06 for the 4 day Baja. We just did our first Carnival on the Paradise for the 3 day Baja. We had to do Carnival, because the other couple we cruised with had a tight schedule, they had never cruised before. Otherwise, we would of booked the Monarch. We just did the 3 night Baja on the Paradise over New Years a few weeks ago. I tried to be unbiased. Overall, my husband and I much prefered the Monarch. The Monarch has a more classy, nautical theme. The dining room was MUCH classier. The food buffets had a much better selection, I thought the quality was the same. The Monarch rooms are smaller, but adequate. On the Monarch, the lifeboats are tucked down below, down on the lower level open decks. Now, on the Paradise, a HUGE dislike for me was the lifeboats hung out on the open deck above the pool deck. So, when you walked on the open deck above the pool, it was the highest full deck, there are all the lifeboats hanging off the edge, blocking alot of your view . The pool deck has windows all around it, with no lifeboats blocking your view. I like to spend alot of quiet time on the open air decks, watching the world sail by, I felt like I was pretty much robbed of that. We did not like the dining room at all. The service was fine, and food good. The dining room major dislike was the decor, very cheesy IMHO, we actually sat in a booth. It immediately made me feel like I was in a regular restaurant, like it was nothing special. There are these lights on the ceiling on the Paradise, they would flash them on and off. Cheesy, once again is the only word I can think off to describe my thoughts. It almost had a disco effect, minus the music. The overall decor was much busier, than what I was used too, but it worked. I enjoyed the different decor in the bars. The spas on both ships are run by the same company. I spent alot of time in both ships spa, and they are the same. Anyways, I know it was only our first Carnival cruise, and I shouldn't judge Carnival on a 3 night party boat cruise over New Years, on one of there oldest ships. But, my husband and I both agreed it was our last Carnival cruise. Anyways, these are just my thoughts. I would be more willing to try Carnival on a newer ship, with there lifeboats hidden more discretely. Hope this helps, Lil' Lori