MS Monarch of the Seas is the second of three
Sovereign classThe Sovereign class is Royal Caribbean International's 3rd generation of cruise ships.The three ships of the class were built in Saint-Nazaire, France at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyards. They were the first modern megaships to be built. They were the first series of cruise ships to include...
cruise shipA cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience. Cruising has become a major part of the tourism industry, with millions of passengers each year...
s owned and operated by
Royal Caribbean InternationalRoyal Caribbean International is a Miami, Florida -based cruise line brand owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., with 21 ships in service and two under construction. All ships since 1991 have names ending in "of the Seas."-Company and brand history:...
. She was built in 1991 at the
Chantiers de l'AtlantiqueChantiers de l'Atlantique is part of the South Korean STX Shipbuilding Group and one of the world's largest shipyards, based in Saint-Nazaire, France...
shipyards in
Saint-NazaireSaint-Nazaire , is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France.The town has a major harbour, on the right bank of the Loire River estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. The town is at the south of the second-largest swamp in France, called "la Brière"...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
.
At 73,941 gross tons, Monarch was one of the largest cruise ships in the world at time of her completion. She 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.
MS Monarch of the Seas is the second of three
Sovereign classThe Sovereign class is Royal Caribbean International's 3rd generation of cruise ships.The three ships of the class were built in Saint-Nazaire, France at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyards. They were the first modern megaships to be built. They were the first series of cruise ships to include...
cruise shipA cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience. Cruising has become a major part of the tourism industry, with millions of passengers each year...
s owned and operated by
Royal Caribbean InternationalRoyal Caribbean International is a Miami, Florida -based cruise line brand owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., with 21 ships in service and two under construction. All ships since 1991 have names ending in "of the Seas."-Company and brand history:...
. She was built in 1991 at the
Chantiers de l'AtlantiqueChantiers de l'Atlantique is part of the South Korean STX Shipbuilding Group and one of the world's largest shipyards, based in Saint-Nazaire, France...
shipyards in
Saint-NazaireSaint-Nazaire , is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France.The town has a major harbour, on the right bank of the Loire River estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. The town is at the south of the second-largest swamp in France, called "la Brière"...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
.
At 73,941 gross tons, Monarch was one of the largest cruise ships in the world at time of her completion. She 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. She 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 CanaveralPort Canaveral is a cruise, cargo and naval port in Brevard County, Florida. It is one of the busiest cruise ports in the world with nearly 1.3 million multi-day cruise passengers passing through during 2007. As deep water cargo port, it has a high volume of traffic. Over of bulk cargo moves...
,
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
with stops in
Coco CayLittle Stirrup Cay, Bahamas, is one of the Berry Islands, a collection of cays and small islands and is located approximately 55 miles north of Nassau. The island is less than a mile wide from east to west and less than a 200 yards from north to south...
and
Nassau, BahamasNassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 260,000 , nearly 80 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
.
Grounding Off St. Maarten
After evacuating a sick passenger at
PhilipsburgPhilipsburg is the main town on the Dutch side of the Netherlands Antilles island of Sint Maarten, on a narrow stretch of land between Great Bay and the Great Salt Pond. It is also the capital of all of Sint Maarten and functions as the island's commercial center...
, St. Maarten, the Netherland Antilles on 15 December 1998,
Monarch of the Seas grazed a
reefIn nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
while departing opening a 40 meter by 2 meter gash along the starboard hull.. The ship started taking water and began to sink by the head. Three of her watertight compartments were completely flooded and several others partially flooded.
She was intentionally grounded on a sandbar to prevent further sinking. All passengers were evacuated by local fisherman and boat owners and no lives were lost. The grounding
breached 2 diesel fuel tanks and an overflow tank causing a small fuel spill of approximately 100 gallons resulted as well as severe damage to the ship. A joint investigation by the Norwegian Maritime Investigator and the
United States Coast GuardThe United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of seven uniformed services. It is unique among the military branches in that it has a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency mission as part of its mission set...
found that the accident was due to “…a myriad of human performance deficiencies.” Reports also indicate that navigation out of the port was done by eye rather than use of electronic navigation and that the relocation of a vital buoy was not reflected on charts.
The ship was drydocked for repairs for three months at
Atlantic MarineAtlantic Marine is an American shipbuilding and construction company. It operates two shipyards, one in Mobile, Alabama and a second, smaller one in Jacksonville, Florida where its corporate headquarters is located....
’s
Mobile, AlabamaMobile is the third most populous city in the Southern U.S. state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 198,915 during the 2000 census...
facilities. One-hundred fourteen of the ship’s compartments had to be cleaned. The work also included the replacement of machinery, 460 tons of shell plating, and of electrical wiring.
Gas leak
While docked at the port of Los Angeles in February 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.
Captain's Death
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. Monday. The ship was returning to Los Angeles from a three-day cruise to Ensenada, Mexico. According to reports, the death of the 38 year old appeared to be of "natural causes".
External links