Twenty-three-year-old Neha Chhikara went overboard at 4:11 a.m. Thursday from the 12th deck of Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas.

The Monarch of the Seas was headed to Little Stirrup Cay near the Berry Islands, Bahamas, from Nassau, Bahamas. The cruise ship is homeported in Port Canaveral, Fla.

The Coast Guard searched a total of 3,725 square miles using:

• An HU-25 Falcon jet crew from Coast Guard Air Station Miami
• An HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from the Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., deployed to Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) on Andros Island, Bahamas
• The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Cormorant, homeported in Fort Pierce, Fla.

The crew of a C-130 Hercules fixed-wing aircraft from

(taken from CoastGuardNews.com)

I was talking to a friend yesterday who is leaving in a couple days to head on one of Royal Caribbeans ships ‘Monarch of the Seas.’  He asked me a question that was appropriate enough for this time of year.  

What is the weather like on those private islands off the Bahamas this time of year (Berry Islands)?

Fair to mild still.  In December and January you can find the temps dropping to about 75.  Remember these islands are a little more north than Nassau, Bahamas (55 miles).

The islands can get cold snaps, especially if Fort Lauderdale, Florida gets chilly. If a rare winter storm blows through, be prepared for temps to drop into the 60′s.

The average temps are in the mid to upper 80′s.  

The cruise lines that go to the private islands are Norwegian Cruise Lines,  Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Disney and Princess.

Monarch of the Seas anchored off of Coco Cay, Bahamas

Destination Coco Cay, Bahamas. 55 miles NNW of Nassau.

Our cabin sat in the front of the ship, so about 7 am we were awoke by the chains of the anchor falling into the sea, the first sign that we arrived in Coco Cay.  The shipped anchored about a mile from the actual island.  Coco Cay is a unmanned island until the ship crew gets into port, so they had to load tender boats up with food, drinks, etc, and carry them over to the island before they would let us off.

After getting motivated and lathered up with sun screen we made out way to the windjammer cafe on deck 11 to grab a light breakfast with our dinner table mates. We all decided the night before that we were going to give para-sailing a shot.

After breakfast, we went down to deck one and boarded the tender boat to take us to the island. The markets on the island only take cash, no credit cards. The bars on the island only take your sea pass card so bring your fanny pack!

We arrived on the island about 10:15 am and signed up for the 11:00 am para-sailing. The cost to para-sail was 84 dollars a person and you rode tandem with 4 other pairs that were doing it. The cost wasn’t bad for the time in the boat you got to spend and going up 400′  above sea level was amazing! It was cool cause you got a birds eye view of the ship too.  After the para-sailing adventure it was lunch time at the island. There was a typical BBQ on the island with chicken, burgers, dogs, salads, etc.  The crew decided to stay on the island, me being a fare skinned wimp choose to take the tender boat back to the ship and well, nap!  The sun exhausts me, what can i say! Woke up at 5 and had a few drinks under the sun on deck 11 while the ship pulled up anchor and made its way home.  After a couple of drinks, headed back down to the room to get ready for our last dinner. I only dressed up for formal night at dinner, the other nights was jeans and a polo. Comfortable and presentable. Before leaving the room I did place the envelope out to extend gratuities to our room steward.  Standard for the steward is 3.50 per day per person.

Dinner the last night was italian night. Very good selections on the menu, lamb, eggplant parm, ect .. I went with the old standby… steak!   We stayed and socialized for a while after dinner to tell our table mates good bye. We extended our gratuities the last night to our head waiter .75 per day, waiter 3.50 per day, and asst. waiter 2.00 per day, all who were awesome and amazing! 

The last night of the cruise, they have this crazy game show done in the circuit lounge, which is the ships night club, its called “Quest.” I wont go into details about this game with the exception that is a adult game and basically a scavenger hunt where anything goes. We teamed up with this great family from Sarasota, Florida and came close to winning, in fact, I believe there should have been a recount! With day three in the books and planning on doing an express departure we went back to our room and packed. Lights out. 1:30 am.  ETA at Port Canaveral 6:00 am.

To be continued….

View of ship from Senor Frogs

After a fun afternoon and evening of meeting people yesterday, day two is here. Destination Nassau, Bahamas.  We woke about 8 am, had breakfast at the Windjammer cafe. Went for a little walk to let the food settle and then headed to the gym about 9 am.  The gym is in the very back of the ship overlooking the stern of the vessel, great view!  A lot of people had the same work out idea that I had, the gym was packed.  After the gym, being a workaholic, I had to stop and check my email. The internet on the ship is .55 cents a minute, you can also choose a pre-paid package for 28 bucks, that prorated to .47 cents a minute. Either or, you gotta have it.

Early morning showers gave way to a beautiful day on the island. We arrived in Nassau right on time. Can I just say the navigation skills of the captain docking the ship is amazing. The captain backed the ship into a small berth like it was nothing.  We were all tied up and ready to leave the ship from deck 1 at noon.  Before leaving the ship make sure you have cash, your ID, and your sea pass card to get back on. Swiping the sea pass card lets the ship know whose on and whose off. 

We didn’t eat lunch on the ship and went straight to Senor Frogs.  Country music superstar, Reba was  at the Atlantis Resort for a private concert so all my co workers were already on the island for the show, they flew in on Thursday.  

 If you have never been to Senor Frogs, its a party atmosphere with live dancing,conga lines, free shots, etc. If you plan to go there, you may want to eat lunch on the ship first. We had lunch there with the coworkers, two entrees and two drinks was 70 bucks.  See the video a couple posts down for our time at frogs!

About 5 pm we said farewell to the coworkers and made our way back to the ship. It took a while cause there was a big festival set up on the pier for July 4th. I believe its a week long celebration cause Bahamas celebrates its Independence day July 10. 

Back on the ship we went to the room and took a cat nap and woke back up at 6 pm to get ready for the captains cocktail party, which is formal attire.  The cocktail party was at 7:30 pm is a welcome reception that the captain throws complimentary drinks and snacks are included.  The captain did a speech at about 8:15 and than it was time to head to the dining room for the captains formal dinner. A variety to choose from on the menu, I had the Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail, sirloin, and banana cake with a scoop of ice cream for dessert.

After dinner, we went up to the viking lounge, which remember is a 360 degree unrestricted view, about 140 feet above sea level, from there we watched the fireworks from the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. Very cool!  We eased onto the room and changed for the midnight buffet. You want to talk about a spread. There was every kind of food imaginable on the buffet all the way to a roasted pig, poor piggy.  We ate entirely too much but well worth it. Finally after lots more food and a couple pineapple drinks we called it a night.  In bed by 2 am.

To be continued…