MS ''Monarch'' (formerly ''Monarch of the Seas'') was the second of three s owned by
Royal Caribbean International
Royal Caribbean International (RCI), also formerly known as Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL), is a cruise line brand founded in 1968 in Norway and organised as a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group since 1997. Based in Miami, Flori ...
. Beginning on April 1, 2013, ''Monarch'' was operated by RCCL's
Pullmantur Cruises
Pullmantur Cruises was a cruise line headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It began operations in the late 1990s as an offshoot of the Madrid-based travel agency Pullmantur. In 2006, Pullmantur Cruises, through its parent company, was purchased by U.S ...
, before being sold for scrap in 2020 following the cruise line's closure. It was built in 1991 at the
Chantiers de l'Atlantique
Chantiers de l'Atlantique is a shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. It is one of the world's largest shipyards, constructing a wide range of commercial, naval, and passenger ships. It is located near Nantes, at the mouth of the Loire river and ...
shipyards in
Saint-Nazaire
Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany.
The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
At , ''Monarch'' was one of the largest cruise ships in the world at time of her completion. She could carry up to 2,744 passengers.
History
![Monarch of the Seas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Monarch_of_the_Seas.JPG)
About a third of the ship burned during its completion afloat in 1990, due to an accident involving some welding equipment. At the time, the costs to make repairs was so uneconomical that it was not clear that the ship could be repaired.
After consideration, the ship was placed in dry dock and the damaged bow section was removed. This section was then built and the metal recycled to construct the next ship of the class ''Majesty of the Seas''.
''Monarch'' had an outdoor basketball court, two shuffleboard courts, and a rock climbing wall. There were also two full-sized salt water pools. She was refurbished in May 2003 to add the rock-climbing wall. The fitness center, spa and children's area were also enlarged. Prior to being retired from the Royal Caribbean International fleet, ''Monarch of the Seas'' (as she was then called) sailed to the Bahamas out of
Port Canaveral
Port Canaveral is a cruise, cargo, and naval port in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is one of the busiest cruise ports in the world with 4.5 million cruise passengers passing through during 2016. Over 5.4 million tonnes of bulk car ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
.
In 2007, ''Monarch'' became the first major cruise ship in the world to be captained by a woman, the
Swede Karin Stahre-Janson
Karin Stahre-Janson is a Swedish cruise ship captain. When she became the commanding officer of ''Monarch of the Seas'' in 2007, it was the first time that a woman had been in command of a "mega" cruise ship. She has also been placed in command o ...
, who remained the only one until 2010 when the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
captain Sarah Breton took charge of of
P&O Cruises
P&O Cruises is a British cruise line based at Carnival House in Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. It was originally a subsidiary of the shipping company P&O and was founded in 1977. Along w ...
.
On 1 April 2013, after serving for
Royal Caribbean International
Royal Caribbean International (RCI), also formerly known as Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL), is a cruise line brand founded in 1968 in Norway and organised as a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group since 1997. Based in Miami, Flori ...
for 22 years, ''Monarch'' was transferred to Spain's
Pullmantur Cruises
Pullmantur Cruises was a cruise line headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It began operations in the late 1990s as an offshoot of the Madrid-based travel agency Pullmantur. In 2006, Pullmantur Cruises, through its parent company, was purchased by U.S ...
, joining her sister ship .
Before sailing for Pullmantur, ''Monarch'' underwent another refurbishment to some of her cabins, casino and shops. She began sailing year-round in the Southern Caribbean on 27 April 2013.
![Monarch et Sovereign en Turquie pour être démantelés](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Monarch_et_Sovereign_en_Turquie_pour_%C3%AAtre_d%C3%A9mantel%C3%A9s.jpg)
In 2020, amid the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, ''Monarch'' and were placed into "cold lay-up" and Pullmantur Cruises filed for financial reorganization. According to reports, the interiors of the ships were stripped of "everything of value". Pullmantur Cruises announced that MS ''Monarch'', MS ''Sovereign'' and MS ''Horizon'' were to be sold to breakers for scrap in
Aliağa
Aliağa is a town and a district of Izmir Province in the Aegean Region of Turkey. The town is situated at about north of Izmir. Aliağa has a large port, mainly for oil and bulk cargo. Its economic activity is based on tourism, shipbreaking, ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
. She was beached on 22 July 2020 and scrapping started on 5 April 2021 with the removal of the pilot's cabinet.
Incidents
Grounding off St. Maarten
![AliagaPanoramaMay2021 (Monarch)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/AliagaPanoramaMay2021_%28Monarch%29.jpg)
After evacuating a sick passenger at
Philipsburg, Sint Maarten
Philipsburg () is the main town and Capital city, capital of the country of Sint Maarten. The town is on a narrow stretch of land between Great Bay and the Great Salt Pond. It functions as the commercial center of Saint Martin (island), Saint Mar ...
, the
Netherlands Antilles
nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom"
, national_anthem =
, common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento
, demonym = Netherlands Antillean
, capital = Willemstad
, year_start = 1954
, year_end = 2010
, date_start = 15 December
, ...
on December 15, 1998, ''Monarch of the Seas'' grazed a
reef
A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...
while departing, opening a gash along the starboard hull in size.
The ship started taking on water and began to sink by the head. Three of its
watertight compartment
A compartment is a portion of the space within a ship defined vertically between decks and horizontally between bulkheads. It is analogous to a room within a building, and may provide watertight subdivision of the ship's hull important in retain ...
s were completely flooded and several others partially flooded.
The ship was intentionally grounded on a sandbar to prevent further sinking. All passengers were evacuated by crew members and local tender operators. There were no deaths. The grounding breached two of the ships diesel fuel tanks and an overflow tank causing a small
fuel spill of approximately . There was also severe damage to the ship.
A joint investigation by the Norwegian Maritime Investigator and the
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...
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.
The ship was
drydock
A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
ed for repairs for three months at
Atlantic Marine
Atlantic Marine was an American shipbuilding and construction company. It operated two shipyards, one in Mobile, Alabama and the original corporate location, a smaller one in Jacksonville, Florida where its headquarters was located. It was acquir ...
's
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...
, facilities. One hundred fourteen of the ship's compartments had to be cleaned. The work also included replacement of machinery, 460 tons of shell plating, and of electrical wiring.
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
comedian
John Pinette
John Paul Pinette ( ) (March 23, 1964 – April 5, 2014) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and Broadway performer. He toured the comedy club circuit beginning in the 1980s and appeared in cinema and on television. Besides stand-up, Pinet ...
was aboard the ship at the time of the incident, referencing it in his 2005 DVD 'I Say Nay Nay'.
Gas leak
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
Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is poisonous, corrosive, and flammable, with trace amounts in ambient atmosphere having a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. The unde ...
gas to escape. Three crew members 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
Thirty-eight-year-old Captain Joern Rene Klausen was found dead in his stateroom aboard ''Monarch'' early the morning of January 30, 2006. The ship was returning to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
from a three-night cruise to
Ensenada, Mexico
Ensenada is a city in Ensenada Municipality, Baja California, situated on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Located on the Bahía de Todos Santos, the city had a population of 279,765 in 2018, making it the third-largest city in Baja California. The ...
. According to reports, the death appeared to be of natural causes.
Coronavirus pandemic
On 14 March 2020, Panama repatriated 1,504 Colombian tourists from the cruise ship ''Monarch'' due to
coronavirus
Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...
fears. Since the port of
Cartagena, Colombia
Cartagena ( , also ), known since the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias (), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region, bordering the Caribbean sea. Cartagena's past role as a link ...
was closed, the people had to fly from
Colón, Panama
Colón () is a city and seaport in Panama, beside the Caribbean Sea, lying near the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. It is the capital of Panama's Colón Province and has traditionally been known as Panama's second city. Originally it was l ...
. As of 14 March, about 300 people were still waiting to buy tickets.
On 17 April 2020, a Honduran crew member died of the virus in a hospital in Panama City.
He had been
medically evacuated after having trouble breathing, and tested positive at the hospital.
This and the shutdown of Pullmantur is what caused Monarch to be sold for scrap.
References
External links
Official website with Royal CaribbeanVideo Clip of Monarch of the Seas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monarch
Ships of Royal Caribbean International
Ships built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique
1990 ships