Those of you who have seen it, what was your impression? We will be in the Bay area in July and wonder if we should devote a day driving down and seeing the fish. Thanks in advance.

Yes, I would say go! July will be very busy, tho. We were there during the week in December and there were no crowds. It was wonderful, we really enjoyed the exhibits, plan on spending at least three hours there in high season and try to purchase your tickets in advance to avoid waiting in line once you get there.

Walk to Schooner's at the Plaza for a nice meal afterwards. Have fun! ***kim***

I think the aquarium is terrific and definitely worth seeing. Whether or not you should take the time to see it during your trip depends on a lot of things - how long you are in town, what else is on your itinerary, and so on.

Realistically, it takes a couple hours to go through the aquarium so if you wanted to do a day trip, you could combine it with lunch and some other wandering around.

Sorry, I didn't find this particular aquarium different from all others.

I really enjoyed the ocean views and the 17 mile drive.

If I'd have out-of-town guests, I'd take them to the Vallejo's Marine World instead, or maybe to the aquarium on Pier 39 in San Francisco.

Oh, and one more thing: it's "Monterey" spelled with 1 R. MonteRRey is in Mexico.

It's a great aquarium but no different than ones in other citeies. There is so much to do it the Bay Area I'd skip this...

Have breakfast at Awakanings in Pacific Grove, bike or drive the "17-mile drive", stop at Pebble Beach, go to the Tuesday night Farmer's market in Monteray, shop in Carmel, watch the seals in Monteray.

Although it was crowded the day I went I really enjoyed this aquarium, in particular the jelly fish tanks, interactive areas and views from the decks. Given the opportunity I would go again.

When the Monterey Aquarium was built it was pre-eminent among aquariums worldwide. Now a few new ones in other cities are in the same class. Besides what J_Correa mentions, another consideration is do have a world class aquarium near your home town. If not, Monterey could be a "must".

The setting is terrific, and there is soooo much else to see in Monterey and Carmel that it would be a fantastic day trip. Be sure to buy your tix ahead of time.

I've had some people I know say they didn't like it because they thought it was going to be more of a SeaWorld type of operation.

I gotta hang with better people!
Funny how they say the same thing.

I was so excited to take the kids. After about 30 miunutes they begged to leave. I guess we're more like tidepool people. We also have always lived in CA so the whole ocean thing has been there for the taking. Just last weekend we sat outside Dukes in Malibu and watched the dolphins jumping in the water.
For me, the aquarium is kinda like the zoo. I hate seeing the caged cheetahs the most.

Yes! If you have more than three days in the bay area, I would definately say to check out the Monterrey Bay Aquarium...I totally love that aquarium and the otters are soooo adorable!! Check out the website for their feeding times...it is such a wonderful thing to see!

This is a great, world class place. If you get a chance, go see it. If you have kids that are spaced out on video games and shooting people they will not enjoy it. But then again.....

It is definitely a world class aquarium and they do much research here. Do buy your tickets ahead of time. I do it by telephone because I am across the bay, but you may be able to do it online. Then just walk up to the "will call" window.

how does it compare to the chicago aquarium - we recently went there and thought it was amazing.

Don't know about how it compares to the Chicago Aquarium, but we were disappointed with it compared to others we have visited. For one, we felt the Baltimore Aquarium was far superior.

I have been to the Chicago and Monterey Aquariums and I find both to be wonderful. It is hard to compare the two, though. I've heard complaints that the aquarium in Monterey doesn't have a dolphin show like Chicago. That didn't bother me at all. If I wanted a show I'd go to Sea World. I love the setting in Monterey and my kids and I spent 3 hours touring. We were mesmerized by the large jelly fish tank. Definitely, one of my favorite aquariums.

I agree with wtm003 - the absence of a dolphin show at the Monterey aquarium doesn't bother me one bit. In fact, I don't think shows like that would really fit the theme there. As someone else pointed out, the MBA is a research facility and an aquarium. Someplace like Marine World where they have shows and rides has a totally different focus.

We go to the aquarium in every town or city we visit. We even went to the big new one in Genoa Italy.

Monterey's was so totally different in style than the Shedd, that at first we were underwhelmed. But after really viewing all the exhibits, we thought it was educational and a good addition to any trip.

By the way, we were aghast at the one in Italy. It was not professional, IMHO.
It was more to view fish than to educate you about them, and the collections were very limited.

Aquariums are not Sea Worlds or park venues- apples and oranges.

With the number of collections and species counts from every continent in numbers, and for its architectural style, Shedd is in an entirely different class than any other Aquarium I've ever visited.

If you ever go there, note the mosaics in the marbled, limestone, slate walls of the entry halls to each species group- they are depictions of that species and phyllum. It also has a tidal pool and interactive exhibits with rays etc. etc. - also dolphins, other large ocean mammals etc.

I would suspect the people who didn't like Monterey's didn't like the more modern style or wanted to be entertained more with audio etc., too lazy to read.

It threw me for a loop at first, because of the intense daylight and plastic look, and seeing so much more of the "works" behind the scene stuff. I'm used to the dark and atmospheric. But it is well worth a visit and full of some little beauties.

How does the London aquarium compare to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium (which I totally adore)?

I haven't been to that one yet. Has anyone?