Sovereign of the Seas
Sail Date: June 30, 2006
Number of nights: 3
Itinerary: Nassau and Coco Cay Bahamas.
This cruise on the Sovereign was my 28th overall cruise and my 7th on Royal Caribbean. I have found that I love this ship for the short get away cruises. She has a nice look and feel to her.
Rating scale. One to five with five being the best.
Embarkation: 5 – Without a doubt the smoothest embarkation to date for me in all of my years of cruising. Ten minutes top from the time that we walked into the terminal until we were on the ship. We arrived at][size=[size=. The shore side staff was very friendly. We did have to fill out a form for each cabin that stated that we had not been sick with any type of stomach virus and turn in at the time of check-in.]
Ship: 4 - The Sovereign still looks very good since she went through her major revitalization back in December of 04. The public areas looked great and the ship was very clean. The crew is doing a great job in taking care of this fine lady. This ship does not have all of the bells and whistles that the newer ships have but she can hold her own against any of the other mass market three and four day ships that I have sailed. The infamous clock from the TLC documentary works occasionally.
Cabin: 3+ – Had a Junior Suite and the extra space compared to a standard outside cabin on this ship was nice. The recently added balconies are very nice and actually quite roomy. They contain two straight chairs and one small table. The balcony measured approx. 12 feet long by about six feet wide but you do lose some space width wise as the ship bows out as you come up from the floor of the balcony. The room itself is not that large and the photos shown on RCI’s site are kind of misleading. The bathrooms do have a tub but again are very small but for a short cruise it works out just fine. The shower curtain did have a nasty soured smell. One would think that the room steward would smell it and change it out. We had cabin #1588 which is port side all the way aft. The room never did cool down the entire cruise like it should have. At times it was very warm but IMHO the entire ship was never cool like it should have been. The Windjammer was always hot and humid. There is also noise from above on deck eleven which is the pool deck. We could hear people running back and forth at all times of the night. The bedding was still the dreaded cot style bedding but RCI was to begin changing out the bedding on the next cruise.
Food: 3 – We did not eat in the main dining room at all on this short cruise. We took all of our meals in the Windjammer, Johnny Rockets or off of the ship. We ate breakfast only once and it was not good at all. The bacon was half cooked and swimming in grease. None of the food was hot at all. French toast was stone cold and hard as a rock. ]Bad is the only way to describe breakfast in the Windjammer. Did not return the remaining two days for breakfast. Lunch and dinner in the Windjammer was ok but nothing outstanding. After all it is a buffet. I wish that they would change up the menus for lunch. It was the same all three days with a few new items here and there but basically very boring and once again the food was not kept hot at all. The juice machines could not keep up with the demand and that caused some minor issues. Johnny Rockets was actually the best that I have had on an RCI ship. All of the food was freshly cooked and very good. JR’s was doing a very good business the last evening of the cruise.
Entertainment: 2 – Just was not good on this cruise. Maybe RCI thinks that most skip the scheduled entertainment due to it being a short cruise or at least that is my opinion on the subject. We had a comedian/juggler on the second night and he was average at best. The main Vegas style show was not good and this surprised me. Lead female singer was good but the rest were average. Cruise Director was funny and actually the best that I have seen on RCI. His name is Casey Pelter. He did a great job with the love and marriage show.
Crew: 4 – Overall the crew was friendly as I have found to be the norm on RCI with the exception of our room steward. Not friendly at all but he did do a good job at keeping the room clean and made up on time. ]Bar service was good without being pushy. As a matter of fact I did not see that many of the bar waiters around the outside areas of the ship. One had to go to the bars to get service. This is a change from previous cruises.
Loyalty Ambassador: 1 - Not sure if this person was having a bad day or if she just did not want to be there but she was without a doubt one of the most rude people that I have met on a ship. I had to speak to her first and ask if we could talk to her about a future cruise. She made no attempt to even smile or speak when we walked up. We did book another cruise with her but now after thinking about it I would have rather not had the on board credit and booked when I returned home. Hard to believe that this person has been with RCI for seven years. She needs a good lesson in people skills as she does not have any IMHO. I think that I have been spoiled by Cindy Dangle from the Navigator. She is tops in my book.
Debarkation: 5 - Again one of the best debarkations that I have experienced. We met in the conference room at][size= for Diamond and Platinum guests and were escorted off of the ship. Very quick and easy.]
Passengers on this ship run from one extreme to the other. You will see all kinds of guests on board a short cruise like this but IMHO the passengers on this sailing were great. Not the party cruise that many try to stamp with the shorter cruises.
We arrived in Nassau around noon on Saturday and left at around two in the morning. It rained on and off while we were docked in Nassau but it helped to control the heat some. We did make it to Coco Cay and the weather was great that day.
Overall I enjoyed my cruise on the Sovereign. I do feel that she has slipped a little in the past year in overall food and entertainment quality. Maybe Royal Caribbean had to so some shuffling of crew with the recent addition of the Freedom and this disrupted areas on this ship with adding new crew members so I will give them the benefit of this being the issue but RCI needs to step it up in the food area. They are cutting corners and it is showing.
I booked the Majesty of the Seas for a four night cruise next March just after she comes out of her revitalization. I am looking forward to cruising on this ship again.
Last edited on Tue Jul 4th, 2006 03:48 pm by Adios
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