Sovereign of the Seas May 23-27: Two thumbs way up! (long)

[laurasue]

We just got back from a wonderful week on the Sovereign. Here's my (lengthy) thoughts on the ship and the cruise experience. I'll be posting pictures and compasses tonight. :D

 

Arriving in Florida:

We flew into Tampa and rented a car to get to Port Canaveral. We had a post cruise wedding in St. Petersburg so flying through Tampa made the most sense for us. The drive was easy and we quickly found out hotel, the Hilton, in Cocoa Beach.

 

The Hotel:

We stayed at the Hilton Oceanfront Hotel in Cocoa Beach. The hotel was very nice, still being renovated from the recent hurricanes, but the staff was so wonderful we hardly bothered by the construction (I should not they do begin the pounding and hammering by 9 or so, this might bother late sleepers). We had booked the Hilton on www.easyclicktravel.com and had no problems whatsoever with our reservations. I would book through them again in a heartbeat, especially with the rate we got, $69/night. Upon checking in the front desk recognized out Hilton HHonors membership (even though we hadn’t used it while booking) and offered to upgrade our room to the partial ocean view with a king sized bed at no charge. I asked when checkout was and they also extended it by an hour (to Noon) at no charge. This was very convenient and made things very easy for getting to the ship the next day. The room was very clean, the bed was super comfortable with down linens, all in all a great, glean, comfortable room. I would undoubtedly stay there again. And even with the added cost of parking at the port, it was still a better price than staying at and using the shuttle Radisson.

 

Getting to the ship and Embarkation:

Check out of the hotel was a breeze. We drove our rental car to the port around 11:45, dropped off our luggage at the curb, and then parked in the parking structure. For the 4 night cruise it cost $40, and we were glad to be able to arrive and depart at our own pace. We went through security and checked in. All in all I’d say it took 45 minutes from the time we dropped off our luggage curbside until the time we were on the ship. As this was our first cruise, just the sight of the ship in port took my breath away. It was so cool and I was so excited!

All aboard:

We boarded into the centrum, which was packed with people. Many were just checking it out, there was also a long line caused by those who were signing up for the pop cards. We intended to buy one, but wanted to wait until the ship set sail so that we wouldn’t be charged for tax. We ended up never buying a card, and not really needing one. I thought the lemonade was excellent so I was content with that and the drinks from the bar. We spent some time wandering around the ship and checking it out. She is in wonderful condition, very clean and modern feeling. We didn’t know what to expect, but we were certainly impressed that a ship the Sovereign’s age could look so nice. At 1pm the doors to the staterooms were opened and we dropped off our luggage before heading for lunch at the Windjammer.

 

Stateroom:

We were on deck 9 and found our stateroom to be large and comfortable (again, better than I expected). The closet was roomy and there were plenty of hangers. Our room also had a safe which we were happy about. The beds were marginally comfortable, mostly because of the big hump from where the mattresses were pushed together. It wasn’t much of a problem as we usually just passed out at night from all the fun of a long day. The vanity was nice, the bathroom was bigger than I expected. No problems with a clinging shower curtain either! There was a small TV which much better programming than I expected and some good, recent movies which changed daily. There was plenty of room to store our extra luggage under the “console” thingy at the end of the bed. The room was quiet; we were never disturbed by noise from any surrounding rooms. We had a large picture window and a pretty good view. Our stateroom attendant was very friendly and kept the room nice and clean. We enjoyed the towel animals and the little tips he would give us about the islands or other ship activities. With his tip we wrote him a thank you card, which he appreciated so much he tracked us down to thank us.

 

The Dinner Experience:

I should preface this section by saying I may be one of the pickiest eaters alive, however, I found the food to be excellent at almost every dinner we ate. My favorite was the chicken marsala on the Venetian Feast night. DH is still talking about the shrimp scampi, and he also really enjoyed the escargots. We enjoyed the last night’s dinner the least, but it was still good. All in all the food in the dining room (we were on Deck 4- Mirage Dining room, late seating) was well done for dinner. Portion sizes were just right and every meal was very enjoyable. One night the kids from Adventure Ocean had a pirates parade through the dining room which was just adorable. We had one major complaint about our dining experience: our waiter Bobi left much to be desired. We decided to give him the benefit of the doubt the first night hoping the next night would be better. We quickly found out that it would not. He was put off by any special requests or if you ordered more than one appetizer, dessert, etc. I was disappointed in this because I had really looked forward to the great dining experience I had read about on CC. When the waiter forgot one of my soups, he was very unhappy about getting it for me. Our assistant waiter was very sweet and did the best he could to pick up the slack. No matter how hard he tried, we were always one of the last tables to be served, and before we even ordered dessert most of the tables in other sections had emptied. Our head waitress, Natalia, was a blast. She was very nice and made sure to come by every day to chat with us. She also lead birthday and anniversary celebrations every night.

 

We had checked out our seating assignment on the first day after getting on the ship. We were at a table for four right next to a wait station. We decided not to change our seats but I would most certainly do that next time. We found that sitting with 2 other people wasn’t enough interaction for us, and that being to close to the wait station (it was only a few feet from us) made dinner less relaxing and could be very distracting, especially when we overheard the wait staff fussing at each other or getting angry over a passenger’s request.

 

We were told that they do not offer the wine package of the shorter cruises, contrary to what our documents had said. But we decided to order a bottle of wine on the first night and it lasted for the majority of the cruise. It was very nice that they will store any unused wine until the next night.

 

The Windjammer:

On the first day the Windjammer is open for lunch after you have boarded. Lunch in the Windjammer was good, not spectacular. That is mostly because buffet food is usually only minimally appetizing to me. The chilled pineapple soup was and the sandwich selection was excellent. The Windjammer was very open and airy with plenty of seating and great views. I was glad I had read on here about the second part of the Windjammer at the front of the ship, it was less crowded and offered a few different selections. Wait staff was non-existent in the Windjammer every time we were there, but we didn’t expect more than that.

 

We ate breakfast in the windjammer twice. The first time was the morning of CocoCay, we just wanted to grab a quick bite before heading to the island. Again we found it just ok, but it had a good view of CocoCay we enjoyed while eating our breakfast. We also ate in the Windjammer on Thursday morning, this time we tried the omelette bar. The omelette was excellent!! The line at the station in the front of the ship was shorter and they made great custom order omelettes.

 

Sorrento’s Pizza:

I had read so-so reviews of the pizza on CC so I wasn’t expecting much. The pizza turned out to be quite good for a quick snack, it was even better if it was fresh out of the over. Now, I am not from NY or Chicago, so I don’t consider myself to be a pizza connoisseur, but it fit the bill for quick cravings and late night snacks. I ate quite a lot of it while on the ship, maybe too much? It was better than frozen pizza, but still not quite as good as local chain pizza shops (Dominoes, Pizza Hut. Papa Johns, etc).

 

Johnny Rockets:

We ate at JR’s on our day at sea for lunch. Upon sitting down they bring out a large tray of friend and rings before you get a chance to order. I usually love JR’s rings on land, but these seemed very chewy and not very good. The fries were excellent however. I ordered the cheeseburger and was very disappointed. The burger was pretty mealy and had a funny flavor. I only got a few bites in before I couldn’t eat anymore. I don’t think I would pay to eat there on a ship again, but I would go for the fries alone using the C&A coupons.

 

Breakfast in the Dining Room:

We ate in the dining room for breakfast twice. The first was the morning we arrived in Nassau. The first thing I noticed was how attentive the service was. It was a nice change to scrambling for your own food in the Windjammer. They brought around juice and pastries right as we sat. They served a good selection of hot teas. There was always someone looking out to see if you needed more of anything. I ordered scrambled eggs and pancakes. The pancakes were tough and the eggs were runny. The bran muffin was excellent. The dining experience took about 45 minutes, not too long and we really enjoyed the attentive service, and the table for two by the window with a great view of the ocean in Nassau.

 

The second time we ate there was on the last morning. We wanted a place where we could relax and not have to worry about all of our carry-on bags. In the dining room we “checked” the bags at the front and were seated at a large table and had good conversation the entire time. I ordered an omelette which was also excellent. By then I was wishing that it what I would have had for every breakfast on the cruise. We relaxed and chatted with our tablemates until about 8:15 am. We left to find our color had already been called and it was time to leave. The dining room was a great way to have breakfast on the last day.

 

Room Service:

The Sovereign only offers continental breakfast through room service. We ordered pastries, yogurt, juice, coffee, fruit platter, and tea. We found we really didn’t enjoy the breakfast so we only ordered it one morning, and we headed up to the Windjammer to supplement it. We didn’t order room service for anything else but I did look at the menu. They offered 24 hour service of light meal and snack items. During dining hours they served the same items as the dining rooms.

 

Other food related stuff:

On deck 10 by the pool there was a frozen yogurt machine that was yummy and made for a great snack, especially on the hot days. There was also a lemonade/tea/water/coffee station right by the pool. We enjoyed the lemonade a lot, my husband usually mixing it with the tea. My husband complained that the coffee was instant and by day 4 he was at Lattetudes buying the “real stuff.” A regular cup of coffee cost roughly $2 plus gratuity, but it was worth it to him. I noticed other coffee drink prices were similar to that at a Starbucks. Ice cream prices at Ben & Jerry’s reminded me of the prices at a marble slab ice cream place. There were two buffets but we didn’t attend either. Having late seating for dinner we were never hungry at that time of night.

 

Shops on board:

We browsed the shops on board but only made a few purchases. There was a decent liquor selection at excellent prices. The first night there was even free tasting. The consumption fee was in place, but we didn’t end up buying any liquor. The shops included a general gift shop with RCI themed stuff, a cosmetics store, a general store that sold liquor, snacks, and shampoo along with other essentials. There was a fine jewelry store, the camera store, a resort wear store, and a store that sold $10 jewelry, watches, and wraps. I bought one of the wraps and it was wonderful as the AC could be a bit much for me. They also had an on board florist, they sold the “inch of gold” stuff, and had a tattoo artist that did henna free tattoos.

 

Entertainment:

We went to two shows while on board, on the first and last nights. The first night was the welcome aboard show in Follies; it was a juggling act and a comedian. We enjoyed the comedian but were only mildly impressed with the juggling act. The last night we attended the Farewell show which was “Dancing through the Movies” by the RCI dancers. It was entertaining I guess, but we really went for the cruise in review preview. We also went to the Love and Marriage game which was hysterical. We really enjoyed Rosario Strings which played in Boleros and in the Centrum. The dueling pianos act was very good; especially when they pitted men vs. women for tips to play their songs (‘I will Survive’ vs. ‘Friends in Low Places’). Karaoke in Boleros was so much fun, perhaps one of my favorite ship activities.

 

We also attended the Quest which was held in Voltage. We arrived 15 minutes early but found two of the last seats in the very back. Quest was a blast (I never knew my DH would “take one for the team” like he did). He had a fun team, it was a shame we were located in the back. It’s hard to get points if you’re coming from far away. I was glad we attended, my sides were aching for hours.

 

Lounges:

Our favorite lounge was Boleros. The seats were comfy, drinks were good, and entertainment was great. Viking crown had the best views but really lacked in ambiance and service. The pool bars were ok but always crowded. We only went to Voltage for the Quest, I didn’t like the smoky atmosphere. We didn’t spend any time in the Schooner Bar.

Get Moving:

We participated in a few of the ship shape activities. My favorite was the “walk a mile” on deck 7 around the promenade. It was 3 ½ laps to make a mile, and you got one ship shape dollar for doing it. We did that twice a day and found it to be very enjoyable. We also climbed the rock wall which was a big feat for me. I had never climbed before and was very proud of myself. DH and I also made a point of using the stairs at all times. The elevators were slow and crowded so this was never too much of an issue. We toured the gym which looked very nice, but never used it. The sports deck also looked nice, but again, never used it. By the end we had enough ship shape dollars for a t-shirt and a lanyard.

 

The Pool:

There were two pools that were really only crowded on the day at sea. There were plenty of lounges (of course until chair hog day, aka day at sea). The pool deck was always very hot in the sun and the chairs in the shade were stuffy because of the windows enclosing the area. I preferred the lounging areas on deck 11 and deck 12 above the windjammer. They were quieter and you could feel the breeze. There were also two hot tubs.

 

CocoCay:

My first thought upon seeing CocoCay was “that’s it?!?” I guess I was spoiled by the lush, mountainous islands we visited in the South Pacific. We got ready and headed to the Windjammer for a quick breakfast. As we ate we watched the tender boats struggle against the rough seas, and saw the first parasailers go up. Around 9:30 we decided to head out to the island. We made our way towards Deck 2 but found the line to board the tenders actually started on Deck 3. I later heard it was the rough waters that made the tendering process slow. We waited in line for about 20 minutes before making it onto a tender.

 

CocoCay was prettier in person than it had been at a distance, nice swimming beaches, good facilities, and such. Once on CocoCay we headed to the snorkel shack to rent our vests and fins and attend the orientation that have you attend. We were told that we needed to stay within the swimming boundary which was disappointing because there seemed to be little structure or marine life. We snorkeled to the ship and plane wrecks, both had some interesting fish. However, the ship was far less populated, probably because fellow snorkelers were standing on it and scaring the fish away. We snorkeled for over 2 hours before heading back to shore. On our way back we saw a group of squid who got spooked, inked, and left. That was very neat. However, our overall snorkeling experience wasn’t overly exciting. We spent a half hour laying on the lounge chairs at the main beach and enjoying a Coco Loco. The CC’ers don’t lie, these things are GOOD! And the souvenir cup they came in were neat. We also found the waiters serving them on the beach were hysterical. My husband enjoyed the lunch beach buffet, I lost my appetite from the heat (boy was it hot!). After lunch we decided to explore the island some. We walked around the far side of the island and found a great group on hammocks under some palm trees by the kayak rental. I enjoyed a nice long nap, swaying in the breeze, while DH went on a walk. We found there were far fewer people on this side of the island, which was something we really enjoyed. After enjoying another Coco Loco and browsing the small shops (which ad virtually the same stuff as we would see in Nassau) we headed back to catch a tender boat, which was probably around 3:30.

 

Nassau:

We arrived in Nassau around 7am on Wednesday morning. I woke up to the bumpy feeling of the ship turning around to dock. I had gotten sunburned on my chest while in CocoCay we decided to scrap the snorkeling trip so we weren’t in any hurry to leave the ship. We had a nice leisurely breakfast in the dining room as we watched excursion boats, fishing charters, and yachts come in and out from the pier. We could see Atlantis in the distance and we decided to head there for the morning to take a quick look around. Getting off of the ship was a breeze. I’d say the first passengers were off by 8:15 or so. It was a short walk down the pier to where we met a taxi. It was $4/pp one way, and all the passengers had to split the $1 bridge toll.

 

Atlantis is a very beautiful, very LARGE resort. We walked around taking in the scenery for a few hours or so. As I expected, we couldn’t really see the grounds at all, guards stationed at every exit to keep you from getting out. We didn’t pay for the digs but the part you could see for free was really neat, including the enormous manta ray that called one of the pools home.

 

We caught a taxi back to the port and then walked around Bay Street for a few hours, hitting up the straw market for only a few minutes. It was too crowded and hot for my tastes. We tried to eat lunch at Conch Fritters but we sat at a table for almost 20 minutes with no service so we left. Decided to grab a quick plate of nachos on the way back to the ship instead. Getting back on the ship took just a few minutes. You will need a photo ID and your Seapass to get back on the ship.

 

I think I would have enjoyed Nassau more if we had been able to take advantage of the beautiful water (preferably through snorkeling) but will do that in the future if we ever make it back.

 

Formal night is the night you are in Nassau. We tired of Nassau In early afternoon, but if you wanted to go go go all day long this might be a bummer to you. We noticed towards the end of late seating many people left early to head back to Senor Frogs for evening festivities. Drinks were less expensive on the ship so I was more than happy to stay on board.

 

Day at sea:

We were excited to have a day at sea on such a short cruise to really enjoy the ship. The day was chock full of activities and we stayed very busy. We climbed the rock wall, watched the belly flop and men’s sexy legs competition, participated in the horse races (I loved this), watched the towel animal demonstration, and just generally relaxed and had a fun day. It was pretty hot on the ship that day and the chair hogs were out in full force. Still nursing my burn, we didn’t want to sit in the sun anyhow. We ate lunch at JR’s which got very crowded right after we sat down. We went right around noon, but there was a wait shortly after that. We started our packing before dinner, and finished afterwards. It was kind of sad setting out luggage out knowing it was almost the end, but we still had an enjoyable evening.

 

The end of the road:

We used a wakeup call to make sure we would be up and awake in time to leave our stateroom before 8am as they request. We made our way to the dining room where we enjoyed a nice breakfast as mentioned before. We had a red color tag which was supposed to be called around 8:30. When we left the dining room we found out that it had in fact been called already, so we hopped in line and headed off the ship. Disembarkation went fairly quickly, and other than getting the slow ling in customs, we were back to our car and on the road by 8:45 or so. I was sad to see the ship go but excited that it meant it was time to start planning our next cruising adventure!:D

 

 

I saved all of the compasses, spa menu, etc. and plan on scanning them tonight. I will post as soon as I have them online. I will also upload the pictures we took to share with you as well.

I would be more than happy to answer any questions either here or by email (briandlaura@yahoo.com)

[Emmabelle]

Thanks for the review Laurasue, you had lots of detail, we were on the Sovereign in April and I said the same thing when I first saw Cococay "that's it?", but I loved it once we tendered up. It's so relaxing there.

[deanna77]

thank you for review, i will be on sovereign in 12 days, this review help me out alot cant wait to see pics, thanks again.

[NathanWLB]

I'd be curious to know how the ship looks and compares to when I was on it. I just finished reposting a very old page I put up in 1999, and link to an even older one than that.

 

That ship is the one that got me hooked on cruise vacations.

 

http://www.rcifan.nwlb.net/RCIindex.html

[emdia43]

I was on the Sovereign in Dec 03 and there was no Johnny Rockets that I was aware of,and unless I am totally confused (possible) there was only 1 pool.When did they add these features?:)

[wrp96]

There were 2 pools in 2002 but no Johnny Rockets.

 

Sovereign was the ship that hooked me on cruising.

[laurasue]

I was on the Sovereign in Dec 03 and there was no Johnny Rockets that I was aware of,and unless I am totally confused (possible) there was only 1 pool.When did they add these features?:)

 

The ship was in dry dock last fall when it was completely renovated and some nice amenities were added such as the extra pool, JR's, balcony staterooms. In fact, TLC taped a 5 part show that documents the entire Sovereign dry dock process. Here are the times/dates of the episodes: http://tlc.discovery.com/schedule/series.jsp?series=111301&gid=0&channel=TLC

[raytownlady]

Great review, Thanks so much, I'd love to see your pictures and especially the compasses.

 

So you really confirmed what I already suspected that it will just be too hot to wander the streets of Nausau all day even at Atlantis.

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for posting the review. Great detail. Glad you had a wonderful vacation.

[laurasue]

So you really confirmed what I already suspected that it will just be too hot to wander the streets of Nausau all day even at Atlantis.

 

We were able to do it for only a few hours before we were tired, hot, and dehydrated. It would have been nice to see more of the island but we were beat. Maybe at a cooler time of year. :)

[Merion_Mom]

Laura, which is the "best bar" on CocoCay?

 

What time did you sail out of Nassau?

 

Carol

[laurasue]

Hi Carol! We didn't visit any of the bars in CocoCay, mostly because they strolled the beaches with the Coco Locos so we didn't have to expend any energy to get them ;)

 

In Nassau all aboard was at midnight and we were supposed to leave by 12:30 am. We were delayed by about 15 minutes do to a few people who hadn't re-boarded the ship yet. DH and I found a nice spot on the aft above deck 7 where you could the lights of Nassau fade in the distance. It was beautiful!

[laurasue]

I've uploaded the compasses and other cruise papers I collected here (e.g. spa menu): http://community.webshots.com/album/359464876oGKvNA?223

 

Pictures from our cruise are here: http://community.webshots.com/album/359199228oeWXNr

 

Hope this helps in your cruise planning! :D

[susanna]

Great pics Laura

 

Glad you had a great time

we can't wait for our turn

[CruiseMark]

Thanks for the great review and scans/pics. They were VERY helpful!

 

One question: On CocoCay, there was a waterpark for extra charge with floating pyramids to climb, etc, prior to last years hurricane. Has that reopened?

 

Thanks again,

[laurasue]

Hi Mark! I saw the waterpark on the map of CocoCay in our stateroom and they showed it on the CocoCay TV show in our stateroom. However, I didn't see it while on the island. My guess is it's still closed.

[CruiseMark]

Bummer. My daughter was all excited about it when I showed her some pictures. I doubt it will be there next month when we go either.

 

Hopefull she'll enjoy the snorkeling as much.

[jillybabes]

Laura,

Thanks for the lovely pics. Glad you had a wonderful time on your first cruise...Are you hooked now??? Jill;)

[Merion_Mom]

...In Nassau all aboard was at midnight and we were supposed to leave by 12:30 am. We were delayed by about 15 minutes do to a few people who hadn't re-boarded the ship yet. DH and I found a nice spot on the aft above deck 7 where you could the lights of Nassau fade in the distance. It was beautiful!

I was sure you were going to say "DH and I found a nice spot on the aft above deck 7 where we watched the stragglers run frantically up to the ship." That's a sport all by itself! ;)

 

Thanks for sharing your wonderful pictures. It certainly looks like you and Brian had a blast! Those are incredible shots of the sunset.

 

So, it seems from the pics of the Sovereign herself that they just glommed some balconies on the outside of the Deck 10. Sort of odd looking.

 

Carol

[laurasue]

I was sure you were going to say "DH and I found a nice spot on the aft above deck 7 where we watched the stragglers run frantically up to the ship." That's a sport all by itself!

LOL! Now that would have been fun! Honestly. I was surprised that more of the high school graduates that were on the ship (it was overrun with them, time of the year for that I guess) didn't get left behind after partying too much at Senor Frogs.

 

I didn't get a good look at how the balconies fit on there. Then again, I had never seen a cruise ship up close before so I don't know what they usually look like. :)

[lgeisz]

Thanks for the review me and my daughter embark tomorrow for a 3 dayer and we can't wait.

[MelAl45]

Great views and pictures. What type of camera do you have? We are leave July 4th on the Sovereign and I can't wait!!!!

[maggieworkman]

Do you know if they have barbecue sauce in the dining room or at Windjammer. My liitle DD will only eat meat if she can dip it in BBQ sauce. :rolleyes: I might bring a few packets from McDonalds if they don't have it. She is looking forward to steak every night, but won't eat it without the BBQ. :eek:

 

Maggie

[newbiejay]

Can you tell me if they have refrigerators and/or safes in rooms?

[Merion_Mom]

Do you know if they have barbecue sauce in the dining room or at Windjammer. My liitle DD will only eat meat if she can dip it in BBQ sauce. :rolleyes: I might bring a few packets from McDonalds if they don't have it. She is looking forward to steak every night, but won't eat it without the BBQ. :eek:

 

Maggie

If MY daughter refused to eat meat without BBQ sauce, *I* would CERTAINLY bring a nice bottle of her favorite brand in a zip lock baggie with me! No need to take chances.

 

Carol