Long Review of 6/5-6/9 Sovereign

[bambam2972]

Here is my review of my vacation on the Sovereign of the Seas June 5-9. Let me start out by giving some background. I am a 20 year old college student and traveled with my 21 year old boyfriend, my parents, my 18 year old sister and our 20 year old friend, my 15 year old cousin, my aunt, my grandparents, great aunt, and great grandmother. Yes I said great grandmother. This trip was for my sister’s high school graduation.

 

DAY 1/EMBARKATION

 

Our first day started bright and early at 5 am (okay, it was still dark). We loaded up the car and stopped at a gas station to wait for my aunt and cousin. My sister and friend moved into the other car so that we would have more room. We then made the 6-6.5 hour drive down to Port Canaveral.

 

We arrived at 12:47 and waited to unload the cars, then wait for my mom and aunt to park and meet up with us. We then went inside to check in. The line was long and took a while. The longest part was when we were at the counter because 6 of us went up at once. Passports, birth certificates, driver’s licenses and credit cards were flying everywhere. We even had the set sail passes!! When we were finally finished with that nighmare, I apologized to the woman for it being so confusing and we were on our way. We got on the ship at 2.

 

We all went straight to our rooms to check them out. My sister and I were in a room, but since we’re under 21, we had to book it with my mom and I in one and my dad and sister in the other when we originally booked, my older sister and brother in law were in a cabin two doors down, so it was fine. They ended up canceling, and so we moved my boyfriend and our friend to her old room, and put my grandparents in that old room. (See why it was so confusing). So we went down to Guest Relations and got my dad and me extra keys.

 

My sister and I shared cabin 9000 (all the way forward). Now, when we looked online it said the square footage is 157; we stayed in a 158 on the Mariner so we had a good idea how big the room was. When we walked in it felt small. I’m thinking it may have been accurate, but there is this huge block thing that takes up a ton of room. We don’t even know what it is except for wasted space. It may be for storage, but come on… these are only 3 & 4 day cruises, by time you unpack everything in drawers, etc. it’s time to go. These need to be taken out. Then we walked into my boyfriend and our friend’s room (9006), and their beds were put together. We had a good laugh at that and made a few gay jokes. In my parents room (9078), the beds were apart (but of course, because of the booking it had my mom and me in that room, so it makes since). We we met our cabin stewards (Babette for us, I’m not sure who my parents had) they said they would fix the bed situation when they did their first cleaning, which they did. Now even though I said the room felt small, especially with the bizarre block it was actually plenty of room for us. My aunt and cousin were in an interior (6519, I believe) and when they walked into our rooms they said “holy crap!” J

We brought some sodas on board (this is allowed, in fact we saw someone in the checkin line carrying a 12 pack of Dr. Peppers, I think I read here that it’s okay to bring Pepsi products on board since they have Coke, but I’m not sure if that’s true… you may be able to bring on Coke.) We only had a few, though, because I usually drink tea. Well, I drink it after spending 5 minutes doctoring it up with sugar. However, there were no fridges (or “coolers” as I hear them referred to). My parents were upset because they thought we would since they did in Feb., but they were also in a JS then. It was fine, though, because I just put ice into a glass and was fine.

 

Well after checking out our rooms we headed to the Windjammer. I wasn’t too excited about the choices, but when I sat down our friend had some things on his plate that I didn’t see and he said, “Yea, I just went around there and found it”. So I recommend walking around first (all the way) and see what there is and then make your selections. After that we looked at our table and it was by the window so we were happy. The only thing is that is was a rectangle and I think if we had a big circle table it would have been easier to carry on a conversation with everyone without saying “what did she say?” a lot. But it was really fine and only had to repeat ourselves a few times. After that we walked around some and did some window-shopping.

 

We then went to the Muster which was painless, especially since our station was inside the Boleros lounge and not outside. :p We went back to the room, threw our life jackets in and headed up for sail away. This was my first sail away, because on our first two cruises we had first seating and after Muster we were getting ready for dinner. My boyfriend and I shared a yummy Mango Tango. He said it was very strong, but that’s because they just add the rum to the top (as we all know), so the first few sips was like taking straight shots. :eek: After waving goodbye to PC we walked around some more, then went to our rooms to relax a little.

 

The welcome aboard show was at 7:45, our CD was Chris Armas who was great and funny. The comedian, Steve Shaffer was really funny. We actually had to leave early for dinner (8:30), so I’m not sure what else was in the show, if anything. Our waiter was James and assistant waiter was Glendon. They were both really good. Our headwaiter was very funny and came over everyday, but I didn’t catch his name. Tonight I had the Melon and Mango, stuffed chicken, and ivory chocolate fondue. It was all very good, and I loved the Chicken. The Brie was so yummy… I hadn’t had it before. That’s another recommendation I have… try new things. A cruise is the time to try new foods, because you have already paid for the food, and if you don’t like it you can ask for something else, or go to the windjammer or pizza later. Most of my party had the Prime Rib and they were raving about it. It did look good.

 

After dinner we planned to go to the pool. We went to our rooms and changed, but when we got to the pool we saw that a lightning storm was going on, so we went back to change again. I could not believe there were idiots in the pools. My boyfriend was saying that it wasn’t “real” lightning, and that it was far enough away; but I said that they are still out of their minds. We went to the Viking Crown for a drink, and then went back to our room to watch the storm some more. My boyfriend loves storms (yea I know, it’s weird :D ) so he was in heaven. We went to bed and then woke up in the beautiful and sunny CocoCay.

 

DAY 2

 

I woke up briefly to the sound of the anchor, or something. My aunt said the anchor must have been right next to her room because she heard it well. That was at about 6 or 7 or so… if you’re an early riser, though, it should be fine. It didn’t bother me too much because I fell right back asleep. But at 8 my mom came and woke us up. We went to the Windjammer for breakfast, and it was good. We saw Glendon in there and he came up and said “my babies” we thought that was so nice, especially since he had only met us the night before. My cousin couldn’t find any grits, so she asked him where they were. He looked around and said, “let me check”; and he came back with a bowlful for her. We thought that was so cool and sweet.

 

We went back to change into our bathing suits and met on deck 6. After we all got there, I realized that I had forgotten my SeaPass and that I only had my extra key. My friend offered to go back and get it for me. I told him the code to the safe and he was back quickly. 9000 and 9006 had safe with a code, and 9078 had one where you swipe a card. It took my a while to figure out how to use it, but once I did it was easy. Once we had everything, we went down to deck 1. We were thinking we would have to wait for a while for a tender, especially since it was 9 am; but when we got down to 1 we got right on one. We did wait a few minutes (maybe 2 or 3) for them to fill it, but then we were on our way. It was a smooth ride, which my mom was happy for because when they came in Feb. the weather was not cooperating, and the ride was rough.

 

When my parents came in Feb. they left a “treasure” for my sister and me. So the first thing we did was look for it. They made a confusing map that we kept making fun of, but it was fun. It was actually cool, and we thought of telling the staff about it because that may be a fun activity for Adventure Ocean to do so they can feel like pirates. J We went through the nature trail, which was pretty neat. Some of the trees are bizarre looking, and there were some beautiful flowers. When we were finished, we were on the secluded side of the island. The water was beautiful and felt great. Even though it was 10, it was HOT.

 

We walked around to the main part of the island, and found some chairs. My parents got floating mats while we walked to the Parasailing station. When we found out it was $79/person we said “no thank you” and walked away. We knew we could get it cheaper in Nassau. We were kind of bummed because the banana boats weren’t running that day (not enough waves), and the jet skis were part of a tour, so you had to stay behind a guide, and not go too fast. With that, my friend, sister, cousin, and aunt said they were going back on the ship. I said they were crazy.

 

After eating at the BBQ (yum) my parents went back on the ship too. My boyfriend and I stayed for a while, but he didn’t like having his money with him, so we went back onboard to drop off his cash in the safe, and then went back. These tenders did not run full, so basically when we got on they left right away. It seems that we always timed it well. When we got back to the island we swam a little in the water. I wanted a mat, but since we had our parents’ and gave them back already we didn’t want to have to pay for another (even though it was only $8 or $10 for all day). We looked at some of the fish and questioned whether this one thing was a jellyfish or not… turns out it was a rock. When my friend and sister were on the island, they said they saw a small shark! :eek: We went to lie on chairs for a while, then decided to go back to the ship. It was about 2:30 or 3 by now, so we were nice and toasty. Actually I had sun block on and reapplied often. Remember that when you put on sun block, apply under your straps, because they may move around. This happened to me, so I did get burnt on my shoulders a little. We saw the line for the tenders and I looked at my boyfriend and said, “we may as well get in line, because if we wait it’ll just get longer.” He looked up and said “or we can wait on one of those hammocks”. I said, “good call”, and off we went. That was nice, just lying there and relaxing. Right before I fell asleep he said, “Well the line is gone, so lets go”. We took a few pictures, and then hopped on a tender. We were one of the last, so we had to stand. It wouldn’t have been bad, but on the way back to the ship we had to wait because the tender before us was still unloading. Our tender group was able to get good ship pictures, though, so it was good.

 

We went back to our rooms to relax for a few minutes, then my boyfriend wanted to get some pizza. We watched the sail away, but were wondering if we were actually moving or not. We moved slowly since we had all night to go to Nassau, which is not very far at all. That was nice because it wasn’t too windy.

 

My parents, sister and I went to Sayda, the Loyalty Ambassador and booked our 5/20/07 Mariner trip. We are so excited because not only is it my first balcony… it’s a hump balcony! :D Woo hoo!! Also, it was easier for booking because I’ll be 21 so no more of that bizarre switching, although it really wouldn’t matter because my parents got the cabin next to us.

 

Tonight was formal night, and only my sister, cousin and aunt went to the dining room. We figured that because it was only 4 days we didn’t want to take our formal wear. If this is going to be your first cruise, though… GO! It is a lot of fun and you’ll be glad you did! My first cruise was the 3-nighter on Sovereign and we even did the formal night and I am so glad that I did.

 

The rest of us went to the Windjammer to eat, and I must say wow. It is so different at night. First, the silver ware is on the tables already. Also, waiters come up and ask if we want anything to drink, and the chef even came by. That was cool. I had a piece of roast duck and a piece of salmon. This was my first time trying both and the duck was very good, and the salmon was okay to good. Take that with a grain of salt, because I really don’t like fish, but figured I would try it. Others said it was very good, though.

 

My boyfriend and I then went to “Name That Movie Love Theme” and got 6/20 right! J We then watched our friend play some Blackjack in the Casino. After dinner, we met with the rest of our group and went to the “Love and Marriage Game Show”. It was funny as usually, but the newlyweds were kind of dull. The husband was also kind of mean with no personality… I feel bad for the wife. I think he took the game way too seriously.

 

After some more casino and pizza we went back to our rooms and called it a night.

 

DAY 3

 

We woke up pretty early for Nassau with a view of the Carnival Victory. We are from Charleston, and the Saturday before she was in port. My mom said it was like we followed the Victory there, even though that particular cruise left from VA. After breakfast my boyfriend, parents, grandparents and I walked around a little. My parents wanted to show us where they signed the guest book at the Library in Feb., but when we got there it wasn’t opened yet. We walked around and shopped a little, then went back to the ship. We ate a quick lunch, and wondered if our Yellowbird tour would be cancelled because of the rain. The ticket said that the tour started at 12, but the brochure said 1. We were wondering about that, but I said that the brochure does say “Times may vary”, so we got off at 11:45. The ticket also said, “meet at the pier”, we were all confused about that. It was also raining so we were very confused. We asked a crewmember if that is where we met (right off the ship), and he said no… it’s on the street right in front of the straw market, etc. So we walked very quickly in the rain to that place. It was now 5 minutes to 12 and getting very nervous because we did not see the Yellowbird. For that matter, we weren’t even sure what it looked like. We asked one the other ships’ workers if this is where we need to be, and he said yes and that the Yellowbird had not come yet. He also said it’s yellow and that we would not miss it. So we waited… and waited… and then my boyfriend went back to him and asked if he was sure that we hadn’t missed it. He radioed to the Yellowbird, and they said they were on their way. At this point it had stopped raining, but it was pretty chilly because the sun was not out. Finally we saw this big yellow boat coming towards us. When one of the workers got off he said we were early, and we said they were late. He looked at our ticket and said “well, this actually leaves at 1…” (and now it’s started raining again)”… but since it’s raining, you can go ahead and get on”. We said thank you, and boarded. We sat on there and waited, and agreed that we would rather have been early than late. As we sat and waited, others got on too and it was getting cold. Then they said that because of the rain, the ships cancelled the tour (RC and Carnival) and that when we go to Guest Relations we would get a refund. Then he said (and we thought this was very cool of him) that because the time was wrong, and it was rainy that he would still give us the free rum punch. We all cheered and shared a round (or two... or three J ). So even though we couldn’t go, we still got the rum punch. When we went to guest relations later they said the amount would be automatically credited to our Seapass, which it was. That was good because since we pre-paid our tips, the amount of the tour basically covered the tips. (Tour was $30 & tips were $39). After the run back to the ship we were soaked. My boyfriend and I decided that because it was only raining, and not lightning we would get in the hot tub. That felt soooo good! We got out and then showered and changed.

 

We went to get a second lunch since our first lunch was so rushed and we didn’t eat much. It was very good. We then went back to the room to lie down for a while. When the rain stopped, we decided to go back and walk around some more. This time it was my boyfriend, parents, sister, friend, cousin, aunt, and me. After some shopping, we stopped at Señor Frogs for some cocktails so that my sister, friend and I could take advantage of the 18-year-old drinking age. I had a very yummy strawberry margarita and my boyfriend had a “Yard” of the “Señor Frog”, which was also very good.

 

We went back to the ship and got ready for dinner. I had the scallop risotto, chicken marsala, and chocolate ice cream. This was the first time I had scallops and they were fantastic. The chicken marsala was also very good. By time the dessert menu came around I was pretty full, so I could only handle some ice cream. My boyfriend then went to listen to some music during the “Romantic dancing”. The music was very good, but we didn’t dance. We did share a margarita though J.

 

Then we went to Quest. It is so funny! We were part of the audience, and helped out the team next to us. What’s better than laughing at people making an idiot of themselves?

 

After Quest, we went to the Casino where my boyfriend and friend played Blackjack, and I cheered them on. After a while, I decided to go to bed.

 

DAY 4

 

Woke up a little later today at 10. Didn’t have breakfast today because it ended at 11, I think. We walked around the pool deck in search of a chair. I put on my comment card that they need to crack down on the chair saving.

 

My boyfriend said he was going to participate in the “Mr. Sexy Legs”, but chickened out. I was pretty upset because he’s the type to look back and say, “I wish I had participated”. Our friend did participate and was the second runner up for the crowd favorite. It was very funny. We were excited because he was in the “Cruise in Review” video.

 

My boyfriend and I used our C&A coupon to eat at Johnny Rockets. We walked in right as they began dancing, which was fun to watch. We both had burgers that were very good. I had a coke and my boyfriend had a chocolate shake, which he raved about.

 

My boyfriend, sister, friend, cousin, aunt and I watched the belly flop contest. We laughed so hard; we even cringed at some.

 

We decided to go swimming after that. My boyfriend and I went to the room to change and put on sun block. When we got out to the pool, I looked over and saw the others in the pool. I happened to look to the right and saw their things on the ground and said, “Oh here we go, let’s set our stuff here”. Then this really nasty woman said, “Hey, that’s our chair!” I looked at her with wide eyes and said, “Okay… but we’re setting our stuff here on the ground”. At that point her daughter came up and said, “I was sitting there”. I said, “Actually you weren’t, besides I don’t want your chair... only the floor”. I then went up to my sister and asked if they put their stuff on the chair or on the floor. She said on the floor, but that the chair had been empty when they came up. I said, “really? Interesting!” But we got our stuff and left, as I walked away I said “unbelievable” just because I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I could not believe that! We weren’t going to even use the chair since we were going to be in the pool, we only had our things on the ground. Ugh, that made me so angry, I really wanted to punch the woman in the face. I know if it had been me, and someone was setting his or her things on the ground, I would have looked over, smiled and said hi. I may have even told them, “Just so you know… I’m going to be leaving in 10 or 20 minutes, if you want I can set your stuff on here so you can have the chair when I’m done”. I guess we can’t all be decent humans. (I really hope that witch with a capital B is reading this) After that nightmare my sister and cousin went to eat lunch and my friend and boyfriend went to the casino. I went up to deck 12 and got prime real estate over looking the pool. Of course I asked the woman if the chair was taken and she said “oh no... here you go” and even helped pull it out for me and everything. She even offered to get me a drink, which I declined since I just met her. Why can’t we all be like that? I did get a glass of water, though because it was hot. After people watching for a while, I got up and left. Told the woman thank you for being so nice and left.

 

Since it was the final bingo we decided to play. One of the winner said they were from Charleston, so we of course cheered loudly. The activities manager, Andy, said, “hey, I went to College of Charleston” and my boyfriend and I screamed even louder. We thought that was so cool. After bingo I went up and introduced myself and said, “hey, I’m a junior at the College of Charleston”. We all chatted for a while and my mom mentioned how we wish RC sailed out of Charleston and he said he would be on that ship in a heartbeat. It was very, very cool. We even noticed that one of the Cruise Director’s staff, Elvis, had been our assistant waiter on our first cruise 3 years ago. It was so cool to see him again and he was flattered that we remembered him. It was very cool to see his big promotion.

 

After that, I went to the Casino to play some Blackjack. It was my first time really playing, and it was a lot of fun. When I left I was up by $5 Of course, when I went back later I had bad hand after bad hand. It was okay, though. I hadn’t spent very much money at all, so it was okay to pay for that entertainment and feel cool at the “big kids table”. I think it’s important for people to remember that the casino is a form of entertainment, not income. You go to your job for income.

 

After the casino, we went to change into our dinner clothes and went to the Battle of the Sexes. It was fun, even though the girls lost. At dinner I had the wild mushrooms in a puff pastry, NY strip and brownie madness. It was all very good! My boyfriend had the Mahi mahi and he said that was also very good. After dinner we went back to our rooms to pack and set our bags out. We then went to the Comedian, Hank McGauley and we were almost falling out of our seats, he was so funny. We went back to our rooms and went to bed.

 

DISEMBARKATION

 

We were the first color after the early flight/tour/self depart. Our color was called around 8:10, and we got in line. The line didn’t move much at first, but then it got going. It was slow through the terminal, of course. Customs was quick and painless. The bad part was that my boyfriend was sent to a different line than us which hardly moved, so when we got our bags we had to wait for him to come down. At baggage claim, though, there were so many people that they stopped the line so we had to wait even longer. It ended up being okay, though, because my great grandmother couldn’t find one bag. It took forever to come out, but it finally did. That was the only bad part, and really… it was technically our fault. J We hopped in the car and made the drive back to Charleston. It was good to get back home and our dog was so excited to see us.

 

We had a great time. The bad thing about a 4-day, though, is that it took me until day 3 to get used to the layout, and by then it’s time to go. We decided that after this we probably wouldn’t come on Sovereign again unless there was a fantastic deal. We still love the Sovereign though, and she’ll always hold a special place in our heart because it was our first cruise and nothing compares to that… not even Mariner. It’s just that we want to go to other ports, ect. We also liked all the different things that the Mariner has to offer. As you can tell we like Port Canaveral, because it’s more convenient, unless of course they sail from Charleston. J We did notice there were a lot of people from not only Charleston, but all over SC. One day, hopefully.

 

 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

[bambam2972]

Oh, I forgot some things...

 

When I looked in the bathroom I was pleasantly surprised. The shower was huge! Even though it was a curtain, it didn't attack me.

 

Also, on formal night, my boyfriend and I went to the chocolate buffet. We were the second in line, and as we walked back to our rooms people kept eyeing our goods which was kind of weird. It was very good! :D

[ohiocruisemom]

Thanks so much for the great report!

[babsinpbg]

Really nice review. Thanks for taking the time.

[wolfcathorse]

Sovereign is so affordably priced that you should book a B2B on her, then you wouldn't feel so rushed!

[bambam2972]

That sounds like a good idea. I agree, it is very affordable and convenient since we can drive there in a day and don't have to worry about airfare or a hotel.

Thanks for the tip.