SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS

When Sovereign of Seas was launched by Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in 1988 it was the largest and most elaborate ship on the seas. Today it is roughly half the size of Royal Caribbean's new Voyager class of ships. The Sovereign sails three and four day cruises from Port Canaveral. Because of the shorter cruises, the rates are quite good and with Port Canaveral being drivable from Greenville, we sell this cruise often. Having never sailed on Royal Caribbean, I made it my goal for 2005 to cruise on RCCL. I knew that this was their oldest ship and went with no expectations at all. I was pleasantly surprised with the Sovereign. The Sovereign of the Seas was dry docked for 23 days last fall and millions of dollars were put into giving the ship a major face lift. Most of the public spaces were updated and 62 of its cabins were turned into Junior Suites with balconies.

Sovereign of the Seas has two main dining rooms: the Mirage on Deck 4 and Illusions on Deck 3. Traditional cruise style dining is offered with early and late seatings as well as a buffet on the top of the ship for more casual dining. When the refurbishment was done they also added a Johnny Rockets hamburger grill and a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop. Both of these are available for a small surcharge. I did not eat at either of these places but they did seem to be quite popular. I found the food in the main dining rooms to be quite good and the service was probably the best I have ever had on a cruise ship. I ate in the buffet area for breakfast and lunch and thought the variety and taste to also be very good. Room service is offered 24 hours a day and there were
two mid-night buffets on the four night cruise including one elaborate chocolate buffet.

The public areas of the ship included many lounges, a casino and shops. The Viking Crown lounge on the very top of the ship was a favorite of mine. If offered 360 degree views of the ocean and was rarely very crowded. I loved watching sunsets from here. Another favorite was the new Bolero's lounge which featured latin music and my favorite drink, Mojito. The Follies Theatre was beautiful and the shows were quite entertaining. There were two places to access the internet and rates were quite reasonable. There are two pools on this ship and the areas around the pools were usually pretty crowded but you could always find a lounge chair somewhere on the top two decks.

The cabins are quite small as you would expect for an older ship. I had an ocean view cabin on deck 7. It was clean but very compact. Some of the bathroom tiles were coming up but for the price of this cruise and this category it is still a good value. This ship had no balcony cabins until the renovation and while the ship was full and I did not get a formal tour of these cabins, I did peek in when they were cleaning and they looked very nice and much larger than the other cabins.

There is a large fitness center with up to date machines and a nice spa on the ship as well as a salon for hair and nail treatments. There is a basketball court and rock climbing wall on the top of the ship.

I really think this is a good cruise for first time cruisers as well as anyone wanting a short getaway. While it is not one of the big mega ships, for the price that this cruise sells for, it is hard to beat and if the service on the Sovereign is an indication of the service on Royal Caribbean fleet wide, RCCL has other lines beat in that department.