Sovereign of the Seas

Anyone happen to be going to the Bahamas April 10th on RC's Sovereign of
the Seas? OR have you been and how is it?

JWats wrote:
Anyone happen to be going to the Bahamas April 10th on RC's Sovereign of
the Seas? OR have you been and how is it?

We were on it in November. She is an old ship by today's standards.
The refit a year ago was done well but the bones are still old design.
The service was good not great. Food was better than the norm on RCI.
Shows were very good. The only down side are the people that want to
stuff a 7 day party into 3 or 4 day trip. Lots of beer drinking 24
hours a day.

CFL wrote:
JWats wrote:

Anyone happen to be going to the Bahamas April 10th on RC's Sovereign
of the Seas? OR have you been and how is it?

We were on it in November. She is an old ship by today's standards. The
refit a year ago was done well but the bones are still old design. The
service was good not great. Food was better than the norm on RCI. Shows
were very good. The only down side are the people that want to stuff a
7 day party into 3 or 4 day trip. Lots of beer drinking 24 hours a day.


I spent 7 voyages on Sovereign in January and Feburary. The ship is
nearly 20 years old and it shows. There are few public bathrooms, and
those that are there don't work very well. The women's bathroom near the
casino overflowed and when someone complained, the foreign speaking
purser at the Customer Relations desk mistook "feces" for "species". It
was funny at the time, but when you really think about it, you can see
why people get sick on cruises.

The food sucked. Especially considering they repeated the same menu
every voyage. Probably not a big deal if you're on for just one voyage.

The entertainment was amaturish. The stage show reminded me of something
my high school produced thirty years ago.

The service was highly variable; if you tip well, the service can be
very very good. If you don't tip, forget it. I had the opportunity to
see how the crew lives having spent three of the 7 voyages in crew
quarters (I was on the ship as a vendor), and quite frankly people, TIP
THEM! They need it. They work in almost indentured servitude for slave
wages and they work killer hours. Double and sometimes triple shifts.
There's a reason most of the labor comes from outside the US and all the
ships are registered outside the US. It's so they can screw over the
employees. They work 7-days a week for 6 months straight (depending upon
position--some get 1 day off every couple weeks), and then get 6 weeks
off, with no guarentee that they have a job to return to.

The Sovereign does 3- and 4-day cruises to the Bahamas. Your choice of
ports a Nassau. That's it. They do stop at the RCI private island of
Coco Cay, but that's it. And they didn't stop there three times out of
the 7 because of bad weather. (No safe for the tender boats to take you
to shore.) And when they do, lunch is burgers and hot dogs and expensive
drinks and cheap trinkets.

It's a freakin' "Booze Cruise"; People do this cruise if they, 1) don't
know any better, 2) are too cheap to do a 7- or 8- day cruise, or 3)
they just want to gamble and get drunk. The drinks are strong, but
expensive and the casino is tight.

And they don't let you off the ship if you leave a bill outstanding. Be
prepared to max out your credit card....

Lee Lindquist wrote:

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 21:41:52 -0700, PastaLover
wrote:


I spent 7 voyages on Sovereign in January and Feburary. The ship is
nearly 20 years old and it shows. There are few public bathrooms, and
those that are there don't work very well. The women's bathroom near the
casino overflowed and when someone complained, the foreign speaking
purser at the Customer Relations desk mistook "feces" for "species". It
was funny at the time, but when you really think about it, you can see
why people get sick on cruises.

The food sucked. Especially considering they repeated the same menu
every voyage. Probably not a big deal if you're on for just one voyage.

The entertainment was amaturish. The stage show reminded me of something
my high school produced thirty years ago.


Sounds painful. Why seven times?


I'm guessing he was on the cruise staff.

Ermalee

On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 08:43:14 -0500, Lee Lindquist wrote:

Sounds painful. Why seven times?

Hi Lee,

He works for a Royal Caribbean contractor.

Best regards,
Ray
LIGHTHOUSE TRAVEL
800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905
http://www.lighthousetravel.com
--
NewsGuy.Com 30Gb $9.95 Carry Forward and On Demand Bandwidth

Next time you may wish to consider the Majesty of the Seas for a short 4
day trip.
I was on it in both October and December and it had excellent food and
service.
The Nassau, Coco Cay, Key West itinerary is a fun one.
It is an older ship but well maintained with a great crew.

DaFlaBear wrote:
Next time you may wish to consider the Majesty of the Seas for a short 4
day trip.
I was on it in both October and December and it had excellent food and
service.
The Nassau, Coco Cay, Key West itinerary is a fun one.
It is an older ship but well maintained with a great crew.

since you don't quote any text and there are numerous replies to this
thread I'm going to guess you are replying to Pastalover who had 7
cruises on the SOS.
If he is a vendor can he pick which ship he is going on or does RCI tell
him specifically which ship he's going on?

Bill

--
Visit my Caribbean Princess website:
www.cruisingthecaribbeanprincess.com

DaFlaBear wrote:
Bill,
I guess it depends what kind of vendor he is.
He didn't say if he's on an outside maintenance team or with Park
Avenue.

And I'm not going to say any more because I still have to work with
these people.

I still recommend the Majesty to ANYONE seeking a quick cuise out of
Florida.
In the last four months I've been on the Majesty twice, and the Jewel
and the Enchantment once each.
I liked the Majesty the best. They had the most professional crew and
the best food.


Jewel is the nicest ship in the fleet as far as I'm concerned. And being
the newest, it gets the prime crew assignments and the most attention.
Freedom will be the new "star" of the fleet, but it's just too big for
my tastes.

Pastalover,
The Jewel is is nice ship but service was REAL spotty a couple of weeks
ago. They have a high powered management team but the ship just wasn't
in sync when I was on it.
Screwed up dining arrangements, wrong prices posted on computers for
certain wine products, wrong luggage tags distributed, and no priority
disembarkment for Diamond/Diamond Plus members just to mention a few
things.
I was told by a senior staff member that nearly sixty of their best crew
were on vacation and then headed for duty on the Freedom and that's why
there were service problems.
I won't go back on that ship.
In general, I've noticed a decline in service ever since Jack Williams
left.
We were on the Enchantment in January for a Crown and Anchor Cruise and
NOT ONE member of the Corporate team was on board.
In the past, Jack Williams would be dealing Blackjack on a C&A cruise,
on this one the new Prez or any of his staff were nowhere to be found.
How do you check the service quality hiding in your office in Miami?
Still, we're going on the Mariner again in April then the Freedom in
October.

Sovereign of the Seas? OR have you been and how is it?

Older ship. Mediocre at best. This was my least favorite of the RCCL
ships I have sailed. The refurbishment they did over a year ago is
hardly noticeable. Cabins very small and we booked a superior ocean
view. For a short cruise it's Ok. Doubt I would sail her again, but I do
remember the cruise fare being very reasonable!

Len...