| Here's a recent experience on the Sovereign:
Boston Globe article (reprinted without permission)
Sovereign: at sea with 2,689 friends
and an atrium
A ship is a ship is a ship, to paraphrase Gertrude Stein, but as far as the
Sovereign of the Seas is concerned, Stein would be wrong. For not all ships
are created equal, and for this reason, the Sovereign of the Seas is aptly
named.
I would not have told you this a few months ago. For the very thought of
sailing on the world's largest cruise ship - weighing 74,000 tons, 880 feet
long, carrying up to 2,690 passengers and 750 crew members, with 14 passenger
decks alone and a five-story atrium lobby - was not my idea of a seagoing
vacation. This sounded not like a cruise but a floating resort. The passenger
numbers sounded frightening, a mob scene, particularly entering and leaving the
ship. And that atrium, it sounded like I was booking the Hyatt and not a ship.
But seven days, even a few days, at sea on the Sovereign and all those fears
were left on shore.
And, if there was a test case for my fears, this July cruise was a good one -
for here, in the middle of the summer, on a cruise out of Miami, bound for the
Caribbean, the Sovereign was sold out. Two thousand six hundred eighty-nine
people were sharing this sail with me.
The Sovereign of the Seas sails from Miami every Saturday of the year for
Labadee, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's beach resort on the coast of Haiti; San
Juan, Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands. It's a
very relaxing itinerary, allowing three full days at sea.
We were also lured aboard by the thought that we will be sailing on the
"world's best cruise line," an award the line has received for the last five
years from Travel/Holiday magazine readers.
The scene during these few hours before sailing is a lively one. Bands are
playing on the ship's atrium. There are strolling waiters hustling rum drinks
in tall glasses with the ship's logo on them - buy the drink, keep the glass as
a souvenir. We found food at the Windjammer lounge on the top deck, a busy
place. Most aboard, like us, had been traveling all day, and our last meal was
in some distant airport or aboard the plane. When we arrived in Miami, we were
met by a hostess from Royal Caribbean who led us to waiting buses for our ship.
We had checked our luggage at Logan and were told that the bags would next be
seen in our ship's cabin. There was lingering doubt, but amazingly the bags
appeared, as promised, aboard the ship.
What is more amazing is that despite the ship's size and passenger capacity,
everything on board seems to work as easily as on a ship far smaller - after a
week aboard, we never felt crowded.
Like lemmings, we were drawn back to the Centrum, the ship's five-deck atrium
lobby: sometimes, it is just that we were still mesmerized that such a large
open space exists in the center of a ship. Even though this space does not
seem to belong at sea, it does grow on you, particularly when the Rosario
Strings group is playing.
The Centrum, though, is more than a gimmick. This grand entrance to the ship
also serves as an area for shopping, relaxing, purser's office and, more
importantly, the focal point for orienting passengers to where activities are
in the ship. The cabins are forward of the atrium: to the rear, or aft in
shipboard talk, are all entertainment and activities areas.
With its sweeping stairways leading to the dining rooms and casino, the
Centrum, like the European city centers it is named for, is a hubbub of
activity, but again, never appears crowded. Tony O'Prey, the hotel manager,
told us that the lower level with its raised stage is a favorite spot for
weddings or the renewal of wedding vows. Wedding? But the captain, I know,
cannot legally perform a wedding. True, O'Prey says, but he adds that couples
bring on their own wedding party for the ceremony. What is it said about a
marriage being on shaky water?
There's nothing shaky, though, about this ship. Throughout our cruise, there
seemed to be so little motion that sometimes we forgot we were at sea.
And, as a woman on a stairway was telling her companion who had just left
the Centrum, "You ain't seen nothing yet."
She was right. Working from the top down - the top lounge being 169 feet above
sea level - there are large, airy rooms for entertainment and small intimate
lounges for conversation and singing. Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's trademark
Viking Crown Lounge towers over all, wrapped neatly around the ship's
smokestack. From it's windows, we drank in sunsets - and an ocean view, we were
told, that is 50 miles wide.
Beneath the lounge is a vast open deck with two pools and Jacuzzies; a sports
deck for basketball; a large, ocean-view fitness center. Then there are the
entertainment lounges - Anything Goes, where the music continues into the wee
hours; the Music Man; just below it, Follies - the largest, seating 1,050
people on two unobstructed levels and more lavishly equipped than many a
theatre; Finian's Rainbow, seating 450. On Deck 4 there is a popular Casino
Royal, which opens for slot machines at 8 a.m. (at the request of passengers;
we are told the original starting hour was 10 a.m.) Beside it is my favorite
lounge, Schooner Bar, where the theme is nautical, and David Curtis is captain
of the piano bar, somehow managing to lead singing while playing the piano
with one hand and an electronic keyboard with the other. And there is more - a
card room, library, two theatres, a French cafe, featuring coffees, a champagne
bar, medical center and outside bars.
By now you get the picture that there is something going on somewhere on the
ship from morning to night. We join a daily morning Walk-a-Thon to earn
ShipShape dollars - collect 10 for any physical activity from dance lessons to
sporting events, and you get a T-shirt and visor. For joggers and walkers,
three-and-a-half times around the Promenade Deck equals a mile. There are card
games; bingo, with a grand prize of up to $6000; horse racing; skeet shooting;
golf driving range; programs for the young set; parties for honeymooners,
singles, grandmothers, and even one for the Friends of Bill W., which we learn
is for members of Alcholics Anonymous.
At night, we chose from dancing to Sammy & Co., or the more energetic sounds of
TNT Showband. There are three stage shows a night; on our cruise, the
headliners were Jimmie Walker and Trini Lopez. We enjoyed the musical revues
on other nights, but never made it to the disco. Cruise director Ray Rouse
reported that sometimes 250 people are there after 2 a.m.
There is one area where crowds are encountered - the pool by day. Soaking in
the sun along with a dip in the pool is, by all judgments, the most popular
daytime activity. We found, though, by heading up to the pool around 5 p.m.
we had most of the deck to ourselves.
Dinner itself is a delight. There are two dining rooms, two seatings, 6:15 pm
and 8:30 pm. Our table companions were from Rhode Island, but we could have
been as easily placed, judging by the passenger list, with someone from
anywhere in the world, as 27 nationalities were represented on board, along
with 52 nationalities on the staff.
The waiter, Gunther Kitzler, who served us with a flair, is a young man from
Austria, while his assistant, Choi Tae Seok, whose antics made mealtime fun,
is a 52-year-old Korean. We were never disappointed with the mean choices,
even a selection of low-cholesterol and low-fat items. And if one insisted,
there was food from morning to well past midnight, when lavish buffets are
rolled out. I'm not sure who has room for all that but I did overhear a
poolside conversation of a couple of mid-20-year-olds, who talked of taking two
entrees each night. The woman added that she is not going to win any ShipShape
dollars, unless they are given out for food and drink.
Labadee, the first stop on the trip, was the most spacious beach-party resort
that I've seen for a cruise line. There's lots of sand, good water, water
sports, lots of hammocks strung between palm trees, a craft market with items
from Haiti.
There were complaints about the stop in San Juan. We arrived in the heat of
midday to a crowded city , in contrast to the pristine Labadee. We could have
just walked into the old town, which begins at the foot of the cruise terminal
and enjoyed the colonial Spanish attractions; instead, knowing we had plenty of
time, we rented a car and discovered a different side, a more Caribbean one, to
Puerto Rico in its second city of Ponce.
St. Thomas, the complainers felt, was better. The shopping capital of the
Caribbean, with its combination of duty-free prices and generous customs
exemption of $800 a person, also has the beaches and snorkeling some missed in
Puerto Rico. We met a friend, Deborah Weintraub, who with her husband and
son, has retreated from Boston. She showed us the beauty of the island beyond
the shopping district.
Back on the ship, my only complaints are slight. I missed the people contact
that can be made on a smaller ship, and as big as the ocean is, and as wide and
pleasant as the Promenade Deck is, we sometimes forget we are on water.
One night, as we joined Capt. Tor Stangeland - who has overseen this ship from
the laying of its keel in France - at dinner, a dinner companion and I got into
a discussion of the size of the cabins. They are spacious, he argued, and lots
of room. Then I realize he is on Deck 10, where there are extra large suites,
complete with bathtubs, the ones former President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter used
when Rosalynn Carter christened the ship in 1988. We, however, were on Deck 5,
where the cabins are less than spacious, but very well-designed to make the
most of the area. All the cabins come with twin beds that can easily be made
into one comfortable king size bed. There is a TV with a choice off movies and
satellite news and telephone.
Is it the world's best cruise line? With more than 100 lines sailing today,
comparisons are hard, but Royal Caribbean Cruise Line does know how to please
in service, entertainment, food and ship design. There are more expensive
cruises, where there is more lavish service, but, dollar for dollar, we are
pleased with our experience on the aptly named Sovereign of the Seas.
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