8/18/06

By sailingrose

• February 11, 2007

My DH and I sailed on the Sovereign for our 22nd Anniversary. We sail with most major cruise lines but RCI is our favorite at the moment. We have sailed on the Sovereign 11 times both prior to and after the 2004 redo.

We booked an outside (porthole) cabin on Deck 2. This cruise was discounted heavily and this was the least we have ever paid to sail on this ship. The cabin was well kept and our cabin attendant Sharon Fredrick?s from Trinidad and Tobago was the best! We had no noise issues in this mid ship cabin however our tablemates were forward and heard the anchor.

The ship was in pretty good shape for a short cruise but there has been some new wear and tear since March when I was last aboard her. RCI needs to fix some things. The ship is in the process of getting new bedding. It has been coming from RCI in Miami very slowly. The upper floors are finished but the lower ones are still working on it. We did have a new bedcover and mattress and they were fine.

The food was pretty typical of RCI. I really enjoyed the Shrimp Scampi the first night so our headwaiter Bruno ordered it for us the second night. It was even better! The Windjammer food was boring, pretty much the same station items each day. (Taco bar, salad, same sandwiches each day) We ate once in the Dining room for breakfast and the service and food were good. I had Eggs Benedict and DH French Toast. The desserts were overall very good on this ship. I will say that the food was better than on previous large ship sailings, much easier to cook and serve quality on a smaller ship. We love the smaller ships for this reason. Service was excellent as usual on this ship from the cabin staff to room service. Found several of our previous servers in the bar as well as the dining room and enjoyed visiting with them once again.

We did not go to any shows since we?ve seen them all before. Dueling Pianos in Boleros is always fun! We did go to the Casino nightly and had some fun with the staff, they were great! The first night I couldn?t get to a table after dinner so I put $20 in a quarter machine and about ? way through it, I won $300! Cashed that out quick! LOL I didn?t lose any money this trip. DH lost however. We played Let it Ride, Black Jack, and DH played Caribbean Stud.

We got off the ship in Nassau and walked around for a little while then got back on the ship and spent the entire day together. It was our Anniversary so we enjoyed some quiet time on the ship. We had a lovely Anniversary and we couldn?t have asked for a nicer way to spend a day. We didn?t get off in Coco Cay but we have in previous trips and enjoyed it very much. It was great having an almost empty ship, nice and quiet. We sat on deck 7 (promenade) and chatted with others, read and DH napped of course.

The Crown and Anchor program was very good on this ship. We are Diamond Plus members. There were 7 Diamond plus on the ship. We got welcome back letters from the Guest Relations manager and the hotel manager. We also got a gift of a small cooler and bingo card from the cruise director. Very nice touches we thought and much appreciated. The Loyalty Ambassador was relatively new but she was efficient.

We love this ship because it?s only a 45 minute drive to Port Canaveral and the crew is always outstanding.

We booked another sailing for February next year while on board to receive the $50 booking credit.