3/5/05

By LifeIsCruising

• February 11, 2007

After a very enjoyable sailing on Royal Caribbean?s Empress of the Seas a few months ago, we were excited to go on this short, three day cruise to the Bahamas. We were especially excited because we are within easy driving distance from Port Canaveral, making short cruises a good choice for trying new ships. As usual, the only thing we would regret was that it was not a longer sailing.

EMBARKATION - 10

Normally we try to get to the port really early, like 9:30 in the morning, so we can be the first in line. The thought has always been that in arriving early we were able to tour the ship, take photos, check out our stateroom, dining room table assignment and the like before the ?herd? arrived at Noon. This time we tried something different and planned on arriving at Noon just to see how it went.

Upon arrival everything looked normal except not a lot of the old passengers waiting to leave and not many of the new passengers waiting to board. Armed with Set Sail pass granted us after completing online check-in, passports and a credit card, along with our one carry on per person we entered the terminal right at Noon. Interestingly, there was no line. We were quickly processed and on the ship 5 minutes later.

I can?t think of anything they could have done better. Watch out Princess, your rule as king of embarkation may be challenged very soon. This was just that good.

CABIN: 8

After booking our first outside cabin on the Empress and doing fine with that, we booked an inside cabin on the Sovereign. Before I go on you need to know a little bit about us.

This is our 17th cruise, all of which have been in balcony cabins except the Empress and this one. This is a huge change in our cruise preference profile, one that could have a dramatic impact on the cruise experience. I just remember saying to myself that having an outside cabin was a lot like watching the ocean on television as compared to sitting on a balcony, up close and personal with it. Really believing that I thought, ?what the heck, let?s try an inside?. The potential financial benefits of a lifetime of cruising in an inside cabin vs a balcony are enormous. Worth a try for sure, if for no other reason than to be able to fully relate to inside passengers. If the movie Titanic taught us anything it?s that cruisers with class book balconies and suites and good looking, care-free scallywags who won their ticket in a card game end up drawing pictures of beautiful bodies. Hmm.

What we found was a standard small cabin, just no window or balcony. All the other basic features of any other cabin were there:

? Restroom with shower - bigger than phone booth size on Empress, bigger than Princess, about the same as Celebrity, Carnival and NCL. Cheap plastic shower wand not too impressive and a joke compared to the new ultra lovely ones on Celebrity Concierge Class, but adequate

? Beds - the most comfortable bed on any cruise ship so far, Simmons Beauty Rest (not that Simmons is all so great but here it was wonderful), first time ever I did not wake up with a backache

? Television- Just ok- limited selection, spoiled long ago by Carnival?s Fun Vision. There are movies but for some reason they?re not mentioned in the daily ship newsletter, The Compass . We watched the ending to ?Walk the Line? 4 times and decided that was good enough, I?m taking that one off my Netflix queue. Phoenix was robbed at the Ocars by the way.

? Phone- standard fare, used it to call room service who answered promptly

? A little desk and chair- same as any other ship

? Climate Control- Worked about as good as any other: Lisa thought it was fine and said leave it alone. I said ok but it was too hot so I cranked it all the way to cold when she wasn?t looking then woke up in the middle of the night freezing.

? Safe- nope, no safe. Lucky I brought the fake boulder from home where we keep our secret key to the house.

? Location- steerage. I learned that in order to make a strong cruise ship, engineers must adhere to many basic sea-faring principles just so the ship will float, like no holes in the hull. Another seems to be that the cabin walls are required to be thinner as you go further down into the bowels of the ship. Our cabin on deck produced an intimate feeling. It was kind of like living in a toilet stall but the sound came through the walls rather than over them. Score a few points for the balcony cabins of our past.

SAIL- AWAY- 9.5

Again, Royal Caribbean takes first prize. Sail-away is one of my favorite parts of the whole cruise. It?s always a happy time and everyone on deck is so full of anticipation about what is about to happen. As the ship pulls away from the port, just the mere movement of this huge vessel is cause for celebration. The air is ripe for excitement and Royal Caribbean takes full advantage of it by striking up the band and bringing out the Royal Caribbean Dancers to do a fun routine welcoming guests to join in for dancing after.

And they do, in droves.

I just can?t say enough about how brilliant this idea is. Guest excitement is already at a fevered pitch. If this is their first cruise or 50th, if they?ve been planning this for a year or a week, this is what it?s all about. Just the live Caribbean steel drum music is enough to set the mood. When the Royal Caribbean Dances explode out on to the deck the crowd goes wild and if there was a roof on the ship it would have been blow off as people of all races, backgrounds and orientations instantly come together as one.

Some Cruise Directors try for a week to make this happen by the end of the cruise. I?ve only seen a handful of them garner this level of excitement earlier in the cruise. Graham Seymour, formerly with Princes, now with Royal Caribbean on a different ship, has that ability as does John Heald from Carnival. I?m really looking forward to seeing how Graham does in this environment on the Adventure of the Seas when we sail with him later in a few months.

The only reason I give this one a 9.5 instead of a 10 is because the Royal Caribbean Dancers did not come in on queue. It created a few awkward moments probably not noticed by first timers but uncomfortable for those that knew the routine.

The secondary benefit of this whole thing is that it really makes you want to go see the dancers later in the cruise in a show. There they are, right there with you, celebrating with dance the sailaway. I think the only thing they could do better would be to have the Captain there briefly as part of an even better choreographed sequence?but I guess it?s probably better to have him on the bridge at this time huh?

FOOD- 8

My last cruise was on Norwegian Cruise Lines where Freestyle Dining is popular. We really liked NOT getting dressed up and for this short cruise debated whether we should or not for quite some time.

I?ve always been a big believer that dressing up for formal night is a big part of the cruise experience. That thinking has not changed. We always adhere to whatever the suggested dress is for any given night in the dining room if for no other reason than out of respect for those who are really into it. Hey, I have my ebay tux and if my Weight Watchers program continues to work well I might actually be comfortable in it some day.

Ok, probably not

In any event, not wanting to get dressed up combined with a desire to see what it would be like to not eat in the dining room at all we decided to do just that: Not eat in the dining room at all.

This would be a great ship to try it on too.

The Windjammer buffet area is set up in stations using a scatter style manned buffet like Princess tries to do in the Horizon Court set-up but fails at. They?ve tried to cram it all in too small of an area. It?s similar to what Carnival does on newer ships but Carnival has it so spread out that it?s easy to miss something or have cold food by the time you?ve made it around the circuit. It?s a dramatic departure from the straight-line cafeteria setup we?ve seen on other ships too, including the tiny Empress of the Seas.

In addition, one level above is a Johnny Rockets ($3.95 additional cover charge for the food, pay for the drinks) and Sorrentos, a great pizza place.

Room service would be another option at our disposal with a good menu selection. More than the sea biscuits we were expecting in our cabin next to the livestock hold, we enjoyed the cheesecake and cookies on the first night after a particularly tiring casino session.

The first thing we found as favorable was that the menu in the buffet was basically the same as in the dining room, right down to the wine available by the glass or the bottle. What liked was that it is setup to do in courses, just like in the dining room. Combined with a lower lighting level and increased service presence on the dining room floor, the ambiance of the room produced a very nice experience.

Don?t get me wrong, I still think that for the vast majority of guests, the dining room experience is the way to go. Especially first-timers. But if you want to do it truly on your schedule at a time that is truly convenient to you, this is a good choice. I don?t know if it?s a Royal Caribbean thing or not but the food was wonderful?.and I don?t think I am saying that because this cruise represents a 3 day vacation from our Weight Watchers plan where Lean Cuisine is standard fare.

The end result of it all was that we made a good decision, for us, trying out other dining options. I was impressed.

But food is such a subjective thing. One person may think that the coffee is really good (me and I am right) and another (stupid) person may think it was awful. So please take the opinions expressed here or in any other cruise review with a grain of salt (or arsenic if you don?t agree with me). The ultimate act of cruise dumbness is paying more than a fleeting thought at a negative report about any one aspect of a cruise.

Sure, there will be isolated incidents of bad service or food. But by and large, they do a good job, the motion of the ship won?t make you barf, some people will bring on their own booze, you?ll lose more often than you?ll win playing slot machines, and the drink of the day is the International Symbol for dumb. Think about that the next time you are on deck. Look around and see how many people have those drinks and don?t know what it symbolizes. Then tell me you didn?t laugh even though you had one too

The point is not that there?s maybe fifty cents worth of booze in one of those. The point is that for many that?s a big part of the cruise. My wife says that the cruise doesn?t start until she has that first foo foo drink.

One thing I think Royal Caribbean is especially good at is pointing us in the right direction to do and experience all our cruise has to offer while maintaining the ability to customize the experience just for ourselves. The food service on this ship is a great example of this. Other than the buffet area the ship boasts a decent pizza place, a Johnny Rockets ($3.95 cover) and does other traditional events like Afternoon Tea and has a 24/7 coffee station available.

The Casino -9 if based on how much I won 7 otherwise

First off, all that really matters to me in the casino are the slot machines. If there?s plenty of them, that?s good enough. It?s nice of them to have all those people standing around those tables smoking though. The constant haze in the air creates a nice ambiance. I wish they could make that a Hickory or Mesquite aroma so the chef could cure meat in there.

Everyone who plays slot machines, a game of skill requiring tactics and grace, knows that the first night is the on were the slots really pay out. They do that to ?hook? you on the thought of making easy money. Then from day two on, they place the pay-out setting on ?abuse player?. Of course we know that but we don?t want to believe it. That winning feeling from day one is just too good.

What I like about Royal Caribbean?s system is that on each machine there is a little LED readout that tells me how many ?points? I have accumulated. It?s never really apparent how those points are calculated but I had to have 800 of them to get my ?High Roller? polo shirt. I was done. I?d bet my last quarter. We went to dinner then came back to the cabin to watch the Academy Awards. Right in the middle of the Award for Best Supporting Floor Sweeper In A Foreign Short Film With A Twist it dawned on me that I?d not cashed the points I?d worked so hard to get.

Off to the casino I went.

I had $785 in points. That was enough to get two t-shirts (300 points each) or a few drinks ($150 each) but not enough for a polo shirt. Lucky for me that I?d brought along a twenty dollar bill. The plan was to us that $20 to give that machine who?d robbed me all week one last chance to make peace with me. I envisioned hitting the combination that gave me 4,000,000 coins (extra zeros added for potential Wow factor), getting it paid out in small bills then returning triumphantly to the cabin to shower the Mrs with money, proving what a keen gambler/tactician I am.

Instead I got nothing except points. I was up to $ 796.50 now. Returning to the cashier I asked to have my points checked thinking she would just let we slide on the shortage. Nope, had to be 800 points.

Ok now here?s the illuminating part about me

I have no idea how those points are calculated but it?s surely not dollars put into the machines because I didn?t play with any amount even close to $800. Still, not wanting to admit to total defeat, I had to have that polo shirt.

But I?d already spent the $20 I?d brought with me.

Not a problem, I just went to the cashier and charged another $20 on to my shipboard account. After playing and losing that $20 I had $800.25, enough for the polo shirt

Now let?s think about this for a minute

I probably could have bought a polo shirt like that in a store for $15. If I wanted it to have a sailing theme I could have bought Nautica Brand for $50 and had a little sailboat on the breast. But no, I spent hours racking up 800 points to get this stupid shirt?.and I was proud of it!

DISEMBARKATION- 10

Just as easy as getting on the ship, we took advantage of the Express service where we just walked off the ship with our luggage. Bypassing the sea of luggage snaking around the room on conveyor belts that others would be sorting through and the porter who?d require a gratuity, we walked right out to our car and drove home. They announced that we could leave at 7:20am and by 7:45am we were in the car and on the road.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE- 9

Royal Caribbean did a good job and we WILL be back to sail this ship again. Next up is Adventure of the Seas in May, sailing with our favorite Cruise Director, Graham Seymour. On this one we?re going to experience waiting to 1 month out from sailing to buy our tickets. After this Sovereign cruise we have no problem with inside cabins so we?ll just pick what ever is the least expensive and see where we end up. Stay tuned.