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Pullmantur Sovereign


cruz.n.carebear
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Hello! We just recently took a 7 day Mediterranean Breezes cruise on the Pullmantur Sovereign (formerly RCCL's Sovereign of the Seas). Doing my research for this trip, I really had to look hard to find information regarding Pullmantur because it is a Spanish line. So I thought I would come on here and leave some information for anyone considering taking one in the future. :)

 

A few bits of information that everyone should know about Pullmantur: it is a Spanish line where Spanish is the primary language spoken. However, all of the announcements are also given in English, French, and Portugese (you can only imagine the length!). What made this more bearable: it's all inclusive to include beer, wine, and many mixed drinks.

 

We boarded the ship in Genoa, Italy. The main embarkation point is Barcelona, so this was a much smaller crowd boarding than typically. It was super easy and very nice. And I have to admit, I am very thankful that we boarded in Genoa vs losing time in Barcelona with embarkation and such. Genoa was our very least favorite portion of our trip.

 

Our itinerary included Villefranche, France, Barcelona, Tunisia, Rome, and Florence. We tendered in Villefranche next to the Disney Magic (?) and it was one of our very favorite stops. It is gorgeous there. We took the train over to Monte Carlo and then took a bus to the palace area. Great day, and I wish we had more port time as we were only there from 7-3.

 

The next day we were in Barcelona. What a beautiful city! We utilized the HOHO bus and enjoyed the day immensely. I became a "Friend of Sagrada" through their website for a significant savings and not having to wait in line. I highly recommend it! The next day was at sea, and I enjoyed a pedicure.

 

After our day at sea, we visited Tunisia. This was the one port that we all had mixed feelings on. I was eager to visit, but my husband was not. This is where a negative for going on a Spanish ship is. They only guarantee one English excursion for each stop. In Tunisia, that is Tunis and shopping. We had no desire to do that. We wanted to visit Carthage and Sidi Bou Said, but agreed only if an official excursion had enough English to make the tour (they need a min of 20 ppl) There were only 2 Chinese passengers booked on that excursion, so we were out of luck. We just didn't feel comfortable doing it on our own in a country with an active State Dept travel warning. So we kept to the port area, and enjoyed the day there. We took a camel ride, bought some goodies and took advantage of a Wi-Fi café nearby.

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We left Tunisia at 1pm (very short day) and headed back towards Italy. We arrived in Civitavecchia the next morning at 10am. Pullmantur has its guests leave in zones, and that is put on your room card. We were zone 1, my son in the cabin next to us was in zone 4, and my daughter who was in a cabin with my mom and niece several floors up was zone 6. I had reserved a private excursion with Smart Cruise Tours for the day. The driver was to meet us at 10:30 and drive us around Rome. We managed to sneak off with an excursion group and were one of the first ones off the ship. Duccio was waiting for us, and we took off in his van! I have to say - I was very pleasantly surprised with Civitavecchia. For some reason, I had it in my head it was just a port town with no character. It was very cute! I would love to explore it more. Duccio is from there, and was very proud of it. The drive in to Rome took about 45 minutes. We had an extremely full day. It was like the highlight reel of the city, which I knew would happen. But Duccio was fantastic. When he took us to the Vatican, he gave us a phone to call him when we got out. We kept the phone with us for the rest of the day should we need him for anything while we weren't physically with him. We returned back to the ship very tired at 7:15, just in time for dinner.

 

As it is a Spanish ship, and the Spaniards eat later than Americans, the dining times are different. Lunch doesn't start until 1pm, and the early dinner seating is 7:30. The dinner part wasn't bad, but I would have liked for lunch to start earlier.

 

The next day was Florence and we just took the ship excursion transfer bus. It was cheaper than the public transportation would have cost and much easier. We spent the day shopping and sight seeing. Florence is beautiful, but with it being at the end of our cruise we were so "beautiful"'ed out that it was almost too much! The next day we arrived back to Genoa and off the ship.

 

My thoughts on Pullmantur are this: it was a GREAT value for what we got. No way could an American cruiseline ever touch the unbelievable price we paid for it. For that alone, it was worth it. We are pretty easy-going travelers that aren't really picky or demanding. But I have to admit, I was ready to get off the ship. The ship was very full, and it got tiring that everything was in Spanish. The kids ran around like crazy. I try to blow most stuff off, but the kids were absolutely NUTS on this ship, and the parents didn't seem to think anything about it. The first two nights, we were directly across the hall from 4 rooms of high schoolers that had no adult supervision. They were up all night and we finally had to call security twice. I understand why the American liners are so tough on their rules about adults with minors. The staff was amazing. They all went out of their way to be very helpful, and they all spoke English. Our room steward was phenomenal, and we liked our waiters a lot. The cruise director went from Spanish to English to French to Portugese without blinking an eye, which was extremely impressive.

 

In the end, I'm glad we did it. But I probably won't go on another Pullmantur ship. And I will have to be very cautious as to who I recommend them to. Not everyone would enjoy it, but for those with the right mindset, it is a great deal.

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cruz.n.carebear,

 

Thanks so much for taking the trouble to write this review. We have wondered about the pullmantur cruises and it is very helpful to hear of your experience; I am sure that there are others who will appreciate your comments as well.

 

Regards,

Barbara

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Great review, lots of food for thought.

 

Interestingly, many of your comments mirror how we felt about our cruise on Voyager of the Seas a couple of years ago. It was full of Italians and French who got up late, ate late and allowed their children to run about until the early hours of the morning - and that was just the under 5's! Their parents,meanwhile seemed blissfully unaware of their children's apallingly bad behaviour as they stood smoking in the non-smoking areas. Both children and adults pushed their way into the buffet lines, the lifts and the queues for the shows. It was a huge culture shock after having sailed mainly from the US!

 

It nearly put us off cruising the mediterranean, but thankfully us cruise onboard Crown Princess last year was a mich more pleasant experience.

 

From your description, Pulmantur would not be for us, but it sounds like you had a good deal and enjoyed yourselves.

 

By they way, what WAS the food like?

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The food was quite good. I am a pretty by the book "chicken, steak, pork" type of girl who is not very adventurous. I was able to find something every night. The only thing I didn't enjoy was the shrimp pasta dish. It was very fishy and the shrimp came whole (eew). One night, I did pay 10 euros for a Filet Mignon but it was worth it! I didn't stray too far from the reservation, but my husband tried oxtail and said it was delicious. My daughter ate duck for the first time, and my brother enjoyed the rabbit.

 

The lunch grill buffet only had hamburgers once, and then the term hamburger would be loosely assigned. The lunch buffet had many different options including meats and regional dishes, as well as they always offered a pasta bar and an Indian bar that conformed to their dietary restrictions.

 

I will also add that the first day we embarked, we had an "International Guest" meeting that was in English. She went over everything we needed to know and answered any questions we had. She was at the guest services desk for a few hours each day to help us in anyway we needed.

 

The cabins were fine. It is an old RCCL ship, so they are the same as the older RCCL ships. (except when I sailed on the Monarch there was no safe in our room, and they had one here) There were 7 of us all together, and we had 2 interiors and one junior suite. The junior suite that my mom, niece, and daughter stayed in didn't have A/C for the first two nights. So they were miserable. But it did get fixed and got much better. This was my first time in an inside cabin, and it wasn't bad at all. However, I was kicking my husband for not paying the extra after we were being serenaded by drunk Spanish teenagers the first two nights.

 

I've tried to upload some photos but it keeps giving me a "upload failed" message.

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Hi anyone doing the cruise from barcelona on 7th september love the iternary dont know much about the company but seems great deal any other english out there joining us on this trip love to hear from you,:)

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  • 1 month later...

Reviews of Pullmantur cruises are hard to find. Thank you for posting yours ! We are booked on the May 5th five-night cruise on the Sovereign. Flying to Barcelona from Boston and spending 1 night pre-cruise/1 night post-cruise. Should be quite an adventure. Having stayed at several resorts in Mexico and the Dominican that draw large groups from Spain, we are used to the smoking and dining habits that will be present on the ship. Not a problem. I do have a few questions -- As to booking excursions, how will I know which are in English? I've read they do offer one at each port. The Pullmantur website isn't specific. --- Are their any tables for two in the dining room? --- At dinner, is the food in the buffet of the same quality and variety as in the dining room? --- Is there an outdoor dining area for the buffet off the back of the ship. Any additional information will be appreciated. Thank you.

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We were on the Sovereign last year and had a nice cruise out of Barcelona. We did an excursion in Tunis and it was in English and very well done, but I do not remember if there was much information as to language before we booked the excursion. We tried to get a table for two but had to settle for a table for four, as they tend to group people at tables by their nationality, but not necessarily their language. We are English speaking Canadians and were joined with French speaking Canadians but that worked out well nevertheless.

The food is better in the dining room, at least in terms of presentation, but many of the same dishes are available in both.

There is outdoor dining at the back of the ship as well as a grill area if I recall.

We are going on another cruise on the Sovereign in November so I can respond to more questions later.

I should add that the food was very good and there were lots of great Spanish dishes. The staff on the cruise were really helpful and friendly and not having to account for all your drinks made it very relaxing, especially if you are sure to have cava with all your meals (except breakfast):)

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If you go to the excursions desk, they will give you the list of which excursions are available at each port. All of the staff speaks excellent English, which is very helpful.

 

I agree that the food is presented much better in the MDR than the buffet, but we always found something good on the buffet as well. The grill is up above the pool in the aft section of the ship. The food there was by far our least favorite food of the trip - but one day they had burgers. It's not the typical "grill" foods that we are used to.

 

I don't recall seeing any tables for 2. There might be some in the sushi restaurant, though. (that's the additional charge one)

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Thank you both for the information. Plato123, I look forward to reading your comments after the November cruise. We just upgraded our cabin from an inside on deck 5 to an outside on deck 7. Did so just for a bit of extra room. It was almost an even swap because of the reduced rates right now.:)

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On our first Pullmantur we had booked a Junior Suite and a connecting flight through a local travel company (now out of business). Our flight was 8 hours delayed due to weather, and believe it or not the Captain kept the ship in port until we (all eight of us) arrived. That was the good part, because they had given our suite away and we had to settle for an outside cabin with a bad view. We were refunded the difference by the travel company before they closed shop. The ship was the Pacific Dream which is no longer part of Pullmantur's fleet.

Our second Pullmantur cruise was on the Sovereign, and this time we had an outside cabin but with a faulty toilet so we were moved to another outside cabin, but with two additional bunk beds, which we did not use, but the cabin was not very roomy at all.

Our next Pullmantur cruise will see us on the Sovereign again, but this time we are going for a large "Grand Suite" (only eight on the ship) and that comes with other goodies such as a Lavazza coffee maker in the cabin, bath robes, lots of space and preferential boarding as well as lots more. (Check their English brochure at pullmantur.es with a link at the very bottom of their cruise page.) Based on our other cruises where we also had a suite, we will do so again, and on Pullmantur they can be quite reasonable.

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We are taking a 5 night cruise on the Sovereign. But there is a small glitch. The travel agency has the cruise itinerary as Rome, Florence, Villefranche. Pullmantur's website shows Tunisia, Corsica, Rome. Travel agency insists their info is correct. It really doesn't matter to us which it is, but would like to have the right info. Any suggestions?

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Thank you. We have cruised a great deal, but this is the first time to anywhere in Europe. Spending two nights in Barcelona - one pre-cruise and one post-cruise. As you can imagine, we are very excited ! Looking forward to Plato123's comments after the November trip.

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Thanks for the review. We are looking at Pullmantur's French Operation CDF. They seem to have the same type of Cruise Experience but have the Francophone style. Since you are a TA. A question?

 

Pullmantur (and CDF) both mention all gratuities are included. Did you find this true on your Cruise? And did you tip anyway??

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Our gratuities were not included. They were approx. 70 euros a person. But the all inclusive experience includes alcohol, food, etc. The main difference is the alcohol.

 

 

Thank you. Not a deal breaker at all. Was expecting as much.

 

Now if I can just find a CDF site in English. And Menus!

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I did a search on CDF, and you are right -- there is next to nothing out there. I would contact RCCL and ask them how to contact them for marketing information. Based on the little info I did find about them, it seems to be strictly a French ship catering to a French crowd. If you don't speak French, you might be in trouble. With Pullmantur, they at least try to market to the British and other English speaking markets so they include English in their messages. I don't know that CDF will. Best of luck!

 

But everything I did read stated that gratuities are in fact included in their pricing, so unless they have changed it since 2010 when the person reviewed their trip, you are in luck on that front!

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  • 1 month later...

We just got back from a cruise on the Sovereign out of Valencia. We were on this ship last year, but this year we wanted to see the islands of the western med so we took this cruise. We also wanted a little more comfort than the standard outside cabin so we opted for a Grand Suite which is larger than a junior suite but more importantly entitles you to Pullmantur's Grand Class benefits which we enjoyed. Besides being all inclusive Grand Class gives you a welcome bottle of bubbly, a fresh fruit bowl (refreshed midcruise), bath robes and flip flops, a 35 euro credit in the shops, 80 minutes of internet time, canapes in the room in the afternoon, and on and on. The Grand Suite was spacious and there was a heavy curtain that you could pull across the room to make the bed separate from the living area which included a sofa bed too. There was a Lavazza coffee machine in the room too and the Lavazza expresso pods were topped up daily. There were also two 1.5 litre bottles of water provided daily.

The food was very good to excellent in the dining room and the buffet and the majority of the staff on the ship seemed to be from Brazil.

We started out with fine weather in Valencia and Malaga but is slowly deteriorated to the point where we had to spend an extra day at sea as we could not dock in Cagliari in Sardinia. The seas were rough and two nights we were rolling and bucking up and down a lot and as a result there were few on deck activities, making the ship a little crowded at times.

Overall we enjoyed this cruise quite a bit and recommend the Grand Class as a nice way to travel on Pullmantur.

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