Sovereign of the Seas Recollections

[sail1658]

It's beginning to look like there will be limited cruising opportunities until the Autumn, and withdrawal symptoms have already kicked in. After all you can only watch so many box sets and have so many walks around the park. So I've been into the loft and dug out my boxes of old 8mm video tapes and started the mammoth task of digitising them.   We got our first video camera in 1989 and ever since then we've recorded our cruise experiences from 8mm to 4K. During this time period without cruises we love to have a glass of wine and revive our past cruise memories. I realised that my videos were too long and had random music, so I've re-edited them to focus on the ship and destinations and make them more watchable – hopefully!   I've posted a few videos on YouTube and I've also included two of our first cruises - one in 1989 on Sovereign of the Seas to the Caribbean, and another in 1990 on Cunard Princess to the Black Sea, as well as our most recent cruises on Queen Victoria to Spain and Portugal, and Queen Mary 2 to Norway 2019.   Our Sovereign of the Seas cabin was inside with bunk beds. The cabin was almost the size of the walk-in wardrobe on later cruises. Sovereign of the Seas in 1989 was the largest cruise ship in the world! Everyone dressed up and even danced under the stars in tuxedos and long dresses in the Caribbean!! How things have changed.   At that time there were very few ships sailing from the UK and prices were expensive. So we were thrilled to see offers from Royal Caribbean which included free flights and pre-cruise hotels as well as post-cruise day-rooms and transfers, all at a cost which was much less than UK departure cruises. They were trying to break into the UK market. So it enabled us to have a Caribbean cruise combined with our first experience of Florida and its theme parks and beaches. What fantastic memories. All the ships in the Sovereign of the Seas video are now gone, - Norway, Nordic Prince, Carib 1, Dawn Princess, Noordam, Holiday and especially sadly, Sovereign of the Seas last year. So I hope you enjoy or at least like some of them until we can get back on board again to make new memories.   Sovereign of the Seas 1989 -         Cunard Princess 1990 -         Queen Victoria 2019 -         Queen Mary 2 2019 -

 

Edited March 13, 2021 by sail1658

[AF-1]

Thanks for sharing your videos with us.  The Queen Victoria video would not play; it says its unavailable.  The other videos played fine;  it was nice looking at cruise ships no matter how old they are.  Cheers

Edited March 13, 2021 by AF-1

[sail1658]

Hi AF-1 

 

Thanks for watching. It's not as good as the real thing, but it's all we can do at present until better times are here again.

 

Sorry the Queen Victoria didn't play. Not sure why because it works here in the UK.

 

Here is the link, try this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbKb6bS3XBU&t=9s

 

 

Or if that doesn't work here is the link to the You Tube site -

 

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbYW-Y1IjRSD9MECilTBG5A

 

[Philly Steve]

A great project! Thanks for sharing it with us. Will long remember the rivalry between Sovereign and Norway.

[Sea Dog]

Very cool! Thank you for posting this time capsule.

[ONECRUISER]

First Boarded Sovereign in 1988 Cruise #016. Ours was a tiny Port Hole Deck 2 Cabin that cost $3800 for 2 of us on a 7niter. This more then what I paid on my last B2B 10 & 11n Balcony/Aft Serenade Cabin 16 months ago. Though Discounts now help. Of Course didn't have a choice besides cost, Sovereign didn't have Balcony's then. Bed was made from 2 Couchs that were L shaded during day, made into bed at nite. Lot of work for Cabin Attendant who'd clean my Cabin 8-10 times a day, every time I stepped out. But back then they had only 8 Cabins each. Enjoyed looking down on all the tiny NCL, Carnival and Princess "Love Boat" sized ships. Best was hitting Golf Balls and Skeet Shooting off Open Deck. As said Sovereign, Largest Cruise Ship and Worlds first Mega-Cruise Ship 

Edited March 13, 2021 by ONECRUISER

[sail1658]

We paid £1800 for 2 for an inside cabin with bunk beds which equates to about $2800 at the 1989 conversion rate. But that included long haul flights on British Airways, airport and port transfers and a one night pre-cruise stay at the Blue Lagoon Hilton in Miami, as well as a day-room at the Omni, Miami before our return flight home. So you can imagine how excited we were to bag such a bargain.  Those were the days!

[Jml1989_23]

My wife and I took our first cruise together on our honeymoon on Sovereign of Seas in 1989. We think we were in your video at the beginning.  What was the date of this cruise In the video? Our cruise date would have been 10/22/89 to 10/29/89 (I think!).  Thanks!

[NJoynCruisin]

I cruised Sovereign about 10/15 - 10/22/89.  Don't remember price for that tiny inside cabin I the tween deck.  Had fun and met life long friends.  It was so huge back then.  Thank you for sharing

[RobInMN]

Here is "MS Sovereign" when it was owned by Pullman docked next to Symphony of the Seas in 2018 in Civitavecchia. I wish I had noticed it sooner and taken a better picture, but I didn't. I realized as we were on the bus to the airport after our cruise.

I thought it was kind of fun to see the current "largest cruise ship in the world" next to it's ancestor that held the title from 1987 to 1990 and what some people consider the first "mega cruise ship"

Edited June 3, 2023 by RobInMN

[elizabethbp]

The first RCCL cruise I took was on the Sovereign with my then 6 yr old daughter.  We had a cabin with a window on a low deck.     It was  in 1995.

 

 I still have a picture of her from dinner with one of the crew  who was dressed as a pirate ( They did some sort of pirate night  back then).

 

 I have fond memories of the ship.

 

   

 

  

[shipgeeks]

There is a 2015 Bollywood movie set on the former Sovreign: Dil Dhadakne Do.  It is quite a good movie, about a family cruise to celebrate a 30th wedding anniversary.  Excellent cast including Priyanka Chopra, Anil Kapoor, and many others.  

[ONECRUISER]

Forgot to mention on my 2 Sovereign Cruises back 30+ yrs ago Ship had real well known Headliners. We had The Spinners on one and the The Monkees(minus Davy) on the other

[George C]

We totally loved Sovereign music headliners were people you saw on tv or movies one cruise had Red Buttons and Al Martino . Also got engaged on her in 1990, I believe rccl had a deal in 1988 and 1990 , a thousand a person including airfare. I have cruised several ships in last 50 years I thought was special Sovereign was definitely one.

[sail1658]

On 6/2/2023 at 3:33 PM, Jml1989_23 said:

What was the date of this cruise In the video? Our cruise date would have been 10/22/89 to 10/29/89 (I think!).

Don't remember the exact date but it was around the end of October and into November 1989.

[HERDFAN]

Our first cruise. 4 nights from Miami to Nassau and coco cay. I remember being floored by the midnight chocolate buffet. Mickey Dolenz from the Monkees was the headline entertainment. We were hooked. That was 23 cruises ago. Things sure have changed.

[sowhat]

Found this at the back of a kitchen  cabinet
If was a gift on one o f the sovereign  class ship, but  I don't  recall  which one..

[bigque]

Sovereign was my first cruise in October 2008 and it left Royal not long after that. The Freedom class ships were the “Big” ships in the fleet back then so I read a lot of bad reviews about Sovereign leading up to that first cruise and I almost changed my mind about doing it. I’m glad I didn’t because I had a ball and been cruising ever since. My profile picture is Sovereign that I took a picture of from Coco Cay on that first cruise. 

[voyager70]

On 6/2/2023 at 10:16 PM, RobInMN said:

Here is "MS Sovereign" when it was owned by Pullman docked next to Symphony of the Seas in 2018 in Civitavecchia. I wish I had noticed it sooner and taken a better picture, but I didn't. I realized as we were on the bus to the airport after our cruise.

I thought it was kind of fun to see the current "largest cruise ship in the world" next to it's ancestor that held the title from 1987 to 1990 and what some people consider the first "mega cruise ship"

These comparison photos are always mind blowing. My first cruise in 1982 was on the 23,000 ton Sitmar Fairwind and it seemed huge at the time (mind you I was only 12 but still!) That ship would look like a little toy next to an Oasis class ship.

 

[AF-1]

On 3/13/2021 at 9:03 AM, sail1658 said:

Hi AF-1 

 

Thanks for watching. It's not as good as the real thing, but it's all we can do at present until better times are here again.

 

Sorry the Queen Victoria didn't play. Not sure why because it works here in the UK.

 

Here is the link, try this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbKb6bS3XBU&t=9s

 

 

Or if that doesn't work here is the link to the You Tube site -

 

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbYW-Y1IjRSD9MECilTBG5A

 

You youtube link worked fine.  Thank you.

[Eddie Wilson]

DW and my second cruise was Sept 1992 on Soverign of the Seas.  Mid week we were docked in San Juan, came back from and excursion to find an envelope inside our cabin 

 

Opened up it was an invitation to have dinner with the Captain that evening.  Captain was Thor Stageland, it was quite an evening.  

 

We were early 30’s, and figured EVERYONE must be invited to dine with the Captain every couple of cruises.  How wrong we were, as I can’t say I have seen the Captain in the dinning room on most cruises.  Plus the odds today of being chosen and much more slight.

 

Eddie