PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. - With the recent boom in slick megaliners, even relatively new ships can quickly seem passe.

That was the case with Royal Caribbean’s Sovereign of the Seas, launched in 1988 as the largest and most innovative ship afloat. Rather than selling her, as lines often do, RCCL hauled the Sovereign into dry dock, added flourishes, redecorated throughout and relaunched the refreshed ship for three- and four-day cruises from Port Canaveral, near Orlando.

The $30 million result is a ship that feels completely contemporary. No, it doesn’t have golf or an ice-skating rink - those are only on Royal Caribbean’s Voyager-class ships - and the cabins are 25-35 percent smaller than similar staterooms on the newest ships. But during a recent relaunch voyage, the Sovereign oozed the same smart comfort that cruisers find on Royal Caribbean’s newer ships.

‘‘It looks more like a Voyager-class ship,’’ said travel agent Bruce Weissman of ecruises.com. That’s the idea, said Royal Caribbean CEO Jack Williams. ‘‘We want to keep older hardware in line with the rest of our ships.’’ And it makes good financial sense at a time when the euro is trading at all-time highs; the experienced cruise-shipbuilding yards are all in Europe.

Though the Sovereign’s makeover wasn’t as extreme as one coming this spring for Enchantment of the Seas - that ship will be cut in half and a new 73-foot section added - the Sovereign’s face-lift was actually more difficult, said Harri Kulovaara, vice president. Plumbing was completely repiped, cabins refurbished section by section, and some spaces - including dining rooms and the spa - stripped to the steel.

New are private balconies on Deck 10 - unheard of in the late 1980s, but standard on new ships. The small fitness center/spa has more than doubled in space, with a calm Zen attitude in 11 treatments rooms and the latest in LifeFitness machines. A former beauty salon has been transformed into Latte-tudes, where guests can snag a Ben & Jerry’s or Seattle’s Best Coffee. Teen space has expanded, kids’ programs widely broadened and a little-used lounge morphed into nonstop Latin action in a bar called Boleros.

Dining options - once limited to the main dining room - now include a Johnny Rocket’s diner, Sorrentos pizzeria and the Windjammer Marketplace, with food stations featuring international fare - Latin cuisine, Asian dishes, a carvery and deli.

Here, too, is Royal Caribbean’s signature rock-climbing wall, added last year - though, sadly, it interrupts the 360-degree windows of the ship-top Royal Crown Viking Lounge. An Internet lounge was also added a few years ago.

What remains from its early days is the Sovereign’s five-story atrium with glass elevators. Today, shipboard atriums are as commonplace as spas and multiple dining venues - but in 1988, the Sovereign’s design was a revolution.

Then, too, its 73,000-ton size was a mind-buster. Today, it’s far trimmer than the largest liners, measuring as much as 150,000 tons - but with plenty to offer on a short cruise.

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SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS

Best for: Parents traveling with kids 17 and under

Also good for: Adults alone who want to chill out

What we liked best:

-Boleros, the fun Cuban dance club where you can get a real mojito

-Expanded teen lounge with an outside deck for teens only and a teens’ Internet cafe (with kids’ only price)

-Expanded children’s area, with bright new decor, computer learning games and Fisher-Price parent-child play program

-Food upgrades, with well-executed menus. The casual Windjammer features food islands and items such as pine nuts, roasted garlic, miso soup, fajitas, Asian dishes (though the salad bar is a bit Spartan.) In the main dining room, a cream of asparagus soup with smoked river trout was outstanding, as was beef tenderloin, but the almond-crusted halibut was undercooked.

What we liked least:

-We’ve been spoiled: Not as many hip nightclubs as we’d like, and no upscale alternative dining room. Of course, parents coming from the theme parks may not care.

-The sports deck is now harder to access; by night it becomes teens-only.

-Rock-climbing wall interrupts the 360 views in the Royal Viking Lounge

-Showers tough for the very tall

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SOVEREIGN STATS

Itinerary: Three- and four-day trips to the Bahamas from Port Canaveral

Cost: From $249 per person, double occupancy, depending on date

Amenities: Spa, nightclubs, expanded teen areas, expanded children’s programs, Internet access, some wireless hot spots, Johnny Rocket’s burgers and Sorrento’s pizza plus several other dining options, rock-climbing wall, two pools, two whirlpools

Size: 73,192 tons

Length: 880 feet

Width: 106 feet

Cabins: 1,146; 62 balconies

Guests: 2,292 at double occupancy

Crew: 840

Information: 866-562-7625; www.rccl.com.

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ROBO-PAMPERING

The roller curls up around your head, creeps slowly along your knotted vertebrae, sweeps up and under your buns, pushing your pelvis into the air. All the while, a pad with infrared nodules is placed over the abdomen, stimulating acupuncture points to rebalance your organs.

It all feels sort of - weird. But good weird.

This mechanical butt-rolling massage and Eastern-influence treatment comes on a Migun bed, a recent addition to the cruise-ship panoply of pampering.

We tried it aboard RCCL’s Sovereign of the Sea, one of two RCCL ships that recently installed the beds. The cost: $39 for 15 minutes, or $99 for three 15-minute treatments. That works out to about 25 percent more per minute than traditional human massage - but available in shorter shots. And while traditional massage takes place clothes-off behind closed doors, this is clothes on, right in the gym.

The idea, explained Amie Skinner, fitness director, is to rebalance your body to improve circulation, digestion and muscular function. A brochure explained that the treatment is supposed to have the same healing properties as jade, mixed with acupuncture and acupressure. One in four homes in Korea now have these beds, Skinner said - though subsequent research didn’t turn up many mentions of them.

It did, clearly, shake things around. And after the initial weirdness, it felt nice.

‘‘I didn’t realize what it would feel like,’’ said cruiser Eunice Jones of Jacksonville, Fla., ‘‘but I would do it again.’’

You can get a shorter, but similar, experience in the mechanical massage chairs on the promenade deck aboard the Carnival Valor. You don’t get the infrared light pad and the chair ignores your legs, but at $1 for about five minutes, it sure feels good on both your back and your wallet.