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Royal Caribbean International

MV Sovereign of the Seas

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Reviewed by: Carol Sparks
# previous cruises: 1
Date of Trip: March 14, 2004
Itinerary: Bahamas

Although this was the first cruise for my husband and I, we had talked to many people who had been and knew what to expect for the most part. We were highly disappointed in this cruise. The ship was run down. Mediocre service, food, atmosphere and to top it off - we were unable to see our second port due to rough seas. Add a theft on the very last morning by the only person who comes into the rooms - guess who guess who? and well, it was a memorable experience in the negative sense. What happened to "treat you like a king?" Of course, it was timed well - the pursers desk was closed and you had to claw thru a sea of thousands of tightly packed people to get anywhere near any authority to report it. So we chalked it up to a learning experience. And have conferred with others who have been this particular ship and had similar experience. This must be the bad apple of the Royal Caribbean lines. I hear there is one other also -sorry that I forgot the name. I don't plan to use Royal Caribbean again. I hear Carnival, Disney and Princess have a nicer level of service and amenities. I also spotted a huge ship - Costa - that had 85% private balconies. We may try that one next time.

The public areas were adequate - the pool was crowded - dominated by children during the day and rowdy teens as the night progressed. We were able to go up to the top of the ship and have a really nice view - and it was pleasant there. The Caribe music in the background was festive and pleasant. We did not see the waiters coming to serve drinks as we had been told by other cruisers. The info lead you to believe that smoking areas were very limited but the casino was like a smokey bar....and the bars as well.

The buffet food was "Ryans without the steak." Mediocre and in fact, we commented to each other that mall cafeteria food had a nicer variety. The midnight buffet was nothing special. Dinner in the dining room was pleasant. Some of our food selections were not good but others were excellent. The servers were attentive enough. But still no "king like" treatment. And where were the ice carvings? the shrimp? the crab legs? the lobster? Lots of boring pasta dishes on that buffet with a little sauce and not much else. We did get some good left-overs on the buffet on occasion such as salmon. But the staff were not helpful at all and the drink area was placed smack in the middle of the buffet which caused slow moving. On the last day, you were rudely tossed out into the lobby area for 2 1/2 hours or so - not much organization - just get out of your room by 8am please. There was confusion as to where and how to exit and the staffers were rude to at least 3 couples that I observed. One staffer responded to a man's question of "my number is 250, have they called that yet?" Her response (since she had just announced 1-100, please get in line) was "what would you imagine the answer would be to your question?" in a sarcastic way. No king-like behavior there. No sirree.

The cabin did not look like the brochure at all. Those pictures were elongated to look like there was space but basically it was like a very small camper. We had an ocean view which one would assume would have been a decent room. The room was quiet and we did not get much roll. We were midship on level 4. Very tight but somehow we got all our stuff in. One standing while dressing while the other sat and then we switched due to space limitation. The toilet was something from the bowels of hell. I can't imagine a small child being in that bathroom when the toilet flushed because we as adults found it disturbing and never got used to it. A large adult might have a problem in the shower but we functioned well in there.

We did not attend the shows I regret to say. The timing was just never right for other things we wanted to do. I did not find any of the cruise staff particularly helpful or forthcoming with assistance. And the stateroom attendant was almost never seen except vacuuming occasionally outside in the hallway. I have heard from others their attendant was very interactive with them.

We went to Nassau and did some shopping - went to Senor Frogs which was a mexican bar/restaurant that was filled with cruisers - mostly younger's - up on the bars dancing and having chug-a-lug contests. It was a decent place to hang out. We met some other couples there and compared notes about their cruise ship - Carnival Fascination. They were faring much better on their ship. The private island, CocoCay, was our 2nd stop and that never happened. We were told the seas were too rough so we basically road around the ocean all day until it was time to return to port. This was a huge disappointment to so many. No compensation was offered for that day - no a discount on drinks or anything special to make people feel better. Basically, if you had eaten, didn't drink or gamble - you were bored to death. There was bingo, one movie playing, and a show that night but the pool side was impossible to find seating after that and it was very disappointing. Particularly since they know in advance about the forecast of such things and we could have spent that day in Nassau - seeing stuff. We went to the Caribbean and never saw a beach or swam in the water. Huge let down there.

There were a variety of people - mostly families - many were older groups - some Europeans and a lot of college age people. We met some nice people on the ship.