Just off the Sovereign

[SAD]

I was on the April 25th sailing. This was my 4th cruise but it was my friends first. I have to say that the Sovereign was a disappointment to me. We had a cabin on deck 2 which we had a hard time finding because the plates on the wall directing you to your cabin were incorrect. We asked them to fix this problem but it did not happen during our cruise. Then there was the sewer smell. It was very apparent in both the hall and in our cabin. We continued to smell it throughout the cruise. Sometimes more so than others. And then there was a horribile urine type smell up on deck 11 at one end of the pool area. Not quite sure what that was but we kept getting a whiff of that all day on our day at sea. This was all very disappointing to me since I have always had very good expreiences on my past cruises. (Mariner, Sun Princess, Coral Princess)

 

Luckily my friend who had never cruised before had nothing to compare this adventure to. She did think the smells were disgusting but enjoyed everything else. Our day in Coco Cay was beautiful and so was our day at sea. The day in Nassau was overcast but we had a good snorkeling excursion. Saw lots of fish.

 

The shows were very good. Both of the shows with the singers and dancers were great and the quest and Love and Marriage show were all very entertaining. The Rosario Trio on our last night before dinner was excellent. I bought one of their CDs.

 

The food was O.K. but that's par for the course. We got in line for the Chocolate Buffet at about 12:10 and it took us 50 minutes to get to the food and by then pretty much everything was gone.

 

We really enjoyed our table mates and our waiter, Adriaan, from South Africa. He learned our names and our preferences very quickly. The dining room experience is ususally one of my favorite times on my cruises. I am always fortunate to get interesting people to share my time with.

 

Both embarkation and disembarkation went smoothly. About 20 min. both ways. We took the excursion to the Kennedy Space Center after leaving the ship. This was a great trip. And it was a beautiful day.

 

All in all I would have to say I would not take a cruise on Sovereign again because of the awful smells but certainly cruising is still my favorite way to vacation. Also, they did not have horse racing which I really missed.

[kruz]

I had the same problems on board in February. My biggest complaint is why doesn't RCCL block off those stinky cabins????? I wrote to them to complain and they gave me a $75.00 credit but get this ..it has to be on a 3 nighter cruise so what does that leave me with??? Soveriegn...no thanks!!!

[colette5479]

We noticed the sewer smell also and we were on deck 6. We had adjoining rooms and our bathroom smelled fine but my DD's had a slight sewer smell. However, it was not so bad to make this trip horrible for us. Do any other ships have this swewr smell?

[HMK]

I was on the April 25th sailing. This was my 4th cruise but it was my friends first. I have to say that the Sovereign was a disappointment to me. We had a cabin on deck 2 which we had a hard time finding because the plates on the wall directing you to your cabin were incorrect. We asked them to fix this problem but it did not happen during our cruise. Then there was the sewer smell. It was very apparent in both the hall and in our cabin. We continued to smell it throughout the cruise. Sometimes more so than others. And then there was a horribile urine type smell up on deck 11 at one end of the pool area. Not quite sure what that was but we kept getting a whiff of that all day on our day at sea. This was all very disappointing to me since I have always had very good expreiences on my past cruises. (Mariner, Sun Princess, Coral Princess)

 

Luckily my friend who had never cruised before had nothing to compare this adventure to. She did think the smells were disgusting but enjoyed everything else. Our day in Coco Cay was beautiful and so was our day at sea. The day in Nassau was overcast but we had a good snorkeling excursion. Saw lots of fish.

 

The shows were very good. Both of the shows with the singers and dancers were great and the quest and Love and Marriage show were all very entertaining. The Rosario Trio on our last night before dinner was excellent. I bought one of their CDs.

 

The food was O.K. but that's par for the course. We got in line for the Chocolate Buffet at about 12:10 and it took us 50 minutes to get to the food and by then pretty much everything was gone.

 

We really enjoyed our table mates and our waiter, Adriaan, from South Africa. He learned our names and our preferences very quickly. The dining room experience is ususally one of my favorite times on my cruises. I am always fortunate to get interesting people to share my time with.

 

Both embarkation and disembarkation went smoothly. About 20 min. both ways. We took the excursion to the Kennedy Space Center after leaving the ship. This was a great trip. And it was a beautiful day.

 

All in all I would have to say I would not take a cruise on Sovereign again because of the awful smells but certainly cruising is still my favorite way to vacation. Also, they did not have horse racing which I really missed.

 

I was on the 4/25 cruise also, we were on deck 5, we had no sewer smells. Only one night we noticed a smell near the bathrooms by guest relations. It was our first cruise, and we loved it. I do agree with you with line for the chocolate buffet, way too long!!!

[royal girl]

SAD-

 

I was on the Sovereign 4/22 - 25 sailing. I agree with you that it was a disappointment. Luckily, most of my party (11) never cruised before, so they couldn't compare this cruise to anything. This was my third and worst cruise. We were on Deck Two also, and that sewer smell was very faint. BUT, what was that STENCH on Deck 11??? :eek: It was awful, huh? Our waiters weren't that personable. Never really tried to laugh with us. CoCo got cancelled due to high waves, so we had a sea day, and everyone was VERY bored. Everyone was just upset over missing CoCo Cay and there was just nothing to do. You're lucky you made the stop! Windjammer lunch buffet was awful. I walked around at least three times before sitting down with a tuna wrap. I certainly did not gain an ounce on this cruise! I would never sail on the Sovereign again either.

[Emmabelle]

We had fun on the April 18-22 cruise, we got whiffs of the sewer smell, but it never was bad or lasted a long time. I feel lucky now that we got to Coco Cay because both the cruise before us and now after us didn't make it. It was the best part of the trip IMHO. :)

[SAD]

We also had problems with my roommates room key. She was able to use it to make purchases at the bar but could not use it in the internet cafe or use it to open our cabin door. She went down to the Guest Relations to talk to them about it and there were people from two other cabins down there trying to get into their rooms. Luckily, my key worked so we were not locked out.

 

Also, we felt as though there should be some sort of fan in the bathroom to help with the steam from the showers. We both turned the temp of our showers down as far as we could and turned down the temp on our thermostat in our cabin but we were still dripping with sweat while getting ready for dinner each night.

[laurasue]

SAD, you mentioned you did a snorkeling excursion in Nassau, was that through the ship or a private operator. How did you like it? Thanks! :)

[kpauley]

....they gave me a $75.00 credit but get this ..it has to be on a 3 nighter cruise so what does that leave me with??? Soveriegn...no thanks!!!

 

The Majesty of the Seas does 3 nighters out of Miami. I've been on her twice and not experienced any odors and have not read about any like the Sovereign.

[Iamthesea]

We had relatives on the Sov. a couple of months ago and they loved it! They were on Deck 4. No problems except missing the private island.

[SAD]

We did the Rainbow Reef Snorkeling excursion through RCCL. It was an overcast day that day but it was still nice. They said on sunny days the dolphins come out to swim with the people. I wish I could have seen that.

[laurasue]

We did the Rainbow Reef Snorkeling excursion through RCCL. It was an overcast day that day but it was still nice. They said on sunny days the dolphins come out to swim with the people. I wish I could have seen that.

 

Wow!! That would be cool to see! :D