Sovereign of the Seas

[hcr]

What a joke! The site said that this ship was refurbished from "stem to stearn". Why don't they just tell us that they concentrated on the common areas and did little if anything to the cabins.

Cabin 7516 was terrible. We could hear someone talking in the next cabin. The room was out-dated and the bathroom was no better. The smell of sewage was coming up from the vents in the floor.

This was our second and last cruise. Royal Caribbean helped us make that decision. When we tried to use a coupon in our welcome back booklet, the barmaid would not honor it. The coupon clearly stated if you buy one "call brand" cocktail, we would receive another on the house. It was explained to us that a gin and tonic was not a cocktail and that "Tanqueray and tonic" was not a call brand. The manager came over and offered us no other explaination and informed us that there was nothing he could do. How is that for empowering your employees to make decisions based on customer expectations? One more problem was every time we wanted a Coke in the Windjammer, we could not just show our card and get it ourselves, we had to hail a wait-person to go get one for us. What a problem this became. Don't buy the drink card. You will find that you can drink less Coke than you thought. It takes too long to get someone to take your card and return with your drink. When they do return, the Coke is in a tiny plastic 'glass'. Why they couldn't bring a large glass is beyond me. It would have save them time from having to keep returning to fill the 'glass'.

On 'formal night', the water was turned off 45 minutes before the first seating! We had to call down to maintenance and the front desk to be told that the water would be turned back on in 20 minutes. The cruise director was forever ringing in and announcing the bingo jackpot amounts and what was happening on the various decks but made no mention of the water outage. When the water came back on, it was the color of strong tea.

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy your experience. I guess different people just have different expectations -- I'm a bit more of a 'glass-half-full' type, and if the worst things that happened to me on my vacation were a temporary water outage and small glasses of Coke, I'd be a pretty happy camper.

 

Best of luck in finding a more idyllic setting for your future vacations. :)

[jphc318]

Going On April 8 Will Let Evryone Know If There Were Any Problems.been On Her 5 Times And Each Was Better That Before!

[maggieworkman]

:( We are going on the Sovereign in June and don't like to read bad reviews.

 

But, it sounds like the things you mentioned wouldn't affect us much. I don't even know what a call brand cocktail is, so that won't bother me. I do plan on drinking some coke with a soda card so maybe the small drinks will be a problem, I don't know.

 

I hope we have a good time since this is our first cruise.

 

Maggie

[Kernel32mco]

I will be on this ship on the 1st of April. I don't drink soda, so the windjammer drinks have never been an issue. I have heard about the sewer smell on this ship. My nose is pretty sensitive, I hope it's okay. I don't plan to be in the room much, so I don't care what my neighbors are up to. I've never had a bad time crusing and don't expect this one to be any different.

[gadawg1979]

This is a great old ship and yes every now and then you might get a strange smell as with any ship the septic system can have problems when passengers flush things that they are not supposed to. As for the soda yes if you ask at a bar you will get a small cup, but they were giving out coke mugs that you could use when you purchased the soda package. Here is a helpful hint ask the bar tender for a pint glass (no they will not look at you strange) and then ask for it be filled with soda and show your card. (ps keep up with that glass)

[CarpeCerevisi]

I just go off Sovereign yesterday and was also on her New Year's weekend. I was in cabins on deck 2 (outer) and deck 5 (inner) respectively. Knowing beforehand that the cabins are small, the only thing I could possibly complain about would be the bed spreads - they were definitely old. The plumbing worked fine all times I used it and I detected no sewage smell. I'm not trying to say that people made up any proplems they experienced, but it would appear that whatever problems people have encountered have been temporary and not widespread. One must also remember that the Sovereign of the Seas is the oldest ship in RCI's fleet and as such will have a greater likelihood of minor problems. All in all, I was very happy with the ship both times I sailed on her.

[Sea Island Lady]

We are going on the Sovereign in June and don't like to read bad reviews.

Maggie - I wouldn't worry. My DD and her friends were on the Sovereign a few weeks ago and found no complaints. I don't understand about the coke card because, although I warned them not to buy the card, they did and received a huge mug and had no problems getting refills all day long. they must have rubbed the bar tender the right way. ;)

 

They loved their inside stateroom and said everything about the ship was in good shape. No plumbing problems.

They also used their coupons, but bought champaign with the drink coupons.

 

On another note, my DH and I used our drink coupons on the Serenade to by "call" drinks last October.

 

To OP...Sorry your cruise wasn't as you wished. I know we can all have cruises that don't meet our expectations sometimes. Stuff happens to some of us on the same cruise where others had a wonderful time on! Our last cruise wasn't that great. We strayed and went to HAL. :o

[junior8]

I am going on her April 29th. I cant wait! :D I dont expect much that way I can be DELIGHTED! The only thing I truly want is SUN! But Royal Caribbean cannot do anything about that.

 

If those were the only problems I had then I would have had one heck of a vacation! Sorry yours was not what you wanted. good luck!

 

Brenda

[Nliedel]

While no one likes to read bad reviews they are going to happen on every ship, on every line, at one time or another. I have sailed the Sovereign many times and never experienced the "bad smells" or anything less than excellent service. I am very fussy too.. very fussy.. and can Bi you know what like a banshee when crossed (not something I am proud of but it does seem to be something I have to work on)..

 

Some people on the ship are going to have an amazing time, some arent. Same cruise, same staff, same food.

[junior8]

Nliedel,

Do you know if the 3 day Sovereign cruise has slot tournament?:)

[korr01]

We are going to sail the sovereign in august 2005. We plan on having a good time no matter what. Every cruise ship out there is not going to be a 100 % satisfactory. We cruised carnival last 3 times. Enjoyed every minute of it.

[Clarksfan1]

we too are going on SOS in june and I must say

 

I am not so much worried about the size of the room.(I only sleep there)

 

Or the drink situation (I drink water)

 

Or the price of drinks (I would ask what type of drink I could buy, then buy that one next)

 

But I am extremely concerned about the sewer smell. I have heard too many stories about this to dismiss it as a minimal occurance. And I don't hear about it on any other ship other than SOS. I just hope my room is not affected by the smell. I have been on four cruises now and I must say this does kinda make me worry. I am planning on taking some duct-tape because if need be I will tape my vents shut.

 

Here's looking forward to summer vacation.

[snorklr]

Maggieworkman..

 

I'll be on the 6/6 sailing.

Is that the same one

you are on???:p

[CruiseMark]

What a joke! The site said that this ship was refurbished from "stem to stearn". Why don't they just tell us that they concentrated on the common areas and did little if anything to the cabins.

Cabin 7516 was terrible. We could hear someone talking in the next cabin. The room was out-dated and the bathroom was no better. The smell of sewage was coming up from the vents in the floor.

This was our second and last cruise. Royal Caribbean helped us make that decision. When we tried to use a coupon in our welcome back booklet, the barmaid would not honor it. The coupon clearly stated if you buy one "call brand" cocktail, we would receive another on the house. It was explained to us that a gin and tonic was not a cocktail and that "Tanqueray and tonic" was not a call brand. The manager came over and offered us no other explaination and informed us that there was nothing he could do. How is that for empowering your employees to make decisions based on customer expectations? One more problem was every time we wanted a Coke in the Windjammer, we could not just show our card and get it ourselves, we had to hail a wait-person to go get one for us. What a problem this became. Don't buy the drink card. You will find that you can drink less Coke than you thought. It takes too long to get someone to take your card and return with your drink. When they do return, the Coke is in a tiny plastic 'glass'. Why they couldn't bring a large glass is beyond me. It would have save them time from having to keep returning to fill the 'glass'.

On 'formal night', the water was turned off 45 minutes before the first seating! We had to call down to maintenance and the front desk to be told that the water would be turned back on in 20 minutes. The cruise director was forever ringing in and announcing the bingo jackpot amounts and what was happening on the various decks but made no mention of the water outage. When the water came back on, it was the color of strong tea.

 

And gee HGR, you have a grand total of ONE post in this community.

 

Sounds like a troll to me, just trying to stir things up.

[Nliedel]

Nliedel,

Do you know if the 3 day Sovereign cruise has slot tournament?:)

 

Poo.. but I am a dedicated Poker player now. No more tossing cash into one armed badits for me! I am REFORMED!!!!!

[Crew32]

Just off of Sovereign....

 

The few things that bothered my must have been pretty small, because while I was planning on putting them in a review, I can't remember them now!!

 

I may have at one point noticed a sewer smell, but I think it was my imagination from reading some many posts about it... my companion never said anything about smelling it and she could be a blood hound.

Be careful of a spot on Deck one where you get on and off the ships.. the floor has a big bubble under the vinyl. Noticed a lot of water stains on the carpet in deck 9 in the hallways. Waiter (Tabrez) was awesome. and if you get to buy a drink from Benjamin do it. He will be the one always dancing with a full tray of glasses or a liquer bottle balanced on his head. He is a blast!!