Royal Caribbean International
Sovereign of the seas Cruise Review
Bahamas

Steve
Age: 34
Occupation: IT
Number of Cruises: 1
Sailing Date: September 17th, 2007

Since this is my first cruise ever and I had learned so much from the people who posted on this board prior to my departure so I thought to write a review and hope it would benefit other people.

My fiancée and I left from Buffalo airport at 7AM and arrived Orlando around 10AM. Royal Caribbean’s shuttle service from Orlando to Port Canaveral was 88 CAD per person so we thought to rent a car from Budget (29 USD/day). The Budget car rental is located on the first level of Orlando airport terminal. You might want to reserve your car online before you leave home. Driving from ORD to Port Canaveral is a straight route on HWY 528 and you pay a toll for $1.25. If you don’t mind driving, this can definitely save you some money.

We embarked the ship around 1PM, money saving tips: don’t eat lunch before you board because you can have lunch on the ship. We didn’t know so we ate at the local Wendy’s at Cape Canaveral. Read the previous reviews about boarding the ship, i.e. to have your Sea Sail pass ready, the whole process takes about 45 minutes, but if you arrive later, the line is a lot longer.

The second deck is exactly like what the previous reviewers said. Smelly and the carpet were wet. We didn’t have a choice because we booked late but the house keeping staffs were very helpful and it made things a little bit better.

Coco cay is amazing and snorkeling was what we did. Word of advice for the Canucks, don’t waste your money on the snorkeling gears from “Crappy Tires.” We ended up renting one from the shop. Another word of advice is that after you finish snorkeling; make sure you put on anther layer of sun screen. The floating device rubbed off the sun block from my chest and I didn’t notice and end up with sun burn exactly the shape of the snorkeling floating vest. Snorkeling was fun and I would do it again any time. We saw jelly fish, Stingray, and visited the ship wreck. The water is blue and warm, but when you want to take a break, make sure you look down first, I almost stepped on a Stingray.  

The second day we arrived at Nassau. We didn’t book any shore excursing because we want to go shopping and the Atlantic excursing package was expensive. So, we booked a taxi city tour with another two couple from Atlanta and Florida. The two hour city tour is $28/person. If you just want to go to Atlantis, it is a $4/person taxi ride. The driver took us to Atlantis and visited the aquarium and to various different income neighborhoods and pointed out the houses of Nicolas Cage, Michael Jordan. It was educational. In the afternoon, we just walked in Nassau downtown and did some watch shopping and bought some souvenirs.

The ship itself is well maintained and I won’t have any second thoughts going on it again. The shows are amazing. We made to the main shows at Folli's theater every night and had a blast. The comedy impression show, the Flash back show, all are worth watching. The wait staff in the main dinning room were amazing. In the end of the trip, they are not just my waiters but my friends. They worked on the ship for six months straight and they tried their hardest to make you feel home. Some of the most friendliest people I ever met.  

The day at sea is not as much fun. The sea was rough and my fiancée felt sea sick and had to take a motion sickness pill. Even though there are a lot of activities on board but nothing really interesting.

All in all, we had a good time on Sovereign of the Seas, hope you will too.