We have just arrived from our cruise and I couldn’t wait to post a review about our experience.

From reading negative reviews in earlier months, when I was originally booking this cruise for my family of 35, I was nervous because of the negative comments. So I called the travel agent I was working with and spoke with her about the reviews. She then took me to the ship herself and gave me a tour. The comments about the rust and waste smell were nowhere to be found. The first problem we ran into before the cruise was the money due date, we like others had many cancel at the last minute due to the policies. We ended with a group of 20. My travel agent gave me a list for the dining room seating, which I immediately filled out and we faxed back to RCCL. All the tickets came on time and everything on them was correct, or so we thought.

As we approached the gate to park the car, we had 5 cars of people coming from all parts of the state. I was first in line at the gate and was immediately given a hard time for the numbers of cars we were parking, and had to explain that we were coming from all over and leaving in different directions.

Checking in was a totally different story. My husband and I being newlyweds had a suite, room 1038. We had no problem checking in and boarding, it was a quick and easy process and the rest of our group followed shortly behind. When we got to the area of security I can’t say anything nice. The gentleman taking the photos for your card was very rude to me in asking me to remove my hat. When I didn’t understand what he said he repeated him self and was ruder.

When we actually stepped on the ship it was just like I remembered from my tour. The people were nice and cheerful while greeting us and very helpful in giving important information.

Our room was a nice size and it definitely pays to upgrade if you have the opportunity, our room attendant was extremely nice and always had everything done for us on time. The only problem we had was our safe, was locked open when we got there. But it took them five minutes to come up and fix it.

Our first stop was Coco Cay, which was very nice, until we got to our excursion. We did the kayak adventure. The tide was low and they still took us out. We spent 32 dollars a person to drag our kayak around the ocean and yell at each other. We spent and hour and a half out there and we actually use the kayak for a total of 10 minutes. Every person was complaining so much about it they gave us half our money back, only by us telling them we were on the excursion.

The biggest problem we had was our itinerary. We were told we had 2 days in Nassau. We only had one and planned everything for 2. So most of the group did not get to do the things they wanted including buying souvenirs.

While we were at sea I noticed all the things people were complaining about, you can smell the sewage on certain floors, and the rugs were all water stained. The rust was visible, but the ship is old and what can you expect.

The Waiter we had was extremely nice and funny, we really had a great time at dinner, but the second night they did rush us. And we were not seated together like we were supposed to be. We were seated 3 tables apart. The food was not exactly what I had expected, but for the most part eating in the dining room for all meals was definitely the way to go. The chocolate buffet was AWESOME and defiantly worth going to. We also bought the drink cards which they had one minute and then not the next. Once we bought them and used them we received rude looks and bad service when we took them out and handed them to them.

Unfortunately for us the second day we had no hot water and had to take ice cold showers after being on the island all day.

The entertainment was great, the marriage game show was so funny and the Quest is definitely worth seeing. The drawback on this ship was the entertainment was either for someone in their 50’s or older or for children. Not too much for someone in their 20’s or 30’s. The most fun was the on deck party on the third night, all the food was wonderful and the entertainment was fun.

Pictures were everywhere and we did have a problem with one of the photographers. We were offered a group picture for 20 or more people, for a non-refundable charge of 20.00. When I paid for it they told us to meet the photographer on deck 4 where we entered the ship. We were all there except the photographer and I got charged for the picture that was never taken. The other problem with a photographer happened and shocked our entire family. My niece and I were taking a picture with the background and my mother in-law tried to take one after the photographer and he pushed the camera she had into her face and told her no, instead of explaining nicely that no pictures could be taken with personal cameras.

After reading all reviews and experiencing these things for myself, all I can say about RCCL SOS is that its nice if you make it fun, if your expecting a lot this is not the cruise for you. If you have any questions please send me a e-mail and I will be glad to answer any questions you have.