Horrific sulphur smell on Oosterdam, live

[V and S]

Wondering if anyone here may know what this is... We are in a deluxe verandah suite on the Rotterdam deck (7) sailing between Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta right now, and there is a horrible sulfur smell coming through the ventilation system--has been on and off for hours--and outside off the balcony. The smell is in the hallways and many public areas (including the aft top deck), as well. We called the front desk and were told many others have reported this and "technical staff are working on it."

 

I know sulfur is the smell that natural gas providers use so that we can all identify when a gas line has burst, so we are certainly concerned here. In any case, it smells really bad!! Anyone?

[Bill B]

Are any Mexican volcanos erupting right now?

[V and S]

Hm. Good thinking! I found this: Popocatepetl volcano

December 8th, 2010 had a plume of smoke, but nothing tonight that I can find, and I'm not sure where that is. Right now, HAL is telling those many of us who are calling (from all over the ship) to open our doors and sleep with them open, that the smell is coming from outside the ship...

[brucory]

We have smelt strange, unpleasant odours on ships in the past - They don't usually last that long!!!

 

Will be hoping your cruise starts to smell better soon!!!

 

:D:D:D

[kazu]

Hm. Good thinking! I found this: Popocatepetl volcano

December 8th, 2010 had a plume of smoke, but nothing tonight that I can find, and I'm not sure where that is. Right now, HAL is telling those many of us who are calling (from all over the ship) to open our doors and sleep with them open, that the smell is coming from outside the ship...

 

sounds like it may be a volcano then if they are saying it's coming from outside the ship - we've never experienced this before - hope it passes soon - let us know.

[Randyk47]

Though I think it's rare I can remember being on a ship and having the AC system suck up an exterior odor and pump it into the ship. I think it was the old Celebrity Galaxy and we were slowing pulling into Montego Bay when I smelled a slight hint of wood burning. I got up and went out on our veranda to see what it was. We were still a couple of miles out of the port but the smell of early morning fires, probably cooking fires, was unmistakable. I want to say it smelled like burning sandalwood but not sure that's what it was. It was not unpleasant and amazingly strong considering I'd been smelling for an hour or more and we were still not in port.

[V and S]

Thank you, everyone! We are just pulling into Puerto Vallarta now, and the smell is gone.

 

We were up very late--considered sleeping on the deck, and ended up sleeping with our cabin door open to the hallway. The smell lasted 6 or 7 hours, I think. Still no word on what it was...

[Ine]

Welcome to Puerto vallarta. You will have a nice sunny day. Enjoy.

[CtheW0rld]

what was served for lunch that day? :eek:

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad to hear that the smell is gone.

[RedmondCruiser]

We had the same problem a year ago on the Oosterdam. A strange sulpher like smell came into our stateroom. Called the front desk and by the time someone came to the room it was gone. It comes throught the airconditioning vents. The stewards noticed it too. Have'nt the foggiest idea what causes it.

[TiogaCruiser]

Some neighbor using a straightening agent on their hair?

 

Last time I did that it took 5 days and 2 shampoos to tame. And for only 3 weeks of "control".....

[V and S]

We asked the concierge in the Neptune Lounge this morning and were told it was a Xenon (gas) air conditioning leak which has now been fixed...

 

Despite not being able to sleep until 2 am (!), we had a lovely, lovely day at Las Caletas today!!

 

The sea has been like glass most of the trip. Even the first night was so smooth for the Pacific! The ship looks lovely!

[arzz]

I doubt it was xenon (a rare and very inert gas that would do little for air conditioning due it it's significant molecular weight) -- possibly the post meant to say "freon" gas? Freons are used as refrigerants in refrigerators and air conditioners but I was always under the impression that they were odorless.

 

Was the odor like rotten eggs (sulfides -- which could come from raw sewage, or rotting organic material of most any sort)?

 

The chemical used to put the odor into natural gas does contain sulfur but has a very different odor though equally unpleasant to experience.

 

Volcanic emissions would contain more sulfur oxides than sulfides and produce a third, somewhat different odor.

[Bonzhai]

The smell was like sewer gas and grew during the night. It was revolting to the point of wretching. I was on that cruise (arriving back in San Diego the 18 Dec) and it was the OOsterdam. Midships. This sewer smell happened on another ship on another line and we were midship then, too. Does anyone know if there is a problem with midship air handling on cruise ships? Our room started to smell of garlic/perhaps food each night at about 5:50-6PM/ It wasn't the wretching pooper smell (sorry) of that night before Mazatlan. It always started at the dinner service. I thought maybe the composting was tied in with our room but that the sewer had been switched for that night only. The cruise, however, was marvelous. We had a really great time and were treated very well. I loved HAL.

[teemsum]

There was an oil pipeline in Pueblo, Mexico ? that exploded a few days ago...killed 27 people.

 

 

Cruisingly Yours

[danemom]

we were on the oosterdam the week of 11 to the 18th, our cabin was on navigation deck but we were all over the ship... ship was clean.. sorry you had this experience we had a great cruise

[TracieABD]

Glad to hear that it is resolved! Enjoy the balance of your cruise!

[bepsf]

There was an oil pipeline in Pueblo, Mexico ? that exploded a few days ago...killed 27 people.

 

 

Cruisingly Yours

 

That stinks.

[Calicruzgirl]

There was a similar smell on the lido deck last week. I believe we were sailing between Mazatlan and puerto Vallarta. The hotel manager said the smell was coming from the ocean.

[V and S]

I doubt it was xenon (a rare and very inert gas that would do little for air conditioning due it it's significant molecular weight) -- possibly the post meant to say "freon" gas? Freons are used as refrigerants in refrigerators and air conditioners but I was always under the impression that they were odorless.

 

Was the odor like rotten eggs (sulfides -- which could come from raw sewage, or rotting organic material of most any sort)?

 

The chemical used to put the odor into natural gas does contain sulfur but has a very different odor though equally unpleasant to experience.

 

Volcanic emissions would contain more sulfur oxides than sulfides and produce a third, somewhat different odor.

 

We were told xenon ("zeenon gas"), not freon. It is an inert gas, meaning it won't explode, however it does bind with oxygen. It smelled, to me, exactly like when our gas line burst after an earthquake years ago.

 

We had the smell return on the very last night for a couple of hours, so it wasn't the ocean outside Mazatlan!. A few people were in line at the front desk asking about it. They sent up a technician, who also smelled it. After a while, it passed.

[arzz]

When xenon combines with oxygen it forms highly explosive salts. And for the record it is not trivial to get xenon to combine with oxygen. Xenon is also extremely rare. I still doubt it was xenon no matter what you were told.

[V and S]

When xenon combines with oxygen it forms highly explosive salts. And for the record it is not trivial to get xenon to combine with oxygen. Xenon is also extremely rare. I still doubt it was xenon no matter what you were told.

 

It is really disturbing not to know.

[ccruisequeen]

That stinks.

 

Punny Punny:D Hope it clears up by Jan 22!

[karlsselindh]

When xenon combines with oxygen it forms highly explosive salts. And for the record it is not trivial to get xenon to combine with oxygen. Xenon is also extremely rare. I still doubt it was xenon no matter what you were told.

 

Arzz-- you sound like a chemist. Me too. When I was getting my degree @ Berkeley, Bartlett was just beginning to make xenon-fluorine compounds. No way that Xenon or its compounds would be on a cruise ship.