Plumbing Issues on the Grandeur

[CruisinBates]

We just got off the Grandeur of the Seas after a week cruising the Med. The ship's refurbishments were beautiful, the new specialty restaurants were a plus, and the remodeled staterooms definitely were appreciated. HOWEVER, plumbing problems spoiled the voyage for way too many people.

 

Our table mates had their Grand Suite flooded by toilet waste. The same thing happened to a couple of other people we met on the ship. The worst was the smell in the Centrium. Spending much time lounging in the Centrum just didn't happen for most passengers. In fact, on the last night of the cruise, I saw several passengers with scarves over their noses to keep out the smell as they waited for a Centrum elevator. (Me...I just held my breath when I had to walk through the Centrum.)

 

We sailed on the Grandeur BEFORE the remodeling, and plumbing and sewage odor were not issues. Hopefully, the plumbing issues can be fixed SOON.

 

Anyone else experience similar issues on the Grandeur?

[setsail]

All cruise ships have plumbing problems from time to time. So whats the biggest cause, your neighbor up the hall trying to flush something thats not intended.:eek:

 

Has nothing to do with being old or new or a refirb

 

If you put plumbing problems in the search feature you will also see it happens with all cruise lines and ships

[Yurita]

Not on the Grandeur, but just back from the Monarch two weeks ago and our toilet did not work for an entire day. It wouldn't flush.... by no means. I went to tell our cabin stewart and there were about 6 people telling him the same story.

The poor cabin attendant said the entire 6 floor (portside) didn't flush. He was bombarded with complaints. We had to use public restrooms that entire day, there were even lines to use a public toilet!!!! Our toilet started working next morning.:eek:

[sentosa25]

We were on Grandeur in October and I agree, there were problems.

 

Twice our toilet would not flush,and once, my husband arrived back to our room to find the toilet overflowing all over the floor!!

 

There definitely was a whiff of sewage around the centrum and also on Deck 7

 

At Captains question time, he was asked about this and explained that during the refit a new pump system was fitted and still settling in.

[CruisinBates]

Crew members were telling people that the plumbing problems started after the refurb. We have been cruising RCL for 20 years and in all that time, we have only experienced plumbing issues on two ships...the Grandeur and the Monarch. With the age of the Monarch, plumbing problems can be expected, but after a refurb as extensive and expensive as the Grandeur's was, sewage issues was the last thing we expected.

[VillaHappy]

This makes me sad. I hope they can get this straightened out soon!

[RoyalDiamond]

We were on Grandeur 2 years ago, and it was our worst cruise EVER. During boarding, they even made an announcement to NOT use any toilets for about an hour! We knew there was going to be trouble after that. Yes, there was the smell in the centrum, too. So, I was hoping that during the refurb, everything would be corrected. Darn. It seems like that ship has definite plumbing issues.

[denamo]

I too was hoping this plumbing problem would be fixed. It's been several years ago and while we had a great time on our cruise, I had to cover the drain in the bathroom if we didn't want to smell like our cabin was next to the sewer plant!

 

My DH loves to cruise, but has said he never wants to cruise on the Grandeur again. :( Had heard after the refurbishing, things were solved. Guess not.

[Bobal]

Strange - we were on Grandeur in June (after the refit) and didn't notice any problems.

[maxs mom]

These problems did NOT start with the refurb. We cruised on her in 2004 and the smell was awful......mainly in the Centrum area. Our cabin was just behind the Champagne Bar and the smell was constant and atrocious. We have since called the Grandeur..."Sewer of the Seas".

We sailed on her in the Med in July and were pleasantly surprised with all the upgrades. We had no problems on that sailng but I have read of many people who have had problems. That's a shame.

[skiking1245]

Crew members were telling people that the plumbing problems started after the refurb. We have been cruising RCL for 20 years and in all that time, we have only experienced plumbing issues on two ships...the Grandeur and the Monarch. With the age of the Monarch, plumbing problems can be expected, but after a refurb as extensive and expensive as the Grandeur's was, sewage issues was the last thing we expected.

 

We were also on this cruise and I can confirm that the smell was simply horrible. We usually like to meet our cruise mates at the bar in the Centrum area and have a pre-dinner drink, NO way could we stand the smell most nights. We started meeting in the Scooner Bar. While a drink is a drink, there was never any live music, as it was always featured in Centrum.

I was so concerned by postings here on CC about this issue I wrote RC before we cruised and inquired about the smell and plumbing issues. The company wrote back that there was no problem and individual issues were handled.

I simply don't know how the Guest Services employees could stand working in the area for so long. It seemed worse when we were in port, but it was bad many days while at sea. One of the staff said they did not seem to have problems while in the Caribbean, but in Europe it seemed worse? Not sure how that makes a difference.

We were on the 7th floor with a balcony room and experienced a toilet that would not flush one day and watched it as it was filling up and almost overflowed. If we had not been in the room it would have overflowed. I ran out to the hall and was able to grab a cabin steward who called the engineer right away. DH was on the phone trying to call Guest Services who did not answer after 10 minutes of calling.

We were lucky, I'm so sorry for the others who experienced rooms that were flooded. Staying in a room that has just been flooded with sewage is not what any of us signed up for.

While we have not cruised as much as many of you have, we only had problems with the plumbing and smell on the Serenade on sea days and this ship.

I remember speaking with the Bates at the Meet & Mingle and we both agreed we hoped the upgrades had fixed the problem.

We will never cuise on this class of ship ever again. We loved the staff and crew, they were one of the best we have had and the ports were fantastic, but NEVER again.

We are not hard to please, we don't complain about not getting 5 star food in the MDR, or the fact that our steward does not greet us with warm towels, we do our homework on this site and others and then we roll with punches and try to get the best of every trip. But we should not have to endure sewage, ever.

[seata]

I truly hope this is taken care of soon. My BFF and I are sailing on the Grandeur for our FIRST cruise in May 2013!

[dmwnc1959]

These problems did NOT start with the refurb. We cruised on her in 2004 and the smell was awful......mainly in the Centrum area. Our cabin was just behind the Champagne Bar and the smell was constant and atrocious. We have since called the Grandeur..."Sewer of the Seas".

 

We will never cuise on this class of ship ever again.

 

These 'Sewer of the Seas' references were also applied to the Enchantment of the Seas a couple of years back. I was looking at a cruise out of Baltimore and many reviews came back mentioning this sewage smell, especially with the lower deck accommodations and Centrum area. Now with all of the comments surfacing on the Grandeur of the Seas I doubt I will ever sail this class of ship either.

[matj2000]

The word on "The streets" is that the ship sort of smells like A$@....

[bitslizer]

We were on Deck 3 outside cabin, just below the Crown and Anchor / Cruise sale desk, our cabin had that smell the entire cruise its very noticeable when we left the cabin for a while and arrived back in the room. We didn't really notice the smell in the Centrum though, wonder if the smell in our room made us immune to the centrum smell perhaps?

 

Once our toilet would not flush after 10 mins.... call maintenance and after like an hour still no body came to fix... we call again and then left the room to do something, when we come back a while later the toilet is flushed. at other time, it may take up to a min for it to flush but usually flush immediately or within 15~30 seconds

[wallis7219]

We was on the Granduer in August 2012 shortly after its refurb.

 

Water and foul smelling gunge came up through the vents in the floor of the bathroom.

The cabin Steward soon cleaned it up, and we think that the system cant cope when people empty their Baths in Junior Suites or higher.

 

Also a lot the public restrooms were not working for about a day near Giovanni's

 

I would have hoped that the systems would have settled down by now, but it looks like the situation could be getting worse! :eek:

[dz9yvr]

I sailed on Grandeur several years ago and we found a couple of areas with the sewer smell but nothing as bad as has been reported with sewage backing up from the drains. I keep a lot of stuff in my suitcase under the bed during the cruise and it would be a disaster if sewag overflowed the bathroom and onto the carpet near the bed. Maybe I was lucky on my previous cruises, but I think I will just avoid the Granduer for future cruises. Do any of her sister ships suffer from the same issues?

[Murphs]

We sailed Grandeur a couple of years ago and there were multiple issues. You could definitely detect the smell in several areas of the ship, and at least three times they lost all sewer function on multiple decks, including the deck we were on. When it went out, it was out for upwards of an hour or two at a time and you had to hunt the ship for a deck where the bathrooms were functioning. On top of this the entire time we were on the ship there was water leaking out of the wall outside our room, which kept the carpet perpetually soaked. Whenever you walked up the hallway the water splashed up from your feet. To combat this the ship put a large noisy fan right outside our door that you could hear all hours of the day and night. We didn’t let it ruin our cruise, and still had a good vacation, but having experienced this and seeing many comments since about the same issues, it makes me a little leery of sailing Grandeur again.

[beach bunnie]

Our cruise on the Grandeur ended yesterday -- 14 day transatlantic to BCN to Miami. The smell was horrible for the entire cruise. Our toilet didn't work several times but it never overflowed. But several of the public toilet did. The smell in our cabin came in through the ventilation ducts. It was the worst when the ship was in port. I can't say when it started or why but I can say we'll never sail on her again. It's a shame because aside from the smell it was a nice cruise.

[F27TW]

These problems did NOT start with the refurb. We cruised on her in 2004 and the smell was awful......mainly in the Centrum area. Our cabin was just behind the Champagne Bar and the smell was constant and atrocious. We have since called the Grandeur..."Sewer of the Seas".

 

We sailed on her in the Med in July and were pleasantly surprised with all the upgrades. We had no problems on that sailng but I have read of many people who have had problems. That's a shame.

 

 

Why would you even go back on a ship you had named "Sewer Of The Seas" after the atrocious smell problem you experienced before ?

 

Thats quite a risk to take, no ?

[F27TW]

Raw sewage backing up all over floors, soaking carpets, sloshing all over the place .. that is a major health hazard. Why wouldnt the CDC, DPH (or whoever it is that gives ships their cleanliness ratings) force them to take that ship out of service fix the problems, sanitize the hell out of the ship and then re-inspect it to make sure it is fit for passengers.

To call this disgusting is an understatement. Raw sewage?? And the ship is still sailing with new passengers ??

And yet they pretend to be so worried about things like Norovirus .. squish-squish hand sanitizer patrol people ain't gonna help this mess.

[Scotty G]

are caused by passengers flushing something prohibited into the black water (sewage) system. On our last cruise on Jewel of the Seas a major black water line that was fed from deck 3 and above was blocked. It required the crew to find the blockage point and cut open the pipe to free the blockage. I asked the Chief Engineer how many 55 gallon drums did it take to catch the sewage that was bound to come out. If people would just read and heed the directions provided by the cruise lines such problems would be minimized!!!

[adirondacksailor]

This Grandeur odor problem is not caused by people operating toilets improperly. The overflowing sewage problems can be attributed to that, but the odor, as the captain explained over (and over and over ) was due to a venting system that they are having a heck of a time figuring out how to control. It was especially horrid in port, returning to ship as it had sat in the fumes from the vents all day with no moving sea air to help out with the smell so it permeated the ship. Thankfully, it never reached our room though.

We finished up a 23 day B2B on her this month and I will not sail on her until they figure out a solution. And, that is hard for someone who lives 25 miles from her future home port.

[ChipLondon]

We got of The Granduer this morning, and yes it is correct that yesterday there was a smell in the centrum area, there was also a team onboard working on the issue. When the ship left port yesterday the smell was much less, and this morning the smell was not noticable. I hope it stays that way for future cruisers.

 

 

 

.

Edited November 22, 2012 by ChipLondon

[Kellie Poodle]

We just got off the Grandeur of the Seas after a week cruising the Med. The ship's refurbishments were beautiful, the new specialty restaurants were a plus, and the remodeled staterooms definitely were appreciated. HOWEVER, plumbing problems spoiled the voyage for way too many people.

 

Our table mates had their Grand Suite flooded by toilet waste. The same thing happened to a couple of other people we met on the ship. The worst was the smell in the Centrium. Spending much time lounging in the Centrum just didn't happen for most passengers. In fact, on the last night of the cruise, I saw several passengers with scarves over their noses to keep out the smell as they waited for a Centrum elevator. (Me...I just held my breath when I had to walk through the Centrum.)

 

We sailed on the Grandeur BEFORE the remodeling, and plumbing and sewage odor were not issues. Hopefully, the plumbing issues can be fixed SOON.

 

Anyone else experience similar issues on the Grandeur?

 

We sailed in mid-October. The smell in the center of the ship was terrible. Our cabin was on deck 3 right below the Centrum and the smell was awful. I finally got someone with authority who sent our cabin steward in every time we were out to vacuum and spray something and that lasted for a brief period of time, but there were mornings when I awoke with eyes running with tears while I coughed violently from the fumes.

 

Our toilet did not overflow, however it seemed to be on its own schedule. Many times we would push the button and nothing would happen then fifteen or twenty minutes later, we'd hear it flush.

 

Other than the odor, misbehaving toilet and the nasty attitude of Sophie on the cruise director's staff, we had a wonderful cruise, but no one should have to wake up in a cabin that smells so strongly of sewerage that one chokes.

 

I wrote to RCI about it and expect to hear back from them as they are usually good about contacting those who write to corporate guest relations.

Edited November 22, 2012 by Kellie Poodle