Toilet trouble on the Dawn

[jasbo49]

If anyone out there has booked cabin 9600 on the Dawn, you might want to get on the horn right now and starting lobbying for a new cabin. For most of our Jan. 25 Western Caribbean cruise, we had a toilet that wouldn't flush. What's more, there are several other cabins on the Dawn (and presumably some other ships) that have this problem because of the way the plumbing system is designed.

 

What started as a small thing -- the toilet sometimes taking a while to flush -- became a big thing, culminating in overflows and middle-of-the-night calls to guest services. On the last night, we called guest services in the middle of the night and they said they couldn't help us (even though we'd been told numerous times that plumbers were available 24/7).

 

We called or visited guest services 10 or 12 times, trying to get the problem fixed. A number of reps there were kind and sympathetic and promised to "take care of it." It was never truly fixed and remained a problem to the bitter end. They did comp us a dinner at a specialty restaurant, so that was better than nothing as a goodwill gesture. But we would rather have had a working toilet.

 

Along with a wee-hours overflow, the lowlight or this ordeal was a visit to the hotel director, Sonja Sommergger. We asked to see her mainly because we were told during our CC Meet and Greet that officers would rather hear about problems directly from guests while still onboard than to read about them later on Cruise Critic. To us, this was a courtesy visit. After I explained our problem, she said she already knew about it, then launched into a 5-minute speech that could best be summed up as "s**t happens." She said our cabin and several others were just at an unlucky spot in the elimination plumbing. And, oh well, what can you do?

 

I don't know what we expected, but this wasn't it. Of the dozen or so apologies we heard from crew members over the week, hers was by far the least sincere sounding.

 

We don't expect perfection on a cruise, but we should be able to count on three squares, a decent bed and a working toilet. In this case, two out of three ain't good.

 

Jim

[DreamingBig1]

Sorry to hear. That's definitely not good. You can overlook a uncomfortable bed, but you can't overlook a toilet/sewer problem.

 

Was the ship completely booked? They couldn't move you?

 

Did you find out what other rooms had the same issue?

[hawkeyetlse]

I don't know what we expected, but this wasn't it.

You may have gotten further in your discussion with the hotel director if you had thought about your expectations beforehand and expressed them more explicitly. It sounds like you thought a free specialty dinner wasn't enough compensation, and I would tend to agree with you there, but did you tell them that? If you wait for them to guess to how unhappy you are (with the original problem and with their proposed solution/compensation), you will probably end up waiting a long time… :(

 

Anyway, thank you for the heads up about this cabin, and I guess the cabins above and below it. Checking the deck plans now…

Edited February 6, 2015 by hawkeyetlse

[Guindalf]

We were on the Dawn the previous week and, while we didn't have any problems in our suite, there were obviously issues with the plumbing.

 

Several public bathrooms were flooded at various times including the ones by the casino, which meant that if you needed to use one, you had to go up a deck!

 

Sorry you had so many problems. I would have thought they may have sorted it out by now!

[Demonyte]

What's more, there are several other cabins on the Dawn (and presumably some other ships) that have this problem because of the way the plumbing system is designed.

 

These kind of problems usually affect the whole section of plumbing, we suffered from the same problems couple of times on our 12-night repo cruise on Dawn in a Garden Villa and they told us that the problem also affected (or maybe even originated from?) some public restrooms etc below.

[DreamingBig1]

Scheduled for a cruise on the Star (sister ship) in December.

 

Anybody have any problems with plumbing on the Star in the past?

 

Some of the older ships I would guess, scale, back up and have issues over time.

[Laszlo]

We were on the Dawn the previous week and, while we didn't have any problems in our suite, there were obviously issues with the plumbing.

 

Several public bathrooms were flooded at various times including the ones by the casino, which meant that if you needed to use one, you had to go up a deck!

 

Sorry you had so many problems. I would have thought they may have sorted it out by now!

 

Wow thats crazy. We were on the Dawn November of 2013 and a few cabins on deck 9 had the same issue. We had a mini suite and water leaked from above (ceiling) into 4 cabins, one was ours. Two of the lower inside public restrooms were closed all week (and really stunk) when walking by

[HoopTroop]

I am sorry to hear about the issues you encountered.

 

We had a similar issue in December, the end result was completely different.

 

Alain, the hotel director at that time could not have been more wonderful. He listened, offered empathy, and a solution.

 

We had to be moved, luckily a room was available. The toilet was off the wall in our "old" room for a few days as they worked on the system. This was deck 12, so a "newer" room. We were not in a suite.

 

Too bad they couldn't offer you the same solution.

 

HoopTroop

[jasbo49]

You may have gotten further in your discussion with the hotel director if you had thought about your expectations beforehand and expressed them more explicitly. It sounds like you thought a free specialty dinner wasn't enough compensation, and I would tend to agree with you there, but did you tell them that? If you wait for them to guess to how unhappy you are (with the original problem and with their proposed solution/compensation), you will probably end up waiting a long time… :(

 

Anyway, thank you for the heads up about this cabin, and I guess the cabins above and below it. Checking the deck plans now…

 

Those are good points. Appreciate your comments and others. We actually did discuss "What are we hoping to get out of this" on the way to see the hotel director. My wife just wanted to make sure that someone higher up than the front desk staff and the plumbers knew about the problem. I shared that concern but also wanted to make sure we were good Cruise Critic citizens in dealing with real people on board rather than just railing about it online afterward.

 

We discussed specifically that we weren't looking for any freebies. The dinner was about halfway through the cruise and, for me anyway, came close to squaring things at that point. But the remainder of the cruise was even worse. The toilet would work for a few hours then return to its evil ways.

 

My understanding was that the cruise was a full house, so it didn't occur to us that we should ask to be moved. If we had known that it was going to get worse by the day, we certainly would have asked for a new cabin.

 

Jim

[chengkp75]

I will start off saying that I completely agree that your problem should have been remedied, or compensation given. This from someone who had to answer to the Captain, HD, and corporate whenever a maintenance issue resulted in loss of revenue.

 

Now, I would disagree with the HD, there are no "unlucky spots" in the systems. Sometimes, if your cabin is on a branch that has more than its fair share of guests that flush things down that don't belong, you may lose vacuum frequently. But this isn't due to design, its due to abuse of the system. I hate to throw the Dawn's engineers under the bus, but it sounds like they really didn't address the issue. There should have been a duty plumber to take care of the issue at night, unless they were already working on the same issue at another location.

 

For the other poster who mentioned the ship's age. Every week during turn around day, the cabin stewards put a packet of citric acid into each toilet (and we do it for crew cabins during the weekly inspections) to aid in removal of scale. Again, it comes down to people flushing stuff down the toilets that doesn't belong, whether passenger or crew. The stories I have about what we've removed from the vacuum system would leave you mystified as to why and incredulous as to how they got it down the hopper.

[DreamingBig1]

I will start off saying that I completely agree that your problem should have been remedied, or compensation given. This from someone who had to answer to the Captain, HD, and corporate whenever a maintenance issue resulted in loss of revenue.

 

Now, I would disagree with the HD, there are no "unlucky spots" in the systems. Sometimes, if your cabin is on a branch that has more than its fair share of guests that flush things down that don't belong, you may lose vacuum frequently. But this isn't due to design, its due to abuse of the system. I hate to throw the Dawn's engineers under the bus, but it sounds like they really didn't address the issue. There should have been a duty plumber to take care of the issue at night, unless they were already working on the same issue at another location.

 

For the other poster who mentioned the ship's age. Every week during turn around day, the cabin stewards put a packet of citric acid into each toilet (and we do it for crew cabins during the weekly inspections) to aid in removal of scale. Again, it comes down to people flushing stuff down the toilets that doesn't belong, whether passenger or crew. The stories I have about what we've removed from the vacuum system would leave you mystified as to why and incredulous as to how they got it down the hopper.

 

Those so called flushable wipes are wreaking havoc everywhere. I bet they are causing problems for cruise ships.

[chengkp75]

Those so called flushable wipes are wreaking havoc everywhere. I bet they are causing problems for cruise ships.

 

If it was only those wipes, our lives would be so much easier. Those don't affect the piping so much as the treatment plant. It's cloth that really clogs the pipes. Underwear, towels, face cloths, dinner napkins, and crew uniforms not only clog the pipes, but are pretty difficult to roto-root out.

[dexddd]

Scheduled for a cruise on the Star (sister ship) in December.

 

Anybody have any problems with plumbing on the Star in the past?

 

Some of the older ships I would guess, scale, back up and have issues over time.

 

Very generally speaking over all the years, very little that I've seen has been mentioned about the Star having problems. The Dawn seems to crop up every so often. Going back a few years there were problems and people were posting pictures of the buckets in hallways of the Dawn. I wouldn't worry about it on the Star. Not sure why there seems to be so much difference, but then again, this is only based on what a few people have posted over the years.

[Rhea98]

If it was only those wipes, our lives would be so much easier. Those don't affect the piping so much as the treatment plant. It's cloth that really clogs the pipes. Underwear, towels, face cloths, dinner napkins, and crew uniforms not only clog the pipes, but are pretty difficult to roto-root out.

 

You're absolutely correct. I'm both mystified and incredulous (well, not totally), and understand you've only mentioned the tip of the iceberg. We had a bathroom issue on deck 14, Epic, November, one day. It turned out to be that a lot of rooms starboard were involved. It was taken care of within hours although blowers remained on for quite a bit longer.

Edited February 6, 2015 by Rhea98

[Arizona Packer Backer]

If it was only those wipes, our lives would be so much easier. Those don't affect the piping so much as the treatment plant. It's cloth that really clogs the pipes. Underwear, towels, face cloths, dinner napkins, and crew uniforms not only clog the pipes, but are pretty difficult to roto-root out.

 

:eek: I just...whaaat?? Why??? Why would someone flush those things??? That's all I can say. And the crew uniforms...:confused: smh...

Edited February 6, 2015 by Arizona Packer Backer

[chengkp75]

:eek: I just...whaaat?? Why??? Why would someone flush those things??? That's all I can say. And the crew uniforms...:confused: smh...

 

Those are the less ridiculous items we find. The two ladies had been fired, and decided to go out leaving their mark.

[Barb Nahoumi]

Years ago, on the Pride of Aloha, (now the Sky), a child flushed a toy down the toilet. This shut down the system in an entire block of cabins, including public loos. It took many hours for the vacuum system to clear.

 

We'll be on the Dawn this summer. Hopefully, 9156 is problem free.

[my_crib_too]

If it was only those wipes, our lives would be so much easier. Those don't affect the piping so much as the treatment plant. It's cloth that really clogs the pipes. Underwear, towels, face cloths, dinner napkins, and crew uniforms not only clog the pipes, but are pretty difficult to roto-root out.

 

Recently had the same issue at work. For two weeks, first floor women's bathroom flooded almost daily. Lots of emails and signs about what not to put in the toilet. How can an adult be confused about what goes in a toilet? Glad that I didn't have to author the many emails or signs.

[jasbo49]

Interesting addendum: My wife and I both filled out the online survey after our cruise, noting that our dysfunctional toilet took a serious toll on our cruise. We've had no response from NCL.

 

In the meantime, some friends who cruised on Holland America at about the same time and had trouble with their onboard Internet, filled out a survey. Today we found out they have had several responses from HAL, apologizing and promising to address the problem.

 

So, Holland America understands that Internet matters, but Norwegian doesn't recognize that toilets matter. I still can't believe how cavalier NCL has been about this. We were stuck in a cabin without a working toilet, and the person in charge just didn't care.

 

Jim

[toyotaford]

We were on the Dawn in the GV on January 18 and had toilet problems one day. There were a few days we had a strong sewer smell in the room. We were back on last week and we didn't have any problems in the GV but some family on deck 9 did have the toilet overflow one night. Apparently an ongoing problem.

[chengkp75]

We were on the Dawn in the GV on January 18 and had toilet problems one day. There were a few days we had a strong sewer smell in the room. We were back on last week and we didn't have any problems in the GV but some family on deck 9 did have the toilet overflow one night. Apparently an ongoing problem.

 

An individual toilet can malfunction in any cabin on any ship at any time. Unless an entire area of the ship was inoperable for an extended time, or repeatedly inoperable, or was not addressed in a timely fashion, I would not say it was "an ongoing problem". This is especially true when you consider the nature of the vacuum toilet system, and the fact that one person who flushes something down the toilet that shouldn't be can take out several or even a hundred cabins at one time.

 

See my post above about "sewer" smells. Further note, the "black water" from toilets is a completely separate system from the "gray water" from the sinks, showers, and floor drains, unlike on land, though the smell is nearly as bad.

[toyotaford]

An individual toilet can malfunction in any cabin on any ship at any time. Unless an entire area of the ship was inoperable for an extended time, or repeatedly inoperable, or was not addressed in a timely fashion, I would not say it was "an ongoing problem". This is especially true when you consider the nature of the vacuum toilet system, and the fact that one person who flushes something down the toilet that shouldn't be can take out several or even a hundred cabins at one time.

 

See my post above about "sewer" smells. Further note, the "black water" from toilets is a completely separate system from the "gray water" from the sinks, showers, and floor drains, unlike on land, though the smell is nearly as bad.

 

I in no way meant to be offensive with my "ongoing problem" comment. I did go back and read your post and did not see any reference to the foul sewer smell. This was our 15th NCL cruise and the only time we or any of our guest had issues with toilets not flushing. It happened on both our January cruise and our February cruise on the Dawn. Apparently others have had the same problem. That was what I was basing my "ongoing problem" comment on. This in no way would keep me from traveling on the Dawn if the schedule works out for me in the future.

[chengkp75]

I in no way meant to be offensive with my "ongoing problem" comment. I did go back and read your post and did not see any reference to the foul sewer smell. This was our 15th NCL cruise and the only time we or any of our guest had issues with toilets not flushing. It happened on both our January cruise and our February cruise on the Dawn. Apparently others have had the same problem. That was what I was basing my "ongoing problem" comment on. This in no way would keep me from traveling on the Dawn if the schedule works out for me in the future.

 

Sorry, my bad. Another toilet thread somewhere here on CC that I'm responding to. Anyway, a persistent sewer smell is generally caused by the floor drain in the bathroom (usually a metal grille by the door) that is not the shower drain, and which does not regularly see water, drying out from the A/C, and the smells backing up. The quickest way to fix this is to pour a glass of water down this drain, and the smell should go away almost instantly. As a preventative, pour a glass down it every day. I used to train the cabin stewards on my ship to do this daily, and our complaints decreased to almost nil.

[Cindy]

Sorry, my bad. Another toilet thread somewhere here on CC that I'm responding to. Anyway, a persistent sewer smell is generally caused by the floor drain in the bathroom (usually a metal grille by the door) that is not the shower drain, and which does not regularly see water, drying out from the A/C, and the smells backing up. The quickest way to fix this is to pour a glass of water down this drain, and the smell should go away almost instantly. As a preventative, pour a glass down it every day. I used to train the cabin stewards on my ship to do this daily, and our complaints decreased to almost nil.

 

That's a great tip! We had odor problems in our bathroom on an older ship (Carnival Ecstasy) that drove me crazy. If it happens again, I'll try that!

[GeezerCouple]

Sorry, my bad. Another toilet thread somewhere here on CC that I'm responding to. Anyway, a persistent sewer smell is generally caused by the floor drain in the bathroom (usually a metal grille by the door) that is not the shower drain, and which does not regularly see water, drying out from the A/C, and the smells backing up. The quickest way to fix this is to pour a glass of water down this drain, and the smell should go away almost instantly. As a preventative, pour a glass down it every day. I used to train the cabin stewards on my ship to do this daily, and our complaints decreased to almost nil.

 

This is a good tip for "land-based toilets", too ;)

 

If someone has a vacation property that isn't used too often, or a guest suite with bathroom that isn't used often, pour that water down the SINK AND TUB/SHOWER drains every now and then (or as soon as you arrive at the vacation property after a prolonged absence, if no one has serviced it for you).

 

The toilet probably won't "dry out" unless you are gone for *VERY* long time :confused:

 

But the "U" shaped drain trap (you can usually see it under a sink, but not with a tub/shower) is what serves this purpose: for water to pool in there, so sewer gases can't come all the way up.

 

GeezerCouple