A word of warning...currently on board Discovery...major sewage issues with our cabin

[jamiewells1970]

We are currently on day 3 of a 7 night cruise out of Barbados.

 

On our first night at 1.10am we heard running water in our suite.....I stepped out of bed into 'water' on  our cabin floor. Waste water containing used toilet tissue and other 'waste products' were coming up through the shower drain and into our cabin and flowing from the bathroom door towards the balcony.

 

We were paddling in sewage to get out of our bed.

 

We called reception, who sent maintenance and then guest services attended who took one look at the situation went away and found us another cabin for the night.

 

So by 1.45 am we taken to another cabin with a handful of personal items leaving the majority of our luggage behind. Everything had to be lifted up off the floor to prevent it being soaked in sewage

 

It was a bad situation to have sewage flowing through our room but the on duty overnight staff handled it well.

 

Fast forward to late afternoon on day 3......I have been to reception 4 times....no member of the management team has engaged with us, contacted us or reached out.

 

Since a conversation with a senior member of the reception team yesterday morning we have heard nothing from guest services or the hotel management.

 

We are still not back in our booked suite where the majority of our belongings are and we have been been downgraded several levels of accommodation.

 

We do not know when and if we will be allowed back.

 

All the crew have been friendly and efficient but the management are nowhere to be seen. Reception staff have clearly been told not to give out the names of management.

 

Things will always go wrong in all walks of life, we accept that, but how it is dealt with is the key to a successful customer experience.

 

The senior management on the ship are letting the customers down and the hard working crew down.

 

Is it too much to ask a member of the Marella management team to reach out after a suite has been flooded in sewage in the middle of the night?

 

 

[Jayneykul]

I feel really sorry for you! Don’t expect any sympathy to a complaint upon your return they are not interested 

[Pensioncruiser]

Only suggestion I can give you is demand to see the safety officer, that cannot be refused, we had to do it once and it worked. Good luck.

[marylizcat]

Happened to us once on a Holland America ship, but in the daytime. We went out on an excursion and when we came back the problem had been sorted and for the next few days we had an industrial dryer machine blowing away. I did think somebody might have apologised or sent a bottle of wine or something, but no. I suspect it is such a frequent happening that they just take it for granted.

[howmuch!]

In my experience, you will often see some of the more senior (white uniformed) crew in the buffet around noon (when it opens). Perhaps grab one of those.

[jamiewells1970]

So further to my post on Sunday we were allowed back in our cabin (8506 Grand suite) on the 3rd night of our 7 day cruise at 5.50pm.

 

The carpet had to be fully dried, shampooed and dried again, two large air blowers remained outside our cabin in the hallway for the next two days.

 

The report I have confirms that a plumber visited our cabin at 1.06am on our first night and concluded that it was sewage water ( I have film and images of toilet tissue and other matter across the cabin floor, which we had to walk through barefoot as we stepped out of bed that night)

 

Over the next two days I have had meetings with the Guest relations manager and then the Hotel manager.

 

What I thought was a fair compensation was to have the first two nights of our cruise refunded ( We paid £3,437 for 7 night cruise only...no flights or transfers) and then to be offered something as a gesture of good will.....maybe a spa treatment or something of similar value to make amends for the stress of the 1st night....so approx £491 per night X 2 nights = £982.

 

What I was offered was either......

 

£300 on board credit to my account and one internet package or... 20% of the holiday price as a voucher for another cruise. (A voucher for £687 against another cruise...no cash value)

 

I was told that nothing else would be offered as this was company policy and that the Hotel managers hands were tied.

 

We have declined both of these offers and will continue the matter further through appropriate channels when we are home. 

 

P.S....When we did get back to our cabin there was not even a note or bottle of wine waiting for us....nothing...all we have been met with from management is a corporate stone wall of policy, procedure and excuse my french...ass covering!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pensioncruiser]

When our cabin flooded with clean water not black like you they credited our account with £550 which was acceptable for us as we did not have to move and was only one day, we also had a problem once with soot on our suite balcony for which we received £1400. Info may be useful hopefully. Good luck.

[dronnygirl]

Jamie, I think it's appalling what they have offered,  and you seem to be very reasonable about it. Obviously these things can happen but should be put right quickly and compensated accordingly. 

Good luck and please let us know how you go on.

[insidecabin]

This site has no real Marella presence,  a few select words on that other place where a lot more people hang out might get some attention.

Throw ABTA and package regulations into the conversation with management.
 

16.—(1) The provisions of this regulation are implied as a term in every package travel contract.

(2) The organiser must offer the traveller an appropriate price reduction for any period during which there is a lack of conformity, unless the organiser proves that the lack of conformity is attributable to the traveller.

the issue will be the non conformance is just the accommodation component of the trip other aspects like ports, food and entertainment are still intact,

What would a proportion of the cabin upgrade cost and a proportion of the base cost come to?

 

[howmuch!]

On the Caribbean cruise we are doing in March, a Grand Suite on Discovery is £1816 more than inside on 6/7/8 (currently). As you missed 2 nights/3 days, but had other parts of the cruise, I guess Marella will argue £687 is proportional (ignoring all the paddling in sewage, inconvenience etc). I would certainly want cash not a voucher and a more on top for what you suffered.