Nasty sewage smell on Millenium ship

[Nightshade]

It looks like Celebrity should introduce gas masks as their new amenity for a concierge class on Millennium ship :D

 

We searched the boards for this issue & haven’t found many references for 2008 Millenium sewage smell problem. It seems like Milenium ship had this problem in 2006, but a different area of the ship was affected.

We’ve been cruising for a while (more than 11 cruises with Celebrity only) & never had a problem like this before.

It’s not just an occasional bad smell, which comes & goes once in a while; it’s a horrific sewage stink, which affects the end of the ship and just doesn’t go away.

 

Millennium ship also has a big problem with a sewage smell coming out of the main dining room area when you enter it from the deck 5 (starboard side) :eek:. As soon as you enter the restaurant, on the left side you will see a door, which they keep opened during dinner time as waiters constantly bring food from the kitchen through it. Very strong sewage smell is leaking through this opening all the time. One the assistant maitre d’ acknowledged the problem and said that they were trying to fix it, but the rest of the ship workers prefer not to discuss it. This kind of aroma is not what you expect to experience when you enter a main dining room.

 

We don’t know if the kitchen sewage problem is somehow related to the smell we have at the end of the ship, but there is a big possibility it does because the restaurant is located at the end of the ship too.

Our cabin is on a deck 9, starboard side, but we felt this smell on a port side too, so either the wind brings it there or the problem they have is affecting both sides of the ship equally.

 

We talked to our neighbors & they also complained about this smell.

We hope that this mess will be fixed in Auckland, which is our next big port after the ship left Hawaii, and we will let you know as soon as this problem disappears.

 

For now, we would think twice before booking any cruise on Millennium ship before it will be refurbished in 2009. If this problem stays during our New Zealand/Australia cruise (we’re B2Bs), we will let you know, so you have a chance to downgrade from a balcony cabin to inside ;)

[Gold Coast Cruisers]

Nightshade, when you mention the word 'end' do you mean 'aft' the back of the ship being on a balcony on Deck 9 at the back of the ship, or generally at rear of the ship?

 

Jillybean:)

[cruiseacecat]

Hi,

 

I just recently left the ship in Hawaii, was in an aft cabin on deck 9 and walked the starboard hallway many times a day. This has got to be a new problem. Never noticed any unpleasant odors on my cruise. And to smell this going into the dining room is amazing. Hope things get corrected soon.

To those of you planning to sail Millennium, please do not let this make you change your mind. Give it more time and see if other later posters are still having problems. The crew and staff on this ship are wonderful. Really an excellent experience for me. I am so sorry it is not for the poster.

 

Anne

[kitty9]

A sewage smell seems to happen from time to time on all ships. I've experienced this on the likes of Crystal, Silversea, Princess and RCCI. It's just something that happens-----you know what they say, don't you?? Ship happens????

[chief joe]

To all who cruise.Ships are just big machines that float, sometimes they break.

[pcur]

We were on the Millie for 12 nights in 2007, and we smelled no bad odors on the ship anywhere.

[2Canucks]

We were on the Millennium for the Sept19/08 sailing in Sky Suite 6125.

 

There was "no sewer smell" problems anywhere onboard on that cruise.

 

Pat :)

[floridatravelersforlife]

The only bad smell on our Millie cruise this past August was the chain smoker on the balcony suite next to our cabin, upwind of us.

 

Thank goodness for the new rules which we will demand be enforced on the next cruise we take on CC.

[ScubesDad]

In March 2007 we were in Cabin 9201, on the Millie, the final morning prior to disembarkation there was a slight sewage smell in the hallway. Our cabin attendant advised it was a small problem and the plumbers were fixing it. When we returned from breakfast there was no odour. Sometimes it just happens

[kathynorth]

During the last week of July 08 we were on deck 9 midship and always entered the main dining area from deck 5 starboard. We didn't notice any sewage smell on our trip.

[dadsbdaycruiser]

I'm trying to understand this sewage situation a bit, as I will be on the Millenium in a week (can't wait!) There clearly has been a problem near the dining room at the starboard entrance (both recent cruisers noted this), but is there an additional problem on deck 9, or on the starboard side, or is it coming in from the outside (the only reason I could think to move to an inside cabin, as the cruiser suggested)? If it is a recent problem, I am just understand it a little, and where it is. I am not overly concerned, but just what to know what to expect... so any clarification would be helpful. I have smelled some unusual things on ships before, but it is usually in an isolated area, and some people are much fussier then others... I would think an inside would be worse in most cases (less ventilation)... thanks for any additional info...

[spearmint]

Friends travelled across the Atlantic a few years ago on Millennium and definitely commented on the sewage smell, which was constant and prevalent:eek:; I forget on which part of the ship but I believe it was hallways. It is not the first time that I have read of this on these boards, either. I,too, hope that the situation is remedied in the upcoming drydocking, as we will spend :)28 days on her next fall.

[lucky white heather]

We've managed to do quite a few cruises on ML...many T/atlantics and Med. (port intensive ) and on all of these , on the odd occasion , there definitely was a sewage smell...mostly in the hallways when going to and fro but never in our cabin .

It did clear up pretty quickly because whatever they did fixed it ( like emptying their tanks in some port or something ???) , but we've never smelt it in the dining room which would definitely be just as unacceptable as anywhere else.

[bububr]

With Pat ( 2Canucks ), and we didn't smell anything bad either.

 

Being said......With all the people and food being consumed they must have one heck of a sewage processing operation on everyship. I'm wondering if they have to ocassionally do a repair or pump tanks or something which might explain the mysterious ocassional smell.

 

I know that when we drive by a processing plant its not the most pleasant experience.... but its a necessary proceedure.

 

Dave:eek:

[hurwitz5]

During our January cruise we reported to the front desk a stench in the hallway outside our cabins when we returned at the end of the evening - midnight to 1:00 a.m. Each night we wondered if we would have to smell that stench as we approached our cabins. The cabins were on an upper floor (don't recall which one), and somewhat forward. We did not smell it earlier in the day, or when we left for dinner. We contacted the front desk several times to report this problem, and we kept hoping that the problem would be fixed, but it never was. When Celebrity emailed me a survey after our cruise, I wrote about this issue and never received a response. I also mentioned it on the survey that you turn in before you leave the ship on the last day. Sorry to hear that this continues to be a problem. We brought friends of ours on their first Celebrity cruise (it was our fourth), and they probably won't sail on Celebrity again because of this problem.

[emairs]

Friends travelled across the Atlantic a few years ago on Millennium and definitely commented on the sewage smell, which was constant and prevalent:eek:; I forget on which part of the ship but I believe it was hallways. It is not the first time that I have read of this on these boards, either. I,too, hope that the situation is remedied in the upcoming drydocking, as we will spend :)28 days on her next fall.

 

This is probably the Millenium TA that we were on in Nov./05.

There were numerous problems on this crossing, and sewage leakage was one of them, resulting in some people having to move to other cabins.

We were on deck 7 aft and the smell was terrible.

This seems to be an ongoing problem on the Millenium. We have not noticed any odor on the Summit or Constellation, and we are always on deck 7 aft.

[florisdekort]

Remarkable. Today is my 22nd day on Millennium and I have never smelled anything. Sometimes I simply can't believe what I'm reading on these Boards :eek: :confused:

[hajekfam]

We had the sewage smell on deck 7 on our Millennium transatlantic in November, 2005 - but did not have it on our Millie trans in Dec. 2007 (same cabin) Our cabin was located about halfway between the middle and aft elevators.

[Gold Coast Cruisers]

Remarkable. Today is my 22nd day on Millennium and I have never smelled anything. Sometimes I simply can't believe what I'm reading on these Boards :eek: :confused:

 

Thanks for the up to the minute post.

What deck is your cabin on?

I was thinking maybe it could have been because the ship is cruising southbound and would be at sea for 4 or 5 days and the tanks could not be emptied at that time maybe causing an unpleasant smell.

 

I would be interested to hear from you as to how you are finding the ship overall. We will be cruising on her in December. Previously we've cruised on Constellation and loved that ship.

 

Jillybean:D

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Passengers will try and flush some pretty odd items into the toilets and it can really muck up the system. Diapers, washcloths, feminine hygienge products, contraceptives, etc. If the foreign object makes its way far enough before it stops, well, it can be pretty hard to isolate and clear out. These ships are huge and the vacuum flush systems are very complex. Unfortunately they are attached to the same drainage system as sinks/showers/etc - hence the odor leakage.

 

I have sailed all the mainstream cruiselines, and even some of the luxury lines, and on over 23 cruises have come across this issue many, many a time.

[rosesplus]

I agree, we had on the Summit Deck 7 aft this summer in the Med.

[bug_dan]

We also just returned from the Ensenada to Honolulu leg of the Millennium and did not notice the odor and our dining was on deck 5 where we entered the dining room on the starboard side.

[Nightshade]

It seems that they fixed the problem yesterday (12th day of our cruise). We left several messages for guest services and after all, one of the managers decided to resolve this problem instead of ignoring it. She took a walk at the aft of the ship and felt the odor herself. After that, she left a message stating that they had located the problem area & were trying to fix it. Within a day the smell disappeared. Hooray!

To people, who say thing like these happen on the ships & this is acceptable…

I do realize that some people are more sensitive to smells that others and I’m among them. But my husband doesn’t have a sensitive nose; he’s a physician, who is used to all kind of horrible smells, and he couldn’t sit on the balcony because this odor was so disgusting. We can tolerate an occasional smell, while passing some area, but 7 days of human waste on our balcony we could not.

We enjoy our cruise tremendously, but during it we figured out that if you’re modest & try not to bother guest services an extra time, you will be ignored. You should be persistent & not give up if you have any major problem. It just happened that the first cabin we had had a broken balcony door handle, and it couldn’t be closed completely because of it. While we were in a port, it was fine, but as soon as the ship started moving fast, the whistling sound was coming out of the balcony door & air conditioner couldn’t keep up with cooling the leaking air (the gap was about 2 inches). In the beginning our stateroom attendant tried to persuade us that that was how it is supposed to be, which was quite annoying & irritating. Then some handyman came to evaluate the problem & promised to fix it the next day. Unfortunately, after 2 days of waiting, it never happened. Instead, we received a message stating that our door was fixed, which was either a blatant lie or just a miscommunication between guest services & our room attendant. Basically, until we saw a manager on the 4th day& demanded to change a room, nothing was done.

I guess if not for our 1st initial problem, we would be more persistent trying to fix the 2d one, but we were tired of complaining non-stop, and wanted them to address the problem in a timely manner by themselves. We don’t like to complain, we rarely do, but when there is a major problem, we expect a somewhat timely response.

Overall, the service is fine. It’s not how it was on Constellation ship, but it is good enough for us. We heard several people complaining about the ship being too old. I guess many of them didn’t know that the ship hasn’t been refurbished for a while & that’s why they were disappointed. If you’re ok with having an outdated stateroom, you should be enjoying your cruise on this ship. We have a very lovely waiter from Mexico, an attentive assistant maitre d’ and a decent room attendant. Food is very good everywhere; best desserts are at Cova café, best juice – Aqua Spa or from Concierge class stateroom breakfast , worst do-not-eat cold & badly cooked breakfast – stateroom breakfast at 6:30AM :)

Also, if you go to a spa, ask for Anna San Diego from Philippines – a very lovely girl who gave us an amazing massage.

Enjoy your future cruise!

[Gold Coast Cruisers]

Happy to hear that the problem has been rectified Nightshade.

I heard that the ship hasn't been refurbished for awhile which is a bit of a shame. Unfortunately just about every ship that comes to Australia and New Zealand for a short season always seems to be 'in need' of refurbishment and it is usually on the company calender to be refurbished on it's return.

Hope you continue to enjoy the rest of your cruise, and receive a very warm welcome from Australia on your arrival. Cruising into the Sydney Harbour and seeing the Harbour bridge and the magnificent Sydney Opera House is a wonder in itself. It's worth getting out of bed early and be ready with your camera.:D

 

Jillybean:)

[WNcruiser]

It seems that they fixed the problem yesterday (12th day of our cruise). We left several messages for guest services and after all, one of the managers decided to resolve this problem instead of ignoring it. She took a walk at the aft of the ship and felt the odor herself. After that, she left a message stating that they had located the problem area & were trying to fix it. Within a day the smell disappeared. Hooray!

To people, who say thing like these happen on the ships & this is acceptable…

I do realize that some people are more sensitive to smells that others and I’m among them. But my husband doesn’t have a sensitive nose; he’s a physician, who is used to all kind of horrible smells, and he couldn’t sit on the balcony because this odor was so disgusting. We can tolerate an occasional smell, while passing some area, but 7 days of human waste on our balcony we could not.

We enjoy our cruise tremendously, but during it we figured out that if you’re modest & try not to bother guest services an extra time, you will be ignored. You should be persistent & not give up if you have any major problem. It just happened that the first cabin we had had a broken balcony door handle, and it couldn’t be closed completely because of it. While we were in a port, it was fine, but as soon as the ship started moving fast, the whistling sound was coming out of the balcony door & air conditioner couldn’t keep up with cooling the leaking air (the gap was about 2 inches). In the beginning our stateroom attendant tried to persuade us that that was how it is supposed to be, which was quite annoying & irritating. Then some handyman came to evaluate the problem & promised to fix it the next day. Unfortunately, after 2 days of waiting, it never happened. Instead, we received a message stating that our door was fixed, which was either a blatant lie or just a miscommunication between guest services & our room attendant. Basically, until we saw a manager on the 4th day& demanded to change a room, nothing was done.

I guess if not for our 1st initial problem, we would be more persistent trying to fix the 2d one, but we were tired of complaining non-stop, and wanted them to address the problem in a timely manner by themselves. We don’t like to complain, we rarely do, but when there is a major problem, we expect a somewhat timely response.

Overall, the service is fine. It’s not how it was on Constellation ship, but it is good enough for us. We heard several people complaining about the ship being too old. I guess many of them didn’t know that the ship hasn’t been refurbished for a while & that’s why they were disappointed. If you’re ok with having an outdated stateroom, you should be enjoying your cruise on this ship. We have a very lovely waiter from Mexico, an attentive assistant maitre d’ and a decent room attendant. Food is very good everywhere; best desserts are at Cova café, best juice – Aqua Spa or from Concierge class stateroom breakfast , worst do-not-eat cold & badly cooked breakfast – stateroom breakfast at 6:30AM :)

Also, if you go to a spa, ask for Anna San Diego from Philippines – a very lovely girl who gave us an amazing massage.

Enjoy your future cruise!

 

So should I rebook my Hawaii cruise that I cancelled after your first post??