Smells on the Explorer

Let's backtrack. Last April I sailed on the Radiance, for months leading up to the cruise I heard reports of sewage smells throughout the ship in particular deck ten Aft where my cabin was located. I thought for sure the problem would of been rectified by time my cruise date arrived, you guessed it Not!!!. Now I'm hearing the same reports about the Explorer. While I'm not sailing

until April common sense would dictate the problem would be fixed, but that's what I thought about the Radiance. Hopefully I'm worrying for naught but history is a great teacher.

We were on the Explorer on the 10-27-2011 cruise and the smell was all over the ship at different times and places. It never got into our room but you could smell it in the hallways from time to time. It was really bad on the port side outdoors. It was there from the time we got on till the time we got off. It was even brought up at the Captins corner. We have been on her a few times and never experienced this problem before. I read on Radio's post that he has not smelled anything so far on his cruise which is now in progress. I sure hope they fixed the problem.

We have sailed Explorer a few times and have had the sewer smell in our cabin each time. We were always on the hump between decks 7-9. This was not just recent. It was over a period of a few years!

Not what I wanted to hear since our cabin is on the Hump deck 8

We never noticed the sewage smell on the Explorer, but did have it on the Radiance. Since we're going on the Radiance again in February, we've been closely monitoring trip reveiws of the ship since her drydock. There have been a couple of references to the smell, but nothing like there used to be, so it sounds like they solved most of the problem. We're going prepared this time just in case - some air freshner for the bathroom, plus a rubber drain cover for over the shower drain. The drain cover idea came from a Cruise Critic member - said it completely stopped the odor in the bathroom. Just remember to remove it before you shower!

We never noticed the sewage smell on the Explorer, but did have it on the Radiance. Since we're going on the Radiance again in February, we've been closely monitoring trip reveiws of the ship since her drydock. There have been a couple of references to the smell, but nothing like there used to be, so it sounds like they solved most of the problem. We're going prepared this time just in case - some air freshner for the bathroom, plus a rubber drain cover for over the shower drain. The drain cover idea came from a Cruise Critic member - said it completely stopped the odor in the bathroom. Just remember to remove it before you shower!

Great idea about the drain cover, that's what I love about cruise critic. What area of the ship was your cabin?

We never noticed the sewage smell on the Explorer, but did have it on the Radiance. Since we're going on the Radiance again in February, we've been closely monitoring trip reveiws of the ship since her drydock. There have been a couple of references to the smell, but nothing like there used to be, so it sounds like they solved most of the problem. We're going prepared this time just in case - some air freshner for the bathroom, plus a rubber drain cover for over the shower drain. The drain cover idea came from a Cruise Critic member - said it completely stopped the odor in the bathroom. Just remember to remove it before you shower!

Where did you purchase this drain cover?

We bought our drain cover at an Ace Hardware store - most hardware stores should have them. They're meant for a bathtub that doesn't have a drain stopper. It's just a rubber disk about 4 inches in diameter that lays flat over the drain, so you could probably improvise if you can't find one. We were in Cabin 6334 on the Explorer, right near the Business Center.

Bringing air fresheners and drain plugs while on a vacation that I spent thousands of dollars on just does not sit right with me.:confused:

I have been on the Explorer so so many times and have smelled the odor several times but had also seen maintenance work going on as a guest was having a bathroom problem. I had the problem two years ago in a grand suite but our room attendant seem to get the smell away in our case from fixing the drain in the jacuzzi. The cabin next door had flooded....seemed a guest before them had put something in toilet and flushed it that shouldn't have gone in the toilet.

You have to remember that the ship doesn't have the sewer vents like homes do nor the pipe traps we have in our homes either. I read many many many stories about the Radiance and that the pipes had to be replaced. Explorer was in dry dock in Jan 10 but to have azipod fixed and the other repairs and updates were done afterwards while ship was back in service and warmer weather prevailed for painting and so forth.

My cabin was forward deck 10 then. I was on the Oasis last month and several of us noted a sewer smell first day or so and then it went away. Who knows what it was.

Don't be fretting about these things now. I am sure Radio will keep us informed. I won't be back on the Explorer until Bermuda next year unless I sneak one in before that!

I'm on the Explorer in January, so I really hope it's cleared up by then. I can deal with a smell in public areas, but I cannot deal with that in my cabin, as I plan to spend a lot of relaxing time there.

The large cruise critic group that is on there now isn't reporting any sewer smells that I read thru. I do believe Radio was asked also.

I thought for sure the problem would of been rectified by time my cruise date arrived, you guessed it Not!!!. Now I'm hearing the same reports about the Explorer. While I'm not sailing

until April common sense would dictate the problem would be fixed, but that's what I thought about the Radiance. Hopefully I'm worrying for naught but history is a great teacher.

Like another poster, I was also on the 10/27/11 sailing and the smell was pervasive and varied from deck to deck.

Most of the time the worst smells were around deck 7 aft. Sometimes it was up to 8 & 9. We were allllll the way back on deck 9 and only smelled it in our room once. The hallways were another story.

Additionally one night around deck 5 near the MDR the smell was AWFUL.

They did make an announcement & post reminders in the Cruise Compass that people should not flush anything other than toilet paper in the toilet. I can't believe that people are such morons that they have to say it...but apparently they do.

The story we got from our steward was that somebody flushed something that caused a backup and leakage into a cabin. We did witness a cleanup crew one day around deck 7 near a particularly stinky area.

FYI when I was on board the ExOS in 10/2010 it was also stinky, just not as bad. Whatever they're trying to fix - ain't fixed yet. Smear some Vicks under your nose & party on.:rolleyes:

That smell we had on the Exlporer on the 10-27-11 cruise was more then a backed up tolet.The smell was so bad on the port side of deck four most of the cruise that no one was every sitting there. You would think that with all the technology they have today this would not be an issue on any cruise ship.

hi! i was on the explorer in a promenade cabin. it was the sept.24,2011 sailing. about halfway through the week we were leaving out port of call and noticed the horrible sewer smell on the open decks and thought it was the port! that night we were on our way to dinner and smelled the awful smell again! i went in the womens restroom by the MDR and all the toilets were full to the brim and a few had already spilled over! none of them would flush! so i called to report it and they acted as if they had not been told until my call. then a few hours later, the mens restroom on the MDR Smelled so bad they closed it off and had a shop vac in there! it had runeth over! haha! the next night our cabin toilet stopped flushing! i reported it and it was said that the repairs were being made on the ship and it was soon working again. it went out one more time but was also fixed quickly. we thought this was just our cruise but it sounds like an ongoing problem!? :eek:

Posted by Kartgv

>>We bought our drain cover at an Ace Hardware store - most hardware stores should have them. They're meant for a bathtub that doesn't have a drain stopper. It's just a rubber disk about 4 inches in diameter that lays flat over the drain, so you could probably improvise if you can't find one. We were in Cabin 6334 on the Explorer, right near the Business Center.<<

Just a note to myself to bring my hockey puck to cover the deck drain on our cruise next month.

Since we board on 11/20 and will be on decks 9 and 8 mid ship, this is not good news!:(

As was stated by one poster, after paying as much as we did for our cabins this is the last thing we want to be hit with! Toilets by the MDR overflowing....you would think an annoucement would have been made alerting passengers to the problem and not having to find out just when you need to use the toliet! Or, the fact that such an unsanitary situation so close to the food, MDR and the kitchens is just not acceptable.

MARAPRINCE

For the people on the cruise I hope its cleared up by now