Zuiderdam - still has awful toilet issues!!

We are just home from 18 days on the Zuiderdam and were very disappointed that we experienced approximately 90% of our cruise with a toilet that would not flush. Sometimes it would take "hours"!! Most of the days...nothing would happen... We are experienced cruisers and know very well not to 'push' the button more than once, nor do we overload with paper. We also experienced many many afternoons and evenings with a "sewer smell" (which was very strong) in our cabin. I did take wet towels and cover the bathroom drains but finally figured out that the "smell" was actually coming through the air conditioning vent system :eek: My DH was not too convinced on that until we went down to the Future Cruise Consultant desk. The elevator area on midship deck 4 smelled horrible and once we arrived a few decks lower and were seated talking to the cruise consultant the smell was overwhelming.While sitting there talking with her she told us that the sewer smell was making her feel ill!! She also said that she reported it because it was so strong in her desk area but was told it was simply a 'black water' smell and would not affect her ~ nor make her ill. Gads! it was awful!

I do try and understand that lots of huge mechanical issues may happen with a big ship that is on the go constantly. (Air conditioning was another issue that the Zuiderdam had to correct. We had a full day in port without any air-conditioning while they replaced units).

BUT...this ship has had horrible sewage issues reported here on the boards for quite some time. We kept our booking on this cruise because there were reports on this board that things 'were fixed'... unfortunately we found that they were not.

Quite the health issue, in my opinion. Toilets not working in cabin and even several of the public area toilets were inoperable also.:mad: I just deplore spending our cruise vacation money expecting a "wonderful" experience and have to deal with sewage issues ~ not something I want my vacation spoiled by.:(:(:(

Thank you for your report.

So sorry that you had such a disappointing experience.

What deck was your cabin?

Sorry you had such miserable issues on your cruise.

Seriously, maybe the CDC needs to pull some surprise inspections on HAL ships, particularly the ones reported here as having such ongoing plumbing/sewage smell problems.

Disappointing to read all these issues on HAL ships lately with plumbing and AC :( Hope you will have a better cruise next time!

That sounds dreadful, I can only imagine how awful that would of been for you and other passengers. Thank you for reporting this.

Sorry to hear that the plumbing and AC issues are still a problem.

This appears to be an on again off again issue on the Zuiderdam. I don't know what it will take to fix it but HAL needs to do it.

That funky "blackwater" smell is not pleasant on any ship and we have smelled what you are talking about on many, including Crystal ships. If you google the term you find it plagues RV's as well - seems to be part of the low-flow and new environmental standards when there is insufficient flush as well as clogged items from both passenger misuse as well as the insufficient water flow.

There are now even products claiming to be of help to the shipping industry which however did include HAL as one of their customers: http://www.hepburnbiocare.co.uk/HepburnBioCare/

This smell is more noticeable on the lower decks when we have run into it. Hope there is a good solutions, ASAP. Sorry your trip was ruined.

So sorry for your experience. I hope you are writing Seattle. This is such a shame - something is definitely going on with this ship and HAL needs to get to the bottom of it. Do share your room number/deck as it will be helpful to others.

Do share your room number/deck as it will be helpful to others.

In your shoes, I would not share my room number. I prefer to remain anonymous on Cruise Critic.

How will posting a room number reveal your identity on cruise critic?

So sorry for your experience. I hope you are writing Seattle. This is such a shame - something is definitely going on with this ship and HAL needs to get to the bottom of it. Do share your room number/deck as it will be helpful to others.

writing seattle won't help a bit. These problems have been being reported for literally years, now on many shipt of HAL's fleet. HAL can't or won't fix them.

How will posting a room number reveal your identity on cruise critic?

I believe this poster did reveal the cabin number in prior roll call posts - somewhere in the 4000 cabins.

So sorry for your experience. I hope you are writing Seattle. This is such a shame - something is definitely going on with this ship and HAL needs to get to the bottom of it. Do share your room number/deck as it will be helpful to others.

Room/Deck doesn't matter ~ this problem was shipwide:mad: We did not let it ruin our cruise but we sure did not like having to deal with the unsanitary conditions...and the "BIG" thing on HAL is "wash or sanitize you hands", signs are everywhere...hand sanitizers are everywhere...they don't want anyone getting the intestinal thing BUT you can't flush toilets and you smell sewer?...:eek: In one of our ports I guess so many complaints were called in that during the morning they announced that "two" pumps had failed at the same time and they were replacing them right away and would have the system fixed within an hour. Toilets flushed for that afternoon, then right back to the same problem. We did see dock-side what appeared to us to be a sewer line (set up just like an RV sewer line) so I think they were pumping the system. We saw this twice during the cruise.

Thanks to all for your comments. I will say that if I read about this kind of problem reported over and over on this board I will avoid the ship for sure.

Sorry to read you had to put up with such obnoxious smells.:eek: Sure hope it didn't waft into the dining rooms.

Portas. Sorry to hear about your experience. We didn't have as many problems as you did on the Zuiderdam, but we did have the experience of the sewage odor coming through the AC system on the NA. I know how unpleasant that can be especially at night when you are trying to go to bed, and all you smell is the odor as it blows directly above the bed. I'm curious to know if you reported it to the front desk or concierge, and whether they even came out to your room to try and diagnose the ventilation issue? We had them come out to do a smell test in our room, but we went around and around with them and the problem went unresolved. I would highly recommend you write a letter to Seattle in my opinion. I certainly did just to feel like at least I conveyed my message to corporate.

Portas. Sorry to hear about your experience. We didn't have as many problems as you did on the Zuiderdam, but we did have the experience of the sewage odor coming through the AC system on the NA. I know how unpleasant that can be especially at night when you are trying to go to bed, and all you smell is the odor as it blows directly above the bed. I'm curious to know if you reported it to the front desk or concierge, and whether they even came out to your room to try and diagnose the ventilation issue? We had them come out to do a smell test in our room, but we went around and around with them and the problem went unresolved. I would highly recommend you write a letter to Seattle in my opinion. I certainly did just to feel like at least I conveyed my message to corporate.

We've had the sewer gas smell a few times in rough weather. The water in the drain traps in the bathroom should stop the escape of that gas. But when the ship moves a lot, the water sloshes, and gas escapes back into the bathroom. It's unfortunate, but it goes away.

We've never had to deal with anything like the ongoing issues in Zuiderdam. This sounds like something is very wrong somewhere. Sewage lines and AC vents are NOT connected. :eek: If the sewer smell is coming out of the AC vent, there must be a VERY concentrated smell somewhere for the AC system to pick up the gas and spread it to other places.

Read a book about application of green operating principles at the posh Little Nell resort in Vail where they reported this very funky smell also in their underground valet parking garage and how embarrassaing it was to deliver the customer's high-end cars to them smelling like sewage. They tried everything with the sewer system, but only when they put the garage on a more energy efficient, as-needed ventilation system did they find the former continuous ventilation operation had been sucking up this funky smell because it was actually too powerful. So linking the ship's ventilation system to this swamp gas odor has precedence elsewhere.

Portas...we were actually looking at the Z about six weeks ago for a last minute booking. Panama canal is on our to do list. The timing was not great for us but the reports on this issue put us off that particular ship and made the decision very straightforward. We are very thankful that we choose not to book.

We are VERY appreciative of CC members who have been reporting this issue for some time-it made our decision much easier. Notwithstanding all the nonsense and abuse that some of these posters had to put up with from a very small minority of HAL cheerleaders, the posters who reported this certainly did us a good turn by speaking openly and plainly about this ongoing problem. So a big thank you to those people.

This is terrible publicity for HAL. Sooner or later TA's will start hearing of these issues more frequently and will consider these issues when recommending ships/cruise lines.

I'm wondering how many of the cheer leaders love using the commode after their significant other was unable to flush? The smell does wonders for the digestive tract and sinus cavities :rolleyes:

To me, it doesn't matter where the smell originates or comes from. It's totally unacceptable.

Surely this problem isn't isolated to the passenger staterooms and common areas. I'm sure the crew are victims of these issues as well. I wonder how the captain responds when his commode sits unflushed for hours or a day or two.

Surely this problem isn't isolated to the passenger staterooms and common areas. I'm sure the crew are victims of these issues as well. I wonder how the captain responds when his commode sits unflushed for hours or a day or two.

I would think it's worse for the crew because their living space is more cramped. If the AC goes out, pax can go out on their balconies or on deck. But many of the crew are stuck indoors.

I doubt very much whether any staff of the ship's Engineering dept are reading CC let alone using it as a source of technical information to solve this issue. I suspect that they are very busy trying to 'mask' the problem if the fix requires drydock time and/or extensive mods or updates to the plumbing or HVAC systems.

All we really care about is having a good cruise. Don't really want any plumbing, HVAC, or engine problems. That is for HAL to worry about as they try to live up to the expectations that they have set. We don't want excuses, whys, or wherefores....we just want a functioning cabin and a functioning ship. That is what we pay for, that is what we expect.

So far, that is exactly what we have received on every cruise that we have taken, including HAL. But I have to say that DW is less than enthusiastic about booking any HAL cruise after hearing about the constant concerns. It occurs on other lines however if you read the posts, not nearly to the extent that it seems to be reported on specific HAL ships.

HAL needs to get their act together before their reputation starts to wane. For some, based on the posts of late, that has already started. We are in the 'vote with your feet' crowd-as are many of our friends.

I've smelled "sewage" in many areas on different lines. Apparently the problem

exists on all cruise lines to some extend.

I'm sure HAL monitors these boards, to some extend, and hopefully

will take some action based on the number of negative posts.

I always try to make the best of any cruise experience; but sometimes there

are enough negatives to outweight the positives.

Pete