Rep. rting In From the Zuiderdam

[canadianbear]

I think it's safe to say HAL doesn't have many first timers on board. Regardless of which line is in question or how much you like them the basics like AC and plumbing should work well. I think it's unfair to put the blame on the pass as all ships have them and not all ships have this problem over and over. When I was abroad the bathroom worked well with no delayed flush or clog however I heard a pass at the front desk going nuts cause his didn't work for three days.

 

I agree....I expect the plumbing to work in my cabin and the AC. I'm easy to please but those need to be working.

 

BruceMuzz: Startwin is not a first time cruiser and although it could have been because of a passenger on prior to her guilty of throwing something into the toilet, it is expected to have the issue resolved quickly not have to threat to scream bloody murder in the lobby to have it fixed.

 

We have a deposit for this ship for 22 nights in April 2013 and if there are continued posts about the issues of AC & plumbing in the cabins not working properly we will cancel and book another ship. I'm not prepared to have a toilet in my cabin not work and have to go downstairs somewhere to find one-that is unrealistic.

[foodgirl]

I agree....I expect the plumbing to work in my cabin and the AC. I'm easy to please but those need to be working.

 

BruceMuzz: Startwin is not a first time cruiser and although it could have been because of a passenger on prior to her guilty of throwing something into the toilet, it is expected to have the issue resolved quickly not have to threat to scream bloody murder in the lobby to have it fixed.

 

We have a deposit for this ship for 22 nights in April 2013 and if there are continued posts about the issues of AC & plumbing in the cabins not working properly we will cancel and book another ship. I'm not prepared to have a toilet in my cabin not work and have to go downstairs somewhere to find one-that is unrealistic.

I agree with you.....my DH is not on cruise critic, but he reads reviews on Zuiderdam and said if they don't get the toilet's and AC fixed we will book another ship....I do hope they fix it as that itinerary is the best for us with only 7 days for Alaska. It is not too much to ask for a properly working toilet.

[itzmered]

Toilet flushing issues are as much as function of careless passengers as they are of the ship's condition.

 

Ships that carry more first-timers have far more plumbing issues than ships that carry frequent cruisers.

People just do not read anymore.

Those large signs warning you not to flush strange items down your toilet are simply ignored by many people.

 

So they flush underwear, kleenex, cloth towels, pizza, hand wipes, plush toilet paper from home, waste paper,aluminum foil, plastic, cans, bottles, and many more disgusting objects down the toilet, clogging the vacuum line for dozens of cabins.

Then the passengers blame the cruise line for not repairing it quickly enough.

 

Meanwhile, the engineers are below decks hacksawing the pipes, with raw sewage dripping all over them, trying to find the clogs.

Not very nice.

 

Caribbean cruises always have far more toilet problems than Alaska Cruises.

Alaska cruises always have more toilet problems than European cruises.

European cruises always have more toilet problems than World cruises.

World cruises rarely have toilet problems. The passengers are well travelled, and know what they are doing on a ship.

 

Yep pretty much every cruise I have been on we have heard of people dumping all the trash from the kitchens and bars down the toilets :rolleyes: Get real I highly doubt there are those things going on on the Zuiderdam all the time. This is the only ship I have read about that has so many toilet issues.

[startwin]

Toilet flushing issues are as much as function of careless passengers as they are of the ship's condition.

 

Ships that carry more first-timers have far more plumbing issues than ships that carry frequent cruisers.

People just do not read anymore.

Those large signs warning you not to flush strange items down your toilet are simply ignored by many people.

 

So they flush underwear, kleenex, cloth towels, pizza, hand wipes, plush toilet paper from home, waste paper,aluminum foil, plastic, cans, bottles, and many more disgusting objects down the toilet, clogging the vacuum line for dozens of cabins.

Then the passengers blame the cruise line for not repairing it quickly enough.

 

Meanwhile, the engineers are below decks hacksawing the pipes, with raw sewage dripping all over them, trying to find the clogs.

Not very nice.

 

Caribbean cruises always have far more toilet problems than Alaska Cruises.

Alaska cruises always have more toilet problems than European cruises.

European cruises always have more toilet problems than World cruises.

World cruises rarely have toilet problems. The passengers are well travelled, and know what they are doing on a ship.

 

Well you are, of course, entitled to your opinion, but I do not agree with you on this one. The Z had been having plumbing problems for at least 6 months, not likely passengers fault. If that were the case we would have encountered this problem on most cruises, and in fact this is the first time it's happened.

[startwin]

For those who wanted to know... our M&G was great, I would say at least 100 turned up and everyone mixed and chatted, it was the best I've attended. Good friendships have been made, and kudos to those who organised it. Several officers attended, including James Deering the Hotel Manager - not my favourite person but he did speak to quite a few of us. Oh and apart from the toilet issues, our cabin, 4166, with the extra-wide balcony is great.

[itzmered]

Do you have lounge chairs on your balcony? We have that cabin booked

 

Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk 2

[jrzebird]

I had no toilet or air conditioning problems in my cabin on the previous cruise, nor did anyone I know have them. I do agree that it is most likely the result of someone putting things in the toilet that don't belong there. It will take out an entire block of bathrooms. And, FYI, I did have problems with the toilet on my last Noordam cruise, and it was fixed within 2 hours of reporting it.

[erewhon]

startwin,

 

Thank you for taking time to report in to CC while on your cruise.

 

So sorry to read of the toilet problems, hope that does not happen again.

 

Wonderful attendance at your CC Meet and Greet.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad you had a wonderful Meet & Greet.

[FrankNJ]

I'm sure about half of the toilet problems are caused by the passengers ignoring the warning

not to flush anything they haven't eaten already . (plus a little tissue ).

But pizza ? I never would think of that one .

[startwin]

Well, the toilet is working OK now (fingers crossed) at least today. I guess because I've stopped throwing everything except the bathroom sink down it:rolleyes:

 

However, reports around the ship today are that 60% of the cabins have little or no A/c, even after the big shutdown on Grand Turk day. Happily, our cabin is just fine, andI pray it stays that way as we head into even more heat and humidity.

 

In spite of all the negatives, I have to say it's a great cruise. But I would think twice before booking the Zuiderdam again. Though she's not in bad shape for her age, and the crew is constantly cleaning and polishing, and repairs go on daily.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for another report.

60% of the ship without air -- not good.

Glad you are still enjoying your cruise inspite of the toilet and air prroblems.

[foodgirl]

Wow 60% without proper a/c?? That is not good. For those of you with more experience than I is this something you have encountered on other ships? Seems very high along with plumbing issues also. I am waiting to see how the reviews are after drydock but very concerning to hear more negative about the state of this ship. Hope they get it fixed. For those that have placed blame on passengers stuffing whatever in the toilets, if that is indeed the case why does it seem to happen so often on this ship? Just curious. Thanks for checking in and glad the meet and greet went so well. Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

[kazu]

Wow 60% without proper a/c?? That is not good. For those of you with more experience than I is this something you have encountered on other ships? Seems very high along with plumbing issues also. I am waiting to see how the reviews are after drydock but very concerning to hear more negative about the state of this ship. Hope they get it fixed. For those that have placed blame on passengers stuffing whatever in the toilets, if that is indeed the case why does it seem to happen so often on this ship? Just curious. Thanks for checking in and glad the meet and greet went so well. Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

 

Well, I guess one could 'assume' (and you know what happens when you do that) that there are a lot of new cruisers on the ship that don't know or read not to put other things down the toilet. A lot of stuff is habit and sometimes people don't think about it.

 

As to the other ships - first of all, I have been on this one and we didn't have any issues but that doesn't take away from this one. there have been a number of reports over the last few months which is concerning to say the least. It could be due to a lot of 'newbie' passengers, but compounded with the AC problems - you gotta wonder.

 

Haven't had any issues on any other HAL ships and we've been on a few. In fact, we are returning to the P'dam, her oldest ships. Now, I remember that the toilet did have the infamous delayed flush - but I really think that's typical of a lot of ships - and we never had any issues at all.

 

So, no it's not a typical issue - but it CAN happen on any ship as Bruce Muzz stated.

 

Startwin - what a fantastic meet and greet - so happy you had a great time. Here's hoping your toilet keeps flushing and your AC keeps working and you end the cruise happily:D

[canadianbear]

Hope you are all enjoying the beautiful sunsets....have a great time going through the Panama tomorrow...:)

[erewhon]

startwin,

 

Thank you for the update of your cruise.

 

Gosh, 60% of the ship without air conditioning is appalling.

 

Hope you do not have any further problems in your cabin.

[PathfinderEss]

I agree....I expect the plumbing to work in my cabin and the AC. I'm easy to please but those need to be working.

 

BruceMuzz: Startwin is not a first time cruiser and although it could have been because of a passenger on prior to her guilty of throwing something into the toilet, it is expected to have the issue resolved quickly not have to threat to scream bloody murder in the lobby to have it fixed.

.

I hear what you are saying Canadianbear but BruceMuzz is right, it could be someone 5 cabins, maybe 10 cabins from yours that starts the problem, and then it backs up your toilet and everyone else's. People do not follow the instructions about using their toilets. They stick everything down them (especially women with female products) or they just use an abundance of toilet paper. I'm always yelling at my DH, take it easy with the toilet paper. This is not like your sewer system at home it is more like a septic system with is much more sensitive.

[Philip217]

Well, the toilet is working OK now (fingers crossed) at least today. I guess because I've stopped throwing everything except the bathroom sink down it:rolleyes:

 

However, reports around the ship today are that 60% of the cabins have little or no A/c, even after the big shutdown on Grand Turk day. Happily, our cabin is just fine, andI pray it stays that way as we head into even more heat and humidity.

 

In spite of all the negatives, I have to say it's a great cruise. But I would think twice before booking the Zuiderdam again. Though she's not in bad shape for her age, and the crew is constantly cleaning and polishing, and repairs go on daily.

 

60% little or no airconditioning on a ship near the equator is BIG NEWS. That means people sleeping on the open decks, meals served outside, groups of passengers demonstrating in the lobby and demanding to meet the Captain, CNN and Fox News covering this disaster, the cruise line making statements to the press and making plans to cancel the cruise and send everyone home.

But when I tuned into CNN this morning, they didn't even mention it.

Strange, no?

 

So I emailed a friend in the Technical Department on Zuiderdam to see how things were going.

He was quite surprised to hear about these problems.

After a few back and forth emails, he did admit that 4 cabins had air flow problems after the A/C maintenance in Grand Turk. They flew in their top A/C Engineer in Curacao and three of the cabins were fixed that day. They expected to fix the final one today.

 

Zuiderdam has nearly 900 cabins. 60% of 900 is 540 cabins with "little or no A/C".

540 vs. 4 ?

 

Could there be some correlation between passengers who flush forbidden objects down their toilets and poor math skills?

[BruceMuzz]

I hear what you are saying Canadianbear but BruceMuzz is right, it could be someone 5 cabins, maybe 10 cabins from yours that starts the problem, and then it backs up your toilet and everyone else's. People do not follow the instructions about using their toilets. They stick everything down them (especially women with female products) or they just use an abundance of toilet paper. I'm always yelling at my DH, take it easy with the toilet paper. This is not like your sewer system at home it is more like a septic system with is much more sensitive.

 

There is a general guideline with TWF (toilet won't flush) that we follow on most ships:

 

If the toilet stops flushing, is repaired within a few hours, and there are no further problems, it is generally caused by you or one of your neighbors flushing forbidden items down it. The engineers have retrieved the item(s), and all is well. On my ship, the engineers pack the questionable object (and additional residue attached to it) in a nice plastic bag and deliver it to the original sender. That normally puts an end to further challenges in that area.

 

If the toilet stops flushing, works intermittantly, stops again several times, has delayed flushing for a long time, or overflows, there is usually something wrong either with the toilet mechanism itself - or the vacuum system connected to it.

[Cindy]

Toilet flushing issues are as much as function of careless passengers as they are of the ship's condition.

 

Ships that carry more first-timers have far more plumbing issues than ships that carry frequent cruisers.

People just do not read anymore.

Those large signs warning you not to flush strange items down your toilet are simply ignored by many people.

 

So they flush underwear, kleenex, cloth towels, pizza, hand wipes, plush toilet paper from home, waste paper,aluminum foil, plastic, cans, bottles, and many more disgusting objects down the toilet, clogging the vacuum line for dozens of cabins.

Then the passengers blame the cruise line for not repairing it quickly enough.

 

Meanwhile, the engineers are below decks hacksawing the pipes, with raw sewage dripping all over them, trying to find the clogs.

Not very nice.

 

Caribbean cruises always have far more toilet problems than Alaska Cruises.

Alaska cruises always have more toilet problems than European cruises.

European cruises always have more toilet problems than World cruises.

World cruises rarely have toilet problems. The passengers are well travelled, and know what they are doing on a ship.

 

I hear what you are saying Canadianbear but BruceMuzz is right, it could be someone 5 cabins, maybe 10 cabins from yours that starts the problem, and then it backs up your toilet and everyone else's. People do not follow the instructions about using their toilets. They stick everything down them (especially women with female products) or they just use an abundance of toilet paper. I'm always yelling at my DH, take it easy with the toilet paper. This is not like your sewer system at home it is more like a septic system with is much more sensitive.

 

It appears that the Zuiderdam must have an exceptionally high number of passengers who don't understand a ship's delicate plumbing system!:rolleyes: I've been on ships on three different cruise lines, including some that are far more crowded than a HAL ship with many, many more first-time cruisers. None of those ships had the widespread and repeated plumbing problems that seem to keep cropping up on the Zuiderdam. While I agree that some of the Zuiderdam's plumbing issues may be caused by careless passengers, the frequency of problems seems to point to a larger issue.

[startwin]

For those of you insisting that its the passengers at fault - I asked the plumber outright this morning (after he came to work his magic in the mechanical room next-door) and he said something about the vacuum system (??? - I have no idea) and it's nothing to do with someone blocking the toilets. So there:D:D

 

We have now gotten to a point where the system works when the plumber visits about once a day, he doesn't have to come into our cabin, he does something right next to it and we get instant flush. Then after about 12 hours it starts to go to delay flush and then to no flush again. But at least now we get instant response when we call.

 

Went through the first lock this morning - wonderful! It"s a dream come true for me. Thank goodness our cabin has great air conditioning though, you need to come inside frequently to escape the intense heat and humidity. Hint for those doing this trip next year.. get neck coolers. They work like a charm.

[kazu]

For those of you insisting that its the passengers at fault - I asked the plumber outright this morning (after he came to work his magic in the mechanical room next-door) and he said something about the vacuum system (??? - I have no idea) and it's nothing to do with someone blocking the toilets. So there:D:D

 

We have now gotten to a point where the system works when the plumber visits about once a day, he doesn't have to come into our cabin, he does something right next to it and we get instant flush. Then after about 12 hours it starts to go to delay flush and then to no flush again. But at least now we get instant response when we call.

 

Went through the first lock this morning - wonderful! It"s a dream come true for me. Thank goodness our cabin has great air conditioning though, you need to come inside frequently to escape the intense heat and humidity. Hint for those doing this trip next year.. get neck coolers. They work like a charm.

 

We've been watching your ship startwin and envying you:D Brings back memories - enjoy the rest:D Glad they are keeping your flush somewhat under control:rolleyes:

[startwin]

60% little or no airconditioning on a ship near the equator is BIG NEWS. That means people sleeping on the open decks, meals served outside, groups of passengers demonstrating in the lobby and demanding to meet the Captain, CNN and Fox News covering this disaster, the cruise line making statements to the press and making plans to cancel the cruise and send everyone home.

But when I tuned into CNN this morning, they didn't even mention it.

Strange, no?

 

So I emailed a friend in the Technical Department on Zuiderdam to see how things were going.

He was quite surprised to hear about these problems.

After a few back and forth emails, he did admit that 4 cabins had air flow problems after the A/C maintenance in Grand Turk. They flew in their top A/C Engineer in Curacao and three of the cabins were fixed that day. They expected to fix the final one today.

 

Zuiderdam has nearly 900 cabins. 60% of 900 is 540 cabins with "little or no A/C".

540 vs. 4 ?

 

Could there be some correlation between passengers who flush forbidden objects down their toilets and poor math skills?

 

I agree 60% is a high number, and I bet the number grew with each telling... however your friend needs to move around the ship a bit - it is very evident where there is no or little air. 4 cabins, my eye!!! The big fix in Grand Turk was a bit of a bust, from what we hear. It was extremely ugly for those in inside cabins, and horrible enough for the rest of us. But fortunately, ours is one of the cabins with good AC so no complaints here. The problems seem to be all around mid-ship, the temp rises considerably when you walk through those areas.

 

Being onboard - it is evident that information from staff is just as bad as you get from Seattle - it all depends on who you ask.

 

Yesterday was interesting - we had a fire alarm, and when the captain came on the PA he was evidently out of breath and finding it hard to speak! Fortunately, it was contained to the incinerator, and after about half an hour, life got back to normal. But there was a lot of crew running around for awhile!

[startwin]

We've been watching your ship startwin and envying you:D Brings back memories - enjoy the rest:D Glad they are keeping your flush somewhat under control:rolleyes:

 

Kazu, did you see us on the webcam at Gatun this morning? What a fantastic experience!!! Loving the cruise, in spite of flush probs! Would do it all again in a heartbeat - and hopefully will be able to afford it again one day:D Met some great people, hooked up with Sapper and her DH, and all the rest of our roll call are a friendly bunch.

[FrankNJ]

OMG ! All the cold air must have gone to 6087 since I got it fixed in March ! ( lol )

Sorry to hear about the continuing problems on Zuidy.