The Dream and the Sewage Smell

[Josher61]

My worst encounter with this was on The Fantasy but I have experienced it on several cruises..ironically all CCL.

It is not pleasant. My iced tea on the Fantasy even smelled like sewage....obviously went to bottled sparkling water after one whiff of that.

 

I'd be going to straight alcohol after that :D

[halos]

I'd be going to straight alcohol after that :D

LOL...by dinner time, I'm pretty alcohol-ed out and drink iced tea or San Pelligrino :D

[Shimmy86]

Sounds more like an isolated incident specific to that area. In the past, there have been complaints of a "passing" smell here and there, but not as specific as you describe.

 

I agree. I was on the Dream in 2011 & I experienced this "passing" smell, mainly on Deck 2

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[grammymarcia]

Sounds more like an isolated incident specific to that area. In the past, there have been complaints of a "passing" smell here and there, but not as specific as you describe.

 

Last year we were on the Dream, deck 2 forward. The smell was pretty bad in the hallway, all the time. You would also get some "whiffs" in other locations. Next 2 cruises are the Breeze out of Miami next month and the Miracle to Hawaii in October. Looking forward to the Liberty moving to PC, only an hours drive for us.

[spunkyhungry]

I was on the Dream in April. I never smelled a sewage smell. We were staying on one of the top decks (I forget what it was called) in a spa room, toward the bow.

[larkz]

After I booked a Dream cruise, about a year after it was launched, I began reading a flurry of comments about a smell. I nearly cancelled that booking after what I had read.

 

However, my skepticism prevailed. When I finally cruised that ship, I didn't notice any odors at all. While wind direction and speed and ship design may contribute to how well its ventilation works, I suspect that Dream's odor issues are not much different than any other ship.

[MoneyLifeandMore]

We were on the Ecstasy last year and got a strong sewage smell in our room. The cabin steward said it was because we kept our bathroom door shut and we should always leave it open. After that, we never had the smell come back.

[grammymarcia]

After I booked a Dream cruise, about a year after it was launched, I began reading a flurry of comments about a smell. I nearly cancelled that booking after what I had read.

 

However, my skepticism prevailed. When I finally cruised that ship, I didn't notice any odors at all. While wind direction and speed and ship design may contribute to how well its ventilation works, I suspect that Dream's odor issues are not much different than any other ship.

 

That cruise having been my 28th on Carnival, I can tell you that it was my first time encountering the smell, not just whiffs of the smell. I didn't post anything about it because of what the skeptics would say, but it doesn't mean a lot of people haven't noticed that there seems to be a problem with this particular ship. I'm very happy you didn't have the same experience. Certainly didn't ruin our cruise by any means, just a ship I would probably would not go on again.

[caro1998]

The only time I remember sewage smell was on The Destiny last summer. It was right near my muster station and it was truly awful. I had to stand there for almost a half hour during muster, in the heat, with all those people and that SMELL. I thought I was going go to be sick. I remember it was close to the Internet lounge area because I came by the next day and the smell was still there. Hope they fixed that on "The Sunshine!!" :0

 

Caro

[mitsguy2001]

I was on the Dream last week, but never smelled any sewage.

[MrPete]

That smell has been there right from the beginning:

 

[goldenk]

We've cruised the Dream twice and never noticed any odor. It was strong on the Triumph a few years ago in certain places.

 

Been on The Dream twice in as many years. Stayed on Vista Deck also, room 9397 a few weeks ago. Pretty much mid-ship, but had to walk daily to the AFT elevators for Lido buffets & casinos and never smelled it either.

 

Nice one Mr. Pete :p

[crusinfamof4]

We sailed 08/2011-never noticed any smell.

[Rockstarmami]

No problems with the Breeze as for sewage smells.

The Dream has more of a sewage smell than any in carnivals fleet.

Don't know why they cant seem to get that right on the Dream.

 

I was on the Breeze in March, Deck 2 mid had that nasty sewage smell everyday, I didn't smell it anywhere else though.

[bbmom2boys]

Sailed the Dream 3 times from Cove Balconies to Lido...never smelled any smells worse than any other ship! It is a floating city with 5000 people on board there are going to be some smells!

[near the beach]

Never noticed any bad odors when we sailed on the Dream.

[cruise_girl2002]

We just got off the Dream this morning and for the most part we had a wonderful time. The staff was WONDERFUL, the food was ok and the ship was maintained very well. BUT, trust me when I tell you, the sewage smell is REAL!! We were on the Vista deck and you could smell sewage at the aft of the ship. It was worst in our room. I am not sure how the ship is designed, but on Thursday, our bathroom floor was full of water and bleach. Once we notified the steward, he qucikly came, mopped the floor and apologized. DH and I could not figure what was wrong, but as the day went on, we figured that the room steward must have used it to try to combat the smell. By this morning, the stench was so bad my nostrils were burning (we had air freshner and a Renuzit). Does anyone know the cause of the stench?

 

I have sailed the dream twice...never smelled anything except for 1 port day in the aft, but that was it. I did smell the sewage smell in the hall on our royal Caribbean cruise.

[pauleydm]

Never had an issue on any Carnival ship...I will count myself lucky:)

[mlainfl]

We got off the Dream yesterday, too. On Sunday morning there was a strong sewer smell on 11 forward and our toilet didn't work. On Thursday we had no water while a broken pipe was repaired. The repair took almost 8 hours.... Not our best trip.

[felicemmp]

We were on the July 20th sailing of the Breeze, deck 2 aft. The stateroom was tolerable but the hallway always had a strong sewage smell. It was disgusting. Even the aft pool area was hard to take at times because of the stench. We complained to guest services twice and although a supervisor was supposed to get back to us, no one ever did. We spoke to fellow cruisers who said they were unable to use their balcony because of the smell and were promised compensation. Other areas of the ship were fine.

Edited August 5, 2013 by felicemmp
spelling

[chengkp75]

For those whose cabins smell bad sometimes, it can be the floor drain in the bathroom (not the shower drain, but the gutter near the door, or a drain in the middle of the floor outside the shower). The A/C sometimes dries out the water from the trap here, and a preventative glass of water poured down here daily really helps.

 

From a technical outlook, not having sailed on the Dream or Carnival ships, can anyone tell me whether the smell is more prevalent at night or day, at sea or in port? Does anyone know if Carnival ships have Advanced Waste Water Treatment plants (probably), and do they incinerate the sewage sludge generated by the AWWT plant? Anyone taken the behind the fun, and found out anything about this? I worked on a ship that tried to incinerate the sewage sludge, but we had continuous complaints about the smell that the A/C drew back into the ship, and we stopped doing it. This is only done at night at sea, so that's the reason for my questions about when the smell is present.

[MrPete]

For those whose cabins smell bad sometimes, it can be the floor drain in the bathroom (not the shower drain, but the gutter near the door, or a drain in the middle of the floor outside the shower). The A/C sometimes dries out the water from the trap here, and a preventative glass of water poured down here daily really helps.

 

From a technical outlook, not having sailed on the Dream or Carnival ships, can anyone tell me whether the smell is more prevalent at night or day, at sea or in port? Does anyone know if Carnival ships have Advanced Waste Water Treatment plants (probably), and do they incinerate the sewage sludge generated by the AWWT plant? Anyone taken the behind the fun, and found out anything about this? I worked on a ship that tried to incinerate the sewage sludge, but we had continuous complaints about the smell that the A/C drew back into the ship, and we stopped doing it. This is only done at night at sea, so that's the reason for my questions about when the smell is present.

 

Can't answer any of your questions, but I do remember reading this. I don't remember the source or if it's even credible.

 

"Someone" acknowledged that the smell seems to be present only when the wind/breeze hits the ship at a certain angle, and whatever it was that was causing this, was fixed on the other two ships.

[PAPERBKWRITER]

Over the years we have experienced "sewerage smell" on several ships (all brands) Once on Miracle for several days. Sometimes it's probably a malfunction of the ship but I suspect a lot of times its because someone ignored the signs and flushed something they shouldn't have. That's one thing that could ruin your cruise.

[bamboozel]

We were on the Dream for a week( Vista aft ) and didn't smell it either. I think sometimes it's there and other times not.

[chengkp75]

Over the years we have experienced "sewerage smell" on several ships (all brands) Once on Miracle for several days. Sometimes it's probably a malfunction of the ship but I suspect a lot of times its because someone ignored the signs and flushed something they shouldn't have. That's one thing that could ruin your cruise.

 

Given that the toilet systems are vacuum, there aren't any vent stacks like on shore, so while I hate people who flush the wrong things down the toilets, that would generally not cause an odor, outside the bathrooms where your "business" was left due to loss of vacuum. Most of the cleanouts we use are below guest areas in crew areas, so even while we are roto-rooting there should not be a smell. As with the bath drains I mentioned, sometimes the gray water drains (sinks and showers) tend to smell a little.