Strange problem with toilet on Star Princess

[denmarks]

On the first day it seemed that the toilet was not working. Pressing the button seemed to do nothing. I notified the room steward and it seems some type of repair was made. The next few days I noticed that after pressing the button I would hear water running behind the wall and the toilet would finally flush after about a minute. I notified my room steward again but the problem would come and go.

 

I thought that the toilet worked on a vacuum and then the bowl would fill with water. I wonder what the running water in the wall between pressing the button and the flush was. I know that water does not enter the toilet until after the flush to refill it.

[tgwabd]

you can blame your fellow selfish cruisers that use personal wipes instead of the recommended ship toilet paper, this always plugs up the system, no matter what the package says, they do not have enough time to break down.

[shredie]

you can blame your fellow selfish cruisers that use personal wipes instead of the recommended ship toilet paper, this always plugs up the system, no matter what the package says, they do not have enough time to break down.

 

The boards seem to be clogged (haha) with posters worried about cooties lately... Why don't they just stay home and plug up their own toilets?

[bdjam]

Same type of problem on Ruby Princess. Sometimes we'd push the button and all we would here is the water running...no flush. Eventually the toilet would flush. The steward claimed that when the toilet isn't used for a while the system needs to "prime" itself for the next flush. I would assume that the water running would be filling a tank maybe to disburse into the toilet after the flush?

 

Maybe we need a vacuum expert.

[victory2020]

It's probably more common than you think - happened to us twice. Just waited & it eventually flushes. We don't throw anything but small amounts their TP down.

[Thrak]

We've had this happen a couple of times. No big deal as long as it does flush. :)

 

It's amazing how self-centered some folks can be as far as deciding they should be able to flush whatever they like. I don't really think there is anything that can be done about such people.

[RDC1]

The toilet system uses vacuum. There is a sensor that makes sure that there is sufficient vacuum for it to flush. If there is not, then it will wait until the sensor indicates that there is sufficient vacuum. That might be when you push the button, it might be one minute later, it might be half an hour later.

[windsor26]

We have found for ALL problems in the bathroom area It is better not to ask the Steward but to phone housekeeping and you get immediate assistance.

[HRPro]

We had the same problem on the Star earlier this year. Had to call housekeeping several different days to get it fixed. We finally learned to wait and it usually resolved itself but sometimes took more than half hour.

[DrivesLikeMario]

It's probably more common than you think - happened to us twice. Just waited & it eventually flushes. We don't throw anything but small amounts their TP down.

 

I agree - we've had it happen so often, we rarely even notice it. Just about every cruise we've been on, it seems there is at least one day where the toilet likes to 'think' about flushing for awhile. It eventually gets around to it but sometimes can take up to an hour. Kinda freaky to all of a sudden hear a toilet flush and no one be near it. :eek:

[san diego sue]

Same problem on the Grand last week. However, after hitting the button, and nothing happened, about 10 minutes later it would flush on its own. Called front desk, said emergency, because it totally stopped working, Plumber did something outside the cabin in the wall, and it was fine after that. We know not to throw anything into toilet except the Princess toilet paper. I think it was the vacuum system.

[Kartgv]

Not a strange problem at all - happens all the time on Princess ships, though we've never had the same problem on other cruise lines (have had other toilet issues, just not the delayed flush). On the Crown for 28 days, it happened probably a dozen times, with delay ranging from about 1 minute to almost half an hour. We quickly learned not to worry about it as long as we heard the water sound in the wall.

 

The one time we did NOT hear the water sound there was a real problem. Flushed at 6:30am, getting ready for an early tour in port, nothing happened - no water sound. A few minutes later, opened the door to see if anything was happening, to see water overflowing from the toilet. We quickly closed the door, called Passenger Services, then started frantically moving shoes, etc. from the floor right outside the bathroom. Someone was there within 5 minutes, but by then water was already flowing out from under the bathroom door. There had been nothing in the toilet that wasn't supposed to be there, but the room steward explained that the problem could have originated in another cabin.

 

It probably sounds worse than in was. They got it shut off quickly and within an hour had cleaned and sanitized the bathroom, used a high-power vacuum on the carpet. Our room steward put a blower on to dry the carpet as soon as we left the room and by noon it was all dry.

Edited November 22, 2014 by Kartgv

[OCruisers]

We had a big problem with this HAL Veendam ... but we could hear the water and it did finally flush 10 minutes or so later.

Seems this is a problem on ships and cruise lines from time to time. :rolleyes:

LuLu

[Mississippian]

you can blame your fellow selfish cruisers that use personal wipes instead of the recommended ship toilet paper, this always plugs up the system, no matter what the package says, they do not have enough time to break down.

Of course the other side of this is to ask why in the world someone would build a modern cruise ship with toilet pipes so narrow that they won't accept regular toilet paper.

 

No person would voluntarily choose to use the toilet paper provided on the ships if they lived to be a million years old. These fools need to be handed a package of Northern Bathroom Tissue and then be told to build a ship around it.

[shredie]

Of course the other side of this is to ask why in the world someone would build a modern cruise ship with toilet pipes so narrow that they won't accept regular toilet paper.

 

No person would voluntarily choose to use the toilet paper provided on the ships if they lived to be a million years old. These fools need to be handed a package of Northern Bathroom Tissue and then be told to build a ship around it.

 

I think the issue has more to do with the holding tanks than the width of the pipes. Cruise ships are not connected to city sewer systems, you know. :)

[Stevesan]

I had a toilet that flushed hot water. Reported it, and Left the cabin for a while.

Upon return a plumber was in the hall way removing a panel.

My toilet had gotten itself connected to the hot water line:p.

[I_r_a]

First Rule for using the Heads on a boat

 

 

"Don't put anything into the head that you haven't eaten first"

 

Second Rule

 

"Use only toilet paper"

 

 

Ira

[bhopal21]

First Rule for using the Heads on a boat

 

 

"Don't put anything into the head that you haven't eaten first"

 

 

Ira

 

I had a small plaque over the head on my boat for years that said the same thing.;)

 

Mike:)