MSC Seaside nasty odor

[DCGuy64]

I have only read two reports of no smell at all. Eroller (who is a very respected member of this forum) and one other (forget the name) Can you please point me “quite a few”? Not trying to be difficult, just trying to understand where you are coming from.

 

 

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OK, I'm at work and need to be working, but I did spend a few minutes looking over reviews from the past week or so. I wrote down the names of 7 different people who did reviews/made comments about the Seaside and reported little or no smell: agcoolcruiser, cruzelover, geonurse (said the smell was only in ports), xmarksx, Mpls35, cruisergal1208 and cruiser608 (said there was a smell but it was no big deal). In addition to that, I remember Jimzim's excellent review and he also said he didn't smell it. I think it's much ado about nothing.

[BestNC Cruiser]

I'll go ahead and post my experience here as I'm on Seaside now, there can be some really bad sewer stench at times. It can hit you in the face while walking deck 19 by the water park and can just linger around annoyingly at the main pools aft of the stacks. Sometimes the wind will blow it forward over the YC deck. You can walk on various cabin decks or inside public decks and suddenly get overpowered, it's pretty random which a/c vent will be spewing the stench. It's not constant nor everywhere, but I can't believe people say they were never hit by it. Noseblindness? It doesn't seem to be getting into the cabins unless it is being pumped into your hallway and when you open the door it gets in. It's not in the YC halls, but I have lightly smelled it in the public restroom.

 

On a possible related topic, a couple times now the aftish public restrooms all around MDR's clogged and overflowed during the dinnertime rush. People continued to use them.

 

 

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Well that stinks. It must be a difficult problem for them to get under control. I'm sure they are trying?

[BermudaBound2014]

DCGUY64 thank you for at least attempting to provide evidence of your claim that the smell on the Seaside is gone. I do appreciate you providing the names. However; you claimed "7 different people who did reviews/made comments about the Seaside and reported little or no smell: agcoolcruiser, cruzelover, geonurse (said the smell was only in ports), xmarksx, Mpls35,cruisergal1208 and cruiser608 (said there was a smell but it was no big deal). In addition to that, I remember Jimzim's...".

 

 

Please don't take offence, but due to a 30 year background in fact finding, I was compelled to researched all 7 of the people you have listed and unfortunately can not find any substantial evidence to support your claim. Below is what I've found:

 

1) Cruiser608: Has no postings on the forum when I did a search, and I went back until December looking for a review posted in the review section of cruise critic and there is not one posted by cruiser608. Please help identify.

2) cruisergal1208 has no forum postings in January and I went back until December in the reviews and could not find any posted by this screen name. Please help identify.

3) xmarksz: I searched all through his review page and the only reference I could find to smell was dealing with the casino smoke smell. I can not find where he supported your claim that there is little/no sewage smell.

4) Mpls35: I can not fine any reference to this person anywhere on cruise critic other than your name above. Of course, I could very well be incorrect, but according to cruise critic, that user does not exist.

 

 

 

DID NOT SMELL ANYTHING: I can only fine ONE report that did not smell at all.

1)

I was just on the ship for a week. Disembarked on Saturday. In the entire 7-days, I did not encounter one foul smelling odor and believe me I was all over the ship. Mind you I wasn't down every cabin corridor or in every cabin, but every public space indoors and out, absolutely. Not saying people haven't smelled odors, but from my experience it's non-existent. Perhaps they resolved whatever the problem was?

 

VERY MINOR Smell and/or smell that did not effect cruiser: I can find three recent reports of minor smell.

1) Spanial Lover (becuase I remember reading this)

2)

I was on the ship last week as well (same as eroller) and concur with everything he stated. we too were all over the ship in virtually every public space. The only time we personally smelled anything out of the ordinary was on deck four forward while waiting to disembark in Nassau. It was not overwhelming, but noticeable. By the time we returned later in the afternoon it was gone.

3)

- smell - I was searching for smell... a few times, I was not sure if I smelled anything... I think if you really look for it, you will find it.... with all this wind, I would not be surprised if sometimes there will be smell traveling... it does happen

 

 

11 PEOPLE REPORTING RECENT SEWER SMELL in just the last few weeks (some currently on ship)

1) You stated the geonurse said the smell was only in porst, yet this is a posting indicating otherwise:

We were deck 10 forward on Seaside last week. 2 nights we were awakened by bad fumes that smelled like turpentine or paint thinner coming thru our cabin ventilation . I did call guest services at 3 am and once at 2 am when it became too strong to ignore and we cracked our balcony door. The smell did dissipate . Again on our last port day in Nassau this smell was very bad in the hallways of deck 10. We did go to guest services and maintenance was called about it. That night we did not smell it in our room again. As for sewage smell, it wafted in and out but mainly on port days when the ship was still did we notice it the most- and even then it was not enough noticeable or last long enough to really bother .

 

2)

Yeah, it's not exhaust fume smell...it's a fecal/sewer smell and it's strong. Mostly I smelled it on Deck 5 in the Atrium area. It's the first thing that hits you when you embark. It was there all week and just as strong. I know others reported it on other cabin floors as well. My cabin was on Deck 5 so I had to walk in that area alot.

 

3)

I was also on the 1/13 cruise staying in a midship room on the 11th deck. We had to be moved to another room because we could not sleep as a result of the smell. It was definitely sewer gas and was awful. This was just one of the many problems too numerous to mention that we had on the ship and would not sail on MSC again. If this is the "European style" of cruising I want no part of it!!!!

 

4)

We are currently onboard and know the odor they speak of. We are on deck 14 and the hallway near midship always seems to have this smell. It gets better as we go forward to our cabin up front.

 

5)

I'll go ahead and post my experience here as I'm on Seaside now' date=' there can be some really bad sewer stench at times. It can hit you in the face while walking deck 19 by the water park and can just linger around annoyingly at the main pools aft of the stacks. Sometimes the wind will blow it forward over the YC deck. You can walk on various cabin decks or inside public decks and suddenly get overpowered, it's pretty random which a/c vent will be spewing the stench. ........On a possible related topic, a couple times now the aftish public restrooms all around MDR's clogged and overflowed during the dinnertime rush. People continued to use them.

 

6)

Not sure what deck your cabin was on. For us the smell was bad. I'm a pretty easy going cruiser and went on this trip with low expectations. We had (5) cabins on deck 10, 11, 12 and 14. All (5) cabins had this sewer smell in the hallway and in our cabins. It was difficult to deal with the smell. My 75 year old mom and her friend even complained.......Additionally if you sit near the hot tub on deck 18 it smells there as well. This is the hot tub right next to end of the blue slides.

 

From the ten most recent reviews:

7) Relaxatsea wrote: "As others have mentioned, there was a distinct sewer smell in various hallways around the ship. We have run into this before on many cruises, but this seemed more pervasive than usual. I suspect it had to do with the plumbing problems."

8) From emspjcz: "This was our first (an last) cruise with MSC. I will begin by saying that as we boarded the ship on embarkation day and entered the main atrium, the smell of sewage permeated the ship. It was downhill from there. I have been on 35 cruises on every cruise line and this was the WORST cruise line I have ever sailed on."

9) From Courius211: "Rooms were nice and clean, they had problems with the sewage systems and overbooked when rooms were flooded and could not find new quarters for them."

10) From Funcruiser1950: "We did have to put up with new ship problems, plumbing issues, under staffed guest services who gjve contradictory answers, some poorly trained crew members..."

11) From PatriciaShellhase: "It has many problems. The worse being the sewer gas smell in the center of the ship. Unfortunately our cabin was in the center. It was the worse cruise of our life and we cruise often."

 

 

 

 

Please understand, I'm not trying to be disrespectful in the slightest. I get it, you have your belief about seaside, but the facts I'm finding simply don't back your claim that the smell is gone. I'm currently shopping for a cruise next month. Seaside is the cheapest price by a LONG shot, and if I could back up your claim that the sewer smell is 'gone', I would likely book her as I've loved her design for years. Unfortunately, the smell would bother me, and with the sheer number of people still reporting smells I just do not buy that the sewer smell has been fixed.

[DCGuy64]

DCGUY64 thank you for at least attempting to provide evidence of your claim that the smell on the Seaside is gone. I do appreciate you providing the names. However; you claimed "7 different people who did reviews/made comments about the Seaside and reported little or no smell: agcoolcruiser, cruzelover, geonurse (said the smell was only in ports), xmarksx, Mpls35,cruisergal1208 and cruiser608 (said there was a smell but it was no big deal). In addition to that, I remember Jimzim's...".

 

 

Please don't take offence, but due to a 30 year background in fact finding, I was compelled to researched all 7 of the people you have listed and unfortunately can not find any substantial evidence to support your claim. Below is what I've found:

 

1) Cruiser608: Has no postings on the forum when I did a search, and I went back until December looking for a review posted in the review section of cruise critic and there is not one posted by cruiser608. Please help identify.

2) cruisergal1208 has no forum postings in January and I went back until December in the reviews and could not find any posted by this screen name. Please help identify.

3) xmarksz: I searched all through his review page and the only reference I could find to smell was dealing with the casino smoke smell. I can not find where he supported your claim that there is little/no sewage smell.

4) Mpls35: I can not fine any reference to this person anywhere on cruise critic other than your name above. Of course, I could very well be incorrect, but according to cruise critic, that user does not exist.

 

 

 

DID NOT SMELL ANYTHING: I can only fine ONE report that did not smell at all.

1)

 

VERY MINOR Smell and/or smell that did not effect cruiser: I can find three recent reports of minor smell.

1) Spanial Lover (becuase I remember reading this)

2)

3)

 

 

11 PEOPLE REPORTING RECENT SEWER SMELL in just the last few weeks (some currently on ship)

1) You stated the geonurse said the smell was only in porst, yet this is a posting indicating otherwise:

 

 

2)

 

3)

 

4)

 

5)

 

6)

 

From the ten most recent reviews:

7) Relaxatsea wrote: "As others have mentioned, there was a distinct sewer smell in various hallways around the ship. We have run into this before on many cruises, but this seemed more pervasive than usual. I suspect it had to do with the plumbing problems."

8) From emspjcz: "This was our first (an last) cruise with MSC. I will begin by saying that as we boarded the ship on embarkation day and entered the main atrium, the smell of sewage permeated the ship. It was downhill from there. I have been on 35 cruises on every cruise line and this was the WORST cruise line I have ever sailed on."

9) From Courius211: "Rooms were nice and clean, they had problems with the sewage systems and overbooked when rooms were flooded and could not find new quarters for them."

10) From Funcruiser1950: "We did have to put up with new ship problems, plumbing issues, under staffed guest services who gjve contradictory answers, some poorly trained crew members..."

11) From PatriciaShellhase: "It has many problems. The worse being the sewer gas smell in the center of the ship. Unfortunately our cabin was in the center. It was the worse cruise of our life and we cruise often."

 

 

 

 

Please understand, I'm not trying to be disrespectful in the slightest. I get it, you have your belief about seaside, but the facts I'm finding simply don't back your claim that the smell is gone. I'm currently shopping for a cruise next month. Seaside is the cheapest price by a LONG shot, and if I could back up your claim that the sewer smell is 'gone', I would likely book her as I've loved her design for years. Unfortunately, the smell would bother me, and with the sheer number of people still reporting smells I just do not buy that the sewer smell has been fixed.

 

:o I am a very garrulous man, but I am utterly speechless. I'm done....

[Cruisergal1208]

DCGUY64 thank you for at least attempting to provide evidence of your claim that the smell on the Seaside is gone. I do appreciate you providing the names. However; you claimed "7 different people who did reviews/made comments about the Seaside and reported little or no smell: agcoolcruiser, cruzelover, geonurse (said the smell was only in ports), xmarksx, Mpls35,cruisergal1208 and cruiser608 (said there was a smell but it was no big deal). In addition to that, I remember Jimzim's...".

 

 

Please don't take offence, but due to a 30 year background in fact finding, I was compelled to researched all 7 of the people you have listed and unfortunately can not find any substantial evidence to support your claim. Below is what I've found:

 

1) Cruiser608: Has no postings on the forum when I did a search, and I went back until December looking for a review posted in the review section of cruise critic and there is not one posted by cruiser608. Please help identify.

2) cruisergal1208 has no forum postings in January and I went back until December in the reviews and could not find any posted by this screen name. Please help identify.

3) xmarksz: I searched all through his review page and the only reference I could find to smell was dealing with the casino smoke smell. I can not find where he supported your claim that there is little/no sewage smell.

4) Mpls35: I can not fine any reference to this person anywhere on cruise critic other than your name above. Of course, I could very well be incorrect, but according to cruise critic, that user does not exist.

 

 

 

DID NOT SMELL ANYTHING: I can only fine ONE report that did not smell at all.

1)

 

VERY MINOR Smell and/or smell that did not effect cruiser: I can find three recent reports of minor smell.

1) Spanial Lover (becuase I remember reading this)

2)

3)

 

 

11 PEOPLE REPORTING RECENT SEWER SMELL in just the last few weeks (some currently on ship)

1) You stated the geonurse said the smell was only in porst, yet this is a posting indicating otherwise:

 

 

2)

 

3)

 

4)

 

5)

 

6)

 

From the ten most recent reviews:

7) Relaxatsea wrote: "As others have mentioned, there was a distinct sewer smell in various hallways around the ship. We have run into this before on many cruises, but this seemed more pervasive than usual. I suspect it had to do with the plumbing problems."

8) From emspjcz: "This was our first (an last) cruise with MSC. I will begin by saying that as we boarded the ship on embarkation day and entered the main atrium, the smell of sewage permeated the ship. It was downhill from there. I have been on 35 cruises on every cruise line and this was the WORST cruise line I have ever sailed on."

9) From Courius211: "Rooms were nice and clean, they had problems with the sewage systems and overbooked when rooms were flooded and could not find new quarters for them."

10) From Funcruiser1950: "We did have to put up with new ship problems, plumbing issues, under staffed guest services who gjve contradictory answers, some poorly trained crew members..."

11) From PatriciaShellhase: "It has many problems. The worse being the sewer gas smell in the center of the ship. Unfortunately our cabin was in the center. It was the worse cruise of our life and we cruise often."

 

 

 

 

Please understand, I'm not trying to be disrespectful in the slightest. I get it, you have your belief about seaside, but the facts I'm finding simply don't back your claim that the smell is gone. I'm currently shopping for a cruise next month. Seaside is the cheapest price by a LONG shot, and if I could back up your claim that the sewer smell is 'gone', I would likely book her as I've loved her design for years. Unfortunately, the smell would bother me, and with the sheer number of people still reporting smells I just do not buy that the sewer smell has been fixed.

 

I am Cruisergal1208 and I have plenty of postings on cc!! I will say it here that We didn’t notice bad odors. I wondered all over the ship on both sea days and port days. I was on Seaside for two weeks in January.

[Boschmann]

Well that stinks. It must be a difficult problem for them to get under control. I'm sure they are trying?

Several crew have said they are aware of the problem and working on it so I haven't made any complaint. I'm not reccomending people cancel over this issue, just advising to be aware it exists. So far I can always move along and get away from it. We're still able to enjoy the ship.

[sidari]

There was no smells that we noticed over the Xmas period and our review makes no mention of it, we walked along deck 14 on a number of times from our Aft suite forward but never noticed any smells.

 

Cheng75 ... Who has plenty of ship experience has explained at length what the likely reason is for it happening.

[Dr. Cocktail]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......

 

So I guess the Flaming Pu-Pu platter has a different meaning on Seaside ....

 

Sorry ... couldn't resist!

[BermudaBound2014]

I am Cruisergal1208 and I have plenty of postings on cc!! I will say it here that We didn’t notice bad odors. I wondered all over the ship on both sea days and port days. I was on Seaside for two weeks in January.

 

I believe you honest! Unfortunately cruise critic doesn't. I'll do a snip it when I get home. But a search of your name in this forum leads to posts in November and then this posting. Nothing in between.

[BermudaBound2014]

There was no smells that we noticed over the Xmas period and our review makes no mention of it, we walked along deck 14 on a number of times from our Aft suite forward but never noticed any smells.

 

Cheng75 ... Who has plenty of ship experience has explained at length what the likely reason is for it happening.

 

I only researched only January since DC1964 is claiming that the smells are gone. And I believe I do understand why it's happening. What I respectfully disagree with is that it's fixed right now.

[Danny61231]

Holy crap, you people have WAY to much time on your hands!

[DCGuy64]

I never smelled it, but someone else in our group did. She smelled it in the hallways and I smelled nothing. I did encounter a few (3) public toilets that were clogged and in need of servicing. No smell in our bathroom altho the shower had a certain mustiness that I think is due to the fact that the glass door seals shut.

 

 

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I'm surprised our intrepid fact checker couldn't find user Mpls35, because there's the post, right there. Also, there IS a post from xmarksx, too. I have to leave work but if I find the time to paste it, I'll do so.

[Boschmann]

I'm surprised our intrepid fact checker couldn't find user Mpls35, because there's the post, right there. Also, there IS a post from xmarksx, too. I have to leave work but if I find the time to paste it, I'll do so.

Why bother. It's great that you and many others managed not to encounter the sewer smell. I believe it is possible. However that will never negate the fact that many people, including myself, have on occasion encountered the offensive odors. It really doesn't matter how many people are on either side. Unfortunately there are now enough credible reports to confirm there is a problem.

[DCGuy64]

I haven’t been on the ship yet. I was just trying to point out that the problem isn’t universal. If people want to/don’t want to sail with them, it’s neither here nor there for me. I just think we need to hear from everyone to make an informed decision.

 

 

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[eroller]

All I can say is if you’re truly that concerned about a possible smell, then book another ship. If it’s that serious of a problem for you then book something else. Of course no guarantee that any ship won’t have a smell. They are floating sewage plants after all with a thousand or so toilets onboard. I’ve certainly smelled sewage odors in the 100+ cruises I’ve taken and on the best of ships, but none that ruined my vacation and no smell at all on SEASIDE.

Edited February 1, 2018 by eroller

[Boschmann]

All I can say is if you’re truly that concerned about a possible smell, then book another ship. If it’s that serious of a problem for you then book something else. Of course no guarantee that any ship won’t have a smell. They are floating sewage plants after all with a thousand or so toilets onboard. I’ve certainly smelled sewage odors in the 100+ cruises I’ve taken and on the best of ships, but none that ruined my vacation and none at all on SEASIDE.

I agree, and it hasn't ruined this cruise.

[TravelinGert]

I'm just going to put this out there. For many years I was the person who cleared up all of the gross messes. For a time I worked in a nursery and was completely unfazed by changing diapers. I was not bothered by the smell. I figured I had just completely burned out the ability to notice back when I worked in the nursery.

 

Eventually went to the doctor for a very minor health complaint. Or so I thought at the time as my symptom was quite mild just annoying. After I got put on medication suddenly found I could not handle the bad smell clean ups. I babysat my grandchild and had to use the old clothespin trick to change a diaper. I mentioned this to the nurse at my doctor's office who laughed. Apparently there is a lot of inflammation associated with my health issue which the medication would have relieved. I had noticed a lot of other signs of this but had not thought of it affecting my sinuses in that way.

 

Because of this I think people who say they didn't smell it probably didn't. Does not mean it wasn't there. Just means it was below their sensitivity threshold. This doesn't mean I think they're ill or anything like that because they don't smell it. My example did teach me something about sensitivity levels though. I realized everyone is different in terms of sensitivity for whatever reason because of what happened to me. My husband doesn't have my health problem and just cleared his physical with flying colors. I often smell odors and he smells nothing.

[kdogfister]

I believe you honest! Unfortunately cruise critic doesn't. I'll do a snip it when I get home. But a search of your name in this forum leads to posts in November and then this posting. Nothing in between.

 

And of course we believe you that you actually tried to research this, but apparently not very hard. Try clicking on "Crusiergal" or any other poster and selecting find all posts. At least 50 posts in the last 32 days. I'm not fact checking your fact checking, but I'd surmise you have an error in your assumptions about what it is you are searching.

[eroller]

Because of this I think people who say they didn't smell it probably didn't. Does not mean it wasn't there. Just means it was below their sensitivity threshold.

 

 

This sounds like a good explanation that applies to you, but not to me. I have a good sense of smell and my husband an even better one. I have not had prolonged exposure to sewage smells or any other that would fog or desensitize my smelling abilities. Plus we were traveling with two others. None of us smelled anything foul on SEASIDE. We did smell cleaning products and even that new car smell on occasion, but nothing foul. Based on my experience and knowing my own sense of smell, I can say without a doubt the foul odors did not exist, at least not in the places and times I was in the various areas of the ship.

[BermudaBound2014]

I haven’t been on the ship yet. I was just trying to point out that the problem isn’t universal. If people want to/don’t want to sail with them, it’s neither here nor there for me. I just think we need to hear from everyone to make an informed decision.

 

I would 100% agree that the problem is not universal. I've never made that claim. I also agree that we need to hear from everyone, the more the better. However; you have made the claim that the smell is gone and/or entirely fixed which is vastly different than not "universal". In fact, it borders irresponsible. If I misunderstood the posts below, I sincerely apologize.

 

There's been nearly a panic on the boards about this issue, I wish they could have a crawl (preferably with flashing lights) at the top of the website saying "The Smell is Gone." Some posts have (I say this charitably, of course) been a little overblown. (pun intended!) :')

 

 

I have read quite a few posts similar to the one above from eroller to the effect that there is NO odor at all. While you’re concerned that those with the impression it’s gone might be misled, I am equally concerned about people canceling their cruises over this (as I’ve already seen reported here several times this week) when it’s possible there is NO offensive smell to be detected, or it’s minimal, only happens in certain less frequented areas, etc.

 

Regarding the smell, that has been taken care of, according to reviews of people just off (or currently on) the ship, so that shouldn’t worry you.

 

I read your posts to convey the message that there is no longer a sewage problem and that current reviews indicate the smell is gone. This was WONDERFUL news to me, as I'd really like to choose seaside for my cruise next month due to her current value.

 

Unfortunately, I can not find substantial evidence to support your claim that the smell "has been taken of according to reviews of people just off" The fact is that according to the majority of reviews of people just off, a significant problem still exists.

 

So, it is with regret that I will not be choosing the Seaside for my March cruise. I firmly believe that a sewage smell is alive and well. I also believe not all people smell it, but acknowledge hat the majority of reviewers do. It

 

The good news is that I can follow (and fact check :)) the reviews for another 3 months as I plan to give Seaside the chance to remedy the sewage issue for my June cruise. If Seaside can get their crap together, I may just find myself in the highly valued YC once again.

[BermudaBound2014]

Here is a screenshot of the results whom I did not locate at first attempt. I assure you, nothing was omitted on purpose and welcome anyone to improve on my initial attempt. I think we all can agree that the search feature on cc is a debacle at best.

 

 

 

 

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[DCGuy64]

 

What this thread has become...

 

 

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[BestNC Cruiser]

 

What this thread has become...

 

 

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A smelly dead horse

 

 

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[suzyed]

 

What this thread has become...

 

 

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No kidding!

[ssmea03]

My personal feeling is that the crew have not located all the deck drains that need traps filled, and/or they have not developed the knowledge of how often they need to be refilled due to drying out.

I really like the answer regarding grey water traps, floor drains etc. The question I have is surely there would be a trap primer system installed? I'm an electrician not a plumber, but we regularly supply power to run trap primer systems for floor drains etc, in food prep areas of grocery stores, basically anywhere there's a floor drain has a trap primer feed to it.