Issue on Deck 7 on Wonder of the Seas Staterooms

[livinginyellow]

We just got off of Wonder this past Friday and had such a disappointing issue with room 7193. We had an awful sewage smell on Day 2, which we mentioned to guest services. They came in and said they fixed it while we were out on excursion, which I believe they did, but there was a lot of air freshener over the smell. Once the air freshener was gone after dinnertime, the smell was back. We mentioned it again the next day, stayed out of our room while they fixed it, and then came back again to air freshener over a smell. We had my family come and smell the room too, and they not only noticed it in our room, but also up and down the hall. We said something again, and they supposedly came again that night. The next morning, the smell was back and we had to be moved down the hall to another room. I walked past our old room once or twice and noticed people holding their nose and waving their hands in front of their face - it was definitely not just us.

My husband is convinced it was a plumbing issue, but I think it had something to do with the dishwashing room that was just down the hall. Either way, it was DIGUSTING and noticeably gone once we moved to the other room. 

 

Just a warning for anyone who has a booking on that side of the ship/in that hall.

[chengkp75]

The most common cause of "sewer" smells in a cabin are dried out drain traps.  Drains that see a lot of water frequently, like the sinks and showers, do not have this problem.  However, there is another drain in your cabin bathroom, that is for the bathroom floor outside the shower.  This drain is either a "gutter" type drain across the doorway, or a round drain typically tucked under the toilet where no one sees it.  Since this drain only sees water when the shower overflows, the dry AC air will dry out the water in the drain trap and allow septic gases back into your cabin.  A very useful cruise practice is to find this drain in your bathroom, and pour a glass of water down it every day or every other day.  Typically, the smell disappears within seconds of the water filling the trap.

 

With Wonder being a new ship, there are likely floor drains in places like the "sanitary lockers" (inside those panels in the hallways between cabins) where the plumbing is, or in places like the pantry you mention (where there is a glass washer and ice machine, but also a deck drain), and also places like "electrical lockers" or "mechanical rooms" where the crew are not familiar with all the drain locations, and can miss one that stinks up an area.  Eventually, the plumbers get to know the problem traps, and deal with them proactively.

[rudeney]

Exactly what @chengkp75said!  You can have this problem in your house if you have infrequently used spare bathrooms.  We have a bathtub in a spare bathroom that almost never gets uses, so I have to remember to run water in it a few times a month.  I've encountered this on several cruise ships before and it seems to always take the maintenance crew a few days to figure it out.  

[Cruzin in NY]

Update, September 2023.  We just got off the Wonder and there is undoubtable a plumbing issue with that ship.  On day one our shower drain stopped working and flooded the floor of the bathroom.  The steward reported it and it was fixed that night.  By the end of the week it was again slowing down.  There was sewer gas smells several locations around the ship.  None were in our room (8134).  On the Promenade, Outside on deck 16, by the main theater and multiple other locations.  Not all the time but definitely present.  We have never smelled sewer gas on any ship before.

 

And lastly on 3 occasions i observed every urinal full of urine and over flowing.  This was in 3 different bathrooms on 3 different days.  Two of the times I reported it to the nearest person but they were very slow to respond.  On the 3rd occasion a staff member was standing there but taking no action to close the bathroom.   

 

In talking with other cruisers throughout the week these issues were mentioned by many of them.  The plugged drains, the odors and the men's rooms.  There has to be issues with the ships plumbing to have these problems