Semi live Mediterranean Odyssey Sept 16-28

[Doortravel]

Sorry for the lack of updates, I'd like to say the rest of the trip was

without trouble but. 2 mornings several blocks of room woke up

to toilets that didn't work, as that got fix several blocks of rooms

went without room power for 2 days. We were offered a $1000 voucher

what a joke 1/3 of ports missed and barely 1/6 of cruise cost offered.

 

[clskinsfan]

10 hours ago, Doortravel said:

Sorry for the lack of updates, I'd like to say the rest of the trip was

without trouble but. 2 mornings several blocks of room woke up

to toilets that didn't work, as that got fix several blocks of rooms

went without room power for 2 days. We were offered a $1000 voucher

what a joke 1/3 of ports missed and barely 1/6 of cruise cost offered.

 

Man. I came to the Viking part of the site because my wife and I were seriously contemplating trying Viking for our next Med cruise. I have seen your review and another that have been nothing but disappointment and quite frankly a mess. We will pass. 

[Peregrina651]

10 hours ago, Doortravel said:

Sorry for the lack of updates, I'd like to say the rest of the trip was

without trouble but. 2 mornings several blocks of room woke up

to toilets that didn't work, as that got fix several blocks of rooms

went without room power for 2 days. We were offered a $1000 voucher

what a joke 1/3 of ports missed and barely 1/6 of cruise cost offered.

 

 

Direct your dissatisfaction to tellus@vikingcruises.com -- and any other Viking customer service address you can dredge up. The more complaints they get, the more demands for satisfaction, the more likely you are to get a positive response.

 

In the meantime, talk with your travel insurance company to find out if there is any coverage through your travel insurance.

 

 

[Squawkman]

We just came home yesterday from the subsequent Med cruise on the Sea. We went to bed around 10:30 the second night and all of a sudden the toilet wouldn’t flush. I called the service desk. Less than 10 minutes after I called, I received a call back that it will be fixed immediately with no need to enter our cabin. It was. No further problems.

[Mrs Miggins]

According to another site passengers have been given a 40% cash refund.

[TayanaLorna]

On 10/1/2022 at 1:00 PM, Doortravel said:

Sorry for the lack of updates, I'd like to say the rest of the trip was

without trouble but. 2 mornings several blocks of room woke up

to toilets that didn't work, as that got fix several blocks of rooms

went without room power for 2 days. We were offered a $1000 voucher

what a joke 1/3 of ports missed and barely 1/6 of cruise cost offered.

 

The issue of toilets not working is NOT Vikings fault.  It is the fault of passengers who put items other then the provided toilet paper and what comes out of their body into the toilet!  I am not accusing you as this problem affects any block of toilets on the same line not only the cabin at fault.  The supposed "flushable" wipes, Kleenex type tissue, feminine products, panty liners and Depends are NOT FLUSHABLE into any boat system.  On one Viking sail we took, row after row of toilets kept getting blocked and cleared.  Viking began putting the toilet flushing rules into the Viking Daily to warn people.  I wish they would put a big sign on the wall in each stateroom bathroom.

[Squawkman]

2 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

The issue of toilets not working is NOT Vikings fault.  It is the fault of passengers who put items other then the provided toilet paper and what comes out of their body into the toilet!  I am not accusing you as this problem affects any block of toilets on the same line not only the cabin at fault.  The supposed "flushable" wipes, Kleenex type tissue, feminine products, panty liners and Depends are NOT FLUSHABLE into any boat system.  On one Viking sail we took, row after row of toilets kept getting blocked and cleared.  Viking began putting the toilet flushing rules into the Viking Daily to warn people.  I wish they would put a big sign on the wall in each stateroom bathroom.

No, it’s not always the passenger’s fault. In our case, there was just no flushing action when we returned to the cabin. No paper, etc. Totally different flush process.

[Heidi13]

7 hours ago, Squawkman said:

No, it’s not always the passenger’s fault. In our case, there was just no flushing action when we returned to the cabin. No paper, etc. Totally different flush process.

 

The toilets on modern cruise ships operate on a vacuum system. It doesn't involve flushing, per shoreside systems, as the contents are sucked out and up into a small diameter black line in the alleyway deckhead. When the system doesn't work it inormally results from loss of vacuum. If the entire ship is out, then it is due to loss of the vacuum pumps in the engine room. 

 

When a single section is out, it is normally caused by someone flushing non-approved material, which impacts the seals, so the system cannot create the required vacuum necessary to remove the contents up to the black water line in the deckhead. Each cabin has an access door in the alleyway, so the engineers simply locate to offending cabin in the zone and clear the material. This is usually only a few minutes.

 

If the pipes are blocked, it isn't fixed in 10 minutes, and you will see the engineers working in the alleyway deckhead.

[Squawkman]

Heidi - Thanks for the explanation - just one further question: do you have an idea how many cabins are included in a zone on Viking ships? We overheard someone complain about 20 cabins down the hall from us that they had to leave their cabin because of toilet issues.

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, Squawkman said:

Heidi - Thanks for the explanation - just one further question: do you have an idea how many cabins are included in a zone on Viking ships? We overheard someone complain about 20 cabins down the hall from us that they had to leave their cabin because of toilet issues.

 

Sorry, that isn't one of the questions I thought to ask, but recall the Cabin Steward mentioning about a dozen cabins being affected.

 

It's also 20 yrs since I ran a shipyard when we installed one of these systems, so I can't recall the specs.

[purpleally]

On 9/18/2022 at 10:52 AM, SantaFe1 said:

It occurred to me that maybe 200 was a typo, since the usual crew is about 1200.  There are always more crew members that pax.  Only way to know for sure is for someone on that cruise to ask and report back.

Are you sure there is “always more crew members than pax”. That hardly seems plausible. I have sailed on luxury cruise lines and it is 2-1 pax/crew ratio

 

[SantaFe1]

1 hour ago, purpleally said:

Are you sure there is “always more crew members than pax”. That hardly seems plausible. I have sailed on luxury cruise lines and it is 2-1 pax/crew ratio

 

No, I retracted this weeks ago.  So sorry.  

[TayanaLorna]

14 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

The toilets on modern cruise ships operate on a vacuum system. It doesn't involve flushing, per shoreside systems, as the contents are sucked out and up into a small diameter black line in the alleyway deckhead. When the system doesn't work it inormally results from loss of vacuum. If the entire ship is out, then it is due to loss of the vacuum pumps in the engine room. 

 

When a single section is out, it is normally caused by someone flushing non-approved material, which impacts the seals, so the system cannot create the required vacuum necessary to remove the contents up to the black water line in the deckhead. Each cabin has an access door in the alleyway, so the engineers simply locate to offending cabin in the zone and clear the material. This is usually only a few minutes.

 

If the pipes are blocked, it isn't fixed in 10 minutes, and you will see the engineers working in the alleyway deckhead.

I guess we all use the term "flush" the toilet.  Should we use "vacuum" the toilet on a cruise ship instead? 🙂

[lackcreativity]

4 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

I guess we all use the term "flush" the toilet.  Should we use "vacuum" the toilet on a cruise ship instead? 🙂

Hope that's not the same vacuum they use on my cabin carpet!😉