Freedom - cabin door did not lock properly

[micruiser2002]

This is just a heads up to people to check your cabin door.  The 1st day I noticed my deadbolt was not working so I called maintenance and they fixed it.  For the next couple of days it just seemed like my door wasn't locked even though I would check it.  Later in the week the deadbolt again would not lock, this was late at night and I decided to wait until the next day to report it.  The next day in the afternoon as I was leaving my cabin I again sensed the door was not locking, this time I turned the handled 3 times and sure enough the door opened right up.  I was able to shut the door and repeat this over and over for my cabin steward.  Needless to say I was not happy.  I reported it to customer service and told them they really need to make sure these doors are checked regularly.  I would just suggest you try to open the door a couple of times to make sure it is really locked. 

[cruiselvr04]

A quick call to the desk and they will send someone up to change out the batteries.   This has happened to us.

 

No biggie but it's a good idea to check to make sure the door locks behind you.

[voyager70]

Never knew cabin doors had batteries.  I don't make it a practice to make sure door is properly locked, but I will now.  Thanks for the heads up.

 

[ib_gman]

Funny, we had that issue in Cabin 8668 on the 10/20 sailing of Freedom. Cabin Steward took care of it promptly.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for the heads up.

[Dennis#1]

54 minutes ago, micruiser2002 said:

This is just a heads up to people to check your cabin door.  The 1st day I noticed my deadbolt was not working so I called maintenance and they fixed it.  For the next couple of days it just seemed like my door wasn't locked even though I would check it.  Later in the week the deadbolt again would not lock, this was late at night and I decided to wait until the next day to report it.  The next day in the afternoon as I was leaving my cabin I again sensed the door was not locking, this time I turned the handled 3 times and sure enough the door opened right up.  I was able to shut the door and repeat this over and over for my cabin steward.  Needless to say I was not happy.  I reported it to customer service and told them they really need to make sure these doors are checked regularly.  I would just suggest you try to open the door a couple of times to make sure it is really locked. 

Thanks for your post.  What was your stateroom number?  We will be on the Freedom in January.

[micruiser2002]

The cabin was 1674.  

As far as the batteries I do not believe that was the problem.  I believe they had to replace the whole lock and deadbolt.  You could see the lock holes were damaged.  If you read exactly what I said the door seemed to be locking, if I turned the handle and pushed the door would not open.  If I turned the handle 3 times with a little force it opened without an issue.  I am a middle aged woman so I was not using excessive force.  Sorry I think this is a major issue when it seems the door has locked but with some pressure on the door handle it unlocks.  

Edited November 6, 2018 by micruiser2002

[voyager70]

37 minutes ago, micruiser2002 said:

The cabin was 1674.  

As far as the batteries I do not believe that was the problem.  I believe they had to replace the whole lock and deadbolt.  You could see the lock holes were damaged.  If you read exactly what I said the door seemed to be locking, if I turned the handle and pushed the door would not open.  If I turned the handle 3 times with a little force it opened without an issue.  I am a middle aged woman so I was not using excessive force.  Sorry I think this is a major issue when it seems the door has locked but with some pressure on the door handle it unlocks.  

 

It absolutely is a major issue and I'm glad you brought it to everyone's attention.  I will be sure to make sure my door lock is working on future cruises.

 

[gerif]

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I never would have thought to check but now I will. 

[StolidCruiser]

44 minutes ago, micruiser2002 said:

The cabin was 1674.  

As far as the batteries I do not believe that was the problem.  I believe they had to replace the whole lock and deadbolt.  You could see the lock holes were damaged.  If you read exactly what I said the door seemed to be locking, if I turned the handle and pushed the door would not open.  If I turned the handle 3 times with a little force it opened without an issue.  I am a middle aged woman so I was not using excessive force.  Sorry I think this is a major issue when it seems the door has locked but with some pressure on the door handle it unlocks.  

 

You are absolutely right. It is a major issue and you did the reasonable thing to do when something is broken or malfunctions... you brought it to the attention of staff so it could be addressed.

 

Everyone should follow your "turn 3 times and shove" routine (since turning once and pushing wasn't enough) every time they go in and out of their cabin.  Better to be safe than sorry!

[Dennis#1]

2 hours ago, Dennis#1 said:

Thanks for your post.  What was your stateroom number?  We will be on the Freedom in January.

 

2 hours ago, micruiser2002 said:

The cabin was 1674.  

As far as the batteries I do not believe that was the problem.  I believe they had to replace the whole lock and deadbolt.  You could see the lock holes were damaged.  If you read exactly what I said the door seemed to be locking, if I turned the handle and pushed the door would not open.  If I turned the handle 3 times with a little force it opened without an issue.  I am a middle aged woman so I was not using excessive force.  Sorry I think this is a major issue when it seems the door has locked but with some pressure on the door handle it unlocks.  

 I agree that this could be a major safety issue.   Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

[Lady Chew]

We have always checked to be sure the door is locked when we leave our cabin, or hotel room.  I'm kind of surprised that people don't know to do this!   Travel 101 … 

 

We had this issue when we sailed on Oasis of the Seas, when she was a new ship.  It took several trips to the front desk, flagging down a crew member working on luggage who finally got our steward (this was during embarkation), and intervention by the head housekeeper to get the entire lock changed … it was a battery problem.  I also had this happen in a hotel, but it was something broken within the lock mechanism.

[micruiser2002]

46 minutes ago, Lady Chew said:

We have always checked to be sure the door is locked when we leave our cabin, or hotel room.  I'm kind of surprised that people don't know to do this!   Travel 101 … 

 

We had this issue when we sailed on Oasis of the Seas, when she was a new ship.  It took several trips to the front desk, flagging down a crew member working on luggage who finally got our steward (this was during embarkation), and intervention by the head housekeeper to get the entire lock changed … it was a battery problem.  I also had this happen in a hotel, but it was something broken within the lock mechanism.

 

I am not sure if you completely read this but I did check numerous times to make sure my door was locked.  The standard (I have always assumed) for checking a door is locked, is to turn the handle and try to open the door.  It wasn't until I turned the handle 3 times and pushed a bit harder that the door opened.  Not sure that is considered travel 101....

 

Sorry I have traveled extensively for business & pleasure for the last 25 years and have a great deal of experience with both hotel rooms and ship cabins and I have never experienced something like this.  

[voyager70]

10 minutes ago, micruiser2002 said:

 

I am not sure if you completely read this but I did check numerous times to make sure my door was locked.  The standard (I have always assumed) for checking a door is locked, is to turn the handle and try to open the door.  It wasn't until I turned the handle 3 times and pushed a bit harder that the door opened.  Not sure that is considered travel 101....

 

Sorry I have traveled extensively for business & pleasure for the last 25 years and have a great deal of experience with both hotel rooms and ship cabins and I have never experienced something like this.  

 

Everyone here is agreeing with you that this is a real problem and have thanked you for this information.  Don't understand why you are getting so defensive.

 

 

[GUT2407]

7 hours ago, micruiser2002 said:

This is just a heads up to people to check your cabin door.  The 1st day I noticed my deadbolt was not working so I called maintenance and they fixed it.  For the next couple of days it just seemed like my door wasn't locked even though I would check it.  Later in the week the deadbolt again would not lock, this was late at night and I decided to wait until the next day to report it.  The next day in the afternoon as I was leaving my cabin I again sensed the door was not locking, this time I turned the handled 3 times and sure enough the door opened right up.  I was able to shut the door and repeat this over and over for my cabin steward.  Needless to say I was not happy.  I reported it to customer service and told them they really need to make sure these doors are checked regularly.  I would just suggest you try to open the door a couple of times to make sure it is really locked. 

Not good. Should have been fixed first go.

[GUT2407]

7 hours ago, cruiselvr04 said:

A quick call to the desk and they will send someone up to change out the batteries.   This has happened to us.

 

No biggie but it's a good idea to check to make sure the door locks behind you.

Maintenance should have done it while they were there.

[micruiser2002]

3 minutes ago, voyager70 said:

 

Everyone here is agreeing with you that this is a real problem and have thanked you for this information.  Don't understand why you are getting so defensive.

 

 

 

I was not getting defensive rather trying to clarify a prior quote - "We have always checked to be sure the door is locked when we leave our cabin, or hotel room.  I'm kind of surprised that people don't know to do this!   Travel 101 … "

My response was to this, as I said numerous times I did/do check my room lock, this was not just a standard check of the lock that uncovered the door was not actually locking.   

[3monkeys4me]

Thanks for posting! I usually do a quick jiggle of the handle and a small push to make sure the door is locked. I'll be sure to check a bit more throughly in the future. It is also a good reminder to trust your instincts when something feels off. It is easy to ignore those little gut feelings but I have learned over the years they really shouldn't be ignored. 

[Lady Chew]

2 hours ago, micruiser2002 said:

 

I am not sure if you completely read this but I did check numerous times to make sure my door was locked.  The standard (I have always assumed) for checking a door is locked, is to turn the handle and try to open the door.  It wasn't until I turned the handle 3 times and pushed a bit harder that the door opened.  Not sure that is considered travel 101....

 

Sorry I have traveled extensively for business & pleasure for the last 25 years and have a great deal of experience with both hotel rooms and ship cabins and I have never experienced something like this.  

Umm …  my comment was not directed at you, obviously you knew to check your door … it was my reaction to several posters who said they had never before thought to check their doors … 

[micruiser2002]

6 minutes ago, Lady Chew said:

Umm …  my comment was not directed at you, obviously you knew to check your door … it was my reaction to several posters who said they had never before thought to check their doors … 

 

No problem, I just wanted people to understand that even a normal checking of the door in this case did not uncover this issue.  So hopefully everyone "really" checks their doors.

[ubish00]

Thank you for posting this.   I travel with a young child and sometimes forget to double check the cabin door. Will make a point of doing it now.

[mr walker]

I think you discovered the secret door unlock procedure 🙂 I understand the door not lock not working properly is a concern, but do not understand the turn 3 times. You mean you pushed the door handle down three times, and on the 3rd time the door opened - sorry maybe I'm not understanding. Was there any 'open sesame' involved.

[SRF]

21 hours ago, voyager70 said:

Never knew cabin doors had batteries.  I don't make it a practice to make sure door is properly locked, but I will now.  Thanks for the heads up.

 

 

How do you think they read the magnetic stripe or the RFID chip?

 

Yeap, they do.  Some of them fail locked when the battery goes dead.  I had this happen at a hotel a couple of weeks ago.

 

I got to my room and the door would not unlock.  It happens, so I went to the desk to be my card recoded.  It still would not unlock the door.  Went back to the desk, they sent up a person with an actual key to let me in.  A short while later, a maintenance guy shows up, replaces the battery, and everything worked fine for the rest of the trip.

[cruiseguy1016]

9 hours ago, mr walker said:

I think you discovered the secret door unlock procedure 🙂 I understand the door not lock not working properly is a concern, but do not understand the turn 3 times. You mean you pushed the door handle down three times, and on the 3rd time the door opened - sorry maybe I'm not understanding. Was there any 'open sesame' involved.

 

This is kind of along the line of what I was thinking. OP tried it once and it didn't open. Tried it twice and it didn't open. Tried it three times and it opened. If it hadn't opened on the third try, how many times would (s)he have tried? 4? 5? 10? Keep going for the next hour? I understand this is a problem but if I check my door once and it's locked, I am not going to stand there trying until it opens. 

[micruiser2002]

9 hours ago, mr walker said:

I think you discovered the secret door unlock procedure 🙂 I understand the door not lock not working properly is a concern, but do not understand the turn 3 times. You mean you pushed the door handle down three times, and on the 3rd time the door opened - sorry maybe I'm not understanding. Was there any 'open sesame' involved.

 

Yes when I pushed down the handle 3 times it then opened.  I honestly do not think I tried to just push twice and see if it would open, I just happened to push down the handle 3 times and discovered it opened.