our "Last Seabourn Cruise"

[raphael360]

We've been long time loyal Seabourn cruisers and I'm 3 days short of Diamond.  Our last Seabourn cruise was a 21 day Caribbean holiday cruise last December.  Until this last cruise, Seabourn almost never disappointed us and, when something did go wrong, Seabourn immediately made the situation right.  

 

Sadly Seabourn did disappoint us our last cruise on the Odyssey, .

 

Starting day 2 our suite had a strong sewer smell or odor that was, at times, so bad we dreaded going into our stateroom.  We immediately engaged our room steward's manager who assured us the situation would be taken care of posthaste.  Sadly for the next 2 weeks the odor in our suite vacillated between the sewer smell and/or industrial grout smell.  The odor was so demoralizing I began to check for flights back to Miami everyday from next port of call.  On the morning of day 14 I noticed wet tile grout on my socks.  Water (or sewage) was permeating from under the bathroomfloor preventing the grout from ever drying.   I had enough and got the hotel manager involved.  We were finally moved to a vacant penthouse suite for the remaining 7 days of the cruise and given some OBC for our inconvenience.  By then, however, our holidays were ruined, our spirits were broken and our love affair with Seabourn came to a screeching halt.  We decided then that was our "last Seabourn cruise".  Being "pre-covid" at the time, we didn't know our cruising days were over forever.

 

Over the years, we met many of you on Seabourn.  We wish you all well.  Stay safe.

Edited July 19, 2020 by raphael360
SIC

[tjcox9]

Would you care to share that troublesome suite number with us?

[saminina]

Is this the second time this story has been posted?

[MightyQuinn]

6 minutes ago, saminina said:

Is this the second time this story has been posted?

 

If not, why post now?  Seems the offending event was Dec '19.

[turtlemichael]

They tried to fix the problem but they failed. They moved you to another suite (an upgrade?) and gave you an OBC. For me it would be problem solved though I would have requested the move a lot sooner than 14 days into the cruise. YMMV.

[Covepointcruiser]

Wish we were given the stateroom number and the ship involved.   Spoke with an engineer on our last Seabourn cruise and he said they were having problems with passengers flushing adult incontinence products.   Their systems will not handle either baby or adult diapers, not to mention wipes and other items flushed into the system.  Unfortunately the cabin that suffers may not be the offender.

 

[whogo]

Working HVAC and plumbing are nonnegotiable minimum requirements for renting me a room on land or at sea. I am surprised that more people don't ask the cruise line to fly them home and refund their cruise fare when issues are not corrected.

[Paulchili]

20 hours ago, turtlemichael said:

For me it would be problem solved though I would have requested the move a lot sooner than 14 days into the cruise.

Same here. Presumably that cabin has been available all along unless this was a second segment of a cruise.

[rkacruiser]

22 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Wish we were given the stateroom number and the ship involved.   Spoke with an engineer on our last Seabourn cruise and he said they were having problems with passengers flushing adult incontinence products.   Their systems will not handle either baby or adult diapers, not to mention wipes and other items flushed into the system.  Unfortunately the cabin that suffers may not be the offender.

 

 

Did you know that among the "other items" that ought not to be flushed are tissues, like Kleenex?  One of the things that I have learned during this pandemic is that sewage systems cannot deal with tissues in the same way that regular toilet tissue can.  Toilet tissue is designed to "dissolve" over a short period of time.  The paper used to make tissues cannot be as well dissolved and actually may cause a stoppage of a plumbing system.  

 

I have read "threats" posted about not flushing non-flushable items.  If one does and your bathroom is found to be the culprit, your account will be charged for the repair of whatever needs to be done to make the system work properly again.  I have wondered:  has that ever happened?

[raphael360]

On 7/19/2020 at 7:23 PM, tjcox9 said:

Would you care to share that troublesome suite number with us?

Odyssey  637

[raphael360]

On 7/19/2020 at 7:23 PM, tjcox9 said:

Would you care to share that troublesome suite number with us?

Odyssey 637

[raphael360]

19 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Same here. Presumably that cabin has been available all along unless this was a second segment of a cruise.

Ship was full for the first 14 days (first leg). One day turns into 2 and then 3 and so on. If I knew it would go on for 14 days I would ha left the ship day 3 or 4. 

[raphael360]

On 7/19/2020 at 7:23 PM, tjcox9 said:

Would you care to share that troublesome suite number with us?

 

On 7/20/2020 at 12:46 AM, turtlemichael said:

They tried to fix the problem but they failed. They moved you to another suite (an upgrade?) and gave you an OBC. For me it would be problem solved though I would have requested the move a lot sooner than 14 days into the cruise. YMMV.

Odyssey 637.  Ship was full for the first 14 days so I couldn't be moved.  

 

"Problem Solved?" Would you trade getting an OBC of $1200 for a ruined $18,000 cruise and the choice experience of living with a sewage smell for 14 days of your life?  An added bonus to this experience is; I developed an upper respiratory infection during those 14 days which hasn't been resolved yet (7 months later).

Edited July 21, 2020 by raphael360
sic

[raphael360]

On 7/20/2020 at 12:19 AM, MightyQuinn said:

 

If not, why post now?  Seems the offending event was Dec '19.

 

Why now?  Why not now?  No one is on any Seabourn (or any cruise) now.

[raphael360]

23 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Wish we were given the stateroom number and the ship involved.   Spoke with an engineer on our last Seabourn cruise and he said they were having problems with passengers flushing adult incontinence products.   Their systems will not handle either baby or adult diapers, not to mention wipes and other items flushed into the system.  Unfortunately the cabin that suffers may not be the offender.

 

 

Odyssey 637

[raphael360]

22 hours ago, whogo said:

Working HVAC and plumbing are nonnegotiable minimum requirements for renting me a room on land or at sea. I am surprised that more people don't ask the cruise line to fly them home and refund their cruise fare when issues are not corrected.

 

Good point and thank you for bring up the HVAC issues.  It was day 5 before the room would cool below 76 degrees.  Maintenance worked on the HVAC for the first 4 days and finally replaced the main blower on day 5.  (I carry a digital room thermometer when I travel.)  I guess when I was living in the sewer, I stopped noticing how warm the room was.

[raphael360]

19 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Same here. Presumably that cabin has been available all along unless this was a second segment of a cruise.

 

That was the issue exactly.  Ship was full for the first 14 day segment.

[raphael360]

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Did you know that among the "other items" that ought not to be flushed are tissues, like Kleenex?  One of the things that I have learned during this pandemic is that sewage systems cannot deal with tissues in the same way that regular toilet tissue can.  Toilet tissue is designed to "dissolve" over a short period of time.  The paper used to make tissues cannot be as well dissolved and actually may cause a stoppage of a plumbing system.  

 

I have read "threats" posted about not flushing non-flushable items.  If one does and your bathroom is found to be the culprit, your account will be charged for the repair of whatever needs to be done to make the system work properly again.  I have wondered:  has that ever happened?

 

In my case, there was a leak under the tile floor in the bathroom that was permeating up through the grout.  That is why the grout would never set up.

[johng75370]

1 hour ago, raphael360 said:

 

In my case, there was a leak under the tile floor in the bathroom that was permeating up through the grout.  That is why the grout would never set up.

 

FWIW, maybe 1 out of 4 cruises on average I’ve seen equipment in the hallway outside a cabin trying to “dry things out”, sometimes for more than a day.  Has not yet been our cabin, but have always assumed it happens enough that the cruise line would know how to make it not impact the guest enjoying their vacation.  I am sorry to hear what you went through with this; despite my love of Seabourn would likely be a long time before returning if it was me.

Edited July 21, 2020 by johng75370

[whogo]

21 hours ago, raphael360 said:

Ship was full for the first 14 days (first leg). One day turns into 2 and then 3 and so on. If I knew it would go on for 14 days I would ha left the ship day 3 or 4. 

I know how that goes. They try something on Monday, doesn't work. Try something else on Tuesday, doesn't work. Try Monday's procedure again on Wednesday, still doesn't work. Before you know it a couple of weeks have passed. 

 

Sewer gas is supposed to be stopped by a trap in the drain, a level of water in a bend in a pipe. Works fine at home. I think shipboard motion can break the water barrier in the trap and allow sewer gas to escape. Yuck! I have smelled sewer gas on ships, not in my cabin, thankfully, and not on Seabourn.

[Covepointcruiser]

Hopefully the OP has been tested for COVID 19!    Some believe it was in the states as early as December 2019.   Some survivors continue to fell sick many months after the initial infection.   Florida is a red zone for infections even now.

[raphael360]

20 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Hopefully the OP has been tested for COVID 19!    Some believe it was in the states as early as December 2019.   Some survivors continue to fell sick many months after the initial infection.   Florida is a red zone for infections even now.

OP was tested for Covid-19. 

[florisdekort]

On 7/20/2020 at 2:46 PM, turtlemichael said:

They tried to fix the problem but they failed. They moved you to another suite (an upgrade?) and gave you an OBC. For me it would be problem solved though I would have requested the move a lot sooner than 14 days into the cruise. YMMV.

Indeed. And really strange to post this now in the middle of a global pandemic. 

[raphael360]

17 hours ago, florisdekort said:

17 hours ago, florisdekort said:

Indeed. And really strange to post this now in the middle of a global pandemic. 

It is Very strange. 

Edited July 25, 2020 by raphael360

[Kauaijim]

Good point Floris, hope all is well with you.