C. Jennings
Age: 61
Occupation:Financial Advisor
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Holland America
Ship: Ryndam
Sailing Date: July 23th, 2006
Itinerary: Alaska
Boarding the ship on Sunday to celebrate
our 35th wedding anniversary, we expected a quiet cruise to Vancouver. We had
four suites rented for the family P-001,003,008 and 010. Beginning around 11:30
pm on Sunday night our suite began smelling of raw sewage gas. The same problem
occurred in suite 008 and 010. We contacted the desk and they sent an engineer
to see about the problem. The sewage stench was coming through the air and heat
ventilation system of the suites and not from the bathroom. The crew apologized
but could not fix the problem and gave us two ozone generators to help relieve
the stench. We could not open the veranah doors on the P001 suite because the
stench just poured into the living room. The smell was so bad it made my wife
and daughter ill and they continued to choke and cough. The situation continued
in the P001 suite until Thursday morning. We had to live and sleep in sewage
stench for four days, there were no other cabins offered. The captain and
everyone else on the crew apologized but nothing was done to solve the problem.
The horrible odor continued in suite 008 and 010 throughout the cruise. Our
daughter in suite 010 suffers from asthma and had to sleep with her cabin doors
open to allow a draft to blow through the cabin. The suites smelled like we were
living in a septic tank the whole week. I have written the cruise line a
complaint letter and to date they have not responded to our travel agent or to
us. They seem to want to forget that this happened. The coast guard inspected
the ship in the past two weeks and were told that this problem was due to an
"experiment with the waste plant" that went wrong and was stopped. We have since
found articles in USA Today dating back over a year where the same problem
occurred on this ship. Hence they have known about the problem for over ONE year
and have done nothing to resolve the problem of a below deck air vent
discharging too near to a fresh air intake resulting with fumes being pumped
into these suites. Until this problem is solved no passenger should be subjected
to these sewage and engine room fumes. While on board the ship I contacted the
Holland main office on Wednesday and they seemed to have solved the problem by
Thursday am in suite 001, but not in the other suites. They know how to stop the
problem but refuse to permanently fix the air system. I recommend that anyone
now booked or plan to book these suites reconsider their plans on this
particular ship. Smelling raw sewage all day while on board the ship and trying
sleep in that stench does not make for a pleasant cruise. The ship also had a
sickness outbreak at the beginning of summer and with poorly designed air
ventilation systems it doesn't surprise us. If anyone has questions please
contact us via the e-mail.