Toilet Flushing, or not

[islandtimect]

We took a wonderful Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Magic for Thanksgiving week, but had one major issue- the toilet in cabin 7628 wouldn't always flush (even if just urinating). The first 2 days, we told the cabin steward, who got a mechanic, but the mechanics didnt do anything except use a plunger or wait for the vacuum system to flush the toilet. By the 3rd day we'd had enough and spoke with Guest Services, who didnt do anything. The morning of day 4, called GS again prior to leaving for our shore excursion, but again wasn't fixed when we returned. Finally spoke with GS manager and a mechanic came and actually took the toilet apart and fixed it.

We asked for compensation for our inconvenience, and at first were given $200 shipboard credit. We asked for more, but was only offered an addional 15% off a futurre cruise. We didnt' think this reflected the level of aggravation we dealt with, so the manager sent a report to DCL in FL. We finally accepted 12 1 day park tickets (4 for each of us), with park hopper and no expiration date! The moral of my story - don't put up with big problems, be polite but firm when reporting problems, ask for specific compensation, and follow up with the folks who are working on your issue.

 

[holie]

I hope you're joking...I feel that's a bit much just for a non working toilet...
$200 onboard credit is pretty good.
Just my opinion...

 

[MTmomma]

I hope you're joking...I feel that's a bit much just for a non working toilet...
$200 onboard credit is pretty good.
Just my opinion...

at the OP. I totally agree with you PP, $200 is more than enough "compensation" for the "inconvienience" of it happening. Didnt I read somewhere about cruise ship toilets not always "flushing on demand" and then randomly catching up with however many times you jammed the button? I thought the random catch up would be a hilariously startling occurance. I will end my statements and comments on this subject right there, before I become an ignorant ranting fool.

 

[aan1701]

I have to agree also, as I had the same problem in 6521 on the 10/8 eastern but the toliet always did flush at some point just not always when we pushed the button. I must say $200 OBC is very nice, and I my opinion way to generous.

 

[DMMarla07860]

I've had problems with the toliet, but it always seemed to work after a few mins for me. And I agree $200 obc is very nice

 

[DSquare]

I disagree that $200 was plenty enough. To have a nonworking toilet in your stateroom is a major inconvenience for all. I would hate to find a public restroom everytime nature calls. If you were in a hotel they would probably move you to a different room.

 

[DVCconvert]

I'm surprised DCL didn't offer you complimentary colostomies to everyone in your party.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

I disagree that $200 was plenty enough. To have a nonworking toilet in your stateroom is a major inconvenience for all. I would hate to find a public restroom everytime nature calls. If you were in a hotel they would probably move you to a different room.

See now I read this as not flushing intermittently, and not all the time. If it never flushed, I would have been at GS the first day or on the phone and had it repaired same day. Whenever maintenance has come to our room for an issue it's always been fixed same day. This is where you should have pushed harder and not allowed this to continue to day 4. Just my opinion though.

To the OP, wow you are tenacious (nicest word I can find). I seriously wouldn't have asked for anything. Maybe it's just me. I am really speechless that you actually persisted even after you received a $200 OBC.

Maybe it's my line of work that has me thinking this way, but it almost seems like you permitted the problem to exist to day 4. I would have stood over the maintenance guy the first day and made him show me that it flushed consistently over and over again.
We had a shower overflow all over the room one time (HCA stateroom) and I asked the maintenance man run the shower for 10 minutes to show me that it was running down the drain. He was patient. I was gracious. All was good. Crap, I should have pushed for an OBC.

 

[DSquare]

Even so if its consistently intermittent I think more should be done. Especially with 4 people in the room. I would hate to wonder every time one of us sat down to use our business that the toilet would fail to flush.

 

[BowlerHatGirl]

We had this problem on our 10/28 Wonder MR cruise too. The maintenance crew had to come in several times to fix the toilet, taking it apart and fixing it, plunging it, etc. The staff seemed to be all too familiar with toilet issues, but I guess I'm too easily pleased since all we got was a hand written apology card from the maintenance manager and a plate of chocolate covered strawberries.

I guess once our inconvenience had been recognized I was fine. I didn't want to waste time out of my vacation arguing for something more, and since I'm in a customer service position I tend to be more easygoing about life's hiccups.

Personally, I think $200 OBC as compensation would have been way more than adequate to resolve the issue, but that's only my opinion.

 

[DCLShel]

We had toilet issues on our Med cruise this summer. However, it only happened once and was fixed while we were on an excursion. Issue resolved. Imagine my surprise when I found a complimentary bottle of wine in our stateroom with a handwritten card thanking us for being so understanding. I didn't expect anything - I called/they fixed.

I think I would have been alittle upset if it had taken four days to fix. But I would have been thrilled with a $200 OBC, too.

We all have different expectations. Glad OP was able to resolve this issue to their satisfaction~

 

[kcashner]

We have had various cabin issues on various trips. The worst one caused me to call several times--each time they sent a repair man for several hours. Finally, I went to GS and pointed out that I'd had a guy in my cabin for a couple hours each day and the problem still wasn't fixed--we were moved to a new cabin. (on a supposedly full cruise). On our TA/Med cruise we reported an issue--it was fixed promptly and quickly and we got a gift pack of toiletries in our cabin the next day with a nice note! In other cases the problem has been fixed quickly--no compensation or gifts were given or expected.

Yes, we've had the toilet do the "flush 10 minutes later" thing. While disconcerting, it isn't a big deal. That isn't what OP had, as far as I can tell. How much compensation is a non-working toilet worth? Guess it depends on whether it is your toilet or not. However, OBC + discount + park passes seems like a lot. I'm surprised that they didn't just offer a move to another room.

 

[Brumbie13]

Well, I probably wouldn't have done the same thing as the OP, but I'm not sure all the OP bashing is warranted.

I'd be upset if it took 5 days to fix a flushing problem with the toilet in my stateroom. What are you supposed to do in that situation? Go out of your cabin to a public bathroom on a different deck every time you need to use the bathroom? Or have a terribly unhygienic bathroom/stateroom for most of your trip? This doesn't seem like a "too many people are flushing at once" situation. The guy had to take apart the toilet to fix it, and he didn't do that until the 5th day.

Think about it... Those 12 park passes cost Disney NOTHING. And the OP is going to take their family and visit the park and probably buy expensive food, buy stuff from the gift shops, buy pictures, etc. At the end of the day, Disney is probably going to make money off of a family of 4, even given free passes.

It's not like Disney really lost anything during this deal.

If it cost them anything to give out a few park passes, they would have taken that perk away from their cast members a long long time ago.


Again, maybe I wouldn't be a vigilant as the OP, but then again, maybe I would. OP essentially got park tickets they can value at $1,200 and Disney can write off with no problem.

I'm also not the kind of person who will give you the "Disney is a rich corporation, they can afford the loss" crap. But I don't consider it a loss. Disney gives away, for different reasons, probably hundreds of free park entrances every day. It doesn't hurt their bottom line. You know they have budgeted a certain amount of free park entrances every day. That's just good business.

And what did they do? They made sure the OP's family will go back to the park 4 more times... And when the OP does, they'll have a great experience, and Disney has essentially won back a lifelong customer that they could have lost with this fiasco.

It was a crappy situation (pun intended) and Disney made it better in a mutually agreeable, mutually beneficial way. It's not like the OP gave an ultimatum, the OP simply stated that they were not happy with the offer of $200 on board credit or 15% off their next cruise (who knows if they'll even go on another Disney cruise after that!) so the manager on the ship forwarded the complaint to his higher ups who gave OP something they were happy with. The ship offered what they could offer in compensation, the OP didn't like it, so the ship staff escalated the complaint to a higher up. If Disney had wanted, they could have fought the OP, but it appears like they wanted to work with the OP instead. Bravo Disney!

 

[cbobalina]

I agree with Islandtimect. I think 4 days with a broken toilet is ridiculous. As much as you pay for a 7-day cruise for 3 people during the peak holiday season, you should be able to call once and have the toilet fixed. You should not have to stand over a technician while they fix the toilet. That is their job and you are paying a lot to be on a worry-free, stress-free vacation, not supervising a recurring maintenance issue. After the first day you should have been switched to another room. The second day given a $200 OBC and by the 4th day I think the park tickets were definitely in order. Spending half of your cruise with a toilet that flushes on it's own schedule is unpleasant and unacceptable. It is also not what you paid for. You are right, you get what you ask for and it's fine if you don't want to settle for less.

 

[mickey2000]

A crew member indicated to our friends several weeks ago that the Magic has major plumbing problems as they experienced the same flushing problem. Has to do with people flushing items down the toilet!
Also remember in cruise ship terms the Magic is geting pretty old.

 

[phred52]

I agree with Islandtimect. I think 4 days with a broken toilet is ridiculous. As much as you pay for a 7-day cruise for 3 people during the peak holiday season, you should be able to call once and have the toilet fixed. You should not have to stand over a technician while they fix the toilet. That is their job and you are paying a lot to be on a worry-free, stress-free vacation, not supervising a recurring maintenance issue. After the first day you should have been switched to another room. The second day given a $200 OBC and by the 4th day I think the park tickets were definitely in order. Spending half of your cruise with a toilet that flushes on it's own schedule is unpleasant and unacceptable. It is also not what you paid for. You are right, you get what you ask for and it's fine if you don't want to settle for less.

 

[amyren]

We were on the same cruise just a couple of doors down. Our original room 7624 flooded the second night. The toilet flooded into our room. I know lovely right?!?! We told the room steward who then contacted the deck manager.
Here's deck 7's manager Christoper (from Jamaica) checking out the problem).

[/IMG]
They had to turn off the water to our room and we were moved down the hall to 7614.
Our compensation for repacking and moving our luggage when we should have been getting ready for formal night was... complimentary slippers and robes (for the duration of our stay).
Here's my cheesy photo in the robe & slippers.

[/IMG]
Not quite a $200 OBC and free park tickets. Moving all of our stuff for a 7 day cruise was a HUGE PAIN but I wouldn't have asked for more. I would have been thrilled with an OBC or park tickets but I wasn't willing to set a bad mood for our trip so I let it go. We still had a wonderful trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[aan1701]

Amyren. I applaud you. I really believe this is the right attitude to have. Stuff happens. It is not going to be perfect 100% of the time. Sounds like you took it in stride. I would be fine with your situation as well. One thing I would have done differently was if any of my belonging we're damaged I may have asked to be compensated, but that would depend as well on how bad the damage was.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

We were on the same cruise just a couple of doors down. Our original room 7624 flooded the second night. The toilet flooded into our room. I know lovely right?!?! We told the room steward who then contacted the deck manager.
Here's deck 7's manager Christoper (from Jamaica) checking out the problem).

[/IMG]
They had to turn off the water to our room and we were moved down the hall to 7614.
Our compensation for repacking and moving our luggage when we should have been getting ready for formal night was... complimentary slippers and robes (for the duration of our stay).
Here's my cheesy photo in the robe & slippers.

[/IMG]
Not quite a $200 OBC and free park tickets. Moving all of our stuff for a 7 day cruise was a HUGE PAIN but I wouldn't have asked for more. I would have been thrilled with an OBC or park tickets but I wasn't willing to set a bad mood for our trip so I let it go. We still had a wonderful trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amyren. I applaud you. I really believe this is the right attitude to have. Stuff happens. It is not going to be perfect 100% of the time. Sounds like you took it in stride. I would be fine with your situation as well. One thing I would have done differently was if any of my belonging we're damaged I may have asked to be compensated, but that would depend as well on how bad the damage was.

ITA!!! Life happens! Wonderful attitude Amyren.