Cruise Vacation Turns Stinky Due to Sewage Backup

Disney’s magic is infamous with each the theme parks and a cruise line famend for creating sudden experiences for its visitors.

However passengers on a latest Disney Cruise Line voyage discovered that magic turned bitter when an sudden sewage backup left feces seeping onto the carpet of a number of staterooms.

In accordance with a visitor’s submit on Reddit, the issue was brought on by strain points inside Disney Magic’s plumbing system – and never by inappropriate objects being flushed, as generally assumed.

The incident seems to have occurred on the two,700-passenger ship’s 6-night roundtrip Western Caribbean crusing from Galveston, Texas, the place the ship is homeporting till April 2025.

“It was a ship problem and affected a number of rooms; no different rooms have been out there. Poop on the carpet,” stated the passenger, who additionally stated the cruise line cleaned and handled the difficulty instantly.

“It’s so gross,” the visitor continued. “They’re nonetheless operating followers within the hallway two days later. No quantity of cleansing makes this not gross.”

The passenger, who stated the affected cabins have been on Deck 6 within the excessive 6500s, questioned what kind of compensation one would discover acceptable from the cruise line.

Learn Additionally: What Do Cruise Ships Do with Sewage and Waste?

An equally unlucky passenger stated an identical incident occurred on Disney Magic in October they usually have been solely compensated $150 onboard credit score plus some snacks.

“Our toilet flooded with poop water thrice. It was so gross,” the prior visitor commented. “The entire deck appeared to scent of sewage, so I’m positive we weren’t the one ones it was occurring to.”

A former Disney Cruise Line solid member additionally responded relating to cleaner merchandise. “I can let you know they’re very efficient. Poop particles are how [gastrointestinal illness] is unfold, so they are going to take this extremely significantly.”

“If a sure threshold of visitors get sick, they gained’t be capable to run cruises with that ship till it’s accomplished a quarantine,” the solid member continued.

“Preserving the ships clear and prepared for [US Public Health] inspection always is drilled into the crew.”

What Went Incorrect?

Disney Cruise Line, which most not too long ago launched the Disney Treasure in December 2024 and can unveil its Disney Future in November 2025 and Disney Journey in December 2025, presently operates a fleet of six ships.

Past 2025’s new additions, the corporate has plans for 4 new ships to be delivered between 2027 and 2031.

Nonetheless, the sewage bother is main some visitors to query if the cruise line ought to put extra effort into its unique ships, particularly the sewage-troubled Disney Magic.

Making its maiden voyage on July 30, 1998, the 83,969-gross-ton ship is the oldest in the fleet and launched Disney to the excessive seas.

That stated, regardless of its age, the ship has been nicely maintained. Its final dry dock was accomplished in Freeport, Bahamas, in Could 2023. 

That 21-night dry dock – carried out forward of her twenty fifth anniversary – had the ship run the gamut of routine cleansing, upgrades, and paint, in addition to receiving shore energy know-how to assist it scale back its carbon footprint.

Cruise ships usually bear dry docking each few years for routine upkeep and refurbishment, and the ship shouldn’t be not on time.

Nonetheless, plumbing techniques on cruise ships are sometimes a closed loop that depends on pumps to maneuver wastewater from decrease decks to therapy amenities discovered on increased ones.

If these pumps fail or strain throughout the system isn’t correctly regulated, backups can happen unexpectedly. It might be time for the cruise line to have a look at the pumps and pipes to make sure this pungent scenario doesn’t develop into so routine.