What to expect on first cruise after a dry dock?

What can we expect on the first sailing after a dry dock? We will be on the Zuiderdam on Nov 5th and fresh out of dry dock. Where do the staff go during that time? Since no one is getting off that day then there shouldn't be any wait to go to our staterooms right?

Sherri

It is probable there may still be some checklist on refurbishments in public area that could be cordoned off, or may “hear” some work being done somewhere,

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What can we expect on the first sailing after a dry dock? We will be on the Zuiderdam on Nov 5th and fresh out of dry dock. Where do the staff go during that time? Since no one is getting off that day then there shouldn't be any wait to go to our staterooms right?

 

 

Sherri

Well, you're boarding with 2000 other guests, so boarding will commence around noon as usual, the rooms still need to be prepared for the pax etc. Staff stays on board during dry dock..

The crew stay on the ship. They are assigned various jobs around the ship -- cleaning rooms, helping to remove anything that needs to be done, etc.

And if electrical work has to be done -- they work and sleep without air-conditioning in some cases.

During this time the only pay they get is their contracted minimal wage -- no extra tips.

You will probably encounter workers still on the ship finishing up details when you board the ship.

What can go wrong? I was on the Ruby Princess December 2015....

• I lost my cabin toilets for 3 hours mid-cruise.... I heard some had no toilets for the entire 3 day cruise. I think they got upgraded somewhere.
  
• I lost internet service for 12 hours... a lot demanded refunds the night before debarkation
  
• some cabins had furniture waiting to be assembled.
  
• there was new staff... great confusion whether we needed to sign customs cards.... we needed to.... huge congestion debarking... cause multi-hour delays at customs.
  

I worked four dry docks at HAL.

All four ships were behind schedule and were not completely ready when the first new passengers boarded.

 

Where to the staff go during drydock?

They work on the ship, hauling construction debris, feeding the thousands of drydock workers, and cleaning up after them.

Where do the dry dock construction workers stay?

In the passenger cabins, where they make every effort to damage them and dirty them as much as possible.

 

When the dry dock is running late, the construction workers are instructed to work as late as possible on the day you embark. This means they do not have time to move out of your cabin until the very last minute.

This delays your stateroom steward in getting the cabin clean and ready for you.

The highest number of cabin complaints occur on the first few days after a dry dock. There just isn't enough time to properly prepare and clean them before you arrive.

Great information.......Thank you...................fingers crossed that we have major issues since this will also be our first time cruising with HAL

Sherri

Great information.......Thank you...................fingers crossed that we have major issues since this will also be our first time cruising with HAL

 

Sherri

 

 

 

Oops " have No major issues"

There is no answer to this post, as no one knows what you will experience. Flawless. maybe. Problems. Maybe.

Every cruise is different. With or without dry dock.

sandra

hues of blu,

Will you report back to us after your cruise. We will sail on Zuiderdam November 26th and would love to hear about the changes.

We sailed on another line, the first cruise out of dry dock, and seeing all the new furniture and flooring was fun. There were a few unfinished areas the first day and touchups to do, but everything was quite fresh and new.

hues of blu,

Will you report back to us after your cruise. We will sail on Zuiderdam November 26th and would love to hear about the changes.

We sailed on another line, the first cruise out of dry dock, and seeing all the new furniture and flooring was fun. There were a few unfinished areas the first day and touchups to do, but everything was quite fresh and new.

Will do! The excitement is building with less then 3 week's to go:D

Sherri

We're on the Nov 5th sailing. Very interesting thread. We were aware of the dry dock when we signed up and are going to do our best to remain flexible on that first day. I work big projects on a fairly regular basis and I know that even the most well planned and executed project will have lots of "hiccups."

Last time we docked in Freeport, I noticed a Celebrity ship in dry dock. I was really surprised the next morning in Miami to see that same ship at the dock talking on passengers. I'm assuming that the Zuiderdam's work is being done in Freeport?

Yes, Zuiderdam is in the Freeport drydock. We are on the 15 November departure (second cruise after the refit) so I checked online for where it is today. It shows up in the northern most drydock slip at the Shipyard in Freeport. Should be high and dry in a day or two.

We are really looking forward to this trip, and are willing to overlook some small construction related issues if they are still occurring.

Look forward to hearing what she is like on the 5 November cruise and how the changes look.

Tom in Okeechobee, FL

I'm on the 1st sailing after dry dock as well. I'm prepared for odd/minor things to being worked on....as long as the pools, lounges and hot tubs are good to go and there's food, we'll do just fine. I plan on packing just a little extra sense of humour....just in case.

Maybe HAL is better, but after our experience on the Caribbean Princess we would not do the first cruise after dry dock again.

This was a TA leaving from Ft Lauderdale last April. The ship arrived about 5 hours late which delayed boarding. No big deal just a long time waiting.

The contractors getting off the ship were very rude. They walked out into the area passengers were cued to wait. Many immediately lit their cigarettes and pushed through the line with their huge bags. The shore staff tried to keep the contractors away from the passengers but it was very uncomfortable.

The cabins had some issues. Our balcony smelled terrible and had metal shavings and unknown dirt all over. The head of housekeeping came fairly quickly after our request. She was appalled and tried to clean things but the smell never went away.

This head of housekeeping said this was the worst group of contractors she had ever worked with. She said they purposely ruined new mattresses and bedding. There were also various plumbing leaks around the public areas as well as lots of carpet still being installed during the 14 day cruise.

This is not meant to change your mind as your ship will probably be fine. We had never thought about this kind of problem but now we will.

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What can we expect on the first sailing after a dry dock? We will be on the Zuiderdam on Nov 5th and fresh out of dry dock. Where do the staff go during that time? Since no one is getting off that day then there shouldn't be any wait to go to our staterooms right?

 

 

Sherri

Hi Sherri!

On Cruise Critic, we have an article entitled What to Expect: Cruising Before or After a Dry Dock. Hope it helps!

~Brittany Chrusciel, Associate Editor, Cruise Critic

Hi Sherri!

 

 

On Cruise Critic, we have an article entitled What to Expect: Cruising Before or After a Dry Dock. Hope it helps!

 

~Brittany Chrusciel, Associate Editor, Cruise Critic

Thank you!!!

A lot of cruise experience has taught us to try and avoid being on a ship immediately before or after a drydock....expecially after! The problem is that there are too many times when work, that is started (or planned) during drydock does not get finished. So immediately after a drydock there is a reasonable chance that work will still be ongoing during the cruise...which can be quite annoying. And just prior to a drydock, most cruise lines will do some prep work (even to the extent of bringing special workers aboard the ship) which can also be annoying and disruptive.

All that being said, sometimes you will get lucky and all the work will have been finished and you have the advantage of new facilities, carpet, furniture, etc. But we prefer not to take the chance.

Hank

We would never consider it unless we were offered a significant discount. We avoid the two cruises prior to and after a drydock. We would never consider an inaugural cruise.

???

I had no idea we were booked on a cruise as the first ones out after dry dock. Is anyone famaliar if HAL takes responsibility for accommodating passangers for any issues this may cause??

I agree that we may need to maintain a good sense of humor, however there can be limits. Hence, I may need to drink more! :wine-glass: ;)

Learn that when you are on HAL, the front desk folk will always act surprised and claim it is the first that they have heard of whatever it is you are challenged with. My guess is that they want to give you the impression than no one else thinks it is a big deal so what are you doing at this desk bothering us about it or wasting our precious time. Next please.

I suspect this response is right out of their Front Desk 101 course.

We had a cruise on the Maasdam immediately after a drydock.

Boarding was extremely late, a couple hours as I recall, because of a lot of finishing work and multiple inspections.

The first two days, workers had to access our cabin a couple of times to work on the electrical. During the cruise, many of the veranda cabins had water coming in the outside doors, and a few people had to be relocated. But this may have been due to extremely heavy rain and not necessarily drydock problems. We received a shipboard credit and wine to compensate for the inconvenience. It was not something I felt was necessary for the slight leakage we experienced; others, though, did have carpet issues that took a couple days to remedy..

.

The forward and aft outside stairwells were filled with equipment, so access was limited, but very few people use these. During most of the cruise, I noticed a lot of outside contractors coming and going to mechanical rooms.

Beyond the embarkation delay, these were minor nuisances and did not detract from our vacation experience, not enough to deter me from booking a ship returning to service.

Having worked in building and remodeling supermarkets for many years, I can report that these projects rarely get done "on time". Its just the way things work, so I would not schedule a cruise right after a dry dock.

Just came off the Zuiderdam last Sunday (Quebec City-Ft. Lauderdale). Spoke extensively with the crew and attended the 1-hour "captain's talk" in the Vista, whereupon when asked. he detailed all the renos (e.g. new carpet everywhere except the Vista (entertainment at bow), new 42" LCD TVs VOD in all cabins, elimination of "Northern Lights" disco, expansion in Crow's Nest Explorers Cafe, etc.).

Dry dock is in Freeport, Bahamas with a 12-day schedule. All along our cruise from Quebec City, materials/supplies were loaded, huge rolls of carpet somewhere along the Atlantic Coast; most notably major supplies were loaded all day in Port Canaveral (they closed the port-side of Deck 9 aft to stage materials our final overnight), and finally Ft. Lauderdale while disembarking.

Work began in replacing carpets in the stern elevator lobbies & stairs sometime around Halifax-1 floor at a time, nightly during our 12-night cruise. Many (probably ~100) workers embarked in Port Canaveral, so they had little/no impact on passenger convenience.

A small number of crew were leaving, most of the remainder (i,e. MDR/cabin staff) were being re-assigned to trash removal, or other duties. Most construction workers would be boarding in FLL and staying onboard. Since they wrapped all the MDR chairs/tables in plastic, I assume they'll be fed in the Lido Buffet. Because of extended work schedules, apparently food will be available in unusual hours. They completely emptied all mini-bars in every room (no booze for the construction workers, LOL). Our wine steward told us he was being assigned to trash removal.

I've uploaded two images ... the first is a floor below us with the old carpets ...

... and the new on Deck 7 ... (love it! Much brighter, airy!)

This BB sucks. Even though the images showed up on "Review", they failed on posting. If you really care, replace the "*******" crap with "**********" in a new page and it should work. (Anybody with experience posting ********** images, please advise *** I could be doing wrong).