Sailing immediately prior to a refurbishing?

[pdmlynek]

Hi, there!

This is a phenomenal site, and I am learning so much! Thank you all! I’ve got a couple of newbie questions that I could not find answers to by doing a search. We (DW, 12yo, 10yo, 8yo and I) are experienced traveler, but never cruised before, and are looking to do eastern Caribbean (i.e. scheduled to do SJU-STT-RSU-BGI-SLU-BAS-PHI-SJU) 7 nights on Carnival Victory in Nov 2010.

 

Question:

 

(2) We believe that the cruise we are planning on going on is the last before the scheduled 2 week refurbishing of the ship. Is there anything special that we should be aware of? Either positive or negative?

[paul929207]

We sailed last fall on the Tahitian Princess on the last cruise before drydock. We experienced no problems.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Have read where some people indicated that the crew started to prep the ship the last couple of weeks before going into a dry dock.

 

It really depends on how long the dry dock is going to be -- how much work is going to be done, etc.

[John Bull]

Hi, there!

 

We believe that the cruise we are planning on going on is the last before the scheduled 2 week refurbishing of the ship. Is there anything special that we should be aware of? Either positive or negative?

 

The cruises to be really wary of are those immediately after any significant works, when teething problems can be experienced.

John Bull

[pdmlynek]

Thank you all for your replies! Based partly on your help, I booked it.

[Putterdude]

There was a big issue with pax on the Golden Princess on the cruise before a dry-docking a few years ago...they started certain works during the cruise which was quite disruptive to pax enjoyment of the cruise...so be aware.

[Keith1010]

In general things will be fine. The two possible cons are that they may begin some work ahead of time and sometimes the last few days of the cruise they are a bit focused on all of the work that needs to be done but I really would not worry about this because it is minor relative to how great the cruise will be.

 

Enjoy.

 

Keith

[sail7seas]

We have never experienced it and have sailed a great many cruises but I've been told of instances when preps began during the last cruise. Such things as some furniture removed for reupholstering. Closing of a lounge to ready it for renovation. Carpets being taken up for replacement.....

 

This is all second hand so cannot say for sure it happened.

 

[mom4mom]

We sailed on RCI's Legend of the Seas last Nov, right before she went into dry dock and got repositioned to the far east. There was never any indication that there were preparations underway during our cruise. As a matter of fact, it was one of the most elegant ships we have ever sailed and I would have never guessed that it needed renovations. One benefit was the itinerary and the reason we booked it. We were able to sail into several different Italian ports with overnights that I haven't been able to find since. It was our first RCI cruise but not our last. We are trying our first transatlantic next year aboard the Mariner of the Seas.

[MCC retired]

I have experienced all of the below on several pre-drydock sailings:

 

#1) no noticable change at all:)

#2) rates are usually pretty good as most drydocks are in soft seasons.:)

#3) contractors onboard getting a jump on work to be done (some areas off limits):mad:

#4) minor things in cabin and public areas that were "broke" postponed until drydock to fix.:mad:

 

Since OP has it booked already , I hope it's a #1 & #2 .:rolleyes:

[EGG]

We were on a cruise just before a refurbishment on the west coast. The only thing I remember is that they were taking up the carpeting in the hall the morning of debarkation. If there were any other changes they were not enough that we noticed or remember.

 

We were also on the Brilliance of the Seas after a refurbishment in Europe. The first cruise was 3 days out of Hamburg and we were on the next cruise out of Southhampton. The only thing I noticed was many of the crew were new and they were especially friendly and attentive.