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Grand drydock mystery

MTJSR

By MTJSR,
in Princess Cruises

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MTJSR

MTJSR

Posted
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I was on treasure island today and took these pics of the Grand in San Francisco. I am aware of the whole platform collapse issue and it's late dry dock arrival, but it sure looks like the hull missed getting fresh paint. The new bow logo and midship name are there but was that it?.

 

The platform that originally broke looks like its being worked on. Anyone know further details? Sailing on it in April and curious!

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IMG_0225.jpgIMG_0220.jpgIMG_0192.jpg

IMG_0190.jpg

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Colo Cruiser

Colo Cruiser

Posted
Posted
Hi-

 

The Grand is still in the water being repaired dockside, dry docks in SF occur at BAE systems shipyard which is south of China Basin. Maybe it hasn't gone into the "dry dock" yet until the hull is fixed?

 

http://www.baesystems.com/en-us/product/san-francisconbspship-repair

 

HUh? It was in drydock in Oregon. Out of the water not dockside.

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chengkp75

chengkp75

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They don't always repaint the entire topsides each drydock, though the one pilot door looks rusty. It appears that the "boottop" at the waterline is the most obvious, and that is typically the last thing to be painted, and also needs time to cure before being immersed, so it may have been skipped.

 

As for the tender platform, it would not surprise me that they only straightened the door and repaired the hinges, and locked it back in place, and now they are working on the hydraulic cylinders, which may not have been available in time for installation in Vigor. Given that they have the door canted out part way, most likely hanging on chain hoists, that's about the optimum attitude for reconnecting the cylinders.

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Coral "Live from...." Rare

Coral

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DougH is on the ship now and posted this about interior upgrades:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=51837392#post51837392

 

DougH DougH is offline

Blue Ribbon Cruiser

 

Join Date: Jun 2000

Location: Concord, California

Posts: 3,360

 

I'm sailing on her now. All new decor in Sabatinis, the Ice cream bar has also been updated. All the shops have had a total re-model. New bedding and lots of new carpet. Brand new tenders, hand was stations in the Lido buffett.

 

Still some signs of wear if you really look but nothing that really stands out. Still some minor water drips around the ship ocassionally.

 

Overall i think the Grand is fine. Current Cruise Director Dan is a hoot, be sure and catch the R rated Liars club if you can

__________________

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sloopsailor

sloopsailor

Posted
Posted (edited)
.... it sure looks like the hull missed getting fresh paint. The new bow logo and midship name are there but was that it?

 

The weather in Portland during her drydock from Dec 12th to 20th was horrid. It snowed on some days, and rained on others, with highs in the upper 30s F and lows in the mid 20s F on many days. It's difficult to apply paint when it's that cold. It is curious that Princess contracted a shipyard in an area where the temps can be quite low this time of year. Someone on another thread mentioned that the shipyard gave them a pretty good deal for the work.

 

In hind sight, I'll bet Princess wishes they had spent the additional money to do the dry dock in San Francisco. ;)

 

Photos below copied from another thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2428633

 

9805FCE8-47ED-4474-8F0E-0FD8CDB52AD8_zpsvrrkgrbu.jpg

 

48829DE5-2EFA-41FB-AD79-49AA7DDAB4E1_zpstot44phe.jpg

 

19050518-AC56-425A-8069-EC06FE8B7425_zpsi3l6hcgl.jpg

Edited by sloopsailor
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chengkp75

chengkp75

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Posted
The weather in Portland during her drydock from Dec 12th to 20th was horrid. It snowed on some days, and rained on others, with highs in the upper 30s F and lows in the mid 20s F on many days. It's difficult to apply paint when it's that cold. It is curious that Princess contracted a shipyard in an area where the temps can be quite low this time of year. Someone on another thread mentioned that the shipyard gave them a pretty good deal for the work.

 

In hind sight, I'll bet Princess wishes they had spent the additional money to do the dry dock in San Francisco. ;)

 

 

Most marine two part epoxy and polyurethane coatings can be applied down to 5*C (41*F), and lower when specially formulated. The big key is whether the steel temperature is sufficiently above the dew point to keep condensation from forming.

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MTJSR

MTJSR

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Posted (edited)

Since some paint was applied (i.e. logo and company name) I would assume then that only the critical wear zones were touched up to minimize weather exposure and scheduling.

 

Side note, I have sailed twice on the Grand and both times I thought the detail paint work was done by someone blindfolded :eek:. Does anyone ever (dry dock or otherwise) remove paint off windows and trim?

Edited by MTJSR
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VTX-AL

VTX-AL

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Just got off the 1st cruise after dry dock, they were still painting when we were alongside in mazatlan. And varnishing the railings as well.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Aboard any decently maintained ship, a certain amount of painting is an ongoing and unending job.

 

...VTX-Al

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MTJSR

MTJSR

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Just got off the 1st cruise after dry dock, they were still painting when we were alongside in mazatlan. And varnishing the railings as well.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Anyone onboard say there was more to do or anything not done due to lack of time? Any word on the platform that fell open at sea?

 

.

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jeromep

jeromep

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Posted
The weather in Portland during her drydock from Dec 12th to 20th was horrid. It snowed on some days, and rained on others, with highs in the upper 30s F and lows in the mid 20s F on many days. It's difficult to apply paint when it's that cold. It is curious that Princess contracted a shipyard in an area where the temps can be quite low this time of year. Someone on another thread mentioned that the shipyard gave them a pretty good deal for the work.

 

In hind sight, I'll bet Princess wishes they had spent the additional money to do the dry dock in San Francisco. ;)

 

Photos below copied from another thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2428633

 

As a life long resident of the Pacific Northwest I can speak to the fact that the weather that Portland experienced when the Grand was at Vigor was unexpected and not typical for the season. You may be laughing, but Portland is not in snow country and their own residents are totally unprepared for snow driving or snowy conditions unless they are avid winter sports participants and regularly go up into the Cascades to ski, snowboard, and play. For the average Portlander winter is rainy and somewhat mild. For it to get cold enough for the rain to turn to snow and stick on the ground is pretty rare. The weather in Portland actually makes Portland a rather good location for year round ship service.

 

My guess is that the Vigor dry dock was scheduled out months in advance and happened to fit into the Grand's sailing schedule. The whole issue with the tender dock just put a monkey wrench in what would have otherwise been typical ship refurbishment.

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sloopsailor

sloopsailor

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My guess is that the Vigor dry dock was scheduled out months in advance and happened to fit into the Grand's sailing schedule. The whole issue with the tender dock just put a monkey wrench in what would have otherwise been typical ship refurbishment.

 

Still interesting that they did not use one of the dry dock facilities in her home port of San Francisco. I would think that just the cost of fuel to move her to Portland from San Francisco, and return a week later, would be quite expensive. At a day and a half to travel between the two ports, with an average of 150 tons of fuel per day (or 225 tons each way), and current costs on the West coast being around $350 per ton, the fuel cost alone would equal or exceed $160,000 for the round trip. And add all the other operating costs for a ship under way, such as wear and tear, and staff to run it, and the bill goes even higher.

Edited by sloopsailor
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Thegeorges

Thegeorges

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Just got off the grand today, the crew said the contractors were fighting the weather the whole time working 24 hours a day said it was so cold up there it was throwing the schedule behind, there still replacing carpet through out they had a big Crain there today when we got off loading huge rolls of carpet up to the top deck, not a fan of the new hand wash station in the horizon court we were watching an at least 90% of the people were not washing there hands before going to the buffet

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Colo Cruiser

Colo Cruiser

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Still interesting that they did not use one of the dry dock facilities in her home port of San Francisco. I would think that just the cost of fuel to move her to Portland from San Francisco, and return a week later, would be quite expensive. At a day and a half to travel between the two ports, with an average of 150 tons of fuel per day (or 225 tons each way), and current costs on the West coast being around $350 per ton, the fuel cost alone would equal or exceed $160,000 for the round trip. And add all the other operating costs for a ship under way, such as wear and tear, and staff to run it, and the bill goes even higher.

 

 

Drydocks are usually bid on. BAE in San Francisco has had Princess ships in their dry dock a few times in the past and may or may not have been involved in this bid. Maybe they were busy on the dates that Princess needed the work done. Maybe Vigor in Oregon was aggressive in trying to obtain some big client jobs.

Its hard to say. Princess has been in the business for a long time and I am sure they are aware of fuel costs and wear and tear on their ships.

I am sure we will never know why it ended up the way it did.

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