Post-dry dock cruises -- what problems?

[jasbo49]

We're considering a Transatlantic cruise on the Crown Princess April 3, 2018. I've just discovered that the ship is in dry dock for 10 days before the cruise.

 

I've seen a number of complaints and warnings about post-dry dock cruises, work still going on, stuff that was added or changed still having problems, etc.

 

Can people who've sailed right after a dry dock enlighten me? What sort of problems did you experience? Were they a big enough deal that you wouldn't do it again?

 

Also, did you experience any pluses in sailing right after dry dock?

 

At 10 days, this one doesn't seem like a total makeover such as we've seen with the Island and Caribbean. It could be long enough to equip it for the Medallion age, though I haven't heard anything about that for the Crown yet.

 

Jim

[fishywood]

The most common issue is getting the ship from the drydock facility to the embarkation port on time. The odds of waking up to a "delayed embarkation" notice in your inbox on the morning of departure are pretty strong.

 

On any long repositioning cruise you may find a work crew on for part or all of the voyage doing a specific task. Whether or not the cruise is preceded (or followed) by a time in drydock.

 

Interesting that on the Princess website there are not separate "before and after" deckplans to show any changes. So if (for example) one of the projects is to add a bunch of connecting cabins as was done on the other three largest Grand-class ships Princess is keeping it on the Q.T. Or whether Sabatini's is to be revised to Sabatini's Trattoria--or that (shhh) "other" venue as on Emerald and Ruby.

 

Adding the Medallion is a reasonable guess as Princess seems to be initially focusing on the ships in the Caribbean/Europe deployment schedule. But it looks like a long wait-and-see to confirm anything else.

[Steelers0854]

I would say it all depends on what they are doing during dry dock. Most people don't realize that most dry docks are rounding maintenance and don't involve major changes to the ship. If your ship is going for a routine required dry dock I would say there is very little to worry about (although those on the Disney Fantasy right now will disagree with me).

 

If your ship is going through some major changes then there are a lot of possibilities as to what the issues could be. Upgraded items or systems may not work correctly, they may still be completing some work while your on board etc.

[Colo Cruiser]

A post dry dock cruise is far better than a pre dry dock cruise.

Now those can be downright disastrous. :(

[tailspintom]

We're considering a Transatlantic cruise on the Crown Princess April 3, 2018. I've just discovered that the ship is in dry dock for 10 days before the cruise.

 

I've seen a number of complaints and warnings about post-dry dock cruises, work still going on, stuff that was added or changed still having problems, etc.

 

Can people who've sailed right after a dry dock enlighten me? What sort of problems did you experience? Were they a big enough deal that you wouldn't do it again?

 

Also, did you experience any pluses in sailing right after dry dock?

 

At 10 days, this one doesn't seem like a total makeover such as we've seen with the Island and Caribbean. It could be long enough to equip it for the Medallion age, though I haven't heard anything about that for the Crown yet.

 

Jim

Hello Jim,

We were on the Grand when she went through a major refit in the Bahamas to remove the back and install the atrium with the International Cafe and Alfredo's. The Tans Atlantic that was scheduled immediately after the refit was delayed and the ship was not in the typical tidy shape one would expect from Princess. It took a few or three days for the crew to properly clean and polish the ship. Further, some cabins had significant problems with their plumbing. For the most part, the cruise was great and by the 4th day or so one would not have been aware that there was a major change outside of enjoying Alfredo's and the International Cafe.

Now, having said that, the Crown, to my knowledge, is not undergoing that much of a change. Updating the ship for the Medallion electronics, bedding and normal dry dock maintenance should not negatively affect your cruise. If it were me, I would book my cruise with no concern.

[sailaway2joy]

We were on the Royal last fall after a major dry dock in Sicily. The workers were still on board during the first week of our TA voyage working on the midship stairway. But they posed no hazards or interruptions to our cruise. The rest of the ship was in great shape and we had a wonderful time.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[easyboy]

We're considering a Transatlantic cruise on the Crown Princess April 3, 2018. I've just discovered that the ship is in dry dock for 10 days before the cruise.

 

I've seen a number of complaints and warnings about post-dry dock cruises, work still going on, stuff that was added or changed still having problems, etc.

We just got off the Crown last month. Our cruise was not after dry dock. But there were ongoing works during the voyage. Area was isolated. We were not bothered and still enjoyed the cruise.

[jasbo49]

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I think the 10-day period indicates it's a pretty routine dry dock, so I guess we'd be unlikely to have a lot of trouble.

 

Jim

[pablo222]

We were on the Royal last fall after a major dry dock in Sicily. The workers were still on board during the first week of our TA voyage working on the midship stairway.

 

Carpenters from the ship were still working on it at the end of November when I was on board.