Sailing on a brand new ship, Pros and Cons?

[Lew Port]

What are the pros and cons of sailing on a brand new ship ?

It seems every year a new ship is being launched by several cruise lines.

If you have sailed on a ship in its first year of operation, what are the pros and cons? What did you like and what did you not like.?

Kind of like the first year of a new car model..

 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts

[LHT28]

We were on the 3rd sailing of anew ship

Cons

the off gassing of the carpet & furniture was awful when in the cabin

Pros

the ships still looked beautiful & people had not trashed the cabins yet

 

First few sailing are still working things out so sometimes the 1 st sailing can be a lot different as they will have many new crew member still finding their way around the ship

JMO

[SantaFeFan]

No pros or cons, per se. Just the excitement of something new. I get a similar feeling when on a class of ship for the first time, regardless of how long it has been in service.

 

We cruised the Med on Celebrity Reflection on her 2nd cruise. The itinerary and timing were why we chose her for that particular cruise. The company had taken ownership of her just nine days before, and there was a short cruise that was only half full to get her to our boarding port. Then it was our turn.

 

When boarding I couldn't help but enjoy that "new ship smell". It was mostly a hint of new paint, with overtones of fabric smells, such as carpet and upholstery. And not a scratch, a stain, or a patch of rust anywhere. And everything worked perfectly. And the crew were very good even though they had been on the ship for only a few days.

 

Based on that experience, I wouldn't hesitate to book on a brand new ship - even one just a few days old. But I wouldn't go out of my way to be the first just for being first.

 

Oh, perhaps a pro would be being on a ship that I had followed closely from the very first weld to the hand-off ceremony. Watching it go together, from just a pile of steel, to assembled blocks, to the blocks being fitted together, to painting, to sea trials, and finally the hand-off ceremony, was almost as much fun as being on her.

Edited August 26, 2017 by SantaFeFan

[rkacruiser]

I sailed on the Zaandam on a very early sailing after entering service, maybe voyage numbers 5 or 6. Nothing was amiss and it was "fun" knowing my friends and I were among her early guests during her career.

 

There have been reports from some on maiden or early voyages where problems did exist, either in the mechanical, technical, or service areas. If one chooses to book such a cruise, be prepared to make "lemonade if some lemons" are experienced if problems arise.

[Keith1010]

I don't see pros or cons.

 

Now if it is the inaugural cruise the pro is you are the first one to break in the ship but the con is that if the ship is delayed your cruise is cancelled.

 

Keith

[champagne123]

Have sailed 4 new ships in the first year. All mega ships. The Oasis...Allure....Breakaway...and Anthem. It was all about the excitement of a new ship and all worth it 😎

[marco]

Same as above poster. No pros or cons. However.... if you book a maiden sailing it could delayed or canx. A LONG time ago, we were supposed to be on the maiden sailing out of NY of the new "Norway". The ship had problems, cruise was canx, so we were offered any cruise on it within the next year for 1/2 brochure rate. (and that was a time when the brochure rate was the actual price and not fiction)

[BlueRiband]

The pro would be bragging rights on being among the first. You'll become the sage of those who want to know what the experience was like.

 

The con is the level of service which will be haphazard as the crew has not yet learned the ship or had time to develop a routine. I saw this last year when sailing immediately after a major refit. The crew had been off their service mode for over a month and had to learn some new dining room configurations.

[cruisemom42]

Having read reviews on new ships for years, I would not personally sail on a new ship (and especially if it is a new "class" of ship) for the first 6 months.

 

Too much likelihood of things not running smoothly. Especially dining room service seems to suffer in speed and in quality of food until everyone learns the ins and outs of the new ship.

[SantaFeFan]

Having read reviews on new ships for years, I would not personally sail on a new ship (and especially if it is a new "class" of ship) for the first 6 months.

 

Too much likelihood of things not running smoothly. Especially dining room service seems to suffer in speed and in quality of food until everyone learns the ins and outs of the new ship.

 

Perhaps is was because the Celebrity Reflection was the fifth of a class of ships, but even though she was brand new, the service levels and quality of the food and dining, as well as all other services, was as excellent as on all other Celebrity cruises I have been on. She was run so smoothly that a person might never have known she was barely two weeks old. The ship also seemed to be operating perfectly. It could be because of the excellent reputation of the shipyard (Meyer Werft in Germany) that built her that contributed to the non-existent (at least to us) problems.

 

The captain did say in a Q&A session that whenever a new ship goes online the best people from across the fleet are transferred to it to ensure that everything goes smoothly. I suspect that all cruise lines take a similar tactic. That makes complete sense, because a disastrous launch would be devastating to a cruise line's reputation.

Edited August 27, 2017 by SantaFeFan

[easyboy]

We have sailed on 2 new ships, though not on its inaugural sailing. It just gave us excitement on being one of the first to sail on it. There may have been some negatives for some but we did not notice them.

 

 

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[pris993]

We have cruised mostly new ships over the past 30 years, the con I see is do not go on board til ship is in service at least 6 months... we did the first cruise on the Grand Princess in l998, out of Istanbul. It was suppose to be the 3rd cruise, ship was delivered late, so we were on the first cruise... cruise line still laying carpet in some areas.... what we noticed is service in the MDR was not that great... team had not gotten their act together... from that point on we waited til ship is in service at least 6 months... still very new and exciting.

[pris993]

Perhaps is was because the Celebrity Reflection was the fifth of a class of ships, but even though she was brand new, the service levels and quality of the food and dining, as well as all other services, was as excellent as on all other Celebrity cruises I have been on. She was run so smoothly that a person might never have known she was barely two weeks old. The ship also seemed to be operating perfectly. It could be because of the excellent reputation of the shipyard (Meyer Werft in Germany) that built her that contributed to the non-existent (at least to us) problems.

 

The captain did say in a Q&A session that whenever a new ship goes online the best people from across the fleet are transferred to it to ensure that everything goes smoothly. I suspect that all cruise lines take a similar tactic. That makes complete sense, because a disastrous launch would be devastating to a cruise line's reputation.

 

You were lucky... we have cruised on the Equinox, Eclipse and the Silhouette when they were fairly new... more than 6 months... we did not feel these Celebrity ships were up to our expectations... after 6 nights out of 11 on the Equinox we decided to skip the MDR because food and service not that enjoyable... did the buffet rest of the cruise. Celebrity has an excellent buffet, so never missed the MDR. On the Eclipse we tried BLU, okay not outstanding... on the Silhouette we went back to the buffet. As I say the buffet on Celebrity is very good, only negative is menu same every day.

 

Have not gone on the Reflection... have decided we prefer Princess, HAL and Cunard to Celebrity. Will be on the HAL New Standendam in 2019... going on the Royal Princess, first time on this new class of ship, similar to Celebrity will see what we think of it.