Sail the week before dry dock or not???

[Staceyk1908]

Quick question. Brand new to cruising and we have a 7 day cruise booked on the POA for the week of Apr 18-25th 2020. Just found out this is the week before the ship goes into dry dock. My question is would you cruise the week before or no? I know it’s a subjective question but I’m just seeing what others personal opinions are. I’ve never cruised before so I’m feeling a little out of my element here. 

Thanks everyone. 🙂 

[TPgal]

NCL has a recent history of changing the dates of the dry dock and impacting a scheduled cruise.   It may not have been their choice, but it was still disappointing to the folks who posted about it.

 

If you have a choice of dates, it would be less risky to avoid the dry dock bookends.   However, any cruise can be disrupted for any reason so there is no guarantee, which is why good most will strongly recommend good travel insurance.

 

- Aloha

[KeithJenner]

It depends.

 

We are booked on a cruise this winter that is the week before a dry dock. It has been shortened by a day, which I always saw as likely, but is certainly disappointing to some people.

 

On the positive side, we have been offered a good deal (pro-rated fare and a hotel for the lost night). On the negative side, they have messed up the calculations and I am still waiting for it all to be corrected.

 

Perhaps the bigger concern for many people is disruption that can be caused by them starting the work early. Again, I am prepared for this (and I think we are relatively safe because of Christmas), but it has caused problems to people in the past.

 

I would be rather concerned for you as it is your first cruise. I am willing to deal with some disruptions and am still confident that we will have fun (it's Christmas and we know our way around the ship having sailed on it 5 times before), but on a first cruise you probably won't be as able to work round any issues.

[Cruiser_1977]

Yes, I've done it. I was on the Carnival Fantasy Jan 3-7, 2019 and she went immediately (January 7-20) into dry dock. It didn't impact my cruise at all.

[ColeThornton]

Definitely not.   Although I've never been in this situation I have read many times on this forum how the contractors quite often start working on the ship while it is out at sea the week before dry dock.

[MCC retired]

Been on several cruise before drydock sailings on a couple different cruise lines .

Everyone had contractors onboard doing preliminary work which often involved blocking off small areas .

Unless I was getting a very good deal on that pre drydock sailing (which I was then) I would book a couple weeks after drydock 

and enjoy the new stuff.

[mugtech]

Read about the cruises before the recent drydocks of the Sun and Getaway.  Better off avoiding the weeks before and the weeks afterwards, especially if flying and hotels are involved.

[BandBWCsmom]

4 hours ago, Staceyk1908 said:

Quick question. Brand new to cruising and we have a 7 day cruise booked on the POA for the week of Apr 18-25th 2020. Just found out this is the week before the ship goes into dry dock. My question is would you cruise the week before or no? I know it’s a subjective question but I’m just seeing what others personal opinions are. I’ve never cruised before so I’m feeling a little out of my element here. 

Thanks everyone. 🙂 

How did you find out about the dry docking? 

[drvmywifecrzy]

No way......pre work will 100% be going on and will impact your cruise

[casofilia]

We were on the Sun on the repositioning from Buenos Aires cruise to Los Angeles.  After we left Valparaiso there was work going on all over the ship at different times.   While not really annoying it did disturb the normal ambiance aboard.

Given the choice I would shy away from pre- or post dry dock weeks just in case.

 

However as @KeithJenner said the other problem is when NCL HAS to shorten the cruises.  That turns their world upside down and causes many problems to those cruising.

[Staceyk1908]

18 hours ago, BandBWCsmom said:

How did you find out about the dry docking? 

I’m a big lurker of travel forums and found out from this forum. 

Anyways I do appreciate all the replies. I’m leaning towards not cruising the week before and just wanted a feel from what other people thought seeing as I’ve never cruised in my life. 

Thanks again. 🙂 

[tomk3212]

In a word, "no".

 

We were on Getaway for the abbreviated TA cruise that was shortened from 12 days to 10 because of an earlier-than-planned drydock.  One of the senior officers explained to me during this cruise that if the dry docking facility can take the ship earlier than the scheduled date then NCL must bring the ship in earlier.  Apparently there are VERY large financial stakes involved also.  So if the dry dock where PoA is scheduled becomes available earlier you may find YOUR cruise cut short or cancelled entirely.

 

Also as several others have pointed out the crew will be in major drydock prep mode.  On Getaway, for example, about 1/3 of Deck 7 was closed off for this prep work.  There were doubtless other tasks being performed BTS; point being that many  crew members will be doing tasks related to the drydock AND their regular duties so you may not get the same level of service.  No criticism of the crew intended!  My point is they'll be MUCH busier than usual.

 

IMHO I would schedule your cruise WELL after PoA comes out of dry dock/refurbishment.  This way you'll get a NEW ship plus you won't have to worry about your cruise being cut short or cancelled.  In any case, I hope you have a great cruise!

[jingle5616]

Unless the price is free, don't do it.  They will be tearing up the ship the week before and perhaps the weeks after the ship hits dry dock.  Been there done that......twice.

 

[Granny DI]

Been there done that.....NO!

 

We were on the cruise right after the last POA dry dock in SF. Dry dock was supposed to be done in HNL but the Navy needed the facility so was changed to SF. Cruise was shortened, contractors all over the ship and spa closed the entire time.  We knew this was a possibility but the cruise was cheap.

[david_sobe]

Hopefully NCL learned a lesson when they got flamed for starting a dry dock early on the Sun during that Panama Canal cruise fiasco.  That was insane and if my memory is correct they all got substantial compensation but not until videos of the construction zones around passengers were posted.  I remember the captain was under attack at a meet and greet and had to leave early.  

I have heard that first sailings after a dry dock are sort of not perfect either

Edited September 14, 2019 by david_sobe