Drydock - May 2020?

[AllisonJames]

From this board I know a drydock is planned and one renovation is removing the aft staterooms, however, I couldn’t find any other specifics and there’s no mention of it on the website.  Anyone have more info?

[Tahitianbigkahuna]

Ship Refurbishments

• New furniture
• Refurbishments of the staterooms and suites
• Modifications/refurbishment of the public spaces
• Environmental upgrades including advanced water treatment and energy efficiency systems
• Steel work
• Deck and engine upgrades
• General preventative maintenance
• Equipment replacement

[Trend]

Too bad they are not upgrading the closet size gym

[CAL7]

I wonder if upgraded to the Wi-Fi are planned. As an upscale cruise company, I expect Wi-Fi to be included. The only rationale I can come up with is that the facilities must be antiquated and unable to handle the traffic; hence price as a throttle to usage.

[Tahitianbigkahuna]

16 hours ago, CAL7 said:

I wonder if upgraded to the Wi-Fi are planned. As an upscale cruise company, I expect Wi-Fi to be included. The only rationale I can come up with is that the facilities must be antiquated and unable to handle the traffic; hence price as a throttle to usage.

 

I can't say what my or may not happen but until the last few years wifi has been very expensive in the South Pacific in places like French Polynesia. Recent competition has helped bring the prices down when your around any of the Society Islands. Who knows  .... we shall see.

[SWFLAOK]

On our September cruise from Papeete to Fiji, we had better Wi-Fi than we had on 2 Regent cruises last year (Med cruise in July, Singapore to Singapore and Singapore to Sydney in December and early January). Maybe it's due to having way more people using the internet on a ship with 650 to 725 passengers instead of 300 people. Being close to ports in the Med seemed to give no better response than being at sea. Being in port on the SE Asia/Australia cruise had better access than at sea, but still bogged down at peak times.

The cost of Wi-Fi isn't significant to us compared to the price of the cruise. But when paying extra gets you nothing better (as on Regent) that's annoying.

We're on the cruise toward drydock, and we're more worried about whether it will happen than whether the Wi-Fi will be upgraded.

 

[azdrydock]

Where are they doing the refurb?

 

I hope PG has contingency plans in case  of closed shipyards or material availability.

 

 

 

[suzschell]

I'm assuming that the drydock is in Bali, as that is where the time gap is on the itinerary. We are scheduled on the first cruise after that, on May 20th. They are converting the 5 aft cabins on deck 7 to 2 suites. We had been booked in one and have been moved to another cabin and will receive some shipboard credit. Not sure what the status will be, as our flight goes through Singapore, which is fine as of yesterday, as long as we don't have a temperature of over 100.4 upon boarding. I am mentally preparing for the possibility of cancellation. That would be preferable to being stuck at sea and denied entry to ports or in quarantine at the end if things change while we're aboard.

[SWFLAOK]

I don't think there are drydock facilities in Bali for cruise ships, but maybe that's not really needed.

In the past, drydock for the PG was in Singapore. After the passengers disembark in Bali, some crew members go home for vacation, and others stay onboard, prepping for drydock. They do things they never do normally, like rip up old carpeting. While in drydock, most of those crewmembers stay onboard,  where the AC doesn't work well while not in the water, and they put in new carpeting, and furniture. While out of the water, other work is done on the bottom and props by the drydock facility.
The question is whether they really need to go to drydock for what they need to do this year. The conversion of the aft cabins will be done by contractors who come onboard, but they wouldn't need to be out of the water for that. If they can delay any maintenance or repairs that require them to be out of the water, they may be able to wait for the drydock.

At this point, Singapore isn't necessarily a good airport to come through, but Bali could soon have the same problem. If you can get onboard, you may have trouble getting off and returning home without being quarantined, so we're keeping that in mind if we're able to complete our Fiji to Bali cruise before drydock. We were originally booked by PG to come back to the US through Hong Kong, and we rebooked through Sydney.

[azdrydock]

I was also able to find out that historically PG drydocks in Singapore. Also found out today that the AidaVita which was scheduled to drydock in Singapore later this month will now dry dock in Dubai.

 

Judging  by Tahitianbigkahuna earlier post and the length of time the ship is out of service this may also be a mandatory class  maintenance drydock.  It is unlikely the aft cabin conversions would be done with passengers on board at sea since this requires cutting steel and welding which are safety concerns. I believe NCL had a big problem  a few months ago with toxic fumes due to deck work they started at sea  prior to the scheduled drydock .

 

As far as what the crew does during the dry dock..... Since it is a good  time for training  there is a lot of lifeboat/tender practice that may end up  in races, Water slide evacuations may be also practiced several times as are on deck fire hose drills  All of the amenities get thoroughly tested. Usually depends on what the captain and port allow.

 

They are trying to get the mandatory health inspections done prior to the flights so,  if necessary, the quarantine would be at origination instead of destination..... hmmm two weeks in Tahiti vs two weeks in Nebraska🙂

 

 

[SWFLAOK]

2 hours ago, azdrydock said:

I was also able to find out that historically PG drydocks in Singapore. Also found out today that the AidaVita which was scheduled to drydock in Singapore later this month will now dry dock in Dubai.

 

Judging  by Tahitianbigkahuna earlier post and the length of time the ship is out of service this may also be a mandatory class  maintenance drydock.  It is unlikely the aft cabin conversions would be done with passengers on board at sea since this requires cutting steel and welding which are safety concerns. I believe NCL had a big problem  a few months ago with toxic fumes due to deck work they started at sea  prior to the scheduled drydock .

 

As far as what the crew does during the dry dock..... Since it is a good  time for training  there is a lot of lifeboat/tender practice that may end up  in races, Water slide evacuations may be also practiced several times as are on deck fire hose drills  All of the amenities get thoroughly tested. Usually depends on what the captain and port allow.

 

They are trying to get the mandatory health inspections done prior to the flights so,  if necessary, the quarantine would be at origination instead of destination..... hmmm two weeks in Tahiti vs two weeks in Nebraska🙂

 

 

Just to clarify, drydock means the ship is lifted out of the water to give access to the bottom from dry land. Doing lifeboat/tender practice and water slide evacuations would be quite painful while a ship is in drydock. Lifting a cruise ship out of the water isn't something that every port has the ability to do, but many things on the interior can be done at a shipyard that doesn't have the ability to lift a large ship out of the water, and only crew would be onboard, not guests. 

 

My description of what the crew does after the passengers leave the ship and it heads to drydock is based on our conversations with several crew members who have done it in the past. Crew members who stay onboard work very hard on the upgrades that we all get to enjoy on future cruises.

[azdrydock]

A ship is never lifted out of water. It is floated into a pen very similar to a lock on a river cruise. The water is pumped out and the ship is gently lowered onto a support structure,.

 

 There may be a mandatory inspection, hull cleaning, painting  and repairs that require dry access to the exterior hull. This only takes a few days Some refurbs, such as extending the ship (current Windstar dry dock) that require considerable time time. f there are no major modifications or repairs the ship is then floated out of the pen to a standard pier for completion.  

 

Once the ship is back in the water things that cannot be done while the ship is in service such as replacing fire control and evacuation components are completed.. The refurb can be know done using the ships internal environmental systems for the workers comfort. Emergency slides are sometimes required when  normal escape routes are blocked.

 

We tend to use the term dry dock for the entire period the ship is out of service not just when it is dry; my apologies if I led you to believe they were using the slides while the ship was dry..

 

There is usually a skeleton crew on board for safety, house keeping and training. They usually do not participate in the actual refurb.  I don't doubt they work hard but they have more fun time then the formal regiment of a cruise.

Google "what does a cruise ship crew during dry dock" for more info 

 

My nautical expertise is via crew members, Google and You Tube; same as my brain surgery expertise

 

btw...  I am on the  post dry dock cruise.

 

 

 

 

[SWFLAOK]

On 3/4/2020 at 9:01 PM, azdrydock said:

A ship is never lifted out of water. It is floated into a pen very similar to a lock on a river cruise. The water is pumped out and the ship is gently lowered onto a support structure,.

Actually, a floating drydock does lift the ship out of the water. The old style graving drydock is like a lock, with a door that opens and closes. A floating drydock floats on top of the water. Chambers are filled with water to sink it, the ship pulls in on top of it, then the water is pumped out of the chambers, raising the drydock, and lifting the ship out of the water.

They have 3 of these at the Grand Bahama Shipyard in Freeport. It's pretty spectacular to see a giant cruise ship out of the water.

[SWFLAOK]

Not only does the Bahamas use floating dry docks, but our Navy does as well. This is a photo we took while passing through Norfolk Va. on our boat.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I can confirm that the so-called drydock (whether in or out of the water), is (or was) scheduled for Singapore.  With the ship dead-heading there and back to the next port start (Bali?)

 

Interesting to see if this actually happens.  With the Cook's now closed to cruise ships, and Tonga before, and Bali doing intensive health checks on ships as we speak, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing gets cancelled.

[poolechick]

Wendy, in your experience...how far in advance would Ponant/PG cancel?

 

I ask because I'm scheduled for the March 28 voyage PPT to Fiji.

[eldaradoe]

On 3/4/2020 at 9:01 PM, azdrydock said:

A ship is never lifted out of water. It is floated into a pen very similar to a lock on a river cruise. The water is pumped out and the ship is gently lowered onto a support structure,.

 

 There may be a mandatory inspection, hull cleaning, painting  and repairs that require dry access to the exterior hull. This only takes a few days Some refurbs, such as extending the ship (current Windstar dry dock) that require considerable time time. f there are no major modifications or repairs the ship is then floated out of the pen to a standard pier for completion.  

 

Once the ship is back in the water things that cannot be done while the ship is in service such as replacing fire control and evacuation components are completed.. The refurb can be know done using the ships internal environmental systems for the workers comfort. Emergency slides are sometimes required when  normal escape routes are blocked.

 

We tend to use the term dry dock for the entire period the ship is out of service not just when it is dry; my apologies if I led you to believe they were using the slides while the ship was dry..

 

There is usually a skeleton crew on board for safety, house keeping and training. They usually do not participate in the actual refurb.  I don't doubt they work hard but they have more fun time then the formal regiment of a cruise.

Google "what does a cruise ship crew during dry dock" for more info 

 

My nautical expertise is via crew members, Google and You Tube; same as my brain surgery expertise

 

btw...  I am on the  post dry dock cruise.

 

 

 

 

Also....the crew (being the household and restaurant services) may not work as hard but their pay is reduced and they don't make any tjips since there are no guests....

 

[azdrydock]

1 hour ago, eldaradoe said:

Also....the crew (being the household and restaurant services) may not work as hard but their pay is reduced and they don't make any tjips since there are no guests....

 

The YouTube video posted was from an NCL Pride of America dry dock a few years ago and we were on the post dry dock cruise.  As soon as you asked about the dry dock the cell phones came out.

The discussion with crew members about what happens at dry dock  came up often. 

The contractors lived on the ship during the dry dock and  were far less demanding and better tippers then the passengers. The work schedules were more flexible there was less entertainment and more parties. 

Since the POA is a US flagged ship with a large contingent of US crew in the 18-25 year old range they  might have related the dry dock to spring break.

Edited March 7, 2020 by azdrydock

[azdrydock]

5 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

I can confirm that the so-called drydock (whether in or out of the water), is (or was) scheduled for Singapore.  With the ship dead-heading there and back to the next port start (Bali?)

 

Interesting to see if this actually happens.  With the Cook's now closed to cruise ships, and Tonga before, and Bali doing intensive health checks on ships as we speak, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing gets cancelled.

Depends on the reasons for the dry dock. If it is a class inspection or required maintenance, cancelling is unlikely. If they are allowed to postpone, they would still probably have the ship out of service during May since scheduling a new cruise at this late date and climate would be tough. They would have to reschedule soon probably causing several scheduled cruises being cancelled.

My guess.....if they have to rule Singapore out, they would look for another port, even if it means cancelling the pre or post cruise.

 

This is guess based on speculation and no facts.

[6467]

Coronavirus Covid-19 Alert 

Paul Gauguin 

 

We are booked on the Paul Gauguin May 20, 2020 from Bali to Fiji. As you all know the Paul Gauguin and Ponant has offered a cancellation policy to protect passengers both physically and financially,  however this cancellation policy does not apply to the May 20 Sailing from Bali to Fiji after the Paul Gauguin has undergone refitting.

 Passengers are unable to cancel and recover financially and may feel prompted to board the Paul Gauguin instead of staying home. If  you read Ponant’s pre-embarkation evaluation you will realize that they will likely miss members of the crew and passengers that are asymptomatically positive for Covid 19. This places other passengers and subsequent cruise passengers at risk at the termination of this voyage in Fiji June 6.

Airline travel to Bali from China did not stop until after February 5, 2020. Furthermore Indonesia and Bali does not have adequate Covid 19 facilities to test the population.
 

 

 

[Friscorays]

8 hours ago, 6467 said:

Coronavirus Covid-19 Alert 

Paul Gauguin 

 

We are booked on the Paul Gauguin May 20, 2020 from Bali to Fiji. As you all know the Paul Gauguin and Ponant has offered a cancellation policy to protect passengers both physically and financially,  however this cancellation policy does not apply to the May 20 Sailing from Bali to Fiji after the Paul Gauguin has undergone refitting.....

 

 

 

Imagine the reason for that is that the May 20 trip is a chartered cruise so the organization that chartered the ship would be the folks who determine that trips cancellation policy.

[SWFLAOK]

2 hours ago, Friscorays said:

Imagine the reason for that is that the May 20 trip is a chartered cruise so the organization that chartered the ship would be the folks who determine that trips cancellation policy.

We're booked on the cruise before dry dock, Fiji to Bali on April 11th. When we called yesterday morning, they offered us a future cruise credit minus 10% for late cancellation. We're also on the hook for our flight home since they refused to reroute us through Australia rather than Hong Kong on our way home.

Hopefully the company who set up the charter will be able to get something out of them, or has some type of insurance coverage.

[Friscorays]

3 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

We're booked on the cruise before dry dock, Fiji to Bali on April 11th. When we called yesterday morning, they offered us a future cruise credit minus 10% for late cancellation....

 

10% represents a significant discount from the usual cancellation fee.  Additionally, I believe Paul Gauguin is offering a voucher in amount of 10% cancellation fee good toward any cruise through 2021 for those that cancelled 31 days prior to sailing.

 

Unfortunately by my math, March 12 to April 11 is only 30 days.  

[SWFLAOK]

We had been planning to take a chance and go, but then we received a dire sounding e-mail from PG cruises on March 11th, that mentioned more lenient cancellation fees, and on the PG website we found this:

 

March 12, 2020, Update

We were informed overnight that the French State and French Polynesian authorities have decided to suspend all cruise calls in French Polynesia until April 11, 2020. We will be communicating throughout the day with our travel advisors and guests booked on affected sailings and will be sending out notices and updating our travel advisory as our plans are introduced.

 

At 6 AM Pacific time on March 12 we were able to speak to a PG rep. She was not pleasant to deal with. Maybe she's not a morning person, but she told us we would get a future cruise credit for 90% of the cruise only fare, and it needed to be used by the end of 2021. She said the airfare and pre and post hotels were out of their hands, and there was no cruise credit for them.

Our TA spoke to them today, and we offered to rebook for 2021 rather than cancel, but they're sticking to the no credit for airfare or hotels. We can't negotiate with the airline or hotels on our own since PG cruises booked them. They were booked at a much higher price than we could have booked them on our own. But we mistakenly thought that they would be handled as one package if we booked them through the cruiseline.

 

In that March 12 update, there is this statement:  "We will be communicating throughout the day with our travel advisors and guests booked on affected sailings and will be sending out notices and updating our travel advisory as our plans are introduced."

Since neither we, nor our travel advisor has heard anything, we can only assume that only cruises prior to April 11th are affected,  which would only be the current cruise, a cruise that I assume is a charter between the current cruise and the March

28th to Fiji, and the March 28th cruise itself that brings the ship to Fiji. If the March 28th cruise is affected, will it still end up in Fiji on March 28th?

 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Wait, I'm confused.  Was your cruise cancelled by PG?  In that case don't you get a 100% refund?