Explorer drydock postponed

[NanciRDH]

My daughter is crew on EX, got this text from her this am...

 

Our dry dock was canceled as of last night. We will port in miami on the 15th - the 18th (in and out not over night) and for the remaining time we were supposed to be in france we will be floating around Freeport. Docking when it's free. Ship is hoping everything changes by may and we will sail to europe for cruises without enhancements

[little britain]

[NateUpNorth]

I understand they may not want to spend the money now....... but also feel like if they think they will continue to be a viable business going forward they should be using this time to perform the upgrades so they have something to "sell" going forward when this all clears up.......

[SConnolly]

16 minutes ago, NateUpNorth said:

I understand they may not want to spend the money now....... but also feel like if they think they will continue to be a viable business going forward they should be using this time to perform the upgrades so they have something to "sell" going forward when this all clears up.......

They may also have staffing issues at the docks as a large portion of Europe is on lockdown.  Just a thought. 

[NateUpNorth]

28 minutes ago, SConnolly said:

They may also have staffing issues at the docks as a large portion of Europe is on lockdown.  Just a thought. 

 

Excellent point I hadn't considered.

I wonder if they'll do the European season and then bring it back early to drydock it then.

[twangster]

Debarked Allure this morning.  Some crew claimed that many contractors who were expected to board today won’t be boarding after all.  Imagine EX shipyard may have cancelled it due to labor shortages.  

[Alessio_G]

i should be working on the drydock. warehouse in Brest started receiving cargoes for the DD. however RCCL announced "no italians on board" couple weeks ago. since the vendors are preparing at least couple of month for the projects and there are always italian vendors / workers that do pretty big amount of work - it sounded weird.
then y-day they said Brest port is closing for the ships so they move drydock to Belfast, Northern Ireland. then couple of hours later they cancelled the DD at all..  

[GetToLivin]

55 minutes ago, twangster said:

Debarked Allure this morning.  Some crew claimed that many contractors who were expected to board today won’t be boarding after all.  Imagine EX shipyard may have cancelled it due to labor shortages.  

 

I've been reading the same info on IG, said Allure drydock has been canceled...wonder if that's what their announcement will be today. 

[agslc5]

2 minutes ago, GetToLivin said:

 

I've been reading the same info on IG, said Allure drydock has been canceled...wonder if that's what their announcement will be today. 

Thats interesting I heard the opposite that Allure dry dock was going forward

[GetToLivin]

Just now, agslc5 said:

Thats interesting I heard the opposite that Allure dry dock was going forward

 

I think there's just too many rumors swirling personally, but that's what happens in times like these 🤦🏼‍♀️

[Biker19]

5 minutes ago, GetToLivin said:

 

I've been reading the same info on IG, said Allure drydock has been canceled...wonder if that's what their announcement will be today. 

The AMP part of the dry dock may be cancelled, but they can't cancel the required technical/marine portion of it.

[A&L_Ont]

2 hours ago, SConnolly said:

They may also have staffing issues at the docks as a large portion of Europe is on lockdown.  Just a thought. 

 

Agreed 100%.

 

16 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

The AMP part of the dry dock may be cancelled, but they can't cancel the required technical/marine portion of it.

 

The AMP "parts" are most likely sitting in Cadiz already waiting for the ship arrive, unless they are sitting in Europe somewhere, waiting to be shipped thanks to Covid delay.  I honestly can't see that part of dry dock not being done when the ship eventually enters the slip.

Edited March 13, 2020 by A&L_Ont

[Biker19]

3 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

The AMP "parts" are most likely sitting in Cadiz already waiting for the ship arrive, unless they are sitting in Europe somewhere, waiting to be shipped thanks to Covid delay.  I honestly can't see that part of dry dock not being done when the ship eventually enters the slip.

Unless RCI already paid for the whole AMP dry dock and parts, they seem to be pretty desperate for cash and may skip all that stuff.

[dswallow]

3 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Unless RCI already paid for the whole AMP dry dock and parts, they seem to be pretty desperate for cash and may skip all that stuff.

 

On the other hand, if the ship doesn't get AMPed many people who booked things like Barcelona and the transatlantic back to the US, expecting the AMPed experience, may simply cancel.

[Biker19]

Just now, dswallow said:

 

On the other hand, if the ship doesn't get AMPed many people who booked things like Barcelona and the transatlantic back to the US, expecting the AMPed experience, may simply cancel.

Many of those folks are likely booked after the generous cancellation policy currently in place (up till 7/31) - other than a few folks on CC, many will not even know she didn't get AMPed.

[Funbobby68]

Booked on explorer for November, disappointing but understandable, no intention of canceling though 

[sellwingri]

18 hours ago, Funbobby68 said:

Booked on explorer for November, disappointing but understandable, no intention of canceling though 

I’m with you.  As long as they don’t cancel our October Mediterranean cruise, I don’t care if it’s not updated.  All I think we’ll miss is the laser tag.

[vacationlover_mn]

Thanks for sharing!  We are still hoping to try Explorer next winter, but bummed that it won’t be amped 😞

[dramaqueenjan]

I'm booked for January.  We  booked because we believed the ship would be amplified.  We will have 6 children total and definitely needed the day care center for a one year old.That was to be added. I'm wondering if they will waive the penalty and change fees to change our group booking to a different ship??

Edited March 15, 2020 by dramaqueenjan
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[HSVcruiser01]

Glad we canceled !

[Saab4444]

Very happy so we might be able to book her again without ugly waterslides, no more cabins and still the nice peek-a-boo outside deck!

[Billy Baltic]

For a while now people have been mentioning how ‘tired’ the ship looked and that the refurb was badly needed. Will they replace the carpets, fogged up windows, re-finish pools etc, etc. 

It’s one thing not adding slides (Still very disappointing for our kids) but surely they’ll take care of the basics. 

[livylotte]

Having sailed on Explorer last year, I would say that for all kinds of reasons she is one ship that most definitely NEEDS a refit.  For the right price I would sail on her without.

 

Allure needs nothing.

 

 

[MADflyer]

Explorer destination changed to Freeport when the ship docked now at Miami. 

 

A refresh and an amplification are certainly 2 different things. It is only in Royal Caribbeans interest to keep the ships well maintained, but under a time of crisis to make expensive capital investments is probably not a good idea. 

 

I do not think they are going to need the 'capacity' of all those added cabins for a while now. 

[LXA350]

Th mandatory dry dock for mechanical work will need to be done anyhow. The expensive work will be the changes to the structure of th ship for adding additional cabins etc. But given all the negative feedback on how bad the ship is in place, they at least need to get such work done. Hence I hope they will at least invest USD 20 Million to get the ship back in shape and like this they will also not ending up more negative feedback of the ship which would result in further cancelations.