Navigator now confirmed in California

[ch09]

1 minute ago, Coralc said:

 

It will be interesting to see how it goes. I'm not ready to predict either way. And I wonder where they will do the drydock? Bahamas or San Francisco? (I think it was Radiance that had a drydock in SF) 

The Bahamas dry dock is still offline from the Oasis crane accident. Likely it will take place either at a dry dock somewhere on the East Coast USA or more likely Cadiz, Spain based on the current schedule. It cannot get into Portland due to bridge restrictions, which is what cruise lines on the West Coast now like to use to dry dock their ships.

[Coralc]

1 minute ago, ch09 said:

Yes. This is due to the type of cruise line that Royal Caribbean normally caters to. If the Navigator was part of Celebrity or Princess. there would be a repositioning cruise.

Not really. In normal times there would be a repositioning cruise on Royal Caribbean. They have done them previously. The limitation for doing one now, is the CDC and the CSO which limits cruises to 7 days. 

[Coralc]

Just now, ch09 said:

The Bahamas dry dock is still offline from the Oasis crane accident. Likely it will take place either at a dry dock somewhere on the East Coast USA or more likely Cadiz, Spain based on the current schedule. It cannot get into Portland due to bridge restrictions, which is what cruise lines on the West Coast now like to use to dry dock their ships.

The Bahamas drydock facility can still take smaller ships, just not Oasis class. Where are you coming up with this stuff? 

[ch09]

3 minutes ago, Coralc said:

The Bahamas drydock facility can still take smaller ships, just not Oasis class. Where are you coming up with this stuff? 

When the Vista had its propulsion issues, Carnival had to get a floating dry dock for it. The Vista is smaller than the Navigator, so the remaining dry dock facility cannot service it. It can service Radiance class ships, but nothing bigger than that.

Edited April 8, 2021 by ch09

[Cruise Wonderland]

Even if cruising can resume in US in October, but if there is still the rule of "only itineraries of not more than 7 days", it is not likely to have a reposition cruise with passengers, no matter which route (Cape Horn vs Panama Canal) it sails.

[Tree_skier]

19 minutes ago, mpdp said:

So do you think the Nv will transit without guests?  I hope RC gets plenty of bookings to show that the L.A. will support RC.  

I'll do my my part.

[Coralc]

12 minutes ago, ch09 said:

When the Vista broke down, Carnival had to get a floating dry dock for it. The Vista is smaller than the Navigator. This issue still has not been fixed.

 

Okay. If you say so, but they are not sailing Navigator all the way to Cadiz for a shoreside electrical connection fix. I don't think they even need a floating drydock for it. 

(Really long extension cord? ) 

Edited April 8, 2021 by Coralc

[Ashland]

Just now, Tree_skier said:

I'll do my my part.

I'll also do my part if when/they offer a 7 night.

[ch09]

1 minute ago, Coralc said:

 

Okay. If you say so, but they are not sailing Navigator all the way to Cadiz for a shoreside electrical connection fix. I don't think they even need a floating drydock for it. 

They would have to find a dry dock facility in the Eastern US either in Mobile or Norfolk, which the US Navy has priority access and is more expensive to dry dock a ship. They used to use the Virginia dry dock back in the 1990's before Grand Bahama facility came online.  I know they are building a facility in Trinidad and Progresso that can take such a ship, but these dry dock facilities still years from coming online. 

[Coralc]

1 minute ago, ch09 said:

They would have to find a dry dock facility in the Eastern US either in Mobile or Norfolk, which the US Navy has priority access and is more expensive to dry dock a ship. They used to use the Virginia dry dock back in the 1990's before Grand Bahama facility came online.  I know they are building a facility in Trinidad and Progresso that can take such a ship, but these dry dock facilities still years from coming online. 

Why do you think they would have to do it on the East Coast? Your speculation is interesting, but I also think it is inaccurate. I am kind of excited to see how it plays out since we live in CALIFORNIA. 

[ch09]

13 minutes ago, Coralc said:

Why do you think they would have to do it on the East Coast? Your speculation is interesting, but I also think it is inaccurate. I am kind of excited to see how it plays out since we live in CALIFORNIA. 

Cruise Lines tend to use the same dry dock facilities that they use to dry dock their ships either through owning part of the shipyard like Freeport or Cadiz where they send all of their ships to in Europe. Cadiz is the closest one that meets that criteria. They use Singapore for the Pacific side, but they will not send it over there. San Francisco can dry dock the Navigator and will for future dry docks. However, Royal will probably want to get this done before cruises resume, so that rules out that facility.

Edited April 8, 2021 by ch09

[crilski]

27 minutes ago, Ashland said:

I'll also do my part if when/they offer a 7 night.

I agree.  Even though I am on the West Coast - not extremely interested in 3 & 4 day cruises.  I'm ready to do b2b2b - but not a party boat each cruise.   7 day cruises PLEASE!

 

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, ch09 said:

Yes. This is due to the type of cruise line that Royal Caribbean normally caters to. If the Navigator was part of Celebrity or Princess. there would be a repositioning cruise.

It more likely has to do with the timing.  If she’s sailing in LA in Nov that means she’s leaving in September (if she’s going around the Horn) which is in violation of the CDC guidelines, hence the non revenue sailing. 

[Biker19]

6 hours ago, ch09 said:

When the Vista had its propulsion issues, Carnival had to get a floating dry dock for it. The Vista is smaller than the Navigator, so the remaining dry dock facility cannot service it. It can service Radiance class ships, but nothing bigger than that.

I think some Voyager class ship had some work done at that facility since the Oasis incident.

Edited April 8, 2021 by Biker19

[twangster]

I don't think the Grand Bahama Shipyard was completely shut down but losing some dry docking capacity forced them to choose which ships could get work done with the facilities that were still in service.  They do work on many different types of ships and had contracts into the future.  There are a lot more non-cruise ships out there getting work done at facilities like this.

 

Some ships remained on the calendar, some ships, like Vista, had to make other arrangements.  

[ch09]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

I don't think the Grand Bahama Shipyard was completely shut down but losing some dry docking capacity forced them to choose which ships could get work done with the facilities that were still in service.  They do work on many different types of ships and had contracts into the future.  There are a lot more non-cruise ships out there getting work done at facilities like this.

 

Some ships remained on the calendar, some ships, like Vista, had to make other arrangements.  

Grand Bahama Shipyard is operating at only 25 percent capacity. The dry dock that the bigger ships used to use was declared a total loss and had to be scrapped. Royal could use a floating dry dock like Carnival did, but that was only used once. In order to install the shorepower system, the ship has to be taken out of the water. The Navigator is due for its drydock next year, so that will also get done.

[ch09]

4 hours ago, Biker19 said:

I think some Voyager class ship had some work done at that facility since the Oasis incident.

It could have had wet dock work done, which does not require taking the ship out of the water. The Oasis did go to  Freeport for a propulsion issue, prior the crane incident.The ship  was not taken out of the water. 

[twangster]

4 minutes ago, ch09 said:

In order to install the shorepower system, the ship has to be taken out of the water. 

 

Why?  Do they need to cut holes in the hull for insertion of equipment?

 

I didn't think the transformers were that large.

[ch09]

2 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

Why?  Do they need to cut holes in the hull for insertion of equipment?

 

I didn't think the transformers were that large.

Yes a hole must be cut to get it into the ship. A new door also has to be created to plug in the ship. 

[Blizzard54]

14 hours ago, Coralc said:

 

It will be interesting to see how it goes. I'm not ready to predict either way. And I wonder where they will do the drydock? Bahamas or San Francisco? (I think it was Radiance that had a drydock in SF) 

Not sure about the Radiance but I know the Vision did a drydock in SF, January 2006. 

[Blizzard54]

Since all connections are done above the waterline, I would expect that the work could be done at a wet dock.  That opens up a lot of possible locations. 

[ch09]

1 hour ago, Blizzard54 said:

Since all connections are done above the waterline, I would expect that the work could be done at a wet dock.  That opens up a lot of possible locations. 

The Navigator is due for a dry dock next year.

Edited April 8, 2021 by ch09

[pcur]

16 hours ago, crilski said:

I agree.  Even though I am on the West Coast - not extremely interested in 3 & 4 day cruises.  I'm ready to do b2b2b - but not a party boat each cruise.   7 day cruises PLEASE!

 

We have booked b2b cruises on several ships with short itineraries.  Sometimes they are different ports.  We did this on the Majesty, Jewel, Adventure, and other repositioning itineraries where we added either the last cruise before, or the first cruise after; sometimes both for a 3-fer.  Never repeat a port if you start out in Europe and end up in the Caribbean.  That's why I hope they do have a Panama Canal repositioning cruise, because usually they start with the 3 and 4 day cruises at the new home port.  It's makes for a really great longer cruise if you don't mind the turnaround days.

 

We just tell our cabin steward to ignore us on turnaround day, and put extra towels in the night before. 

[atanac]

1 hour ago, pcur said:

 That's why I hope they do have a Panama Canal repositioning cruise...

Read ch09 post #222 where I quote:

 

"While the Navigator can fit in the new locks, it cannot travel under the Bridge of Americas on the Pacific side. As a result, it will have to make the long trip down to South America to get to the Pacific Ocean."

 

If that's accurate then a full transit to California isn't possible. I was excited at the prospect of booking a repositioning cruise from Florida thru the canal and onward to Cali but alas...

[WeMissSeaView]

3 hours ago, atanac said:

Read ch09 post #222 where I quote:

 

"While the Navigator can fit in the new locks, it cannot travel under the Bridge of Americas on the Pacific side. As a result, it will have to make the long trip down to South America to get to the Pacific Ocean."

 

If that's accurate then a full transit to California isn't possible. I was excited at the prospect of booking a repositioning cruise from Florida thru the canal and onward to Cali but alas...

Bridge of America is 201” clearance.  Navigator is 208” from waterline to the top of the funnels.  Bridge of Americas was built in 1959 when ships were not that tall.  Navigator can not use the canal.  However, Navigator will fit under the Golden Gate Bridge and can dock in San Francisco.