Cruising before a refit.

[Jonem2001]

1 hour ago, molecrochip said:

….although on her sister ships Royal and Regal they upgraded the midship stairs to passenger use. Not a problem on Sky Princess as she's already built that way.

How interesting. One of the differences I found puzzling between Regal and Britannia was the midship stair omission on Britannia - is that how early Royal Classes were originally launched? 
 

A shame Britannia has never had the same upgrade if so.

[molecrochip]

21 hours ago, Jonem2001 said:

How interesting. One of the differences I found puzzling between Regal and Britannia was the midship stair omission on Britannia - is that how early Royal Classes were originally launched? 
 

A shame Britannia has never had the same upgrade if so.

Yes, Royal, Regal and Britannia were built with no public midships stairs. They are there but for crew use, therefore within the secure area of the ship.

 

Princess paid to convert the stairs and surrounding areas back to public use at their first dry dock. P&O decided to keep them as they were, instead prioritising the reworking of the ground floor in the atrium. Never say never, maybe it will happen in her next dry dock from 5 to 21 April 2024 - although I'd rather they spent the money on introducing medallion.

 

 

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, molecrochip said:

although I'd rather they spent the money on introducing medallion

Surely a bit late for that ?

Why on earth did not P&O install the Medallion on Iona and Ariva ? Surely it is better to implement new technology on new builds, rather than retrofit on a 10 year old ship ?

[Ardennais]

2 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Surely a bit late for that ?

Why on earth did not P&O install the Medallion on Iona and Ariva ? Surely it is better to implement new technology on new builds, rather than retrofit on a 10 year old ship ?

I was thinking the same thing! Actually, the Medallion would be low on my list of improvements to be honest. 

[wowzz]

10 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

I was thinking the same thing! Actually, the Medallion would be low on my list of improvements to be honest. 

I quite like the Medallion (not the app which is totally different).

I get a slight frisson everytime a waiter, bar tender etc calls me by my name when they have never seen me before !

Simple pleasures amuse me !

 

[Eglesbrech]

I like the medallion. I find it very practical and far easier than having to carry a card around. Not having to rummage around in a bag or pockets to get a card is convenient and it’s much more discrete to have it in a bracelet than walking around with a card on a lanyard which is the other alternative.

 

And of course the door unlocks for you, great when carrying plunder from a port or indeed wine.

 

I’m with Wozz on this one, it makes small differences but you notice them when you have to go back to a card.

[david63]

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

Why on earth did not P&O install the Medallion on Iona and Ariva ?

I am sure that I read somewhere that the wiring for Medallion is installed on Iona, and probably will be on Arvia, but it was not installed as at the time Iona was being built there were issues with Medallion - but I may be wrong

[wowzz]

30 minutes ago, david63 said:

I am sure that I read somewhere that the wiring for Medallion is installed on Iona, and probably will be on Arvia, but it was not installed as at the time Iona was being built there were issues with Medallion - but I may be wrong

That would make sense. Perhaps Moley knows ?

I'm not aware of any initial issues with the Medallion, although obviously the app is a different matter.

[Ardennais]

4 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

I like the medallion. I find it very practical and far easier than having to carry a card around. Not having to rummage around in a bag or pockets to get a card is convenient and it’s much more discrete to have it in a bracelet than walking around with a card on a lanyard which is the other alternative.

 

And of course the door unlocks for you, great when carrying plunder from a port or indeed wine.

 

I’m with Wozz on this one, it makes small differences but you notice them when you have to go back to a card.

It was handy, I admit - not rummaging for the card! But I could do without the app itself which kept logging out and behaving oddly. So it still wouldn’t be high on my list of priorities! 

[wowzz]

18 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

It was handy, I admit - not rummaging for the card! But I could do without the app itself which kept logging out and behaving oddly. So it still wouldn’t be high on my list of priorities! 

We never bother with the app once on board. The phone goes in the safe, unless we are going ashore.

[Jazzytelly]

Yes it is handy not having to rummage for a card but as you say the app is a different matter. What a palaver a few months ago when they were obviously upgrading or something but didn’t think to tell anyone. We were going from green lane to yellow and back again and again. All our dining was disappearing or changing. A few days later it sorted itself out, but this happened a few times.We could only conclude they were doing something in the background but a simple note on the app saying this similar to notifications you get from your bank would have been handy and would have stopped all the panicking on social media, one couple even cancelled their cruise because they thought they wouldn’t be able to get to grips with it. 

[molecrochip]

This is a lot to do with ship lead times. The first Princess ship to be built with Medallion was Majestic Princess, the fourth in class. However this was more of a retrofit pre-delivery than installed as default. Sky Princess was the first to have it wired as default. (You'll notice that Sky, Enchanted and Discovery have certain other subtle differences to the early Royal class ships).

 

Royal and Regal were retrofitted along with the other ships in the Princess fleet. These were ships built by Fincantieri for Princess. Princess paid for the Medallion project.

 

Now that the entire Princess fleet is running on Medallion, its available for other brands to install. However due to ship lead times, this was too late for the entire Excel class to be built with it - especially as they are being built by a different ship builder, Meyer Werft.

 

I expect that if P&O is set to adopt it, we will see it arrive first on Britannia during its refit in 2024.  Iona is then due her warranty refit in late 2024/25.  That time scale also fits with my view that P&O may then get a medallion ready ship transferred from Princess in 2025 to replace Arcadia/Aurora.

 

When it comes to refits, P&O have a pot of money and it depends upon what else is seen as a priority.

[P&O SUE]

I’m glad the cruise before a refit is getting the vote ahead of a cruise after as I’ve been watching the prices on Ventura’s four night cruise in February but was put off a bit when I realised it was the cruise before the refit!

[snaefell]

We were on Royal Caribbs Quantum Of The Seas in October 2019,we sailed from China to Singapore where she went into drydock for a 5 year refit,quite astonished as she looked absolutely immaculate pretty much everywhere,a bit different to Britannia,we sailed on her when she was new & she had peeling wallpaper & tarnished chrome then!

Just to add that thanks to Covid Quantum has only recently left Singapore,rather an extended stay in the end!😮

[SarahHben]

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but how do you find out when each ship is due to go to dry dock?

[david63]

One clue is if there is a two week gap in the itinerary.

 

Also https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=521

[SarahHben]

16 minutes ago, david63 said:

One clue is if there is a two week gap in the itinerary.

 

Also https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=521

Thank you, I’ll have a look later.

[P&O SUE]

7 hours ago, SarahHben said:

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but how do you find out when each ship is due to go to dry dock?

I saw about the two week gap on here. There used to be a bit on the Q&A part on P&O’s website that listed all the refits. Not sure if it’s still on there as other questions are missing now that used to be there.

[P&O SUE]

2 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

I saw about the two week gap on here. There used to be a bit on the Q&A part on P&O’s website that listed all the refits. Not sure if it’s still on there as other questions are missing now that used to be there.

I’ve just had a look and can’t find the dates on there now. They used to go for a refit every 4 or 5 years and I know Ventura was last done in 2018 as I sailed not long after so 2023 fits for her. Not sure if the ‘plague’ has put them back a year.

 

I was due on Aurora straight after her refit and the cruise (4 nights) was cancelled as it took longer. 

[molecrochip]

Look for the gaps in the itineraries. One's I know are:

 

Ventura N304 11 Feb 2023 (was previously March 2013 and March 2018)

Britannia B407 6 April 2024 (was previous October 2019)

 

Otherwise:

Iona currently sometime November 2024 thru April 2025.

Azura was done August 2021 however unclear if next one reverts to original timetable so October 2024 or late 25/early26.

Aurora was January 2022. Will we see another dry dock before she leaves the fleet? Would make her 26.

Arcadia was February 2022. Will we see another dry dock before she leaves the fleet? Would make her 21.

Edited July 24, 2022 by molecrochip

[Gettingwarmer]

10 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Azura was done August 2021 however unclear if next one reverts to original timetable so October 2024 or late 25/early26.

Everyone says she is in a terrible state and has old TVs etc. Surely some kind of improvements are being done to her in 2023. 

[Josy1953]

50 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

I’ve just had a look and can’t find the dates on there now. They used to go for a refit every 4 or 5 years and I know Ventura was last done in 2018 as I sailed not long after so 2023 fits for her. Not sure if the ‘plague’ has put them back a year.

 

I was due on Aurora straight after her refit and the cruise (4 nights) was cancelled as it took longer. 

The dreaded virus has definitely put back refits on Princess.  Last week on Emerald Princess the captain said that she would go to dry dock for 2 weeks in Ocober because she should have gone in 2 years ago but it was cancelled because of the pandemic. 

[terrierjohn]

4 hours ago, Gettingwarmer said:

Everyone says she is in a terrible state and has old TVs etc. Surely some kind of improvements are being done to her in 2023. 

Both Ventura and Azura will need a large amount of money spending on the cabins to bring them up to a reasonable standard.  Maybe they should ask Specsavers to sponsor some big new widescreen  TVs for them both.

[Billish]

Perhaps I'm being cynical,  but P&O do seem to be sweating the assets when it comes to the older ships. 

New TVs would not cost a fortune - a £49 a night Premier Inn has better TVs than Azura! 

[davecttr]

8 hours ago, Billish said:

Perhaps I'm being cynical,  but P&O do seem to be sweating the assets when it comes to the older ships. 

New TVs would not cost a fortune - a £49 a night Premier Inn has better TVs than Azura! 

All cruise lines do that especially if they are going to sell the ship. Why waste money on refurbishment when you won't get any benefit. Of course they HAVE to do essential maintenance.