Escape Last sailing before drydock - is something up?

[marktwothousand]

I’m on the last escape sailing before drydock in September. As some of you may know from my other thread, I have been struggling to book a different cabin as all categories are pretty much guarantee-only at this point. There are about 60 cabins left for this Sept 2 sailing.

 

I started to get a sense something was up when, a group on another website for this sailing, started to balloon in member size. I think It is about 500 members, about 200 more than I last checked. When I started browsing the profiles, I saw many of them were from Philippines, India, Singapore, and other common crew member countries, and many were ship workers, engineers and crew. What it seems is that my sailing is going to be taking on a whole heap of new crew. If this is indeed the case, I’m happy for them, it’s a great opportunity. 
 

what I’m wondering though, is how this might affect guest experience. First off, this might explain why so few cabins are available - many are probably being used to house or quarantine incoming crew.

 

Secondly, has anyone ever been on a final cruise before a dry dock? If so, did you notice anything special about it? did they start shutting down areas and decks early to prepare? Was service reduced?

 

I am thinking that only the above explanations can explain why the reservations for this sailing seem so off and why there are so many ship crew on the group. I’d love to hear if anyone’s ever experienced this before. 
 

i am pretty confident NCL will have pretty strict rules for the incoming crew to ensure they stay in their assigned areas and clear of guests enjoying their time, but the sad part is that socially and mingling-wise, it would be unfortunate if there are less tourists than usual. 
 

thanks for hearing me out 
 

 

[MeHeartCruising]

One time, on a ship and cruise line I really don’t recall, they had taken on some supplies for the upcoming dry dock.  There were some covered up piles of “stuff” on the exterior decks in areas that were out of the way.  There were also more obvious maintenance type crew wandering about in public spaces more often.  You’d see them doing measurements and digging into electric/wiring boxes/etc. more often than you usually see.  That was the only impact I saw.  No venues were closed on that cruise.  But they were clearly doing prep where they could in advance. 

[BirdTravels]

Kinda hard to say. It was my impression that this was not a "planned" drydock, but a drydock necessitated by the incident in the Dominican Republic. 

 

With a "planned" dry dock, there may be materials being loaded and contractors starting to work in the weeks before and after the actual dry dock. During that time, some ship's facilities may be closed while refurbishment begins. 

 

Not sure that staffing up prior to the dry dock makes a lot of sense. We sailed on the Epic on the first cruise after her 2015 dry dock. Our cabin steward told us that he was working on bathroom tiles the night before we embarked. And throughout the cruise, more and more room items (decorative pillows, drapes, bathroom fixtures) showed up each day. 

[casofilia]

@marktwothousand

 

We were on the Star a number of years ago from BA to SF.   At Santiago lots of "crew" members arrived and the rest of the cruise was a bit of a shambles as work was going on all over the place before it was going into dry dock in SF.

 

You will probably find that there will be work going on all over the place.   Probably small stuff but enough to annoy.

Edited August 21, 2022 by casofilia

[marktwothousand]

Damn… not looking good 

bet they’ll start closing things like spice H2O and the pool deck during my cruise because it’s port intensive and they probably figure most people are getting off anyway…

 

and I was hoping to use this cruise as a good way to stay on board on a quiet ship. What a bummer. 

[phillygwm]

12 hours ago, marktwothousand said:

I started to get a sense something was up when, a group on another website for this sailing, started to balloon in member size. I think It is about 500 members, about 200 more than I last checked. When I started browsing the profiles, I saw many of them were from Philippines, India, Singapore, and other common crew member countries, and many were ship workers, engineers and crew. What it seems is that my sailing is going to be taking on a whole heap of new crew. If this is indeed the case, I’m happy for them, it’s a great opportunity. 
 

I find this odd.  Every roll call I've participated in, whether here or on FB, is focused on stuff like excursions, airport transfers, M&G's, what hotels people are using before/after, etc.  All things that would presumably be irrelevant for crew.  

 

That said, I don't have a better explanation as to why 200 new members from "crew countries" suddenly joined.  Are any of these new members participating in discussions?

Edited August 21, 2022 by phillygwm

[mscdivina2016]

Many years ago we were in the same situation on a CCL ship.

 

We hated the cruise because they were tearing up many things. And the chemical smell was awful.

Half the pool deck was blocked off meaning half the chairs were gone as well.

One pool was drained that was more for kids.

Carpet torn up in hallways.

Buffett half closed.

We informed the purser before the first port we wanted to get off with their guarantee.

 

They ultimately gave us 50% back in the form of a credit to book another cruise and stay and we bargained for them to move our cabin which got us a balcony from an ocean view. We used the credit to book another on board.

 

 

[7Trainguy1951]

With the shortage of staff on all the major cruise lines, I wonder if maybe NCL is using the dry dock time to introduce new crew members to the ship.

[Daytonasailor]

14 hours ago, marktwothousand said:

I’m on the last escape sailing before drydock in September. As some of you may know from my other thread, I have been struggling to book a different cabin as all categories are pretty much guarantee-only at this point. There are about 60 cabins left for this Sept 2 sailing.

 

I started to get a sense something was up when, a group on another website for this sailing, started to balloon in member size. I think It is about 500 members, about 200 more than I last checked. When I started browsing the profiles, I saw many of them were from Philippines, India, Singapore, and other common crew member countries, and many were ship workers, engineers and crew. What it seems is that my sailing is going to be taking on a whole heap of new crew. If this is indeed the case, I’m happy for them, it’s a great opportunity. 
 

what I’m wondering though, is how this might affect guest experience. First off, this might explain why so few cabins are available - many are probably being used to house or quarantine incoming crew.

 

Secondly, has anyone ever been on a final cruise before a dry dock? If so, did you notice anything special about it? did they start shutting down areas and decks early to prepare? Was service reduced?

 

I am thinking that only the above explanations can explain why the reservations for this sailing seem so off and why there are so many ship crew on the group. I’d love to hear if anyone’s ever experienced this before. 
 

i am pretty confident NCL will have pretty strict rules for the incoming crew to ensure they stay in their assigned areas and clear of guests enjoying their time, but the sad part is that socially and mingling-wise, it would be unfortunate if there are less tourists than usual. 
 

thanks for hearing me out 
 

 

Anyone know the normal length of time for dry dock. Got a cruise in Dec.

[mscdivina2016]

9 minutes ago, Daytonasailor said:

Anyone know the normal length of time for dry dock. Got a cruise in Dec.

look to see when there are no sailings and that will give you an idea.

 

Try and avoid the first one after a dry dock as they are never finished it seems.

[Daytonasailor]

1 minute ago, mscdivina2016 said:

look to see when there are no sailings and that will give you an idea.

 

Try and avoid the first one after a dry dock as they are never finished it seems.

Ahhh, good idea. I will do.

[marktwothousand]

2 hours ago, phillygwm said:

I find this odd.  Every roll call I've participated in, whether here or on FB, is focused on stuff like excursions, airport transfers, M&G's, what hotels people are using before/after, etc.  All things that would presumably be irrelevant for crew.  

 

That said, I don't have a better explanation as to why 200 new members from "crew countries" suddenly joined.  Are any of these new members participating in discussions?

It is odd. There’s the usual discussion yes, but the suspected crew members aren’t taking part in it. 
 

my sense is that the crew members joined, not originally knowing that passengers use those groups to discuss trip information. Still, I think the “non-mixing” of crew and passengers rule should apply off the ship and on the internet too, as much as is possible. For various reasons. Crew should have their own Facebook group 

[Daytonasailor]

26 minutes ago, Daytonasailor said:

Anyone know the normal length of time for dry dock. Got a cruise in Dec.

Looks like Oct sailings are on. Dec should be good.

[em-sk]

11 hours ago, marktwothousand said:

Damn… not looking good 

bet they’ll start closing things like spice H2O and the pool deck during my cruise because it’s port intensive and they probably figure most people are getting off anyway…

 

and I was hoping to use this cruise as a good way to stay on board on a quiet ship. What a bummer. 

 

When new crew come on board they have to quarantine in cabins for around a week or two.  If they are coming on the week before dry dock it may turn out to be a very quite cruise.   

[marktwothousand]

Just now, em-sk said:

 

When new crew come on board they have to quarantine in cabins for around a week or two.  If they are coming on the week before dry dock it may turn out to be a very quite cruise.   

That’s also what I was thinking but I thought the quarantine ended. It was 7 days earlier this year.

 

this would be the most ideal scenario for passengers. 

[Sue Do-Over]

We were on a Princess cruise the last week before dry dock.

 

At the beginning of the cruise everything looked pretty normal, everything open, although the inventory and selection in the shops was a little skimpy.    After the last sea day, the shops were emptied.  We saw cardboard boxes of merchandise and display cases shoved against the walls, and carpeting pulled up.

 

As the week went on, different areas were stripped down.  Artwork, fake plants, and other decor was removed, and they removed/replaced some carpeting in public areas over night.  Chairs and tables in the public areas were separated into dirty/damaged and to-warehouse groups. 

 

Selections in the buffet were reduced over the week, too.  We laughed that all the kids cereals were gone, leaving only Raisin Bran and Corn Flakes, and they ran out of bananas completely.

 

In our staterooms, the dust ruffle/bed skirts disappeared mid-week, along with extra linens and the printed books and room service menus.  The last full day they also emptied the mini-bar.  Our room steward said that empty cabins were getting a head start on removing curtains, linens, drapes, shower curtains, etc.

 

At the casino the last night, as the crowd dwindled, they started unplugging and tagging machines.  Dealers un-bolted the chip trays and took them to be sorted/sanitized, and bar staff from all over came down to cash in their tip-chips for cash.

Most shocking was seeing them empty the stack-of-cash claw game.  Hearing, actually... as they peeled apart almost the whole stack of bundles.   Only a few are actually loose in the machine!

 

All in all, we noticed some of the prep getting started, but it wasn't chaotic or intrusive for us.  But, if you are particularly sensitive to the smell of paint or adhesive, or have mobility challenges that would make it hard for you to detour around work areas, it might be a different experience for you.

 

 

[ppcox]

On 8/21/2022 at 3:04 PM, 7Trainguy1951 said:

With the shortage of staff on all the major cruise lines, I wonder if maybe NCL is using the dry dock time to introduce new crew members to the ship.

Maybe they are new staff for across the fleet. A ship in dry dock sounds like an ideal training venue.