Ruby Drydock Confirmation Sept 24-October 22

[BermudaBound2014]

I just read that Ruby is going in for a 4 week drydock September 24-October 22nd, 2023.

 

Can anyone confirm? 

 

Any details of the work that will be completed?

[trbarton]

6 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

I just read that Ruby is going in for a 4 week drydock September 24-October 22nd, 2023.

 

Can anyone confirm? 

 

Any details of the work that will be completed?

I did a search & didn’t find anything. Can you post a link to the article that you read?

 

Tom🤔

[LidoLiz]

If it’s true, hopefully it will be similar to sister ship Emerald’s drydock last fall before we sailed her across the Atlantic in November. We enjoyed new carpets, pool tiling and a hull paint job, and up at the Sports Court, a much nicer putting green/bocce ball surface, as well as new equipment (basketballs, etc). 
Unfortunately, we lost the free cedar sauna and steam rooms. 😢

[BermudaBound2014]

16 hours ago, trbarton said:

I did a search & didn’t find anything. Can you post a link to the article that you read?

 

Tom🤔

 

Aloha,

 

For the life of me, I can't find the site that mentioned drydock, but multiple sites are showing a long break in her schedule from September 24 to October 22nd. Does anyone know what she is doing for those 4 weeks? 

 

Mahalo!

 

[BermudaBound2014]

Update- someone onboard was kind enough to verify that Ruby is going in for a dry dock in sept but no other information was known.

 

It’s been awhile since I’ve sailed Princess and am a bit behind in the news. Has the crown class been getting specific updates that Ruby maybe up for?

[snoozecrooze]

2 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

It’s been awhile since I’ve sailed Princess and am a bit behind in the news. Has the crown class been getting specific updates that Ruby maybe up for?

Were it not for COVID, Ruby would've probably gotten the same changes that Emerald and Caribbean got (new buffet being the biggest change).

 

But I don't think there will be many changes this time besides routine maintenance. Perhaps they'll surprise us, though.

[jhannah]

In looking at the Ruby Princess cruises for September and October, the only ones that show up are 9/4-9/14 Alaska out of San Francisio and a Panama Canal cruise on 10/22 out of San Francisco. Might this mean she will be in a drydock or refurbishment between those times?

Edited April 11, 2023 by jhannah

[snoozecrooze]

47 minutes ago, jhannah said:

Might this mean she will be in a drydock or refurbishment between those times?

Yes, I believe folks recently onboard Ruby were able to confirm this. It'll probably be done in Portland. Don't have your hopes up for any significant "refurbishment", however.

[jeromep]

20 minutes ago, snoozecrooze said:

Yes, I believe folks recently onboard Ruby were able to confirm this. It'll probably be done in Portland. Don't have your hopes up for any significant "refurbishment", however.

Well..., until details are made more public, a 4 week dry dock, which is about what the gap in schedule seems to indicate, can get a lot done.  It is about 2 days to transit from San Francisco to Portland, plus it is a bit slow going heading up the Columbia River and to the Willamette River.  I suspect at least another day of transit to get to Vigor in Portland, assuming that the suggestion I read in the thread indicating that the dry dock is going to occur in Portland is correct.  Probably another day to float the dry dock.  And then reverse the whole thing back the other way again to get to San Francisco for the Panama Canal Cruise.  So the dry dock will probably only be about 2 weeks, and maybe a couple of extra days.

 

A lot can happen in 2 weeks, with enough workers and good project coordination.  A 2 week drydock is going to handle any mechanical needs that can't be done while the hull is wet.  I suspect hull painting and coating will occur.  Propeller resurfacing is also likely.  Inside the ship they can change a lot.  And a lot of soft surfaces will be replaced, lots of upholstery, and carpets to be changed.  Sure, they aren't going to be doing major structural changes to the ship, but once done I suspect she will be incredibly fresh and new.

[brisalta]

2 hours ago, jeromep said:

Well..., until details are made more public, a 4 week dry dock, which is about what the gap in schedule seems to indicate, can get a lot done.  It is about 2 days to transit from San Francisco to Portland, plus it is a bit slow going heading up the Columbia River and to the Willamette River.  I suspect at least another day of transit to get to Vigor in Portland, assuming that the suggestion I read in the thread indicating that the dry dock is going to occur in Portland is correct.  Probably another day to float the dry dock.  And then reverse the whole thing back the other way again to get to San Francisco for the Panama Canal Cruise.  So the dry dock will probably only be about 2 weeks, and maybe a couple of extra days.

 

A lot can happen in 2 weeks, with enough workers and good project coordination.  A 2 week drydock is going to handle any mechanical needs that can't be done while the hull is wet.  I suspect hull painting and coating will occur.  Propeller resurfacing is also likely.  Inside the ship they can change a lot.  And a lot of soft surfaces will be replaced, lots of upholstery, and carpets to be changed.  Sure, they aren't going to be doing major structural changes to the ship, but once done I suspect she will be incredibly fresh and new.

 

 

The work will start while in transit from San Francisco to Portland.  They will have a crew on board breaking down surfaces/fittings that are to be refinished including the pools while making the transit.

Edited April 11, 2023 by brisalta

[BermudaBound2014]

51 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

 

The work will start while in transit from San Francisco to Portland.  They will have a crew on board breaking down surfaces/fittings that are to be refinished including the pools while making the transit.

It’s likely the interior work will begin during the Sept 14th sailing with guests onboard. At least that is how it has been done in the past. There are also plenty of examples where interior work is still being finished on her next revenue generating sailing too. 
 

For me, the big question is, just how much money is CCL going to sink into Ruby? 

[brisalta]

When I was on the Ruby Princess back in May I asked crew about the upcoming dry dock. They said it was going to be 16 days dry dock followed by 10 days wet dock. They did not have details of the work to be done.

[skynight]

There is a 30 day gap in the Ruby's schedule from Feb 8, 2024 until Mar 9, 2024. She is scheduled for a 10 day partial PC transit on Jan 29th until February 8th. The next posted sailing is a March 9th Circle the Caribbean. Both these sailings are from Ft. Lauderdale. Certainly looks like a dry/wet dock with some major repairs, most likely in the Bahamas.  

[theloo]

On 4/3/2023 at 7:20 AM, LidoLiz said:

If it’s true, hopefully it will be similar to sister ship Emerald’s drydock last fall before we sailed her across the Atlantic in November. We enjoyed new carpets, pool tiling and a hull paint job, and up at the Sports Court, a much nicer putting green/bocce ball surface, as well as new equipment (basketballs, etc). 
Unfortunately, we lost the free cedar sauna and steam rooms. 😢

I remember using the stream room on the Ruby and am sad it will be gone from the Emerald when I'm on board next month.  Do you know if the Crown has already had the stream and sauna removed?  Will be on her in December.

[snoozecrooze]

2 hours ago, skynight said:

There is a 30 day gap in the Ruby's schedule from Feb 8, 2024 until Mar 9, 2024. She is scheduled for a 10 day partial PC transit on Jan 29th until February 8th. The next posted sailing is a March 9th Circle the Caribbean.

I just checked and there is no gap. There are more 10-day sailings on sale.

[brisalta]

2 hours ago, skynight said:

There is a 30 day gap in the Ruby's schedule from Feb 8, 2024 until Mar 9, 2024. She is scheduled for a 10 day partial PC transit on Jan 29th until February 8th. The next posted sailing is a March 9th Circle the Caribbean. Both these sailings are from Ft. Lauderdale. Certainly looks like a dry/wet dock with some major repairs, most likely in the Bahamas.  

 

The  16 day dry dock/ 10 day wet dock is late September/October 2023 and many of the crew will be going home for a break.

[familyward]

Well we’ll be going on the 9th January 2024 Panama partial transit so fingers crossed it’ll be nicely spruced up by then!  (I’d love them to get rid of the dreaded shower curtains but that might be a bit over hopeful for investment on a ship of Ruby’s age 🤔)

[brisalta]

7 minutes ago, familyward said:

Well we’ll be going on the 9th January 2024 Panama partial transit so fingers crossed it’ll be nicely spruced up by then!  (I’d love them to get rid of the dreaded shower curtains but that might be a bit over hopeful for investment on a ship of Ruby’s age 🤔)

 

What is there to dread about the shower curtains? On the other hand the shower stall seems smaller than the ones on the Grand Princess.

[snoozecrooze]

25 minutes ago, familyward said:

I’d love them to get rid of the dreaded shower curtains but that might be a bit over hopeful for investment on a ship of Ruby’s age 🤔

Correct. It would require a lot of installation, but if they were going to put that much effort, then they should just rip the bathroom and cabin down to the bones and redo them like Celebrity did to Millennium and Summit. Which I highly doubt Princess will ever do.

[CruisinCadie]

2 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

What is there to dread about the shower curtains? On the other hand the shower stall seems smaller than the ones on the Grand Princess.

I've always said Ruby has the smallest bathrooms and largest closets I've ever found at sea.  The shower curtains are just the usual dreaded wrap-around type, but the showers themselves  are smaller than a lot of others so the curtains seem tighter.

[brisalta]

1 minute ago, CruisinCadie said:

I've always said Ruby has the smallest bathrooms and largest closets I've ever found at sea.  The shower curtains are just the usual dreaded wrap-around type, but the showers themselves  are smaller than a lot of others so the curtains seem tighter.

 

There is so much wrong with the design of the Ruby one could write a long essay.

[familyward]

Yep!  I agree. The only acceptable scenario for a shower curtain is in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” 😱😱😂😂😂

4 minutes ago, CruisinCadie said:

I've always said Ruby has the smallest bathrooms and largest closets I've ever found at sea.  The shower curtains are just the usual dreaded wrap-around type, but the showers themselves  are smaller than a lot of others so the curtains seem tighter.

 

[cruisingrob21]

3 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

There is so much wrong with the design of the Ruby one could write a long essay.

Oxymoron of a reply - short statement about writing a long essay.

 

To the point, you would need to include the Crown, Emerald, and Caribbean in that essay since the first two are nearly identical sister ships, and the Caribbean is a step sister.  And on the topic of cabins, go ahead and include the Sapphire, Diamond, and somewhat the Grand, the Coral, and Island.  They all have very similar modular cabins (with the grand being the exceptions) and similar interior layouts and flow.

 

So what's the problem with the Ruby again that is somehow different from more than half of the fleet?  Small showers with curtains have been the bane of princess cruisers since 1998 when the Grand debuted, and likely before that.

Edited June 8, 2023 by cruisingrob21

[Bjbilly]

I hope they put in new bedding or have they done that already

[brisalta]

3 hours ago, cruisingrob21 said:

Oxymoron of a reply - short statement about writing a long essay.

 

To the point, you would need to include the Crown, Emerald, and Caribbean in that essay since the first two are nearly identical sister ships, and the Caribbean is a step sister.  And on the topic of cabins, go ahead and include the Sapphire, Diamond, and somewhat the Grand, the Coral, and Island.  They all have very similar modular cabins (with the grand being the exceptions) and similar interior layouts and flow.

 

So what's the problem with the Ruby again that is somehow different from more than half of the fleet?  Small showers with curtains have been the bane of princess cruisers since 1998 when the Grand debuted, and likely before that.

 

The Grand has slightly larger showers and cabin space. Corridors are slightly wider. Has a covered pool. Hand washing sinks in the Horizon Court. Actual dedicated pastry area in the Horizon Court with an ice cream freezer. Spirits of the Seas is larger. Has an Alfredo's. Has actual teak on the promenade unlike the ugly yellow painted surface on the Ruby. Those are just a few of the things.