First cruise after dry dock

[Otimon]

Has anyone here been on one??

Wondering if boarding began earlier than the usual 11:30 due to cabins not having to be
cleaned and made up after departing guests.

What was your experience? Many thanks.

 

[Bear3412]

Cleaned cabins are the least of your worries, IMO

Our experience was a cancelled cruise. YMMV

They just seem to be pushing the timeline too close for these drydocks. IMO

If a vessel is ready to sail after a DD, boarding usually begins on time.
As long as the cranes and dumpsters are out of the way. lol.

However, everything else is up for grabs. Like whether all venues, kitchens, carpet, crew, etc are ready to go. YMMV

If you can deal with spaces not completed. Work still being performed 24/7. Etc, ... Than great.

I recommend booking first sailings after drydock if you are into cancelled sailings and discounts. lol. And have the flexibility.

Our first experience was the Magic fall 2014 ? ? Miami ? ? Canceled.
Got a 20 -25% discount off future sailing. So it can work out if you are flexible.
Of course if this is your dream cruise out of FL, and you came from Europe , then perhaps not book the first sailing out of drydock.

It's a personal choice.

How many TA's would share that the sailing booked/focusing on is a vessel just out of drydock and may have teething issues?

Always google your sailing date and ship. Stranger things occur.

If you would like to book a sailing that boards, sails, and has all spaces open, functioning, and whatnot, then perhaps a sailing after drydock is not recommended.

I know we never book them. We even give new vessels 6 months minimum to get their groove.

Best of Luck

 

[xlxo]

I was on the Princess Ruby....

• I had no working cabin toilets for 3 hours
• ship lost internet for 13 hours
• a few cabins had no toilets for an entire 3 day cruise
• some reported furniture was not fully assembled in the cabins
• love the price

 

[GoofyLovingFamily]

We are on the Fantasy first cruise after drydock. I am not worried about this one. It is just a quick check of things at a shipyard in Bahamas and adding ice cream shop and new kids club area. It is not a full reimagination in Europe.

 

[Trera]

We are on the Fantasy first cruise after drydock. I am not worried about this one. It is just a quick check of things at a shipyard in Bahamas and adding ice cream shop and new kids club area. It is not a full reimagination in Europe.

We saw that one also. They must realize the risk though because that cruise is a DD on the Fantasy and is priced way lower than the norm for similar cruises. DD and Fantasy cruises are always the most expensive caribbean/bahamas cruises out there.

 

[GoofyLovingFamily]

We said worth the risk due to the cost for a double dip.

 

[Trera]

If one of our kids wasn't graduating high school that weekend, we might have done the same.

 

[gilsan]

Has anyone here been on one??

Wondering if boarding began earlier than the usual 11:30 due to cabins not having to be
cleaned and made up after departing guests.

What was your experience? Many thanks.

If you are asking about the Fantasy cruise in May, I thought I read somewhere that boarding will be delayed on that cruise I think it was only an hour. We were debating about taking that cruise and I was part a cruise group so I may have read it there.

 

[Quellman]

We saw that one also. They must realize the risk though because that cruise is a DD on the Fantasy and is priced way lower than the norm for similar cruises. DD and Fantasy cruises are always the most expensive caribbean/bahamas cruises out there.

The dry dock was originally scheduled for a longer period of time. Once they got the master schedule in place they realized they would be completed earlier than projected, so opted to throw in a short cruise. Any time a ship is not sailing, there is a distinct lack of money being made. So I would suspect that after the issues with the Magic particularly where they had to cancel, Disney is trying to do a much better job of presenting a finished product after dry docks.

 

[mandylovesdisney]

Has anyone here been on one??

Wondering if boarding began earlier than the usual 11:30 due to cabins not having to be
cleaned and made up after departing guests.

What was your experience? Many thanks.

I can only speak for the newly reimagined Wonder. We had no issues. I want to say we boarded a little early?? I can't remember that part, but we went to our room almost right away. We were concierge so we went to the lounge first. Everything was great.

 

[charminnie]

Well we are scheduled for the second cruise after dry dock, 7 night eastern. This thread makes me a little nervous. I have had this cruise booked since opening day and have been looking forward to it for so long! I hope there are no issues or if there are that they work them all out on that first short cruise.

 

[vakamalua]

We were on the second cruise after a Magic dry dock. There were still a lot of workmen aboard; ladders were set up here and there and you could see work being done around the ship. The worst problem was smells form paint, varnish and new carpet in areas.

 

[MickeyD]

We are also on the Eastern following dry dock and the 3 nt DD. I was going to do a back to back, but didn't want to chance there being problems with the first one out of dry dock. Like GoofyLovingFamily said, it is a quick update and check.