Riviera's Dry Dock and crew/staff

Do any of the Oceania CC members know what happens to the crew members and staff while the Riviera is scheduled for its ten-day dry dock in Barcelona? There are approx. 800 crew/staff/officers on Riviera. Thanks.

If it's anything like Regatt's DD last year, much of the crew do the actual work on the ship. It is a very hard job for many.

Do any of the Oceania CC members know what happens to the crew members and staff while the Riviera is scheduled for its ten-day dry dock in Barcelona? There are approx. 800 crew/staff/officers on Riviera. Thanks.

The term "Dry Dock" is used interchangeably with Refurbishment these days, so the ship won't necessarily be spending any length of time literally out of the water,

-and even if she is, the crew can usually remain living onboard, or will be put up at local accommodations arranged through the shipyard.

A well trained crew is too valuable an asset to give up easily. ;)

Some will stay on the ship cleaning & working

some will go home on their time off

some may go to other ships to fill in for others whose contracts are up

Just depends

The term "Dry Dock" is used interchangeably with Refurbishment these days, so the ship won't necessarily be spending any length of time literally out of the water,

-and even if she is, the crew can usually remain living onboard, or will be put up at local accommodations arranged through the shipyard.

 

A well trained crew is too valuable an asset to give up easily. ;)

Stan and Jim,

Thank you for your factual reply; and I enjoy your knowledge and details regarding the Oceania ships. We disembarked the Riviera on April 1, and we were surprised that the entire crew/staff were new. We only came across one wait person from Honduras that we knew from previous cruises. Most crew members just started their new contracts with Riviera.

Stan and Jim,

Thank you for your factual reply; and I enjoy your knowledge and details regarding the Oceania ships. We disembarked the Riviera on April 1, and we were surprised that the entire crew/staff were new. We only came across one wait person from Honduras that we knew from previous cruises. Most crew members just started their new contracts with Riviera.

Yes, well new crew members is a consequence of the Line growing, which I suppose we must see as a good thing.

The training which Oceania gives their Staff makes them very desirable to other companies, and staffing a Cruise Line just hasn't been the same since the Free Will Act was passed :o

Does anyone know exactly what is being refurbished on Riviera?

It's so beautiful already....

Does anyone know exactly what is being refurbished on Riviera?

 

It's so beautiful already....

I know that they are replacing all carpet, apparently they were unhappy with the way the present carpet was wearing. Also, they were going to fix the bow thrusters which did not appear to be operational on our April 1st cruise.

The ship was leaving Barcelona at 1 PM to sail to Marseilles for the dry dock. Most of the staff we spoke to were staying on to do some of the actual work (carrying carpet our room steward said) or serving the contractors (our waitress said in the Terrace Grill) Hopefully they are fixing the "wiggle" the ship had the entire cruise/11 :)

I had a long chat with Damien laCroix (GM on our 1 april cruise) and Beata (Head Housekeeper) at dinner one evening about the upcoming (now actual) drydock. and then talked some more about it to Sandeep (Head Butler and our butler too who during drydock is Head of the Carpet Ripping Team!)

The ship will be re-painted. Damien says that there is a lot of noise and dust when the hull is stripped - completely down to the metal. Barnacles taken off etc. It will then get several coats of paint and these vary en colour (red, blue ending with a couple of coats of white which is what we see when we look at the ship). Once the painting starts the noise from the outside stops - or drops a lot.

All (if I understood this correctly) of the public area carpeting will be ripped up and replaced. Sandeep, as I said, is "Head Carpet Ripper". Naturally carpet layers come on board to work. Some curtains will be changed. Lots of surfaces on the ship will be re-finished. One Sandeep told me about is the bar in the Foyer of the Owners Suite (where we were) which is white marble and has been stained. (I did not notice the stains - he pointed them out!). The marble will be re-polished (more dust!! lots of it) and the sealed. Furniture that needs attention will get it - re-upholstered etc. (But Beata says they have TWO upholsterers who travel on board all the time and can therefore fix small tears and anything to do with curtains as they sail...they carry spare material for this purpose!)

Damien will be on board throughout the drydock and will then go on leave - well deserved and his wife and daughter will be happy to have him home for a bit. I don't know who the new GM will be after drydock...

Quite a lot of the staff left at Barcelona and will be replaced by those coming off their leaves before the ship sails on the next cruise. (This I gleaned from our Assistant Steward who was one of the ones going home...) The rest stay on board and work. Damien told me he has a video made of the dry dock - speeds up the stripping and painting so it looks fast! - and the staff work in their jeans etc. Unusual for them to be out of uniform in "guest" areas and they apparently like this. He didn't tell me when Riviera will be back in water but given the work on the hull and the bow thrusters etc I don't suppose this will be quick. More like at the end of the dry dock.

Galley staff work hard in drydock - part of the Terrace Café is open as a 24 hour restaurant for the teams coming from on shore to work on the ship and they work around the clock (in rotation of course). Ship's staff and crew work 7hr shifts and our Asst Butler said he was looking forward to that so he would have time to explore Marseilles.

On another cruise on a ship headed for drydock (Voyager in 2006 to FLL) staff told me that they love drydock. It gives them a break from routine and is a lot of fun.

I envy those who will board on April 28 (I think it is). they will be on a new ship! That said though I did not notice any carpets that needed changing nor things that needed painting! Riviera looked wonderful to me throughout the cruise.

Thanks for that interesting information, Gerry. I noticed while on Riviera last year that our stateroom sofa was looking a little tired and our shower tray had been damaged. Nonetheless the ship was still stunning. I'm impressed that O is working so hard at keeping the ships looking fabulous.

I was seriously impressed by how fresh Insignia looked when we boarded in Singapore. The decking and fabrics in particular caught my eye. The bathrooms had been retrofitted at some point with contemporary taps but sadly the shower curtain remained. Riviera bathrooms were, I thought, fabulous.

Sella

Has anyone heard how Riviera looks since she came out of drydock? Hoping to see some photos and hear how things look.

Has anyone heard how Riviera looks since she came out of drydock? Hoping to see some photos and hear how things look.

It seems to me that the goal is that the passengers don't notice anything new . They're not redecorating after all, just refreshing.

Holland America, for example, used to keep their ships so spic and span that they ran television Advertisements proclaiming that when a wall was painted, one couldn't tell in which direction the painter was headed.

The rooms usually appear identical to before, but "feel" newer and cleaner because all of the textiles are new, and any chips or stains have been repaired.

Ri iera looks fine.

She's in Monte Carlo, Leslie is CD.