Cruise immediately before dry dock

[jff50]

We are on the Ruby Princess immediately before it will be in dry dock for about 12 days.

 

I recall reading a thread regarding people's experience on a Golden Princess cruise immediately before it went into dry dock for a major refurbishment. Sounds like the preparation for dry dock had a significant impact on people's enjoyment of the Golden cruise.

 

Any thoughts and/or experience regarding being on a cruise immediately before a ship goes into dry dock? It seems pretty clear that the Ruby is not scheduled for the same level of refurbishment as the Golden underwent.

[pandas4cheri]

We were on the Sea Princess the sailing before it went into dry dock. The ship was clearly due for a face lift, but looking a little worn around the edges did not detract from our cruising experience. The crew was looking forward to either going home or enjoying an extended stay in S.F. I think you will still have a great time.

[cdamion]

I would be slightly concerned for the last couple of days of the cruise. Sometimes they start closing off public areas and ripping up carpet and stuff in preparation for the drydock. It depends on how extensive it will be though. If she is just going in to powder her nose, then maybe you wont notice a thing.

[jff50]

I would be slightly concerned for the last couple of days of the cruise. Sometimes they start closing off public areas and ripping up carpet and stuff in preparation for the drydock. It depends on how extensive it will be though. If she is just going in to powder her nose, then maybe you wont notice a thing.

Can't imagine it will be that extensive. The Ruby Princess went into service in 2008--it's the newest of all of Princess' ships.

[SusieS]

What will they be doing to her?

[canadiansnowbird]

We recently cancelled our upcoming cruise which was the last cruise on the Grand before the refit on April 11. Princess did notify us beforehand of closings while on board, and we decided we didn't want the inconveniences.

They notified us the same day we made final payment, but did refund it with no problem.

 

Snowbird

[RickEk]

What will they be doing to her?

 

Since she's basically a new ship, they'll be touching up areas that need work... carpeting, upholstery and the like. I'm sure they'll pay a lot of attention to the hull with a barnacle scraping and probably new paint.

[michigan tim]

I'd much rather go on the last before rather than the first after.

[nomarfan5]

We were on a RCCL ship on its last voyage before dry dock and would never have known if I hadn't read about it beforehand on CC. What I found amusing though was I asked our assistant waiter what she would be doing during dry dock and she was completely mortified that I knew the ship was going into dry dock. You would have thought I had just spilled some huge secret and ruined everything. She was really upset about it.

[paul929207]

We were on the last sailing of the Tahitian Princess before the drydock from which she emerged as the Ocean Princess. We had no problems and saw no signs of work.

[cleavesteam]

This ship has been running non stop for 2-3 years so at some point they need to do a through check of the systems and complete much needed preventative maintenance which can not be done while in port over a few hours. The last thing they need is to be dead in the water and all over the news like what happened to Carnival recently.

[tigragirl]

when is she going into dry dock?

We were on here in August and she looked great. I wouldn't have thought she would be needing major work

[jff50]

when is she going into dry dock?

We were on here in August and she looked great. I wouldn't have thought she would be needing major work

She is going into dry dock between 12/11 and 12/23 of this year.

[Putterdude]

I would probably take a chance on a cruise before the Ruby goes into drydock as hers will be pretty cosmetic. With something like the Grand or one of the other ships where there are some major changes to be done...I wouldn't venture on pre-drydock cruise.

[Jeter02]

I am booked to go on right after its dry dock. I always go cruising the week its in dry dock was a little bummed, but sure its worth the wait. She really doens't have major work to be done her, as she's in pretty good shape if you ask me.

[BballinQT24]

We are thinking of booking the cruise before the Ruby goes into drydock as well, so I was happy to see this question asked. Hopefully since the ships is still so new and in good shape it will not be anything so extensive that it would affect the cruise before.

[kruzinon]

I would be slightly concerned for the last couple of days of the cruise. Sometimes they start closing off public areas and ripping up carpet and stuff in preparation for the drydock. It depends on how extensive it will be though. If she is just going in to powder her nose, then maybe you wont notice a thing.

 

Carpets in main foot traffic areas is almost always replaced in a scheduled drydock, pretty much no such thing as a scheduled "nose powdering" drydock as they need to get as much done as possible anytime a ship is out of service. Nose powdering gets done 24/7 while the ship is doing cruises. I thought most of complaints about Goldens pre drydock cruise were over the top but that said if I had a choice I wouldn't book a pre or post drydock cruise.