NCL Pride Of America 2016 Refurb

[mattson]

I saw the NCL PoA popped up in the list of upcoming refurbs for 2016... we took a cruise on the PoA in 2014 and she seemed to be in pretty good condition (compared to the aging Carnival Spirit pre-refurb earlier this year in March 2015) ...

 

I was wondering if anyone knew what NCL were planning on changing in the PoA?

 

Cheers,

Matt

[Cabin99]

I just got back from this cruise, they are gutting all of the state rooms and giving them face lifts. They re-did the 13 deck 2 years ago and they are fantastic! It will be in dry dock for 3 weeks.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Cabin99

[chengkp75]

I just got back from this cruise, they are gutting all of the state rooms and giving them face lifts. They re-did the 13 deck 2 years ago and they are fantastic! It will be in dry dock for 3 weeks.

 

I wouldn't say they are "gutting" all the cabins. They are renewing the décor in all public spaces and cabins, but they aren't gutting anything really.

[mattson]

3 weeks is a big dry dock span... nice, can't wait too see her when she's finished.

 

Hopefully it'll get a bit of a freshen up on the top external decks too, compared to some of the other NCL ships, there seems to be a lot of wasted space.

 

Though I did like the heated kids pool and slide outside of the kids club, my daughter loved it, and there was never anyone else in it...

 

We loved our PoA cruise, hopefully we'll take another cruise on her again, post refurb :)

[rbelfi]

I'm going on POA summer 16' and am excited to see what she looks like coming out of dry dock. The rooms definitely could use a modern face lift as could some of the other public areas not recently touched.

[lamchops]

I just got off the POA and she's in much better shape than I imagined. From what I could see, this refurb is more of a "nice to have" than a "need to have" so don't worry if you have a cruise booked pre-refurb.

 

I was told that the ship will sail "empty" with contractors and that they would do a lot of the prep/demo work before reaching SF.

 

After the work the POA will do a 11 day trip back to and around the islands. The future cruise consultant was doing a "soft sell" on the return cruise.

[mattson]

interesting, I've seen sales for the Hawaii to San Fran cruise... it'll be pretty average if it's in full construction mode... oh well... might cross that one off the list for now... :)

[Freckles_51]

interesting, I've seen sales for the Hawaii to San Fran cruise... it'll be pretty average if it's in full construction mode... oh well... might cross that one off the list for now... :)

 

Where have you seen this? It seems to be sailing empty from Hawaii to San Francisco in February.

[chengkp75]

I just got off the POA and she's in much better shape than I imagined. From what I could see, this refurb is more of a "nice to have" than a "need to have" so don't worry if you have a cruise booked pre-refurb.

 

I was told that the ship will sail "empty" with contractors and that they would do a lot of the prep/demo work before reaching SF.

 

After the work the POA will do a 11 day trip back to and around the islands. The future cruise consultant was doing a "soft sell" on the return cruise.

 

As far as the passengers will notice, yes, this is in alignment with FDR's announced policy of bringing the standards of the whole fleet up a notch. It is, however, a mandatory drydocking, so lots of technical maintenance will get done as well.

 

And yes, they intend to start stripping out stuff on the trip to SF, but not much else, as they don't want to have to ship materials to Hawaii, just to bring them back to the West Coast, though carpet coming from India (where they get most of it) might get loaded. There are fire concerns from the USCG in regards to the amount of flammable material (like rolls of carpet) they can stow onboard, that the foreign flag ships don't have to abide by. There will be quite a few dumpsters on the pool deck that will be completely packed by the time they get to Frisco. I think I saw that the price for the return was quite reasonable.

[Phamer55]

I'm booked for the SF cruise, looking forward to seeing the changes!

[dexddd]

 

I think I saw that the price for the return was quite reasonable.

 

The return to Hawaii trip was reasonably priced IMO when it first became available (June/July) but then it went away from booking for a period of time (month? or more) and when it came back the prices went up quite a bit for what was left. It has been back to book for about a month now. Thanks for the info on what might be done.

[SMerritt]

We called NCL to inquire

 

Have to call again, NCL Rep asked if we wanted a Haven Suite

 

Are they adding a dedicated Haven on the POA?

[Kattus]

We called NCL to inquire

 

Have to call again, NCL Rep asked if we wanted a Haven Suite

 

Are they adding a dedicated Haven on the POA?

 

 

For such a port intensive itinerary, that's probably unlikely, but I'd be interested in finding out since we're on her next year!

[Crazy planning mom]

It is in drydock now, no? Please post any updates, pictures for those who are on the first sailing from SFO or have any info.

Edited February 21, 2016 by Crazy planning mom

[dexddd]

It is in drydock now, no? Please post any updates, pictures for those who are on the first sailing from SFO or have any info.

 

It left Hawaii yesterday going towards SFO. Supposedly 5 days to get to SFO.

[Freckles_51]

And here she is, on her way to pick us up! WOOHOO!!

[Daenerys T]

Very happy to hear this! We are planning a Hawaii cruise tour for next year!

[dexddd]

And here she is, on her way to pick us up! WOOHOO!!

 

3 weeks!

[JustThinking23]

I was on the last cruise prior to drydock. Most of the crew was looking forward to a break in the routine. Some were worried about the sea days, especially heading to SF with a "light" ship.

 

They were boarding 600 contractors for the journey to SF. I heard a total price of $15 million.

 

Apparently in every port for the last voyage, 200 deck chairs were donated to the local municipalities. Honolulu would get the rest. Most of the deck furniture was in the hallways by 8:30 AM on Saturday.

 

Many rolls of carpet were loaded on the ship when we first joined at the start of the cruise.

 

Many of the waitstaff had the choice of tearing up carpets or serving as fire watch for welding operations.

 

The crew I talked to didn't seem to know the rebuilding plan. Seemed that many, many areas were being demolished.

 

My kids thought that we should come back and see the ship after being refurbished. :rolleyes:

[dexddd]

I was on the last cruise prior to drydock. Most of the crew was looking forward to a break in the routine. Some were worried about the sea days, especially heading to SF with a "light" ship.

 

They were boarding 600 contractors for the journey to SF. I heard a total price of $15 million.

 

Apparently in every port for the last voyage, 200 deck chairs were donated to the local municipalities. Honolulu would get the rest. Most of the deck furniture was in the hallways by 8:30 AM on Saturday.

 

Many rolls of carpet were loaded on the ship when we first joined at the start of the cruise.

 

Many of the waitstaff had the choice of tearing up carpets or serving as fire watch for welding operations.

 

The crew I talked to didn't seem to know the rebuilding plan. Seemed that many, many areas were being demolished.

 

My kids thought that we should come back and see the ship after being refurbished. :rolleyes:

 

Thanks for the info - there has been very little thus far. The rebuild cost has been all over the place.

Edited February 23, 2016 by dexddd

[mattson]

thanks for the updated info - it's good to know from boots on the ground.

 

Cruise Critic's Refurb page has this information listed:

 

Dates: February 20 - March 15, 2016

 

Details: In its first major refresh since the ship launched in 2005, most of Pride of America's restaurants will be redecorated, the Mandara Spa will be revamped, a new wedding chapel will be added and suites and staterooms will get new bedding, televisions, and furniture.

 

Sounds like it would be good to see post refurb :)

 

the NCL PoA Hawaii cruise was awesome!

[chengkp75]

I was on the last cruise prior to drydock. Most of the crew was looking forward to a break in the routine. Some were worried about the sea days, especially heading to SF with a "light" ship.

 

They were boarding 600 contractors for the journey to SF. I heard a total price of $15 million.

 

Apparently in every port for the last voyage, 200 deck chairs were donated to the local municipalities. Honolulu would get the rest. Most of the deck furniture was in the hallways by 8:30 AM on Saturday.

 

Many rolls of carpet were loaded on the ship when we first joined at the start of the cruise.

 

Many of the waitstaff had the choice of tearing up carpets or serving as fire watch for welding operations.

 

The crew I talked to didn't seem to know the rebuilding plan. Seemed that many, many areas were being demolished.

 

My kids thought that we should come back and see the ship after being refurbished. :rolleyes:

 

My question would be whether that $15m figure is for the entire drydock or just the hotel refurbishment, because they come from two separate budgets, but the total cost is normally what is parroted. Just the technical side of a drydock on a ship like the POA can suck up $5-6 million.

 

Again, I'm not sure how much is being "demolished", given the statement posted above that the restaurants were being "redecorated". That might mean things like carpet, tables, chairs, light fixtures, curtains and some furniture, but nothing is being demolished to accomplish this. They can even change the appearance of the walls just by applying another vinyl layer over the existing steel panels.

 

The galley crew will still be working, providing meals for the crew and the contractors (600 is probably just for the trip across, there will be more when the ship is in the shipyard). And some cabin stewards will be needed to service the cabins for these contractors. But many of the wait staff and cabin stewards will be doing work like taking up carpet, removing furniture from cabins for carpeting, and returning it afterwards, cleaning up after the contractors nightly, and fire watch in the engine room and other places where they are doing structural work.

 

From what I remember, their union contract says they can get off for the drydock period if they want (unlike their international co-workers), so some will go home for a few weeks.

[morrisretired]

JustThinking23, will you be writing a review of your POA Cruise, before the scheduled dry dock in San Francisco? We originally booked that last cruise and cancelled it. (They say not to book a cruise right before or after a dry dock.) A few weeks later we decided to take a chance, and book the first cruise after the dry dock because of a great sale price. Also, we only had to fly one way back to the mainland. Just wondering how your cruise was. Thanks.

[JustThinking23]

JustThinking23, will you be writing a review of your POA Cruise, before the scheduled dry dock in San Francisco? We originally booked that last cruise and cancelled it. (They say not to book a cruise right before or after a dry dock.) A few weeks later we decided to take a chance, and book the first cruise after the dry dock because of a great sale price. Also, we only had to fly one way back to the mainland. Just wondering how your cruise was. Thanks.

 

A review is on my to-do list, but it is about 15th on the list right now.

 

I was thinking that I would post it in the Hawaii forum, instead of NCL, since my opinions on the ship are pretty irrelevant right now.

 

To answer your question, we experienced no negatives to this being the last cruise before the dry dock. Perhaps that was do to the fact that we spent so little time on the ship based on it's fairly unique itinerary. Truly this is just a floating hotel room. We had not planned to go to any of the shows.

 

We have 3 teenagers in school, so we don't really have the ability to take vacations at any time.

[barnacle_boy]

As has become the norm under FDR, everything is played close to the chest. Information is tightly controlled, and only a few people have the whole picture of all the improvements that will be made. Total cost will probably end up somewhere north of $70 million.

 

A significant portion of that will go to technical projects. Overhauling the DGs and RR pods, installing holding tanks for closed loop scrubbers, and replacing a lot of the navigational instruments/systems/fittings.