Would it be Foolish?

[wally8]

I am thinking of taking a cruise on the Summit one week prior to it going into a major dry-dock in Feb. The itinerary and price look good (probably due to the dry-dock) so back to my question. Would it be foolish to book a cruise one week prior to dry-dock? Thanks for your input. Bob

[ghstudio]

If you know enough to ask the question, you pretty much know that the answer is "it depends". No one knows what Celebrity will do in preparation for that specific drydock, but clearly, there is more risk that some areas may be off limits. But if the price is right and the timing is right for you.....it's really your decision. Reading what others have experienced on their pre-drydock cruises really has very little value.

 

Good luck

[TFLG]

We did the millie the cruise before a major refit and it was fine. There were a few areas on deck they were storing stuff and there were some people onboard doing stuff obviously related to the upcoming drydock, but other than that I didn't notice anything that affected our cruise. Every cruise is different there was a news article about an NCL ship (the Sun I think) recently that was half torn to bits if you believe the reports. It must have been bad because NCL refunded everyones money. So I guess it's a roll of the dice what you get.

[Airrace]

Definitely their will be areas closed off and material storied in very spots. Usually they start to bring crews on during the port stops. If you get a good deal then I would say go for it. It’s not like it’s a full blown construction team just more than the usual construction activity.

 

 

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[OCruisers]

We've done it a couple on times and had no problems. :)

[jkgourmet]

I wouldn't even consider doing that on a NCL ship! http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2018/04/05/furious-norwegian-cruise-line-passengers-slam-ships-horrible-nonstop-construction-zone.html

[phoenix_dream]

Definitely their will be areas closed off and material storied in very spots. Usually they start to bring crews on during the port stops. If you get a good deal then I would say go for it. It’s not like it’s a full blown construction team just more than the usual construction activity.

 

 

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Do you know this from a past experience or are you just assuming?

[ghstudio]

We were on the infinity cruise before this drydock. They were working on lifeboats and the wood railing on deck 4....the entire railing on one side had been removed. Was this related to going to drydock...not sure, but there were definitely areas where we weren't allowed due to work going on,

[Northern Aurora]

We have been on two cruises just prior to dry dock.

 

On the Constellation in 2010 from Miami to Hamburg once we reached Europe some construction materials and special construction folks (i.e., the sound system in the theater was being upgraded and we had sound engineers board in Dover) were brought on board. But that was a unique cruise since Iceland's E15 volcano was also erupting causing major disruptions in air travel across Europe. Due to the travel issues at that time I have no idea if some of the extra folks were brought on earlier than they would have had air travel in Europe not been so disrupted. But there was no impact on passengers.

 

In 2016 we were on the Solstice just prior to the ship going in to dry dock in Singapore. Again, no impact on passengers.

 

In 2015 we were on a B2B2B on the Infinity in South America. That was when Luminae was being installed across the fleet. We had some construction workers board in Buenos Aires on the second leg, and periodically some pallets of construction materials would be stored on deck 11, but the impact on passengers was very minimal.

 

So based on my experiences, if the OP is pleased with the price and itinerary I would suggest they book in a heartbeat.

[wally8]

Thanks everyone for their responses. This board is very helpful and full of insights so it is appreciated. Bob