Last voyage before a ship goes to dry dock

[Quinte Girl]

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with taking the last voyage on a ship before dry docking (hope this is the correct term). I understand the Eclipse is being taken out of service April 2020 and we are considering the South American voyage just prior. Anything we should know?

[Orator]

I have been on several ships on the last cruise before dry dock. Have observed work being done while cruise was still going. I noticed in on case that carpets were being removed in some sections and internet upgrades which required access through ceilings on another. Items were stored both inside and outside decks. No too disturbing, but I think I would avoid these cruises in the future unless the price is adjusted for the inconvenience.

[vulcan1971]

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with taking the last voyage on a ship before dry docking (hope this is the correct term). I understand the Eclipse is being taken out of service April 2020 and we are considering the South American voyage just prior. Anything we should know?

 

I was on one once... it was a 5-day Millennium cruise in the Caribbean (2012). The ship was going in to dry dock to give it many of the Solstice Class upgrades. On my cruise there was a variety of construction materials being staged and used in active work zones around the ship. There were some venues that were temporarily closed. Also, on that cruise was a large group of Pampered Chef consultants, which also made for venues to be closed for private events. At the time I didn't care so much about things like that, but I'd probably make more of an effort to know these things today when making a decision to book. All things being equal, I would not want to sail on a cruise just going in or coming out of drydock.

[ECCruise]

Have sailed both before and after dry docks due to itinerary considerations (special sailings). If it were a every week or so type cruise--nothing special--I would not do a sailing right before a dry dock. Too many experiences of hallways blocked, venues closed, areas filled with material for drydock, contractors on the ship, etc. to repeat that experience if I could avoid it.

[Beanb41]

we did the Solstice sailing from Sydney to Singapore last year and quite frankly apart from some minot maintenance hardly noticed a thing. We also did the Constellation out of dry dock which was two days late starting got thousands of dollars in compensation, flown to Monaco from Barcelona for the Grand Prix and put up in a 5 star hotel in Barcelona for two nights. WE just loved that cruise

[constantcruiser]

I would avoid the last cruise prior to dry dock if possible. To keep the ship sailing and bringing in money as long as possible, they do much of the work prior to the ship actually going into dry dock. In my experience that means pallets on the deck, mattresses in the hallway, rolls of carpeting in lounges, and some areas closed off entirely. It was also very noisy, because construction was going on throughout the ship. We also noticed that some of the crew had a "short-timer's attitude."

[bighairtexan]

My experience w/ the 1 sailing I'd done prior to dry dock *not Celebrity I will add* was very much like Constantcruiser's. The service was noticeably lackluster, there was some construction already started, and the ship was very WORN looking. That was in the day before internet so I had no idea when I booked it.

[bigbeergut]

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with taking the last voyage on a ship before dry docking (hope this is the correct term). I understand the Eclipse is being taken out of service April 2020 and we are considering the South American voyage just prior. Anything we should know?

 

Probably is the best answer. It could be a great cruise or you may encounter issues.

 

Common sense tells you that there is a higher than normal probability that there will be work occurring on the ship, there may be areas closed and there could be staff issues because they are looking forward to a break. The question you need to ask in situations like this is: Is this cruise so unique, that you want to risk your vacation time and money? Is there something special about the itinerary or timing that makes the risk worthwhile? If the answer is yes, go for it and hopefully things will work out. If the answer is no, find another way to spend your vacation time and money.