Drawbacks to last cruise before dry dock?

[iamsteph]

I'm looking at a cruise and came across the dry dock schedule for 2020. The cruise I'm looking at would be the last cruise before the ship goes into dry dock.  Are there any drawbacks to cruising the last cruise before a dry dock? I'd hate to book it and the ship just be horrible (lack of being well kept knowing it's going into dry dock or work already starting) or the crew not care (if a good number of them are changing contracts or ships).

 

Tell me your experiences, good or bad!

 

Edit: well the information I came across was out of date, no dry dock scheduled! It would still be interesting to hear the experience of others, just in case I ever find myself in that situation lol

Edited February 21, 2020 by iamsteph
my mistake

[boomhower]

The biggest risk IMHO is they will be starting some of the projects impacting your experience.  I won't book within a month on either side of a scheduled dry dock. 

[bobsfamily]

There was an NCL ship that left California on a cruise thru the Panama Canal on the way to Miami before drydock.  It was the Su and here is a thread about how horrid the experience was.  It was a long cruise as well.  We went on the ship after dry dock and it was wonderful but I would have hated to be on her before...

 

Here is a link to the thread:

 

[lennythenose]

We just got off the Miracle on her last cruise before dry dock. It was a 13 night Panama Canal Journeys Cruise. I had read of people having problems with work starting on their cruise but we did not experience that at all. I think there may have been some work being done behind the scene we never saw or heard anything. Everything was open as normal. It was a great cruise!

[VentureMan_2000]

28 minutes ago, lennythenose said:

We just got off the Miracle on her last cruise before dry dock. It was a 13 night Panama Canal Journeys Cruise.

 

Your cruise was first booked as a 17 day cruise.  It was reduced to 13 days after booking to make room for and extended dry dock.  That is something that could happen... and did happen.

[lennythenose]

40 minutes ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

Your cruise was first booked as a 17 day cruise.  It was reduced to 13 days after booking to make room for and extended dry dock.  That is something that could happen... and did happen.

I think it was the cruise after dry dock that was shortened. I booked 14+ months before and it was 13 nights at that time. I had been watching for a while before I booked and it didn’t change. It is possible you are correct but it was very early if it was changed. 

[Lee Cruiser]

We were on the Triumph several cruises (about 2 months if I remember correctly) before it was entering dry dock to become the Sunrise.  The lounge where they were moving the comedy club was already closed and lots of work was going on in other areas as well, with supplies being stored in some public areas.  Our boarding/ departure time was also delayed because they were having to load supplies.  They sent us an email early that week telling us to delay our arrival to the port.  This is probably not the case with all dry docks, but it is with major transitions. 

[tidecat]

I was on the second to last Triumph sailing last year. There was some construction noise while we were docked at Cozumel, and one public venue was closed. On the flip side, I had the 2.0 version of my stateroom even though the ship was still the Triumph.

 

I will be on the second to last Victory sailing this week.

[Lee Cruiser]

30 minutes ago, tidecat said:

On the flip side, I had the 2.0 version of my stateroom even though the ship was still the Triumph.

 

That is true, the room was a lot nicer than our previous cruises on the Triumph.

[adventuredancer]

we were on a NCL ship the 2nd to last before a big drydock. a couple of the specialty restaurantes were closed. one of the pools was closed. it became more noticeable the longer the cruise as they would do work on the ship as it went. i think a couple of the smaller meeting rooms were closed as they were storing stuff in there.