Emerald in dry dock

[Ron the Rev]

The Emerald went into dry dock in Rotterdam on 11th Aug. and is due to start sea trials on the 26 Aug., on route to Southampton where she docks on 28th Aug for her last voyage this side of the pond. We are on this cruise and hope to see the improvements to her, this grand old lady of the fleet. Just wondering if the crew would embark in Rotterdam or Southampton. If Southampton, I guess there would be a lot of running round by them finding their feet. Any thoughts ?

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, Ron the Rev said:

The Emerald went into dry dock in Rotterdam on 11th Aug. and is due to start sea trials on the 26 Aug., on route to Southampton where she docks on 28th Aug for her last voyage this side of the pond. We are on this cruise and hope to see the improvements to her, this grand old lady of the fleet. Just wondering if the crew would embark in Rotterdam or Southampton. If Southampton, I guess there would be a lot of running round by them finding their feet. Any thoughts ?

August?

[Rick&Jeannie]

Hmm...seems like "old" news...

[Ron the Rev]

1 hour ago, PacnGoNow said:

August?

So sorry, for Aug. please read Oct. Mental aberration.

[chengkp75]

3 hours ago, Ron the Rev said:

Just wondering if the crew would embark in Rotterdam or Southampton. If Southampton, I guess there would be a lot of running round by them finding their feet. Any thoughts ?

The vast majority of crew remain onboard during dry dock. They form a cheap labor source for many jobs like daily worksite cleaning up after contractors, and fire watch for shipyard cutting/welding.  Then there are the crew who have to service the hundreds of contractors who sleep and eat onboard.  Pretty much, only entertainers, concessionaires, and those crew with contracts ending will leave the ship when it goes into dry dock.  They also have to start cleaning the ship during the sea trials and any deadhead passage.

[bjkTX]

When we got off the Emerald a couple of weeks ago they were busy taping brown paper over doors and windows getting things ready - a few days before I went to a meeting next door to Sabatini's and noticed it was all taken apart and getting ready.  They didn't even wait for us to leave the ship 🙂  Time is money.  We loved the Emerald and they will make her even better - we'll see in Feb 2024 when we sail on her again.

[sonomaphil]

13 minutes ago, bjkTX said:

When we got off the Emerald a couple of weeks ago they were busy taping brown paper over doors and windows getting things ready - a few days before I went to a meeting next door to Sabatini's and noticed it was all taken apart and getting ready.  They didn't even wait for us to leave the ship 🙂  Time is money.  We loved the Emerald and they will make her even better - we'll see in Feb 2024 when we sail on her again.

I'm guessing Sabatini's might be rethemed.  Princess removed the Italian theme when it became Share but never returned it back when Share went bye bye.  I do know all the carpet is being replaced on the entire ship. I'd also hazard a guess that any reminders of Planks or Steamers will be removed and assume it's back to a Café Caribe. 

Edited October 24, 2022 by sonomaphil

[DrivesLikeMario]

9 minutes ago, bjkTX said:

When we got off the Emerald a couple of weeks ago they were busy taping brown paper over doors and windows getting things ready - a few days before I went to a meeting next door to Sabatini's and noticed it was all taken apart and getting ready.  They didn't even wait for us to leave the ship 🙂  Time is money.  We loved the Emerald and they will make her even better - we'll see in Feb 2024 when we sail on her again.

Good to see other SAT cruisers!  We're looking forward to seeing the Emerald all spruced up next year too.  It's been years since we've been on the Emerald.

[bjkTX]

11 minutes ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

Good to see other SAT cruisers!  We're looking forward to seeing the Emerald all spruced up next year too.  It's been years since we've been on the Emerald.

Howdy!  Converse here.

 

We had been on the Emerald before but I'm not sure when it was.  We tend to always get the same cabin C-753 and all the Princess ships tend to blend together - which we like 🙂  We were in C-753 2 weeks ago and will have it on the Ruby for a Christmas cruise then again back on the Emerald in Feb 2024.  We're predictable if nothing else 🙂

[DrivesLikeMario]

2 minutes ago, bjkTX said:

Howdy!  Converse here.

 

We had been on the Emerald before but I'm not sure when it was.  We tend to always get the same cabin C-753 and all the Princess ships tend to blend together - which we like 🙂  We were in C-753 2 weeks ago and will have it on the Ruby for a Christmas cruise then again back on the Emerald in Feb 2024.  We're predictable if nothing else 🙂

It'll be strange to be on a Grand Class ship again after the last 4 times on Royal Class ships.  Those are great cabins to get, plus there's so much less passenger noise back there too.

[bjkTX]

16 minutes ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

It'll be strange to be on a Grand Class ship again after the last 4 times on Royal Class ships.  Those are great cabins to get, plus there's so much less passenger noise back there too.

We love the "private" entrance.  We had been on a cruise where the drunks were roaming the halls at 2am waking everyone up - and we never heard them 🙂

 

We love the white noise of the wake, we love the movement, and we absolutely love getting back from shore and having our friends join us on the big balcony for a sail away party knowing no matter what the weather was we could be out there!  The last cruise (British Isles) I screwed up because it was so port intensive with bad weather that we never really got to use the balcony other than on one of the 2 sea days - so it was wasted $$ - but we'll enjoy it on the next two Caribbean cruises 🙂

[BarbinMich]

Nice to hear that my next TA cruise will be on the recently updated Emerald (Nov. 7 TA)!  Last time on this ship was in 2013 also doing a TA <g>.

[martinitime1]

1 hour ago, BarbinMich said:

Nice to hear that my next TA cruise will be on the recently updated Emerald (Nov. 7 TA)!  Last time on this ship was in 2013 also doing a TA <g>.

We will be on this cruise as well. I wonder if they did carpet in all the cabins? Sounds like we will be the first cruise after the drydock. Getting ready!!

[DrivesLikeMario]

2 hours ago, bjkTX said:

We love the "private" entrance.  We had been on a cruise where the drunks were roaming the halls at 2am waking everyone up - and we never heard them 🙂

 

We love the white noise of the wake, we love the movement, and we absolutely love getting back from shore and having our friends join us on the big balcony for a sail away party knowing no matter what the weather was we could be out there!  The last cruise (British Isles) I screwed up because it was so port intensive with bad weather that we never really got to use the balcony other than on one of the 2 sea days - so it was wasted $$ - but we'll enjoy it on the next two Caribbean cruises 🙂

For sure!  DH wants at least a mini and likes full sun on the balcony but 'your' cabin is definitely a good choice!  Love how quiet it is in the aft area.  Happy cruising!

[Coral]

3 hours ago, martinitime1 said:

We will be on this cruise as well. I wonder if they did carpet in all the cabins? Sounds like we will be the first cruise after the drydock. Getting ready!!

There is a cruise October 28th.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Hoping those of you that are cruising soon on the Emerald will let us know what they did exactly on the drydock.

[huttenkt]

On 10/24/2022 at 11:24 AM, bjkTX said:

We love the "private" entrance.  We had been on a cruise where the drunks were roaming the halls at 2am waking everyone up - and we never heard them 🙂

 

We love the white noise of the wake, we love the movement, and we absolutely love getting back from shore and having our friends join us on the big balcony for a sail away party knowing no matter what the weather was we could be out there!  The last cruise (British Isles) I screwed up because it was so port intensive with bad weather that we never really got to use the balcony other than on one of the 2 sea days - so it was wasted $$ - but we'll enjoy it on the next two Caribbean cruises 🙂

@bjkTX love that you chose the same exact cabin each time!  And I love those aft cabins as well, although my husband doesn't like the soot issues. What do you mean by the "private" entrance? 

[bjkTX]

52 minutes ago, huttenkt said:

@bjkTX love that you chose the same exact cabin each time!  And I love those aft cabins as well, although my husband doesn't like the soot issues. What do you mean by the "private" entrance? 

We have never encounter a soot problem on a Princess ship because of the way the decks stick out.  On a Carnival ship we had a horrible problem and would never do that again 🙂  As for the "private" entrance both C-753 and C-752 (opposite side of the ship) are at the end of the hallway - then to get to C-753 you turn left and go to the end of that short hallway where your cabin door is - so no traffic - no one but crew ever comes near your door.  With the Medallion when we turn the corner at the end of the hall we can hear our door click open 🙂  C-752 is the same, just on the other side of the ship.

[huttenkt]

1 hour ago, bjkTX said:

We have never encounter a soot problem on a Princess ship because of the way the decks stick out.  On a Carnival ship we had a horrible problem and would never do that again 🙂  As for the "private" entrance both C-753 and C-752 (opposite side of the ship) are at the end of the hallway - then to get to C-753 you turn left and go to the end of that short hallway where your cabin door is - so no traffic - no one but crew ever comes near your door.  With the Medallion when we turn the corner at the end of the hall we can hear our door click open 🙂  C-752 is the same, just on the other side of the ship.

That's great to know, thanks!  Maybe I'll be able to talk my husband into trying an aft cabin with that info!

[bjkTX]

1 minute ago, huttenkt said:

That's great to know, thanks!  Maybe I'll be able to talk my husband into trying an aft cabin with that info!

If you look at the shape of the ships - Princess ship decks stick out father the higher you go ( \)  - so you are mostly always protected by the deck above you.  While Carnival ships (at least the ones we have been on have the decks just the opposite - the lower decks stick out more ( / ) so we had soot issues 🙂