How often does Princess do Ship Refurbishments?

[cruisinsince75]

I know this varies, especially with Covid.  The reason I ask is because we will be sailing on the Regal this November.  The ships inaugural sailing was May 2014 with no refurbishment showing on the website.  The Royal on the other hand was built in 2013 and refurbished in 2018.  Can a ship really go over 10 years without being refurbished? 

 

[wallyj]

1 hour ago, cruisinsince75 said:

I know this varies, especially with Covid.  The reason I ask is because we will be sailing on the Regal this November.  The ships inaugural sailing was May 2014 with no refurbishment showing on the website.  The Royal on the other hand was built in 2013 and refurbished in 2018.  Can a ship really go over 10 years without being refurbished? 

 

If you look at other sources, the Regal had refurbishments in 2017, 2020 and 2022.

 

The Princess website is not the most up to date source, but you would think it should be. Most ships are required to dry dock every 3-4 years, if not sooner, as you can see from its history.

[ArizonaStorm]

Passengers vote with their wallets and post-cruise surveys.  A corporation that owns a cruise ship that continues to sail at full capacity, cruise after cruise, is under no pressure to continuously refurbish.  The "law" of supply and demand is at work here.  So is the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

[chengkp75]

6 minutes ago, wallyj said:

Most ships are required to dry dock every 3-4 years, if not sooner, as you can see from its history.

All ships are required to dry dock twice in 5 years.  Ships under 15 years of age can replace the mid-period (2.5 year) dry dock with an underwater survey while in service.  However, just because a ship has a dry dock, does not mean it will be "refurbished".  There may be some hotel side repairs made (carpeting, upholstery, teak deck maintenance, pool painting/tiling), but that is just because the ship is out of service anyway for the statutory aspects of the dry dock.  A real "refurbishment" as I know CC member refer to them, is about new venues, bathroom overhauls, etc, and this relies strictly on the actual condition of the ship, and the financial condition of the line.

[MacMadame]

We'll be on the Coral Princess in Jan '25. It was last refurbished in '19 and is scheduled to be in dry dock again this fall. So that's 5 years. Maybe they did another dry dock in between with no refurbishment but I didn't see any mention of it anywhere on the internet.

 

I do consider replacing carpet and worn-out upholstery, painting, etc. to be a refurbishment though. Because I can see the difference. If they were just doing maintenance on stuff we can't see (like motors, gallies, etc. then I probably wouldn't.

[Moondogy]

21 hours ago, wallyj said:

If you look at other sources, the Regal had refurbishments in 2017, 2020 and 2022.

 

The Princess website is not the most up to date source, but you would think it should be. Most ships are required to dry dock every 3-4 years, if not sooner, as you can see from its history.

The main reason for the refurbishments in 2017 was for the medallion refitting if I remember right.