Anyone Have Experience Booking a Cruise Just Before Drydock or Just After?

[Grumpella]

I am thinking about booking a cruise just before drydock. I remember reading people warning about booking just before/just after drydock. 
 

Any advice or experiences? I am concerned about possible cancellations or delays. Thank you.

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

We have had cruises that were before or after a dry dock before we realised that was what they were.   Never again!!   In both cases there were people on board doing preparatory work for the dry dock.

I hope someone tells you first hand about the Spirit in February 2020 before and after the dry dock in Marseilles!!

[Ellis1138]

I've thankfully avoided it up until now. The Encore is rumored to be in drydock after its Miami to Southampton November cruise. There's no sailings for it until my transatlantic on December 3 this year. 

I called in to NCL, asking a few different reps about the drydock, but they claim there's no information about that.

I'll let them know in my special needs form that I'm extremely sensitive to VoCs from paint and new carpet. 

I'm in a Studio cabin, so hopefully whatever is being done won't affect me. But I'm very nervous about getting on after what seems like it's a drydock. Not nervous enough to cancel, though.

Wish me luck.

[GLYNAGP]

I sailed on Norwegian Dawn in April, departing from Rome directly after its dry dock in Marseille . We had absolutely no problems. The ship had arrived in Civitavecchia the previous day so cabin were available shortly after boarding . There were no signs of unfinished work we had a great cruise.

[schmoopie17]

We've never done it, but if you search the board, you'll find a consensus that kind of resembles Nike's slogan. Although in this case, the revised slogan is, "Just (Don't) Do It".

 

Edited July 28 by schmoopie17

[FishyMom1967]

This has me worried now.  We're booked on the Jewel in Sept 2025 on what I've only recently learned is the last sailing prior to a drydock. It's a fairly unique, port-intensive itinerary and the timing works perfectly for us, so it would be difficult to replace. Am I crazy to consider this cruise?

[bonvoyagie]

A lot depends on how long of a dry dock is being done. We were on the Dawn in the fall of 2016, just after a major month long revamp that June. The work was completed by the time we got onboard in Sept, so there was nothing special. On the other hand the cruise just before the dry dock got many nasty comments here on CC as the prep crew got to work. We were also on the Pearl in 2012 when they were changing out the suite furniture. There were sofas and chairs all over the place, they did a few rooms each day while in port.

[The Traveling Man]

On 7/28/2024 at 3:03 PM, Grumpella said:

I am thinking about booking a cruise just before drydock. I remember reading people warning about booking just before/just after drydock. 
 

Any advice or experiences? I am concerned about possible cancellations or delays. Thank you.

We were on the Getaway on a Trans Atlantic crossing in April 2019, just before a dry dock.  Our scheduled 12 day cruise was cut to just ten days so the ship could enter dry dock earlier.  The reports from passengers on the first cruise after the dry dock were that their cruise was delayed by a few days as well.  NCL did offer some compensation, including a few hundred dollars to help cover the cost of hotel rooms and meals for the two extra days we spent in Southampton before continuing our journey.  I think they also offered some compensation to those who had to pay to change their plane tickets.  Not for nothing, but we were credited with 12 Latitude points instead of being cut to ten.

[1bighund]

We were on the Star, transatlantic Miami to Barcelona before dry dock.  There were a couple of sections on one deck off limits, but nothing that impacted us

[cabincop]

I was on Getaway this May ending in Copenhagen before dry dock. There were no issues. No missed ports. Ship was great. Her hull needed sprucing up & inside was ready for refresh. Never saw any workers at all. My cabin was fine. Day of disembarking they started tearing down casino. That was all I saw. 

[LewiLewi]

On 7/28/2024 at 5:17 PM, Ellis1138 said:

I've thankfully avoided it up until now. The Encore is rumored to be in drydock after its Miami to Southampton November cruise. There's no sailings for it until my transatlantic on December 3 this year. 

I called in to NCL, asking a few different reps about the drydock, but they claim there's no information about that.

I'll let them know in my special needs form that I'm extremely sensitive to VoCs from paint and new carpet. 

I'm in a Studio cabin, so hopefully whatever is being done won't affect me. But I'm very nervous about getting on after what seems like it's a drydock. Not nervous enough to cancel, though.

Wish me luck.

Our experience on HAL after dry dock was problematic because of fumes from newly layed carpet in our cabin. We kept the balcony door open all of the time.

 

carpeting in our cabin

[shoptom]

I had a cruise cancelled only about a month out to go into dry dock early.  Refund only, no extras.

[CILCIANRQTS]

On 7/28/2024 at 4:12 PM, Anoynmous Phoenix said:

We have had cruises that were before or after a dry dock before we realised that was what they were.   Never again!!   In both cases there were people on board doing preparatory work for the dry dock.

I hope someone tells you first hand about the Spirit in February 2020 before and after the dry dock in Marseilles!!

This has been our experience also.

Since they are obviously updating public spaces, the pre- and post- work very definitely impacted our cruise experience.