NCL Encore Dry Dock-risk of delay

[FreyjaCourt]

The Norwegian encore is scheduled to go into dry dock November 18th through December 2nd after which it will be taking a 12 day TA trip. I am booked on the December 15th Cruise which is 12 days after coming off of dry dock and making the TA trip. I had no idea this was going to be the case when I booked my cruise over a year ago and now I'm concerned. I wondered what people's thoughts were on the chance of my cruise being delayed or renovations still being made during my scheduled cruise? I'm hoping since my cruise is 12 days after it is scheduled to leave dry dock that I should be okay?

[BirdTravels]

7 minutes ago, FreyjaCourt said:

The Norwegian encore is scheduled to go into dry dock November 18th through December 2nd after which it will be taking a 12 day TA trip. I am booked on the December 15th Cruise which is 12 days after coming off of dry dock and making the TA trip. I had no idea this was going to be the case when I booked my cruise over a year ago and now I'm concerned. I wondered what people's thoughts were on the chance of my cruise being delayed or renovations still being made during my scheduled cruise? I'm hoping since my cruise is 12 days after it is scheduled to leave dry dock that I should be okay?

 

The Transatlantic immediately following the dry dock is scheduled from 03 DEC 24 through 15 Dec 24. Your cruise is not 12 days after dry dock, it is the next cruise after the dry dock. If the dry dock delays, you will likely delay. 

 

Now, dry docks are carefully planned activities, down to the minute. And they can adjust to keep things on schedule. 

 

All I can relate is my experience when we booked a cruise immediately after the Norwegian Epic dry dock, and our departure date changed twice, once leaving us scrambling for a hotel room in London the night before departure. 

 

 

[FreyjaCourt]

57 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

 

The Transatlantic immediately following the dry dock is scheduled from 03 DEC 24 through 15 Dec 24. Your cruise is not 12 days after dry dock, it is the next cruise after the dry dock. If the dry dock delays, you will likely delay. 

 

Now, dry docks are carefully planned activities, down to the minute. And they can adjust to keep things on schedule. 

 

All I can relate is my experience when we booked a cruise immediately after the Norwegian Epic dry dock, and our departure date changed twice, once leaving us scrambling for a hotel room in London the night before departure. 

 

 

I guess I'm confused. If dry dock is between November 18th and December 2nd, are you not counting the transatlantic crossing as a cruise? I am scheduled on the December 15th cruise leaving out of Miami for the Caribbean. 

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

Anyone know where the Encore will be doing its dry dock?

[bluesea777]

7 hours ago, Anoynmous Phoenix said:

Anyone know where the Encore will be doing its dry dock?

Brest, France. Encore’s disembarkation and embarkation port is Southampton, UK.

 

 

[Hangman115]

Have heard about this happening before that after dry dock, there maybe areas closed and/or undergoing renovations the firs sailing or two after back in service. 

[BirdTravels]

12 hours ago, FreyjaCourt said:

I guess I'm confused. If dry dock is between November 18th and December 2nd, are you not counting the transatlantic crossing as a cruise? I am scheduled on the December 15th cruise leaving out of Miami for the Caribbean. 

First and foremost, there is little to no chance of your cruise being delayed. But you seem to want to know worst case scenarios. 

 

If the Dry Dock is delayed, the TA will be delayed. Not sure that NCL would compress the TA. They need to test the new ship and do stuff like mini sea trials, recalibrate magnetic compass, etc. 
 

They are making major structural changes to the ship including ripping out the forward port side of Deck 15 and installing 24 new rooms. Unlike the Joy which previously had rooms and infrastructure in that area, this is all new for the Encore. This is in addition to normal dry dock updates like demolishing public areas and rebuilding them. 

[wilmingtech]

13 hours ago, FreyjaCourt said:

I guess I'm confused. If dry dock is between November 18th and December 2nd, are you not counting the transatlantic crossing as a cruise? I am scheduled on the December 15th cruise leaving out of Miami for the Caribbean. 

Dry dock wont affect your sailing date unless something goes sideways.  The only downside is that a good percentage of the seasoned crew will most likely be replaced with new crew and it often takes a few sailings before the crew is in synch again.  You may see this in food quality and whats available as far as food, drinks, ect.  And sometimes the service is "off" as the new crew gets used to the ship and the schedule.  This is not always true but if you go back and read reviews of cruises that happen the week or two after dry dock this is often reflected in the review.

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@bluesea777

 

Thanks.   

 

That will mean that the shambles that occurred with the Spirit in 2020 when someone had it travelling from Civitavecchia to and from Marseilles in 12 hours won't happen here.

 

But it may well mean that, with all the work to be done, the cruises before and after the dry dock with have lots of preparatory and finishing work being done while cruising.   Been there seen that; not brilliant.

 

@FreyjaCourt

 

That saying, unless something major happens, your cruise should not be affected.

[Ellis1138]

I had no idea about the drydock and I am booked on the TA for December 3. So if something happens to delay our cruise, you'll hear us venting about it.

[bluesea777]

40 minutes ago, Ellis1138 said:

I had no idea about the drydock and I am booked on the TA for December 3. So if something happens to delay our cruise, you'll hear us venting about it.

Don’t vent!!

 

We were on the Spirit’s first post dry-dock cruise from Rome to Dubai in Feb 2020. We were meant to embark and leave from Rome on Feb 11, but a few days before that, on Feb 5, one day before we left Bermuda, we got an email from NCL that due to 3 yes three weeks labor strikes by the French at Marseille (meaning NCL lost 3 weeks out of the 6 weeks dry dock) the Spirit wasn’t finished and they needed to delay our departure to Feb 14. And they’re refunding us 25% of the cruise (3 ports had to be dropped) plus 25% FCD. 
 

As we already booked to fly out to Milan on Feb 6, stay in a Milan hotel for 2 nights before going to Civitavecchia by train to stay in hotel overnight before cruise, I was able to change the Civitavecchia hotel (which turned out to be a dump anyway) from the 10th to 13th Feb without penalty. And we had fun researching what to do in Italy for the 3 days … decided on going to Florence from Milan for the 3 nights - found a lovely hotel there on the river. I had booked first class tickets on Trenitalia from Milan to Rome/Civitavecchia, I was able to change and tweak tickets to from Milan to Florence and then to Rome/Civitaveechia. 
 

In the end we had a good time in Florence. Can’t help it that it was the French’s fault, not NCL, and we appreciated the 25% refund and the 25% FCD. 

You should be fine as NCL will compensate if the dry-dock doesn’t finish in time and ports are dropped on the TA to Miami. 
 

Ship (and the French) happens. 
 

 

 

 

Edited August 23 by bluesea777

[Eggs2Go]

Has anyone experienced a change in dates on a TA cruise heading to drydock? I'm booked on the Encore TA from Miami Nov 3 arriving in Southampton on Nov 17. Encore scheduled for drydock and seems like the ship has a very long list of renovations to accomplish in the two-week period. I expect some demolition work and closed venues while we're sailing, but I'm wondering if Norwegian may cancel some of our port stops and rush to get the ship into drydock earlier by arriving in Southampton prior to the 17th.

 

We've had no word from NCL. But it's suspicious that there are no excursions listed for several port stops enroute, including Lisbon. Other NCL ships with a stop this fall in Lisbon are showing excursions there, and the Encore return westbound in December that the OP is inquiring about also has many excursions listed for the Lisbon port stop. Why don't we?

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@Eggs2Go

 

I believe that the cruise PRIOR to the one described by @bluesea777; that is before the Spirit was due in Marseilles also missed a port so that passengers could debark in Civitavecchia one day early.   That was done so that the Spirit would arrive in Marseilles on time not 1 day late.

[The Traveling Man]

1 hour ago, Eggs2Go said:

Has anyone experienced a change in dates on a TA cruise heading to drydock? I'm booked on the Encore TA from Miami Nov 3 arriving in Southampton on Nov 17.

We were on the Getaway in April of 2019.  Our TA was scheduled as a 12 day cruise from Manhattan to Southampton, with scheduled port stops in Ponta Delgada, Portland, Zeebrugge, and Le Havre.  A few days before our departure, we received an email advising that the stops in Zeebrugge and Le Havre were cancelled and that we would arrive in Southampton two days early.  The negative feedback from passengers about missing France and Belgium, especially from CC members, must have been overwhelming, because NCL sent out another email advising that Zeebrugge and Le Havre were back on the schedule, but Ponta Delgada and Portland were dropped.  It still meant that we got a ten day cruise instead of the 12 days we were expecting.  As we were disembarking in Southampton, hundreds of construction workers were boarding.  They probably worked through the night as the ship sailed to its dry dock in France.

 

NCL offered to compensate passengers up to a fixed amount (about $300.00 as I recall) to help cover the costs of changed flights, additional hotel nights, etc.  It worked out great for us.  We were planning on touring Europe for a few days, anyway, so two extra days in Southwest England were great.  We found a hotel near the train station in Southampton and took day trips by train to see Winchester Cathedral and Stonehenge.

[Eggs2Go]

1 hour ago, The Traveling Man said:

 

  It worked out great for us.  We were planning on touring Europe for a few days, anyway, so two extra days in Southwest England were great.  

Your experience is exactly what I'm half anticipating NCL will do on my cruise. Except the port stops eliminated for us will be in Spain and Portugal, which conveniently would also save fuel costs, another big excuse sometimes made now as well. We are 71 days away from departure, and I do hope NCL gives us more than a few days notice of any changes, especially since I suspect they already know. It would be nice to be able to make definite plans etc. But like you, I would be happy to have extra time in England so it's all good although I was (currently am) looking forward to the port stops too. And $300 only buys one night in a London hotel so I'm hoping for more compensation than that. But who knows, maybe our original itinerary will stand. Perhaps I'm just suspicious of NCL these days. Thanks for the real life info.

[Raleigh Traveler]

We are booked on both TAs, the Miami to Southampton and the Dec 3 return, Southampton to Miami. As mentioned, the Joy had a similar drydock early this year and from all I could tell, no sailing dates were changed. I have heard differing accounts on areas that were still being worked on during the post drydock cruise. Because they are available, we took the risk and booked one of the new cabins that will be going into the port side of the observation lounge. Later I asked our PCC about what happens if the cabins are not ready and was told they would not discuss protocol for something that is not yet an issue. We will certainly report on all that occurs or does not. 

[BirdTravels]

21 hours ago, Ellis1138 said:

I had no idea about the drydock and I am booked on the TA for December 3. So if something happens to delay our cruise, you'll hear us venting about it.

 

You will be fine!  Have a wonderful cruise.

 

Many of the officers and crew that we talked to last week will be onboard over the dry dock.

 

We were on a post-dry dock cruise on the Epic staying in the Haven. Things kinda tickled in over the first few days. Throw pillows showed up. Drapes showed up. Some of the interior curtains covering storage showed up into the cruise.  

 

Our cabin steward had some construction skills and was tiling until after midnight as the ship sailed to Southampton to pick us up. He was very apologetic that everything in the suite was not perfectly set up. (Probably had some of the construction management camped in there during the dry dock). 

 

For us, this was the first and only time we did a post-dry dock cruise. After an one-week extension of the dry dock a few of months out (decision to change 2 engines requiring them to cut a big hole in the hull to get the old engines out and new engines in), we were notified a few days prior to departure that there would be one additional day delay. While there was some pro-rated compensation offered for the loss of a day on our cruise, we submitted a hotel bill for the additional night in London and NCL reimbursed us for the hotel and food expenses for the day in London (which was above and beyond what they committed to paying in their letter). 

[mertziek]

21 hours ago, bluesea777 said:

Don’t vent!!

 

We were on the Spirit’s first post dry-dock cruise from Rome to Dubai in Feb 2020. We were meant to embark and leave from Rome on Feb 11, but a few days before that, on Feb 5, one day before we left Bermuda, we got an email from NCL that due to 3 yes three weeks labor strikes by the French at Marseille (meaning NCL lost 3 weeks out of the 6 weeks dry dock) the Spirit wasn’t finished and they needed to delay our departure to Feb 14. And they’re refunding us 25% of the cruise (3 ports had to be dropped) plus 25% FCD. 
 

As we already booked to fly out to Milan on Feb 6, stay in a Milan hotel for 2 nights before going to Civitavecchia by train to stay in hotel overnight before cruise, I was able to change the Civitavecchia hotel (which turned out to be a dump anyway) from the 10th to 13th Feb without penalty. And we had fun researching what to do in Italy for the 3 days … decided on going to Florence from Milan for the 3 nights - found a lovely hotel there on the river. I had booked first class tickets on Trenitalia from Milan to Rome/Civitavecchia, I was able to change and tweak tickets to from Milan to Florence and then to Rome/Civitaveechia. 
 

In the end we had a good time in Florence. Can’t help it that it was the French’s fault, not NCL, and we appreciated the 25% refund and the 25% FCD. 

You should be fine as NCL will compensate if the dry-dock doesn’t finish in time and ports are dropped on the TA to Miami. 
 

Ship (and the French) happens. 
 

 

 

 

We were on that Spirit cruise, too, (in fact the final cruise to be normal for 2 years just before Covid struck) and did not get into our DOS cabin until day 14 of the shortened 19 day cruise.  Plus there were work crews with open panels and long electrical cords down hallways all over the ship and several days where they were drilling and hammering for hours above our “upgraded balcony” cabin - it was not an upgrade as they tried to tell us on checkin and the balcony we were put in was definitely the smallest they had on the ship! - making it pretty miserable.  But we survived despite being in one of the last 2 cabins to be finished.  We were able to get extra hotel days in Rome pre-cruise with only 5 days notice of the delay in embarkation and did a lot more Italy touring so we still had a great cruise but were disappointed to miss several ports.  We decided it would not wreck our cruise and went with the flow.  NCL compensated us more than most others due to being booked and paying for the best cabin and being the last ones to get in our suite.  There were many times during the cruise I just wish they would have been more open and transparent about what was going on but in typical NCL fashion they chose to deflect.  Since then we definitely do not book cruises for a particular port since anything can happen to affect the ports you get to.  And if a port gets canceled due to weather conditions, we likewise take it in stride.  And, if possible, we also try to avoid booking cruises right before and after dry dock.

[The Traveling Man]

18 hours ago, Eggs2Go said:

Your experience is exactly what I'm half anticipating NCL will do on my cruise. Except the port stops eliminated for us will be in Spain and Portugal, which conveniently would also save fuel costs, another big excuse sometimes made now as well. We are 71 days away from departure, and I do hope NCL gives us more than a few days notice of any changes, especially since I suspect they already know. It would be nice to be able to make definite plans etc. But like you, I would be happy to have extra time in England so it's all good although I was (currently am) looking forward to the port stops too. And $300 only buys one night in a London hotel so I'm hoping for more compensation than that. But who knows, maybe our original itinerary will stand. Perhaps I'm just suspicious of NCL these days. Thanks for the real life info.

That $300 per person was enough for two nights in a hotel in Southampton, with some left over to cover our meals for those days plus at least part of the cost of our tours to Stonehenge and Winchester.

[Eggs2Go]

Yep, budget better for two than for one. Reminds me why I love sailing Norwegian: I can often get a solo cabin or sometimes like on this Encore cruise can book a regular cabin with no solo supplement. So even with the uncertainty about ports and dates, the price is right on this TA heading to drydock. Plus it's a rare opportunity to sail eastbound to Europe in the Fall. Then after a nice interlude it's easy to catch a westbound TA back home since all the cruise lines are returning ships to USA in November. Thus I avoid transatlantic flights both directions. I'll be onboard the Celebrity Equinox from Lisbon to Port Canaveral. I would have booked Encore for the return but waiting the length of time in drydock would have drained my finances. I'm trying to keep to that darn budget again. Hopefully after these cruises I'll still be able to trust Norwegian.