Grand Princess Dry Dock?

I would like to do round trip Hawaii next year but have read some negative things about the Grand Princess.

She is going in to Dry Dock in December.

Does anyone know what they are going to do?

Thanks. :D

Dry dock is for maintaining the things that are usually 100% wet. In other words, things we NEVER see. General maintenance is done on the ship continuously while in operation. The prediction suggests this dry dock will be routine maintenance. They may do some slightly more major projects than they do while en route, but it's not necessarily a time of big change.

While the Grand is an older ship and it does need some refurbishing, I have cruised on her twice this year and had a great time on both cruises. In fact, I have a Hawaii cruise booked on the Grand next year also.

I would expect they will deal with any important issues while in dry dock such as plumbing issues. (we never had any plumbing issues)

At any rate, December is coming quickly so we should see what they did very soon.

While the Grand is an older ship and it does need some refurbishing, I have cruised on her twice this year and had a great time on both cruises.

I would expect they will deal with any important issues while in dry dock such as plumbing issues. (we never had any plumbing issues)

 

I just sailed the Grand and in my humble opinion she needs "extensive" refurbishing.

I just sailed the Grand and in my humble opinion she needs "extensive" refurbishing.

Did you enjoy your cruise?

We will be on the Grand for the New Year's cruise. Someone on our roll call made the following post.

Just off Grand's 10/22 Cal Coastal & 10/29 Hawaii, B2B. The day we boarded, the CDC Vessel Sanitation showed up and did a inspection. Grand passed with a 98 score, passing with flying colors. HOO RAH!

FYI for Grand's dry dock up in Portland on Dec. 10. New carpeting and painting in common areas. Up grade with higher resolution MUTS screen. Remodel Sabatini. New mattress, ship wide. Princess Youth & Teen Center will be replace with Discovery Channel Activities Center. When boarding on the 22nd, contractors came aboard to do prep work, so at the dry dock Scrubbers can be install on schedule. The Princess Theater was close on many days. A new Production Show were in rehearsals for it's up coming cruises. The Vista Lounge was well used and there was overflowing crowds at many activities. Lots to look forward to in December.

Did you enjoy your cruise?

We still enjoyed the cruise, the staff in all areas were great.

Food for the most was good but the Horizon Court got old after a couple days.

But if you have sailed nicer/newer ships you might be disappointed.

The upcoming dry dock needs to make a statement, new beds and some paint won't cut it.

I would like to do round trip Hawaii next year but have read some negative things about the Grand Princess.

She is going in to Dry Dock in December.

Does anyone know what they are going to do?

 

Thanks. :D

IMO......

Don't expect a dry dock to fix wear & tear/plumbing problems of a 16 year old vessel.

I would like to do round trip Hawaii next year but have read some negative things about the Grand Princess.

She is going in to Dry Dock in December.

Does anyone know what they are going to do?

You can read negative things about every ship in the fleet here on CC. As others have said, dry dock does not mean they gut the ship and install all brand new everything. I was on the Grand in September and had a wonderful time. If I had boarded the ship expecting to find problems, I suppose I would have, but I have learned to take CC reviews with a grain of salt.

The Grand is being dry docked in San Francisco, not Portland. https://sites.google.com/site/princesscruisesfaq/ships/fleet-drydock-schedule

We will be on the Grand for the New Year's cruise. Someone on our roll call made the following post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gimer View Post

Just off Grand's 10/22 Cal Coastal & 10/29 Hawaii, B2B. The day we boarded, the CDC Vessel Sanitation showed up and did a inspection. Grand passed with a 98 score, passing with flying colors. HOO RAH!

FYI for Grand's dry dock up in Portland on Dec. 10. New carpeting and painting in common areas. Up grade with higher resolution MUTS screen. Remodel Sabatini. New mattress, ship wide. Princess Youth & Teen Center will be replace with Discovery Channel Activities Center. When boarding on the 22nd, contractors came aboard to do prep work, so at the dry dock Scrubbers can be install on schedule. The Princess Theater was close on many days. A new Production Show were in rehearsals for it's up coming cruises. The Vista Lounge was well used and there was overflowing crowds at many activities. Lots to look forward to in December.

Lets see where it goes....

Lets see where it goes....

You just might be right. I checked the Port of San Francisco cruise ship schedule for verification, and they list the Grand as departing for Portland at 4:00 pm on Dec 08 and arriving from Portland at 5:00 am on Dec 20. http://sfport.com/sites/default/files/Cruises/Docs/2016.pdf

So, two sources with different information. Interesting that if she does go to Portland, that would mean two days at sea instead of in dry dock, which I would think limits how much work can be done on her.

And to think that I almost made it through the entire year without being wrong about something. :D;)

I spoke with one of the contractors who was on board in October doing measurements. He certainly plans on doing his work replacing the countertops in the Sea Breeze Bar in Portland. Yes, they have a very tight drydock schedule allowing for getting up there and back to SF.

Jackie

The Grand is being dry docked in San Francisco, not Portland. https://sites.google.com/site/princesscruisesfaq/ships/fleet-drydock-schedule

 

 

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gimer View Post

Just off Grand's 10/22 Cal Coastal & 10/29 Hawaii, B2B. The day we boarded, the CDC Vessel Sanitation showed up and did a inspection. Grand passed with a 98 score, passing with flying colors. HOO RAH!

FYI for Grand's dry dock up in Portland on Dec. 10. New carpeting and painting in common areas. Up grade with higher resolution MUTS screen. Remodel Sabatini. New mattress, ship wide. Princess Youth & Teen Center will be replace with Discovery Channel Activities Center. When boarding on the 22nd, contractors came aboard to do prep work, so at the dry dock Scrubbers can be install on schedule. The Princess Theater was close on many days. A new Production Show were in rehearsals for it's up coming cruises. The Vista Lounge was well used and there was overflowing crowds at many activities. Lots to look forward to in December.

You just might be right. I checked the Port of San Francisco cruise ship schedule for verification, and they list the Grand as departing for Portland at 4:00 pm on Dec 08 and arriving from Portland at 5:00 am on Dec 20. http://sfport.com/sites/default/files/Cruises/Docs/2016.pdf

 

So, two sources with different information. Interesting that if she does go to Portland, that would mean two days at sea instead of in dry dock, which I would think limits how much work can be done on her.

 

 

 

And to think that I almost made it through the entire year without being wrong about something. :D;)

Well, its 734nm from SF to Portland, so that would be a day and a half at max speed anyway, and you typically want to go on the blocks early in the day for surveys and such in daylight, so I wouldn't expect her to be entering the dock until am on the 10th. To be back in SF on the 20th, she would need to leave on the 18th, so that's not a very long shipyard period.

Scrubbers and bottom paint will be the critical path items, and the scrubber installation will continue while in service for about 3-4 months, so expect to see some contractors around, and areas near the stack to be blocked off.

Renovation of one or two areas and upgrades to IT systems (MUTS) could be done in this time frame, given that demolition will commence after the last guest disembarks in SF on the 8th. Dumpsters will be loaded on the pool deck before leaving SF.

Eighteen Contractors boarded on the Oct. 22 and they were from Portugal, England, and the Baltics, doing the prep work for installing Scrubbers. When they reach Portland, it will only be a installation process. Other contractors were on board also doing prep work and measuring. F&B Mgr. Neuburger mention that he is preparing for 800 to 1000 contractors on board and they will be working 3 shifts, 24 hours, with over 100 tons of food for those 10 days. Some of his crew will do 24 hour fire watch and other task required. Portland got a new Dry Dock a few years back and the Norwegian Star was the first to do their dry dock there.

Eighteen Contractors boarded on the Oct. 22 and they were from Portugal, England, and the Baltics, doing the prep work for installing Scrubbers. When they reach Portland, it will only be a installation process. Other contractors were on board also doing prep work and measuring. F&B Mgr. Neuburger mention that he is preparing for 800 to 1000 contractors on board and they will be working 3 shifts, 24 hours, with over 100 tons of food for those 10 days. Some of his crew will do 24 hour fire watch and other task required. Portland got a new Dry Dock a few years back and the Norwegian Star was the first to do their dry dock there.

When the contractors/workers stay on board, what type of staterooms do they usually occupy? Just curious as to whether they get an upgrade. :D

Eighteen Contractors boarded on the Oct. 22 and they were from Portugal, England, and the Baltics, doing the prep work for installing Scrubbers. When they reach Portland, it will only be a installation process. Other contractors were on board also doing prep work and measuring. F&B Mgr. Neuburger mention that he is preparing for 800 to 1000 contractors on board and they will be working 3 shifts, 24 hours, with over 100 tons of food for those 10 days. Some of his crew will do 24 hour fire watch and other task required. Portland got a new Dry Dock a few years back and the Norwegian Star was the first to do their dry dock there.

If they have a couple of months before, they can get a lot of the work done, but there will still be lots of work in the engine spaces after the yard, believe me. It also depends on what type of scrubbers they are installing, either single engine ones like NCL, or multi-engine ones like RCI.

Actually, 800-1000 sub-contractors is a fairly small complement for a shipyard period on a cruise ship. 1-2000 is more indicative of substantial refurbishments. It is pretty typical for the hotel staff to do work like emptying cabins for carpet renewal, cleaning up after the contractors nightly, and doing fire watch where the shipyard or contractors are welding and cutting. The hotel staff's hours tend to be shorter during shipyard, but the work is more physical and far different from what they are trained for.

Hmmmm.. Maybe Princess could add a new "West Coast Coastal", San Francisco, Portland (be interesting to sail down the Columbia River), Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria and return.:)

49er

We cruised to Hawaii on the Grand a year and a half ago. It was our first cruise, and we really enjoyed ourselves, but the ship was a little bit tired. I would think that it needs more than just a coat of paint. The biggest problem was plumbing leaks. None in our room, but it is disconcerting to have buckets catching leaks around the ship.

Still - the things that counted most were quite good. The food and crew were really excellent. And really, you cannot go wrong going to Hawaii.

Did anyone who has sailed on the Grand since its dry dock notice any changes or talk to any of the crew about the work completed? Would love to hear your experiences.

Many thanks,

I am just off the NY cruise. What I noticed was lots of new carpet in hallways and public areas. Our cabin had the same old carpet but it was okay. They didn't have the color coded stripes on port and starboard anymore. I miss that.

New beds and linen and they are very nice. There are automatic sliding glass doors on deck 14 going from pool area to elevator and buffet. Much better than those heavy doors you had to open.

They put in hand washing stations in the buffet. Washing with soap and water is better than the sanitizer stations. The problem was that passengers were bypassing the washing station in droves and going right into the buffet line handling the utinsils. A real problem.

They refreshed Sabatini's but we didn't go in.

Oh and they replaced the MUTS screen with a new one that is bright and sharp even on a sunny day! It's great.

Those were the most noticeable things to me.

The hand washing station on the Royal was an asset, but like you said, people walked right by it. There was a crew member standing outside of it guiding people into the station. People walked past her. We thought this to be a great idea and we used the station. However, when people bypass it, what good does it do us? We'll be on the Grand in a few days, looking forward to her upgrades.

Did anyone who has sailed on the Grand since its dry dock notice any changes or talk to any of the crew about the work completed? Would love to hear your experiences.

 

Many thanks,

Just got off the Grand 1/9/17... did a 10 day to mexico... they changed carpets throughout the ship, I see the Grand as a well maintained ship for being 19 years old this year. I cruised on its maiden voyage in 5/98 from Istanbul to Barcelona... to be honest I don't see much difference... I am very happy to cruise on the grand. What makes the grand so great is the crew and service... on it which is outstanding. I am booked again for next year. I am also booked on the Royal this year out of Barcelona... I am not sure I will like it as much since no promenade deck, narrow balconies but will check it out. If you want a traditional cruise experience you can't beat the Grand.

 

They put in hand washing stations in the buffet. Washing with soap and water is better than the sanitizer stations. The problem was that passengers were bypassing the washing station in droves and going right into the buffet line handling the utinsils.

And rest assured, those people will be the first to complain that Princess does nothing to prevent NoroVirus outbreaks onboard.:eek:

.

It looks like they added the Discovery Camp to the Grand also while in drydock.

http://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/onboard-experience/kids-and-teens/