Aim1

'Dry Dock Dave' left England yesterday morning and is now in San Juan ready to board the AOS. I'm pretty sure he's doing behind the scenes stuff this time, but if he gives me any info or pictures, I'll pop up a little thread for you all :)

The ship won't be empty when it arrives in Tampa, it will have to offload contractors first.

 

Though, saying that, usually DH has to be out of his cabin and off the ship at about 6am, so it will probably empty out earlier than usual if it was carrying 'normal' passengers.

I would love to see photos of that.:)

 

I think Dave will still be away somewhere then, but I'm not sure where just yet!

The Allure is going into WET dock in Freeport for a week to fix the Azipod problem. I don't know how they will fix it when it's still in the water but I do know that the wet dock in Freeport is being prepped for her arrival. They are having to dig it out further as the ship is too big even for the wet dock!

Finally heard from him, he's in Freeport now so the real work can begin :D

 

He's sent me a pic of the promenade...

 

 

He said there is rubbish everywhere as they cannot offload it at sea, so the ship is in a bit of chaos at the moment, but I'm sure they'll soon sort it out!

 

DaNana, he isn't interested in a cruise as a holiday, I think he's been on so many ships for work, if he was to cruise it would not feel like a holiday to him. Coupled with the fact he gets sea-sick when he has to sail, I don't think he'd enjoy it much! :)

Sorry folks, going off the topic again! For those who are wondering, I've finally heard from the husband, he's safe and well (ridiculously busy but that's normal!) and the ship is in Freeport.

 

Anyway....as you were... :D

Have you ever tried using a Ship Tracker website? I used this last week to see where the Fascination was when my daughter was on it. It doesn't always show the current position as the ship has to be close enough to a port to be picked up but it might help you. You put the ship name under the map options to the left side of the page for it to search. http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/home/

 

Thank you so much :)

 

Looks like they are definitely heading in the right direction! Hopefully it won't be too much longer until they dock and I'll get a quick message from him letting me know everything is ok.....I can't make his sea-sickness better from 4000 miles away but I do worry about him! :o:o

Hope all is well with him. what does he do for the drydock?

 

I've still not heard from him but hopefully will do soon!

 

He's an electrician by trade, but he's done all sorts on ship dry-docks, AV systems, wiring, PA system, theatre light rigs etc etc.

 

He's worked on a load of Carnival ships before :)

I think both the Carnival Sunshine and Ecstasy should be in Freeport today (I looked at a cruise timetable website for this info, so apologies if I'm wrongly informed!)

 

Has anyone heard or know if both ships have made it there? Guessing the time difference means they are probably still on their way there.

 

The reason I ask is my husband is currently on the RCCL Navigator Of The Seas on her way to dry-dock in Freeport, so I'm hoping they are able to get into the dock today. I know the weather has been quite bad and I've heard from his boss that he's got sea-sick, so it would be nice to hear from him at some point, as I've not had contact with him since he left Galveston on Sunday! :(

Oh that's not good, not good at all :( :(

Not sure where they are right now, but this was the waves this morning:

 

 

Poor husband is sea-sick! He does not sail well, obviously usually he's on a ship in dry dock, so there's no movement, but he always seems to suffer if he has to sail with the ship!

 

I've still not heard from him (got this from his boss) but I'm hoping I might hear from him late tonight :)

I've just found the pictures he sent me when he was working on the Allure, I've put the link below if anyone's interested :)

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1296148

Here you go then....it's all I have for now so apologies it's not much...

 

 

The line of people kinda makes me think of the animals going two by two into the ark for some reason! :o

 

cjdixon4, in reply to your post, yes, he works on refits, this is only the second time he's been on an RCCL ship. He worked on the Allure when she was still under construction in Finland. He's done a lot of other cruise lines, mainly Carnival, with some Princess, Celebrity, Holland America and Mein Schiffe as well.

 

To be perfectly honest, the conditions are not great, yes it's lovely weather in the Caribbean, but you'll soon get very hot once they turn the AC off on the ship! The toilets also only tend to work for a few hours a day, so you can imagine how, umm, nasty they are when you've got 2,000 contractors trying to poop! :rolleyes:

 

This isn't a sob story, we both know and understand what the work is like, it's dirty, very long hours (he won't have a day off until he comes back in a month) dangerous (he's been in hospital in the Bahamas's before!) etc. But the financial benefits are enough to justify him doing this type of work.

 

On the other hand he has been to a whole load of places now, although he mostly only sees the airport and the port!

He usually sends me a few, just depends how busy he is! He sent me one by the dock yesterday and you can see the containers being loaded on, I'll try and remember to put that on here this evening when I get in.

 

:)

My husband joined the ship yesterday. He won't be in contact until they reach Freeport as the mobile charges are huge when he's using the ship signal.

 

Does anyone know how long it usually takes to get to Freeport from Galveston?

 

He did say they had an announcement saying they will be sailing at full speed, through 40-60mph winds, and 4-9 meter seas. Best of all....they will not be using the stabilisers. Secure all materials and take care moving around the ship, avoid outside decks. Eeek! :(

...And doing some sea trials by the looks of it :)

 

Husband sent me these earlier, what a view!

 

 

 

Fingers crossed I'll be back at the airport tomorrow morning to collect him and have him home for Christmas :D:D

Just asked the husband about the hair dryers in the bathrooms and he's not noticed them being removed, he's seen new vanity units moving about around the ship but no idea where they are going.

 

It's having azipods retro-fitted though :)

 

My husband is working on the Amsterdam dry dock, I have one picture of her 'bum' but not much else, sorry!

 

He was one of the contractors who boarded in Long Beach last week.

 

I'll try and get him to send some more pictures through if he can :)

My husband flew out to Miami yesterday and will join the Zaandam this morning for her dry dock. I'll let you know if he gives me any info or 'snippets' etc :)

The cabins are in!