Right after drydock?

[ksc1984]

Any experience immediately after drydock? We're thinking about the Maasdam.

[aliaschief]

I personally would be hesitant about booking a cruise right after a ship's dry dock. There have to many reports of major problems reported over the last couple of years.

[iancal]

We would NEVER consider a post drydock cruise on a HAL ship. This is based on several posts on this board dealing with significant post drydock issues.

[IRL_Joanie]

Any experience immediately after drydock? We're thinking about the Maasdam.

If a ship was going through major changes in dry dock such as new aft, new staterooms added or any major renovations, I would be hesitant to cruise for 3 or 4 sailings after it comes out of dry dock. Just do a Search on these boards under Rotterdam or Veendam....

 

On the other hand, if it was a regular dry dock for new furnishings etc, the normal every 3 year type of dry dock maintenance, I would not hesitate to be on the 1st cruise after wards:)

 

Joanie

[richnot]

When is the drydock. We will be on teh Maasdam in March.

[Cinder Again]

I'd hesitate...we had tons of little annoying plumbing issues(toilet not flushing,no hot water in the shower, knocking pipes in the ceiling, flooded balcony, flooded hallways, etc.) all related to the new aft cabins put on the Rotterdam at drydock...I think by cruise 3 or 4 afterwards, they'd managed to fix the problems, but I will always check in the future before booking. Once was enough for me!

[ksc1984]

It's mid-April in Freeport, according to another "After Drydock" thread and Copper10-8. April 24th would be the first after. They are getting lanai cabins for sure, though they aren't available as such until the next cruise it seems.

[iancal]

Why chance it with you vacation time and vacation money...the odds are very much against you.

 

Select a different date, a different ship, or a different cruise line.

[KirkNC]

I agree with other posters, too much risk. There have been several threads about workers still finishing up stuff as well as general problems right after drydock. We took a cruise on the Noordam that was the second after drydock and it was fine.

 

Kirk

[ariawoman]

It's mid-April in Freeport, according to another "After Drydock" thread and Copper10-8. April 24th would be the first after. They are getting lanai cabins for sure, though they aren't available as such until the next cruise it seems.

 

If the Maasdam is getting lanai cabins then I guess I can cross it off my list of ships to sail on with HAL. I don't want to deal with the air conditioning issues that are mentioned for the Veendam.

 

Why would they put another ship into this situation? Does anyone think that the lanai cabins won't impact the ac on the ship as it seems to have on the Veendam?

[hal lover]

I was on the MS Statendam right out of dry dock. It was not a pleasant cruise. There were too many things that were not quite fixed. Yes, the new renovations were nice but the little things like leaks and toilet troubles were not good at all.

 

IMHO~ if then I knew what I know now, I would wait a few sailing's.

 

This not to say that you would experience problems, however you may, and who wants to spend their money and time on a ship that is still in the repair process.

[bepsf]

From all that I've read, HAL has a really poor track record of providing a quality product and 100% functional facilities post-drydock - seems they frequently attempt an "Extreme Ship Makeover" but only allow sufficient time and manpower for "Design on a Dime".

[Grumpy1]

We have been on two cruises that were immediately after a major drydock. We didn't experience problems but know several people that did. There was a lot of unfinished work that was ongoing during the early part of the cruise. It was interesting to see the improvements come together over time.

 

Both were long cruises (113 day and 68 day) so we got to see the ongoing progress. Having a minor background in commercial real estate and having been involved in tenant remodeling projects where you're trying to quickly get a space ready for new tenants and minimize the impact on existing tenants, I probably look at things from a slightly different perspective. Tenants would complain about the dust, noise, heating/AC interuptions, etc, but as soon as the project was done, the complainers were usually the first to ask when we would be upgrading their space.

 

Bottom line, I'm not sure I would want to cruise a week or ten day cruise following a major drydock. Your vacation may (or may not) be impacted and you won't be on the ship long enough to see everything resolved. On the longer cruises any inconveniences are usually a distant memory by the time you get off the ship.

[estebofarr]

I'll let you know, we are on the Maasdam April 24. I am not a bit worried.

[luxurysailer]

Been there, done that, and won't do it again! The Zuiderdam fresh out of drydock in April 2008 was far below my expectations based upon previous experiences on all other HAL ships I had cruised on.