Sapphire in Dry Dock

[Colo Cruiser]

 

Anyone know why?

 

Routine?

[mii]

Hi there: I just went into the Dec. 23rd Roll call and someone from there mentioned that they are doing a 10 day dry dock before their cruise so I guess it was planned.

 

Marilyn

[kenexx]

Sapphire is in there for scheduled maintenance to tart her up to come down here to take all of us up to see you lot in April :D

 

4 months today !!! She had no cruises scheduled between 13 to 23 December. Diamond did the same before she came down here for the Aus/NZ season late last year earlier this year.

 

Maurice

[StLouisCruisers]

I just mentioned this to my son who is living in Singapore temporarily. He said he would drive by on his way to the office and take a look at the Sapphire. I told him i would try to find out why it was in drydock. Just routine maintenance, you say? Seems like such a new ship, it would be early for maintenance. But I am glad they take such good care of these ships. I am always impressed at how nice they look.

[Pam in CA]

The ships go into dry dock every two years for maintenance and updating. At the very least, they have the bottoms scraped and repainted (just the way you would your own sail or motor boat), check the thrusters, propellers, etc. and other unnoticable things done that would disrupt the passengers if done during a cruise. While "new," the Sapphire went into service in 2004 so this dry dock would have been scheduled.

[sjbdtz]

The ships go into dry dock every two years for maintenance and updating. At the very least, they have the bottoms scraped and repainted (just the way you would your own sail or motor boat), check the thrusters, propellers, etc. and other unnoticable things done that would disrupt the passengers if done during a cruise. While "new," the Sapphire went into service in 2004 so this dry dock would have been scheduled.

 

 

Yes...it would be quite disruptive if we had to drive up onto land, in order to repaint the hull...during our cruise ;) :rolleyes: ;)

[Sandy R]

We sailed on the Sapphire this past Sept. and Oct. and was told then, that the ship was going into dry dock for routine maintenance only. One improvement will be that when you play the slots in the casino, pay-offs will be in tickets not in actual money... no more dirty fingers from handling the nickels, dimes and quarters!

 

Sandy

[Shogun]

Hi sandy,

 

But will the machines still make that great sound of money being spat out.

 

yours Shogun

[chasetf]

We sailed on the Sapphire this past Sept. and Oct. and was told then, that the ship was going into dry dock for routine maintenance only. One improvement will be that when you play the slots in the casino, pay-offs will be in tickets not in actual money... no more dirty fingers from handling the nickels, dimes and quarters! Sandy

I would think this is also a good protection for preventing norvirus. I have heard they wash the chips when there is a breakout.

[chasetf]

Yes...it would be quite disruptive if we had to drive up onto land, in order to repaint the hull...during our cruise ;) :rolleyes: ;)

Guess they are getting her ready for our Feb trip.... :D

 

We were on the Grand in the Caribbean. The day we were in St Maarteen they anchored instead of docking, even though there was plenty of room in port. They did that because while we were ashore they scrapped the ship's bottom. Special boats were around her during the day. Guess they did it with divers. The captain said it really affects their MPG (miles per gallon)... or is it KPT (Knots per Ton) :confused:

[tjcox9]

We just disembarked the Sapphire on Wednesday. According to crew members that we spoke with about the dry dock, it is for a good deep cleaning, some carpet replacement as well as the bottom cleaning. It didn't sound as if any major renovation was to occur. I knew the ship was going into dry dock after our cruise and was expecting it to be somewhat rundown in appearance. That was not the case at all.

 

There was an outbreak of norovirus on our cruise so this will also give them an opportunity to get a really good sanitization as well. We were in code red the latter portion of the trip.

[Colo Cruiser]

10 days is a long time in dry dock terms. That is surprising that it is routine for that long. True the Sapphire is a very new ship. It is interesting. :)

[AZUDO]

Well we are embarking onto the Sapphire on the 23rd of Dec and glad it has had 10 days in dry dock!

It will be clean, xmas ready and germ free for us!

This has been documented for a long time, as someone else said it seems that it is normal for the ships every 2 years.

Have a great xmas everyone and happy sailing!

[Pam in CA]

10 days is a long time in dry dock terms. That is surprising that it is routine for that long. True the Sapphire is a very new ship. It is interesting. :)

You're right in that most routine dry docks are 7 days. But the Sapphire isn't "very new." It's at least 2 1/2 years old and the dry dock maintenance is every two years.

[joand452]

We were on Sapphire for our first Princess cruise in late May. I was actually kind of surprised by the wear of the carpeting near one of the pool bars and that some tiles were missing around one of the pool pillars.

 

It certainly didn't ruin our cruise, and I thought she was a beautiful ship.

 

Looking forward to our next Princesss cruise!

[aclay]

Bottom scraping and repainting - sounds like a Lotus Spa treatment:D :D

But seriously tjcox9 that's the first I've heard about the norovirus on the Sapphire! Yikes! Were there many affected? I guess the scheduled dry dock is a blessing then as it transpires..

I had thought that maybe a part of the dry dock work would be the fitting of the miles of cabling for the in-cabin cell phone coverage which is rumoured to be announced soon..?

The Sapphire felt very new when we were on board with Sandy R last October (Hi Sandy!) so we are looking forward to seeing her in an even newer condition on Saturday (see you there Azudo:) )

Cheers

Alex

[tjcox9]

aclay,

 

I know of no official number of noro cases on the 11/27 16 day cruise, but heard unconfirmed numbers of 300 and then 400 cases (of which I was one).

 

In one of the morning TV briefings, the cruise director said that some people were not staying in isolation as they were supposed to. When I was isolated, they called several times. Evidently when these calls were made to some cabins or a visit was made, there was no one there.

 

We were fortunate as my companion did not get it. Other couples we knew - if one got it, the other one got it in a day or so. Unfortunately, I missed Hong Kong, but now I have a reason to go back to Asia.:D

[aclay]

aclay,

 

I know of no official number of noro cases on the 11/27 16 day cruise, but heard unconfirmed numbers of 300 and then 400 cases (of which I was one).

 

In one of the morning TV briefings, the cruise director said that some people were not staying in isolation as they were supposed to. When I was isolated, they called several times. Evidently when these calls were made to some cabins or a visit was made, there was no one there.

 

We were fortunate as my companion did not get it. Other couples we knew - if one got it, the other one got it in a day or so. Unfortunately, I missed Hong Kong, but now I have a reason to go back to Asia.:D

Oh dear - poor you. Hopefully it didn't spoil your holiday too much though, and as you say you have an excuse to go back to visit Hong Kong now..

Just out of interest - what does a 'code red' mean?

Alex

[tjcox9]

This a a term I'd heard regarding norovirus but had not witnessed til this trip. When the number of sick passengers/crew gets to a certain level, all food at buffet lines is served to you. Even at the pizza station, if you wanted pepper flakes, parmesan sprinkles, it is put on for you.

 

It appears that any crew member, even those not normally food service workers, are called in for this duty. The pepper flake/parmesan cheese person did not appear to be happy to be doing this task.

 

I was surprised at dinner to see bread baskets still on the table. We also had salt and pepper shakers which I've heard are also removed.

 

Actually, I got out of isolation about noon on Hong Kong day. We had not booked an excursion, were planning to do it on our own. I was still tired and week and we did manage to take the Star ferry and turn around and come right back. So, I didn't get to Victoria Peak, Stanley Market or the other places we'd hoped to visit. My friend had been there before and was looking forward to showing me the sites. Another time..............

[aclay]

thanks for all the info - it sounds like you made the best out of an unfortunate situation - positive thoughts - that's to be admired these days..

How was the cruise director? I believe it's a new lady to the Sapphire (compared to the so-so guy we had last October) - her name escapes me but I've read only good things about her? And which shows were on?

Thanks for any info in our lead up to Saturday..:D

Alex