Should I be hesitant to book cruise before Dry Dock

[msec]

Looking at the Sept 9, 2019 Alaska Cruise on the Wonder and noticed there is a 2 week break before between this cruise and the next cruise out of Alaska - it is rumored this will be a 2 week dry dock...

Has anyone here sailed on DCL the week prior to a Dry Dock? I guess I am hesitant that the ship will not be 'up to par' so to speak as things may get let go so close to a Dry Dock ... Also wondering if quality and quantity of food might be lacking as well as I can't imagine they will want a lot of left over food at the end of this cruise ...

Part of me feels I am making a mountain out of a mole hill ... Am I worrying over nothing ?

Thanks!

 

[Quellman]

The ship won't be in bad condition. General upkeep is continuous for the ships. What you may notice the week leading up to a dry dock is there will be contractors already on the ship, they will begin going over their preparations. You may even notice work beginning in some areas, but unlikely. They do try to keep it from inconveniencing the guests.

I would be more leery after a dry dock. Since they usually will spend time afterwards doing more carpet work and repairs of things that got dinged or knocked around.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Looking at the Sept 9, 2019 Alaska Cruise on the Wonder and noticed there is a 2 week break before between this cruise and the next cruise out of Alaska - it is rumored this will be a 2 week dry dock...

Has anyone here sailed on DCL the week prior to a Dry Dock? I guess I am hesitant that the ship will not be 'up to par' so to speak as things may get let go so close to a Dry Dock ... Also wondering if quality and quantity of food might be lacking as well as I can't imagine they will want a lot of left over food at the end of this cruise ...

Part of me feels I am making a mountain out of a mole hill ... Am I worrying over nothing ?

Thanks!

We were on the Magic just before a routine dry dock. For the most part there were no issues with the cruise (it was a long one - 14 nights), but about 2 days before the cruise ended they started blocking off portions of the outside decks and using them to store stuff for the dry dock. You could tell the ship was starting to gear up for work.

 

[MNtwinsplus1mom]

I'm no expert, but in reading reports on these boards I'd definitely avoid it, bc for us a Disney cruise is a splurge and I'd want to avoid disappointment. When I stay at a Disney World hotel that's under construction and receive a great rate I'm better at tolerating disruption, but on a cruise that I pay the regular price for, I'd be sad to have areas blocked off or work happening that interfered with the magic. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Marc D]

Dry docks are mandatory in the industry and come often for older ships like Wonder. Since they did a massive refurb during a recent dry dock, chances are high that they will do little or no work in the public spaces during this one, especially work involving carpeting. The work will mainly involve a routine check of the hull and propulsion equipment.

I don't think you will notice anything special concerning food. Each sailing is autonomous in that regard and they don't rely on long-term stocking of items. A possible advantage is that all the CM's will be looking forward to a two-week break. They might be smiling a bit more than usual.

 

[clten]

It was many years ago on the Magic and we didn't realize we were the last cruise before dry dock when we booked. But it was one of the best cruises we had. The crew was looking forward to dry dock (some because they got to go home for a short break, others because it was going to be a change in their routine). The atmosphere was definitely more festive than normal. The last day or two there were some changes around the ship and you could definitely see they were preparing for dry dock (the last day they lined the forward and aft elevators with plywood; there were some supplies moved to the deck area) but there wasn't anything that interfered with our enjoyment or activities. (This was a routine two week dry dock; not an extensive one where they might need as much time as possible to get things done.)

On the flip side, we were on the first cruise after the mega-re-imagining of the Magic (well we were on the first scheduled cruise that was cancelled and also on the second and third cruises which became the first and second). That was a disaster. We will never do that again. They were doing A LOT of work still and it did interfere with activities and our enjoyment. (We checked in and were given our KTTW cards and the little card with your stateroom number and the time staterooms are available. Everything was normal until we tried to scan in on the ship. Then we were treated like we were trying to stowaway or something. We were pulled to the side and made to stand there for about 20 minutes while several people looked into our situation all while giving us the side-eye. Turned out our stateroom was still occupied by workmen.)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you'll hear both good and bad about sailing around dry dock. You have to weigh what you hear with how important it is to vacation that particular week to decide if it is worth a risk or not.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

I would not book it based on experiences I have read here, because things like using the decks to store equipment and having the elevators lined with plywood etc. are things that would very much bother me. I am a very picky person and it is hard for me to look past these types of construction prep. Others may not care at all. I suggest you do more searches to read of other guest ezperiences and then decide if viewing these types of prep work would bother you. Good luck!

 

[anricat]

We were on the Wonder the second to last cruise before the massive dry dock two years ago. I know it's not the same as the week before, but they were starting to do some very minor things around deck 4. Mostly they had materials and things that they were moving around and storing. I don't remember there being any chatter here on the DIS the week after that about bad experiences and that was a pretty big one. I wouldn't worry about it, personally. I think Disney is much more cognizent of that kind of thing than other lines.

 

[msec]

Thank you everyone for your responses - I really appreciate them!!

We have decided to book the cruise and will keep our fingers crossed that there will not be too much disruption to this cruise.

 

[dclpluto]

I booked that same cruise on opening day. Than I cancelled when I found out it was going to be right before a dry dock. I was on dcl first Alaska cruise so it’s been a long time since I done a Alaska cruise but I can wait another year. Booked the Magic September repo cruise when I cancelled the Alaska cruise.

 

[MickeyD]

I would be more hesitant to book post dry dock based on our last experience on the Fantasy in 2017. That was when the Fantasy "died" on the 3 day and we were on the 7 day immediately following. We didn't get to embark until nearly 4:30pm, the ship didn't leave port until nearly midnight. The hot tub wasn't functional for most of the cruise, floors were being re-sanded and re-varnished the entire time, lights kept going out in the dining rooms, a/c wasn't working well in staterooms, etc., etc., They changed our port so that we could stay in US ports in case they had to fly us all home. Apparently the powers that be weren't sure their "fix" was going to stick with the engines. Despite all this, we had a fantasy-tic time and are scheduled to go this next Feb., but I would not book post dry dock again for anything! Pre-dry dock, in a heartbeat.

 

[cruiser21]

I would. It’s the cheapest of the Alaska cruises. If you were paying July prices I’d say no. I have a feeling this cruise will end up being discounted closer to sail date.

 

[Yokelridesagain]

Our first DCL cruise was the last Alaska run of 2011 before dry dock. I found that the crew members were generally in a very good mood; either close to the end of their contracts and about to fly home or looking forward to a change of pace for a couple of weeks (I'm sure that there were "behind the scenes" people who were facing long days during the dry dock, but those are not usually the people you are interacting with on a daily basis). Did not notice any early preparations for dry dock that marred the experience, although YMMV.

Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to book another cruise before dry dock if it worked for our schedules. That being said, if you feel that evidence of construction on debarkation day would really wreck your experience, you might want to avoid.