Tag Archives: dry dock

The stretching of MSC Sinfonia is underway

Posted on by
Reply

MSC Cruises’ €200m Renaissance Program will see the second ship in drydock for the next 10 weeks as the MSC Sinfonia arrived in Sicily for her stretching.

Fincantieri’s marine engineers will carefully bisect MSC Sinfonia’s hull, after which the two halves of the ships will be slowly drawn apart.

On January 20-21 they will insert a prebuilt 2,200-ton, 24-metre midsection containing 193 extra cabins. Then they will refit and renew much of the ship’s interior, bringing an enhanced sense of comfort and space.

On Jan. 9, the new midsection was floated into the shipyard and hauled into the drydock area where MSC Sinfonia will remain for the duration of her stay.

Once the work is complete and sea trials completed, the larger MSC Sinfonia will weigh anchor from the shipyard on March 25 for Genoa, from where she’ll begin for her maiden cruise to Ajaccio, Barcelona and Marseille.

MSC Sinfonia will feature new purpose-built areas for children created in partnership with Chicco and LEGO,  and a new Baby Club, Mini Club, Young Club and Teens Club. MSC Cruises has also reimagined the onboard dining experiences, keeping the buffet open 20 hours per day and installing fresh new dining spaces, a brand new lounge and an extended restaurant.

The ship’s MSC Aurea Spa will also be enriched with additional massage areas, and a new outdoor spray park will be added on deck 13 – an exciting series of playful water features and jets.

The remainder of the Renaissance Program will progress according to the following schedule:

•    MSC Opera: 2 May to 4 July 2015
•    MSC Lirica: 31 August to 2 November 2015

MSC Cruises currently carries roughly 40,000 guests per day, but by 2022 will double its capacity to 80,000 guests a day – 3.4 million per year – once the Renaissance Programme is completed and the last of seven planned ships is delivered.

 

No Freedom of the Seas cancellations, just free onboard credit

Posted on by
Reply

No Freedom of the Seas cancellation, just free onboard credit

Several days ago Royal Caribbean had to inform passengers on Freedom of the Seas that they were unable to call at the private island of CocoCay, and also reduce the amount of time spent in St. Maarten due to an issue with it propulsion system. The cruise company has not cancelled the cruise or any future one, although they did issue free onboard credit.

Royal Caribbean has said the issue is due to the ships center fixipod, which is the same that affected Allure of the Seas, and that one of the bearings is not in good condition. The company made the decision to remove the propeller blade from the center pod and cruise 5 knots slower than usual, which will have repercussions on future sailings and their itineraries.

With the ship only being able to travel at 18 knots she will not be able to make all ports of call, and the time spent in certain ports will need to be adjusted. If this is the case, then Royal Caribbean will have to issue more onboard credit for free.

Royal Caribbean Blog reports that Freedom of the Seas is due a dry dock session in January 2015, which will be the perfect time for repairs to be made to the propulsion system. Once again, there will be no cancellation, just readjustments due to the ship moving at a slower speed.

Three Fred Olsen ships to be revamped before Christmas

Posted on by
Reply

Three Fred Olsen ships to be revamped before ChristmasThree Fred Olsen Cruise Lines’ ships – Black Watch, Braemar (pictured) and Balmoral – are to be refurbished before Christmas.

The vessels are all due to enter dry dock in Hamburg in November and December in preparation for the forthcoming winter cruise season.

Work has started with 804-passenger Black Watch ahead of a 14-night mystery cruise departing from Tilbury on November 15. An additional 27 balcony cabins are being built as part of the revamp.

The 929-passenger Braemar will arrive in Hamburg on November 12 for work prior to a three-night cruise to France from Southampton on November 20.

Balmoral’s dry dock work starts on December 9 with the 1,350-passenger ship leaving the shipyard for a two-night pre-Christmas sailing from Southampton on December 19.

The line’s managing director, Mike Rodwell, said: “We experience extremely high demand for balcony cabins across our fleet, and in particular on board the smaller-sized Black Watch, and our new balcony terrace cabins are an innovative response to this.

“We are also looking forward to being able to give guests the experience of fine coffee and chocolates on board Balmoral and Braemar, as they have already been enjoying on Boudicca and Black Watch.

“Fred Olsen Cruise Lines is pleased to be returning to Blohm+Voss for this important work. Balmoral and Braemar are both well-known to the Hamburg shipyard, as they both underwent mid-section extensions in 2007 and 2008 respectively.”