Cruise ships generally schedule their entrance into dry dock.
A ship needs routine work every few years, and plans are made well in advance to take the ship out of service. Some dry docks include basic maintenance like painting and refurbishing rooms. Others can be much more expansive.
Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas, for example, will undergo a massive overhaul during its upcoming dry dock. The ship will add the Playmakers sports bar, lose the Sabor Mexican restaurant, and become the third ship in the fleet to add the Mason Jar bar and eatery.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line's Heald shares rule passengers must follow
Sometimes, however, things break down on a ship and an unplanned dry dock is needed. That usually means canceling at least one sailing, usually more.
Cruise lines obviously don't want that to happen, but sometimes it's simply unavoidable. Some engine work can't be put off and unscheduled dry docks are somewhat common.
That's about to happen to one popular ship and Doug Parker has the full story on a recent edition of Cruise News Today.
Princess cancels more cruises; Silversea reports gastro problems
Transcript:
This is Cruise News Today with Doug Parker. Good morning. Here's your cruise news for Thursday, January 16.
Cruise canceled. Princess Cruises announced that Regal Princess will enter dry dock in Rotterdam in late April for scheduled maintenance. Now, this is resulting in the cancellation of one cruise and modifying another itinerary.
The company did say that the ship remains fully operational and safe for all scheduled voyages leading up and to the dry dock. The two itineraries that have been impacted are the April 18th sailing from Southampton that has been shortened from 10 days to 6 days, and then the April 28th voyage that has been canceled altogether.
Both sailings will either receive a prorated refund or a full refund plus compensation for airline changes.
Regal Princess will resume service on May 9th with British Isle itineraries from Southampton. The ship first experienced issues during a transatlantic cruise from Southampton to Galveston last fall and eventually had to be taken out of service for emergency repairs.
In Silversea Cruises news, Silver Ray is reporting a gastrointestinal outbreak during its 16-night sailing from Lima, Peru, to Fort Lauderdale.
Thirty-eight passengers and five crew members are sick and triggered CDC reporting requirements. Now the ship has increased sanitation and isolation measures with further cleaning planned on its arrival to Port Everglades on January 20.
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No delays are expected for the next sailing.
This week's cruise radio podcast, a review of Carnival Dream, can be found where you stream your favorite podcast.
If you have a lead on a story, let us know. Tips@cruiseradio.net.
Have yourself a great Thursday.
I'm Doug Parker with Cruise News Today.
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