Carnival Pride to Enter Drydock Early

Originally scheduled for January, the Carnival Pride will instead sail into a drydock in November. Every 2-3 years ships will routinely head to a drydock for 2 weeks. Workers will replace carpets, update cabins, thoroughly clean all areas of the ship. Machinery may be replaced or overhauled. Things of that nature. Some of the more ambitious drydocks have included altering the ships exterior profile with the addition of balconies, cabins, lounges, pools and even waterparks. Sometimes entire engines are replaced.

This drydock for the Pride seems to be just a routine but the need to accelerate it 2 months seems odd.

Carnival Spokesperson states:

"Carnival Pride isn’t experiencing any problems, but after evaluating the work that we need to get done by a certain time, we decided to slightly accelerate the routine dry dock from January to November. Thus we’re having to cancel two sailings in November."

He refrained to comment on the exact nature of the changes that will take place in the drydock.

The two sailings that will be cancelled are the Pride’s November 7th and November 14th voyages out of Baltimore.

If you are on the sailing, here are your options:

• You can have your deposit or fare paid applied to another Pride sailing. Carnival stated that they are protecting rates on nearby sailings.
• You can rebook on any other Carnival cruise leaving prior to April 2012 and receive $50  per person in onboard credit. This option may include a higher fare than a cruise on the Pride though.
• If you chose not to go, you can get a full refund of all fare paied or deposits paid. Plus Carnival will refund up to $200 per person in air fare, as onboard credit, if the airline requires change fees.

Subsequently, Carnival will be adding two cruises to take place during January, when the ship was supposed to go into drydock. Scheduled for January 23rd and the 30th, the voyages will sail to the Bahamas round trip out of Baltimore.