At this point people who follow DCL should know that the first cruises after dry dock do not guarantee a fully functioning ship. The Magic reimagining cancelled a cruise or two, the wonder wasn't guest ready, the Fantasy had its problems with the recent one. On a side note, I noticed that they were stripping paint and repainting the funnels on our cruise. I thought it was an odd time to do the work, but assumed that during dry dock, shipping containers were sitting on deck to complete the interior refurbishments.
This is just me but I think in DCLs efforts to save money on drydocks and low bids, and getting foreign contractors in to actually do the work, is hurting them. I don't remember any of these serious issues when DCL used BAE in VA. It wasn't until they started going to Freeport and Cadiz, that issues started to pop up. We were on the Magics first cruise after dd in 2010, (first in Freeport.) and after talking with the head of housekeeping for that floor, he was telling me that the contractors were doing more damage then what they fixed. They were in areas they weren't supposed to be, burned holes in the carpets from cigarettes, and just plain careless.
When the Magic did her re imagin in 2013, a lot of work didn't get done there because of weather. A lot was supposed to be done on the trip back home, but because of rain etc it couldn't be done at sea. So her 2 or 3 day trip got canceled before she moved to Miami. Then when they left Miami on the first trip, they left all of the Freon for the ac systems in Miami. So they had to go back.
In 2010, on the Magic, we booked the trip knowing full well, that there may be issues. But when the ship sits tied to the pier at terminal 8 for close to 48 hours, and the rooms are still dirty, the carpet isn't even layed in properly, and there is holes big enough to put your finger in in the railings, with dripped paint from there, plus all of the outlets and light switch covers are all missing, theres a problem. It was 1 of maybe 4 times Ive ever said that if I were in charge, people would have been clearing desks.
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