Azamara Club Cruises to drydock entire fleet in 2024
Azamara Journey, seen alongside in Gibraltar, is to drydock in Amsterdam this year (Source: Mike Hood)
Upmarket boutique cruise line Azamara Club Cruises is to drydock its entire four-ship fleet during 2024 for scheduled repair and maintenance work at shipyards in Greece, France, Holland and Spain. The drydocking schedule for the Miami-based operator’s fleet of four 30,277gt sister ships, built between 1999 and 2001 is as follows:
- Azamara Quest – will undergo repair at Damen Ship Repair Amsterdam between July 28th and August 10th
- Azamara Journey – will drydock in Greece at a yet to be named shipyard between 9–13 September
- Azamara Pursuit – will drydock at Marseille’s CNdM between 26-31 August
- Azamara Onward – will drydock at the Cadiz yard of Spain’s Navantia between 7–12 November
The workscope on the four sister ships includes hull cleaning and painting, underwater inspections, inspection of stabilisers, rudders, propellers and bow thrusters, along with the upgrading and renewal of some equipment and systems which is approaching the end of its operational lifespan.
Capt. Nico Corbijn, head of marine and land operations at Azamara Club Cruises said that this year the company will be optimising the fuel efficiency of the fleet by applying a silicone-based underwater hull coating, as well as replacing the HVAC systems chiller on each vessel with a modern one and upgrading each vessel’s air handling control/distribution units, upgrading the onboard lighting and dimmer systems. Unlike other cruise lines, Azamara doesn’t have plans to equip its vessels with shore power connections, due to its unique operational profile of visiting smaller, out of the way ports around the world.
2024 is expected to be the busiest year for cruise ship scheduled drydockings since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic and cruise lines returning to full operations during 2023. Docking space is at a premium.
