ALMACO said it had delivered 32 new cabins and four suites with adjacent corridors, elevator lobbies and stairs onboard Carnival Elation during the ship’s month-long drydocking and refurbishment at Grand Bahama Shipyard in September. 

The project started with Hervé Touzard, vice president of marine after sales, and Tommi Virta, project manager, working closely with Carnival Cruise Line to reach what ALMACO said was a beneficial and cost-effective arrangement for the complete outfitting of a new stateroom block on deck 14, and the construction of 32 new cabins and four suites with adjacent corridors, elevator lobbies and stairs. 

The area outfitted was in a completely new cabin block, ALMACO said, inclusive seven sub-blocks, and thus requiring extensive coordination with the cruise line, shipyard and other contractors. 

The work started on August 29 at Grand Bahama, and a few days later, came to a complete stop as the ship had to leave the yard to avoid Hurricane Irma. 

“For the first time in ALMACO’s history, a project that initially involved building, lifting and installing modular cabins onboard a ship, now required for the same modular cabins to be offloaded from the vessel,” said Touzard. “This was obviously not part of the original plan! ALMACO’s project management team had to adapt to this new situation, successfully removing the cabins from the Carnival Elation, and securing them back at the Mobile Cabin Factory.”

With the vessel readied for sailing, ALMACO’s team embarked on a seven-day journey aboard the ship, working in extreme weather before the vessel was able to safely return to the shipyard.

Back at the yard, with one less week of work done, the work schedule was deeply modified, ALMACO said.