Projects at Trimline range from behind-the-scenes riding teams working aboard ultra-luxury Seabourn ships to complete conversions, as the British interior outfitter also played a key role in turning the former SkySea Golden Era into the Marella Explorer 2 this past spring in Cadiz.
“We work backwards, from delivery back to logistics and manufacturing time,” said Simon Dawkins, cruise key account manager, adding that having sixteen weeks to plan a project was a short but achievable timeline, according to the 2019 Drydocking and Refurbishment Report by Cruise Industry News.
Once onboard, the work is generally planned down to the hour.
While drydocks may not be getting longer or shorter in length, the scope of interior work is getting bigger by the project, Dawkins explained.
“Expectations are higher,” he said. “We recently had a six-day refit we split into day and night shifts, and that was timed strictly. If an item needed four hours to dry, there was someone there four hours later doing the next layer.”
With multiple contractors in play, timing on work in public rooms is ultra critical – and often worked out by the cruise line’s scheduling team or the contractors themselves.
As new ships hit the water, Dawkins has seen his cruise customers strive to upgrade their existing fleets to keep the brand experience consistent.
Celebrity Cruises has turned to Trimline to upgrade its larger suites during two upcoming scheduled drydock periods as part of the brand’s $500 million Celebrity Revolution program.
Having worked through a number of large-scale conversions in Cadiz for Marella Cruises, as part of the British brand’s fleet refreshment, Trimline thought outside the box to deliver for the cruise brand.
“We brought in our own material movement machinery, so we could get access to our materials 24/7,” Dawkins said. Trimline essentially decided to control its own fate in Cadiz, building its own temporary warehouse, staffing it, and bringing in numerous forklifts to get its materials where and when it needed them.
Trimline is the world’s oldest established marine outfitter, Dawkins noted.
“It’s a name you know and trust,” he said. “We can offer our own ideas and opinions; we are doing refits all day every day. We can cross engineer items, make them look better and do it cheaper.”
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Go inside the world of cruise ship drydocking and refurbishment with the 2019 Cruise Industry News Drydocking and Refurbishment Report, presenting a 100-page overview of the $3 billion annual cruise ship drydock and refit market including a full 2019, 2020, 2021 estimated drydocking scheduled based on available data and research.
The report offers interviews with key drydocking executives from cruise lines, suppliers and shipyards, as well as case studies, trend reports and much more.
