Huge Hole Made on Side of Regal Princess for Engine Replacement
On April 25, 2025, the 3,560-passenger Regal Princess began an emergency dry dock due to engine failure at Damen Shiprepair in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Initially, the ship was set to disembark a 24-night sailing on April 28, but passengers on that cruise were informed back in January that the itinerary had to be shortened by four days due to the dry dock.
Repairs were made quickly, and the ship began sailing passengers again on May 9, 2025. However, Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam has just shared a video detailing the effort that went into replacing the engine in such a short time.
Alexander Stijlaart, the Project Manager for Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam, said in the video that the reason for the emergency dry dock was due to an engine failure that warranted an engine exchange.
“We had to cut the shell plate out, then cut the internal bulkhead out, then put the sailing tracks in, jack the engine up, get the engine out, get the oil pan out,” Stijlaart explained.
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The team at Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam then had to entirely reverse the whole process to get the new engine into the Royal Class ship, which was no easy feat — and required a new coat of paint to cover up evidence of cutting a huge hole into the side of the ship to make the engine swap.
In the video, a time-lapse shows the full process of the engine being taken out of the ship and the process of replacing it. Stijlaart added that this replacement was expedited by the involvement of Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam’s sister company, Damen Shiprepair Harbour & Voyage.
Remco Trouerbach, Project Manager of Damen Shiprepair Harbour & Voyage, shared that his team was able to begin preparing the vessel while the cruise before the dry dock was still underway.
“We had to make sure that everything obstructing the path of the engine had to be cleared, so all piping, pumps, and walkways,” he noted.
Because of the partnership between Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam and Damen Shiprepair Harbour & Voyage, Regal Princess was able to dry dock for a shorter amount of time and resume operations faster.
Replacing an entire engine block is extremely rare — it may happen once or twice a decade — but Regal Princess is no stranger to emergency repairs.
Did Months of Engine Issues Lead to the Emergency Dry Dock?
Having been launched in 2014, the 141,000 gross-ton Regal Princess has had its fair share of recent issues for a middle-aged-ish vessel.
As mentioned above, a 24-night transatlantic repositioning cruise was cut short due to the emergency dry dock in April of 2025, which happened as a result of multiple engine problems.
Originally, Regal Princess was set to dry dock in late 2025, but multiple cruises and itineraries have had to be changed and even cancelled, likely warranting the early emergency dry dock.
It all goes back to September 30, 2024, when there was a fire in the ship’s engine room — seemingly marking the beginning of the issue with the ship’s engine.
First, a power outage occurred onboard on October 24, 2024, when the ship was departing from George Town, Grand Cayman.
Next, both the October 27 and November 3 voyages set to depart out of Galveston last year were cancelled due to ‘undisclosed technical difficulties’.
Then, those sailing on the ship’s December 8, January 5, January 12, and January 19 departures all had itinerary changes due to ongoing essential engine maintenance.
For the first three cruises, visits to Costa Maya were cancelled completely. Instead, Regal Princess remained in Roatan, Honduras, for an extended overnight stay.
The January 19, 2025, sailing was supposed to stop in Montego Bay, Jamaica, but instead also replaced this port of call with an overnight in Roatan. Finally, the sailing set for April 28, 2025, was fully cancelled as the vessel was dry-docked for emergency repairs.
Hopefully, having the engine block fully replaced and repaired will fully resolve the ongoing issues Regal Princess has been having. Fingers crossed!
Huge Hole Made on Side of Regal Princess for Engine Replacement