Behind the Scenes Tour

[chengkp75]

We were told that on embarkation day I95 (which is the main crew corridor for supplies, luggage, etc.) was packed with cages to be unloaded. In our section, some guests did not receive their luggage until after 9:00 p.m. We received one bag after 7:00 p.m. Our ship sailed more than an hour late as it was taking on supplies for a 15 day TA.

 

We we wandered I95 on the tour, it was very accessible, and there was ample room to wander about the vegetable locker.

 

Yes, on most days I-95 is pretty wide open for crew traffic. On embark day, however, it is closed to normal crew traffic. The luggage carts are there from the night before for the disembarking guests, and it is packed nearly wall to wall. After that luggage is unloaded, the stores and food comes on, and then the new luggage. We were constantly patrolling I-95 during the night before disembark, and right through embark day to ensure that emergency exits and equipment were not blocked.

[dschultz56]

dschultz56, thanks for sharing! Sounds like a great tour. Might have to look into that for Quantum next year. Kind of surprised they allowed pictures on the tour, did they mention anything about video?

I don't recall them saying anything about not taking video. But I didn't have my video camera with me either.

[dschultz56]

My experience is that it's usually a sea day towards the end of the cruise. The tour takes around 3 hours.

Same for us. It was the last sea day of the cruise.

[dschultz56]

Unusual. I know most lines don't allow photos during the tour. I'm most surprised that you were taken into the engine rooms themselves, as this is a secure area that most crew are not even allowed into. From both a vessel security and an insurance liability standpoint, this is surprising, and the first one I've heard of. You can get most of the engine operations from the control room, as there are CCTV cameras throughout the engine rooms to allow the duty engineer to see what is happening.

We didn't spend very much time in the engine room due to the noise. But we did make the loop around the room. The chief engineer only was concerned that we all looked healthy enough to walk down and back up the stairs. We were there probably 5 minutes tops. He did say when we go to the bridge to see the Captain, don't tell him we went in the engine room.

[Clarea]

I don't recall them saying anything about not taking video. But I didn't have my video camera with me either.

Every bridge tour I've been on has allowed still photos, but no video. They say it's some sort of security issue.

[joepeka]

We didn't spend very much time in the engine room due to the noise. But we did make the loop around the room. The chief engineer only was concerned that we all looked healthy enough to walk down and back up the stairs. We were there probably 5 minutes tops. He did say when we go to the bridge to see the Captain, don't tell him we went in the engine room.

Well, it's out there now. I hope that captain doesn't read CC. :eek: Or maybe the chief engineer was winking when he said that.

[chengkp75]

We didn't spend very much time in the engine room due to the noise. But we did make the loop around the room. The chief engineer only was concerned that we all looked healthy enough to walk down and back up the stairs. We were there probably 5 minutes tops. He did say when we go to the bridge to see the Captain, don't tell him we went in the engine room.

 

I'm not surprised. He most likely was in violation of the Vessel Security Plan, which would have required a management of change process through the home office just to get one party through there. I'm also pretty sure the insurance underwriter would not have been too happy about that. As I've said, you probably could have gotten nearly the same thing from their CCTV cameras without the heat and noise.

[explorer24]

I took a behind the scenes tour on a carnival ship should I take one on oasis of the seas or is it about the same type of tour?

[jjtimes2]

Thanks everyone for the info - and thanks to dschultz56 for the pictures - I feel like I've been on the tour!

 

Does anyone know if they do just a kitchen tour on Oasis? DH and I did the kitchen tour on HAL's Eurodam a few years ago and it was a lot of fun (and free).

[joepeka]

I took a behind the scenes tour on a carnival ship should I take one on oasis of the seas or is it about the same type of tour?

I would guess the tours are very similar (having been on one CCL Behind the Fun tour myself) but I would also think an opportunity to do that tour on one of the two largest cruise ships on the planet would be worth it. :)

[Driftwoodgal]

I hope you didn't have to make an appointment with the LA for that. ;) Sorry.... have been reading too many other threads about LA availability and helpfulness (or lack thereof).

 

It's pretty nice they allow you take your own photos on the tour - we've done a similar tour on Carnival and camera's, cell phones (with or without cameras) were totally not permitted. :(

 

No need for an appointment with the LA, you just dropped the invitation off at the desk. The LA on the Allure was very nice and cordial. The LA has tons of duties besides booking cruises. They have set hours to book the cruises for people, then race to other on board duties. We have only run into one LA that we gave about a 1 on the scale of 1 to 10. We just book the next cruise and make our own reservations.

[Driftwoodgal]

Thanks everyone for the info - and thanks to dschultz56 for the pictures - I feel like I've been on the tour!

 

Does anyone know if they do just a kitchen tour on Oasis? DH and I did the kitchen tour on HAL's Eurodam a few years ago and it was a lot of fun (and free).

 

If you are D plus or pinnacle you will get an invite for a tour of the bridge, kitchen or theater. You can choose any tour you want.

 

I have not been on the paid tour. It seems like the paid tour goes into more detail than the D+ tour. Our kitchen tour was pretty large, we couldn't hear our tour guide very well.

 

They did offer an Academy at Seas on the Splendour in 2004. This sailing was a 12 night Panama Canal cruise. The tour was over a three day period going into tons of detail about the production shows and lighting etc. It was an awesome class, even got to put on a show girl headress that weighed 16 pounds. Gave me a new respect for the dancers and what they have to do to put on a show.

[cruiserdudebobby8]

did the All Access Tour on the Allure of the Seas twice, i loved it both times, deff worth the cost, im looking forward to doing the All Access Tour on the Quantum of the Seas

[marquisite]

dschultz56, thanks for sharing! Sounds like a great tour. Might have to look into that for Quantum next year. Kind of surprised they allowed pictures on the tour, did they mention anything about video?

 

I did the tour on Voyager of the Seas, photos and videos allowable throughout the tour, except on the bridge, where videos were not permitted. $150 is quite a bit of money for the tour however it was good fun! Was just a shame the captain didn't come out onto the bridge, however in his defence he had a cold and was preparing to sign over to a different captain during the itinerary.

[Alter Ego]

The OP may already be aware of this, but wanted to comment. I personally have never taken the tour, but there has been a few tours recently discussed in some Allure cruise reports. Nevertheless, just wanted to pop in because nobody brought up the clothing requirements. From everything I've read, you must wear full length pants and closed toe shoes. Would hate for the OP to get excited and plan to do it, only to be denied because they only packed shorts and sandals!

 

From everything I've read, everyone loved the tour. If I ever get on one of these big ships, it is definitely something I would do!

[cruzincurt]

We did a behind the scenes tour recently on a very new ship and came across something very interesting. I won't say which ship or where the location is but we came across a place in the back corridor where there was a big sign that read "Anchor weak link", and on the wall above was a huge axe. There was also a place on the other side of the ship. They explained that this was the emergency anchor release. One would take the axe, hack at the link and the anchor would then drop without mechanical assist.

 

So, on a multi-billion dollar ship it comes down to a manual axe as last resort.

[chengkp75]

We did a behind the scenes tour recently on a very new ship and came across something very interesting. I won't say which ship or where the location is but we came across a place in the back corridor where there was a big sign that read "Anchor weak link", and on the wall above was a huge axe. There was also a place on the other side of the ship. They explained that this was the emergency anchor release. One would take the axe, hack at the link and the anchor would then drop without mechanical assist.

 

So, on a multi-billion dollar ship it comes down to a manual axe as last resort.

 

Sorry, but they gave you some misleading info. That weak link is what connects the very end of the chain to the ship. When the ship anchors normally, the strain on the anchor chain is between the anchor and the windlass that lowers and raises it. The excess chain remains in the chain locker, with the "bitter end" connected to the bottom of the chain locker by this weak link. This is only used if the ship cannot RETRIEVE the chain by normal means, and needs to "slip" the chain to get underway. Once you've done this, the anchor and all chain remains on the bottom of the sea. This weak link is not to lower the chain, as it will not run over the windlass by itself even with this link released.

[cruzincurt]

Sorry, but they gave you some misleading info. That weak link is what connects the very end of the chain to the ship. When the ship anchors normally, the strain on the anchor chain is between the anchor and the windlass that lowers and raises it. The excess chain remains in the chain locker, with the "bitter end" connected to the bottom of the chain locker by this weak link. This is only used if the ship cannot RETRIEVE the chain by normal means, and needs to "slip" the chain to get underway. Once you've done this, the anchor and all chain remains on the bottom of the sea. This weak link is not to lower the chain, as it will not run over the windlass by itself even with this link released.

Thanks, I thought it was the "emergency brake".:eek: Pretty foolproof low tech method to get away from a stuck anchor. It was one heck of a big axe, probably more correctly called a "maul".

[CruizinCupcake]

The OP may already be aware of this, but wanted to comment. I personally have never taken the tour, but there has been a few tours recently discussed in some Allure cruise reports. Nevertheless, just wanted to pop in because nobody brought up the clothing requirements. From everything I've read, you must wear full length pants and closed toe shoes. Would hate for the OP to get excited and plan to do it, only to be denied because they only packed shorts and sandals!

 

From everything I've read, everyone loved the tour. If I ever get on one of these big ships, it is definitely something I would do!

 

Thanks for the information, I had not really thought about needing long pants. Will make sure that we pack some for tour!

 

Teresa

[Sharkb8]

This was my favorite part, as I was in the hospitality industry for years. One lady (who clearly hadn't thought it out) asked what they do with the food at the end of the cruise. Actually, she confused the person explaining how product brought aboard, etc. until we gently told her that the ship was sailing soon after we got off. The organization and cleanliness is staggering.

 

In 2012 I booked this tour on the Serenade TA. The tour was cancelled due to lack of interest. I was informally told that there were only 4 people signed up.

 

There was also a visit to the food storage facility as well as to the kitchen. The executive chef gave a thorough presentation, and what I found most interesting was the concept that he has a food budget per person (crew and guest) and must stay within it. As opposed to a restaurant, where the food budget is directly related to how much the guest orders, here he has to meet that budget, so much of his job is menu planning to come within his goals. That explained the lack of snails, which was blamed on a worldwide shortage (not in my garden there isn't) but the real reason is the price. And on lobster night, we were offered lobster tails (a different and less expensive crustacean) or prime rib, thus an offering of two expensive items at the same time to keep within budget. (You could have both, or double portions, but my cardiologist frowns on that.)

The tour takes over three hours.

[copnlpn2]

I've done three All Access Tours and have never been required to wear long pants. We were required to wear closed-toes shoes, though. Maybe the pants thing is something new or is particular to one ship but not another....

[janetz]

Long pants were required on the Allure. ;)

[chengkp75]

If anyone has questions about what goes on behind the scenes or about what you saw, I will try to answer from my experience.

[pcl_cruiser]

Long pants were required on the Allure. ;)

 

Really? We are wanting to do this on the Allure next week!

[janetz]

Really? We are wanting to do this on the Allure next week!

 

 

Yes, and closed toe shoes. Enjoy. The ship is fabulous. :)