Tour of ship

[luv2travel06]

Boarding the Pearl in a few short hours. Are tours of the ship available? If so, what is the cost? Thanks!

[Demonyte]

Yes, Behind the scenes tour is available on all ships. To my understanding the price is currently $79pp, tour lasts about 2,5 hours and requires standing/walking for pretty much the entire duration of the tour. Sign up at Guest Services desk after boarding if interested.

Edited December 1, 2014 by Demonyte

[jkgourmet]

And to think these hours used to be free!

[cruiserssandr]

And to think these hours used to be free!

Tour is free for Platinum latitudes

[pizzalady1]

They do provide an "orientation" tour on embarkation day for free. They will show you many of the public places, the spa, library, kids club, etc. Is this what you are looking for? The time and meeting place will be in the Freestyle Daily that you receive on embarkation. We did this for the first couple of cruises and found them helpful.

[Rudyard]

I did the tour on Jewel recently. We started off in a part of Tsar's Palace that was closed off from the rest of the dining area. Once in there we had a presentation on the history of NCL which was very informative. After that we headed into the Galley where we got to talk to one of the chefs and had our pictures taken.

 

From there we went to the provisioning area, the recycling area, the laundry, took a walk down I-95, went behind the scenes in the theater, then finally to the bridge (I might be missing something but can't remember what). As we walked from area to area, our guide told us about life on board ship, how the luggage and supplies were handled, how maintenance is done at sea, etc.

 

When we got to the bridge we got to talk to the First Officer and he explained the controls and other things we were looking at. After it was all over we each (each person, not each group) got a nice portfolio with our galley pic on one side and an itinerary map pic on the other.

 

Make sure you take your camera. This was my first behind the scenes tour and I knew from looking into it on other lines that they didn't allow cameras. NCL does, but just no video on the bridge. Overall it was a fun experience.

 

ETA: I was talking after my tour with some Platinum members of our roll call. They didn't tell me all the differences, but their tour only got to see the bridge from the viewing room and didn't actually get to go on the bridge like we did.

Edited December 1, 2014 by Rudyard

[cruiserssandr]

On all our tours as Platinum latitudes we got to go on the bridge. Maybe some captains don't allow that.

[Demonyte]

Tour is free for Platinum latitudes

 

 

The free tour is nowadays heavily cut version of the paid one. No comparison.

[cruiserssandr]

The free tour is nowadays heavily cut version of the paid one. No comparison.

I figured the pay tour had a lot more too it than the free Platinum. Still $79 seems like a lot of money for a tour of the ship.

[DavyJoneses]

I figured the pay tour had a lot more too it than the free Platinum. Still $79 seems like a lot of money for a tour of the ship.

 

If it includes parts of the ship normally off limits to guests then it might be interesting - bridge, kitchen, enviornmental area, etc.

[cruiserssandr]

If it includes parts of the ship normally off limits to guests then it might be interesting - bridge, kitchen, enviornmental area, etc.

We have been to those places on the platinum tour. Didn't the paid tour include a lunch at one time.

[dexddd]

On all our tours as Platinum latitudes we got to go on the bridge. Maybe some captains don't allow that.

 

We've had bridge tours free through CC M&Gs. Other times not. We've also had them through suite invite and other times not. It seems to depend on the captain. On another thread on the subject I listed our experience among captains.

[RSFCruiser]

I figured the pay tour had a lot more too it than the free Platinum. Still $79 seems like a lot of money for a tour of the ship.

 

Just so you're aware, the pay tour comes with an 8x10 photo of you, enclosed in a leather (faux, perhaps) binder that lists the ship's itinerary. We didn't realize this until we were at the end of the tour/on the bridge and everyone else was being given their photos (which we had passed on posing for earlier in tour).

[Rudyard]

I figured the pay tour had a lot more too it than the free Platinum. Still $79 seems like a lot of money for a tour of the ship.

 

When I was on Mariner a couple of years ago, RCCL wanted $150 for the tour. Not sure if there were any extras that might have made it worth the price or not.