Question: "Inside Access Ship Tour"

[bertrande]

On our recent cruise on RCL (Mariner), the tour was advertised as $150 per pax on the cruise planner. Response must not have been good as they were running 2-for-1 deals the first two days of the cruise. It was only a 4-night cruise so I have no idea if it went ahead.

 

 

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[D C]

I vaguely recall hearing about a three hour tour at sea that didn't go so well. :D

 

I'd consider the 3-hour tour, but not without thoroughly checking and double-checking the weather! :D

[MattInFLL]

I was considering it for Silhouette, and it's $99 for 2 hours, and includes Galley, food storage/provisioning, engine control, i-95, laundry and bridge. I did the $150 4 hour tour on Allure of the Seas which included a lot of crew ares and included a little dessert snack in the galley and a free drink at one of the crew bars. It was really worth it and way more informative than the various single bridge and galley tours I've done over the years.

 

But I'm far more interested in the crew areas and those insights, so probably won't do it on Silhouette. But would definitely recommend such tours if you've never done one.

[cruzzzinma]

It is showing up as a shore excursion for $99 on the first sea day on our Eclipse Transatlantic.

 

It is worth taking if you are interested in that sort of thing. We took it on the Constellation where the price was $150 per person and included lunch with wine in Tuscan Grille at the conclusion of the tour. You get to see a lot.the tour on our upcoming cruise is rated mild. I would characterize the one we did on Connie as moderate to strenuous. We were up and down stairs, sometimes in very low light, and we moved from place to place fast.

[Rika1]

We went on this tour on the Eclipse a few days ago. I thought I saw it was $89 on the website--maybe it was--but they charged us $99 when I booked it on board.

 

It was just about two hours long. We went through one of the galleys, the store rooms below the galley, the engine control room, the laundry, and the bridge. The galley portion was disappointing--between the noise and the sous chef's heavy accent, we could understand very little that was said. I took our tour guide aside and told her about the problem but I guess there wasn't much she could do about it at that point.

 

The store room was fascinating, to see the sheer volume of stuff on board. With 7 days left in the cruise, the store room manager estimated that we had $1.6 million in inventory still in the store room. There's a special temperature-controlled room for bananas where they can keep them in good condition for about 25 days. That impressed all of us who see our bananas go bad in about three days at home.

 

Unfortunately, the laundry was on break when we stopped by so we didn't get to see the machinery in operation. To get there, we had to go down what the crew calls "I-95", their central passageway on Level 2, where many of the crew quarters are located, and then go further down (to Level 0, I think it was).

 

The engine control room was fascinating; they explained how the azipods worked and we got to see all the control displays. They're a little superstitious down there; they kept a large bulb of garlic to ward off evil spirits, along with a plaque to St. Niklaus.

 

The bridge was bigger than I imagined, with comfy chairs and lots of space. It was interesting watching all the birds swoop around--not to mention the one window covered in bird droppings ... The systems available today to identify ships and their courses, in addition to all the navigational functions, were fascinating to see. Captain Leo stopped by to say hello, which was also nice.

[thirstyman1]

I just never understood why I paid several thousand dollars to be on the ship, but if I want to see the ship have to pay another 2 - $300.00??? Really?

[Tiggertastic]

Celebrity does a kitchen tour and a backstage theater tour for free that you register on board for. Both come with a complimentary glass of mimosa or sparkling wine. I heard the bridge tours for Elites and higher are also free.

 

I believe the tour you're describing is a lot more extensive into the bowels of the ship. ;)

 

 

I agree on the free backstage tours, they meet in the restaurant. Advertised in the paper and you turn up. However were elite plus and never had an offer of a free bridge tour.

 

 

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[DZalumni]

I did the back stage tour all accesss in April 2016. I posted a ton of pics on my instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/dz_alumni/

That might help to make your decision. It was worth every penny we paid. Just my $0.02.