"All" Access Tour - Opinions

[CrochetNCruisin]

I have read various accounts of the "All Access Tour"  but none seem to be recent.  Can anyone help with the details and how it was on the Harmony more recently?  Trying to decide if it's worth it for myself and the future engineer of the family.  I have not been on a Galley or Bridge Tour since I cruised Carnival many moons ago and it was free.

[Clarea]

They cover bridge, galley, engine control room, laundry, and maybe another area or two.  Takes about 2 hours.

[vacationlover_mn]

We did one, on Symphony, in Feb.  LOVED IT!  Per the people on my tour, who've done many of these, even on the same ship, they said they are a little different each time, depending on the guide, and the various workers in each area.  Most of our time was spent doing these things: 1- Galley tour; 2 - tour of the fridges, freezers and general food receiving area; 3 - tour of the bridge; 4 - tour of the "highway" that the workers use 🙂; 5 - tour of the laundry; 6 - tour of the garbage area.  Definitely worth it!!!  I think it's especially worth it on the big ships.

[vacationlover_mn]

Note, it was WAY better than the free tour we did 21 years ago on Carnival 🙂

[LrgPizza]

I did one on Mariner in November, and it was the greatest thing ever. I've told everyone I know that they MUST do one, if given the opportunity. Worth every penny.  As Bob said, it covered the bridge, galley, engine room, control room, laundry, waste, etc. and lasted about 2 hours.

[Lionesss]

We did our all access tour on the Allure a couple cruises back and are doing it again on our summer sailing with the DD and DD'sBF.

 

Make sure you show up on time, they wait for no one, at least on our sailing.

 

We did everything mentioned above plus, went to the crews mess hall and their "club" and saw their decks where their cabins were.  We were not permitted to go down the hallways of the crews decks, but saw the location.

 

We also went back stage to the theatre and saw how props and outfits were prepared.

 

We climbed the workers stairways and boy they are narrow.  These are the ones located through out the ship labeled crew only.

 

Saw where Captain Johnny kept his motorcycle (he was the captain on that sailing).

And walked high way .

 

 

 

Also included were some RCI small tokens to remember the cruise.  A fancy lanyard holding your ID for the tour, and a galley apron at the end.

 

Our tour guide was very informative and I was amazed how we were permitted to take pictures on the Bridge (no video recording).

And the officers were very informative to explaining all the features and job duties.

 

The one area that they really made sure no pictures were allowed was the control room, where there were videos of the engine room and various other monitors...............this was neat.

 

When it was almost over we went to the crews bar, this was a smoking area, and they offered us danish and mimosas, but not a before lunch drinker we opted to leave this smokey area. 

 

Then we exited up the stairs to the helipad (WINDY) and went down the opposite side staircase that lead us back to a hallway on the ship, cannot remember what level it was.

 

We were very pleased with the tour, that is why we are doing it again.

 

We realize different ships provide different areas that they include, but what we saw was awesome.  Also hoping to get another great tour guide.  

 

Remember wear good closed toe shoes, and long pants.

 

 

 

Enjoy, we did. 

[jenniferop]

how much and when are the tours? usually? Ball park? Hubby saw a You Tube Video on Symphony and really wants to do one.

[Clarea]

26 minutes ago, jenniferop said:

how much and when are the tours? usually? Ball park? Hubby saw a You Tube Video on Symphony and really wants to do one.

 

Used to be $150 when it was 3 hours, but I believe it's under $100 now.

[LrgPizza]

1 hour ago, jenniferop said:

how much and when are the tours? usually? Ball park? Hubby saw a You Tube Video on Symphony and really wants to do one.

 

I paid $75 for mine. I was told by some that was cheap, and that it can vary based on ship, demand, etc.

 

[vacationlover_mn]

2 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Used to be $150 when it was 3 hours, but I believe it's under $100 now.

I feel like ours on Symphony was $79 and 2-2.5 hours.  Well with it!  I think they origionally posted 4 tours, on sea days, that you could book before the cruise.  Then, once on the ship they published 2 more times in our planner.

[vacationlover_mn]

Important note!  They said that they required pants and closed toed shoes on ours!  However, there was 1 lady in a dress, and one guy in shorts, and they let them do the tour.

Edited April 2, 2019 by vacationlover_mn

[dtagirl]

Just off the Symphony Saturday.  I did it with my grandson, also a future engineer, and it was $119 and lasted 2 and a half hours.  He loved it!

[zooma]

16 minutes ago, vacationlover_mn said:

I feel like ours on Symphony was $79 and 2-2.5 hours.  Well with it!  I think they origionally posted 4 tours, on sea days, that you could book before the cruise.  Then, once on the ship they published 2 more times in our planner.

 

Does anyone recall how prices on board compared to prices offered via Cruise Planner beforehand?

 

Also, if we've booked through Cruise Planner but need to cancel when on board, will we get a refund? If so, will that be directly to our credit card or instead and OBC? Thanks. 

[A2Mich]

Also wanting to do this tour with my son, who will be 15 at the time.  He is intrigued by all things ship-related.  We have a Lego-like Titanic in our living room, model cruise ships, and he has built a virtual Freedom of the Seas on Minecraft.  He has also watched several Titanic and Lusitania documentaries, etc.  I’m hoping that we never run into Chengkp75 - my son would talk his ears off!😂. FWIW, I would actually love to meet him in person...😉. Think this tour would be a great experience for both my son and myself, though there are a lot of other places I would like to see (water treatment and desalination), trash sorting, HVAC chiller plant/air handlers (as I’ve been an HVAC tech for nearly 15 years), anchor/mooring areas, etc. 

[ShazM]

We just did one on the Explorer last week and it was well worth it. Went for 2.5 hours. Our guide went through what we could and couldn't take photos of which were the plans on the desk in the engine control room but everything else, including the monitors, was OK and also what was up along the walls leading to the engine control room and also along the I95 (I think) because some of it was sensitive. Started at the bridge and that was fantastic and then to the galley for the deck 5 dining area that also covered room service and the crew meals.Then to the engine control room which was incredibly fascinating. The said plans were on the desk which we all saw and I got some great photos of the monitors showing what was happening in the engine room. We also went along that very very long hallway to the storage area, haven't seen that many bottles of anything in my life. Finally to the laundry down 2 very narrow flights of stairs. It is well worth the money to see what happens beneath.

[vacationlover_mn]

25 minutes ago, A2Mich said:

Think this tour would be a great experience for both my son and myself, though there are a lot of other places I would like to see (water treatment and desalination), trash sorting, HVAC chiller plant/air handlers (as I’ve been an HVAC tech for nearly 15 years), anchor/mooring areas, etc. 

We saw trash sorting on Symphony, but not the others you mentioned.  But still way cool!

[A2Mich]

4 minutes ago, vacationlover_mn said:

We saw trash sorting on Symphony, but not the others you mentioned.  But still way cool!

 

 

That’s cool.  I’m sure we’ll be happy with whatever we happen to see!

[vacationlover_mn]

11 minutes ago, A2Mich said:

 

 

That’s cool.  I’m sure we’ll be happy with whatever we happen to see!

It was so cool!

[BOATBOI]

The all access tour is not listed on my cruise planner, does anyone know if it may be available on the ship (Adventure repo)?

 

[Clarea]

3 minutes ago, BOATBOI said:

The all access tour is not listed on my cruise planner, does anyone know if it may be available on the ship (Adventure repo)?

 

 

Possibly, you won't know until you are onboard.  Check with Guest Services.

[copter]

Why do pants need to be worn on these tours?  Just asking because the only pants I bring on board are those I wear to dinner.

 

 

 

[rusty nut]

We did the tour on Harmony. Took almost 4 hours. Pants have to be worn, don't know why. Probably because you'll be taken down into the ship's refrigeration storage and it's pretty cold down there. We got to see the Kitchen, prep areas, engine control room, crews quarters, crew mess, crew bar, food storage, laundry, recycling system and the bridge. I think it was well worth the money. Keep in mind, you'll be searched (scanned) probably twice before you get to the bridge. 

Also, the main crew corridor down below (they call it I-95) is a full-on crew smoking area. You'll be spending a lot of time down there so if cigarette smoke is bothersome to you, I wouldn't book it. Had I known this before hand, I would not have gone. There should be a warning about this before one books it. All-in-all, though, it was interesting.

[icsys]

13 minutes ago, rusty nut said:

.... Also, the main crew corridor down below (they call it I-95) is a full-on crew smoking area. You'll be spending a lot of time down there so if cigarette smoke is bothersome to you, I wouldn't book it. ...

I don't disbelieve you, but I would have thought that even the crew would have designated smoking areas.

[Clarea]

3 hours ago, copter said:

Why do pants need to be worn on these tours?  Just asking because the only pants I bring on board are those I wear to dinner.

 

 

 

 

Nothing specified with regard to pants, but depending on the part of the ship they intend to vist,  they might want closed toe shoes.

[vacationlover_mn]

33 minutes ago, rusty nut said:

 

Also, the main crew corridor down below (they call it I-95) is a full-on crew smoking area. You'll be spending a lot of time down there so if cigarette smoke is bothersome to you, I wouldn't book it. Had I known this before hand, I would not have gone. There should be a warning about this before one books it. All-in-all, though, it was interesting.

Weird!  We did this tour on Symphony, including I-95, and saw no crew members smoking at all...