Does Cunard still offer $120 tours of areas of the ship us passengers normally don't get access to?

[Underwatr]

Even if some don't want to pay $120 there are plenty willing to, and the price hasn't prevented the tour from immediately selling out with no publicity.

Look at it this way - if it was free you'd still be unlikely to manage to get a tour (perhaps less so). It's just a means of rationing.

[sfred]

I always thought I might receive a free tour of the dish washing, laundry, deck swabbing, and/or bilge pump spaces if my credit cards got rejected and I was unable to pay my bill.

[babs135]

If people want to pay for what sounds like a very informative tour that's their choice, the same as paying extra to eat in one of the speciality restaurants.  DH is of the mind that he's paid for 3 meals a day so why pay extra just to eat in a 'fancier restaurant'.  That's his choice, but plenty are prepared to pay the extra cost. 

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

On 9/10/2022 at 4:19 PM, frankp01 said:

Even when it was being offered, I don't think it was advertised. We learned about it through word of mouth, and went directly to the Excursions Desk to sign up when we boarded. It never appeared in the Daily Programme. It can't hurt to visit the desk and ask as soon as you're aboard and inquire. 

 

My first ship tour was on a HAL Vista. I knew about it because of Cruise Critic and booked it right away. I think there was a tiny announcement in the first day's program, but it wasn't easy to spot. On Cunard, I did the same thing, sign up asap. I don't recall seeing anything in the program for it on QM2.

[Windsurfboy]

15 hours ago, Vegas-Voyager said:

 

Seems I once read that no-one should have to justify how they spend their own money, what choices they make. Which cabins they book, which cruise lines you go on , how many holidays you have or what tours they take onboard. 😁

 

For those who have enjoyed the behind the scene tours, great for you, would have enjoyed it myself, for others, enjoy whatever choices you make.  Just enjoy and sail on!

Cheers.

 Clearly you have misread my comment, it's not About people justifying what they  spend their money on. But Cunard  charging for something that they should be proud to do as part of  the service.

[exlondoner]

3 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 Clearly you have misread my comment, it's not About people justifying what they  spend their money on. But Cunard  charging for something that they should be proud to do as part of  the service.

I can never understand why people are critical of a commercial enterprise, such as  Cunard, behaving like a commercial enterprise. What would you expect?

[Windsurfboy]

47 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I can never understand why people are critical of a commercial enterprise, such as  Cunard, behaving like a commercial enterprise. What would you expect?

 

Under that logic, I.e. of charging for everything they can think of ,  then for example there would be no objection to Cunard charging  for Porters to carry your luggage on board.  Or turning all the lounges in to pay cafes, where like any commercial enterprise you are expected to buy something if you sit down. 

 

 

 

[ace2542]

The tours are off the moment but according to DJ Chris they will probably come back 1 day. A nice little earner for Cunard to be fair.

[Redrobo]

59 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

Under that logic, I.e. of charging for everything they can think of ,  then for example there would be no objection to Cunard charging  for Porters to carry your luggage on board.  Or turning all the lounges in to pay cafes, where like any commercial enterprise you are expected to buy something if you sit down. 

 

 

 

 

Sorry I do not see your logic.

1. The porters are not employed by Cunard at the ports.

2 Cafes are in place and you have paid for their use within the fare. You are charged if you require anything out of the ordinary, Choices, so difficult. 😀

[Windsurfboy]

3 hours ago, Redrobo said:

 

Sorry I do not see your logic.

1. The porters are not employed by Cunard at the ports.

2 Cafes are in place and you have paid for their use within the fare. You are charged if you require anything out of the ordinary, Choices, so difficult. 😀

 

All the people that run the behind the scenes tour are employed by the ship and already paid for by everyone as part of the cruise. The definition of service used to be you were only charged for things that cost the company extra money , out of the ordinary like showing you behind the scenes is included in good service.

 

The logic of the commercial machine , gives rise to Ryanair, where you pay for everything. There is no concept of service just sales.

 

So if you believe in a commercial enterprise soley maximising profit , rather than making profit by maximising service this is where Cunard ends up. The cafe space franchised to Starbucks and Costa. You carry your own luggage on board or pay extra . ....

 

Nothing against the Ryanair model, you know what you are getting and they don't  pretend otherwise.   But Cunard presents itself as a full service line , not the Ryanair of the seas.

 

[david,Mississauga]

I won't get into the debate as to whether it is worth it or not or if it is fair to charge.

 

I was interested in booking this several years ago.  After reading the details what dissuaded me is my lack of stamina to stand for such a long period of time.  

 

Some of what is offered on these tours was indeed free many years ago. But I admit the paid tours on Cunard do seem far more extensive than anything I experienced.

 

Although we have never had a tour of the bridge or the engine room on any Cunard ship, we have been fortunate to have done so on other lines. Bridge tours were commonplace at one time on many other lines.

 

Engine room tours were harder to arrange.  On the last voyage of the RMS Windsor Castle (Union-Castle Line) I really wanted to visit this room which was a steam plant. The purser said I had to write a note to the Chief Engineer explaining why I wanted to see it.  I figured I would never get another chance to see a steam-powered ship's engine room  again. I was right, and obviously the Chief was impressed. A small group of passengers was assembled and it was a most fascinating tour. We were advised to wear old clothes. There was a lot of climbing up and down steep stairways - almost like ladders.  I understood why they wouldn't make it easy to get on such a visit.

 

There were some ships on which an engine room tour was offered on request. One was on the S.S. France. It was quite an experience to watch the shafts spinning and  steam swirling around with the ship going 30 knots on the Atlantic crossing. Somehow a visit to a diesel engine room doesn't seem as exciting.

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 minute ago, david,Mississauga said:

I won't get into the debate as to whether it is worth it or not or if it is fair to charge.

 

I was interested in booking this several years ago.  After reading the details what dissuaded me is my lack of stamina to stand for such a long period of time.  

 

Some of what is offered on these tours was indeed free many years ago. But I admit the paid tours on Cunard do seem far more extensive than anything I experienced.

 

Although we have never had a tour of the bridge or the engine room on any Cunard ship, we have been fortunate to have done so on other lines. Bridge tours were commonplace at one time on many other lines.

 

Engine room tours were harder to arrange.  On the last voyage of the RMS Windsor Castle (Union-Castle Line) I really wanted to visit this room which was a steam plant. The purser said I had to write a note to the Chief Engineer explaining why I wanted to see it.  I figured I would never get another chance to see a steam-powered ship's engine room  again. I was right, and obviously the Chief was impressed. A small group of passengers was assembled and it was a most fascinating tour. We were advised to wear old clothes. There was a lot of climbing up and down steep stairways - almost like ladders.  I understood why they wouldn't make it easy to get on such a visit.

 

There were some ships on which an engine room tour was offered on request. One was on the S.S. France. It was quite an experience to watch the shafts spinning and  steam swirling around with the ship going 30 knots on the Atlantic crossing. Somehow a visit to a diesel engine room doesn't seem as exciting.

 

I did an engine room tour many years ago on a HAL ship that was steam-powered. Statendam, maybe. I doubt insurance rules would allow it now. We walked along a narrow catwalk next to the turning shafts. One false step and it would have been like going through an old washing-machine mangle!

 

Yes, the QM2 tour is a lot of standing and climbing steep stairs. They did not allow cameras, I suppose so hands would be free to old the railings on the stairs. HAL did allow cameras. 

 

I don't see why Cunard should include the cost of the behind-the-scenes tour in the cost of the ticket. Shore excursions aren't included. I think of the BTS tour as a shipboard shore excursion. 

 

[nybumpkin]

3 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I think of the BTS tour as a shipboard shore excursion. 

 

Exactly my thought! We've done this type of tour twice on Carnival ships and we treated it just like a shore excursion - and we booked them at the shore excursions desk. If this is offered on our QM2 sailing next June we'll be sure to book as soon as possible.

 

These tours usually include the engine control room, not the engine room itself. In my view, the engine control room is much better; you get to see how the engineers run not only the engines, but things like the stabilizers, fire control, and heating/cooling systems. DH and I are boat nerds, and our son just finished a tour as Chief Engineer on a U.S. Navy destroyer. For us, it's worth the money.

[Se1lad]

17 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

Nothing against the Ryanair model, you know what you are getting and they don't  pretend otherwise.   But Cunard presents itself as a full service line , not the Ryanair of the seas.

 

I wouldn’t see including the tour for free as part of being a full service line.  However if Cunard was branded as all inclusive then I can understand why people wouldn’t be happy if the tour was chargeable,