Behind the Fun Tour ?

For those that have done this tour do you have a favorite ship that this tour was really worth it to see? Have 2 cruises upcoming and trying to decide which ship would be better to tour. Sunshine or Breeze? We have several sea days on Sunshine going to Bermuda, so thought that would be a good time to tour. However Breeze is a much larger and newer ship so that might have the best tour. Just wondered if anyone had any opinions on this. Thanks for any information!

You see the entire ship that you will not see as a passenger.

Did it on the Glory and was awesome.

If we ever did it again we would do it on a new ship like the Breeze and not an older rebuilt ship.

Yes I kinda agree since we just booked this last cruise on the Breeze and thought it would be a better choice than the Sunshine. I have read a lot of people who did the tour on the Breeze and really loved it also. Guess the majority of people do choose the newer ships. Our friends just did it on the Dream last month, and prompted us to try it out next time. Thanks for the input!

We've only done the Behind the Fun Tour twice, Liberty in 2010 and the Breeze in 2012 on the Breeze TA, so she was only about "6 months old" when we did the tour.

On the Liberty, the BTF was on the last sea day, so we "hesitated' a little about doing the tour in the morning of the last sea day and "giving up" the time to just relax and not "rush" our last cruise day, but the BTF sounded interesting enough that we signed up, and it was worth it.

For the Breeze, we had a bunch of sea days of course, and they offered the tour on most of the sea days, so we picked a day pretty much in the middle of the cruise. We thought the same about doing the tour on a newer ship, in hindsight, that made little to no difference. In fact we were a little disappointed in the Breeze tour, but we felt that was mainly due to the Carnival person who guided the tour, as she appeared inexperienced doing that sort of thing and was a bit rushed. Plus with the Breeze being new, and on it's inaugural sailing over the the US, seemed it was stocked with more "stuff" than normal, maybe to support the crossing, so the decks below seemed more crowded.

But we enjoyed both tours, saw many places on the ship we don't get to see as regular pax, chat with crew we may not see regularly either. The view on the bridge alone is almost worth the tour cost..almost. We will probably do the BTF tour on another ship, probably for sure going to do it on the Vista TA if they offer it multiple days like was on the Breeze. But I don't think I'd let the age of the ship be a primary deciding factor. We've sailed on the Sunshine twice including the TA after she was refurbed, I recall we thought about doing the the BTF on the Sunshine TA, but I don't think it was offered, second time we sailed on the Sunshine was not enough sea days.

Enjoy!!

How and where do you sign up for this?

Sign up onboard. Either at the shore excursion desk or guest services.

We've only done the Behind the Fun Tour twice, Liberty in 2010 and the Breeze in 2012 on the Breeze TA, so she was only about "6 months old" when we did the tour.

 

On the Liberty, the BTF was on the last sea day, so we "hesitated' a little about doing the tour in the morning of the last sea day and "giving up" the time to just relax and not "rush" our last cruise day, but the BTF sounded interesting enough that we signed up, and it was worth it.

 

For the Breeze, we had a bunch of sea days of course, and they offered the tour on most of the sea days, so we picked a day pretty much in the middle of the cruise. We thought the same about doing the tour on a newer ship, in hindsight, that made little to no difference. In fact we were a little disappointed in the Breeze tour, but we felt that was mainly due to the Carnival person who guided the tour, as she appeared inexperienced doing that sort of thing and was a bit rushed. Plus with the Breeze being new, and on it's inaugural sailing over the the US, seemed it was stocked with more "stuff" than normal, maybe to support the crossing, so the decks below seemed more crowded.

 

But we enjoyed both tours, saw many places on the ship we don't get to see as regular pax, chat with crew we may not see regularly either. The view on the bridge alone is almost worth the tour cost..almost. We will probably do the BTF tour on another ship, probably for sure going to do it on the Vista TA if they offer it multiple days like was on the Breeze. But I don't think I'd let the age of the ship be a primary deciding factor. We've sailed on the Sunshine twice including the TA after she was refurbed, I recall we thought about doing the the BTF on the Sunshine TA, but I don't think it was offered, second time we sailed on the Sunshine was not enough sea days.

 

Enjoy!!

Thanks for your detailed input! We have some time to still think about this. Going on Sunshine in October,and the Breeze in December. I love the Sunshine, actually we sailed her in Europe in 2013 and was excited to see this cruise to Bermuda on her. Never have sailed the Breeze before but looking forward to a new ship. The extra sea days also is what made me think of taking the tour on the Sunshine (we have 5 of them). However, I wonder what the weather will be like for sea days in December? Thanks again for your perspective also!

Sign up onboard. Either at the shore excursion desk or guest services.

I would sign up as soon as I got on the ship. It can sell out real quick.

Thanks for your detailed input! We have some time to still think about this. Going on Sunshine in October,and the Breeze in December. I love the Sunshine, actually we sailed her in Europe in 2013 and was excited to see this cruise to Bermuda on her. Never have sailed the Breeze before but looking forward to a new ship. The extra sea days also is what made me think of taking the tour on the Sunshine (we have 5 of them). However, I wonder what the weather will be like for sea days in December? Thanks again for your perspective also!

Wow, which Sunshine itinerary in October has 5 sea days, I may have to consider that one!! Love me some sea days.

Weather is always iffy as we know any time of year. When we were planning the Breeze TA, we of course wondered about the weather. I'd read some things that the weather was not the best on the Dream and Magic TA"s that sailed about the same time of year, Breeze TA was in the middle to late November. We were shocked how nice the weather was on the crossing...sunny not to warm ocean was calm danr near perfect....we figured we really lucked out, would never see that again, then we booked the Sunshine TA in November, one year from the Breeze TA, we figure, we best be prepared for what we didn't get weather wise on the Breeze TA, instead we got BETTER weather and sea's!! Was amazing...crossing was 6 days...don't know if we saw cloud one, and the ocean was like glass...even the crew was surprised how great the weather was.

Ok, enough ramblings from me...enjoy them sea days..and oh, since you are going on the Sunshine and Breeze fairly close together, only thing to do is do the BTF on both!!

The Sunshine is going to Bermuda for 8-day cruise, porting there for 3 days. I have always wanted to go to Bermuda so thought this would be fun way to do it. Kinda pricey but Bermuda isn't cheap anyway. Yes even our 12-day in Europe didn't have that many sea days, but kinda makes you want to have something planned just incase of questionable weather. Sounds like you really lucked out with your TA cruises, but like you said never know. But we try to look at things in a positive way and being on a cruise is better than being at home any day!:D

Thanks again for the update!

I would sign up as soon as I got on the ship. It can sell out real quick.

Will do! Thanks to both of you...

This sounds great! Sailing on Splendor next week and would love to do this. What is the fee for the tour?

I bought FTTF specifically so I could be one of the first on board to rush to the excursion desk to book Behind the Fun.

We did this on the Breeze and it was worth every penny! Sign up early as space is limited.

A few questions.......would kids age 12 and 15 enjoy this? How much approximately does this cost? Cruising over New Years and trying to plan the budget. :). Thanks in advance!

I don't see any advantage on a newer ship. Laundry must be done, food must be prepped, recycling must be done, all ships have a bridge tour. I went on Ecstasy and it was extremely informative and eye opening. One must be in generally good condition due to walking, standing, stair climbing. You go with security, no cameras, wanded, no open toed shoes.

This sounds great! Sailing on Splendor next week and would love to do this. What is the fee for the tour?

$95/pp...at least that was the cost two weeks ago on the Breeze.

It was the last sea day, and they did two groups. Our group had 17. This was our 3rd behind the fun tour, and I will say the person leading the tour, which has always been an HR employee, is what makes or break it. Our latest tour was not as upbeat as the last, but still fun. :D:D

Edit: My daughter is 13, and she loved it... Her 3rd time also....:D:D

A few questions.......would kids age 12 and 15 enjoy this? How much approximately does this cost? Cruising over New Years and trying to plan the budget. :). Thanks in advance!

If your kids are very much into cruising and would like to see all the behind the scenes stuff they would probably like it.

Otherwise probably a waste of money.

I have done the tour on both the Breeze and the Glory. The Breeze tour was waaaaaay better. I did that one first, so I was surprised to see just how different the galley areas are on the 2 ships. The bridge experience was much better on the Breeze. We were given individual and group pics with the captain, and also the group pic by the ship's bell. On the Glory tour we visited the photo studio, which was interesting. I agree that the laundry areas are very similar. After being so disappointed with the Glory tour, I could not bring myself to book it on the Legend.

OP here, surprised this thread is still going, lol. But it's great to have so much input on this tour. From why I keep reading I think we will wait till we go on the Breeze in December to take the tour. Glad to hear such positive responses about this! Thanks again!