Behind the Scenes Tour

I called NCL today to ask about a "behind the scenes" tour. They told me they do have one, but it can only be booked onboard. The cost is $79pp. Has anyone done this? Where do you get to go? Is it worth the time and money? TIA

Depending on the ship it includes a movie and intro to the cruise line. Tour of the galley with an included photograph of you and some very large kitchen utensil. Laundry. Environmental. Back stage. It is a good tour if you have never been behind the "Crew Only" doors. Once Upon A Time, it use to include the bridge on the MegaShips, but that was discontinued after the Paris terrorist attacks.

It's really up to you if you think it's worth it. How curious are you about the inner workings of a cruise ship? It's exactly what you think it would be. You get to walk around on the crew decks see the kitchens, laundry, and other areas. They explain some of their process and the machinery.

My wife and I found it very interesting, but I don't think we would do it again.

A behind the scenes tour is a perk for Platinum or above. Also, on our last cruise with NCL, we signed up for "dinner with an officer" (and got the staff captain after the captain found he couldn't make it). The next day, we had an invitation to a bridge tour!

I called NCL today to ask about a "behind the scenes" tour. They told me they do have one, but it can only be booked onboard. The cost is $79pp. Has anyone done this? Where do you get to go? Is it worth the time and money? TIA

Sounds interesting, if I ever have extra OBC to use I will do it!

We did this about 2-3 years ago, and it was really interesting.

Our tour did include the Bridge, and that was really fascinating. The Captain and Officers spent an awful lot of time answering our questions, which made it even more meaningful.

But even without that, seeing how the "little city at sea" operates was also interesting.

This included just seeing the volume of food storage, the organization of food preparation, how they sorted/compressed trash, and even just being on the interior hallways, all while the ship was regularly functioning.

It was just generally very interesting.

And yes, we had our photos taken with the Captain, and also with the biggest cooking whisk I have ever seen!

I have done a number of tours. Know that it lasts about 90 minutes and requires a lot of walking and standing. Some of the ones I have done, required walking up and down metal staircases. They do require that you wear closed toed shoes- no sandals or flip flops.

For me the most interesting portion of the tour is the laundry area. How they wash, dry and iron is amazing that amount of laundry is such time is truly remarkable.

If you are platinum, how do you book it and with whom?

Thanks

If you are platinum, how do you book it and with whom?

 

Thanks

You book through the onboard latitudes rep. There was a note in our cabin on breakaway in March /17 saying where and when to sign up. Spaces are limited and can fill up quickly.

We enjoyed our tour of breakaway, and may do it again on a different class of ship to see the differences, but I agree that it's not something we would want to do over and over on the same ship.

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If you are platinum, how do you book it and with whom?

Thanks

Last October our platinum perks letter in our cabin told us where -- at guest sevices, before 7 pm on embarkation day.

But recent cruisers have said you must check with Latitudes rep the first evening.

I believe that the Platinum tour and the paid tour are different. Our paid tour on the Escape was well over 3 hours.

The Bridge (on the paid) is at Captain's discretion (or so they said). The weather wasn't the best for our tour day so regardless of his preference I am sure he was busy.

Princess does a slightly better version of the tour (costs more but you get stuff) but we do it on every ship to see the differences (new to us on the Escape was the waste sorting and disposal area. Apparently all stewards have to bring their trash down and sort it!

If you are platinum, how do you book it and with whom?

Thanks

We went on the platinum tour on Getaway this past February. You had to book it by 9pm at the "Cruise/Next" desk in the atrium on EMBARKATION DAY. They'll let you know where/when to meet. In our case on Getaway, it was ~9am on the first sea day. We covered the Laundry and kitchen and walked along "I95" between them. The tour lasted just under 1-1/2 hours.

I captured some video of the laundry area which can be seen here at the 2minute 30second point.

Thanks for the video Joe, enjoyed it.

I expect that now that the tour is free to Platinum guests the demand will be higher.

Wonder if they will do more then one offering. It has always been something we wanted to do

Thanks for the video Joe, enjoyed it.

I expect that now that the tour is free to Platinum guests the demand will be higher.

Wonder if they will do more then one offering. It has always been something we wanted to do

there has always been a tour for platinum guests which is a shortened version of the paid version

to be honest we did the tour first few times we were entitled to it but now it's a case of been there done it

so the demand wont be as high as you might expect

Thanks for the video Joe, enjoyed it.

 

I expect that now that the tour is free to Platinum guests the demand will be higher.

 

Wonder if they will do more then one offering. It has always been something we wanted to do

The tour has always been free for Platinum guests. On small ships, our tours have been as few as 5 people. Most platinum guests pass on the tour. We have done it on all of our cruises (5-6 a year). Much more impressive on the mega ships.

In small groups, the guide from Cruise Next (vs shore ex for the paid tours) has taken us to crew areas (that are suppose to be off limits to tours).

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Thanks for the video Joe, enjoyed it.

I expect that now that the tour is free to Platinum guests the demand will be higher.

Wonder if they will do more then one offering. It has always been something we wanted to do

We are platinum and did the tour on the Breakaway last year. I really doubt that the tour is in very high demand -- it was

just my husband, myself, and another couple with their teenage daughter.

Does anyone know if this tour and dinner with officers is even included on the gem?

last i heard they stopped the tours and the dinner was only for platinum plus and ambassadors..thanks

There was a huge group on the Escape last December. I was amazed at the extent of the free tour. If the paid one is longer, it must be fantastic. We've been platinum for some time but that was the first time we'd taken the tour. It won't be the last. OP, if you're close to platinum, save your $$ and wait. If not, it's up to you if it's worth it.

You book through the onboard latitudes rep. There was a note in our cabin on breakaway in March /17 saying where and when to sign up. Spaces are limited and can fill up quickly.

We enjoyed our tour of breakaway' date=' and may do it again on a different class of ship to see the differences, but I agree that it's not something we would want to do over and over on the same ship.

 

 

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Thanks for your help.

If you are platinum, how do you book it and with whom?

Thanks

How do you book for the paid one? Is it also the 1st sea day?

The paid one you can book through the shore excursions desk or maybe the front desk, anytime in the first few days of the cruise. There's often a sign advertising it at the shorex desk, and sometimes in the Freestyle Daily, but if you don't see anything, ask. On some sailings there is too much demand and they have to do a kind of lottery to pick who gets to go. On other sailings, not enough people are interested in paying for this and they cancel it.

If you are platinum, how do you book it and with whom?

Thanks

If you are Platinum read the fine print in the perks portfolio found in your cabin upon boarding.

NCL is requesting that you visit or call the Latitudes person and schedule the tour from a

list of times available UPON boarding - I did not do this and waited three days to find out the

times had already been booked up "BUT" NCL did put my name on a sort of standby list and

I was given a time shortly thereafter.

These tours last from 1 to 2 hours and are worth it the first time - the second time around for

a different class of ship. Tours are held in mid-morning.

If you are using the ships laundry and your tour is the following day sometimes the tour guide

will seek out the progress on your laundry (beware the scratchy tags applied to your clothes) !

How do you book for the paid one? Is it also the 1st sea day?

It is a shore excursion and can be booked at their desk. It will be held on multiple sea days.

Does anyone know if this tour and dinner with officers is even included on the gem?

 

last i heard they stopped the tours and the dinner was only for platinum plus and ambassadors..thanks

The behind the scenes tour is available on all ships (although I've been on some cruises when it wasn't running for specific reasons).

The dinner with officers is a platinum plus and ambassador perk now. It isn't something I've paid much attention to, but there was some debate on here at the time as to how that would affect availability for other to buy this, but I don't recall seeing and feedback.

Does anyone know if this tour and dinner with officers is even included on the gem?

last i heard they stopped the tours and the dinner was only for platinum plus and ambassadors..thanks

Our dinner with an officer was by a drawing. I'd seen it in the daily's and put in my name and cabin number....and got it! After that dinner, we got an offer to do the bridge tour.