All Access Tour - My Review from the Allure's Tour

[Dinotoll]

Pics and video of an amazing heli flight from Fort Lauderdale to Miami...

https://picasaweb.google.com/107289430901088544193/MiamiHelicopterflug2010

 

[alexkrn46]

Thanks for the review, I enjoyed it....

[Ocean Boy]

Pics and video of an amazing heli flight from Fort Lauderdale to Miami...

 

That is what is so great about CC. All you have to do is ask........:D

[Dinkachu]

Thanks for sharing the photos! We heard that this tour is only available if you are a C&R Diamond member. Do you know if it is available to any Allure passenger?

[Cotswold Eagle]

Thanks for sharing the photos! We heard that this tour is only available if you are a C&R Diamond member. Do you know if it is available to any Allure passenger?

 

The tour described by the OP is available to anyone willing to pay. There are other tours available to higher tier C&A members.

 

The link a few posts up (not the helicopter tour pictures!) has the FAQ about this tour.

[Gone Fishing]

Brings back memories ….. I did the complete tour on CCL back in the day when it was free. We got to meet the Captain on the bridge and he let one of the people on the tour “drive the ship” (at least she had her hands on one of the steering wheels.)

Alas another thing that has gone the way of the “free” welcome aboard drinks and shots of tequila in the pool if you played the pool games.

[Ander026]

Thank you for your review of the new tour of the ship. I cruise on the Navigator in a few months and will have to try to get that tour. I am very excited to tour the back stage areas.

 

For those negative comments You should take a look at other tours that you might do at Walt Disney World. I am a cast member at the WDW resort and they offer many tours around property. Even one tour like RCI takes you back stage of the Magic Kingdom (Keys to the Kingdom Tour). In that tour you are going backstage to the tunnel where castmembers travel to and from work. I have been in the tunnel when these tours cross and haven't thought twice about them invading my privacy at work. I think that is why it is done during the day because 90% of the crew is workinhg. The others that are off are in crew only areas like their cabin or other area that are not part of the tour.

 

Well hopefuly I can get this tour to go to crew only areas of the ship.

[dz9yvr]

Does anyone know if there are still free Bridge tours available to the Dimond Plus and Suite guests?

[irun5k]

Great photos, thanks for sharing. You can really tell that they run a tight ship... we take it for granted but there are a lot of folks that take their jobs really seriously. Moving 5000 civilians around on a vessel of this size is certainly never routine or automatic, to spite how easy it appears to the passengers.

 

I think the price is merely supply and demand. Over 99% of us can think it is overpriced and they probably still make their quota.

 

Personally, I can't justify spending that kind of money when I've toured Navy vessels like the USS Enterprise for free when they've been in port offering tours. Or, paying a relatively small amount to tour a vessel like the USS Missouri that history will never forget. $300 for my wife and I to see the inner workings of a commercial vessel that we've already paid a couple grand to sail on? Not for me.... but glad it is an option for those who desire it.

[rubrrick]

Does anyone know if there are still free Bridge tours available to the Dimond Plus and Suite guests?

 

 

Yes, those are still available, and not to be confused with the "behind the scenes" tour. I believe that there are still three tours available.....galley, backstage, and bridge.

 

I appreciate the OP's pictures and narrative on a tour of the ship that most never get to see.

 

So, whether it's worth $150.00 per person.......is strickly up to you. I have been most fortunate to see what you have seen, and if I had not been privy to have seen it before.......probably would pay to see.....especially the crew area.

 

The only reason that I say that, is that a crew that is treated right......will take care of their guests. I have been glad to see that the crew is treated well, on their time off........which is less then there time "on"!!:);)

 

Rick

[sailingawaysoon]

Thanks for posting. We did this same tour on another cruise line and they actually showed us a jail/cell where they have to hold people who get out of hand and a morgue...it was weird. Anyway, looks like a great tour and thank you for sharing your experience.

[seacruise9]

Hi,

 

We were on the Allure's Sept. 18, 2011 sailing and took the All Access Tour this past Friday. I really enjoyed the tour (as you can tell from my signature, I love cruise ships). In 2009, I did the similar Ultimate Ship Tour on the Caribbean Princess. Personally, I think the Princess tour was more worth the price (Princess included a lot more extras--including photos of us during the tour that were taken by the ship's photographer). I got the feeling that the Royal Caribbean tour is a work in progress. However, I enjoyed seeing behind-the-scenes of this incredible ship. Our tour departed at 9:00 in the morning on the second sea day and 17 people were on the tour.

 

Chuck

[Merion_Mom]

Does anyone know if there are still free Bridge tours available to the Dimond Plus and Suite guests?

 

Yes. While dotcomgirl was on her All Access Tour on the 8/21 cruise, we were offered a galley tour, a bridge tour and a backstage tour.

 

:)

 

(she got better bridge access than we did: parts of the bridge were cordoned off, and off-limits to us. And there were lots of kids on our tour :rolleyes:)

[rubrrick]

Yes. While dotcomgirl was on her All Access Tour on the 8/21 cruise, we were offered a galley tour, a bridge tour and a backstage tour.

 

:)

 

(she got better bridge access than we did: parts of the bridge were cordoned off, and off-limits to us. And there were lots of kids on our tour :rolleyes:)

 

And you have been on every bridge that we sailed together on...so I bet you did not miss much!!:D

 

Rick

[FLASHINGLIGHTS83]

Great Review, Great Pics.....Makes me want to spend the money and do it myself....

[SandyAtSea]

Unbelievable that some people think this kind of a tour would be boring or a waste. Clearly for them anyway. I think one of the reasons RCI sets the price so high is they’re trying to eliminate the people who wouldn’t appreciate it. But seriously, you’re getting personal attention by a couple of crew members for over 3 hours, so I don’t think it’s a ridiculous price. I just came back from the Monarch and took the All Access tour on that ship. Only $75 but a lot less ship to cover. And I’m still going to try to get the $150 tour on the Allure next year when we go. It was absolutely fascinating. One of the passengers that was on the Monarch tour had been on this type of tour on many other cruise ships and still enjoyed it.

On my Monarch tour, there were only three of us and we concluded the tour in the dining room at a special table that was set up for us where we had lunch and visited with the security guard and cruise staff member who had accompanied us. We did not get to meet the captain, either – although he entered the bridge while we were up there – but he didn’t come over to welcome us or anything. Instead we had a cadet officer, who actually was very knowledgeable and seemed very happy to spend the time with us.

As far as the crew area goes, you don’t get to look in any crew cabins, but you walk through the passageway in their area on the lower decks. We did get to peek into their dining room and also their lounge/bar and an outside recreation area. Was pretty old-looking, RCI is obviously spending their bucks on the passenger areas. But again, this ship was 20 years old.

The best part of the whole tour was when we got off on Deck 1 where the Chief Engineer met us to show us the engine control room. He seemed surprised there were only three of us, so he said, “Well, this isn’t part of the tour, but since there are only three of you, do you want to go down into the actual engine room and see the engines running?” Well, heck yeah. So we went down some more stairs and came out in the engine room (only one of the engines was running because we were only going 9 knots) but it was still very noisy. The Chief Engineer pointed out the propeller shaft rotating (won’t see this on the Allure but the Monarch is too old for azipods.) The security guard and staff crew member who were with us were thrilled as they had never even been allowed down there.

So I would highly recommend this tour to ship buffs or anyone who just wants to see how something as big as a cruise ship works. You never know what you are going to get to see.

[elvnga]

This sounds like a pretty good thorough tour for the few who would be really interested. I started reading the the thread thinking I would really like to do it myself, but I don't think I would spend the money given the other tours I have been to on other ships over the years. I have been on galley, bridge, and back of the theater tours on several classes of ships on other lines. I know that does not add up to all you can see on this one, but it does not add up to enough to justify the cost (to me). If I knew I would see the engine room, I would probably differently. If I had not been on those other tours, I would almost certainly want to do this.

[Clancy14]

Hi -

 

Was your All-Access Tour , that was on your Day 6, a sea day ?

 

My upcoming Day 6 is Cozumel. I do not want to book an excursion for Cozumel and then not be able to it ! Can you help me with this? I leave this Sunday, so I willing be watching for your answer! :D Thanks in advance!

 

- Miriam

[lafngas]

Did you get to tour the medical center,print shop, photo lab or the anchor room? We recently did the UST on Princess and these were on the tour in addition to backstage,engine control room,galley,laundry and the bridge. We also got personalized stationery delivered to our room plus the prior mentioned plush robe,chef's jacket and many photos. We did get to meet the captain and get our photo with him. The deputy cruise director stayed with us the entire time. I thought for what we got that $150 was a reasonable charge. They only allowed up to 10 people but only 7 showed up so we felt pretty special getting to do it.

[UNV-IT!!!]

So what's the difference between this and the diamond tour?

[wv4dmb]

Thanks so much for sharing your photos and your experience. Our family will be on the Allure in April and my Dad just last night mentioned how awesome it would be to get a behind the scenes tour. Since there are 6 of us kids I'm going to suggest my siblings and I split this tour for mom and dad as a surprise! I think they will be thrilled!

 

One question: Did you make your reservations immediately when you boarded the ship the first day?

Thanks again!

 

~Steph

[airbus_guy]

Does anyone know if this is still being offered? I am on the Allure on the 7th of October, and would love to do this....assuming it is still on the offer.

 

Thanks...

[Greesh]

Yes. We were on the 7/22/12 sailing and took this tour. LOVED every minute of it! Very similar to the tour the OP reviewed, but so much better in person...the pics don't do it justice. On our tour the captain was eating lunch in the crew dining room, and then he was up on the bridge. He spoke w/ us for a few minutes and answered a few questions. Highly recommend, though the "parting gifts" were a bit chintzy IMO. Pretty sure I will never use that apron!!

[love2cruise56]

Wow, I've seen every inch of the publically accessible areas on Allure. (with the exception of the ladies rooms :o ) So this was a nice thread to go through, but it has increased my cruise withdrawl symptoms. On one hand, it appears they found a way to charge you for an excursion without getting off the ship. :D I'm not sure I would pay $300 for the two of us, but when you start with a large OBC, I might splurge. While I consider myself knowledgeable, this is the first I heard of it outside of the Diamond and above tour. Is it new?

 

Going back to the status board where it showed the number of people on board, do you know what the numbers in parentheses was? At first I thought it might be capacity, but if it was, they were over capacity for the crew. I also saw there that this was Voyage 39. I was on Freedom's 100th voyage, I might have to go back for Allure's 100th and get another piece of cake!

 

Thanks for the great photos of areas I haven't seen.

 

 

 

When is the Allures 100th sailing?

[sjcruiser]

I'm looking at the Allure or Oasis for next summer, so this is definitely going to be on my to do list.