"Behind the Fun" Excursion review

[vacruizer]

So am I reading that the price for the 4-hour tour (sounds like Gilligan's Island ;)) recently went up to $95?

 

I think the $75 was a typo. We did the 4 (more like 5 by the time we were done) hour tour on the Pride just a few months after they started doing this in 2010 and it was $95 each then. Well worth it. Along with the tour, we got a group photo on the bridge, group photo in the galley, individual photos at the wheel with the captain, backpack, lanyards, hats, soaps, the goodies in our room, and finished the tour with mimosas in the steakhouse.

 

The Fantasy class tour is also nice, but shorter and not as many goodies afterward (also much cheaper.)

[funfamilyof6]

If they enjoy cruising and want to see what goes on behind the scenes they might.

 

 

Nice review by the OP. We took the tour on the Liberty in early January (our first cruise) and felt it was WELL WORTH the time and $'s. We had a few additional stops on our tour:

• The cold food storage area and the "booze warehouse"...amazing information on quantities of food and beverage....of course both areas were fairly depleted by the last sea day
  
• Carving demonstration by one of the galley staff who later presented us each with a bar of soap that he had carved into a swan
  
• The steakhouse including a nice presentation on various meat cuts by the head chef
  
• Backstage of the main theater including the ladies' dressing room with all of the costumes from Wonderful World- lots of information on what it takes to put on the shows
  

Also we all had individual 8 x 10's taken with the captain in addition to the group pictures- a really nice memento. Our tour guide personally delivered the pictures to us at dinner that evening. Very nice touch!

 

 

Thank you both so much for the additional info!

 

Sounds like a lot of fun for me and husband, at $95 pp I will make sure the kids really want to do this, I'm guessing they would rather spend the $95 somewhere else but maybe not. :)

[vwrestler171]

To the people who have done it more than once. me and my wife did the tour on Destiny and we are trying to decide if we want to do it again. What are your thoughts?

[vacruizer]

To the people who have done it more than once. me and my wife did the tour on Destiny and we are trying to decide if we want to do it again. What are your thoughts?

 

I did it the second time on the Fascination because my parents wanted to do it and were with us on that sailing, it was much cheaper, and I thought it would be neat to see the difference between the Pride that I'd done earlier in the year and an older, smaller ship. Definitely big differences in the technology in the engine room and bridge! I've skipped it on my last two sailings on the Conquest class - just not sure it would be worth it a third time. My husband (not really a ship person) really enjoyed the tour the first time but opted out for the second one.

[Thoth]

thanks for sharing that review of the tour. I'll keep that in mind in the future.

Time was they gave a bridge tour, but 9-11 changed that. It would be so cool to see where the crew lives.

[kwbrad]

Wonder if anyone has done this on the Triumph since she started doing the 4-5 day sailings? If so, could you give a little description (wondering if the price is the lower price now that she is doing the shorter sailings, how long the tour was, what you saw, what goodies received, etc.)

Basically looking for more to daydream about as I wait for May to get here :)

[jimbo5544]

I searched this forum and didn't find any other threads about Behind the Fun, so I thought I'd go ahead and post some thoughts about the tour we had on Imagination this past Thursday, 2/2.

 

For those who don't know, "Behind the Fun" is CCL's tour-the-ship-for-a-price excursion. I think it's relatively new to CCL (?).

 

On shorter cruises of less than 7 days it is supposed to run about 2 hours and costs $55; on longer cruises it costs $75 and runs about 3.5 hours. The maximum number of participants is 16 per tour and it is only offered once, on the last sea-day of the cruise. As we were on a 4-day cruise to Key West and Cozumel, our tour was of the $55, two-hour variety.

 

Well, the second part was wrong; it ended up being about 2.5 hours. :)

 

For our tour, we had to meet in the ship's library at 8:45am for the tour to begin promptly at 9am, and sure enough, there was a "private function" sign in front of the library entrance. There were some pastries and juice available for us, which was nice. Our tour guide was also the ship's training coordinator, Debbie (I think) from South Africa, and she was great. She gave us each a lanyard with a Behind the Fun -- All Access laminate and verified that none of us were carrying cameras or cellphones of any kind. Then a security staffer wanded us to make sure we weren't carrying anything, and we were off!

 

First stop was the galley between the two dining rooms, where the Head Chef gave us a lot of background on the different areas of the galley, how pastries are made ("we make them all on-board from scratch, we don't buy them at Costco, but we might buy the cake mix from Costco" :) ) and how many staff he has, 92, to make meals for all of the guests.

 

Next stop was down a deck into the Linen Room, where the department head gave us an idea of how many towels, table-cloths, etc., he had to manage with a staff of 5. They DO have some help with folding towels, though, as he showed us a machine that automatically folds them. Nifty! One of the tour participants asked how many towels they lose each week due to theft, and the answer was about 100, but most were not lost through theft, but from damage and just getting threadbare.

 

After that we went down a corridor to the laundry area, where we were shown the giant washing machines (3 tubs, 350 lbs capacity each) and the much-bigger bedspread folding machine, which sadly was out of service for nearby maintenance.

 

Then we were shown the garbage dump. Not as gnarly-smelling as we were expecting, partly because all leftover food is mulched, pulped into a slurry, and then pumped into the ocean after the ship is past the 12-mile limit. They also recycle everything they can, of course, and there's an incinerator aboard, too. Waste graywater and blackwater is processed and purified and also pumped back into the sea once beyond the limit.

 

Next up: "I-95," which is the corridor that runs the entire length of the ship, bow to stern, on Deck 3. Along this corridor we saw the storerooms for different types of food and drink, the crew training area (our tour guide's dominion), crew mess, staff mess, officer's mess, and the large service gangway area midships where the forklifts and baggage carts are stored -- and where the crew can hold large gatherings and soccer matches. Debbie had made cookies for us and we had some of those plus more juice and lemonade in the staff mess before moving on.....

 

...to the Engineering Control Room! This was down a steep flight of stairs and behind a security door and at this point, the security guy who had been quietly dogging us accompanied us into the room -- they weren't taking any chances, and that's fine. To our tour-guide's surprise, Chief Engineer Testa himself was there and conducted the tour, showing us all of the gauges and indicators for the ship's 6 diesel generators, the primary props, side thrusters, trim adjustments, stabilizer controls, and lots of other things. We had some good questions for him and this part of the tour lasted a good while.

 

Finally Debbie had to call a halt to it and we filed back up the steep stairs to see "Oasis," which is the crew's lounge and bar forward, then the backstage area of the Dynasty Lounge, then out onto the windy forepeak, which is the front open deck of the ship (there's a small hidden pool here for the crew, "about the size of my foot" as Debbie explained), and finally up to the navigation bridge, running almost 30 minutes late. :eek:

Debbie showed us a lot of the bridge instrumentation, radars, and other neet things, like the clear Plexiglas square set into the floor on each side so the captain and pilot can see the guide markings on piers. Then the captain himself (Andrea Cavaliere) came over, answered a few questions and posed with us for a group photo, with the central steering console in the middle. This was the last stop on the tour.

We went back downstairs where we completed a brief survey, handed in our laminates (darn!) but got to keep our lanyards, which say Behind the Fun on them and can only be had by tour participants. We also each got a ship fact-sheet, and a Behind the Fun embroidered cap (on the back it says "Honorary Team Member"), and finally Debbie thanked us for being a great group.

 

--But it wasn't quite over. Later that evening Debbie came by the stateroom to personally drop off my copy of the group photo...and later, while I was away, a thank-you dessert tray from Behind the Fun appeared on the desk in my room, with chocolate-covered strawberries decorated like tuxedos using white and dark chocolate and some other sweets. What a nice surprise!

 

All in all, I can recommend this tour without hesitation to almost anyone* if you have any interest in seeing the enormous amount of effort it takes to crew, supply, drive and steer what amounts to a floating city. It was easily one of the high points of my cruise!

 

 

---

* If you are mobility-impaired, however, the steep staircase down to the Engineering Control Room might be unmanageable. They were kinda scary to US and none of us had mobility issues....

Thanks for the review, was there an age limit? We have some friends sailing on the Splendor in April and wanted to bring their two boys (ages 9 and 12). Edited February 7, 2012 by jimbo5544

[near the beach]

We did the behind the fun tour on the Imagination also. It was great. We signed up at the Guest Services Desk because the excursion desk was not open yet. It was just the three of us with our tour guide. That gave us a little extra time at each place we visited. The galley was fun because of the free samples of chocolate we received. We got to use the towel folding machine in the laundry. One of the high points was in engineering. Usually you just visit the control room. Since there were only three of us we were taken into one of the engine rooms also. That was great to see the engines. We also went into one of the small crew dining rooms. There are a few. On the bridge our grandson got to steer the ship. I don’t think it was taken off of autopilot though. We also received hats and lanyards alone with photos with the captain.

What really made it seem special was since we were doing a back to back cruise when we saw the captain and the chef on the second half they stopped and said hello.

We saw the chef again a few months later on the Inspiration he stopped and said hello again.

The Behind the fun Tour is a fun and educational experience.

[zonabelle]

I am very claustrophobic. I hate it because it so interferes with what we do for fun sometimes. I understand the steep staircase, but I am wondering if you feel closed in during this tour? I would hate to pay that much and then freak out with an anxiety attack and not be able to do it. I have been known to climb out of a second story window in a "haunted house" and climb down the drainpipe after I was forced to walk through a tight black hallway that twisted and turned. Once I saw daylight, I was outta there! My DH and DS were mortified. I try to screen my activities before I go now! Can anyone reate to this and give me some good input?

[mgron]

Perhaps it depends on the ship, but on Liberty I am quite sure that you would not have had any problems. I do not remember any areas that were tight or felt closed in.

[Yvonne]

My husband just did this tour a few days ago on the Freedom. He knew nothing about it, until I told him I'd learned about it here. :) He thought it sounded like something he would definitely be interested in so he signed up for it at the excursion desk (or was it guest services? I can't remember) just a few minutes after we boarded on January 28th.

 

The tour was on the last sea day and he really enjoyed it. He said it was a lot of walking (3.2 kilometers I think is what he said) and up and down narrow stairs.

 

He received two group photos and one of him with the captain and "steering wheel." These were delivered to him during dinner by the tour guide.

 

The cost was $95 and lasted about 3 hours.

 

He also received a hat, backpack, Behind-the-Fun lanyard, wristband, hand carved soap (which was carefully packed in my carry-on bag, but unfortunately was broken by the TSA person who searched my bag before our flight home :( ), I forget if there was anything else. Oh, and a ship fact sheet along with the recipe for Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. :) And he received a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and cookies in the stateroom afterward.

 

He thought it was well worth the cost, and hopes to do it again on the Conquest next year.

 

I didn't go on the tour. I decided I'd rather spend my $95 in the gift shop. :)

Edited February 7, 2012 by Yvonne

[vacruizer]

I am very claustrophobic. I hate it because it so interferes with what we do for fun sometimes. I understand the steep staircase, but I am wondering if you feel closed in during this tour? I would hate to pay that much and then freak out with an anxiety attack and not be able to do it. I have been known to climb out of a second story window in a "haunted house" and climb down the drainpipe after I was forced to walk through a tight black hallway that twisted and turned. Once I saw daylight, I was outta there! My DH and DS were mortified. I try to screen my activities before I go now! Can anyone reate to this and give me some good input?

 

That's a tough one. There were some spots on both tours where the entire group had to crowd into a fairly small room or small space to allow the workers to get around us. The belowdecks areas like the laundry definitely have a "cramped" feel to them - no windows, low ceilings, hot. On one tour we also all crowded into the beverage cooler. Only you know how bad something like that will affect you - in this case you won't have an easy escape route due to being in secured areas. They were pretty clear that we must stay with the group at all times and ship security escorted us to make sure. My guess is that if you needed to leave mid-tour, they would need to get someone there to escort you back to a public area which may or may not be very quickly.

[katiepe]

I am sorry if I missed this..but can the tour be booked in advance or only once onboard?

[Yvonne]

I am sorry if I missed this..but can the tour be booked in advance or only once onboard?

 

Only on board. Get it booked as soon as you board the ship. They don't allow very many to do it. When my DH did it they had 2 groups of 16 each.

[TxChick]

not sure if this has been said but you have to wear closed toed shoes so we were unable to go last year - I had only flops and dressy sandals, DH only had his dress shoes so we did not go.

[MamaParrotHead]

I wonder if Keens would be considered "closed toe"?

[kazbar]

Has anyone done this one the Splendor?

[luvspianobars]

thanks for the detailed info, as always I was hoping to get info from these boards and wallah, right here it is. debated whether or not to do this tour and now I know that I would love it. We hope to sign up ASAP after boarding in 25 days.

[erinmarie424]

Great review! Never really thought twice about doing this, but now I have my heart set on it for our cruise in April! (maybe Carnival should give OP a commission LOL)

[pyropoodle]

does anyone happen to know if this tour is offered on the victory and what day it is on? it would be great if it were on the first sea day, but i don't want to miss any ports for it.

[Rok4u2]

We did the Behind the Fun tour on the transatlantic DREAM cruise. GREAT time. The following year we did it again on the TRIUMPH. We did it again this year on the ELATION and what the OP's review said is exactly what we did on the ELATION. Would I do it again? YES.

[ccodcruzer]

We did it on the Dream, cost was $95/ea. It was about 4 hours. When they say no cameras, they mean it. They checked everyone with a metal detector wand... I wanted to try to catch some pictures after the tour with Fun Freddy their mascot at the Future Cruise Seminar ( I thought he might be there) and asked my DH to put camera in his pocket, but they made us put it in our cabin... Otherwise, I was totally surprised with the treats in our room and photos. It was a great tour.

[Astromaid]

We did the tour on the Pride, really enjoyed it except in the galley. It was so noisy that you could not hear what the chef was saying, which was disappointing as that was the area I was most interested in. You could tell that no one could head what was said as there were no questions afterwards. Where in all the other areas bunches of questions were asked. I wanted to ask questions but was afraid that maybe my question was covered in what was said and I would look like a fool. Did anyone else have problems hearing in the galley on their tours?

[Pellaz]

Ooops, was away for a bit and POOF, three pages in the thread. Thanks for the nice comments, y'all. :)

 

I'm a bit jealous of you folks who got individual pics with the captain and who got to run the towel-folding machine. I wuz ROBBED! :p

 

BTW, I'd swear I saw the $75 price for longer cruises on CCL's website, but naturally I can't find the Behind the Fun info page now, not even with a search of the site. This is consistent with my general opinion of CCL's website, which is pretty low already. :mad:

 

...He also received a hat, backpack, Behind-the-Fun lanyard, wristband, hand carved soap (which was carefully packed in my carry-on bag, but unfortunately was broken by the TSA person who searched my bag before our flight home), I forget if there was anything else. Oh, and a ship fact sheet along with the recipe for Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. :)

 

Ooops, I may have forgotten to mention the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake recipe info I got. My mom immediately commandeered it after I got back from the tour. :)

I didn't get a wristband or a backpack on my shorter tour of a smaller ship. In the words of Chief Brody in Jaws, "I think I need a bigger boat!" :D

 

 

does anyone happen to know if this tour is offered on the victory and what day it is on? it would be great if it were on the first sea day, but i don't want to miss any ports for it.

 

Per CCL, it is always held on "the last sea day," so it shouldn't interfere with any ports.

 

We did the tour on the Pride, really enjoyed it except in the galley. It was so noisy that you could not hear what the chef was saying, which was disappointing as that was the area I was most interested in. You could tell that no one could head what was said as there were no questions afterwards. Where in all the other areas bunches of questions were asked. I wanted to ask questions but was afraid that maybe my question was covered in what was said and I would look like a fool. Did anyone else have problems hearing in the galley on their tours?

 

Yes indeed!

 

After our tour I suggested -- via the comment card they gave us -- that they use a portable amplifier in some of the louder areas for their personnel to use. Wouldn't need to be too elaborate, either...just a small microphone and a battery-powered speaker or two. Nothing as powerful or ugly-sounding as a megaphone, just a little something to help the chef be heard. (Yes, the galley was probably the loudest area of the tour.)

[BigDog™]

Was on the Liberty a couple weeks ago. I was hesitant about this tour because of the amount of walking required as I am only now starting to really regain good mobility after my bariatric surgery last year (Down 206 lbs.....yeah me!!!) so I did not book it the first day. I kept thinking about it every day we passed the excursion desk (mainly because I read this review before we went) and finally on night 5 my wife told me to just ask if it was still available. Surprisingly it was so I signed us up. I cannot say enough great things about this tour.

 

Turns out they did 2 tours on the last sea day.....1 started 8:45 and the other at 9:15. We were in the 9:15 group and only had 11 people total. There sure was a lot of walking and stairs but we did great and am so glad we did it. There was only 1 small break about mid-way through the tour but it sure seemed like the time just flew by.

 

It was great seeing all the areas the OP talked about and more. Really enjoyed meeting with the dance captain and getting to see everything backstage. I had already been selected to perform in the Legends show that night (Garth!) so I enjoyed that part a lot.

 

We also met with the Chief Engineer in the engine control room and he was very candid and open with his answers. The laundry portion was amazing.....really explained how they keep it all under control and fresh. The galley was also very cool and the head chef spent time explaining a lot of areas and you could tell he really cared about the guest experience and the quality of his food.

 

When it was our time to go to the bridge the Captain was already there and went right to showing us everything. During this time he received a call and was coordinating an emergency evac for a guest that had broken his leg. That added to the time we got to spend on the bridge and it was really neat seeing that unfold and get planned. The Captain posed for the group pictures and for individual and family pictures with all of us. He was great and very accommodating. Actually got to see a lot of the Captain this whole cruise as he had his family with him and was often out with his young children in the guest areas.

 

We received multiple copies of the photos as we had both paid so that was nice. Also received a large tray of goodies in the room as soon as we went back after the tour.

 

We enjoyed this tour so much I would not hesitate to book it again on our next cruise. Great way to spend a few hours on the last day. Thanks for the original review....really sold us!