is behind the scenes ship tour worth the money ?

[Loonbeam]

The price was originally set to control demand, to give a small group a better experience, with the gifts to be a bit of an offset. The tour is fairly disruptive to the schedules of the heads of the various departments and their operations so doing it multiple times is not feasible sadly, and doing it with too small of a group is not cost effective because of that.

 

12 seems to be the best number, I have seen them stretch it to 15..

 

The original intent of the tour was to give pax an appreciation of all it takes to run the ship, and thus form a better impression of the line and keep sailing.

 

I was told when originally introduced it was free, and they panicked when 200+ people signed up ;)

[Thoth]

on second thought, if word continues to get out on how informative and how much fun this tour is, everyone will want to go and either i'll never get a spot or princess will double the price.

 

So i think we need to delete this thread in its entirety and post a new one where we all agree to say that the tour is horrible and not worth the money! We need to keep this tour our little secret folks (at least until after my cruise next year).

 

Who's with me? :d

:D agree ! :D

Edited January 13, 2016 by Thoth

[mmckm]

By what I have seen it will never be that popular. Most are not interested in spending the $150 to wander around the ship. Princess finds it hard to get 12 people to do the tour. This won't change there are not enough people on CC to make this tour hard to get on.

[floridalover5623]

I would probably say no. When we signed up for it, they give you a description of the tour to read. If you want to go, they take your cruise card and fill out the information in a notebook. I believe we had to initial in the notebook, that we agree to take the tour and would be automatically charged for it when they decided who was going.

 

Even if an Elite friend signs up for the tour & gets selected to go they could always give the invitation to the person who boards late & has no chance of going. I doubt that Princess really cares who shows up as long as they get their $150 per individual.

[Hawka]

Had I think 6 on my tour

[Thoth]

By what I have seen it will never be that popular. Most are not interested in spending the $150 to wander around the ship. Princess finds it hard to get 12 people to do the tour. This won't change there are not enough people on CC to make this tour hard to get on.

I would guess that it fills up quickly :confused: on a ship of 3000 you would think finding 12 would be no problem. I suppose I could enlist my mother and make that at least 3 on the list.

[Thoth]

On an Alaska cruise, many are willing to spend $300 on plane ride or helicopter trip or dog sled or to see wildlife but are unwilling to pay for a ship tour ? Sounds strange !

[Redwing55]

On an Alaska cruise, many are willing to spend $300 on plane ride or helicopter trip or dog sled or to see wildlife but are unwilling to pay for a ship tour ? Sounds strange !

 

And throw in the swag that retails for more than $150 with the chance to talk to the ship's directors/senior personnel.

[Hawka]

Also I look forward to the behind the theater part of the tour. Back in 2006 I did a complementary theater tour on Carnival Legend which was so very interesting. First...there are frequently only 12 dancers and 2 singers which means those 14 have to work very hard. Backstage during a show is a madhouse with everyone running. Each performer has her/his costumes arranged out in order with mere seconds to change. Second... the whole troop are a team before they even see the ship and when the contract is over the whole lot is replaced. Their boss is the team captain and are not under the cruise director's thumb. Third...the special effects magic was done with flat panels which drop from the ceiling, lighting gave the panels a 3D effect. Fourth...on many ships all those songs are done by 2 people one male one female. Dancers lip sync. Fifth...when not in shows the dancers have other duties such as monitoring the library, assisting with bingo, or herding crowds onto shore excursions.

I interested in seeing how Princess does it. My guess is the same ways.

on golden they had a rack that went up above dressing room and was moving had all costumes in order for all people in show was awesome

[minky13]

We did this on the Golden 2012. We saw it advertised on TV one evening few days into the cruise. When we booked we were asked T shirt sizes. Thought OK we are going to get an T. shirt. The tour had 2 vacant places. We did not know about the gifts, ran into some other people on the tour that evening and they asked if we'd gotten our gifts. Later they were on the bed and covered the width of the bed. We got chef's jackets, plush robes, note pads, photo frames and ship's photos. As we are from Australia and sailing back from LA we did have a spare suitcase but that was for post-cruise shopping well we coped![emoji4]

 

We were not allowed to take cameras at all and no photos. So getting ship's photos as part of package.

 

The other factor in the cost is that there are 3 members is staff with you throughout the tour. As this is once off tour this has to be accommodated for. Also as someone pointed out seeing the staff /officers in their domain and in a small group was also an advantage.

 

It appears the experience is slightly different on different ships. We just did a cruise to NZ from Melbourne over Christmas / New Year and was taking to someone who was interested in doing the tour on that cruise and discussion he informed us that they were not including the engine control room and bridge (he did no do the tour but was told when enquiring about it). There was an afternoon information session one day with engineering in one of the lounges. My husband went to this. Talk was fairly similar to on tour but not in the location!

 

When we did the tour we thought it well worth especially when received the gifts thought we were getting a T shirt. [emoji3] time with senior staff and behind scenes staff was great bonus. The only thing we didn't do was going to funnel due to the weather. This was my husband's first cruise so that is another reason to do it.

[Hawka]

We did this on the Golden 2012. We saw it advertised on TV one evening few days into the cruise. When we booked we were asked T shirt sizes. Thought OK we are going to get an T. shirt. The tour had 2 vacant places. We did not know about the gifts, ran into some other people on the tour that evening and they asked if we'd gotten our gifts. Later they were on the bed and covered the width of the bed. We got chef's jackets, plush robes, note pads, photo frames and ship's photos. As we are from Australia and sailing back from LA we did have a spare suitcase but that was for post-cruise shopping well we coped![emoji4]

 

We were not allowed to take cameras at all and no photos. So getting ship's photos as part of package.

 

The other factor in the cost is that there are 3 members is staff with you throughout the tour. As this is once off tour this has to be accommodated for. Also as someone pointed out seeing the staff /officers in their domain and in a small group was also an advantage.

 

It appears the experience is slightly different on different ships. We just did a cruise to NZ from Melbourne over Christmas / New Year and was taking to someone who was interested in doing the tour on that cruise and discussion he informed us that they were not including the engine control room and bridge (he did no do the tour but was told when enquiring about it). There was an afternoon information session one day with engineering in one of the lounges. My husband went to this. Talk was fairly similar to on tour but not in the location!

 

When we did the tour we thought it well worth especially when received the gifts thought we were getting a T shirt. [emoji3] time with senior staff and behind scenes staff was great bonus. The only thing we didn't do was going to funnel due to the weather. This was my husband's first cruise so that is another reason to do it.

was on the golden we were meant to do the bridge but ship broke down for a little time about when we were about to go there not sure if we were meant to go to the funnel ?? we had just done the galley and i am guessing would have started to head up to the bridge when power went out , we then went to the wheelhouse instead but did bridge next day if i had known at the time we could take photos i would had my phone at least if not my camera i think we were lucky to do it we did ask the lass that took us to relay we would still like to see the bridge if possible , there was a journo on this trip to the bridge that was not on our tour so maybe she was visiting it for a story and we were lucky to be able to tag along and we got told we could take as many photos we liked but i think that was due to the journo there and that there was not photographer from ship with us [was busy last day or so before leaving ship] so they allowed us sadly due to knowing we werent allowed cameras etc during the tour i thought same applied [probably still does just not this time ] thats why i didnt have anything with me sadly lucky someone on tour did some for me

[Eagle_and_hawk]

Even if an Elite friend signs up for the tour & gets selected to go they could always give the invitation to the person who boards late & has no chance of going. I doubt that Princess really cares who shows up as long as they get their $150 per individual.

 

It might work if you contacted passenger services, prior to them deciding who gets to go. When they decide, your on board account is charged $150 per person, so that would have to be worked out between you and the person you want to give it too.

 

Secondly, the person who is selected gets a letter in their cabin with their name on it, the night before the tour. You bring that letter, with your photo-id to the start of the tour as they check for a match. I seem to recall there was a waiver that had to be signed too. Not sure if it had the name pre-printed on it, or maybe it was part of the letter as been a couple of years since we went.

 

So would it work to sign them, possibly. Just have to change all of it before they print the invitation.

[Loonbeam]

As far as locations visited, they all depend on circumstances. If security is a concern, the bridge may be off limits. Rough seas kept us out of dry storage in provisions one time because they had the sea door closed. Med Bay was out once due to an abundance of patients due to same rough seas..

[mcrcruiser]

Yup we know that they charge for these ship tours ;as they found another revenue source .:rolleyes:

 

We got all these tours free of charge in the past .:D

[pablo222]

That was on our last 3 cruises, so I don't think its that popular with most cruisers. The $150 turns most away.

 

Gee, when I did it, there was a waiting list.

 

At first they told us only one of us could attend.

A few days into the cruise they called and said a space had

opened up.

 

It was a crowd of people moving through the ship together

-- different venues, all in a couple elevators together, etc.

Being herded by a cruise staff gent.

 

When I did it, one passenger dropped out when we got to

the first elevator, as they didn't like crowds.

 

Seemed like a waste of $150.

 

It reminded me of the often-repeated cruise director question:

"If I take the snorkling excursion, will I get wet?"

[runnergirlcinci]

Just got back from the Royal Princess where my husband and I both did the tour. Our opinion, for what it's worth, is we both enjoyed it tremendously and would recommend it to others. We thought it was fascinating. There were 20 of us on our tour - so a big group. We signed up around noon the day of boarding at the customer service desk (purser desk?). The tour was our last sea day on the 10 day Eastern Caribbean cruise. The night before our tour we had a letter in our room that had a waiver for us to sign and bring plus, told us where to meet, and explained the dress code. No open toe shoes, sandals, heels. And must wear long pants. I did see one woman had cropped pants and they didn't say anything.

We had a fabulous time and are still talking about all of the things we saw and learned.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Thoth]

Just got back from the Royal Princess where my husband and I both did the tour. Our opinion, for what it's worth, is we both enjoyed it tremendously and would recommend it to others. We thought it was fascinating. There were 20 of us on our tour - so a big group. We signed up around noon the day of boarding at the customer service desk (purser desk?). The tour was our last sea day on the 10 day Eastern Caribbean cruise. The night before our tour we had a letter in our room that had a waiver for us to sign and bring plus, told us where to meet, and explained the dress code. No open toe shoes, sandals, heels. And must wear long pants. I did see one woman had cropped pants and they didn't say anything.

We had a fabulous time and are still talking about all of the things we saw and learned.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

cool !

[Croptop]

Thanks for sharing your impressions of the tour, runnergirlcinci.

 

Now everyone stop it! I thought we all agreed that we were going to say that the tour is "bad", and "too expensive", and "not worth your time" until this time next year when I'll finally be back aboard a Princess ship and able to sign up for the tour. Until then, shhhhhhhhhhhhh!

 

I'm glad we could have this little chat. :D

[ar1950]

Even if an Elite friend signs up for the tour & gets selected to go they could always give the invitation to the person who boards late & has no chance of going. I doubt that Princess really cares who shows up as long as they get their $150 per individual.

 

I just did the tour on our Ruby to Hawaii cruise. There were 14 on our tour, btw. I don't recall doing anything except putting my name and cabin number on the signup sheet at passenger services. In fact, other than the signed waiver sheet, I don't recall needing to provide any ID to anyone. I think that the Elite person in question could simply put down the name and cabin number for late boarding friend.

 

I would also add that on our tour all 14 of us, to the person, felt that it was well worth doing it.

Edited January 29, 2016 by ar1950

[Hawka]

they did call out names for us on my one

[ar1950]

they did call out names for us on my one

 

They took attendence on ours as well. My only point was that any early boarder should have no issues signing up someone who would board later and possibly be too late if they did it themselves.

Edited January 30, 2016 by ar1950

[Traveler103]

We did this tour on the Sapphire in 2013. Well worth it. The food prep operation and storage was fascinating. Spent time in the control room talking to the ships duty engineer. Also a bridge tour to meet the captain. And the goodies were nice as well. We were in a suite and I think that gave us a priority because there were only 12.

[Thoth]

Thanks for sharing your impressions of the tour, runnergirlcinci.

 

Now everyone stop it! I thought we all agreed that we were going to say that the tour is "bad", and "too expensive", and "not worth your time" until this time next year when I'll finally be back aboard a Princess ship and able to sign up for the tour. Until then, shhhhhhhhhhhhh!

 

I'm glad we could have this little chat. :D

mum's the word :eek: at least until May when I've done the tour. If it is great do you need me to say to the contrary in order to make others feel better ? :confused:

Sorry to say, I might need to give an honest assessment. ;)

[Thoth]

We did this tour on the Sapphire in 2013. Well worth it. The food prep operation and storage was fascinating. Spent time in the control room talking to the ships duty engineer. Also a bridge tour to meet the captain. And the goodies were nice as well. We were in a suite and I think that gave us a priority because there were only 12.

oooh meet the captain and shoot the breeze :cool:

[Hawka]

They took attendence on ours as well. My only point was that any early boarder should have no issues signing up someone who would board later and possibly be too late if they did it themselves.

 

i reckon you would have no trouble putting a member of a group on the list too they could easily double check it was ok with them when that person had boarded