Tour NCL Ships?

[ARCJCM]

I promise I searched before posting this, so please be gentle. :-)

 

Princess has a program called the "Bon Voyage Experience," which allows people to pay a small fee to visit their ships when they're in port. I was just wondering if anyone knew whether or not a program like this exists for NCL? Going to be around Port Everglades and Port Canaveral for the next couple weeks, and I'd like to see as many ships as I can while I'm down there!

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[biker@sea]

Sorry No.

[bob brown]

It would be nice if they did....

If you really want to tour ships at ports, the best way would be to become a travel agent, as many of them seem to get such tours on various cruises I have been on....usually at turnaround US Ports. You can always recognize them, as they board early as a group, are usually dressed in business attire, and may have visitor badges. They usually get a meal in a dining room and a couple of hours to tour the ship.

 

I belong to the World Ship Society, Port of New York Branch, and we get similar tours a couple of times a year on various ships here....we pay a nominal fee for these, part of which goes to the cruise line, and part to support our club treasury....

There may be some other organizations in other places that do similar.....

[ARCJCM]

Thanks for the info -- much appreciated!

[vince_g]

I promise I searched before posting this, so please be gentle. :-)

 

Princess has a program called the "Bon Voyage Experience," which allows people to pay a small fee to visit their ships when they're in port. I was just wondering if anyone knew whether or not a program like this exists for NCL? Going to be around Port Everglades and Port Canaveral for the next couple weeks, and I'd like to see as many ships as I can while I'm down there!

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

This program enables passengers to have limited friends/family onboard for a couple of hours on embarkation day. You cannot just pay a fee to go onboard with no invitation. No such program on NCL though.

[ARCJCM]

This program enables passengers to have limited friends/family onboard for a couple of hours on embarkation day. You cannot just pay a fee to go onboard with no invitation.

 

Not true about the "Bon Voyage Experience" program. I was not invited, nor was I accompanying passengers. The BVE program is open to anyone who wants to experience a Princess ship between sailings. I simply called Princess, asked if there were still BVE tickets available between sailings on the date that I wanted, was charged $39/person, logged in to Princess, completed the registration, and printed my boarding passes.

[pcakes122]

Some people are able to visit, but I'm not sure if it's an official program or if they are perhaps family of NCL employees or otherwise connected. Just this past weekend two frequent NCL cruisers (they are both members of this forum but I won't share their names unless they choose to come forward) were on the Gem taking photos and posting to our Facebook group and noted they were "just visiting", not sailing.

[ARCJCM]

Some people are able to visit, but I'm not sure if it's an official program or if they are perhaps family of NCL employees or otherwise connected. Just this past weekend two frequent NCL cruisers (they are both members of this forum but I won't share their names unless they choose to come forward) were on the Gem taking photos and posting to our Facebook group and noted they were "just visiting", not sailing.

 

Oh, interesting!

 

(And appreciate you protecting their privacy. :))

[vince_g]

Not true about the "Bon Voyage Experience" program. I was not invited, nor was I accompanying passengers. The BVE program is open to anyone who wants to experience a Princess ship between sailings. I simply called Princess, asked if there were still BVE tickets available between sailings on the date that I wanted, was charged $39/person, logged in to Princess, completed the registration, and printed my boarding passes.

 

My apologies then. All I had to go on is how Princess presents it:

 

The Bon Voyage Experience is an innovative new program harkening back to the nostalgic tradition from the early days of cruising, allowing guests the opportunity to invite family and friends aboard your ship on embarkation day. The program's new twist also allows cruisers new to Princess to see the inside of a Princess ship and experience the excitement of cruising first-hand -- even if they're not affiliated with booked guests.

Guests will spend up to four hours onboard before the ship sets sail, where they'll enjoy a four-course dining room lunch (including wine), a guided ship tour, and a souvenir photo! Plus, the $39 per person cost of the program can be applied toward a future cruise with Princess. Only 50 guests are able to participate in the Bon Voyage Experience on any given embarkation day, so make sure you make your reservations soon!

[ARCJCM]

My apologies then. All I had to go on is how Princess presents it:

 

 

The Bon Voyage Experience is an innovative new program harkening back to the nostalgic tradition from the early days of cruising, allowing guests the opportunity to invite family and friends aboard your ship on embarkation day. The program's new twist also allows cruisers new to Princess to see the inside of a Princess ship and experience the excitement of cruising first-hand -- even if they're not affiliated with booked guests.

Guests will spend up to four hours onboard before the ship sets sail, where they'll enjoy a four-course dining room lunch (including wine), a guided ship tour, and a souvenir photo! Plus, the $39 per person cost of the program can be applied toward a future cruise with Princess. Only 50 guests are able to participate in the Bon Voyage Experience on any given embarkation day, so make sure you make your reservations soon!

 

Right -- there's not a ton of information about it available online. But the most important tidbit from their content -- the part that made me contact them about it -- was specifically the "even if they're not affiliated with booked guests" bit.

[vince_g]

There is tons of info available on it on Princess board. Apparently there is a BVE calendar released each year, and no one can seem to get their hands on one. lol

 

I think Princess is the only one who does something like this.

[bob brown]

The Princess program is great, because if you utilize the future booking credit they give you, you ostensibly get the tour and luncheon free....:cool:

 

Another line that lets passenger's invite friends and family to visit on board is Crystal, but not on turnaround days...only on port of call days....they charge a fee which includes open bar, and additional fee's for dining on board, including specialty restaurants. They do limit the number of visitor's, however, and offer it to passenger's on a first come, first served basis...

[Barb Nahoumi]

I'd love NCL to do this program.