Inside Access Behind The Scenes Ship Tour

[LGW59]

I've never done this before but it looks really interesting.  We have a EDGE cruise in a few months time and it seems this may be a good way to spend a few hours on one of the four sea days.  I know I have seen some posts here in the past about these tours, just could not find them, but from what I recall seems folks found it interesting.  Between Celebrity OBC and what we get from our TA, got to spend it somewhere. 

[mfs2k]

I just booked this today on my Oct Beyond sailing. Thanks to @pinksandgirl on our roll call, who told everyone about it being newly available to reserve on our cruise planner, I went ahead and reserved for $99. My wife wasn’t interested but I am. 

[jelayne]

I cash out the TA OBC and take it home. 

 

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, mfs2k said:

I just booked this today on my Oct Beyond sailing. Thanks to @pinksandgirl on our roll call, who told everyone about it being newly available to reserve on our cruise planner, I went ahead and reserved for $99. My wife wasn’t interested but I am. 

I was looking in my planner today and saw it.  Mentioned it to my engineer geek husband and he was all over it, so booked it at $99 as well.  By the time we are done they may be offering him a job once he tells them everything they SHOULD be doing, LOL.

[Stealthdog]

We did it on the Silouette in December.  Our first time doing one of these so it was definately interesting and worth it.  The cost was less than $99, but maybe the Edge is longer because its a bigger ship.  

[LGW59]

10 minutes ago, jelayne said:

I cash out the TA OBC and take it home. 

 

I am with you on that, don't think we'll be needing much of the TA OBC TBH

[Northern Aurora]

We did the Behind the Scenes tour on an M-class ship several years ago when we had a significant amount of non-refundable OBC.  Both my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  

 

While we have been on the bridge a number of times, have done the quick walk-through galley tour and once were in the engine control room, this tour is very different than the quick free ones.  There were less than 15 people on the tour.  We were issued headphones so we could clearly hear the speakers (who had a mic).  The pace was determined by the questions and we didn't move to another area of the ship until questions were answered.  For example, we back-tracked in the galley as a woman had questions about how they handle special dietary needs.  We had a fascinating discussion in the engine control room about elevator management issues; I will never complain again about a slow elevator.  On the bridge a retired commercial airline pilot had interesting questions about emergency checklists.  Other areas we visited included the laundry, the I-95 corridor, a crew mess, an interior crew bar and the recycling center.  The recycling center was also fascinating.  And on the tour I realized how little of the ship is available to passengers.

[PinkSandGirl]

As @mfs2k said, I saw it, booked it and let others know. 😃 It was on a few months ago and disappeared and I have been checking for it...and it came back. 😃

 

A few years ago we did a galley tour.  It was free, our waiters invited us to join the next day, so we did.  We all enjoyed it.  

 

This one sounds interesting.  I enjoy seeing how things are made, done, etc...so I will find this interesting.   Like I said, I enjoyed the galley tour and this has much more.    I always want to go to those 'roped off' places.  If I go to a historical mansion tour or something like that,  I want to see the rooms/go up the stairs that aren't open to the public.  Not that I roam around myself but if there are additional access tours, I do those.   😉

 

I believe E-class ships have an additional area you see, something unique to the e-class ships.   Maybe something environmental or something like that. 

 

🍹

[songbird1329]

We have booked it for our upcoming cruise on the Constellation.  We did similar tours on Carnival and Royal.  

[Chriskoo]

My husband and I did this two years ago on the Equinox- it was awesome. 

[t18c97]

Are they doing these again? I had one book on the Apex in January but they cancelled them due to COVID.

[LGW59]

8 minutes ago, t18c97 said:

Are they doing these again? I had one book on the Apex in January but they cancelled them due to COVID.

It’s in my cruise planner, I booked it and received confirmation 

[KittyCatRya]

We did this on Equinox this last December, It was totally worth it! 

[PinkSandGirl]

22 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

It’s in my cruise planner, I booked it and received confirmation 

I think because the covid restrictions were tightened a few months ago is why it disappeared from my Cruise Planner.  That's my thinking...whether that's accurate or not...just glad it came back.  😉

 

🍹

[LGW59]

3 minutes ago, PinkSandGirl said:

I think because the covid restrictions were tightened a few months ago is why it disappeared from my Cruise Planner.  That's my thinking...whether that's accurate or not...just glad it came back.  😉

 

🍹

Hopefully when you next cruise, it will be an option for you!  As you can see the comments here are all very positive.

[D C]

Did one on the Reflection pre-covid.  Very interesting tour and I would recommend it (but wouldn't do it again myself).  

[PinkSandGirl]

10 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Hopefully when you next cruise, it will be an option for you!  As you can see the comments here are all very positive.

I was able to book it last night for October so hopefully all stays well and they keep the tours going. 😉

 

I was interested in it before and after reading other responses, definitely glad I booked it.  😃

 

🍹

[mfs2k]

5 hours ago, PinkSandGirl said:

I was able to book it last night for October so hopefully all stays well and they keep the tours going. 😉

 

I was interested in it before and after reading other responses, definitely glad I booked it.  😃

 

🍹

Did you book day 2,4 or 9?

[keesar]

9 hours ago, D C said:

Did one on the Reflection pre-covid.  Very interesting tour and I would recommend it (but wouldn't do it again myself).  

 

My sentiments exactly.  Did it once and that was fine.  The type of tour will vary by ship.  For instance, our ship tour ended with a lunch in a specialty restaurant with two officers.  Wine was also included for all.  Now that was one great deal.  

[PinkSandGirl]

6 hours ago, mfs2k said:

Did you book day 2,4 or 9?

Day 2.  

 

🍹

[Ken the cruiser]

Here are a few pictures starting at post #59 I took when we were on the Behind the Scenes excursion on the Constellation in Decedmber, which I might add was very informative if you have never been on one before.

 

 

[t18c97]

13 hours ago, LGW59 said:

It’s in my cruise planner, I booked it and received confirmation 

It was also in mine, I booked it and was charged for it. But once on the ship the night before the tour there was a letter at the door saying it was being cancelled due to Covid protocols. Hopefully those have now been changed and you can do the tour. I did one on the Odyssey of the Seas and it was very good, went all over the ship including the engineering control room and up the bridge.    

[t18c97]

42 minutes ago, t18c97 said:

It was also in mine, I booked it and was charged for it. But once on the ship the night before the tour there was a letter at the door saying it was being cancelled due to Covid protocols. Hopefully those have now been changed and you can do the tour. I did one on the Odyssey of the Seas and it was very good, went all over the ship including the engineering control room and up the bridge.    

I just saw on the RCCL blog that the CDC rules have changed again and behind the scene tours are now allowed again, so enjoy. 

[Sam.Seattle]

I booked and paid for the tour for our Apex April sailing.  It is no longer showing  as an option to book.  Maybe sold out?  Let's see if we get to use it noting t18c97's experience.

 

Cheers!

🥂

[TFree]

Very interesting.  We may book this on one of our upcoming B2B Apex cruises.  We had previously booked Apex Exposed: the Art, Architecture and Design Tour.  This was at a time when the Inside Access tour had not been listed as available.  Wondering if anyone has done the Apex Exposed tour on Apex (or a similar tour on Edge) and whether you considered it worthwhile?

 

Tom & Judy