Would you pay to tour restricted parts of your cruise ship?

[Ilivetogo]

I was in the Navy and served on board a ship for 2.5 years. (Traveled to Spain, Kenya, Singapore, Puerto Rico, Cuba and up and down the entire east coast.:)) I was a cook and therefore, worked in the galley (AND the officer's and Captain's galley too!). Also, knowing many people on board my ship, I "saw" many areas of the ship including the boiler room and engine rooms.

As much as it would be slightly interesting to see those places on a more "luxurious" level, I certainly would not pay (especially THAT kind of $$) just to see behind the scenes. I'm going on a cruise to get away from work, not be introduced to more work/workers. :(

You'll find me on the deck watching and photographing the splendor of Alaska -- not checking out the laundry!!! :rolleyes:

[Ilivetogo]

oops

[towhee]

We've been cruising since 1990 and back on those days there were FREE tours of the galley, bridge, and backstage on Princess. Bridge tours seemed to disappear after 2001 (security reasons?), but we still got a galley tour last year. It seems to me that the cruise lines have set the price high to cut down on the number of participants.

What's next? $50 for the embarkation orientation tour?

[2sunny]

There are tours I would pay to go on but this particular tour does not sound interesting to me. We have no interest in the "back stage" of the theater portion of the tour and the kitchen/dining sounds too short. I would be more interested in the Engine Room, Wine Cellar, Pastry Chef at work, Medical Department, It Department (where all of the camera's are being watched). I would find all of this very interesting and would pay for a tour that included these places.

[travelling heavy]

Three years ago Princess were giving free kitchen tours on Sea Princess which included meeting the head chef.

Two years ago on Splendour of the Seas RCL were giving free tours of the bridge.

Both of these were available to anyone irrespective of grade of cabin.

No one was offering engine room visits which I would dearly love to do.

How much would I pay to do that one? Hmm, well considering how much we are paying already, and the fact that the time required by the officer giving the tour would be fairly minimal, plus say, 10 people per tour, they could charge $15 per person and still show a healthy profit.

[VTSKIandCRUISEGUY]

I have gone on a number of tours in the past, before they stopped giving them.

Although I loved them, I certainly would not pay to go again.

If I had never done a tour, maybe I'd do it if the price wasn't such a rip-off.

 

We also once had dinner with the Captain (on the Voyager of the Seas). He invited us up to the bridge the next day, so we got to spend time on the bridge with the Captain the next day, with pics, etc. Now THAT was great.

[Kennykat]

I'm much rather spend my money on a couple of beers.....If the tour was free, perhaps.

[Fordman]

:)Hey, it is good for the company! :DPersonally, I think these tours are fun and informative and would go on any that I could. However, I do not believe that I would be enticed enough to pay an additional $150.00 for this privilege.:rolleyes:

[Seal]

Took the Star Princess tour just a few days ago--about 4 hours long

 

They sent a photographer with us who brought us pictures to our cabin

 

The photos were free--along with the heavy robes $90 in the cruise store

 

we each received a white galley jacket--a Princess reversible tote bag

 

Many personalized (our names) tablets--

 

Didn't expect souveniers from the tour--great surprise

 

Nancy & John:D

[CruizenSusan]

Would love to take these tours - not sure about paying for them.

[bob brown]

Well, I guess this means that the front desk can't hide behind their familiar answer "...we no longer offer bridge tours due to 'security concerns' ", when one is requested.:rolleyes:

 

I would pay for a tour with gifts such as offered by Princess. I have had bridge tours, galley tours, etc. for free in the past, but if on a new class of ship, would be interested, even for a fee.

 

I kind of like the idea that everyone now has the opportunity (for a fee) to go to these places that in the recent past were only offered to passengers staying in top cabins or were otherwise well connected to obtain vip priveleges.

 

I like the suggestion of visiting Company ships at common ports of call.

Back in 1991, while on a Whittier to Vancouver cruise on the old Pacific Princess, we were told upon our arrival at Juneau, that we were welcome to have lunch and tour the then new Star Princess simply by showing our ship ID at the gangway!:)

[DanJ]

 

I like the suggestion of visiting Company ships at common ports of call.

Back in 1991, while on a Whittier to Vancouver cruise on the old Pacific Princess, we were told upon our arrival at Juneau, that we were welcome to have lunch and tour the then new Star Princess simply by showing our ship ID at the gangway!:)

 

We did the same thing on Holland America in 1995. We were on our first cruise on the Westerdam, and the Statendam was in Nassau with us. Just on a lark, we walked over, and asked if we could have a look around. We showed our Westerdam ID and they were more than happy to welcome us aboard. We didn't stop for lunch, although I'm sure we could have.

 

When we were in St Thomas on the Grand Princess in 1999, I had the same idea when the Sun Princess was there with us. I asked our security about it, and they said that because the Sun was anchored, and not docked, we couldn't go on, however the Sun passengers were allowed to come on the Grand.

[RWT]

No, I wouldn't pay for a behind the scenes tour. We've completed 20 cruises, on 5 major lines, and this use to be a freeby to do on sea days. It was stopped supposedly because of security concerns aftr Sept 11. So what's changed?

[bob brown]

It was stopped supposedly because of security concerns aftr Sept 11. So what's changed?

My point, exactly. This 'security concern' is artificial, as there is no maritime regulation that precludes it, but rather is arbitrary company policy that is used to make it easy to limit the number afforded this privilege. The bridge tours have never stopped....only the ease of getting one. People in top cabins, high repeat passengers, and "VIP's", have had bridge tours throughout. Now this new tour-for-pay makes it available to anyone who wants it enough to pay for it.

[dlvqaz]

Many years ago, pre 9/11, I went on various tours of several different ships including bridge, galley, and engine room. After participating in passenger show, I saw all I needed to about back stage in the theater. After 9/11, a cruise I was on had a great video tour on the close circuit TV system on the ship. I watched it several times. But, I still might pay a small fee to tour a ship I have never been on.

[msc48]

It sounds GREAT to me and I plan on taking the tour on the next cruise that I am.

[Dezi]

I would love to see some of the "behind the scenes" parts of a ship. However...I get very tired of having to shell out more money for just about every little thing!!! That said...no I probably would not do it unless the price came way down. The cruise lines nickel and dime you to death!! even for a simple "coke" with dinner!! It gets tireing!!!!

[brpwine]

We have cruised many times and have been offered behind the scenes tours of the galley and the bridge. They are always interesting on sea days but not so interesting as to have to pay anything for the tour. If cruise lines want to keep people interested in cruising they should give the tours for free. It just seems a cheap shot way to make money. :cool::cool:

[Sailingpeace]

I would not do such a tour , even if it was free, because I want to keep the magic alive and not know what goes on behind closed doors. But I can see that it can be fascinating for some ( I admit the engine room and the bridge are tempting).

[wegogo]

Why should you pay for a tour of the ship that you already paid to be on? These tours were a few years back part of the fun of being onboard, especially on sea days. The cruise lines would do well to continue these for free and as a look at how well things are run and kept sanitary. It would give me much more confidance and loyalty for them to be proud to show you for no cost. To charge for such a thing is just nickle and dimeing the foolish public.

Bon Voyage,

Gene

[pokyd]

I did the ship's bridge tour back in the days when you could still do this, and it was very interesting. However, I don't think that much has changed since that I would pay to do this again. And the other areas don't interest me that much. So no, I would not pay for this tour.

[3MBCruisers]

Just got off the Island Princess and had a chance to take this tour. I thought it was a fabulous "behind the scenes" tour. I haven't cruised too many times and never had a "free" option, but I've always watched the travel shows that give a peek into the work areas of the ships. I found every aspect fascinating from the theater, to the main work corridor (level 4 - no passenger access) and the laundry. The chief technical officer (engine room controls) to the mooring lines and anchor area were another glimpse into the "organized chaos" that is a smoothly sailing cruise vacation.

Now that I've done the tour once, I probably won't ever pay to do it again, but all my tour "freebies" will remind me of the wonderful experience on the Island Princess.

[Widespreadpanic]

Is the next pay-tour on board lunch with the Captain?:confused:

[misterbuds]

As we love the "behind the scenes" shows on TV for the cruising, we would definitely take a behind the scenes tour if offered on our ship. My husband and I are fascinated by this kind of stuff (we are both engineers) but I agree, once you've done it once, it is probably similiar on all ships. The engine room would be what would fascinate both of us the most. On our last cruise we were invited to the bridge as we sailed out of St. Martin and we really loved that at it was so neat to see how they actually take the ship out of port. We haven't been anywhere else on board that would normally be off limits, so if offered, we would do in in a heartbeat. It would nice if it was offered for free though, but even if i had to pay (and if it isn't too expensive) I would definitely do it once just to see how the ship works!!! :D

[Iluvmypuggle]

If the part of the ship wasn't made to "wow" me, I don't want to see it. :)