Question about Behind the Scenes aboard ship.

[MemawB.]

We are cruising in two weeks and are very interested in going on the Behind the Scenes excursion aboard ship. My question is that we have a two year old and a 7 year old and wondered if it would be too much walking and too long to take them on it with us. How long does this usually take time wise? Maybe a good time to take two year old to Camp Carnival? Or could a stroller be used for this tour? Thanks for the information.

[Keith1010]

You may want to post this on the Carnival Cruise Board.

 

Keith

[cb at sea]

Would they even be interested in this tour???? Maybe, the 7 year old, but certainly not the 2 year old!

[Cruise Envy]

We are cruising in two weeks and are very interested in going on the Behind the Scenes excursion aboard ship. My question is that we have a two year old and a 7 year old and wondered if it would be too much walking and too long to take them on it with us. How long does this usually take time wise? Maybe a good time to take two year old to Camp Carnival? Or could a stroller be used for this tour? Thanks for the information.

 

I want to say the minimum age is 12 on this tour. You definitely could not take a stroller. It is a solid 2 to 2.5 hours of walking and standing.

[sail7seas]

Your children really are too young for that tour. It would be too much for them.

 

[Essiesmom]

Carnival has a minimum age limit, I think it is either 12 or 13. EM

[SadieN]

I want to say the age minimum was 16 when we did this last year on the Paradise. Either way OP your children are way too young. There is a lot of walking up and down the crew staircases. These are more like ladders than stairs. If you cannot climb up or down a steep ladder or cannot walk unaided this tour is not for you.

 

It lasted between 3-4 hours. Teh tour started around 8:30 and I do not know what time the Camp opens.

[Liz54]

Don't know what the price is on Carnival, but Princess runs $150.00. If the children were there you would be charged and at best they would endure it. Very expensive as they would find it long and boring.

[phish tales]

Don't know what the price is on Carnival, but Princess runs $150.00. If the children were there you would be charged and at best they would endure it. Very expensive as they would find it long and boring.

 

 

never done a pay "behind the scene tour", what do you see or get that they can charge $150.00 PP. a family of 4 comes to $600.00. it has to be really, really special. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Krazy Kruizers]

hal now has this tour -- $150 per person -- lasts anywhere from 3 -4 hours -- limited capacity

 

i would never take a child on this tour

[CruiserBruce]

never done a pay "behind the scene tour", what do you see or get that they can charge $150.00 PP. a family of 4 comes to $600.00. it has to be really, really special. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Asd mentioned, HAL's is 3-4 hours and costs $150. Includes wine or champagne, various trinkets and other gifts. Can't wait to book it on our cruise!

[DanJ]

Yep, the kids are under the age limit on Carnival.

 

On the Pride, the tour was $95. Not sure if they have raised the prices yet, but I beleive this was the price for the larger ships and $55 was the price on the smaller ships. There are also no cameras allowed, and in our case, they were very strict on the closed toe shoe policy, although I have read other reviews where people did end up wearing sandals.

 

As for what they could offer to charge this amount, in addition to the many behind the scenes areas you see, you also are on the bridge for (in our case anyway ) a good half hour with the captain, you get 3 pictures taken (individual with the captain, group with the captain, and group with exec chef), a collection of souvenirs like baseball cap, lanyard, photo book, a drink at the end of the tour and we also had a plate of chocolate strawberries delivered to our cabin. Princess gives you more stuff on their tour (I can't remember for sure, what I think a chef's hat and a bathrobe were part of the collection). Not sure what HAL does for theirs. But basically, the value of the stuff they give you is about equal to the tour cost if you wanted to buy that stuff onboard. I thought the tour was worth the cost without the bling when you compare what a 4 hour shore excursion typically costs anyway. Not sure if it's something an entire family would want to do, but that is also true of many shore excursions too.

[phish tales]

Asd mentioned, HAL's is 3-4 hours and costs $150. Includes wine or champagne, various trinkets and other gifts. Can't wait to book it on our cruise!

 

must be some good champagne, wine and trinkets to be worth $150.00

considering we (my wife & i ) get the behind the scenes tours at no cost on our RCCL cruises.

but we get no trinkets or drinks.

[sail7seas]

Had we not had an officer friend take us throughout the whole ship and show us all of what the tour would involve, we would definitely book it. If you are really 'into' the ships, it's a great opportunity to learn more about a cruise ship.

 

Of course, there are some areas you will not be shown but that speaks for itseslf.

 

[DanJ]

The places we went to on the Pride consisted of; backstage at the theater, the photolab, extended tour of the galley with question and answer session with exec chef and group photo with him. My wife did the regular galley tour and it was an in and out and then a sales pitch for the Carnival cookbook. We were in there for 15 minutes or so. We each received a small soap carving in the shape of a dove. Then we went down to the main storage deck and went to the food and beverage storage area. Then we went over to the environmental area, where they showed how they recycle various things and what they incinerate. And also explained the water treatment process, both incoming for drinking water, and how the various waste waters are dealt with. Then to the engine control room where we had an extensive Q&A with the chief engineer. Then we went down to the laundry area at about the lowest part of the ship you can go.

 

Then we went back up to the main crew deck and saw the main crew mess, the officers mess and the captains dining room. We were told that while the captain does have a table in the passenger dining room, typically the Carnival ships are sailing so full that he has to relinguish that table for passenger use and ends up either eating down here (his dining room is a separate room just off the officers mess and probably seats 12 or so around a single table), or in his cabin near the bridge. Then we went down to the training center, which is where the woman conducting our tour works. This is basically a classroom where new crew come for training and where new procedures are introduced to existing crew. Several department managers had their offices in this area as well. From here we went up to the bridge where we met with the captain and a couple other officers for about 20-25 minutes. I had been on several bridges before, but not while at sea. Amazing view from up there. The captain explained the various controls and instruments, and we got a chuckle when he was asked where we were and he didn't really know (he has people for that he said LOL). The officer of the deck told us we were 93 miles off the South Carolina coast. We had a group photo with the captain, and then individually with him as well.

 

Our final stop was the steakhouse, where we were shown the galley and how they let the customer choose the cut of meat for their steak. We sat down and had a drink or 2 (or 3, what the heck they were "free" LOL). They presented us with our souvenirs of the tour and we filled out a short survey on the tour. Not sure if they still do the survey, but the tour was only on 2 ships back then and still being tested. The 3 photos (8x10) we had taken during the tour were delivered to us at our dinner table by our tour guide.

 

It's definitely not a tour for everyone. I am a behind the scenes kind of guy (we also did the tour of Camden Yard baseball stadium before heading over to the ship on embarkation day), so if you are into how things like this work, it's fun. If you just want to go on the ship and don't really care how it all happens so long as it does, then this would be a waste of 4 hours for you. I would have done it without the goodies, although I wouldn't do the tour multiple times on the same class of ship. But I think the goodies help make it seem worthwhile to some people, especially when you think of how much money the lines make off this for very little incremental cost.

[bob brown]

The places we went to on the Pride consisted of; backstage at the theater, the photolab, extended tour of the galley with question and answer session with exec chef and group photo with him. My wife did the regular galley tour and it was an in and out and then a sales pitch for the Carnival cookbook. We were in there for 15 minutes or so. We each received a small soap carving in the shape of a dove. Then we went down to the main storage deck and went to the food and beverage storage area. Then we went over to the environmental area, where they showed how they recycle various things and what they incinerate. And also explained the water treatment process, both incoming for drinking water, and how the various waste waters are dealt with. Then to the engine control room where we had an extensive Q&A with the chief engineer. Then we went down to the laundry area at about the lowest part of the ship you can go.

 

Then we went back up to the main crew deck and saw the main crew mess, the officers mess and the captains dining room. We were told that while the captain does have a table in the passenger dining room, typically the Carnival ships are sailing so full that he has to relinguish that table for passenger use and ends up either eating down here (his dining room is a separate room just off the officers mess and probably seats 12 or so around a single table), or in his cabin near the bridge. Then we went down to the training center, which is where the woman conducting our tour works. This is basically a classroom where new crew come for training and where new procedures are introduced to existing crew. Several department managers had their offices in this area as well. From here we went up to the bridge where we met with the captain and a couple other officers for about 20-25 minutes. I had been on several bridges before, but not while at sea. Amazing view from up there. The captain explained the various controls and instruments, and we got a chuckle when he was asked where we were and he didn't really know (he has people for that he said LOL). The officer of the deck told us we were 93 miles off the South Carolina coast. We had a group photo with the captain, and then individually with him as well.

 

Our final stop was the steakhouse, where we were shown the galley and how they let the customer choose the cut of meat for their steak. We sat down and had a drink or 2 (or 3, what the heck they were "free" LOL). They presented us with our souvenirs of the tour and we filled out a short survey on the tour. Not sure if they still do the survey, but the tour was only on 2 ships back then and still being tested. The 3 photos (8x10) we had taken during the tour were delivered to us at our dinner table by our tour guide.

 

It's definitely not a tour for everyone. I am a behind the scenes kind of guy (we also did the tour of Camden Yard baseball stadium before heading over to the ship on embarkation day), so if you are into how things like this work, it's fun. If you just want to go on the ship and don't really care how it all happens so long as it does, then this would be a waste of 4 hours for you. I would have done it without the goodies, although I wouldn't do the tour multiple times on the same class of ship. But I think the goodies help make it seem worthwhile to some people, especially when you think of how much money the lines make off this for very little incremental cost.

 

Thanks for that detailed reply, almost felt like I was along for the tour!

 

I have done the insider's tour on the Norwegian Dawn. They only charge $55.00 on NCL, but then it is not as extensive, and they don't give you any souvenirs, other than a "fact sheet" on the details of the ship.

The tour was ecorted by one of the youth counselors on our tour, but as we passed from venue to venue, the manager of that particular section gave us the details. After giving us the galley tour, the Head Chef offered us chocolate covered strawberries. The backstage tour was given by one of the members of the ship's production cast. The bridge tour was given by a bridge officer. The laundry, food storage, and other environmental areas also by the appropriate managers.

The tour lasted about 2.5 to 3 hours, and we were allowed to take photo's everywhere. We did not get to see the engine control room, but it is really not much more than a bunch of computers anyway, and certainly not as interesting as the actual engine room would be. We also did not get to see the crew areas.

It was well worth the money, but only one time...I wouldn't repeat it, at least not on the same ship or another of the same class.

[MemawB.]

Thanks everyone for all the information. Will definately try to leave the kiddos in Camp Carnival for this venture. Sounds like an interesting tour.

[Krazy Kruizers]

wise choice as the children will certainly get bored after a while -- especially with all the technical stuff

[beachchick]

wise choice as the children will certainly get bored after a while -- especially with all the technical stuff

 

No doubt. But it sounds as if it's actually a moot point as several members report that there is a minimum age of at least 12. I can certainly understand that considering the description of the tour. I can also imagine that the liability insurers would have a bit of a fit thinking about toddlers or young children on such a tour.

 

In any case, I suspect that the children will enjoy camp while the adults enjoy the tour. Win-win.

 

beachchick