Behind the Scenes Ship Tour

[ark-03-engineer]

I was wondering if anyone has gone on the behind the scenes ship tour recently and know if it is still offered. It is still listed on the website however when my gf and I were on the Summit for the July 20th cruise we went to guest relations to sign up the first day. While they gave us the forms and put us on the list, one of the crew members even asked another if they were still doing it, we were told that there would be a 6 person min if they did decide to do it. Then throughout the week I noticed it wasn't mentioned once even during the oceans ahead series. Meanwhile on the ship tv channel I saw they gave away tours to parts of the ship to people who had bought future cruises via a raffle. I understand it is the captain's decision whether to give the tour etc. however it seemed clear that it wasn't really done, at least on the Summit. I was wondering if its done on other ships within X.

[Sloop-JohnB]

If this is the PAID Tour that is the more comprehensive one (was $ 199 or so per person when I was on The Summit in 2013) chances are it was a non-starter cause not enough people signed up (the 6 minimum you spoke off).

 

This tour as I understand it goes a lot more places than any of the regular tours, and has some extra perks (lunch as I recall)

 

Did no one in Guest Services contact you to tell you what was up, or make sure you got placed on one of the other standard tours ??? (seems strange to me)

 

On our first cruise on The Solstive in 2012 we did a standard tour of The Galley, we heard about it at the Cruise Critic Celebrity Connections Meet & Mingle

 

That tour was FREE and excellent... Highly recommend to any one who has not done it / seen how Food & Bevs work behind the scenes

 

Cheers!

Edited August 16, 2014 by Sloop-JohnB

[ark-03-engineer]

There was the Galley tour as well, we were looking to do the paid tour. My observation is that the paid tour, as far as I was concerned, wasn't even advertised, I saw nothing on the ship about it once. Leading me to think that either they were trying to not do it or simply have stopped offering it for the most part. I'm curious if other ships offered it.

[TLCOhio]

I was wondering if anyone has gone on the behind the scenes ship tour recently and know if it is still offered.

 

Sloop-JohnB: On our first cruise on The Solstive in 2012 we did a standard tour of The Galley' date=' we heard about it at the [b']Cruise Critic Celebrity Connections Meet & Mingle.[/b] That tour was FREE and excellent... Highly recommend to any one who has not done it / seen how Food & Bevs work behind the scenes. Cheers!

 

Welcome to rk-03-engineer from New Jersey in doing your first post here on Cruise Critic. Don't be shy! Keep asking good questions. Lots of smart, helpful people on these Boards.

 

YES, to the excellent suggestions from Sloop-JohnB for doing BOTH the Cruise Critic Celebrity Connections Meet & Mingle . . . AND . . . the Galley tour. At tour CC Meet & Mingle, I asked about being able to do a Bridge Tour. They said they would check and I got the invite. Below are a few visuals from doing the Galley tour, plus a sample of the activities on the Bridge.

 

The full-scale operational tour was an option available on our Australia-New Zealand cruise. BUT, between the added cost to do this tour, plus our time and schedule limitations, it did not "fit" for this early 2014 cruise. BUT, certainly at a future time, I would like to do this tour.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Back from doing a 14-day Celebrity Solstice, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure on this ship and getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for much more information and lots of wonderful pictures on these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 72,884 views for this fun posting.

 

 

We did a galley tour in June 2011 and here is one of the staff members displaying his fine art in carving. It was very interesting to learn about what ALL it takes to operate a large ship such as the Solstice, provide meals and service for BOTH the passengers and staff. That adds up to about 14,000 meals daily being produced by 17 different kitchens. That's lots of work, plus coordination to make it ALL happen every day.:

 

 

 

During the galley tour, here is what can be done in an interesting way with the bread sticks. The bread options were very good on this Solstice sailing.:

 

 

 

From our Bridge Tour, here are some visual samples. The Bridge is on the same level as our room, the tenth floor. First, here is inside this glassed over-hang with the ship officer explaining what all of the many buttons, dials and knobs do to control the ship's speed, direction, etc. Plus, you can see many other screens that update all of the key navigating information, etc.:

 

 

 

This next picture shows the glassed opening in the floor of this portion of the Bridge where the officers can see straight down to the water and be able to check how close is the ship to a docking point. The second picture down from this control area is showing the side of the ship and various balconies on this port side of the Solstice.:

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, here is an example for the details on one of the screens in this control area of the Bridge. With computerization, the actually space needed for this equipment is actually fairly small. This ship was completed in late 2008 and is fairly new to be incorporating the latest technologies for sailing.:

 

[Sloop-JohnB]

To TLCOHIO,

 

You have wowed me again.

 

First time I have seen your photos from the Bridge of The Solstce... Wowzer, these are MARVELLOUS shots !!

 

Especially like the one from "the wing"... Beyond cool.

 

And Mr Sloop liked the one also of the Navigation Panel... Mostly because it showed wind direction & speed and how it effects the ships reading, course & progress (an issue that we had on our Solstice cruise when we hit gale force winds unexpectedly... And Mr Sloop consequently suffered from a bout of vertigo... Something he never knew could happen).

 

Alo, great Galley Tour pics, when I posted for the OP I was hoping you'd add on some of those pics, as they truly are some of the best showcasing the Tour experience here on CC

 

Cheers!

[fleckle]

In the past, the bridge, galley, engine control room and backstage tours were all free.

 

The last time we took a bridge tour, they asked us to sign in and show our seapass cards, something that had not been done in previous years.

 

The galley tours were also quite nice, starting off in the specialty restaurant, where they sat us down and offered us a glass of wine before beginning the spiel, and then chocolate covered strawberries later.

We started with the galley for the specialty restaurant, and then moved on through the galley for the main dining room, where there would be employees doing carving demonstrations each time.

 

At the end of the galley tour, we all rode the service escalator back up to the main dining room above.

They ran those tours very efficiently in assembly line fashion, with one group departing an area as the next group was entering.

I wonder if all those free tours (other than the galley tour, which was posted in Celebrity Today) are still being offered, since they have started charging for that big conglomerate tour that lumps them all together into one big tour and tosses in some additional stuff as well.

[TLCOhio]

To TLCOHIO, You have wowed me again. First time I have seen your photos from the Bridge of The Solstce... Wowzer, these are MARVELLOUS shots !! Especially like the one from "the wing"... Beyond cool. And Mr Sloop liked the one also of the Navigation Panel... Mostly because it showed wind direction & speed and how it effects the ships reading, course & progress (an issue that we had on our Solstice cruise when we hit gale force winds unexpectedly... And Mr Sloop consequently suffered from a bout of vertigo... Something he never knew could happen). lo, great Galley Tour pics, when I posted for the OP I was hoping you'd add on some of those pics, as they truly are some of the best showcasing the Tour experience here on CC. Cheers!

 

Appreciate so much your kind comments and viewpoint on my pictures. Glad to know you're a person of such high class, great taste and wonderful judgment to make these generous comments. Many more such pictures on the Solstice thread connected below, plus on the Australia-NZ live/blog, etc. Check 'em out!! If not happy, I will double your money back.

 

Below are three additional bridge tour related pictures that I had not previously posted. Hope this gives more insights on this ship, its engineering, what it takes to operate it, etc. Always fascinating background of which I personally find of high value. Inside this bridge area, having my 10-20mm wide angle lens helped capture these areas and tight settings from good angles.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a “Solstice: Visuals, Highlights Shared!” summary from two different adventures on this ship with many pictures and other details on its many options. This includes our recent Australia to New Zealand sailing. Check it out, including these recent updates, at:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1803477

Now at 23,054 views for this posting.

 

 

From our balcony room, here is the long-lens view towards this ship bridge "overhang". You can see people in this glassed area getting a tour.:

 

 

 

Here are two more visuals from inside the bridge area, giving a sense of its size, equipment, views, etc. Here, you are clearly in the "cats bird" seat! Very interesting!:

 

 

 

[Banjo]

If this is the PAID Tour that is the more comprehensive one (was $ 199 or so per person when I was on The Summit in 2013) chances are it was a non-starter cause not enough people signed up (the 6 minimum you spoke off).

 

This tour as I understand it goes a lot more places than any of the regular tours, and has some extra perks (lunch as I recall)

 

Did no one in Guest Services contact you to tell you what was up, or make sure you got placed on one of the other standard tours ??? (seems strange to me)

 

On our first cruise on The Solstive in 2012 we did a standard tour of The Galley, we heard about it at the Cruise Critic Celebrity Connections Meet & Mingle

 

That tour was FREE and excellent... Highly recommend to any one who has not done it / seen how Food & Bevs work behind the scenes

 

Cheers!

 

 

When I was on Caribbean Princess back in January of 2013, I tried to take the "behind the scenes tour". I went the first evening of the cruise to the customer relations desk (tour desk did not handle these on Princess) and it was already booked and it was about $160 pp. When I asked to placed on the waiting-list, 12 passengers were ahead of me. I did take one on the Carnival Sensation about 5 or 6 years ago and it was very good and the price was only about $60 pp.

 

Since that Caribbean Princess cruise I have taken 3 Celebrity cruises and forgot about these tours. Celebrity does not seem to promote these tours as other cruise lines do. If I did, I would recommend to register when boarding the ship. They do limit the size of the groups.

Edited August 17, 2014 by Banjo

[MGK]

So, just to be clear...are there no "free tours?" I am going 8/24 to Bermuda on the Summit.

[vtcruising]

We were on the Reflection 3 months ago and one of my husband’s favorite activities was the “See How It’s Done” ship tour. It was a few hours long and included the Bridge (met with Captain), Engine Control Room, Theatre, Kitchen, Crew Area (I-95), etc. for $150 including lunch at the Lawn Club Grill with an officer and the 10 lb Excite the Senses Cookbook. He absolutely loved this tour and still talks about it. He didn't know if it would happen for a few days after he signed up, but finally got the call that they had the minimum number and received a date and time.

 

I just did the free galley tour that ends with free samples of the specialty restaurant food and mini Molecular Bar cocktails. It was enjoyable, but had a huge crowd that was divided into groups that were called up one at a time to start. Not a lot of time for stopping to watch and for asking questions, but still interesting.

 

Our friends in a Celebrity Suite and another in a Signature Suite, were invited to free private tours of areas of the ship through the concierge in Michael's and found those enjoyable.

[Maligator]

On each of ours, the galley tours have been free on sea days. Equinox had a pay-to-play tour that included the bridge, but I don't remember if it included anything else. CC Elite guests were offered a backstage tour of the theater, which was hosted by two or three of the main performers. Seeing what they went through, as far as time and space constraints, made us appreciate their effort better. Our TA got us in with a TA group (there just happened to be a Texas AAA contingent on-board) for a bridge tour on Millennium.

 

I'm really hoping to get a tour of the engineering area, if possible.

[MGK]

Great information. We are in a Royal Suite so I will definitely check with the concierge in Michael's Club regarding the complimentary tour.

[sergeant655]

I booked on the Infinity in March. The tour ended up being cancelled due to the ship being in code red (was partially shutdown) due to a suspected noro. The Captain invited us up to the bridge for a free tour. We were notofied by a letter sent to the stateroom There was a galley tour that was offered and backstage tours for Elites. The Galley tour took place the day before the code red was declared. Reports on cruise critic that 22 people were sick. Some ate ashore when X advised not to in the celebrity today

[Algebralovr]

The $150 per person "Behind the Scenes, See How It's All Done" tour was offered on Equinox in February, but was not offered on the 7 night cruises over the summer. They only offer it when there is at least one sea day near the end. It is up to the Captain whether it goes off.

 

We had tried to book it in June for our son - an engineering student. Hopefully next December!

[Ballard67]

Don't they offer a free one??, or i should say a complementry one when you get on board?. I am on Solstice leaving next Friday for Alaska. I thought i herd a general tour, maybe not a full scale, but more like a "FYI" tour.

[Sloop-JohnB]

Don't they offer a free one??, or i should say a complementry one when you get on board?. I am on Solstice leaving next Friday for Alaska. I thought i herd a general tour, maybe not a full scale, but more like a "FYI" tour.

 

There is no organized tour per se on E-Day.

 

When you check in they'll give you a handy dandy pocket map of the ship...

 

Most Pax once onboard go first to eat (beat the crowds) and if doing the Buffet like to get there while it is still Provine and beautiful... Well at least we do :)

 

There are also less known spots aboard to go to eat as well if the buffet isn't your thing (we like it cause it is fast)

 

Then it is off to exploring / enjoying the ship while we kill time until they announce the cabins are ready

 

This is the touring that everyone talks about on E-Day... Seems most people do it so to get a feel for the ship & here thins are etc (although many who pack their Bathing Suits in their carry on like to hit the Pool... Where there s also Entertainment)

 

Besides the Informal DIY Tour... Some of the venues will host what could be described as Open Houses so as to attract Pax in what they have to offer / sell (and you can sign up / buy then too)

 

Such is the case for the Specialty Restaurants and the Spa, Fitness Area etc

 

After people get into their cabins... They tend to locate their Dining Room info, and if having opted for Traditional Dining will wander off to the MDR to have a look see / locate their table (makes things much easier that first night... Lessens the wait door at the Entrance if you have the knowledge to seat yourself... At east that is our experience)

 

This afternoon visit, is also the time when anyone having Seating issues waits to see the Maitre D (ie wants to change time - late vs early, or style of dining - traditional vs select)

 

After that we find the afternoon just zips along...

 

Need to unpack - Muster Drill - Roll Call / Sailaway Party... Before you know it you've set sail and are getting ready for dinner

 

Hope this helps,

 

Cheers!

 

Ps... Organized FREE behind the scenes tours often happen on sea days... Check with Guest Relations... Or attend the Celebrity Connections Meet & Mingle Party... That is where we've scored info / past invite

Edited August 19, 2014 by Sloop-JohnB

[MGK]

We are staying in a Royal Suite, but my in laws are in a Sky Suite. Will they also have access to any "free tours" to be coordinated with the concierge in Michaels Club? Any advice would be appreciated.

[vtcruising]

We are staying in a Royal Suite, but my in laws are in a Sky Suite. Will they also have access to any "free tours" to be coordinated with the concierge in Michaels Club? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

We were in a Sky Suite and didn't have access to Michael's so we were not offered the tours/special events that our buddies in the higher suites were offered. You could always ask, but they may have to limit the number.

 

Enjoy the RS!

[artmc]

We were on the Eclipse in 2012 and CC members who were at the meet and greet were eligible for a Bridge Tour, which we did. However we did this while the ship was in port. It was certainly interesting enough and I'm really glad we did it. We had done a galley tour on Carnival. For the amount we saw we could have just as easily passed on it. Maybe Celeb's is better.

[ClaudiaB]

Well you *can* have a free tour -- sometimes it's just happenstance (is that a word anymore????:roll eyes:)

We've sat at the captain's table and we all got a bridge tour. On another cruise, another ship, we happened to be in Cafe Bacio just minding our business and the captain came and sat at an adjoining table. He was alone, we figured he wanted to be. We struck up a conversation. He invited us to the bridge the next day. Sometimes you can get talking with some officers and things will just happen.

 

There are decent tours for elite captain's club members - galley, backstage theatre, etc. We've never taken one as we saw those before. And I've been on stage behind and in front of the curtain many times growing up and working with drama groups and theatre, and backstage is no big deal to me so not sure I'd be that interested. But if one has never been, it'd be interesting.

 

I was also in the Eclipse passenger "choir" once. We got to see backstage that time, I forgot, so many of the participants wanted to go, so the director (she was one of the singers) took us.

 

To be honest, I was kind of bored on the bridge tour. It was interesting being there but all the technical stuff - over my head.

[LisaSp]

Was on Solstice to Alaska (8/1-8/8) and on one of the sea days, I did the backstage tour with my mom (parents were in Concierge cabin and got invited to this tour; it was not open to the "public" per se). It was very enjoyable if you're interested in meeting some of the performing cast and seeing the backstage stuff.

[markyb]

My wife and I renewed our vows on Equinox during a 10 night Ultimate Caribbean in 2012.

 

After the vow renewal, the Captain invited us to the bridge for the ship's departure from Barbados the following evening. There was only ourselves and another couple in addition to the Captain and Officers. It was a real privilege to observe the procedures and the Captain personally manoeuvre the ship out of Barbados. It was executed so precisely. We were allowed to stay for around 20 mins after we left Barbados.

 

As I said, a real privilege. Oh, and by the way, our vow renewal was very special too!