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Touring a docked ship?

pilotboy1985

By pilotboy1985,
in Royal Caribbean International

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pilotboy1985

pilotboy1985

Posted
Posted

hi everyone,

I know it's a long shot, but has anyone had experience with trying to tour a cruise ship when it's in town?

I live in Halifax and we get lots of cruise ships in town. Serenade and Brilliance will be in port this season and I'd like to get a look at them with a guided tour as I have two bookings coming up on jewel and I've never been on that class.

 

I'm guessing this is not possible but if anyone would know it would be you guys!

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mark290

mark290

Posted
Posted
It happens fairly regularly. A TA can often bring a client. Reach out to your TA. If you were local, I'd gladly help you out!

 

Typical cruise critic. A bunch of know it alls certain of their answer and then

someone with actual knowledge states a fact.

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CptSticky

CptSticky

Posted
Posted
hi everyone,

I know it's a long shot, but has anyone had experience with trying to tour a cruise ship when it's in town?

I live in Halifax and we get lots of cruise ships in town. Serenade and Brilliance will be in port this season and I'd like to get a look at them with a guided tour as I have two bookings coming up on jewel and I've never been on that class.

 

I'm guessing this is not possible but if anyone would know it would be you guys!

We did on Princes about 2 years ago. It was called the "bon voyage" program. It's intended primarily for family and friends of those cruising but our TA was able to get us approved. If I remember correctly it was about $40pp and included lunch. The price was applicable to a future cruise on Princess. This program was on embarkation day, not sure if it's offered any other time or port.

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Dragonkeper

Dragonkeper

Posted
Posted
hi everyone,

I know it's a long shot, but has anyone had experience with trying to tour a cruise ship when it's in town?

I live in Halifax and we get lots of cruise ships in town. Serenade and Brilliance will be in port this season and I'd like to get a look at them with a guided tour as I have two bookings coming up on jewel and I've never been on that class.

 

I'm guessing this is not possible but if anyone would know it would be you guys!

 

If you knew someone that works on the ship you can actually get a day pass which would allow you to get on the ship to walk around and you would have to be off by a certain time.

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pilotboy1985

pilotboy1985

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Some interesting responses that give me hope!

$40 PP sounds reasonable, and I think it would be a fun thing to do for the day. We get 7-10 cruise ships in port a week, I could tour a few of them a year. It would give me something to look forward to (I know, I live an exciting life)

 

Is anyone able to assist me with this even though you may not be in Halifax? Or would I need to check with a local TA? My TA is in Halifax, but is currently out of the province.

 

Thanks

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Charles4515

Charles4515

Posted
Posted (edited)
Some interesting responses that give me hope!

$40 PP sounds reasonable, and I think it would be a fun thing to do for the day. We get 7-10 cruise ships in port a week, I could tour a few of them a year. It would give me something to look forward to (I know, I live an exciting life)

 

Is anyone able to assist me with this even though you may not be in Halifax? Or would I need to check with a local TA? My TA is in Halifax, but is currently out of the province.

 

Thanks

 

My TA did it because I am a good customer. No charge. The TA comes on the ship inspection. I don't know if you could do it without the TA in attendence. I have found booking thru a TA is beneficial if you have a good one. I could easily book direct as I am pretty knowlegable but over the years I recieved a lot from my TA.

Edited by Charles4515
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Dizziedi

Dizziedi

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We have done several. There is a particular agency here in Sydney who advertises the inspections which includes lunch and drinks in the MDR (usually about 4 tables) - cost is around $100pp. We have also done it as guests of our TA - cost - zero. Before we board, we have to go through security and produce either our Driver's Licence or Passport which they retain until we disembark.

 

We are also going on with a Day Pass to visit with an Officer we have become friends with when the ship arrives here for the beginning of our season. I'm not sure what the requirements will be but I assume similar to the above.

 

Cheers

Di

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DarthGrady

DarthGrady

Posted
Posted
Typical cruise critic. A bunch of know it alls certain of their answer and then

someone with actual knowledge states a fact.

The people saying no aren't necessarily wrong. The cruise lines don't just let anyone walk up and take a tour of the ship anymore. That may have been the practice many years ago, but has long since gone by the wayside.

 

Even travel agent ship tours are generally scheduled in advance through a company representative. They will then have a group of TAs onboard a selected ship which will be staged for that tour. They will usually have a set list of rooms to tour, and crew available for guided tours. Some ships allow the TAs to roam about on their own, others keep them with an employee. I have been on several with my wife who is a TA, this has always been the procedure.

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mark290

mark290

Posted
Posted
The people saying no aren't necessarily wrong. The cruise lines don't just let anyone walk up and take a tour of the ship anymore. That may have been the practice many years ago, but has long since gone by the wayside.

 

Even travel agent ship tours are generally scheduled in advance through a company representative. They will then have a group of TAs onboard a selected ship which will be staged for that tour. They will usually have a set list of rooms to tour, and crew available for guided tours. Some ships allow the TAs to roam about on their own, others keep them with an employee. I have been on several with my wife who is a TA, this has always been the procedure.

 

I appreciate what you are saying, and I love your reviews, but the OP asked if

anyone had experience trying to tour a ship. They also said they would like to try and get a guided tour. Never asked to just hop on and walk around.

Then the typical and emphatic responses of, not gonna happen and not a possibility. Then the helpful and factual responses, like yours, that say it is definitely possible and has been done.

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nbsjcruiser Great Review Rare

nbsjcruiser

Posted
Posted

We live in Saint John and have been on many ship tours. We have been invited by our TA. It is really nice to get to tour them. We always have to have our passports into our TA prior to the ships visit. I am not sure if you know a good TA in Halifax but if you do you may ask them as they are not advertised and usually only give out to their repeat customers.I know that they are only given so many slots to fill.

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DarthGrady

DarthGrady

Posted
Posted
I appreciate what you are saying, and I love your reviews, but the OP asked if

anyone had experience trying to tour a ship. They also said they would like to try and get a guided tour. Never asked to just hop on and walk around.

Then the typical and emphatic responses of, not gonna happen and not a possibility. Then the helpful and factual responses, like yours, that say it is definitely possible and has been done.

Fair enough, and thank you.

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Wilson

Wilson

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Posted
If I remember correctly it was about $40pp...

 

Unless Royal does it as part of the never ending BOGOHO promotion. In that case the first person in you party will be $120. Don't bother asking for a drink or they will push a beverage package on you for the day! :D

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CptSticky

CptSticky

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Unless Royal does it as part of the never ending BOGOHO promotion. In that case the first person in you party will be $120. Don't bother asking for a drink or they will push a beverage package on you for the day! :D

We were on Princess not Royal. They did serve a glass of wine with lunch but when we ask for another the waiter ask for our card (which had been linked with a CC card and all the usual hoopla at check-in) and the card was refused as invalid. A kind passenger paid for the extra glass of wine for my DW. One nice thing that I forgot to mention, because we requested it, they opened their future sails office and sold us a future cruise certificate. Thus we not only got our money reapplied to the next cruise but got reduced deposit and OBC. That was really a big win for us:D

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pilotboy1985

pilotboy1985

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I spoke to my lovely TA today.

She advised they will do a tour, but RCCL is in charge of the date and ship and right now they've only offered a tour of Liberty when she docks in the next couple of weeks. There is nothing scheduled for any of the radiance class ships.

 

Too bad, but good to know it's an option.

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stowite

stowite

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Posted
Back in the early 90's HAL had tours if you were on one of its ships and another of its ship was in port you could go and tour the other ship

 

Back in the 70's- 90's public tours of the Delta Queen for a "donation" were up to the discretion of the captain at any of its stops. Certain stops were known for the captain always allowing tours. Seriously you just showed up at the river bank and took a guided tour of the boat. I don't think they did it at some of the bigger cities they stopped but the small towns always tended to draw a crowd.

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aggie1

aggie1

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pilotboy1985 - is this Matt & Chris?? Pls send me your email address. I had one but you must have changed it. Been trying to get in touch with you. Was suppose to be in Halifax yesterday but had to cancel cruise. If this is not Matt & Chris, let me know. Pat & Foster.

Sorry to interrupt this thread.

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