All Access Ship Tour Questions

[zooma]

I've just booked the All Access Ship Tour for our Anthem cruise next year. I'd appreciate information anyone might have on the following questions:

• Does this type of tour typically sell out on ships or is it possible to sign up once on board?
• I've purchased this for my husband and myself for now (in case it sells out), but what I really want to do is give it to my parents as a surprise. Would it be possible to switch the actual participants once on board, or do I have to book it under their reservation from the outset? (That would ruin the surprise.)
• How long does it last? Are there periods where you can sit while listening to the guide, or are you standing/walking the whole time? Do you take stairs most of the time or elevators? (I imagine stairs.) It might be that I end up taking the tour with just one parent, depending on activity level.
• Is $109 a good price?

Thanks!

 

[vacationlover_mn]

I’m curious too 🙂

[jasper15]

DH and I did the All access tour on Anthem two years ago and absolutely loved it. It went for 3 1/2 hours and cost us around $150 each but that may have been AUD, I'm not sure.

 

There is a lot of walking up (and down stairs) although on a couple of occasions we used the elevators. Mostly we were standing up.

 

I've heard of it being offered on-board for purchase but I personally haven't seen that.

[cft8]

We took it on Navigator this summer. 

 

I don’t know if it was still available on board; we booked ahead. 

 

Ours lasted about 3 hours. It was all walking/standing. We did not go anywhere that had places to sit while we listened to the presentation. The bridge did have a lounge-type area that had a sofa and chairs, but it was away from where our group stood. I suppose if someone had really needed to, they could have asked to sit down there. 

 

We took a combination of stairs and elevators, but it’s the crew stairs so they are narrower and steeper than the staircases in the passenger area. 

 

Ours was $89 per person, but it’s a different class of ship so I think the pricing is probably different for everything. 

 

I really enjoyed it and I recommend doing it! I would probably do it again. 

[zooma]

Thank you for the input and recommendations! 

 

I now see this tour is listed at 2.5 hours for us. It's possible they've cut out some portions in the past couple of years, at least on some ships. I found a January 2017 Harmony tour review by @Hoopster95 in which he compares it to a prior (more intensive and in-depth) experience on Quantum. Especially since this will be a first for us, I think this seems like a good option for our group, including the engineer I'd like to surprise.

 

Welcome any other more recent reviews, on Anthem or otherwise!