Behind The Scenes Tour can now be booked online

[The Traveling Man]

7 hours ago, shof515 said:

The Behind The Scenes Tour can now be booked online before the cruise. It can be found under Onboard Entertainment and Activities page. For my future cruises, the cost of the tour is 129 dollars. the tour is on the last sea day with 2 time slots. Latitude and shore excursion credit does not apply

I'm a little disappointed that the $50 FAS shore excursion credit can't be applied.  I guess that's because they manage it as an "activity" rather than an excursion.  I wonder if the tickets that they issue for this tour look the same as shorex tickets.  Even with a $50 discount, though, I wouldn't pay $79 for a BTS tour.  The typical Latitudes BTS tour is shorter than the one they sell, and it usually only covers the laundry, I-95, backstage (usually just one of the entertainers' dressing rooms), and the main galley.  Sometimes, though, they throw in an extra stop.  We have taken the free Latitudes tour more than a dozen times on at least ten different NCL ships.  On one tour or another we also have visited the crew mess, crew training rooms, crew nightclub, crew exercise room, crew lounge, bakery, butcher shop, walk-in freezer, print shop, and recycling facility.  We even have been under the stage to see the mechanism they use lift stage props and performers up on stage. 

 

In addition to the free BTS tour, one other Latitudes benefit is the opportunity to have dinner with an officer.  We have dined with more than 30 NCL officers, including the Captain on a couple of cruises.  One of them invited his dinner companions to a private tour of the bridge the following day.  As others have posted here, the bridge has not been a regular feature of any NCL BTS tours for many years, so it was a real treat to be able to spend a half hour with our Captain on the bridge.

Edited May 7, 2023 by The Traveling Man

[ChiefMateJRK]

47 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Actually, I had my first dinner on my last cruise.  A very knowledgeable CN manager so got some good information, plus the ability to try to plant a few improvement ideas.  But it is the luck of the draw.  And the wine flows freely for anybody who doesn't take the drink package!

Yeah, I'm sure many enjoy those.  That's fine.  I'm a survivor/victim/beneficiary of decades at MegaCorp.  The "honor" of sharing dinner with people more important than me faded to oblivion many years ago.  "I've already gone places.  I just want to stay where I am."

 

(bonus points to whoever can identify where that quote came from, I will be SHOCKED if anybody on CC knows🤣)

Edited May 7, 2023 by ChiefMateJRK

[The Traveling Man]

46 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

 

The Sapphire tour is run by Cruise Next. The paid tour is run by ShoreEx. The Sapphire tour is not the same as what you see online. The Sapphire tour is shorter and less involved than the paid tour - does not include provisioning, bridge, or engine control room.

 

When you embark, head to CruiseNext desk on embarkation day to sign up for the free tour, dinner with officers, and wines around the world wine tasting. Both will sell out. 

You are correct that the Latitudes tour does not include the bridge or engine room.  Depending upon availability, though, it may include the provisioning areas.  In my previous post I tried to remember all the places we have visited.  I forgot to mention the provisioning areas.  Thanks for the reminder.  As I recall, it was included on just one of our dozen tours, so don't count on seeing it on any particular tour.

[ChicagoBarb]

11 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

 

(bonus points to whoever can identify where that quote came from, I will be SHOCKED if anybody on CC knows🤣)

Twin Peaks

[The Traveling Man]

12 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

  "I've already gone places.  I just want to stay where I am."

 

(bonus points to whoever can identify where that quote came from, I will be SHOCKED if anybody on CC knows🤣)

Harry Dean Stanton

[The Traveling Man]

59 minutes ago, redmomof4 said:

How did you get the shorex credit to apply. I just tried and went all the way to check out and it did not discount it by $50 at all. 

The $50 credit is applied to your on board account only after you have taken a tour.  If you book a tour, pay for it, then cancel at the last minute (or miss the bus), you don't get the $50 discount and probably won't get a refund for the tour ticket if you wait too late to cancel.

[ChiefMateJRK]

11 minutes ago, ChicagoBarb said:

Twin Peaks

 

11 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

Harry Dean Stanton

Very nice!!!  We are now officially friends.😎

 

(Fire Walk With Me - who doesn't love Carl?)

[eileeshb]

16 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

You are correct that the Latitudes tour does not include the bridge or engine room.  Depending upon availability, though, it may include the provisioning areas.  In my previous post I tried to remember all the places we have visited.  I forgot to mention the provisioning areas.  Thanks for the reminder.  As I recall, it was included on just one of our dozen tours, so don't count on seeing it on any particular tour.

from what I can remember hearing the free tour tended to be early in the cruise while the paid version was towards the end so it simply may not have been safe to bring people into the provisioning areas when it’s fully stocked. When I did the paid tours the freezers were significantly under capacity when I saw them. 

[The Traveling Man]

1 minute ago, eileeshb said:

from what I can remember hearing the free tour tended to be early in the cruise while the paid version was towards the end so it simply may not have been safe to bring people into the provisioning areas when it’s fully stocked. When I did the paid tours the freezers were significantly under capacity when I saw them. 

They weren't jam packed when we were there, but they were quite full.  I've never seen so many gigantic tubs of ice cream in my life.

[FLAHAM]

19 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

The $50 credit is applied to your on board account only after you have taken a tour.  If you book a tour, pay for it, then cancel at the last minute (or miss the bus), you don't get the $50 discount and probably won't get a refund for the tour ticket if you wait too late to cancel.

I have always received the $50 shorex discount at the time of advance booking.  The ship tour does not receive the discount.

[redmomof4]

26 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

The $50 credit is applied to your on board account only after you have taken a tour.  If you book a tour, pay for it, then cancel at the last minute (or miss the bus), you don't get the $50 discount and probably won't get a refund for the tour ticket if you wait too late to cancel.

That makes sense. Will it be a refundable OBC?

[redmomof4]

4 minutes ago, FLAHAM said:

I have always received the $50 shorex discount at the time of advance booking.  The ship tour does not receive the discount.

You know what? Me too. All of my previous and current bookings took the $50 off the top before I checked out 

[hollandia]

I booked the paid BTS tour for the first day of our TA  on the Jade in November. I expect the provisioning areas to be fully stocked. 😁

The tour is available on all sea days of the TA. 

[julig22]

24 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

The $50 credit is applied to your on board account only after you have taken a tour.  If you book a tour, pay for it, then cancel at the last minute (or miss the bus), you don't get the $50 discount and probably won't get a refund for the tour ticket if you wait too late to cancel.

If you book online, the credit is applied at the time you book.  If you book onboard, the credit is applied after you take the tour.  But you still get your $50 credit if you miss the bus - they don't keep track of who shows up.  You paid, doesn't matter if you don't show up.

[disneylover89]

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

The $50 excursion credit applies.  But apparently the latitudes discount does not.

Ok, then a price of $79 is not too bad. But the original poster said the $50 credit cannot be applied, are you sure it can be?

[julig22]

2 minutes ago, redmomof4 said:

That makes sense. Will it be a refundable OBC?

Technically yes.  But it just reduces the cost of what you paid for the excursion in the first place.

[julig22]

2 minutes ago, disneylover89 said:

Ok, then a price of $79 is not too bad. But the original poster said the $50 credit cannot be applied, are you sure it can be?

Read through the entire discussion...

[disneylover89]

1 minute ago, julig22 said:

Technically yes.  But it just reduces the cost of what you paid for the excursion in the first place.

Where are you getting your info from.  When an excursion is booked, the $50 credit is applied at payment, not after you go on the excursion. 

 

[julig22]

1 minute ago, disneylover89 said:

Where are you getting your info from.  When an excursion is booked, the $50 credit is applied at payment, not after you go on the excursion. 

 

Follow the bouncing ball.  If you book onboard, you pay onboard and the $50 excursion credit is applied after you take the tour. Question was whether or not the $50 is refundable OBC. If you cancel something you booked online once you get onboard, then you get a refund, less the $50, to your onboard account.

[BirdTravels]

17 minutes ago, FLAHAM said:

I have always received the $50 shorex discount at the time of advance booking.  The ship tour does not receive the discount.

You get the credit onboard if you book onboard. And 100% of the people would use it to offset the cost of the tour charged to your room amount. If you book and pay in advance, the discount should be applied if applicable. 

[fastpitchdad]

17 minutes ago, hollandia said:

I booked the paid BTS tour for the first day of our TA  on the Jade in November. I expect the provisioning areas to be fully stocked. 😁

The tour is available on all sea days of the TA. 

 

When I read this I thought "they have a BTS tour? My middle daughter will be thrilled".

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by fastpitchdad

[redmomof4]

24 minutes ago, julig22 said:

If you book online, the credit is applied at the time you book.  If you book onboard, the credit is applied after you take the tour.  But you still get your $50 credit if you miss the bus - they don't keep track of who shows up.  You paid, doesn't matter if you don't show up.

I am trying to book it online and the $50 credit IS NOT being applied at the time of booking for the BTS tour. (As it has for all my other excursions I’ve booked through NCL)

[julig22]

Just now, redmomof4 said:

I am trying to book it online and the $50 credit IS NOT being applied at the time of booking for the BTS tour. (As it has for all my other excursions I’ve booked through NCL)

Yes, read the entire thread. The $50 credit is apparently not applicable to the tour. 

[The Traveling Man]

46 minutes ago, FLAHAM said:

I have always received the $50 shorex discount at the time of advance booking.  The ship tour does not receive the discount.

We usually book tours on board, so I didn't realize that they were handled differently.

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, FLAHAM said:

I have 3 cruises booked.  One asks $129 for the tour, one asks $99 and one says not available until 120 days before the cruise.  All 3 are further out than that.  Shorex discount does not apply.

We have an Escape and Encore cruise schedule with $129 as the price. We have an Viva cruise schedule and it is not offered yet.