Does NCL still do bridge tours?

[dolphingirl47]

I have seen a number of posts that talk about bridge tours. Does NCL still do them? Is this something you have to be invited to or do you sign up for it as an activity? Is it free or is there a charge? Unfortunately DCL has discontinued bridge tours years ago and I would love to experience this.

 

Corinna

[ZoneHPH]

The Dawn and any other NCL ship that was sailing out of NYC did sail under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

 

That's about the closest to a bridge tour I have heard. :D As for the actual bridge of the ship. As far as I know, I don't believe I've heard of bridge tours being conducted...free or paid.

 

Anyone else?

[Sparkylok6]

NCL offers the behind the scenes tour for $55 per passenger and I believe that it includes a Bridge Tour. I don't know if it is on every ship in the fleet.

 

Some ships offer a Bridge Tour for the Suite and VIP passengers. I was on the Pearl in a Suite and had one. I also heard that on the Gem they were not offering them. Perhaps it is up to the Captain whether or not to offer them????

 

Anyone else have experience with this?

[ImADaneFan]

We were on the Star in February in the Garden Villa. We were given a tour of the Bridge with the introduction by Captain Lars. Were were also given an extensive Galley tour by Andreas the Exec. Chef. The galley tour was 3+ hours. Andreas was very proud of his area and it showed. I'm still amazed they can feed so many people so effeciently. :D Both were very educational.

[dcpolet1]

We were on the Gem in Dec and received a bridge tour. We were in the Garden Villa

Here are some pics if you are interested.

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/1dcpolet/TheBridgeNCLGem?feat=directlink

[bakerintn]

For the common folk, there are no bridge tours, excepting the $55 "behind the scenes" tour.

 

On the Pearl, there is a nice observation room on Deck 11, port side, all the way forward. They have repeaters for the navigation system and you can see most of the bridge area from there. Other ships in the same class may also.

 

Bridge tours can be very distracting and a security risk, so I can understand why they need to restrict it.

[nlt46]

I know that on the Jade in March, there was a "pay" bridge/galley tour. On the Jewell we toured the bridge with the suites, but there was an outbreak of noro; so , no one did the galley tour. Nancy

[Host Kewlguy]

We had a bridge tour on the Pearl last week. We were invited by the captain and didn't have to pay extra. These tours are usually restricted to suites and VIP although even that doesn't guarantee an invitation.

[Arwenmark]

On the Star at Christmas they had a tour of the alternate bridge given by the Staff Captain. Since I had several bridge tours back before 9/11 when they did give them freely, I really found this one, and the fact there was a complete separate bridge very interesting. This one was free by the way, and open to anyone.

[swedish weave]

For the common folk, there are no bridge tours, excepting the $55 "behind the scenes" tour.

 

On the Pearl, there is a nice observation room on Deck 11, port side, all the way forward. They have repeaters for the navigation system and you can see most of the bridge area from there. Other ships in the same class may also.

 

Bridge tours can be very distracting and a security risk, so I can understand why they need to restrict it.

 

We book an inside cabin, and have been invited on bridge and galley tours on the Star at no charge. We are platinum status, so that may be a factor.

[jollycruise]

When we sailed on the Pearl in December we received an invitation for the bridge tour. We were listed as VIP though. It was a great tour, our 12 DS loved every minute of it. If you get the chance to do one it is worth it.

[fin]

Apparently this is a fluid, evolving situation. In the time shortly after 9-11, it seems all requests to visit the engine room or bridge were summarily denied, citing the terrorist attacks as the 'reason'.

 

For awhile, people seemed (somehow) satisfied by this response, but then gradually I think folks began to wonder out loud what kind of an answer that really was, and the situation then began to evolve into the situation which obtains today, which is that the high end guests are pretty much automatically granted bridge access if they want it, and others can buy it,

 

Engine room access is still a little trickier.

[SnootieTootie]

Platinum Latitudes members can now take the behind the scenes tour for free.

 

The tour was offered on two days on the Star, and we had our choice of days.

 

The tour was limited to two per cabin, and I let my DH and DGS go. They were gone about 2.5 hours, and toured the enviormental areas, kitchen, laundry, behind the stage, dressing areas, and bridge.

 

Very enjoyable for my grandson

[dtracker]

In the days following 9-11, we took a cruise on the Sea Princess in December. I had purchased the anniversary package for my DW, which was supposed to include a bridge tour. The bridge tour was something I really wanted to do. When they told me we would not get the tour, I was very disappointed, and then they said they would not offer anything to replace the missed tour or offer any sort of reimbursement. :mad:

 

That pretty much soured me on Princess, though that has diminished somewhat over time. I can understand now why they decided to not give us the tour, but I still think they should have compensated us in some way. I'm happy NCL offers tours to their pax, and I would gladly take the tour if offered.

 

DT

[dolphingirl47]

Thanks for all the information. Looks like the Behind the Scenes Tour is the way to go. I just hope that they offer that on the Jade for our cruise in two weeks. DH would love this. As we have not got any shore excursion planned and therefore won't spend any money in that respect, $55 seems very fair.

Corinna