Touring the Ship on our Last Day at Sea

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Today is our last full day before docking back in San Francisco tomorrow. Karen wants to sleep in a little but, unfortunately, that’s not happening. Remember the Ultimate Ship Tour I tried to book on embarkation day? With only one space left, I passed on it but the gal at the passenger service desk thought they might offer another one later during the cruise. Well, they did and we’re in. Today is the day. 8:30am is the time. It’s just 7:00am now but Karen needs to get up to ready herself and I must lie in bed a bit longer to organize my thoughts.

Anyway, we’re up at breakfast by 7:30 and down to our meeting place, Snooker’s Cigar Bar, by 8am. We meet one fellow there already and he seems nice. A few more show up and then “HE” arrives. Yes, there’s always someone in a crowd willing to stand out and this is our guy. First, he asks if anyone brought their cameras. I know nothing, well, rather I say nothing. Now the instructions we received regarding this tour included “long pants, closed shoes, some stairs and no cameras or videos due to security reasons”. I also know, through fellow travelers that have done this tour before, that there are photo opportunities where one might find it advantageous to have a personal camera somewhere about their person. I have my P&S discreetly tucked in my pocket, ready if any such opportunity arises. Those that answer his question affirm that they have no photo-taking abilities. He also tells us of a run-in he had with the crew over some grinding operation on the deck near his room. He told one of the workers, “If you don’t knock it off, I’m coming over there and throwing all your equipment overboard.” Security was called and, while being offered to spend some time in isolation, he apologized and the issue was resolved. He told this story at most stops and even to the Captain. What a beauty!

A few more people join us along with our tour guide. I remember her from some of the game shows we attended. She assists the cruise director. What could she know about the ship’s operation? She doesn’t. She not aware that you can’t take pictures on this walk but our “buddy” points it out to her, waving the document in her nose and forcing her to read the instructions, finally convincing her make the announcement, “No photos, please”. I guess he just wanted to make sure if he wasn’t taking pictures, no one was. We’ll see about that.

Off we go, our first stop, the ship’s hospital. Here’s our itinerary taken directly from Princess.

Ultimate Ship Tour

Most cruise ship guests enjoying a relaxing cruise vacation know there’s a bustle of activity behind the scenes, but few have gotten an up-close look at these inner workings. However, with Princess Cruises’ Ultimate Ship Tour, guests have an exclusive opportunity to experience an array of “back of house” areas that are key to a ship’s daily operations.

This pioneering concept gives guests the unique opportunity to explore beyond the public areas with visits to the ship’s engine control room, medical center, incinerator room, print shop, laundry, photo lab, bridge and other spaces for a rare insider’s view of many areas typically seen only by the ship’s crew. Participants also receive a variety of themed mementos at many of the stops along the route.

The Ultimate Ship Tour lasts approximately three hours, and is offered once or twice per cruise on a sea day. Space is limited for the tour, which is available for $150 per person, and can be reserved onboard at the Passenger Services Desk. The tour is available on most Princess ships.

The innovative tour features:

· Back Stage Area – Guests start the tour with a glimpse behind the glitz in the Princess Theater, home to Princess’ sparkling stage productions. They’ll meet the cast and production staff, who will show them all that goes into making sure the show goes on night after night – including costumes and dressing areas, scenery and technical operations such as lighting and sound.

· Galley and Food Production Areas – In the galley, guests will meet the executive chef, learn about the process of providing thousands of guests meals each day, and see the inner workings of the ship’s kitchen areas while enjoying a glass of French champagne and canapés. In addition, guests will get a peek into some of the ship’s vast food storage and production areas, each specially equipped and temperature-controlled for a specific type of food. Each guest will also be presented with an official chef’s jacket.

· Engine Control Room – At the center of the vessel’s mechanical and electrical systems, the engine control room is where the ship’s technical team monitors everything from the operation of the ship’s propellers to the water supply in each stateroom. Participants will meet the chief technical offer and his staff who will explain the numerous functions overseen by the control room, including the vast amount of power generated to operate the ship.

· Incinerator Room – The ship’s environmental officer will show guests just what happens to the waste discarded during the cruise. Participants will see first-hand how all garbage is sorted onboard and how waste streams are processed for recycling or proper shore side disposal.

· Print Shop – Guests will see where their daily Princess Patter, among other things, is produced. The ship’s printer will meet the group and demonstrate the printing equipment and explain which materials guests see each day are printed right onboard. To mark their visit, each guest will receive their own set of personalized stationery printed on board.

· Photo Laboratory – Princess was the first cruise line to go completely digital, and each ship operates a full photo lab with the latest in digital printing equipment. The group will meet the ship’s photo staff and learn how they manage the thousands of pictures taken and printed each day. Participants might even see their own smiling faces print out during their visit.

· Medical Center – The ship’s doctor will meet the group to show them the state-of-the-art medical facilities, including treatment rooms, laboratory facilities, critical care unit, and x-ray room. Participants will learn how the ship’s doctors and nurses – all full-time maritime medicine specialists – keep both guests and crew healthy and handle medical emergencies. They’ll also learn about the most common reasons guests visit the medical center.

· Main Laundry – The ship’s onboard laundries operate 24 hours a day to wash tons of guest and crew linens, towels, and clothing – including more than 20,000 towels a day alone. Here visitors will meet the laundry master and will see this impressive operation in action. Participants will also receive a luxurious bath robe usually reserved for suite guests.

· Funnel – The group will then travel to the upper most deck of the ship to join the staff captain for the opportunity to peek inside the ship’s funnel area high atop the vessel, where they will be treated to spectacular views of the ship and the surrounding ocean.

· Bridge – The tour concludes at the ship’s command center, where guests will meet the captain and his bridge team and learn about the state-of-the-art navigational equipment and safety systems on board. Guests will also take in the dramatic front-of-ship views from the bridge’s wraparound windows, while they enjoy special refreshments and pose with the captain at the ship’s wheel for a complimentary photo. The framed photo and a tour completion certificate signed by the captain will later be delivered to each participant’s stateroom.

We saw everything but the funnel. At each stop, we meet the staff head who tells us about his department. Our tour guide only needs to take us as a group to each location, calling ahead to notify as we go. My “friend" keeps on talking at every location.

“What frequency do you use? I was in the military.”, he would say as we greeted our next department head. “Squadron 70. We used frequency 126.7. Your lobster sucks. I like the desserts though. You must fold a lot of towels”. It goes on at every department and the rolling eyes and short answers don’t seem to detour him from his blabber. Truly annoying.

We reach the bridge where an officer explains how the ship is controlled. Yes he has comments for him too. I ask the Captain, “When the harbor pilot boards the ship, who has the CON, you or him.” He answers, “It depends on the port. At some ports like SF, the pilot will take control of the ship himself but relinquish control as we turn toward the piers. Others will wait until we are almost docked. Some operate the controls, others instruct us as to what to do, however, we always dock the ship. Always”.

With the tour complete, Mom grabs some refreshments while I pull out my camera and, with permission from the officer on deck, I take some shots of the bridge and Karen. Of course, she’s carrying a glass of juice around with here. The Captain, meanwhile, is under attack from our “Goofball”. Even from a distance I can hear him. "Hey, Captain. How fast will this thing go? I seen you shooting up an old rooster tail coming out of Maui. Whoa. You had this baby cranking!” Somebody stop this guy. The Captain does so by excusing himself and walking away. As he leaves, I grab his shoulder, spinning him around and say, “Woo doggy! That there is one fancy outfit you be wearing there, Cappy”. No. I didn’t say that but I asked if I could take a picture of Karen and him and, without hesitation, he obliged. Thank you.

It’s 12:30pm, lunch time and we check out the Lido. I have some prawns, fries and fruit while Karen tries some salmon along with mac and cheese. Returning to our room, Mom continues to pack and I send out another blog. A knock at the door brings us some nice Princess robes, jacket, picture frame and our group pictures from the tour today. Wait. This isn’t our group. It’s some other tour group. Now we have something to do.

We pour our last two glasses of red wine from the bottle in our room called “Raymond”, from Costco, and make our way to dinner tonight, stopping first at the Passenger Service Desk to straighten out the photo problem. They refer us to the photo department where we are told to return tonight at 10pm. While at the counter, Karen sees some similar envelopes sitting there, she peeks and finds a set of our pics in there. Somebody else had the same problem. The guy swaps them out and off we go, still carrying our wine.

At the dining room we’re asked to wait a few minutes and then directed to a table for two, our first on this voyage. No guests. Just us. I guess we’ll have to converse with one another. Mom chooses the beef consumé, New York steak and Baked Alaska for desert. I have the same soup, red snapper and apple pie a la mode. All enjoyed over a free glass of wine. Ahh. A very peaceful dinner.

Now we’re off to an exciting evening, first to a trivia game followed by the band Mosaic and finally wrapping up with an 80’s tunes “Name that Tune” show. Determined not to let our free drink tickets expire, we order ourselves a Margarita and a virgin Piña Colada and hand our waiter the free drink tickets, making them even more delicious.

Our last stop is the casino where I finally decide to crank up the spending. I insert my ship card, identifying myself and pulling up my line of credit before embarking on a free spirited gambling binge. I finally found myself exhausted from pulling the slot machine handle and Karen relieves me. We’re not winning right now but I urge to continue, feeling victory is at hand. In the end, we walk away, outwitted by a machine and facing a horrendous bill as I succumb to defeat and cash out my loss of $10. The good news is that cruise lines comp their guests who gamble big. Maybe there’s a chance for me.

We return to our room by 9pm, roll our 5 bags out into the hallway for pickup later and call it a night. Tomorrow, we arrive home.



Note: Look for our obnoxious friend in the pictures taken by the ship’s photographer. He’s the tall guy with glasses, blue shirt, sitting in the chair.

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Photos

On the Bridge
That guy is talking to the captain in the background.

Comments

[Alan Meadows]

Your “Buddy”
He may have been annoying but you know he was providing you with valuable blog ammo! The behind the scenes tour sounds like fun to me. Amazing amount of quiet work goes into serving that many guests at once.

[Great Adventures with Al and Karen]

You're right
It was worth the $150. We asked questions, say them actually making the dinner rolls we eat every night, watch them print the daily "Princess Patter" and the bridge was really cool. Mom just wouldn't get rid of that fruit juice glass. Ha.