Celebrity Cruises - Inside Access. Would you do it?

Every now and then when on board a ship, a tour or excursion catches your attention and this was one of them; the opportunity to get inside access to a Solstice Class ship, a behind the scenes tour.

Me on the Helipad

So should you do it?


Well, I have seen comment in a number of places in the past about tours like this, in the main they are negative because of the cost,  $150 per person. I have to admit this seems high, but price alone is never the ultimate decider, it has to depend on what you get back from the experience.

So there are limited numbers on the tour, when I did it there were just 10 of us, and lasted for over 4 hours. And we got:-

• Bridge Visit
• Helli deck tour
• Mooring line deck visit
• Back stage at the Theatre 
• Crew Gym and quarters tour
• Engine control room visit
• Galley and food storage area visit
• Lunch in Tuscan Grill

There is loads of security to get into the sensitive areas, with us being scanned with a hand held scanner when going into both the Bridge and Engine Control Room as well as having to show our passports before we started!

For me its what you learn from chatting with the Officers and crew members during the day; like learning about the Azipods and the way they aid manoeuvrability of the ship: how 'Green' the ship is with regard to treatment of waste water; how they use their own de-salination plant to satisfy the fresh water needs of the ship and how they plan routes to keep everybody safe.

During the whole trip we did not use a lift once, and followed all the 'hidden' to passenger corridors and stairwells - we really do see only a small part of the ship normally!

So just a few photos of some of those bits we don't normally see:-

Port side control panel

 Port side view from the Bridge Wing

 The Bridge

 A volunteer to run out the lines! (Under strict supervision!)

I95

 The Engine Control Room

This is how your dinner should look

So  would I recommend this, irrespective of the cost thought this was an excellent trip and would happily recommend it. In addition, if I saw this type of experience on another ship I would not hesitate to do again!