Ship tour - worth the time?

[Raymark]

We are new cruisers with two 4 yr old daughters. Is the ship tour on the first day worth our time & will it amuse our young children?

I imagine embarkation day as being busy. We will want to eat lunch, get the kids to the Mickey pool, check out our room, attend the safety drill, attend the sail away party, check out Oceaneers Club, unpack, get cleaned up for dinner........so I don't want to squeeze in the guided ship tour unless it is highly recommended.

Will it just amount to 100 people following a CM around in circles while excited kids chatter too much for anyone to hear what the CM is even talking about?

 

[3Adevas]

We are new cruisers with two 4 yr old daughters. Is the ship tour on the first day worth our time & will it amuse our young children?

I imagine embarkation day as being busy. We will want to eat lunch, get the kids to the Mickey pool, check out our room, attend the safety drill, attend the sail away party, check out Oceaneers Club, unpack, get cleaned up for dinner........so I don't want to squeeze in the guided ship tour unless it is highly recommended.

Will it just amount to 100 people following a CM around in circles while excited kids chatter too much for anyone to hear what the CM is even talking about?

Great question...I am looking forward to hearing others experiences and have the same questions! We cruised on The Fantasy last Dec. with our DS 3 1/2 and he will be 4 1/2 this cruise. Did not do ship tour and wondering if we should try it this time?

 

[GervaisCouple]

I'd love to hear too...

 

[mmouse37]

Honestly....I think it is great of adults to get a handle on where everything is but I do not think it would really entertain kids. A CM does take a group around the ship and usually explains the "story" behind why they did things a certain way and explains the architecture and such. I found it very interesting but I know my kids would not have enjoyed it....you know your kids best.

MJ

 

[wcw57]

would like to do this on our next cruise....when (time) is it usually offered and how long is the tour, please.

THANX!!

 

[mmouse37]

there are usually 2 tours...one the first day which is more a "where everything is type tour" with explanations as mentioned above and then on the Dream/Fantasy (not sure about the classics) they have a tour called "Art of the Ship Tour" or something like that where they get into detail about the theming of the areas around the ship. This one is held more mid-cruise.

I would say they average about an hour or so.

Edited: I just found this thread which gives more info in the Art of the Theme Ship tour.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2778654

MJ

 

[gumbypee]

They had the art of theme ship tour on magic last year and it was one of my favorite activities. I did not do opening day tour. There were enough signs around that I could find my way

 

[wcw57]

sooooo...day 1 tour is like an orientation talk? don't need/want that, I think.

maybe art of the ship is more to my taste

 

[sambycat]

i don’t think it would be super interesting to young kids but it is really a nice way to start a trip and while it is a “get your bearings” trip, it does give you pointers about the ship, allow for pictures and you can duck out early if need be. i recommend.

 

[Meghatron]

Also, Art of the Theme is adults only, while the embarkation day tour has no age requirement.

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[GC&S]

We did it for our 3 night cruise since we had not been on a ship before and the Dream was overwhelming for us. They split us up in 2 groups. Our dd is 11 and while it wasn't super entertaining to her she did like it. It took less than an hour and gave us a good overview.

We thought it was very helpful and our guide was wonderful and answered tons of questions and gave us a lot of information. And he was really funny. We ran into him a couple of times and he remembered us from the tour and asked how many times we had gotten lost.

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

I wouldn't do it for a child under 10 or so. I didn't see any tweens or early teens on either last trip. As adults, my dh and I enjoyed it.

 

[Gigi22]

DH and I took the Art Of the ship tour on the Dream. Fascinating tour, but not geared towards children. Several of the areas toured are adults only areas (bars and both Remy and Palo), so I am not even sure children would be allowed in those areas.

 

[kiford]

We had been on the Wonder once and Magic 4 times when we went on the Dream. We decided to do the tour and was glad that we did because it was different enough from the Wonder/Magic and helped us to get our bearings right away. I would definitely recommend it for a first-timer. There were a number of young children on our tour and they didn't seem bored. It's less than an hour. I think it was at about 2 pm so we had time to board, unpack our carryons and eat lunch before the tour started. I think there was also one later in the day.

 

[hmurray2008]

How/where do you sign up for it? Online check-in or after boarding?

 

[Meghatron]

DH and I took the Art Of the ship tour on the Dream. Fascinating tour, but not geared towards children. Several of the areas toured are adults only areas (bars and both Remy and Palo), so I am not even sure children would be allowed in those areas.

Children are not allowed on this tour at all.

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[Dug720]

How/where do you sign up for it? Online check-in or after boarding?

You just show up at the designated spot. For the first day tour I think it was outside the Walt Disney Theatre. For the Art of the Theme Show I think it was Meridian.

 

[kimf503]

We did a tour that was very interesting about the decor but I wouldn't suggest taking children.

 

[disney1990]

DH and I took the Art Of the ship tour on the Dream. Fascinating tour, but not geared towards children. Several of the areas toured are adults only areas (bars and both Remy and Palo), so I am not even sure children would be allowed in those areas.

Yes, the Art of the Ship Tour is an adult tour. However, most of the adult places, such as the bars can be visited by children during the daytime. Some of them are actually used for activities that can be enjoyed by all during the day.