Fascinating Behind the Scenes Ship Tour of The Norwegian Joy

Have you ever been curious about what goes on behind the scenes on your cruise ship? We took a behind the scenes ship tour on Norwegian Joy, and here’s what it was like.

As you set foot onto the Norwegian Joy, you’re immediately greeted by an atmosphere of elegance and excitement. From the grand atrium to the panoramic ocean views, every corner of the ship has been meticulously designed to offer an unforgettable experience for its passengers.

Behind the scenes, though, nearly 1,800 crew members work together to bring this elegance and excitement to life. Through hard work and diligent management, the crew makes running a cruise ship seem effortless, but that is just a facade. It takes incredible teamwork to make the magic happen.

The Tour

On our recent Caribbean cruise on Norwegian Joy, we took advantage of an NCL Latitudes perk to take a free behind the scenes ship tour. The tour covered four areas: the theater, the laundry, provisions, and the galley. Several tours were scheduled for early in the morning on a port day, were limited to groups of about fifteen to twenty passengers, and were guided by a member of the CruiseNext team.

Note: To participate in the tour, guests must wear closed-toe shoes and be able to climb steep stairs.

Theater

Norwegian Joy takes entertainment to new heights, boasting a vast array of exhilarating shows and performances. During our tour, we explored the areas backstage where these stunning performances are brought to life.

First, we were taken backstage to where the set for the show Elements was taken apart and neatly stacked into a surprisingly small pile. The set is completely broken down each night after a performance, then reconstructed for the next show to appear. It takes a team of backstage workers several hours to make this magic happen.

Next, we visited the wardrobe/dressing room, where cast members prepare for the show. The costumes are surprisingly lightweight and are designed to tear away easily for quick costume changes. A wardrobe specialist is responsible for maintaining, repairing, and laundering each costume after every show, preparing them for the next.

One thing I didn’t know is that most of the cast members of Footloose also star in the acrobatics production, Elements, which is why the shows are spaced out and aren’t presented every night.

Laundry

After exploring the theater backstage, we were led through various crew hallways and staircases to the laundry, where the temperature rose quite a bit.

It is amazing how much laundry goes through this department each day. The sheer number of sheets, tablecloths, and napkins that are processed daily is mind-boggling. Machinery including washers, dryers, ironers, towel folding machines, and more help to automate the processes as much as possible.

Fun Fact: The Joy has two machines that tag the laundry of guests and crew to ensure your laundry makes it back to you safely.

First, we saw the area where guests’ laundry is washed, dried, and carefully folded. 

In addition to restaurant linens, bed linens, and guest laundry, the crew’s uniforms are also processed here. We were given a demonstration of a machine called a Hurricane for shirts that took a wet uniform shirt fresh from the washer to a dry, perfectly pressed shirt in a moment. It was incredible!

Next, we were taken to the bed linens processing area, where bed sheets are taken from the washer and carefully hooked one by one to a machine that dries, presses, and folds them into a neat square.

Provisions

Our next stop on our behind the scenes ship tour was provisions, where the provisions manager told us about the huge amounts of food needed each day, both for the passengers and the crew, and how those foods are stored. We were taken to the freezer, which looked to be the size of a small warehouse!

Each week, tons of food provisions are loaded onto the Joy and must be stored properly. To give you an idea, each week the ship brings on board 7,500 pounds of rice! Also needed weekly are 5,600 dozen eggs, 45,000 pounds of fresh fruit, and 35,000 pounds of beef.

The provisions department even has a huge defrosting refrigerator that slowly and safely defrosts food. Clever, right?

Galleys

Norwegian Joy takes culinary excellence to a whole new level. On our behind the scenes ship tour, we got a peek at the immense logistics behind delivering thousands of meals each day, all with impeccable quality and presentation.

The Joy has several galleys or kitchens:

• Main Hot Galley: Located on Deck 6, this galley prepares all the meals for the main dining rooms (Manhattan, Taste, and Savor).
• Specialty Restaurants: Each specialty restaurant has its own galley.
• Crew Galley: Located on Deck 5, this galley prepares all meals for the crew members.

The Joy also has several distinctive galley stations. One is the pantry, where all of the cold appetizers, salads, sandwiches, canapes, and cold food items are prepared for the lunch and dinner buffets. All ice, vegetable, and fruit carvings are also done here.

Other galley stations include those for the various types of meat: beef, poultry, pork, and seafood.

Our next stop was the beef station. One of the things we learned was that each type of protein is prepped in a separate kitchen using color-coded cutting boards to avoid cross-contamination. Here we got a glimpse into the beef kitchen, where cuts of meat are broken down into the sizes needed for recipes. Note the red cutting board, which is only used for beef.

Next, we followed our tour guide to one of the galleys, where we watched as some of the 865 crew members assigned to the food and beverage team were hard at work, creating meals for the guests.

All bakery products are made onboard in the bakery, which operates 24 hours a day. Below, you can see a station where cookies and other desserts are being made, their consistency is ensured by the recipes with presentation photos seen on the counter.

Fun Fact: The bakery uses over 200 pounds of white chocolate and 300 pounds of dark chocolate per cruise!

How to Get a Behind the Scenes Ship Tour

Norwegian Cruise Line has a loyalty program, called Latitudes, whereby you earn points for nights cruised. The program has seven tiers, and once you reach the fourth tier, Platinum, you are eligible to participate in the Behind the Scenes ship tour.

To sign up, simply go to the CruiseNext desk onboard on Day Two of your cruise and ask to be added to the tour list. Don’t delay, because these tours fill up fast.

Final Thoughts on our Behind the Scenes Ship Tour

Our behind the scenes ship tour took about an hour, allowing us to witness the dedication and passion that goes into creating an unforgettable experience for each passenger. For me, it gave me a better appreciation of the behind the scenes effort that goes into making our cruises perfect.

Happy cruising!