The Norwegian Sun in Juneau, Alaska
I’m interrupting my series on our Chile-to-Los Angeles cruise for something to cool you down this hot, hot summer. We’re going to take a quick look at this year’s Norwegian Sun excursions into Alaska, beginning with a look behind the scenes on the Norwegian Sun.
Norwegian Sun model in original paint scheme
Ursula and I are Platinum status on Norwegian, which gives us the perk of a behind-the-scenes tour of the ship. These tours used to include the navigation bridge, but that changed after the recent Paris and Brussels terrorist attacks. Score one more loss because of those idiots, and our overreaction to their acts of stupidity, but I digress.
Invitation to Tour
We met up with our tour guide, and our gathering point was in one of the main dining rooms next to the model of the Norwegian Sun in its original paint scheme:
Norwegian Sun model
Norwegian Sun model
Dining Room
The first logical stop from the dining room would, of course, be the kitchen:
As you can see the kitchen is a pretty extensive operation. It has to be in order to serve some 2,000 passengers and nearly 1,000 crew. Attention to detail is important as well, as you can see by this kitchen mounted guide on how to plate the various menu items:
Plating Directions
Next stop was the enormous laundry, which houses gigantic washing machines and dryers as well as a specialized linen folding machine:
The tour even took in the backstage area for the show productions:
Backstage
Wednesday we’ll explore Ketchikan and the charming, former red light district there on Creek Street.
Decisions — Murder in Paradise
The Globe — Murder in Luxury
R. Doug Wicker — Author 
My Dad used to work (still does, in fact) in the shipbuilding industry, including on cruise liners, so I’ve had the unofficial behind the scenes tour a few times, from the bridge to the engine room. Always a fascinating experience. One cruise liner I’ve visited in the 1980s even had a print shop with a vintage movable type machine for printing menus and the like. The downside is that the vessels were between tours and therefore largely empty, when we visited them.
That kitchen looks pretty good and – more importantly – clean which isn’t always the fact. Though my Dad always came down pretty hard when he found dirt or other problems in the kitchen.
It’s a pity you didn’t get to see the bridge, though.
Hi, Cora. Yeah, it’s too bad that they’re no longer giving bridge tours, but at least I’ve done several in the past.
Thanks for dropping by and commenting.
Did you get to see the engine room? Cause I imagine that one would be even more off limits.
Nope. No engine room. I don’t believe I’ve ever got to see the engine room on a cruise ship tour.
Understandable. Too much potential for someone to cause trouble and/or get themselves hurt.