What to do the Saturday between B2B

I will be doing my first B2B on Davina in November and have a couple of questions. We have the same YC cabin on both runs so we shouldn't have to pack up right? Any suggestions on what to do for a few hours in Miami. Since we won't have a car it will be a little tough, I think. I have already planned on having the ship do my laundry.... it's worth it! Anything I should know about doing the B2B additionally would be appreciated. Always great advice on this forum!

You will have to get off that day - if you aren't going on an excursion or day tripping, they will take you off as a group, the ship is then cleared, and then you can go back on. We were told this would take about an hour, but ended up going on an excursion to see the Everglades, so I'm not sure on the timing for re-boarding if you don't do something that day.

You can leave everything as is if you are in the same cabin. We switched YC cabins and the butlers took care of moving our stuff between cabins (we packed the suitcases). We also sent a bunch of laundry mid-trip - I just put 20 items on the chair, told the butler and he took care of processing the package.

The excursion to the Everglades was really fun. Most of the passengers went straight to the airport from it, a few went back to the boat, and it dropped the rest off across the bridge so that they could do a little shopping downtown (my hubby did this and then walked back over the bridge later).

When you do the B2B, there is an item in the daily that tells you to confirm the B2B with the concierge by some date (forget which day). We had to get new cards issued for the second half on the morning of the last/first day, but I think that may have been because we switched cabins. Not sure if that would have been the case otherwise. Because they have all your details, you don't have to "check in" when you get back on, you can just walk through. But do expect various people to check that you are on a B2B and aren't a new passenger skipping a point in their embarkation process. My daughter was very recognizable due to her hair, and we did have a couple of people comment that they knew we had been on the previous week so didn't need to look at our paper/cruise cards.

The one thing we didn't do, was have a butler escort us back on to the ship and that might have been worthwhile as the line to board was slow going when we returned to the ship - near the end of the wait, I noticed a couple of butlers escorting folks on and realized I could have skipped that wait.

If you don't want to enjoy the quiet ship book an excursion. We did the canal trip to see fancy homes. Ok but not worth doing again.

Thanks for the info... I'll look into excursions or maybe just see what's near the port, didn't think about just walking over the bridge. Even a taxi to Bayside. I lived in south Florida so I've seen some of the sites. Maybe there will be something a little different.

Just about to go on my third back to back - I have never cleared the ship - even when we were on Poesia in America - its quite common on MSC that people do two or even three cruises back to back - because from here in Australia you travel a long way to cruise MSC.

We have always treated it like any other cruise day in a port and got off or stayed on as we please.

Just about to go on my third back to back - I have never cleared the ship - even when we were on Poesia in America - its quite common on MSC that people do two or even three cruises back to back - because from here in Australia you travel a long way to cruise MSC.

 

We have always treated it like any other cruise day in a port and got off or stayed on as we please.

If this is true it would be nice if we could just lounge that morning and have the option of not clearing the ship if we didn't want to. Thanks-

If this is true it would be nice if we could just lounge that morning and have the option of not clearing the ship if we didn't want to. Thanks-

You have to go thru customs as a group and then right back on. We stay on and just relax.

Just about to go on my third back to back - I have never cleared the ship - even when we were on Poesia in America - its quite common on MSC that people do two or even three cruises back to back - because from here in Australia you travel a long way to cruise MSC.

 

We have always treated it like any other cruise day in a port and got off or stayed on as we please.

Think that is true of everywhere except where the cruise starts and ends in the US. It is US immigration that has different rules and everyone has to get off clear immigration and go back on or go out for the day. My friend did a B2B on Divina in December and they had the same cabin, so left all their luggage.mthere was a separate group for the B2B passengers and they were taken off to do the formalities. Can't remember if she had to re board right away and get back off or whether she just left after clearing immigration as she was spending the day with family who live in Miami.

Thats different to my experience - we cruised out of New York and went up to Canada and back - we did the formalities on board coming back down the coast into America - everyone lined up and they had customs officers on the stage in the theatre and we all filed past them with our passports.

Back in New York we set of for Fort Lauderdale on the same day. We left the ship and had the day in NYC just like any other port day. No customs or anything. That evening we left NYC and had 3 sea days - not very many passengers were onboard and it was great. WE arrived in Fort Lauderdale and had a port day - no clearing of everyone off the ship.

In Fort Lauderdale we started our next cruise and they loaded up with passengers again and we sailed the Caribbean. We did not have to get off and on again just like any Port day. When we got back from the Caribbean we cleared customs when disembarking just like normal.

I did a YC B2B out of Miami last August and we had to get off to clear immigration, the ship had to be completely empty before they could start embarkation for new passengers. The B2B group was called to a lounge, then escorted to the terminal for immigration clearance and then you could embark the ship again. The whole procedure took some 30 minutes.

Or you can just leave the ship together with the disembarking passengers on your own or take part in an excursion. We took a taxi to South Beach and spent some hours there. A lovely day.

All B2B passengers will receive information in the cabin the night before arrival in Miami.

I will be doing my first B2B on Davina in November and have a couple of questions. We have the same YC cabin on both runs so we shouldn't have to pack up right? Any suggestions on what to do for a few hours in Miami. Since we won't have a car it will be a little tough, I think. I have already planned on having the ship do my laundry.... it's worth it! Anything I should know about doing the B2B additionally would be appreciated. Always great advice on this forum!

We did the Big Bus Tour, they pick yo up at the ship in a large bus at a specific time (abt. 830 am), they take you to the area(Bayfront PK.) where you pick up whatever route you want, 1 route goes out past Miami Beach, the other two routes go inland through areas like Little Havana, etc..

You can hop on, hop off at any stop, the buses are about 30 mins apart.

Each loop is about 90 mins. long.

Easiest/cheapest way to see Miami. There is also a bus that every so often goes back to the ship.

You can go online to check it out before hand, and if it interests you they used to sell the tiks. on the ship, or in the excursion area.

I think they also give you a free little cruise tour around the harbor in a tour boat.

We did the Big Bus Tour, they pick yo up at the ship in a large bus at a specific time (abt. 830 am), they take you to the area(Bayfront PK.) where you pick up whatever route you want, 1 route goes out past Miami Beach, the other two routes go inland through areas like Little Havana, etc..

You can hop on, hop off at any stop, the buses are about 30 mins apart.

Each loop is about 90 mins. long.

Easiest/cheapest way to see Miami. There is also a bus that every so often goes back to the ship.

You can go online to check it out before hand, and if it interests you they used to sell the tiks. on the ship, or in the excursion area.

I think they also give you a free little cruise tour around the harbor in a tour boat.

They have the Red Bus!!!! That's a great idea. We did that in Rome & Barcelona. What a great idea especially if it's right there at the ship. Thanks to everyone for the idea and telling me about the process!