Back to Back Cruises

Can anybody tell me how the cruise lines handle b2b cruises? We're booked in April and just found out that Ill have to buy 2 FTTF packages,1 for each cruise if I want the FTTF. Should I be prepared for any other surprises?

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Only bad thing about a B2B is the same shows, jokes and food!

Can anybody tell me how the cruise lines handle b2b cruises? We're booked in April and just found out that Ill have to buy 2 FTTF packages,1 for each cruise if I want the FTTF. Should I be prepared for any other surprises?

 

 

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You are taking two separate cruises. What you buy on the first cruise does not carry over to the second one any more than if you took 2 cruises a month apart.

We did a B2B in November on the Fascination. At the end of the first cruise, we waited until everyone disembarked. Then we were escorted us off the ship and right back on. It was great to have the ship to ourselves for a little bit!!!

We were booked in different rooms, so we packed our luggage and left it in the room with the new luggage tags on it. Our room steward moved our luggage to our new room.

Oh I would LOVE to take a back to back someday!

You would need 2 FTTF, but for back to back, you are allowed to stay on after everyone gets off. They take you off and walk you back on, you will be the first on the ship for week 2, no FTTF needed. Also, your luggage will still be in your room (or will have been moved by the steward if your room changed), so no need for FTTF for faster bags either. Room will also be ready/you can go in at any time. So only buy 2 if you want it for the line at guest services, or tenders. Both of those things we can live without, so no FTTF for part 2 of our b2b

Can anybody tell me how the cruise lines handle b2b cruises? We're booked in April and just found out that Ill have to buy 2 FTTF packages,1 for each cruise if I want the FTTF. Should I be prepared for any other surprises?

 

 

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You don't need FTTF for the second part as you are the last one off the ship and the first ones back on. If you pay for a drinks package whether that be water, soda or the cheers program in the first week you will need to purchase it for the second week (if you want it). On my last back to back when we re-boarded the ship we were welcomed with champagne and a photograph was taken with other back to back passengers.

The night before the end of your first cruise you should receive a letter from guest relations telling you were to meet other passengers on embarkation day, usually this is the lobby lounge area or main show lounge, they take your names and your sign and sail cards and give you your new cards, you then wait for clearance in the lounge and go together with someone from guest relations off the ship together with other fellow back to back passengers, you clear customs together; once everyone has gone through customs you get back on the ship together, stopping in the cruise terminal to get your photo taken for your sign and sail card.

I would suggest if you don't have the same room to pack everything up into your bags and have them clearly left in one area so that nothing is left behind when moving your bags and belongings from one room to another

I would also advise you to inform your cabin steward that you are on a back to back so he is aware in case you have the same room and don't want to be woken up as early as the other passengers

Food service and bar service stops when passengers are getting off so whilst a long lie in may be tempting you might want to get up, I can't remember the closing times of the lido deck but be sure to have something if you are traveling with someone who has diabetes for example

They don't keep photos so if you are thinking well at the end of my second cruise I will look through my whole two weeks, it won't happen once the first week is over all pictures are destroyed; they don't know your doing a back to back in the gallery

Sometimes the menu changes to reflect the ports you are visiting

If you have purchased any alcohol and it has been confiscated you need to collect it, last time a passenger left it and when they went to collect their rum they had bought it had gone, there was no way of getting this rum specific to one of the islands they had visited in the first week. So even if you are on a back to back be sure you get your alcohol (if you get any) from the locations set up on the ship for collection.

That is all I can think of for now :) probably missing a tonne of things

Most importantly have a great B2B they are addictive and so much fun

It's hard for us to know what other 'surprises' the OP will encounter because we don't know what assumptions he's made. Post 3 said it best: except for the getting off and back on the ship with the other B2Bers, think of it as 2 totally separate cruises and then you won't be surprised by anything,

FTTF has benefits besides getting on early. If the OP wants the all the benefits of FTTF for both cruises, he'll need to buy it for both. If he's moving cabins and wants the 2nd cabin ready early, he needs FTTF. Same with priority tendering, guest services line, and early debarkation at the end of the 2nd cruise.

If you want to buy pictures from the first cruise, do it during the first cruise. You get new S&S folio numbers for the second cruise. Use up OBC from the first cruise during it. Your accounts will close and your credit card will be charged as usual when the first cruise ends.

Sometimes when we've gotten back on, there has been the champagne and B2B photo in the atrium and sometimes not. When they've taken the photos, they delivered them to our cabin several days later and they were free. We've also received a fruit basket (with and without champagne) from the hotel manager in our cabin on the second leg.

If you're platinum, you receive the standard gift on each cruise, your free laundry count restarts, and you're invited to the party on both cruises.

You don't need FTTF for the second part as you are the last one off the ship and the first ones back on. If you pay for a drinks package whether that be water, soda or the cheers program in the first week you will need to purchase it for the second week (if you want it). On my last back to back when we re-boarded the ship we were welcomed with champagne and a photograph was taken with other back to back passengers. The night before the end of your first cruise you should receive a letter from guest relations telling you were to meet other passengers on embarkation day, usually this is the lobby lounge area or main show lounge, they take your names and your sign and sail cards and give you your new cards, you then wait for clearance in the lounge and go together with someone from guest relations off the ship together with other fellow back to back passengers, you clear customs together; once everyone has gone through customs you get back on the ship together, stopping in the cruise terminal to get your photo taken for your sign and sail card.

 

 

 

If you have purchased any alcohol and it has been confiscated you need to collect it, last time a passenger left it and when they went to collect their rum they had bought it had gone, there was no way of getting this rum specific to one of the islands they had visited in the first week. So even if you are on a back to back be sure you get your alcohol (if you get any) from the locations set up on the ship for collection.

 

That is all I can think of for now :) probably missing a tonne of things

 

Most importantly have a great B2B they are addictive and so much fun

They held my booze that I purchased at a port during my 1st leg of B2B, and didn't give it back till end of my 2nd cruise.

We also had the champagne, mimosa, or OJ waiting for us on Conquest this past January. We've only done B2Bs for the last 3 years (4 B2Bs oversall), and that's the first time we had the Champagne/photo when we re-boarded the ship. Very nice feature.

We did a B2B in May 2009 to Alaska, 7 days northbound followed by 7 days southbound. Not knowing better, we just got off with the rest of the passengers, rented a car in Whittier, drove to Anchorage and back then boarded the ship with everyone else getting on board for the first time.

We treated it like any other port day. We had a different cabin, one 4 or 5 doors down the hall, but the Steward moved our packed bags. If I had it to do over, we'd probably do the same since we wanted to drive up to Anchorage anyway. The cruise line lists Anchorage as the port call, but you have to read the fine print to see that the ship moors 90 miles away in Whittier, AK.

Anyway, we have 4 x b2b cruises lined up so we'll get to see how it's supposed to be done next time.