Back to Back cruise

Good morning everyone. Thinking of booking a back to back cruise with Celebrity for Christmas/New Year 2017/18. Any advice on this please. I am hoping to book air separate as it does work out cheaper. Is it better to book two separate cruises or is there one package on offer?

We would like to remain in the same cabin for both cruises hence early booking.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated before I phone around for prices.

There are no "deals" or packages for a b2b cruise. Where you will likely save is by booking with a US travel agent. Definitely investigate air2sea (CHOICEAIR) rates on flights.

Good morning everyone. Thinking of booking a back to back cruise with Celebrity for Christmas/New Year 2017/18. Any advice on this please. I am hoping to book air separate as it does work out cheaper. Is it better to book two separate cruises or is there one package on offer?

We would like to remain in the same cabin for both cruises hence early booking.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated before I phone around for prices.

Celebrity considers them to be separate cruises.

Each has its own reservation number. Your account from the first cruise is closed out at the end of the cruise. Nothing carries over.

You start a new onboard account and receive a new seapass card for the next cruise, even if you are staying in the same cabin.

Sometimes Celebrity will give a token back-to-back discount, so it is worth asking.

It is more convenient if you can keep the same cabin for both cruises, but even if you need to change cabins, it is not bad.

You can leave all the clothing in the closet on hangers and don't need to pack them. Your stateroom attendant will move everything for you.

They bring around a hotel type luggage cart and transfer all the clothing from the closet directly to the closet in the next cabin.

So you only need to pack up the loose items from shelves and drawers, and of course the safe.

Sometimes they can even swap out the drawers.

Holland America has offered some back-to-back cruises that they package together and sell as one single cruise for a lower price than it would cost if buying them each separately.

Check the celebrity site to make sure but in my experience they only sell single cruises some lines will sell either one cruise or segments of it. Sometimes booking the one longer cruise is less, sometimes it's not.

Good morning everyone. Thinking of booking a back to back cruise with Celebrity for Christmas/New Year 2017/18. Any advice on this please. I am hoping to book air separate as it does work out cheaper. Is it better to book two separate cruises or is there one package on offer?

We would like to remain in the same cabin for both cruises hence early booking.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated before I phone around for prices.

Although there is technically no discount booking b2b it is worth phoning Celebrity and asking. I know we did get a bit extra OBC.

We did manage to book the same cabin for both cruises and it did make life very easy. Last night of first cruise amazing...others leaving bars to finish packing/put out luggage and no matter how hard you try you will not be able to get the smile off your face knowing all the pleasure still to come...

Another bonus as a b2b cruiser or a guest on a longer cruise is often staff get to know you better, understand your preferences. In restaurants like Murano's if you are a return guest they may be willing to make you something a little special...

Although there is technically no discount booking b2b it is worth phoning Celebrity and asking. I know we did get a bit extra OBC.

We received a small discount on the price of each cruise, instead of OBC.

Out of curiosity, I just pulled up and looked at one of the invoices.

It is listed on the invoice as a line item YDR7-B2B SAVINGS, with the amount subtracted from the price of the cruise.

P.S. Just noticed you are from the UK.

We are in USA. Wonder if that makes the difference in the way they handle it??

At various times it seems that X has offered b2b booking benefits. Princess and HAL do offer cruises that can be booked as one longer cruise or 2 shorter cruises. X requires that the cruises be done as individuals. Sometimes there will be a special lunch offered on turn around day for the b2bers using the mdr. Depending on the port, turn around day may require all b2bers to disembark the ship together. I don't think X offers excursions for b2b cruisers so if you want to see or do something at the turn around port it will need to be done privately. The best part of a b2b cruise is watching the other passengers leave the ship with that post cruise look on their faces :o while you have that starting a cruise grin for a second time :D.

At various times it seems that X has offered b2b booking benefits. Princess and HAL do offer cruises that can be booked as one longer cruise or 2 shorter cruises. X requires that the cruises be done as individuals. Sometimes there will be a special lunch offered on turn around day for the b2bers using the mdr. Depending on the port, turn around day may require all b2bers to disembark the ship together. I don't think X offers excursions for b2b cruisers so if you want to see or do something at the turn around port it will need to be done privately. The best part of a b2b cruise is watching the other passengers leave the ship with that post cruise look on their faces :o while you have that starting a cruise grin for a second time :D.

On our upcoming B2B Alaska cruises there are a couple Celebrity options for excursions on turn-around day.

Now I find that interesting and am wondering if the way they handle it varies depending on which agent you reach.

 

We received a small discount on the price of each cruise, instead of OBC.

Out of curiosity, I just pulled up and looked at one of the invoices.

It is listed on the invoice as a line item YDR7-B2B SAVINGS, with the amount subtracted from the price of the cruise.

 

 

 

 

P.S. Just noticed you are from the UK.

We are in USA. Wonder if that makes the difference in the way they handle it??

 

 

 

Could be...country difference, could be operator or even how well certain cruises are selling....

All we know is it always worth a telephone call...

Great thing about Cruise critic is that it is searchable. You'll find dozens of posts about back to back cruising. All kinds of advice and personal experiences. That being said you can only book the two cruises as separate cruises on Celebrity. They may give you a small discount or onboard credit for a back to back booking. But they don't always do that.

I don't think X offers excursions for b2b cruisers so if you want to see or do something at the turn around port it will need to be done privately. .

Just recently returned from a B2B with a large number (1000+) doing the B2B and Celebrity offered a couple of shore excursions for turn around day. This is the 2nd B2B where excursions were offered in turn around day; again a large number of B2B cruisers.

We've done a number of B2B on Celebrity and RCCL.....They have always offered a couple of excursions. At the B2B meet just ask if you can do an excursion and be brought back to the ship instead of dropped at the airport. There has never been a problem.

Just off a B2B2B. We received $100 OBC on one of the segments because of the B2B. That was besides all the other perks we had. On the day before the end of each segment, we had a meeting in the Cosmos lounge and we were each handed an envelope with instructions for the changeover as well as a transit pass (to bypass the line-ups of new people checking in), free laundry coupon and a coupon for a free meal in Bistro on 5 on the next segment. I thought it was a nice touch. Of course, Bistro on 5 will soon be no more, so I don't know what they will give for future cruises, if anything.

We met people who did B2B all winter season.There were no discounts. They do it every year. Even if X did give discounts for B2B,I can't imagine they would do it on the very popular holiday vacation period.

Just off a B2B2B. We received $100 OBC on one of the segments because of the B2B. That was besides all the other perks we had. On the day before the end of each segment, we had a meeting in the Cosmos lounge and we were each handed an envelope with instructions for the changeover as well as a transit pass (to bypass the line-ups of new people checking in), free laundry coupon and a coupon for a free meal in Bistro on 5 on the next segment. I thought it was a nice touch. Of course, Bistro on 5 will soon be no more, so I don't know what they will give for future cruises, if anything.

While on our April Eclipse Cruise I booked a B2B cruise for March 2018 on the Summit. Along with the other perks each leg of the B2B Cruise was discounted $50.00 for booking a B2B.

Good morning everyone. Thinking of booking a back to back cruise with Celebrity for Christmas/New Year 2017/18. Any advice on this please. I am hoping to book air separate as it does work out cheaper. Is it better to book two separate cruises or is there one package on offer?

We would like to remain in the same cabin for both cruises hence early booking.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated before I phone around for prices.

I'll try to help a little. We did a 14 day B2B on Princess Regal. You'll notice after the first trip you'll lose most of the pax that were on board for the first leg. We had 600 stay for the second leg. That out of about 3600.Celebrity usually doesn't offer. B2B trips, but it's easy for your TA to do it. Perhaps he/she can get you some perks OBC/drink packages etc. If you book early enough, you shouldn't have to worry about moving from the cabin. If you have to, it's very quick & easy. The menu WILL repeat on the second leg of your trip. This is the time to do more specialty restaurants, unless of course the MDR food was really good(which on Celebrity, it was). You will find prices to be higher for holiday travel, just to let you know. Frequently 15-25% higher. We did the Eclipse Jan.2014 & 2015 for 14 day trips. We're doing them again in Jan.2017 for 14 days. Princess was nice, but don't care for the return to Ft. Lauderdale to off load & reload pax. Costs you a day wasted, we felt. If you do two 14 day cruise that would be a blast! We met several pax who basically cruised from Jan. right through April. Pricey & repetitive, but stll beats winter!

We've done a number of B2B on Celebrity and RCCL.....They have always offered a couple of excursions. At the B2B meet just ask if you can do an excursion and be brought back to the ship instead of dropped at the airport. There has never been a problem.

The problem with those excursions for us is that they end too early, usually by 1:00 because they are intended for the people who are flying out that afternoon and need to be dropped at the airport in plenty of time to catch their flights.

So if we want a full day excursion on the turnaround day, we usually book it independently,

or else (depending on the location) rent a car for the day and create our own excursion.