? On getting to platinum status and # of cruises

Just wondering since it takes six cruises to get to platinum status, would Princess count a b2b2b as one cruise or three?

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Three.

Having never done a b2b, would we have to get off the ship with all our luggage each time or how does that work?

Also, do the b2b2b cruises have to be a certain length or could we do three 4 or 5 days together?

Tia

Sent from my iPad using Forums

There are plenty of threads on this. No, you do not have to remove your luggage, even if you are changing rooms.

As far as I know, Princess gives one cruise credit per cruise in a regular cabin. I've never seen a length of cruise mandated. You get 2 cruise credits in a suite.

How B2B works depends a little on which port/country you are in and on whether you are changing cabins. You get exact instructions in a letter in your cabin the day before the changeover. Basically your steward will get your luggage to your new room. Depending on the number of people involved, you'll either be told to meet at a particular place (lounge) and time or to get off the ship on your own by a particular time. You can then do a "port day" and see the town or you can turn around and get right back on and enjoy the ship. Princess will link your folio so that any OBC will carry over.

Having never done a b2b, would we have to get off the ship with all our luggage each time or how does that work? If the home port is abroad, you need do nothing - or at least that has been our experience in Europe and South America. If the home port is in the US all passengers must be recorded as disembarking - usually that just means exiting the ship (leave your luggage in your cabin) after disembarking passengers have been processed and then returning immediately to the ship. I have read occasionally that passengers may be gathered together in the theater and not need to disembark but that has never been the case on our B2Bs. If you want to spend your morning/day in port you can disembark as early as you want. You'll be given an 'in transit' card to show when you return to the ship.

 

Also, do the b2b2b cruises have to be a certain length or could we do three 4 or 5 days together? No

 

Tia

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

See comments in red.

There are plenty of threads on this. No' date=' you do not have to remove your luggage, even if you are changing rooms.

As far as I know, Princess gives one cruise credit per cruise in a regular cabin. I've never seen a length of cruise mandated. You get 2 cruise credits in a suite.

 

How B2B works depends a little on which port/country you are in and on whether you are changing cabins. You get exact instructions in a letter in your cabin the day before the changeover. Basically your steward will get your luggage to your new room. Depending on the number of people involved, you'll either be told to meet at a particular place (lounge) and time or to get off the ship on your own by a particular time. You can then do a "port day" and see the town or you can turn around and get right back on and enjoy the ship. Princess will link your folio so that any OBC will carry over.

Sorry - but it's been our experience that that is NOT the case!

Any OBC not used on the first cruise (If it 's not refundable) is lost.

(If it's refundable then it's refunded to your credit card.)

Each cruise is it's own entity.

Wow--Ours was rolled over. This was in Japan last summer. Our internet minutes also carried over. We asked about this and were told that if it didn't happen automatically, we should see the internet host. We actually had one folio that didn't close out till the end of the second cruise. The OBC for the second one showed up on the first day of that leg. Yes, it was 2 cruises and was not sold as a single cruise.

I've done B2Bs in Barcelona twice. Once we did nothing; the other time we had to disembark. I don't ask questions and do as I'm told. On that one, we did need to meet in one of the lounges and were taken off as a group.

In Tokyo we did nothing and did not have to get off if we didn't want to. No meeting place.

In the US, we had to get off the ship. No group meeting place, but we were one of 2 cabins doing B2B. We were held in the terminal for about 30 minutes, then could re-board.

Wow--Ours was rolled over. This was in Tokyo last summer. Our internet minutes also carried over. We asked about this and were told that if it didn't happen automatically' date=' we should see the internet host.[/b']

 

I've done B2Bs in Barcelona twice. Once we did nothing; the other time we had to disembark. I don't ask questions and do as I'm told. On that one, we did need to meet in one of the lounges and were taken off as a group.

 

In Tokyo we did nothing and did not have to get off if we didn't want to. No meeting place.

 

In the US, we had to get off the ship. No group meeting place, but we were one of 2 cabins doing B2B. We were held in the terminal for about 30 minutes, then could re-board.

I WISH that had been our experience.

Our internet minutes didn't roll over either.

As far as the disembarking and getting back on, our experiences have been just like yours.

Sometimes nothing, sometimes get off and then get on again. Seems to depend on the country . The US is the strictest. Strange that you had two different experiences in Barcelona, though.

We try very hard to stay in the same cabin so we don't have to pack and unpack on changeover day. One time we were supposed to move to the cabin next door. Princess contacted the people who were supposed to be in our cabin and got them to agree to switch so we didn't have to move. We considered ourselves VERY lucky!!!!

Our internet minutes didn't roll over either.

 

Or minutes always rolled over in the past......so one day when the internet manager was free on the Royal recently I asked about it just to be curious. (First leg of a B2B)

He said sometimes they do & sometimes they don't and couldn't give a logical explanation as to why they sometimes don't.

Ours did without any problem.

Sorry - but it's been our experience that that is NOT the case!

Any OBC not used on the first cruise (If it 's not refundable) is lost.

(If it's refundable then it's refunded to your credit card.)

 

Each cruise is it's own entity.

You've had some bad luck. We do B2Bs all the time and our folio has always rolled over.

Or minutes always rolled over in the past......so one day when the internet manager was free on the Royal recently I asked about it just to be curious. (First leg of a B2B)

He said sometimes they do & sometimes they don't and couldn't give a logical explanation as to why they sometimes don't.

Ours did without any problem.

This is basically what the internet manager on the Diamond told us. But he also said that if our minutes didn't roll over automatically, he could restore them to our account.

We have always had the internet and portfolio roll over to the second (and third) legs. For the internet, you just keep using the ID and password you set up on the first leg.

Sorry - but it's been our experience that that is NOT the case!

Any OBC not used on the first cruise (If it 's not refundable) is lost.

(If it's refundable then it's refunded to your credit card.)

 

Each cruise is it's own entity.

We have been doing b2b's on Princess since 2009, and we just completed two different ones in January and February of this year. This has not been our experience. Ending balances, positive or negative, have always been carried over to the next voyage with a final summary invoice at the end of the cruise. The same with internet mins.

Lots of folks do the short coastal cruises in September, but you do have to be careful of doing B2B cruises.

For example, son took 1 day cruise from Seattle to Vancouver and then switched to 2 day cruise to San Francisco on a different ship. Sailed solo so got 4 credits. He would not have been allowed to stay on the first ship B2B when it sailed to LA (violates Passenger Services Act to sail from Seattle to LA).

We sailed from Seattle to Vancouver 1 day, stayed a few days and then picked up the ship he was getting off of to LA. Got 3 points since second cruise was in a suite. In our case wanted to hit Elite before a Panama Canal cruise later in the year.

Short cruises can be a bit different - lots more partying, casino might not open, no luggage service on a 1 day.

The place folks often get in trouble is booking from Whittier to LA (Whittier to Vancouver to LA). Not allowed. But if you stay on the ship through the Panama Canal it will stop in Columbia and Aruba and make the Whittier-Vancouver-LA-Ft Lauderdale B2B2B legal.

We have been doing b2b's on Princess since 2009, and we just completed two different ones in January and February of this year. This has not been our experience. Ending balances, positive or negative, have always been carried over to the next voyage with a final summary invoice at the end of the cruise. The same with internet mins.

Agree. This was our experience on the Caribbean Princess in Jan/Feb this year. Folio balance and internet minutes rolled over - as did our wine package!

He said sometimes they do & sometimes they don't and couldn't give a logical explanation as to why they sometimes don't..

A perfect description of all princess 'policies'.

When beginning the second leg of a b2b, we continue to use the ID and password we set up on the ship's system. The remaining internet minutes have always carried over with no hassle.

Similarly, any OBC left carried to the second leg.

When beginning the second leg of a b2b, we continue to use the ID and password we set up on the ship's system. The remaining internet minutes have always carried over with no hassle.

 

Similarly, any OBC left carried to the second leg.

Last couple of cruises couldn't even set up second cruise account until the minutes were used up on the first.

I've had both ways with our internet minutes--carrying over automatically and not carrying over. It seems to be hit or miss. The time they did not carry over did not matter since we had plenty of minutes.

There are varying rules depending on how you book the cruise. For example, we are gong to be taking a 36 day cruise from Singapore to Vancouver. It was booked as a single cruise under a single booking number so it would generally be counted as a single cruise. But that cruise was also sold as 3 separate segments so one could have booked the cruises as separate cruises (back to back to back) under 3 booking numbers and received credit for 3 cruises. But one should always price out booking separate vs a single longer cruise as sometimes that long cruise (as a single booking) will save you a substantial amount of money. When you do book back to backs (and we have quite a few) you do not need to get off the ship between cruises.. As to cabins you can sometimes book the same cabin for all the segments....and other times you might need (or want) to change cabins between some or all the segments. Changing cabins is a minor pain....but the cabin stewards help to make it less of a hassle. We leave our clothes on hangers and put everything else in our luggage. A steward will bring a cart, load all the stuff and take it to your new cabin.

Hank

Three.

Ditto.:):):)

Tony

There are varying rules depending on how you book the cruise. For example, we are gong to be taking a 36 day cruise from Singapore to Vancouver. It was booked as a single cruise under a single booking number so it would generally be counted as a single cruise. If it was also sold as 3 segments, then booking it as a single cruise would still get you three cruise credits. Did not use to be that way, but around 2009 they changed the rule. But that cruise was also sold as 3 separate segments so one could have booked the cruises as separate cruises (back to back to back) under 3 booking numbers and received credit for 3 cruises. But one should always price out booking separate vs a single longer cruise as sometimes that long cruise (as a single booking) will save you a substantial amount of money. When you do book back to backs (and we have quite a few) you do not need to get off the ship between cruises. Depends where you are for turnaround day. USA ports require the passenger count to be zeroed out which means 100% of the passengers must exit the ship. Sometimes the exiting might be done as a group in an onboard venue without actually leaving the ship. Turnaround day in most ports outside the USA does not require the same zeroing of passenger count. As to cabins you can sometimes book the same cabin for all the segments....and other times you might need (or want) to change cabins between some or all the segments. Changing cabins is a minor pain....but the cabin stewards help to make it less of a hassle. We leave our clothes on hangers and put everything else in our luggage. A steward will bring a cart, load all the stuff and take it to your new cabin.

 

Hank

see above in red

Just wondering since it takes six cruises to get to platinum status, would Princess count a b2b2b as one cruise or three?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I thought your status was calculated on how many sea days not how many cruises you take? So it wouldn't matter how your b2b2b was counted, it's the total number of days at sea. That's my understanding anyway. :)

I thought your status was calculated on how many sea days not how many cruises you take? So it wouldn't matter how your b2b2b was counted, it's the total number of days at sea. That's my understanding anyway. :)

Status in the Captain's Circle is based on number of days or cruise credits. Whichever is best for you. For example, to be platinum you need either 50 days or 5 cruise credits. Elite is 150 days or 15 cruise credits.

I've had both ways with our internet minutes--carrying over automatically and not carrying over. It seems to be hit or miss. The time they did not carry over did not matter since we had plenty of minutes.

I'm presuming your referring to your last Royal cruise a short while ago.

Although our minutes did transfer automatically on the Royal, I'm just trying to figure out the secret to having them transfer. ;)The internet manager couldn't say.