Consecutive Cruisers Cluster

I am currently on Serenade of the Seas, completing a 5 night Canada/New England cruise. Will be continuing on from Boston tomorrow for a 12 night repositioning.

We have to change cabins on this back to back. Last night received disembarkation tags. Went to Guest Services this morning to remind them that we are not ending our cruise tomorrow. Was told, we should have mentioned this at this mornings meeting. “What meeting”I asked. Apparently we were supposed to receive an invitation to the special meeting that explains the procedures. Obviously we did not receive it, ok not so much a problem. I asked what we were supposed to do and get the info.

Go to the Diamond lounge and meet up with another consecutive cruiser - we get to talking and she tells me what she was told at the meeting. Completely different from what guest services told me.

Go back to guest services and speak with some officer who says, “yes! We had 2 cabins not show up for the meeting”. Did anyone think to call the 2 cabins to see if they had the necessary info- no. He tells me yet a different story of what is to happen, but says that there will be a letter in my cabin this evening. I figure that is the letter that was given out at the meeting.

Come back from dinner and no letter - I get the don’t forget to set the clock back 1 hour and don’t forget to empty your safe information. Nothing else.

I am PISSED at this point, and I go to guest services to get a copy of the letter. I try to calm down but there is a gentleman playing steel drums (why? We are heading into Boston, not Jamaica) who has no singing talent and is quite painful to listen to. Anyway, get to the desk, took a couple of deep breaths and tell the young lady what my problem is and that I would like a copy of the letter I was to receive.

She leaves and comes back and tells me “you have an appointment at Cafe Lattitudes at 10:00 in the morning, but you have to go through immigration before that. And if you are leaving the ship (which we have to) you have to leave by 10:00”. I asked her how I was supposed to be at a meeting onboard at the time I had to be off ship. “Yeah, that didn’t sound right to Me”, she says. She steps away and comes back with “if you are getting off the ship you don’t need to go to the meeting”. So what is this meeting about? Anyway I thanked her and went back to the cabin, where I went through this with my husband.

We then try to call our cabin steward, to get a copy of “the letter”. Was told that the steward would be back up at 6:30 in the morning. Hello! So I call the operator as I am now looking for the Hotel Director. Phone is on continual ring.

At this point husband takes over as I am about to do something that would probably end in my arrest! He called Guest Services and asked for the manager, was told there is not one on duty. WHAT! No manager in guest services on the last night of a cruise when everyone is confused about procedure and asking questions about billing.

Anyways, 2 phone calls and 2 visits from various people and we are finally told yet another scenario for the morning. I’m done! Thank you very much, we will do something tomorrow and hope our luggage gets moved 7 doors down in the morning.

I now have to make a decision as to whether I will cancel the 3 cruises I have planned with RCCL for 2018. If asked right now, I would cancel and book with Princess or Oceania. The level of incompetence in customer service is absolutely mind-boggling! I can’t blame the individual’s in Guest Services as they are apparently left with no management in the evening! Would love to see their procedure manuals and then have upper management actually work Guest Services! Thanks for listening to my rant!

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This is one reason why I always go to Guest Services early during the first cruise and confirm we are on the consecutive cruisers list.

Sorry, can't read . Can you please repost with paragraphs?

Thank you so much!!:D

This is one reason why I always go to Guest Services early during the first cruise and confirm we are on the consecutive cruisers list.

Didn’t know there was such a list. Thank you for that info.

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Didn’t know there was such a list. Thank you for that info.

 

 

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Us either. We are on our first b2b starting on Sunday on Oasis. We'll have to remember to go to GS.

Sorry, can't read . Can you please repost with paragraphs?

 

Thank you so much!!:D

You can see that she "sort of" has paragraphs. At least you can see breaks for somewhat easier reading. Easier than some posts. Give her a break, please. :D

Many posters on this forum have reported how organized and easy it was making the back-to-back transition with RCI. It does seem your room steward may not have been aware you were staying aboard.

As Bob mentioned, it's always important to confirm you are on the consecutive cruisers list and they will provide your with the day/time/location of the b2b transition meeting. Lastly, it's important your room steward know so they can get your clothing moved into closets on turnover day.

It sounds like you had a horrible experience and clearly RCI should have done lots more to include you in meeting specifics. I hope if you have another b2b on RCI the transition goes much, much smoother.

I had to laugh. Someone is getting stressed out over nothing.

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I had to laugh. Someone is getting stressed out over nothing.

 

 

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Nothing? Different answers is nothing?

You can see that she "sort of" has paragraphs. At least you can see breaks for somewhat easier reading. Easier than some posts. Give her a break, please. :D

In her defense I went back and edited it. Not sure how to place Paragraphs since it all refers to the same incident.

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Many posters on this forum have reported how organized and easy it was making the back-to-back transition with RCI. It does seem your room steward may not have been aware you were staying aboard.

 

As Bob mentioned, it's always important to confirm you are on the consecutive cruisers list and they will provide your with the day/time/location of the b2b transition meeting. Lastly, it's important your room steward know so they can get your clothing moved into closets on turnover day.

 

It sounds like you had a horrible experience and clearly RCI should have done lots more to include you in meeting specifics. I hope if you have another b2b on RCI the transition goes much, much smoother.

Would agree with this which is why we told our room steward on day 1 that we were continuing on and changing cabins. By his response it appeared that he understood that.

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I had to laugh. Someone is getting stressed out over nothing.

 

 

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Is this directed at me? Not knowing what you are doing in response to customs and immigration and who is moving what, when and how, is quite stressful.

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Nothing? Different answers is nothing?

Thank you!

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Many posters on this forum have reported how organized and easy it was making the back-to-back transition with RCI. It does seem your room steward may not have been aware you were staying aboard.

 

As Bob mentioned, it's always important to confirm you are on the consecutive cruisers list and they will provide your with the day/time/location of the b2b transition meeting. Lastly, it's important your room steward know so they can get your clothing moved into closets on turnover day.

 

It sounds like you had a horrible experience and clearly RCI should have done lots more to include you in meeting specifics. I hope if you have another b2b on RCI the transition goes much, much smoother.

If we do another RCCL cruise and do a back to back we will make sure we do not move cabins!

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Sorry, can't read . Can you please repost with paragraphs?

 

Thank you so much!!:D

You can see that she "sort of" has paragraphs. At least you can see breaks for somewhat easier reading. Easier than some posts. Give her a break, please. :D

Agree with dd. Give the original poster a break. Can not you see that original poster is relatively new to posting on CC. I had no trouble reading her post.

If we do another RCCL cruise and do a back to back we will make sure we do not move cabins!

 

 

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Yes, much easier if you do not change staterooms when you do back to back cruises. Even if you do not change staterooms, as Bob earlier stated go to Guest Services early in the first cruise to make sure you are on their consecutive cruiser list. Also let your stateroom attendant know you will be on board for the next cruise.

Very sorry to hear of your horror story on your previous back to back cruise. We have done lots of back to backs (and some with stateroom changes) and never experienced any of the problems you mentioned.

Agree with dd. Give the original poster a break. Can not you see that original poster is relatively new to posting on CC. I had no trouble reading her post.

Nor did I have any problems reading either. Some complain over absolutely nothing.

A bit puzzled. OP knows term "back to back" but apparently hasn't seen numerous discussions of this on Cruise Critic. Also went to Diamond Lounge, so is experienced cruiser.

It isn't all that unusual not to get the letter about the meeting, but she SHOULD have been able to get a copy at Guest Services, and they SHOULD have been able to brief her on the spot. We've had to do this a couple of times. Would have helped if she had contacted them earlier, but even on last night they SHOULD have been able to help her.

If both stewards knew about the move they should have taken care of luggage, so all she really needed was to pick up new cruise cards and either process through Immigration with the group or leave earlier and come back later after boarding started.

By the way, Princess isn't any better at this than Royal - you still have to remind them you are staying on for the next cruise.

First, when you checked in online, arrival & departure information, the site ask you if you are consecutive passenger.

Tell your room steward when you first meet him during your first week. He will ask is you are staying in same room or changing room.

Consecutive cruisers meet at a designated area on the morning of disembarkation and are escorted off the ship. You wait in an area and are given your new SeaPass card. Then an Immigration Officer will come by (you don’t need to do anything, I think they just do a head count) and you are escorted back onboard.

Once onboard, you will be served a special lunch, usually in one of the Specialty restaurants.

You have to leave the ship briefly because Immigration needs the ship to have “zero passenger” count to complete disembarkation.

A bit puzzled. OP knows term "back to back" but apparently hasn't seen numerous discussions of this on Cruise Critic. Also went to Diamond Lounge, so is experienced cruiser.

 

It isn't all that unusual not to get the letter about the meeting, but she SHOULD have been able to get a copy at Guest Services, and they SHOULD have been able to brief her on the spot. We've had to do this a couple of times. Would have helped if she had contacted them earlier, but even on last night they SHOULD have been able to help her.

 

If both stewards knew about the move they should have taken care of luggage, so all she really needed was to pick up new cruise cards and either process through Immigration with the group or leave earlier and come back later after boarding started.

 

By the way, Princess isn't any better at this than Royal - you still have to remind them you are staying on for the next cruise.

Just because a cruiser is Diamond or better doesn't mean they are experienced with B2B cruises. We did our first B2B when we were triple diamond plus.

I had to laugh. Someone is getting stressed out over nothing.

 

 

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there is no way this is 'nothing'

there is a real possibility that their clothes/luggage could end up lost or misplaced if this is not clearly communicated and handled correctly. and sorry, but no night management is inexcusable. wake somebody up if you have to. getting 5 different answers on board is ridiculous.

Didn’t know there was such a list. Thank you for that info.

 

 

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Also, when you book a b2b, it's always a good idea to have then linked. You can ask your TA or whomever you booked with to do that with the Consecutive Cruise Desk. Then when filling out your SetSail Pass for your first cruise, on the departure page there is a place to indicate if you are a consecutive cruiser.

Just because a cruiser is Diamond or better doesn't mean they are experienced with B2B cruises. We did our first B2B when we were triple diamond plus.

Yup! With 34 cruises in the books our first B2B will be in February but it's Allure to Silhouette. Not to make light of the OP's situation but we just received notice that Silhouette will be boarding in Miami for our cruise instead of Everglades. Talk about the potential for a screw up. They've planned shuttles from FLL to POM but not PE to POM. They say they're working on it. :eek::D

I have been on many B2B's (with different staterooms) and after going to the first meeting I never went to another one.

Basically when changing staterooms you pack everything in your drawers and bathroom in a suitcase and they will be delivered to your new stateroom, including the hanging clothes in your closet, which you do not have to pack.

BEWARE - Any items left in the bathroom will be lost forever. THE REASON is that a separate dedicated crew cleans the bathroom and they throw EVERYTHING away that does not belong to the ship.

These should be in your new stateroom after you get off the ship - go through immigrations and go back on board.

Generally you meet in a designated lounge where you begin the process of disembarkation.

If they haven't already left your new seapass cards in your room the night before, they will give you your new seapass cards at the lounge in an envelope which will also include a (In Transit) card.

The Intransit Card allows you to get off the ship - go on a tour or whatever - then when you come back to the ship you just present this In Transit card so you don't have to wait in any lines while reboarding the ship.

As others have mentioned there will be a special lunch in one of the MDR's for consecutive cruisers, if there are enough cruisers to warrant for this.

Each ship and port handles this disembarkation differently due to the U.S. immigration laws and regulations pertaining to that facility.

But, as another poster noted, this is a big to do over nothing and actually not worth getting stressed out over.

The stress comes from the fear of the unknown.

Enjoy your cruise

We did our first B2B when we were triple diamond plus.

How many points is that?