Back to back sailings - pros & cons

[Suzy B]

We are seriously considering doing a 7 night back to back sailing. Both weeks have different itineraries. Luckily, the same stateroom is available for BOTH sailings. :D Should we jump at this oppertunity?

 

Just what are the pros & cons of doing a back to back sailing? Do you have to get off the ship after the first sailing, then get back on? Do you have to take your luggage off with you? Any issues with the Set Sail Pass?

 

Thanking you in advance,

Suzy B

[Clarea]

You may have to get off the ship briefly between sailings. It depends on the port and ship.

 

You do not have to pack and take your bags off. That's one of the nice features of having the same stateroom.

 

You should fill out the online check-in info for both cruises, but you normally don't need the SetSail pass for the second cruise.

[Beachin2]

We like doing B2B. Sometimes 7 nights just isn't long enough and a B2B with different itineraries really fills the bill.

 

In our experience you do need to briefly get off the ship (say hi to the ICE guy/gal) and then right back on.

 

On our last one I watched a twenty-something guy push & shove his way aboard and loudly proclaimed that he was first aboard; look on his face when I told him "no you're not" - priceless.

 

Enjoy your B2B - it will spoil you.

[OCruisers]

B2B cruises are wonderful!

Your turn around day is easy.

You'll be sent a letter to your cabin telling you exactly what to do and where to meet. Happily, no packing when you're in the same cabin. :)

LuLu

~~~

[Cliftoncruz]

We have done B2B out of Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and New Orleans-no problems at all. We had a crew members form guest services walk us through ICE, and escort us back on the ship. Royal has a special lunch for B2B(Consecutive cruisers).

 

However, we will be doing a B2B in San Juan shortly. Anyone know how that process works in an Juan?

[ARCruisinNana]

B2Bs are wonderful, especially when you can stay in the same cabin. There's nothing like the last day of the first cruise when others are having to pack and are worried about getting up early the next morning to go home:D Sometimes there is a luncheon for those doing the B2B, but not always. It depends on the ship and how many are doing the B2B. Check to see if there are excursions available on turnaround day. I'm doing a B2B starting next week:D Book it and have a wonderful time.

[Valiamo]

We are seriously considering doing a 7 night back to back sailing. Both weeks have different itineraries. Luckily, the same stateroom is available for BOTH sailings. :D Should we jump at this oppertunity?

 

Just what are the pros & cons of doing a back to back sailing? Do you have to get off the ship after the first sailing, then get back on? Do you have to take your luggage off with you? Any issues with the Set Sail Pass?

 

Thanking you in advance,

Suzy B

 

What could be a con to taking 14 days on a cruise ship! :D I am so looking forward to our B2B, gonna treat the turnover day as an excursion day, rent a car, and give the DW and me some retail thearpy! Look out FLL here we come!

[Merly]

Have done a couple with no issues. Had to get off briefly. you have to settle your account for the first week and start afresh for the second as they are 2 cruises. You will get a new sea pass card. We have had a nice special lunch organised on change over day. You do have access to your cabin. The doors to the corridor will be closed but you can open them. If any one tries to stop you just tell them you are consecutive cruisers.

[alfaeric]

In our experience you do need to briefly get off the ship (say hi to the ICE guy/gal) and then right back on.

 

Funny story about our first B2B- we had timed it so that the turn around day was on a special birthday for my wife. The ICE guy didn't notice, so we suggested that he look closer at her passport. Once he did, he got it, and pulled out his manual stamp and stamped both of our passports.

 

It was really cool.

 

We've only done two- Liberty gave us a special lunch, Enchantment did not. Both required us to leave the ship briefly. We had a great time on both, and hope to do it again.

[marklodi]

On our last one I watched a twenty-something guy push & shove his way aboard and loudly proclaimed that he was first aboard; look on his face when I told him "no you're not" - priceless.

 

Love it! :)

[jhagen]

Can think of no negatives to a B2B, especially if you are doing different ports or traveling a long distance to get there. The longer cruise the better as long as you have the money and time. We have done two and have Oasis coming up Nov 29, and Dec 6, Eastern then western Caribbean.

[aerospace]

Pro's: increase the ports you like and more variety. The cruise I'm looking at has a different itinerary with for 3 weeks, so if I do b2b2b it's new each week. There is no 21 day cruise that would compare. Plus you only get lost the first week...usually.

 

Con's: Turn around day has in my experience been at best poorly organized. Most staff don't know the procedure and will make up an answer and not ask. I was on Epic 3 weeks in a row and on the first week it was a breeze, on and back in 5 mins. 2nd week they told us we had to wait until after general boarding started and had to take a number as if we just arrived. This would have made us like 200th to get on. Later they figured it out and let us on first. 3rd sailing by the time they found all the missing guests to get off and we got off the ship ICE had left. So no one could check our passports, we walked past the screening, took the elevator back up and got back on the ship never having been checked lol.

[CVU]

Only pros

Some work better than others but better than getting off the ship to go home!!

[edeneyes]

We have done B2B out of Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and New Orleans-no problems at all. We had a crew members form guest services walk us through ICE, and escort us back on the ship. Royal has a special lunch for B2B(Consecutive cruisers).

 

However, we will be doing a B2B in San Juan shortly. Anyone know how that process works in an Juan?

 

 

We just finished a b2b out of San Juan. We were walked off the ship through customs and back on at 10AM. 10 minutes. Very easy. If you do decide to get off earlier, you won't be able to return until 11am.

 

 

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[Cliftoncruz]

edeneyes,

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Oh, yes my DW reminded me about a funny incident on our B2B about 7 years ago on the Majesty. It was just my DW, DS, and I doing the B2B. We were escorted off by Guest Service Manager, and brought to Customs. We were cleared and brought back to ship in about 2 minutes. That is where the fun began. About 15 munutes after we on the ship our name began being paged and were told to go to security. When we arrived at security they wanted to know why we were still on the ship. Explained doing a B2B, and had checked in the customs. We were sent on our way. About 30 minutes later we were paged again. Went to security we had to run our old seapass through the machine then the new seapass. Sent on our way. At about 11:30 when they are about to board to new passengers, we were paged again. Went to security. They could not figure out why it kept us showing still on the ship for previous cruise. This time the Captain was at security along with hotel director, security manager and customer service manager. Apparently we were holding up the boarding process. What they did was manually clear us from the past cruise. No could explain why it happened. This never happened on any other B2B. We all though it was pretty hysterical. During the cruise numerous times we had to go to customer service to re-activate our seapasses.

 

I always wondered what would have happened if we decided on leaving the ship after going to customs, an option we were offered.

[megr1125]

The only con is that, at the end of the 2nd leg, they kick you off the ship..:D

 

Go for it....B2Bs are AWESOME

[Mykitteh]

Pro:

 

I got the whole deck to myself, no chair hogs with stuff about, plenty of loungers just for me, just meeeee

 

 

In seriousness we had to get off while they got a zero count and got back on right away. Our next seapasses arrived about day 6 of the first leg as well as a letter saying charges put onto CC blah blah or come see guest services if paying cash blah blah. We were off by 11:15am and back on by 11:30 :D

[newparents]

We are seriously considering doing a 7 night back to back sailing. Both weeks have different itineraries. Luckily, the same stateroom is available for BOTH sailings. :D Should we jump at this oppertunity?

 

Just what are the pros & cons of doing a back to back sailing? Do you have to get off the ship after the first sailing, then get back on? Do you have to take your luggage off with you? Any issues with the Set Sail Pass?

 

Thanking you in advance,

Suzy B

 

We only do b2b's its great, u wont be sorry, get yourself booked up.

 

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[George C]

Only did it once and it was great, very easy to win triva on second week since they ask almost the same questions.

[nomoreknothead]

We are set to take our first B2B in November,2014! We are so excited :D Glad to see so many recommend them.

Our last cruise was "the straw that broke the camels back" ... It was the night before :( and we were standing on the balcony enjoying our "last" bit of cruise. Our neighbors came out and we started talking about this being the sad part of a cruise ..... When he pipes up and says "We're on for another week !!" Fast forward to the next morning when the alarm went off at the _utt crack of dawn ..... I'm thinking they are still over there in the bed. Fast Forward again to where we are standing in a LONG line waiting to get off the ship for 2 hours & I'm thinking , they are enjoying a leisurely breakfast and getting ready to enjoy an empty ship!! :mad::mad:

Back at home, tired, grumpy and covered up in dirty laundry needing to be dealt with ....I march myself over to the computer and add a 2nd week to our already booked future cruise :p ...... Now I can be the one that gets to say "We'er on for another week!!"

[bonsai3s]

...You'll love em'.

 

Wish we had done them sooner. Back when we were young, we could only afford and only had the time for a 7-day cruise. When we got a little older and had more money and time...the cruises got longer.

 

Then we discovered B2B (and B2B2B's)....absolutely wonderful. We've also done quite a number of consecutive cruises (same port, different ships)...here's our funny story:

 

We were on the inaugural sailing of the Allure of the Seas...after disembarking the Allure, we went straight to the Celebrity Solstice. On our first day on the Solstice, we met some new friends onboard who asked: "How was your flight?" I responded with a smile: "We walked". :D

[negc]

So far the only 'con' seems to have involved NCL and not RCI. :D We have done a couple of b2bs on Royal Caribbean and thoroughly enjoyed the experience

[sailingduo]

Our cruise this February was our 1st b2b, we loved being on the ship for the 2 sailings. We did alternate itineraries each week that was great too. As for our cruise next Feb? there was no question it would be another b2b.

[Kat in CA]

Recently did a back to back out of San Juan on different ships. Embarkation/debarkation was so easy. We were last off the Summit and one of the first on the Jewel-- a tip for the porter and we did not even have to wheel our luggage. It was fun seeing different shows and having different menus.

Our only regret: second week we did an ocean view instead of a balcony. We missed the balcony. Should have done this leg first instead of second.

[CAT GIRL]

We have done a few b2b's and I agree with all that has been

posted. I'm going to throw in a con here. For us, the anticipation

of a cruise is so much a part of the cruise experience. In doing a

b2b we are cheated out on some of our cruise anticipation. I mean

we aren't excited twice as much because the cruise is longer. We're

just happy going on a cruise whether it's a 4 nighter or a 15 nighter.

 

Definate pro for us is saving on airfare and getting to know

the staff and crew.