B2B on INDY: what to do changeover day?

[serious sealeggs]

We'll be on INDY in Feb for B2B sailings from Ft Lauderdale. Have no desire to really venture off the ship this day during changeover. What do you do onboard on this day? What is available? Access times to certain areas? Etc.

[Clarea]

We'll be on INDY in Feb for B2B sailings from Ft Lauderdale. Have no desire to really venture off the ship this day during changeover. What do you do onboard on this day? What is available? Access times to certain areas? Etc.

After around 11:30am, new cruisers will be boarding and facilities (WJ, bars, pool) will start opening.

[dplusd]

Depending on the number of consecutive cruisers, they may have a special lunch in the MDR. We found in very nice on our recent B2B on the Liberty.

[Firefighterhoop]

There will be a set time to meet (usually between 930-10) you will be taken off the ship and then brought through customs, and then possibly have to wait for a short time while they clear the ship and then you will be let back on.

 

Once you are back on usually the pools are open. I believe boarding time for Indy is 11-1130, so as others have said almost everything should be open at that point with the windjammer opening shortly thereafter.

 

Depending on the ship they may or may not have a diningroom lunch for back2back folks, otherwise again the windjammer will be open between 11-1130.

 

You will have access to your room all day if you are keeping the same room. If you are not keeping the same room, let your stateroom attendant know during the previous cruise so they will be able to work with your new one to get it ready right away changeover morning. Often I have had my stuff already moved and set up in the new room before we have had to get off the ship for customs... However that also depends on how fast the previous cruisers have left the room.

[yogimax]

We are also doing a back to back on Independence but in January. We will be switching cabins. So how does it work with our clothes and other items? Who actually moves them?

[dplusd]

We are also doing a back to back on Independence but in January. We will be switching cabins. So how does it work with our clothes and other items? Who actually moves them?

 

The stateroom attendant for your first cruise will bring you a rolling hanging rack the morning of departure. Hang your hanging items on it and pack up everything else in your suitcase and place it on the rolling rack. Your attendant will deliver it to your new room and let your new room steward know to have your room ready as early as possible. Very simple and we do tip our steward for the extra work on their busy turn-around day.

[serious sealeggs]

We're staying in the same stateroom. Do we have to leave at a certain time? Can we sleep in later? Would love to avoid the crowd at windjammer and find a decent breakfast. Any. Advice welcome

[Clarea]

We are also doing a back to back on Independence but in January. We will be switching cabins. So how does it work with our clothes and other items? Who actually moves them?

It's a good idea to touch base with your second stateroom attendant so they can arrange to have your stateroom ready early to give you access as soon as possible.

[Merion_Mom]

We're staying in the same stateroom. Do we have to leave at a certain time? Can we sleep in later? Would love to avoid the crowd at windjammer and find a decent breakfast. Any. Advice welcome

 

Breakfast closes at 8 or 8:30. Sorry. But you can have an early lunch! :)

[BettyPC]

I am looking forward to having a B2B dilemma of what to do one day! Have a great time.

[cruisehappi]

We did a b2b on the Indy this past September. They were very organized with the "Consecutive Cruisers". We were given an instruction sheet a couple days before the end of the first cruise, explaining everything the previous posters stated above. There were about 70 of us. We were escorted off the ship, waited a little while, and escorted back on. While waiting, we asked if we could get an embarkation photo for the second cruise. We were escorted, along with others who wanted it, to the photo area and back. On reboarding, we were scheduled for an immediate private lunch in the main dining room. We pretty much had the run of the ship for a short time. It was a little uncomfortable getting to our cabin though. Upon opening the hallway doors (closed until all rooms are ready), a steward immediately yelled over his vacuum "rooms not clean yet!" We just yelled back that we had been on the prior cruise. It was awkward though, as the hallways were just full of cleaning equipment, we felt like we were in the way, and we got a lot of stares on the way to our cabin. Our own steward could not have been nicer though. She had cleaned our room first thing. It was a great experience, and we hope to do it again someday.