B2B cruise question

[Sunchaser46]

Can anyone tell me what happens when we are in ft lauderdale at the halfway point of a b2b cruise? Are we able to get off the ship (Regal in March) and treat it as a normal port? Will we have to clear customs? Any info on a b2b cruise would be helpful as this is our first one!

Thanks!

[42CruiseCrazy]

Did back to back last year. Yes you must clear customs even if you stay on the ship. If you wish to see Fort Lauderdale you can clear customs and then return to the ship before the Embarkation deadline (at least two hours before sail away)

 

 

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[Lidolounger]

At the end of your first cruise, you'll receive info telling you where and what time to meet on the ship with others doing the B2B. Fill out Customs card, bring your current sail and sign, and passport.

Once all B2B people are present, a crew member will escort you off the ship and back on.

If you want to spend the day in Ft Lauderdale, you can use the passenger in transit form, get off ship and do your thing.

 

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[Ereggae]

Yes it is mandatory that you get off and you will be told when to return. You will be guided to a special entrance upon return. There is shopping close by and a nice restaurant on the water Bimini Boatyard. You can also walk over the bridge to the beach. It's a nice long walk and we did it both ways.

 

 

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[satxdiver]

Yes you can get off the ship with all the debarking pax but be sure to take your passport and seacard. To leave the terminal you will have to go through customs to leave the terminal (re-enter the US). When you return to the terminal, you will have to clear the security area and show your passports to get a boarding ticket.

 

If you decide not to leave the terminal, you will be directed to a special area usually the lounge to wait until most of the pax have left the ship. You will then be taken as a group to customs/immigration and will need to show your passports. They then take you to the holding area awaiting embarking. You will be one of the first to reboard the ship.

[ar1950]

At the end of your first cruise, you'll receive info telling you where and what time to meet on the ship with others doing the B2B. Fill out Customs card, bring your current sail and sign, and passport.

Once all B2B people are present, a crew member will escort you off the ship and back on.

If you want to spend the day in Ft Lauderdale, you can use the passenger in transit form, get off ship and do your thing.

 

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If you actually want to have time to do something in Ft. Lauderdale, just walk off as early as you want after disembarkation has begun. Bring your passport for customs, your cruise card to get off and back on the ship and your in-transit card for getting back on the ship (you will get that in your B2B packet the night before). No need to wait for the B2B group. Before anyone says "the ship won't know where you are if you are not with the group in the assigned meeting place", yes they will. You get scanned when you leave the ship so, yeah, they know you are off. Come back on board anytime after the regular embarkation has begun. We've done this a few times. Enjoy your cruise(s). :D

[OCruisers]

If you actually want to have time to do something in Ft. Lauderdale, just walk off as early as you want after disembarkation has begun. Bring your passport for customs, your cruise card to get off and back on the ship and your in-transit card for getting back on the ship (you will get that in your B2B packet the night before). No need to wait for the B2B group. Before anyone says "the ship won't know where you are if you are not with the group in the assigned meeting place", yes they will. You get scanned when you leave the ship so, yeah, they know you are off. Come back on board anytime after the regular embarkation has begun. We've done this a few times. Enjoy your cruise(s). :D

 

The above is totally accurate and explained perfectly.

We take B2B and/or B2B2B cruises out of FLL every year on Princess.

Easy! Enjoy your B2B cruise. :)

[-Lew-]

 

If you actually want to have time to do something in Ft. Lauderdale, just walk off as early as you want after disembarkation has begun. Bring your passport for customs, your cruise card to get off and back on the ship and your in-transit card for getting back on the ship (you will get that in your B2B packet the night before). No need to wait for the B2B group.

Well said! I would add only that there's no need to complete a Customs Declaration until final disembarkation. It's not needed between two legs of a B2B.

 

[diane.in.ny]

Yes it is mandatory that you get off and you will be told when to return. You will be guided to a special entrance upon return. There is shopping close by and a nice restaurant on the water Bimini Boatyard. You can also walk over the bridge to the beach. It's a nice long walk and we did it both ways.

 

 

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You MUST get off the ship????

 

We are doing an advertised 21 day Med cruise that is actually a 10 day and 11 day B2B. Will we HAVE to get off for the day in Civitavecchia?

[ar1950]

You MUST get off the ship????

 

We are doing an advertised 21 day Med cruise that is actually a 10 day and 11 day B2B. Will we HAVE to get off for the day in Civitavecchia?

 

You need to get off in the US. Europe is different. However, if we are in Italy we would definitely want to get off and do something while the ship is in port. But, not judging here, that is just what we would do. :D

[-Lew-]

 

We are doing an advertised 21 day Med cruise that is actually a 10 day and 11 day B2B. Will we HAVE to get off for the day in Civitavecchia?

No...

 

[BRANDEE]

Our last two b2bs in FLL, we did not get off the ship. We were instructed to report to one of the dining rooms and customs/immigration cleared us right there. As we left the dining room we were scanned back on the ship. This took all of one hour. We did not know if we were getting off until the agent arrived in the dining room. The first time there were over 1000 b2bers and the second time under 250 b2bers.

[ar1950]

Our last two b2bs in FLL, we did not get off the ship. We were instructed to report to one of the dining rooms and customs/immigration cleared us right there. As we left the dining room we were scanned back on the ship. This took all of one hour. We did not know if we were getting off until the agent arrived in the dining room. The first time there were over 1000 b2bers and the second time under 250 b2bers.

 

All the more reason to not fool around with the group B2B clearing procedure if you want to take advantage of doing something in FLL. We have done a couple of different tours and we have done shopping near the port. We find it better than wasting (our opinion only, don't take it wrong) the whole day on the ship. A lot of wasted time doing the B2B procedure. Again, just our opinion. YMMV :)

Edited December 5, 2016 by ar1950

[42CruiseCrazy]

Our last two b2bs in FLL, we did not get off the ship. We were instructed to report to one of the dining rooms and customs/immigration cleared us right there. As we left the dining room we were scanned back on the ship. This took all of one hour. We did not know if we were getting off until the agent arrived in the dining room. The first time there were over 1000 b2bers and the second time under 250 b2bers.

 

 

Wow! 1000 b2b Pax! Our cruise last Spring was one week Caribbean next week Bermuda and surprisingly we were the only B2B couple. They told us to report to CustomerService desk at a certain time and be escorted off the ship. But because of my wife's disability the Customs officer came on board the ship to meet us and so we never set foot off the ship that day.

 

 

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[caribill]

All the more reason to not fool around with the group B2B clearing procedure if you want to take advantage of doing something in FLL. We have done a couple of different tours and we have done shopping near the port. We find it better than wasting (our opinion only, don't take it wrong) the whole day on the ship. A lot of wasted time doing the B2B procedure. Again, just our opinion. YMMV :)

 

And a good opinion it is.

 

It was turnaround day on another cruise line in San Juan. We had advised some people to get off the ship, not wait around for the on board immigration experience. They did not take our advice.

 

We left the ship around 9 AM and had a great day in San Juan.

 

They went to the on board immigration and spent over two hours there as it was a total mess. By the time it was over, they said it was not worth what little time was left to get off and see the city.

[skynight]

See this thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2429042

 

Refer to post #16 for information

[floridalover5623]

I left the ship in Ft Lauderdale on a B2B at terminal 2 recently on my own as have done in past years. For some reason there use to be a separate entrance for the in-transit people around the side of the main entrance but it's not used for in-transit people any longer.

When I arrived back to the terminal there were hundreds of people lined up waiting to board and no one knew where to direct me until finally they decided to let me enter ahead of the line.

It's like they never had to deal with in-transit people before.

[diane.in.ny]

We find it better than wasting (our opinion only, don't take it wrong) the whole day on the ship.

 

Definitely not taking it wrong ... just another opinion. We, on the other hand, love spending the day on a quiet ship. We pick an itinerary with about a 50/50 split of ports we've been to and new ports.

 

Of course the new ports we do the whole tourist thing. In old ports, we stay on board and rest up so we can do the whole tourist thing at the next port of call. :D

[ar1950]

I left the ship in Ft Lauderdale on a B2B at terminal 2 recently on my own as have done in past years. For some reason there use to be a separate entrance for the in-transit people around the side of the main entrance but it's not used for in-transit people any longer.

When I arrived back to the terminal there were hundreds of people lined up waiting to board and no one knew where to direct me until finally they decided to let me enter ahead of the line.

It's like they never had to deal with in-transit people before.

 

We, too, had a similar experience one time in Ft. Lauderdale when re-boarding. The first volunteer pointed us where to go. A second one blocked us at a door leading to the escalator. We explained what we were doing and she said she need to check this and would be back. In the mean time a third volunteer who knew what was what told us just take the elevator behind us. Once on the second floor we were able to join the line at the gangway and we were on in a couple minutes.

 

I believe that many, if not most, of the embarkation workers are volunteers so it is probably true that some of them have never had to deal with in-transit people before.

[floridalover5623]

We, too, had a similar experience one time in Ft. Lauderdale when re-boarding. The first volunteer pointed us where to go. A second one blocked us at a door leading to the escalator. We explained what we were doing and she said she need to check this and would be back. In the mean time a third volunteer who knew what was what told us just take the elevator behind us. Once on the second floor we were able to join the line at the gangway and we were on in a couple minutes.

 

I believe that many, if not most, of the embarkation workers are volunteers so it is probably true that some of them have never had to deal with in-transit people before.

 

Yea I hit that women also by the elevator. You would think after the first few people with in-transit cards she would know what to do. Strange.

[caribill]

I believe that many, if not most, of the embarkation workers are volunteers so it is probably true that some of them have never had to deal with in-transit people before.

 

They are not volunteers, but they do not work for Princess.

 

They work for the port and will do work for Princess and all the other lines that dock there. Thus they may not be familiar with how every cruise line does things.

[ar1950]

They are not volunteers, but they do not work for Princess.

 

They work for the port and will do work for Princess and all the other lines that dock there. Thus they may not be familiar with how every cruise line does things.

 

Hmm, we were told that many of them volunteer for cruise credits. Maybe Tom, aka Pierlesscruisers, in Seattle could weigh in here and clarify the embarkation folks actual status. We always wondered how the whole thing came together as far as the port operation.

[ar1950]

They are not volunteers, but they do not work for Princess.

 

They work for the port and will do work for Princess and all the other lines that dock there. Thus they may not be familiar with how every cruise line does things.

 

In any event, they certainly should have been briefed as to how the B2B re-embarkation procedure should have worked. Maybe? Just sayin' here....:confused: Not the first time we had a B2B. Just the first time we had an issue.

[AKman2495]

One other thing to mention is that on some cruises, Princess has set up tours of FLL. On our last B2B in FLL we scheduled a trip to the everglades and to the Flamingo Gardens. They work these trips on conjunction with an airport run.

 

You get off the ship (with your in transit card and new cruise card and ID), get on the bus go through the tour, stop by the airport and return to the ship.

 

Once there, you breeze through security and just board the ship. We had about 30 people in our group and be blew by the photographers and we were on the ship in no time.

 

The tour was a typical Princess tour-good. We got to see a little of Florida and the Flamingo Gardens is a great place to visit.

 

Even if you don't take a tour, if you haven't spent a lot of time in South Florida, I would say check it out-at least once. It is worth getting off the ship to see.