Clearing up B2B vs. 2 week cruise

[stoneman56]

OK we are back about a week now from our "2 week cruise" on the Seaside out of Miami.  I can see there is a heck of  a lot of confusion over this so I had it cleared up to me by the on board Voyager club rep on the seaside. 

 

Simple, a B2B is when you book 1 week twice, you might want to do them back to back but you have to book them as separate cruises with different order numbers. Just make sure the same cabin is available for week 2.  To be safe I would have 2 browsers open with both the weeks/cabin showing, book one then immediately book the other.  I've done a dummy booking and 2x1 week cruises B2B was the same price as booking 1 two week cruise. 

 

Why would you want to do this? Well if you do it  that way you get all the benefits twice. OBC twice, Aurea massages twice, if a Black card member 2 specialty dinner twice, 2 free gifts, 2 invites to the party with free photo, 2 x chocolate ships. 

 

A 2 week cruise is what most of you would book obviously, why not, why would you even think of booking 2 separate holidays? Well see above. 

You only get 1 of everything (except black card welcome drink and if Aurea you get the thermal spa for the 2 weeks.)

 

EXCEPT!!! 

We were on a 2 week cruise and got everything twice, we found out we weren't supposed to when I asked the Voyager Club rep why we hadn't received our cocktail party invites for the second week. She told us that we should say nothing and enjoy the benefits, oh and then invited us to the party (I only wanted another photo with the Captain with us in different outfits)

I thought something was up when on our second week by day 2 we hadn't received our card for the specialty meal again. I spoke to the Matie d about this, he checked his list and said our cabin number wasn't on it but he could see we were Black cards and put us on the list. The Spa girls didn't bat an eyelid when we went in to book our second massage. 

 

Whether you are B2B or 2 week you still have to vacate the ship on change over day. If you want to just get back on they corral you all together, escort you off, down to immigration, someone from there stands at the front of the line and you just file past them with passport open, they don't even take it off you, they just glance at it and you are free then to get back on the ship. We were herded off at 10:30am and back on board by 11. This is what happens if you are on a 2 week cruise, your account stays open as well. 

I assume on a B2B you have to vacate the ship then check in again with everyone else.

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by stoneman56

[grandgeezer]

1 hour ago, stoneman56 said:

OK we are back about a week now from our "2 week cruise" on the Seaside out of Miami.  I can see there is a heck of  a lot of confusion over this so I had it cleared up to me by the on board Voyager club rep on the seaside. 

 

Simple, a B2B is when you book 1 week twice, you might want to do them back to back but you have to book them as separate cruises with different order numbers. Just make sure the same cabin is available for week 2.  To be safe I would have 2 browsers open with both the weeks/cabin showing, book one then immediately book the other.  I've done a dummy booking and 2x1 week cruises B2B was the same price as booking 1 two week cruise. 

 

Why would you want to do this? Well if you do it  that way you get all the benefits twice. OBC twice, Aurea massages twice, if a Black card member 2 specialty dinner twice, 2 free gifts, 2 invites to the party with free photo, 2 x chocolate ships. 

 

A 2 week cruise is what most of you would book obviously, why not, why would you even think of booking 2 separate holidays? Well see above. 

You only get 1 of everything (except black card welcome drink and if Aurea you get the thermal spa for the 2 weeks.)

 

EXCEPT!!! 

We were on a 2 week cruise and got everything twice, we found out we weren't supposed to when I asked the Voyager Club rep why we hadn't received our cocktail party invites for the second week. She told us that we should say nothing and enjoy the benefits, oh and then invited us to the party (I only wanted another photo with the Captain with us in different outfits)

I thought something was up when on our second week by day 2 we hadn't received our card for the specialty meal again. I spoke to the Matie d about this, he checked his list and said our cabin number wasn't on it but he could see we were Black cards and put us on the list. The Spa girls didn't bat an eyelid when we went in to book our second massage. 

 

Whether you are B2B or 2 week you still have to vacate the ship on change over day. If you want to just get back on they corral you all together, escort you off, down to immigration, someone from there stands at the front of the line and you just file past them with passport open, they don't even take it off you, they just glance at it and you are free then to get back on the ship. We were herded off at 10:30am and back on board by 11. This is what happens if you are on a 2 week cruise, your account stays open as well. 

I assume on a B2B you have to vacate the ship then check in again with everyone else.

 

 

We just booked a 14 day cruise on the Seaside in October, 5th and 12th, in a Yacht Club Deluxe Suite. If you check, the price for booking the two seven day cruises is over double the price of the fourteen day one.

[Mighty_Fine]

Big negative is having to do the safety drill again on the second week if you book 2 x 7 night, we did a 14 night on the Seaside last March and didn't have to attend second week drill because It had 14 nights on the cruise card , we in the sunshine avoiding the mayhem the the second drill.

[stoneman56]

13 minutes ago, Mighty_Fine said:

Big negative is having to do the safety drill again on the second week if you book 2 x 7 night, we did a 14 night on the Seaside last March and didn't have to attend second week drill because It had 14 nights on the cruise card , we in the sunshine avoiding the mayhem the the second drill.

I was accosted twice by safety officers as I was going back to our cabin during the drill. They both insisted that I had to go to the drill even though I told them I had done it the week before. I paid no heed. 

The announcement quite clearly says that the drill is for those passengers that embarked that day. 

[Mighty_Fine]

13 minutes ago, stoneman56 said:

I was accosted twice by safety officers as I was going back to our cabin during the drill. They both insisted that I had to go to the drill even though I told them I had done it the week before. I paid no heed. 

The announcement quite clearly says that the drill is for those passengers that embarked that day. 

We had no problem , we were told as long as our card shows 14 night we didn't need to attend second drill.

[hamrag]

2 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

 

We just booked a 14 day cruise on the Seaside in October, 5th and 12th, in a Yacht Club Deluxe Suite. If you check, the price for booking the two seven day cruises is over double the price of the fourteen day one.

 

You can still get any on board perks in both weeks, by speaking to the YC concierge and insisting nicely that you are entitled to them. In the case of difficulty raise it with the Head Butler, who will resolve in your favour! IMHO it is only worth doing so if you have Black status, mainly for the speciality meal and chocolate ship.

[grandgeezer]

17 minutes ago, hamrag said:

 

You can still get any on board perks in both weeks, by speaking to the YC concierge and insisting nicely that you are entitled to them. In the case of difficulty raise it with the Head Butler, who will resolve in your favour! IMHO it is only worth doing so if you have Black status, mainly for the speciality meal and chocolate ship.

 

Thanks for the advise, we'll check on it when we board in October. Never thought about the specialty restaurant and chocolate ship. We do have "Black status.

 

[shipgeeks]

What I have been finding most curious is that booking two 7-nighters back-to-back is consistently cheaper than booking 14 nights on the same dates.  ???

 

[kelleherdl]

Thanks for these tips.  We have the two French Antilles cruises done as a 14-day collector this February. It would be nice to get the Blk Card perks twice.

 

Dennis

[hamrag]

12 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

What I have been finding most curious is that booking two 7-nighters back-to-back is consistently cheaper than booking 14 nights on the same dates.  ???

 

 

In our experience it can vary, one or other can cost less and there is no consistency. Across 14 cruiselines (43 cruises) we have seen this pricing quirk on many. We have on a few occasions booked two 7 nighters, to save money. A couple of times we could not match cabin, but that gets sorted between the cabin stewards and all we had to do was throw the small stuff into luggage which they also move for us. Hanging clothes are transferred on the hangers, and empty hangers from the new cabin returned to first cabin. It is seamless, especially if a 20 note is palmed for doing so!

 

Not sure about MSC, but on NCL (platinum) a couple of times we approached the Assistant Hotel Director towards the end of week one to see if any upgrades were available on week two. On one occasion only we were upgraded....from an inside to a balcony. We always book inside with NCL, and purchase a specialty dining package because the MDR food has declined in quality....like most other cruiselines.

Edited December 22, 2018 by hamrag

[hamrag]

9 hours ago, kelleherdl said:

Thanks for these tips.  We have the two French Antilles cruises done as a 14-day collector this February. It would be nice to get the Blk Card perks twice.

 

Dennis

 

Is that on Preziosa, and which date? We sail in Feb also!

[jeepfan2006]

OP, you bought up some great points. Thanks for the info.

[delaware32]

We are booked on a B2B . I was going to book as a 14 day but was told if I booked as a B2B we would receive the Drinks on Us promo but not if we booked the cruise as a 14 day . The price was the same so I  opted for the B2B  and upgraded the package to Classic (Premium ) .

[kelleherdl]

Yes. Preziosa.  I think we board 16 February in fort d france.  We are spending a couple of days in advance and after.

 

Dennis

[CruisingFox27]

Our B2B on Divina last year was significantly less expensive than the 14 night option and we did receive twice the perks. Our cards had the dates for the 14 nights and we didn't need to complete the safety drill twice. 

[ready2cruzagain]

On 12/21/2018 at 9:17 AM, stoneman56 said:

OK we are back about a week now from our "2 week cruise" on the Seaside out of Miami.  I can see there is a heck of  a lot of confusion over this so I had it cleared up to me by the on board Voyager club rep on the seaside. 

 

Simple, a B2B is when you book 1 week twice, you might want to do them back to back but you have to book them as separate cruises with different order numbers. Just make sure the same cabin is available for week 2.  To be safe I would have 2 browsers open with both the weeks/cabin showing, book one then immediately book the other.  I've done a dummy booking and 2x1 week cruises B2B was the same price as booking 1 two week cruise. 

 

Why would you want to do this? Well if you do it  that way you get all the benefits twice. OBC twice, Aurea massages twice, if a Black card member 2 specialty dinner twice, 2 free gifts, 2 invites to the party with free photo, 2 x chocolate ships. 

 

A 2 week cruise is what most of you would book obviously, why not, why would you even think of booking 2 separate holidays? Well see above. 

You only get 1 of everything (except black card welcome drink and if Aurea you get the thermal spa for the 2 weeks.)

 

EXCEPT!!! 

We were on a 2 week cruise and got everything twice, we found out we weren't supposed to when I asked the Voyager Club rep why we hadn't received our cocktail party invites for the second week. She told us that we should say nothing and enjoy the benefits, oh and then invited us to the party (I only wanted another photo with the Captain with us in different outfits)

I thought something was up when on our second week by day 2 we hadn't received our card for the specialty meal again. I spoke to the Matie d about this, he checked his list and said our cabin number wasn't on it but he could see we were Black cards and put us on the list. The Spa girls didn't bat an eyelid when we went in to book our second massage. 

 

Whether you are B2B or 2 week you still have to vacate the ship on change over day. If you want to just get back on they corral you all together, escort you off, down to immigration, someone from there stands at the front of the line and you just file past them with passport open, they don't even take it off you, they just glance at it and you are free then to get back on the ship. We were herded off at 10:30am and back on board by 11. This is what happens if you are on a 2 week cruise, your account stays open as well. 

I assume on a B2B you have to vacate the ship then check in again with everyone else.

 

To clear it up, no you do not have to exit the ship and check in again with everyone else if you booked individually as a b2b.  We just did a b2b2b on the Divina and booked as 3 cruises.  We did this because if we booked as single we received the DOU if booked as a b2b then no drink package plus the cruise was more expensive booked as one.

[sidari]

We are on two cruises,  the current Xmas one and the New year's cruise both with separate cruise booking numbers.

For the current cruise we are in an Aurea balcony on 13, the NY cruise will be across the deck also on 13 but in a Fantastica balcony, the Aurea cabin was not available for the second Cruise.

We have been told we can leave the ship with the other guests who are also going to be getting back on or we can just head out for the day leaving the cabin stewards to sort out the move of cabins.

If you are in a port side Aurea cabin on 13 the steward is called Marcio, he is great and has done a wonderful job with the room.

We have been told that we do not have to attend the second cruise muster drill as the area and lifeboat location is the same.

Edited December 26, 2018 by sidari

[ready2cruzagain]

1 hour ago, sidari said:

We are on two cruises,  the current Xmas one and the New year's cruise both with separate cruise booking numbers.

For the current cruise we are in an Aurea balcony on 13, the NY cruise will be across the deck also on 13 but in a Fantastica balcony, the Aurea cabin was not available for the second Cruise.

We have been told we can leave the ship with the other guests who are also going to be getting back on or we can just head out for the day leaving the cabin stewards to sort out the move of cabins.

If you are in a port side Aurea cabin on 13 the steward is called Marcio, he is great and has done a wonderful job with the room.

We have been told that we do not have to attend the second cruise muster drill as the area and lifeboat location is the same.

Hope you are enjoying your cruises!  You are correct, we only went to  muster the first cruise, the other two even though the station changed, we still not have to go.  Hoping that getting through customs is easier for you than it was on our cruises.  CBP was not organized at all.  After the first cruise, people were boarding before we even got back on the ship.  It was CBP that would not let us back on due to wanting us to take the elevator but they started boarding and the elevator was always full.  But it did  not ruin our cruise!!

[Sundiego]

Just off a B2B where we booked the 2 weeks separately so we could get 2x the perks. We had separate booking numbers but the same cabin for both weeks.

 

To confirm what others have said:

 

1. We did have to exit the ship at the end of week one because the ship has to be cleared with zero passengers. We took our passports and a note from MSC that we were b2b. After clearing immigration we got right back on the ship before  new passengers boarded.
2. We did not have to attend the safety briefing on week 2.
3. We had double the perks, but the free internet perk was not showing on week 2. We were in the YC and I asked the concierge for an assist and he was adamant that we were only entitled to it for week 1. Fortunately, I brought all my documentation with me that clearly showed the week 2 perk and the internet was then added to my cabin at no charge. We also had some missing OBC on week 2 (some from the TA and some from MSC). The concierge was able to get that corrected as well.
4. As a side note, our pricing for 2 weeks was exactly what 14 days would have cost but with twice the perks.

~Denise