back to back cruise on same HAL ship

[Leeson112]

My family will be going on a 14 day cruise back to back on the Nieuw Statendam. What is the procedure of the back to back cruise? Will my family be required to get off the ship and wait in the cruise terminal as the initial embarkation??

 

Your feedback is much appreciated.

 

Leeson112

[cabinluvn]

My family will be going on a 14 day cruise back to back on the Nieuw Statendam. What is the procedure of the back to back cruise? Will my family be required to get off the ship and wait in the cruise terminal as the initial embarkation??
 
Your feedback is much appreciated.
 
Leeson112

You will have the option of disembarking and going on a tour or otherwise get of the ship to do something during the day. If you choose to stay on the ship, you will meet with your fellow B2B cruisers and be taken to the terminal to show our passports and cruising information and then let back on the ship. Took about an hour to do the whole process. We stayed on the ship and it was nice to be there with not many people and then people watch as the new people came aboard and got familiar with the ship.


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[rafinmd]

You will be required to get off for immigration formalities if it is in Fort Lauderdale.

 

HAL has no control over this.

 

Roy

[FOPMan]

Not exactly. Last year in Fort Lauderdale for a back-to-back we waited aboard until all people continuing aboard were called to the theater. We the paraded off the skip. INS counted us (not looking at our passports at all) and we were allowed to rebound. Some passenger was not following instructions and did not get off the ship with us. We had to stand for about 15 minutes until they found the missing passengers. They should have been made to buy the rest of us a drink, but I think they weren’t penalized at all.

[oakridger]

Depends also on the port and other circumstances.  They will inform you on the ship.  My last back to back out of San Diego we were sent to a room on board on the morning of the turnaround to present ourselves and our passport to immigration officials.  We didn't have to leave the ship since we were already cleared.  In Ft. Lauderdale I had to leave the ship and wait for about an hour to re-board after being cleared.  Doesn't seem to be consistent.  In foreign ports I haven't had to leave the ship.  Sometimes we had to personally present to the officials on board and sometime the ship's staff just dealt with the foreign officials because they had everyone's passports in the purser's office.

 

~Nancy

[Himself]

They usually give some tour options.  If I were doing that I might just do a tour of the Everglades and then return to the ship for a light lunch.

[Crew News]

My last two B2B cruises through Ft Lauderdale had more than 400 "in-transit" passengers who processed through Security at the entrance of the show room and then took a seat until all of the other passengers left the ship.  This took about 30 minutes and then the "in-transit" passengers were released to go back to their staterooms.  With much less passengers aboard, the "in-transits" may be forced to leave the ship for while until the ship proves that all passengers have left the ship, "zeroed out".

 

Those passengers wishing to go ashore took their "in-transit" cards and left the ship with the other disembarking passengers.

 

The hour between "in-transit" passengers being released from the theater and the new passengers boarding is a perfect time to get photographs of all of the open staterooms during their refurbishment for the incoming passengers.

 

FWIW if the ship stops in Key West prior to Ft Lauderdale, all passengers will clear Immigration in Key West (by Deck) before they are allowed to leave the ship for any excursions.  Until every passenger clears Immigration, nobody will be allowed to leave the ship in Key West.

[faerievert]

So I take it this applies to my upcoming 18-day itinerary on the Koningsdam in December. We have one booking #, but we go back to Ft Lauderdale in the middle. It's really two cruises (11 days + 7 days). It hadn't occurred to me that we would need to do anything for that except a second muster drill. Is the "in-transit" sequester and check usually done at the beginning, middle, or end of disembarkation? We do get to stay in the same room and not have to pack up/move, I hope?

 

Our plans to visit friends in Boca fell through, so no longer planning to do anything in port that day (turns out they'll be out of town on a 3-day cruise!). Can I go back to read or sleep in my stateroom after the port formalities are done or will our room be being "made over," too? Any other good places to hang out on the "empty" ship?

[Roz]

Despite the glowing reports I read on Cruise Critic about how easy turnaround day is, my experience in Vancouver this past May was a disaster.  I had 2 booking numbers and you would have thought I was the only person who had ever done b2b cruises and changed cabins.  Originally I planned to do something in Vancouver, but after experiencing the chaos in Canada Place, I opted to stay on the ship.  No one seemed to understand what it means to be an in transit passenger.  

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have had bad experiences several times over the years with turn-around days on back-to-back / Collectors Cruises.

 

You will get a letter the last full day of the first segment explaining what you will need to do on turn-around day.  Also you will get In Transit tickets that you will show to by pass the check-in process should you have to get off the ship for immigration.

 

Depending on how many people are doing back-to-back cruises, depended on whether we got off the ship or stayed in the main show room.  A couple of times we had to wait over an hour for a couple of people who did not follow the instructions in their letter before we could get back onto the ship.  We were only about 5 minutes back on the ship before the new passengers got back on.

 

Breakfast is early that day -- Lido and dining room shut down early as they have to get ready for the new passengers.

 

We have experienced the Key West mess as Crew News described.

[Crew News]

8 hours ago, Roz said:

Despite the glowing reports I read on Cruise Critic about how easy turnaround day is, my experience in Vancouver this past May was a disaster.  I had 2 booking numbers and you would have thought I was the only person who had ever done b2b cruises and changed cabins.  Originally I planned to do something in Vancouver, but after experiencing the chaos in Canada Place, I opted to stay on the ship.  No one seemed to understand what it means to be an in transit passenger.  

 

I have endured a number of "in-transit" B2B in Vancouver and all were "terrible" but that is because it is so rare in Canada Place.  The most "in-transits" I remember was 8 and until I complained, I was told that we would be both seated and boarding with all of the new passengers.

[Crew News]

8 hours ago, faerievert said:

So I take it this applies to my upcoming 18-day itinerary on the Koningsdam in December. We have one booking #, but we go back to Ft Lauderdale in the middle. It's really two cruises (11 days + 7 days). It hadn't occurred to me that we would need to do anything for that except a second muster drill. Is the "in-transit" sequester and check usually done at the beginning, middle, or end of disembarkation? We do get to stay in the same room and not have to pack up/move, I hope?

 

Our plans to visit friends in Boca fell through, so no longer planning to do anything in port that day (turns out they'll be out of town on a 3-day cruise!). Can I go back to read or sleep in my stateroom after the port formalities are done or will our room be being "made over," too? Any other good places to hang out on the "empty" ship?

 

You will most likely be doing what I described in my above post.  There is a chance that you will not have to attend a second Passenger Safety Drill (it is up to the Captain) and you will receive instructions of Disembarkation Day activities in a letter near the end of your first leg along with your "in-transit" cards.

 

The ship zeroing process takes place in Ft Lauderdale.

 

If you are in the same room on both legs, you don't have to do anything but go to the showroom with your room card, passport, and "in-transit" cards.  If you have a guarentee room, your Room Stewards will help you move to your new room as soon as your new room is vacated.  Some passengers appear in the show room in their bathing suits and some in bathrobes.  I tell my Room Steward to just skip my morning cleaning on Disembarkation Day to let them focus on the incoming passengers.

 

The longest I have waited in the show room was 45 minutes so you might want to bring a book/tablet.

[VMax1700]

On 10/7/2019 at 10:19 AM, faerievert said:

So I take it this applies to my upcoming 18-day itinerary on the Koningsdam in December. We have one booking #, but we go back to Ft Lauderdale in the middle. It's really two cruises (11 days + 7 days). It hadn't occurred to me that we would need to do anything for that except a second muster drill. Is the "in-transit" sequester and check usually done at the beginning, middle, or end of disembarkation? We do get to stay in the same room and not have to pack up/move, I hope?

 

Our plans to visit friends in Boca fell through, so no longer planning to do anything in port that day (turns out they'll be out of town on a 3-day cruise!). Can I go back to read or sleep in my stateroom after the port formalities are done or will our room be being "made over," too? Any other good places to hang out on the "empty" ship?

 

If you have booked an 18 day cruise with one booking number then you will be in the same stateroom.  You will received a letter about day 9 of the cruise giving you instructions of how to leave the ship or what to do if you are staying onboard.  We have done it twice in Port Everglades and once we had to do the second muster drill and once we didn't.  The letter will tell you.

 

We told our stateroom attendants to treat our room as a normal day and not to do the 'change over day' routine.

 

 

[freestyling]

59 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

We told our stateroom attendants to treat our room as a normal day and not to do the 'change over day' routine.

We do the same thing or if we find out that not many current passengers will be staying on for another cruise we sometimes tell them to skip or stateroom until the evening. We put the do not disturb in the key card lock.

[pcur]

4 hours ago, freestyling said:

We do the same thing or if we find out that not many current passengers will be staying on for another cruise we sometimes tell them to skip or stateroom until the evening. We put the do not disturb in the key card lock.

We talk to our cabin steward the last day of the "previous" cruise (we did 4 and then 3 b2b's earlier this year).  We tell the steward to put extra towels in our cabin on the last night, and not to bother with our cabin until the first night of the next cruise.  PLUS, important plus, we tell the steward to tell their supervisor that we've requested this.  We also put the DND up.

 

The cabin stewards really appreciate that extra time in the mad rush on turnaround day.

[sail7seas]

On 10/7/2019 at 5:19 AM, faerievert said:

So I take it this applies to my upcoming 18-day itinerary on the Koningsdam in December. We have one booking #, but we go back to Ft Lauderdale in the middle. It's really two cruises (11 days + 7 days). It hadn't occurred to me that we would need to do anything for that except a second muster drill. Is the "in-transit" sequester and check usually done at the beginning, middle, or end of disembarkation? We do get to stay in the same room and not have to pack up/move, I hope?

 

Our plans to visit friends in Boca fell through, so no longer planning to do anything in port that day (turns out they'll be out of town on a 3-day cruise!). Can I go back to read or sleep in my stateroom after the port formalities are done or will our room be being "made over," too? Any other good places to hang out on the "empty" ship?

 

 

You might not have to go to the second life  boat drill. My recent b t o-b - we were excused from the drill on our second segment.

[ASIWISH]

We took an Uber over to the 15th Street Fish Cafe and had a nice little lunch and Ubered back. We got right back on the ship... easy breezy!

although I wish I listened to @sail7seas and got out of the second Muster Drill... hahaha! That was smart!

[rafinmd]

On 10/6/2019 at 10:45 PM, Crew News said:

FWIW if the ship stops in Key West prior to Ft Lauderdale, all passengers will clear Immigration in Key West (by Deck) before they are allowed to leave the ship for any excursions.  Until every passenger clears Immigration, nobody will be allowed to leave the ship in Key West.

While most of what happens with border formalities is beyond  the ship's control, I think this is partly HAL's fault.  Crystal has traditionally used Miami as a turnaround port and I think things have been more difficult there than in Fort Lauderdale.  When we do Immigration in Key West, the staff punches our cards and we can leave the ship as soon as we meet the agent, no waiting for stragglers.

 

Roy

[sail7seas]

On 10/6/2019 at 9:31 PM, Himself said:

They usually give some tour options.  If I were doing that I might just do a tour of the Everglades and then return to the ship for a light lunch.

This   immigration check   for b-to 's applies   to U.S. ports.  None of this happens when  we 'turn around' in  M  ontreal.

NO need  to leave the ship at all if you do not  wish.

 

 

 

The authorities direct the ships how Immigration  check will be done and w here on the ship they wish  to 'set up'  A ship has no interest in being less than fully cooperative, (common sense would seem to rule)  The ships and other ships from that cruise line will return again and again and certainly want the process to go as smoothly as possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mscruisin]

Do you need to present both boarding passes when checking in at the pier on the first cruise of a back to back?

[Crew News]

1 hour ago, Mscruisin said:

Do you need to present both boarding passes when checking in at the pier on the first cruise of a back to back?

 

No.  The boarding pass just gets you into the cruise terminal for Security and check-in.  If you are in a Neptune Suite, the boarding pass gets you into the "Neptune Suites/4* and 5* check-in lines.

Edited October 12, 2019 by Crew News

[VUCruiser]

We are doing a back to back on the Oosterdam in November and booked the same cabin so we don't have to move.  But we received two separate booking numbers.  Is this typical?  Have done many cruises but first B2B...Thank you for sharing all of the experiences above!

[VMax1700]

3 hours ago, VUCruiser said:

We are doing a back to back on the Oosterdam in November and booked the same cabin so we don't have to move.  But we received two separate booking numbers.  Is this typical?  Have done many cruises but first B2B...Thank you for sharing all of the experiences above!

If you booked it as 2 x 7 day cruises as a b2b (or 2 x any number of days  b2b) then you will have two booking numbers.  Only if you booked it as a 14 day (or whatever!) cruise would you have one booking number.

Curently the HAL website shows a 17 day 'Circle Hawaii', 2 x 7 day 'Mexican Riviera' and a 24 day Collector 'Circle Hawaii and Mexican Riviera'.  If you booked the 24 day Collector, then you would have one booking number, if you booked any of the other cruises as two b2b's then you will have two booking numbers.