Planning multiple consecutive cruises help

[tattydog]

Thinking ahead to retirement and having spoken to many passengers onboard who are ‘snowbirds’ or just spend a few months jumping from ship to ship during winters. What are the best tips or tools that can be used, or are that past articles etc that have proven useful? 
 

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, tattydog said:

Thinking ahead to retirement and having spoken to many passengers onboard who are ‘snowbirds’ or just spend a few months jumping from ship to ship during winters. What are the best tips or tools that can be used, or are that past articles etc that have proven useful? 
 

If you pick the right cruise line, there’s no need to jump from ship to ship to find long/interesting multi-segment itineraries with little port repetition. There are several premium/luxury lines that offer published “long hauls” ranging from 3 weeks to 3 months (or more). One line that specializes in filling this niche is Oceania. Check out their “extended journeys” (e.g., 1-2 months +\-)  and “grand voyages” (3 months +/-).

[John Bull]

4 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

If you pick the right cruise line, there’s no need to jump from ship to ship to find long/interesting multi-segment itineraries with little port repetition. There are several premium/luxury lines that offer published “long hauls” ranging from 3 weeks to 3 months (or more). One line that specializes in filling this niche is Oceania. Check out their “extended journeys” (e.g., 1-2 months +\-)  and “grand voyages” (3 months +/-).

 

Agreed .But it's not just the premium lines that offer long-haul.

Try Holland-America for long (28+days) itineraries and one-way cruises. Or for as many segments of a world cruise as you want,  P&O or Cunard and perhaps others.

 

Two back-to-back cruises on different ships have their problems & risks, such as the first cruise being delayed or cancelled. Back-to-back-to-back-to back multiple times multiplies those risks.

Finding multiple cruises with dates that slot together would be very difficult - and probably still involve repeat ports, a day or three between segments, and mebbe transfers between ports that are tolerably close together (or mebbe even not so close together, so relying on ferry or air travel between ships).

And doing back-to-backs on different ships screw-up cruising's big advantage of going to lots of places without unpacking & re-packing, getting used to the "resort"'s layout, routine, staff, folk that you meet,  etc. Fun for the first switch and mebbe the second, but ending up as a chore.

 

And cruising for months - whether on one ship or on multiple ships - has drawbacks.

A medical issue or the need to go home for some emergency or a dozen other reasons why folk have to cancel or foreshorten a cruise. Or to cancel a list of back-to-backs.

In your brain (well, in mine at least 😉) multiple ports tend to roll into each-other, confusion about what you saw where, not really getting the thrill of every port-after-port-after port.

Multiple ports in multiple countries involves multiple currencies (even if you pay by card you have to figure out value-for-money), multiple visas or other entry requirements - perhaps still Covid passes or tests., multiple clothing requirements for multiple climates, etc.

 

But mainly a big hole in your bank account but with the joys of anticipation just the once.

And mebbe stuck with figuring what to do next year - and whether you can afford next year.  

 

We've only done back-to-back once (three days in Rome between cruises, which was ideal), but we'd never cruise even a single ship for more than 6 weeks.

 

Tattydog - I don't know your cruising experience, and it's different horses for different courses, but that's MHO.

 

JB 🙂

  

Edited August 4, 2022 by John Bull

[Hlitner]

We have done long cruises (measured in months) on a single ship and also done some long cruises where we changed cruise lines and ships.  There are pros and cons to both options.  Consider that if you stay on one ship for a longer cruise you will start to notice that menus and menu items constantly repeat, entertainment is often the same, etc.  On the other hand, as long as you book the same cabin you only unpack once and do not need to deal with any of the hassles of moving between ships.  But when we do change ships/lines the benefits include completely different menus, different entertainment, etc.   An advantage to changing ships is that you can develop an itinerary that allows for some quality land time.  We once did a cruise on the old Marco Polo from England to Istanbul.  Once at Istanbul we spend 5 nights at a nice hotel before boarding a Princess cruise that eventually brought us to Italy!   Doing that kind of land stop-over is a lot of fun and a few days off ships is a nice change.

 

Hank

[Heidi13]

8 hours ago, tattydog said:

Thinking ahead to retirement and having spoken to many passengers onboard who are ‘snowbirds’ or just spend a few months jumping from ship to ship during winters. What are the best tips or tools that can be used, or are that past articles etc that have proven useful? 
 

 

An excellent question that requires some research to determine what is the best option for you. We have completed numerous B2B cruises and a couple of World Cruises, so here are our thoughts.

 

I'll suggest the first decision is do you have a preference for a specific cruise line(s), or are you happy to book any Line, based on itinerary. Personally, we tend to have a preferred cruise line that meets our expectations, with regards to the cruise experience - small ships, great service, great food, no casino, no photogs, all-inclusive, etc.

 

If you're like us and have a preferred Line, your options are B2B2B...... or a World Cruise/Grand Voyage. On the mainstream mega ship Lines, I find the menus repeat every cruise. Example - when I worked for P&O and Princess on 7-day cruises, for a 4-month contract, we got exactly the same menu every day of the week. That gets really repetitive. I've also seen it where all ships within a Line that are completing the same length cruise have exactly the same menu on each respective day of the cruise. On visiting a number of cruise ships in port, as a local contractor, I often found the same menu across a cruise Line.

 

The entertainment also tends to be repeated each cruise, often on the same schedule.

 

Therefore, if your preference is staying with a preferred cruise line, I'll suggest a World Cruise or Grand Voyage is the better option, unless you are accepting of the repetition.

 

If your preference is jumping on various cruise lines, I would always leave a few days between cruises, even if using the same port. Although very few cruises are delayed at the turnaround port, it does happen. If you want to limit flying between ports it will be quite some planning exercise, especially if visiting some of the more remote areas of the world.

[rkacruiser]

Much food for thought for the OP has been posted!

 

I suggest a world cruise and/or putting segments of a world cruise b2b or a Grand Voyage.  Entertainment will vary; menus ought to vary while popular items will re-appear frequently; segments of a long cruise may provide for some guest/crew changes that could prove interesting for a person.  

 

The idea of taking b2b cruises with a short break between them and another series of cruises, on the same line or ship, is what I have done.  A Christmas/New Year's cruise of about 20 days followed by a 7 day cruise on a different ship and line in a different type of accommodation, then, a 3 day break in a port and another 11 day cruise on a different ship in another different type of accommodation.  There was a bit of overlap of some of the ports (this was in the Caribbean), but, the overlap ports were ones that I enjoy visiting.  

[sanger727]

I don’t see much risk booking b2bs on the same ship. But it seems like that may get repetitive! A world cruise would certainly offer a better itinerary. It would really just come down to cost.

[tattydog]

On 8/4/2022 at 1:08 PM, John Bull said:

 

Agreed .But it's not just the premium lines that offer long-haul.

Try Holland-America for long (28+days) itineraries and one-way cruises. Or for as many segments of a world cruise as you want,  P&O or Cunard and perhaps others.

 

Two back-to-back cruises on different ships have their problems & risks, such as the first cruise being delayed or cancelled. Back-to-back-to-back-to back multiple times multiplies those risks.

Finding multiple cruises with dates that slot together would be very difficult - and probably still involve repeat ports, a day or three between segments, and mebbe transfers between ports that are tolerably close together (or mebbe even not so close together, so relying on ferry or air travel between ships).

And doing back-to-backs on different ships screw-up cruising's big advantage of going to lots of places without unpacking & re-packing, getting used to the "resort"'s layout, routine, staff, folk that you meet,  etc. Fun for the first switch and mebbe the second, but ending up as a chore.

 

And cruising for months - whether on one ship or on multiple ships - has drawbacks.

A medical issue or the need to go home for some emergency or a dozen other reasons why folk have to cancel or foreshorten a cruise. Or to cancel a list of back-to-backs.

In your brain (well, in mine at least 😉) multiple ports tend to roll into each-other, confusion about what you saw where, not really getting the thrill of every port-after-port-after port.

Multiple ports in multiple countries involves multiple currencies (even if you pay by card you have to figure out value-for-money), multiple visas or other entry requirements - perhaps still Covid passes or tests., multiple clothing requirements for multiple climates, etc.

 

But mainly a big hole in your bank account but with the joys of anticipation just the once.

And mebbe stuck with figuring what to do next year - and whether you can afford next year.  

 

We've only done back-to-back once (three days in Rome between cruises, which was ideal), but we'd never cruise even a single ship for more than 6 weeks.

 

Tattydog - I don't know your cruising experience, and it's different horses for different courses, but that's MHO.

 

JB 🙂

  

Thanks, sorry for delay answering.excellent advice. We have done 21 cruises all with different lines, more chasing itinerary etc

I agree that the risks are lower with one longer cruises but we were wondering about investing in one trip and then finding that we didn’t like the ship ( as even in one cruise line the vibe can be vastly different between ships)

 

[tattydog]

On 8/4/2022 at 4:34 PM, Heidi13 said:

 

An excellent question that requires some research to determine what is the best option for you. We have completed numerous B2B cruises and a couple of World Cruises, so here are our thoughts.

 

I'll suggest the first decision is do you have a preference for a specific cruise line(s), or are you happy to book any Line, based on itinerary. Personally, we tend to have a preferred cruise line that meets our expectations, with regards to the cruise experience - small ships, great service, great food, no casino, no photogs, all-inclusive, etc.

 

If you're like us and have a preferred Line, your options are B2B2B...... or a World Cruise/Grand Voyage. On the mainstream mega ship Lines, I find the menus repeat every cruise. Example - when I worked for P&O and Princess on 7-day cruises, for a 4-month contract, we got exactly the same menu every day of the week. That gets really repetitive. I've also seen it where all ships within a Line that are completing the same length cruise have exactly the same menu on each respective day of the cruise. On visiting a number of cruise ships in port, as a local contractor, I often found the same menu across a cruise Line.

 

The entertainment also tends to be repeated each cruise, often on the same schedule.

 

Therefore, if your preference is staying with a preferred cruise line, I'll suggest a World Cruise or Grand Voyage is the better option, unless you are accepting of the repetition.

 

If your preference is jumping on various cruise lines, I would always leave a few days between cruises, even if using the same port. Although very few cruises are delayed at the turnaround port, it does happen. If you want to limit flying between ports it will be quite some planning exercise, especially if visiting some of the more remote areas of the world.

Thanks, we were thinking of travelling for the winter months and using cruises that start at one port and finish at another, spend a few days and then pick up a different ship to another destination- I not a fan of long flights and cruising allows us a more relaxed travel experience .

I was wondering if there is an online site/app that collates and filters which ships are in a particular port by date and by final destination port that you could feed into a planner?  Other cruisers have told me that they build their own spreadsheets but I feel that there must be something already out there- maybe someone should build it- not me I might add!

 

[tattydog]

On 8/4/2022 at 8:46 PM, rkacruiser said:

Much food for thought for the OP has been posted!

 

I suggest a world cruise and/or putting segments of a world cruise b2b or a Grand Voyage.  Entertainment will vary; menus ought to vary while popular items will re-appear frequently; segments of a long cruise may provide for some guest/crew changes that could prove interesting for a person.  

 

The idea of taking b2b cruises with a short break between them and another series of cruises, on the same line or ship, is what I have done.  A Christmas/New Year's cruise of about 20 days followed by a 7 day cruise on a different ship and line in a different type of accommodation, then, a 3 day break in a port and another 11 day cruise on a different ship in another different type of accommodation.  There was a bit of overlap of some of the ports (this was in the Caribbean), but, the overlap ports were ones that I enjoy visiting.  

That’s the sort of thing that I would like to do

[tattydog]

World cruise is a great idea and would definitely need to be thoroughly researched for the right ship. We are still trying to find ‘the one’ for example Love the entertainment on Royal Caribbean, service & food on Princess and Cunard, convenience of P &O but find that they serve fish and chips and cottage pie whichever destination you are going to and wouldn’t  want to do that around the world. Norwegian is great value …

So I guess that the multiple lines depending on destination is for me

thanks everyone for their input , it has helped to clarify for me the way forward

 

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by tattydog
Missed sentence

[John Bull]

13 minutes ago, tattydog said:

World cruise is a great idea and would definitely need to be thoroughly researched for the right ship. We are still trying to find ‘the one’ for example Love the entertainment on Royal Caribbean, service & food on Princess and Cunard, convenience of P &O but find that they serve fish and chips and cottage pie whichever destination you are going to and wouldn’t  want to do that around the world. Norwegian is great value …

So I guess that the multiple lines depending on destination is for me

 

 

 Our experience with P&O is that dinner choices - even in the MDR - include pub-grub (yes, fish-n-chips, cottage pie, plus curries & hot-pots & such) but also more interesting international dishes. 

 

We've occasionally been offered a dish local to the destinations (I don't recall the dishes or even the cruise lines). but the only cruise line that I've sailed which did that regularly as a matter of course was Voyages of Discovery, whose demise we lamented a decade or more ago.

 

For the reasons I mentioned in my first post, I wouldn't countenance multiple back-to-backs - but consequently I've never done it.

And I'm not you.

If you do, I hope you'll come back to tell us all about it - whether crowing about how well it worked out or with your tail between your legs 😏

 

A small BTW, which you're probably aware of anyway - for a number of eventualities, if your home is unoccupied during your travels most home insurances are only good for 30 to 35 days. Can be overcome by having a friend, neighbour or relative check the place from time to time, and/or by advising your insurers and paying a relatively small premium to extend cover for the duration.

 

If you've not sailed Norwegian, check their add-on costs and restrictions like no drinks (incl. soft drinks and bottled water) to be brought on board - they have perhaps the worst reputation in the industry for nickel & diming.

That was my other half's experience, but she enjoyed sailing with them.

 

Whichever way you jump, have a good one.

 

JB 🙂

[edinburgher]

I not a fan of long flights and cruising allows us a more relaxed travel experience .

 

In that case, and noting that you are UK based, I would also suggest you take geography and long flights into account.

 

For our first S. America cruise we booked the middle leg of a possible three leg itinerary and the long flights and journey door-to-door were a totally exhausting experience.  And on that first journey,  the near 2 hour drive from Santiago airport  to the port at Valparaiso (before the move to S. Antonio), was the last thing we needed at that point.

 

Once onboard we discovered many many of the pax were doing either two of the legs b2b, or were onboard for the full 3 leg S. America circumnavigation. A couple of years later when we found ourselves flying back out to S. America for a different leg, we were once again kicking ourselves for not having done either 2 or 3 legs the first time, instead of only one as we now had a seond journey to make.  It would also have been much more low cost had we only needed one return flight each instead of two.

 

We did learn from it though and when we booked Asian itineraries, we booked 2 btobs so that we were onboard for a month each time and only had two long flights each time, one out, one back. And on changeover days it was wonderful to feel good and sympathise with those boarding, as we could relate to the journeys they had endured to get there and were relieved we had not had to do them ourselves as we had planned better those times.

 

I think you should do as we did, and write down a list of all the places you would like to visit, then break the list down by geographical area.  From that point you can search which lines have these places on their itineraries, then look at the line, the ship and the onboard facilities and services.  Any previous experience with cruiselines and ships will help you decide which might suit you best for a longer trip. I personally would not stress about every little detail on a particular ship if  you are going for the itinerary (are you?) so I do think that as long as it is "acceptable" you can forget the little things, simply avoid the onboard things you do not care for and embrace the new.

Edited April 2, 2023 by edinburgher

[tattydog]

4 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

 Our experience with P&O is that dinner choices - even in the MDR - include pub-grub (yes, fish-n-chips, cottage pie, plus curries & hot-pots & such) but also more interesting international dishes. 

 

We've occasionally been offered a dish local to the destinations (I don't recall the dishes or even the cruise lines). but the only cruise line that I've sailed which did that regularly as a matter of course was Voyages of Discovery, whose demise we lamented a decade or more ago.

 

For the reasons I mentioned in my first post, I wouldn't countenance multiple back-to-backs - but consequently I've never done it.

And I'm not you.

If you do, I hope you'll come back to tell us all about it - whether crowing about how well it worked out or with your tail between your legs 😏

 

A small BTW, which you're probably aware of anyway - for a number of eventualities, if your home is unoccupied during your travels most home insurances are only good for 30 to 35 days. Can be overcome by having a friend, neighbour or relative check the place from time to time, and/or by advising your insurers and paying a relatively small premium to extend cover for the duration.

 

If you've not sailed Norwegian, check their add-on costs and restrictions like no drinks (incl. soft drinks and bottled water) to be brought on board - they have perhaps the worst reputation in the industry for nickel & diming.

That was my other half's experience, but she enjoyed sailing with them.

 

Whichever way you jump, have a good one.

 

JB 🙂

Good catch on the house insurance, I’ll look into it

[9tee2Sea]

there have been lots of articles in various magazines about retirement on a cruise ship.  Google the topic and I am sure you will find steps on what to do, and pitfalls to avoid.  Most medications can be filled for a 90 day supply.  Talk to the cruise line and ask if they can help you plan the long journey you are interested in.

[Essiesmom]

5 hours ago, tattydog said:

Thanks, we were thinking of travelling for the winter months and using cruises that start at one port and finish at another, spend a few days and then pick up a different ship to another destination- I not a fan of long flights and cruising allows us a more relaxed travel experience .

I was wondering if there is an online site/app that collates and filters which ships are in a particular port by date and by final destination port that you could feed into a planner?  Other cruisers have told me that they build their own spreadsheets but I feel that there must be something already out there- maybe someone should build it- not me I might add!

 

One of my favorite websites is cruisetimetables.com.  You can choose by departure port, ports of call (cruise to..), ship…and of course, time of year.  Choose a departure port and time of year, and see who is sailing and their itinerary.  Or choose places you would like to visit and see who is calling there.  Depending on your wallet, premium and luxury lines are more likely to have voyages that start and end in different ports, and often don’t repeat.  EM

[whogo]

1 hour ago, tattydog said:

Good catch on the house insurance, I’ll look into it

Medical insurance is another item to check. In USA, many policies limit you to 72 days of travel. Medical evacuation insurance is another thing to consider.

 

I have dreamed of an Africa circumnavigation (Holland America has a roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale this fall) or world cruise. I would choose a small number of long cruises over a large number of short cruises any day. This guy spends most of year at sea and is just finishing up numerous back to backs on the same ship: https://amazingvoyages2.blogspot.com/ Interesting reading is available on the world cruise board: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/674-world-cruising/

 

 

[Heidi13]

8 hours ago, tattydog said:

Thanks, we were thinking of travelling for the winter months and using cruises that start at one port and finish at another, spend a few days and then pick up a different ship to another destination- I not a fan of long flights and cruising allows us a more relaxed travel experience .

I was wondering if there is an online site/app that collates and filters which ships are in a particular port by date and by final destination port that you could feed into a planner?  Other cruisers have told me that they build their own spreadsheets but I feel that there must be something already out there- maybe someone should build it- not me I might add!

 

 

Other posters use 3rd party website, such as cruisemapper, but I only use cruise line websites and the actual port websites. I find the 3rd party website have frequent errors.

[ldubs]

7 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

A small BTW, which you're probably aware of anyway - for a number of eventualities, if your home is unoccupied during your travels most home insurances are only good for 30 to 35 days. Can be overcome by having a friend, neighbour or relative check the place from time to time, and/or by advising your insurers and paying a relatively small premium to extend cover for the duration.

 

JB 🙂

 

The standard Homeowners policy in America will not pay some losses such as glass breakage or vandalism if the insured premises if vacant beyond a certain period.  We don't have general exclusions for a 30 day unoccupancy, at least that I'm aware of.   I don't plan on any trips of that length, but if for nothing more than curiosity, I think I'll ask my insurer just to confirm nothing has changed.  

[John Bull]

9 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

The standard Homeowners policy in America will not pay some losses such as glass breakage or vandalism if the insured premises if vacant beyond a certain period.  We don't have general exclusions for a 30 day unoccupancy, at least that I'm aware of.   I don't plan on any trips of that length, but if for nothing more than curiosity, I think I'll ask my insurer just to confirm nothing has changed.  

 

 

Hi Idubs,

 

As I said, no good for more than 30 - 35 days "for a number of eventualities".

I believe in the UK that's usually things like burst pipe, flooding & structural damage (because that can go un-detected & deteriorate for months) and theft / vandalism (because no-one's there to deter the miscreant).

 

JB 🙂

[tattydog]

3 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

One of my favorite websites is cruisetimetables.com.  You can choose by departure port, ports of call (cruise to..), ship…and of course, time of year.  Choose a departure port and time of year, and see who is sailing and their itinerary.  Or choose places you would like to visit and see who is calling there.  Depending on your wallet, premium and luxury lines are more likely to have voyages that start and end in different ports, and often don’t repeat.  EM

Thank you, this will be very useful 

[tattydog]

23 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

The standard Homeowners policy in America will not pay some losses such as glass breakage or vandalism if the insured premises if vacant beyond a certain period.  We don't have general exclusions for a 30 day unoccupancy, at least that I'm aware of.   I don't plan on any trips of that length, but if for nothing more than curiosity, I think I'll ask my insurer just to confirm nothing has changed.  

Good point, I’m in the UK and fortunately the house won’t be left empty. I think we are OK for 90 days but will check with insurance. My sister had a  holiday home in Spain and was able to spend winter there so I’m guessing it’s doable but will contact insurance. I’m not ready to retire yet but doing the planning

[ldubs]

3 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

 

Hi Idubs,

 

As I said, no good for more than 30 - 35 days "for a number of eventualities".

I believe in the UK that's usually things like burst pipe, flooding & structural damage (because that can go un-detected & deteriorate for months) and theft / vandalism (because no-one's there to deter the miscreant).

 

JB 🙂

 

Thanks! There are some similarities then it seems.   

 

BTW, while I didn't show it in my reply, I liked that part of your post about organizing places to visit by area and going from there.   We kind of do that but informally in a much more fluid process.  Probably explains why we are frequently bouncing around a lot. Haha.   

[fruitmachine]

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Other posters use 3rd party website, such as cruisemapper, but I only use cruise line websites and the actual port websites. I find the 3rd party website have frequent errors.

Third party sites are almost entirely copy/paste of the public data published by the cruise lines.  If the cruise line changes something, it's not easy for the third parties to pick that up quickly (or sometimes at all).

[Heidi13]

32 minutes ago, fruitmachine said:

Third party sites are almost entirely copy/paste of the public data published by the cruise lines.  If the cruise line changes something, it's not easy for the third parties to pick that up quickly (or sometimes at all).

 

Affirmative, and in addition, the 3rd party website also don't handle crossing the International Date Line. I find once the ship crosses the IDL, the date in port is wrong for the remainder of the cruise.