returning to the ship on a B2B

[dbrown84]

Hello.  I'm doing on the 10 days sailings which is really a 3 day and 7 day B2B.  I'm thinking about doing the Kennedy Space center tour the day we're back in Orlando boarding for the 7 day.  I know you can just walk off (escorted by MSC personnel) and walk right back on for ship clearance.  If I do decide to do the excursion, when we return to the ship will be also be escorted directly back on (or maybe there is a BTB entrance), or will we have to wait in the regular boarding lines to re-board the ship?  thanks

[morpheusofthesea]

From our experience in Miami we were issued B2B passes which got us to the front of the main group line next to the YC passengers waiting to board for the first time. Show your cards to the terminal employees guarding the rope and when the ship clears you will be able to go before YC. Should you come later just use the same passes to board after security check.

[Illbcruzn4life]

1 hour ago, dbrown84 said:

Hello.  I'm doing on the 10 days sailings which is really a 3 day and 7 day B2B.  I'm thinking about doing the Kennedy Space center tour the day we're back in Orlando boarding for the 7 day.  I know you can just walk off (escorted by MSC personnel) and walk right back on for ship clearance.  If I do decide to do the excursion, when we return to the ship will be also be escorted directly back on (or maybe there is a BTB entrance), or will we have to wait in the regular boarding lines to re-board the ship?  thanks

we did this last month on Seashore in Port Canaveral. We went to Cocoa beach though and not Nasa. When we got back there was nobody in the boarding area and a nice woman took us through an office that lead to the other side so we didn't have to walk all the way around. It was basically like coming back from a port day. Oh yeah I forgot about the back to back passes.

Edited May 30 by Illbcruzn4life

[kad56]

How about Miami? My itinerary says that I'll be in Miami from 7-5 on the changeover day, but I assume debarcation with take much longer, and that'll really cut into my time in port. And I'm all about the ports so the extra lines on the B2B day are disappointing.

[Essiesmom]

Did you book the cruise as two legs, or one long cruise?  If you booked as one and your cruise card is good for the whole cruise, you can just walk off with the first self debark group, and when you return just go through security and use your transit pass/continuing cruiser card to bypass checkin.  EM

[morpheusofthesea]

5 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

Oh yeah I forgot about the back to back passes.

 

[Illbcruzn4life]

Just now, morpheusofthesea said:

 

used those getting off the ship. Circumvented the mad house. 

[kad56]

19 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

Did you book the cruise as two legs, or one long cruise?  If you booked as one and your cruise card is good for the whole cruise, you can just walk off with the first self debark group, and when you return just go through security and use your transit pass/continuing cruiser card to bypass checkin.  EM

I booked it as one cruise and I assumed it work the way you're describing it. But I read somewhere that if the ship leaves the US (which this one will), I'll have to clear customs in Miami on turnaround day. It's the customs line that worries me.

[morpheusofthesea]

21 minutes ago, kad56 said:

It's the customs line that worries me.

One collects ones luggage and is directed to 7-10 lines (in Miami) of facial recognition and out the door to the street ( One will not stop and be examined by a CBP agent). The ship can clear at 7am, but Customs and Border Protection sometimes will stand around until 7:30 before they start Facial Recognition. Then FR could be down and then they only have one agent on hand to begin physically processing passengers one at a time until more are called. Then there is always a couple ahead of you that leave the ship separately and he has mistakenly taken his wife's passport and she is still on the ship with his passport. The agent doesn't ask him to step aside to process the next in line, instead they all wait until a representative from the ship comes down to escort the husband back on board and then begin the processing again. By this time more agents arrive an hour later.

Edited May 30 by morpheusofthesea

[Illbcruzn4life]

1 hour ago, kad56 said:

I booked it as one cruise and I assumed it work the way you're describing it. But I read somewhere that if the ship leaves the US (which this one will), I'll have to clear customs in Miami on turnaround day. It's the customs line that worries me.

we told somebody in the terminal that we were B2B and showed them the pass and they escorted us around the controlled chaos. 

[kad56]

48 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

we told somebody in the terminal that we were B2B and showed them the pass and they escorted us around the controlled chaos. 

Nice. I might be able to get in a full port day after all 🙂

[Illbcruzn4life]

3 hours ago, kad56 said:

Nice. I might be able to get in a full port day after all 🙂

good luck I think you'll be fine. They did say if we weren't off the ship by 9:45am we would have to do the walk with the b2b group to get processed and lead back on.