Tips and tricks for doing a B2B

[c-leg5]

26 minutes ago, deepcman said:

What's a pre-meeting? Is that a meeting before a meeting? 🤣

Yes, apparently.

[nelblu]

I'm on a 3-4 niter b2b on Utopia and wondering as a D+ (340+) if I get BOGO and wine on both segments.

[cruiselvr04]

15 hours ago, Tlbecker1 said:

I agree with you.  The last time I did a B2B meeting was ten years ago.

We were on a B3B in Australia/NZ this year.  They had a well attended meeting each time.  Perhaps because it was more complicated and larger group?  First turn around you had to pack EVERYTHING, put your suitcases out the night before with special tags, even if you had the same room and once you got back on you couldn’t get off again to explore the city.  You could only leave the ship if you got off early and anything you didn’t want checked you had to carry off and carry around with you. This is the only time we’ve run into something like that. We didn’t want to cart around a heavy back pack all day with iPads, kindles, and everything from the safe so we just stayed on board and went to the lunch. 

[alfaeric]

14 hours ago, RogueMonk said:

Grump.

It’s true, though. Not much to worry about doing b2b cruises. 
 

The only tip I will suggest is to enjoy the brief time of a very empty ship. There is a small gap between the time you do your turnaround, however it works, and new people getting on the ship. 

[island lady]

On 6/7/2024 at 8:47 AM, NoShoes2 said:

 

Yes, we have the same cabin

 

That is the important one.  We won't book a B2B (or more) unless same cabin.  Love being unpacked already for next leg.  😉 

[BND]

On 6/7/2024 at 8:09 AM, NoShoes2 said:

My wife and I are booking a B2B on Wonder out of Port Canaveral for next February. Does anyone any tips, trick or advice they would be willing to share? 

 

We just did a b2b on Wonder in Jan and will again in Nov.  We've done several on different ships.  Just follow the directions you are given.  You will get a letter a few days before about when and where to meet and what to bring (passport or bc and ID if that's what was used to board).   Never heard of or seen a pre-meeting and we've been doing b2b's for a while.  And, we always do the same cabin for each leg.  We won't book a b2b otherwise.

Edited June 8 by BND

[c-leg5]

3 hours ago, cruiselvr04 said:

We were on a B3B in Australia/NZ this year.  They had a well attended meeting each time.  Perhaps because it was more complicated and larger group?  First turn around you had to pack EVERYTHING, put your suitcases out the night before with special tags, even if you had the same room and once you got back on you couldn’t get off again to explore the city.  You could only leave the ship if you got off early and anything you didn’t want checked you had to carry off and carry around with you. This is the only time we’ve run into something like that. We didn’t want to cart around a heavy back pack all day with iPads, kindles, and everything from the safe so we just stayed on board and went to the lunch. 

That is interesting and a hassle! 
 

was this only for the first turnaround? Was it because this was the ships arrival in Australia as opposed to point-to-point/RT within the country? 

[ATG]

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

That is the important one.  We won't book a B2B (or more) unless same cabin.  Love being unpacked already for next leg.  😉 

Our next b2b is in suite guarantee rooms both legs.  Chances of them being the same is slim.  But the total cost was $1300 less than 2 selected junior suites.  For that much I will spend a couple of hours packing and another hour unpacking.  I usually try for the same room, but this was too good to pass up.

[lovesthebeach2]

You’ll need to probably get off and get back on after you do your passport stuff. They will let you on first with Ps, the suites, and key people.

 

You’ll be invited to lunch, when we did it we dined once with the people that had purchased The Key, but not sure if every ship is the same.

on a TA on Odyssey we had a special lunch in Solarium Bistro.

[BND]

4 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

You’ll need to probably get off and get back on after you do your passport stuff. They will let you on first with Ps, the suites, and key people.

 

You’ll be invited to lunch, when we did it we dined once with the people that had purchased The Key, but not sure if every ship is the same.

on a TA on Odyssey we had a special lunch in Solarium Bistro.

Our experience is they use different sides of the MDR for each group.  We've always eaten with other b2bers and we can see the Key's across the way.  On one b2b (Oasis I think) we were instead sent to a specialty restaurant (Giovanni's) for a complimentary lunch.  That's the only time that's happened.

Edited June 8 by BND

[cruisegirl1]

Seems lunch in Giovanni‘s went away with the back-to-back pre meeting
M

[cruisegirl1]

9 hours ago, nelblu said:

I'm on a 3-4 niter b2b on Utopia and wondering as a D+ (340+) if I get BOGO and wine on both segments.

Yes -you get all applicable benefits on both legs. 
m

[dbancroft]

I read somewhere that b2bers do not have to do the e-muster on 2nd cruise is this true? 

[alfaeric]

17 minutes ago, dbancroft said:

I read somewhere that b2bers do not have to do the e-muster on 2nd cruise is this true? 

That is not true. You still have to emuster. 

[nelblu]

9 hours ago, dbancroft said:

I read somewhere that b2bers do not have to do the e-muster on 2nd cruise is this true? 

Yes you need to, but it's not a big deal.   Just show up at the assigned station and they will check you off.  Even the minute presentation is no longer being offered, unless you ask for it.😄 

[orville99]

On 6/8/2024 at 10:08 AM, nelblu said:

I'm on a 3-4 niter b2b on Utopia and wondering as a D+ (340+) if I get BOGO and wine on both segments.

Yes, you will, and you can make the reservations for your second leg BOGO while you are on board the first leg. On cruises less than 7 nights, you will only get one C&A amenity on each leg.

Edited June 9 by orville99

[orville99]

18 hours ago, ATG said:

Our next b2b is in suite guarantee rooms both legs.

Once they assign your suite numbers for both legs, you can do a mock booking to see if either suite is available on the other leg, and then call to have it switched. Sometimes you get lucky.

 

We are on a B3B in October where the first leg is in a different suite so we will do a RoyalUP bid for that leg. If we are going to have to move any way, we might as well try for a bigger suite on that leg.😇

[mets123]

16 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Seems lunch in Giovanni‘s went away with the back-to-back pre meeting
M

In my experience, even though it was in the dining room, the menu appeared to be a modified Giovanni's,/ Chops menu.

[ZoeyVictoria]

When we parked at the port for a B2B, we took a suitcase of dirty clothes to the car after the first cruise.  Less luggage to deal with when getting off the ship after the second cruise. 

[cruiselvr04]

On 6/8/2024 at 1:14 PM, c-leg5 said:

That is interesting and a hassle! 
 

was this only for the first turnaround? Was it because this was the ships arrival in Australia as opposed to point-to-point/RT within the country? 

This was for all ships coming into Australia.  When we went B2B around Australia we didn’t have to do this.  Just all ships coming in. 

[c-leg5]

29 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

This was for all ships coming into Australia.  When we went B2B around Australia we didn’t have to do this.  Just all ships coming in. 

Yes I can understand that. 

 

Did your other B2B include New Zealand or just Australia?

Edited June 10 by c-leg5

[NoShoes2]

On 6/8/2024 at 12:26 PM, island lady said:

 

That is the important one.  We won't book a B2B (or more) unless same cabin.  Love being unpacked already for next leg.  😉 

 

We are looking forward to that. 

[cruiselvr04]

13 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

Yes I can understand that. 

 

Did your other B2B include New Zealand or just Australia?

We were required to do this on a cruise that went from Australia to NZ and back to Australia. 

[neverbeenhere]

On 6/8/2024 at 5:27 PM, dbancroft said:

I read somewhere that b2bers do not have to do the e-muster on 2nd cruise is this true? 

 

What you mention above is the Princess Cruises rules.

[dbancroft]

1 hour ago, neverbeenhere said:

 

What you mention above is the Princess Cruises rules.

Thank you