Back-To-Back and-uh Belly-to-Belly Cruises

[Pianoman6582]

Sorry about the title, the announcer for the New York Yankees, on the radio, says "Back-to-back, annnnd-uh Belly to Belly" when two yankees hit b2b homeruns.... So I asked about the mechanics of the B2B, now tell me how to do it.... I'm looking at all kinds of combinations. There doesn't seem to be a way to go b2b these days without doing the same cruise twice.

 

We had thought lengthening our January Cruise by doing the one nighter that follows, but there's a problem: there will be no porters coming off the one nighter, and we will have ten days worth of luggage, souvenirs and whatnot.

 

And what of customs? With only one night, surely they'll assume no one else has left the country but us, and do a good thorough once over our bags because they have nothing better to do....

 

The other trip we'd like to do is the trans-atlantic... do any of the Norwegians do B2B's "across the pond?"

Help! Please feel free to email me @ taximan6582@hotmail.com, I'd like to hear your experiences with B2B cruises, and the technique involved.

 

Cruise on,

JWK: Cruise Junkie

[zamboni_girl]

Sorry about the title, the announcer for the New York Yankees, on the radio, says "Back-to-back, annnnd-uh Belly to Belly" when two yankees hit b2b homeruns.... So I asked about the mechanics of the B2B, now tell me how to do it.... I'm looking at all kinds of combinations. There doesn't seem to be a way to go b2b these days without doing the same cruise twice.

 

We had thought lengthening our January Cruise by doing the one nighter that follows, but there's a problem: there will be no porters coming off the one nighter, and we will have ten days worth of luggage, souvenirs and whatnot.

 

And what of customs? With only one night, surely they'll assume no one else has left the country but us, and do a good thorough once over our bags because they have nothing better to do....

 

The other trip we'd like to do is the trans-atlantic... do any of the Norwegians do B2B's "across the pond?"

Help! Please feel free to email me @ taximan6582@hotmail.com, I'd like to hear your experiences with B2B cruises, and the technique involved.

 

Cruise on,

JWK: Cruise Junkie

 

Actually if you look just before a repositioning cruise you can do some interesting trips. For example some of the ones I am looking at:

 

Pearl in Sept, do the last alaska run, then a 1 nighter, then a 5 nighter along the US west coast to LA, and if you are bold and loaded you can then stay on for the 14 day panama canal transit.

 

Spirt in October (I think) does a Boston to Quebec trip, then you can do Quebec City back to Boston, the stops are different in each direction, 14 days total, including crusing in the saint lawerence and two stops in northern quebec as well as the traditional canada/ new england stops of halifax, st john, portland, bar harbor.

 

Those are two I am looking at.

[insidecabin]

Most of the TA repos have been extended to include ports so are allready more like a B2B and no longer getting the deep discounts like they did when they were mostly sea days

 

Over the winter the Jade in the Med is doing 12n/9n itineraries(differnt ports) with a 21night option as well.

 

I think with a US B2B you may have to disembark anyway(we had to on a princess 7/7 US trip) so if you have the car at the port you could off load the luggage and get back on for the one night with an overnight bag.

[garycarla]

regarding the porters thing. Many people now use those suitcases with wheels. And, when we did an early disembark, I actually hung one suitcase off the other and wheel 100 lbs with one hand, no problem. I am 50+ and that works really well. We can do 3 suitcases for 2-3 week cruises, especially on NCL with the formal stuff.

 

Just a thought. But, if you are one of those with many suitcases, then porters might be an issue.

[Sparkylok6]

Are you driving to the pier? If you are you could just keep what you will need for the one nighter and put everything else in your car overnight. You will have to get off the ship at one point to go through customs - the concierege should help you with that. While you are doing that you could run up to the car and "unload" what you won't need. Just a thought.......

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[gaomm]

Hi--

We just did a b2b on the Jade in the Mediterranean. It may have been different than what you are looking at, but it was handled smoothly and we didn't have to do anything but get new cruisecards on the day that the Cruise #1 ended. The ship asked that anyone staying on for the next cruise check in with the registration desk about 3 days prior to the end of the first cruise. That was pretty much it. We didn't even have to settle our account at the end of Cruise #1--it was just continued for Cruise #2. I'd suggest that you book the same cabin for both cruises. We chose to upgrade for Cruise #2, so that meant we had to pack suitcases in order to move. However, we just left them in our first cabin and the room steward moved them to the 2nd cabin. We spent that day sightseeing and then reboarded the Jade that afternoon just like we had been doing in all the ports. No additional customs or anything. Don't let concerns about a hassle keep you from doing back2back! It's a piece of cake!

[boeckli]

In 2007 on the Dawn we did the 14 day NYC-MIA reposition, followed B2B by a 7 day Eastern. Booked the repo originally, then had them add the rest later (on the same booking number). We had 1 access card for the whole trip. Had to get off the ship in in Miami between the 2 for immigration/customs but no great hassle.

 

For 2009 we have booked the NYC-MIA repo followed B2B by 14 day Western & Southern (which technically is a B2B 5+9 in itself) = total 28 :D (this time the 2 are on separate booking numbers)

 

If you wanted, you could add the season's last 7 day Bermuda sailing to the front of it all and have a 35 day cruise without repeating the itinerary :rolleyes: