Back to Back Cruise

[KAYEF]

The last time we did a back-to-back they just gave us new cards the night before the first cruise ended and we did not have to stand in the long boarding lines when we re-boarded after getting off to enjoy the city.

Is that still the same policy?

Somewhere on here I read people had to join the long boarding lines to re-board their cruise when on a back-to-back.

Thanks for any current information.;)

[innlady1]

The last time we did a back-to-back they just gave us new cards the night before the first cruise ended and we did not have to stand in the long boarding lines when we re-boarded after getting off to enjoy the city.

Is that still the same policy?

Somewhere on here I read people had to join the long boarding lines to re-board their cruise when on a back-to-back.

Thanks for any current information.;)

 

We did a back to back in February. We were given a yellow "In Transit Guest" card and, at the end of the day, just walked on the ship.

[jtl513]

Is that still the same policy?

I believe it makes a difference whether your turn-around port is in the US or elsewhere. I believe in the US it's more complicated/worse!

[sail7seas]

We just did another b-to-b with FLL being our turnaround day. For the first time ever, we had to go off the ship, clear immigration and then wait until the ship 'zeroed down', meaning all guests were off the ship before we were permitted to reboard. We waited until the end of disembarkation thinking most guests would soon be good but there seemed to have been some malingerers. We waited ashore for about an hour I think. Didn't matter as it was a pretty day and we found some folks to chat with for a while.

 

In the past, we used to only have to clear Immigration and we were permitted to immediately reboard.

 

B-to-B's are wonderful; the tiny inconvenience is insignificant.

Enjoy.

 

 

[KAYEF]

GOSH, it must differ depending on the port and the ship. When we stayed on in SanDiego, we didn't even have to get off..............just did it later for a bit of wandering.

It was SO wonderful not having to pack the night before (our day did come at the end of the next segment:mad:) and we sat in the Crow's Nest and watched everyone disembarking, etc. We just got off later and walked back on when we wanted to.

This b-2-b will be in Seward, a nice place to explore, etc. but my s-i-l can't do much walking and if we have to stand in a long line to re-board I guess I'll have to hunt up a wheelchair. Whatever the captain delcares, we have to follow the rules..............no big deal.;)

Thanks for information.

[RuthC]

This b-2-b will be in Seward,

That should make a difference, then. Since you will have already entered the United States at a previous port, then you shouldn't have to clear Immigration or Customs.

[Aunty Pat]

We did it in FLL. Stayed on the ship until they called for all crew to leave, went off with the entertainment crew then, waited in the crew waiting area (had a convenience shop not available to the rest of the passengers) then went back on before they started boarding new passengers. The whole thing took about 30 minutes.

 

Aunty Pat

 

 

Barefoot Windjammer - Phantom ‘81

K&D German Rhine Line ‘84

NCL - Norway ’85, Pride of America ’05, Southward ’87, Star ’97 & ‘05, Starward ’92, Sun ’02 & Windward ’93

RCC - Song of America ‘89

American Hawaiian - Independence ‘98

HAL - Volendam ’99, Noordam ’06, Oosterdam ’07 & ‘09, Statendam ’02 & ‘08, Prinsendam ’03 & ’06, Westerdam ’09 & Zuiderdam ’04, ’06 & ‘07

Carnival - Spirit ‘05

Celebrity – Summit ‘05

Cruise West - Yorktown Clipper ‘06

Princess - Golden Princess ‘07

A & K - East Queen ‘07

Cunard - QM2 ’08

[sail7seas]

We didn't have to stand in any line to reboard and were first to get on the ship as soon as they allowed embarkation to begin.

 

We did not have to process documents or get into check in lines. We simply had to wait until they allowed embarkation to start.

 

We have done a great many b-to-b's turning around in FLL and this is the first time we had to do this.

 

[Essiesmom]

We only had to wait to reboard because they were doing three inspections in FLL and couldn't start embarking until they were finished. We just sat in the waiting area with our transit passes until they opened the doors. EM

[DavidPatrick]

We did a B2B with Lisbon being the change port and never left the ship. I understand that in the US you have to leave the ship and reboard, but I'm told this is and easy process. On our last cruise my wife was the last pasenger to leave the ship as they only had 5 porters to push wheelchairs, and we were set for the last group to leave. The manager finely wheeled my wife off as no porter came back. The luggage area was kind of lonely.:)

[sail7seas]

When we do back-to-backs with our turnaround in Montreal, we don't have to leave the ship at all if we don't want to. No immigration or customs unless we go ashore.

[m steve]

They deliver your liquor purchases from the first cruise the last night of it and then you have DF to drink in your cabin on the second leg. Doesn't count against your allowance if you drink it on board. Port doesn't matter.

[Ship's Wake]

GOSH, it must differ depending on the port and the ship. When we stayed on in SanDiego, we didn't even have to get off..............just did it later for a bit of wandering.

It was SO wonderful not having to pack the night before (our day did come at the end of the next segment:mad:) and we sat in the Crow's Nest and watched everyone disembarking, etc. We just got off later and walked back on when we wanted to.

This b-2-b will be in Seward, a nice place to explore, etc. but my s-i-l can't do much walking and if we have to stand in a long line to re-board I guess I'll have to hunt up a wheelchair. Whatever the captain delcares, we have to follow the rules..............no big deal.;)

Thanks for information.

 

We did a btb last year on the Volendam. They gave us the btb card the night before Seward. We did get off the ship to go into Seward, but I don't remember them requiring that we disembark.

 

On our cruise HAL had a shuttle bus that took you from the terminal into Seward. We originally had a day cruise planned that day to go into the Kenai fjords, but that got cancelled due to rough weather. We ended up taking the shuttle bus that dropped us off in front of the marine science museum, which we found quite interesting. http://www.alaskasealife.org/

 

Not sure how much walking your s-i-l can do, but you should consider this as an option.

 

Joe

[CaliforniaAC]

hummmm....

 

Question- When we did our b2b it was sold as two seven day cruises on the Zuiderdam. This November on the Noordam, it was sold as a 20 day cruise. Does anyone know if November 11 in FLL wil be considered just a port day for us, or do we also have to go through the disembarking thing?

 

funny note: when we got off the Zuiderdam in the middle of our b2b then, they did not realize that we were still on the ship when we went to get off and go to the beach. Needless to say our instructions were changed quickly:o.

[RedmondCruiser]

We just did another b-to-b with FLL being our turnaround day. For the first time ever, we had to go off the ship, clear immigration and then wait until the ship 'zeroed down', meaning all guests were off the ship before we were permitted to reboard. We waited until the end of disembarkation thinking most guests would soon be good but there seemed to have been some malingerers. We waited ashore for about an hour I think. Didn't matter as it was a pretty day and we found some folks to chat with for a while.

 

In the past, we used to only have to clear Immigration and we were permitted to immediately reboard.

 

B-to-B's are wonderful; the tiny inconvenience is insignificant.

Enjoy.

 

 

 

We had just the opposite on a March B to B on the Noordam. We had close to 300 transit passengers and we just went down to the show lounge and showed out passports and that was it. On a previous B to B we had to wait close to 2 hours in the terminal for the ship to zero out.

[m steve]

Last Nov on Noordam there were 600 pp B2B. We exited after the normally one cabin is l disembark and waited about an hour for immegration to clear us for reboarding and then went back to our cabins. If only one cabin waits to check out immigration won't let anyone back on board.

[sail7seas]

KK mentioned on one of her recent back-to-backs, they cleared Immigration on the ship because there were so many of them. Maybe it was the same cruise you were on Redmond Cruiser?

 

We didn't have a large group of in transits so perhaps that makes a difference.

All of that is controlled by the local Officials; not by HAL.