Back to Back -- Luggage?

[Seenie]

We are thinking of doing a Celebrity B2B, from Barcelona. We've cruised many times, but not B2B. I know that we will be expected to pack everything and leave the ship, and then re-board with our luggage at embarkation time.

 

What I'd like to do is leave the first cruise early, and spend the day in Barcelona, returning in mid-afternoon for the 6 pm sailing.

 

But what about the overnight bag and the luggage? Are there any tricks to dealing with the bags? I don't want to waste hours collecting my bags in the luggage hall and looking for a way to store them. (The evil child in me says that if I just don't collect my bags in the luggage hall, they will scratch their head and set them aside, and I'll be able to retrieve them when I come back after my day in town. But ... is there a but ????)

 

Someone here has done this on Celebrity! Tell me how ...

[sddsddean]

No, you've got it wrong. If you stay in the same cabin you don't have to do anything! If you move cabin, just move all the stuff to your new one...you can borrow a luggage trolley (like they have at hotels) so don't have to pack properly, but best bet is to keep the same cabin. We did 3 b2b's out of Barcelona 2 years ago and it works like a dream! You won't have to go through immigration or anything either (as you are not in the US). You will just get your new seapass cards the night before left on your bed. If you want to get off and explore, just go. If you want to stay on the ship and have it to yourself, you can do that too. Best bit is watching everyone else get off knowing you are staying on. You will feel very smug!!

 

Simon

[Seenie]

Smug would hardly describe it! :p This could work out really well! We booked the transatlantic cruise ages ago, and now are looking at going b2b with a week on the Med before it. Same ship, but won't be the same cabin. But from what you say, it'll be easy.

 

I notice that your 3 B2Bs weren't on Celebrity. Would their procedures be the same as RCCL, d'you think?

 

Thanks

[dzcruisers]

Smug would hardly describe it! :p This could work out really well! We booked the transatlantic cruise ages ago, and now are looking at going b2b with a week on the Med before it. Same ship, but won't be the same cabin. But from what you say, it'll be easy.

 

I notice that your 3 B2Bs weren't on Celebrity. Would their procedures be the same as RCCL, d'you think?

 

Thanks

Your room steward may well move you while you are at breakfast so you may want to be sure you are packed up and coordinate with him. We went to the area where we were moving the night before and asked our new room steward to please prepare our cabin first so we could get our things out of the way in the other cabin. They have always been happy to do that.

[Fblack]

We have done two b2b. Both times we had to change cabins. The cabin attendant will help move you, but not until the new cabin is ready. For us that meant 9:30AM or so. Depending on the distance to your next cabin, the attendant may just grab everything on hangers and move them. Or he may use a luggage trolley. You then just pack the rest of your stuff in suitcases.

 

We also could not get the new key early. The front desk said they needed to close out the ships accounts and then change things over. So we got our new key around 1:00PM. We also were given an In Transit Pass to get off and on the ship. All in all it was a pretty easy move.

[Wingtips56]

We've done B2B on Princess (same room) and NCL (changing rooms). On NCL, we were advised to leave our bags in our old room, since we had to vacate it by 8:30 or 9:00, with a note saying which room they were to be moved to. I expect this is probably the same on other lines as well.

[Lsimon]

On our single b2b our cruise friends had to change rooms on the turn-around (we didn't) the room steward told them to pack their suitcases and he'd move everything when the rooms were ready. They were told just to leave hanging things in the closet and they'd move those for them on a rolling rack. This was in Florida where you have to get off the ship and go through customs and by the time we got back on board all their things had been moved to the new cabin which they arranged to get ready early for them.

 

I'm not sure, but you might not even have to go through customs in Barcelona if your prior stop was an EU country. Perhaps someone could confirm this?

[sddsddean]

Smug would hardly describe it! :p This could work out really well! We booked the transatlantic cruise ages ago, and now are looking at going b2b with a week on the Med before it. Same ship, but won't be the same cabin. But from what you say, it'll be easy.

 

I notice that your 3 B2Bs weren't on Celebrity. Would their procedures be the same as RCCL, d'you think?

 

Thanks

 

We did it on RCI which is effectively the same company, so I assume they would do it the same. If you have to change cabins (which we have before) the best way is do it yourself. Your steward should know you are doing a b2b, but remind him/her so that they do your cabin last on changeover day. Go and find your new steward a few days before and ask them to do your new cabin first. Its then easy to borrow the luggage trolley and move yourself. We did it all in less than an hour without packing properly on our Explorer cruise. You can even use the lift (elevator) easily as no one else is using them!

If you are looking to do this before your TA, then you will already be in the EU and won't have to go through customs/immigration again, so you should just pick up your new seapass card and that will be it. To get into Barcelona, either get a cab or use the blue portbus which will drop you at the bottom of Las Ramblas (€2 single, €3 return).

 

Simon

[Seenie]

Thank you, Simon. This is going to work out just fine.

[Lsimon]

In our case our friends rooms were in the same area and same steward. But in any event I'm sure the stewards would take care of it. If the rooms are in a different area and you aren't sure your steward can arrange the move then just talk to the Asst. Chief Housekeeper (first line management above the room stewards) - whether you know it or not you're tipping him with the auto-tips added to your room account or prepaid, and he is there to help you. I'm sure he can tell you would can be done and arrange things for you.

 

I don't think there is any need to do this all yourself on Celebrity.

[sddsddean]

I don't think there is any need to do this all yourself on Celebrity.

 

I'm not saying there is any need to do it yourself Larry, but at least if I lose/forget something, its my fault. We do it ourselves for peace of mind.

 

Simon