Back to back cruising?????

[BlondeBlueyes]

Greeting group,

We are taking a cruise on Carnival Magic in Feb and are considering a back to back cruise. What happens on the last day, can we stay on board, do we have to take our luggage off and reboard? We will have to change cabins unfortunately, but what happens??? Help and thanks.

[waiting4acruise]

I have done a couple of back to back cruises. You will be escorted off the ship to turn in the immigration cards and escorted right back on the ship. Your room steward can help you in bring your luggage to your new cabin.

You will have the ship to yourselves for about an hour until the new passengers board.

[Froufie]

do a search on back to back or b2b - tons of info on the boards! :D

[firefly333]

I changed cabins twice on B2Bs, and neither time did my cabin steward help me out. I was told here on CC that I should have tipped my steward ahead of time a $20 if I wanted help.

 

Second time I asked my cabin steward 3 times if I would get help and all three times told yes .. nope. they would not even let me borrow a cart. Luckily I cruise lite.. so I moved myself.

 

You get a letter of when to meet, usually the atrium, about 10 am.

[Froufie]

So as you can see the trick is to definitely try and get the same cabin! :D

 

Fun to watch everyone disembark with sad faces - you will get a letter in your cabin telling you where and when to meet that morning (with passport and customs form) - once everyone is off you will be escorted off the ship, thru customs and back on board - whole thing takes about 15 mins or so - then you have the whole ship to yourselves for a couple of hours :D (no need to take luggage off or pack for that matter - again assuming you are in the same cabin)

[waiting4acruise]

I changed cabins twice on B2Bs, and neither time did my cabin steward help me out. I was told here on CC that I should have tipped my steward ahead of time a $20 if I wanted help.

 

Second time I asked my cabin steward 3 times if I would get help and all three times told yes .. nope. they would not even let me borrow a cart. Luckily I cruise lite.. so I moved myself.

 

You get a letter of when to meet, usually the atrium, about 10 am.

Our first b2b we moved to the cabin across the hall.

On our 2nd b2b our room steward got us a cart.

[firefly333]

Our first b2b we moved to the cabin across the hall.

On our 2nd b2b our room steward got us a cart.

 

When he said he didnt have time to help me the day I had to change cabins, I asked, ok can I at least borrow a cart, and he said no, he needed them. I guess at that point, Im thinking not tipping now, after he said he cant do it.

 

I just did it myself. Both times like from deck 2 to deck 6, different parts of the deck etc.

 

It really wasnt that big of a deal. Im a walker and it didnt take that long. I was just a bit annoyed as people on CC always post you will get help and Iv changed twice with Carnival and no help.

 

I really didnt mind doing it that much though. I was up on Lido right after turning in my customs, when no one else was up there, before they start allowing people to get on the next leg. Being up there alone is a great feeling, knowing you have the ship almost to yourself. You can almost hear the quiet.

 

I did that one B2B on Conquest with some Crazies. the other was on Triumph.

 

I also did one on the SOV (Sovereign OTS) and almost did one last fall, Liberty OTS got back on a Sunday, and we spent a night in Miami and then got on Monarch, so I call that my almost B2B, so Iv done almost 4 of them. I think they are really fun, to see the same staff again that you have already started to get to know.

 

You also spend time waiting with other B2Bers, and I almost alwayssee these people thru out the 2nd leg and we wind up saying hello to each other and you feel its fun for that too. Two guys I meet that way, we have since run into each other on other cruises out of Galveston.

[kansas kruiser]

Our first b2b we moved to the cabin across the hall.

On our 2nd b2b our room steward got us a cart.

:cool:When I did my B2B on the super bowl Ecstasy cruise, I found my room steward on the 2nd leg early, and asked him about the move, of course it was only around the corner, but I never touched a thing!! He did get a good tip tho!!:D

[samiam0403]

Should be a quick and painless process - the pursers desk should be able to let you know what's going to happen, and will probably leave a letter for you. But safer to ask. :) I did a B2B2B where I changed cabins on each leg - on the first, the cabin steward was kind enough to bring a luggage cart and help a bit, the second, the new steward didn't understand our request. Language barrier, I suppose, so we schlepped our bags to our new room ourselves. No biggie. I was on a B2B2B - what did I care? :D You should be escorted off the ship, through immigration, then right back on the ship. You may have a bit of a wait to get your new Sign and Sail cards, but again - minimal hassle. Best part of a B2B? If you drink, purchase your alcohol from the duty-free shop on the first leg, and it will be delivered to your cabin for the second leg. :cool: I was thrilled that I learned that here before my first B2B!

[southbayer]

I had back to back on the Dream, had to change to a different cabin.

 

Here's what happened...

 

Got the letter in my stateroom telling me whatever whatever.

About the last full day before getting back, I went to the new cabin area, found the steward handling that cabin I would take, introduced myself, and told him I would be on the next cruise in that cabin.

 

He was like, just pack up like normal as if you were leaving the ship, but leave your luggage inside your cabin, do not put out. He would then make the arrangements of getting my luggage from my vacating stateroom which he did, and move it down to the next. I'm like cool, I'll advise my current steward, so he knows I'll be leaving my luggage in there and what will happen.

 

So all that happened perfectly. Then I made my way past all the sad faces in line to the Information Desk, and they told me to wait with my carry on to the sitting area next to them. They would call us after the last zone #, so about 15 of us waited..

 

So the purser came over after all the lines went out, and handed us our new sail and sign cards, and then led us out the gangway, directly to customs, no lines, no waiting, it was just us walking there and handed the officer our customs card, and walked back onto the ship, never leaving the terminal.

 

Upon walking back onto the ship, it was a virtual ghost town! All to ourselves. But, we had wait anyway, our rooms still would not be ready for awhile, but my new steward told me he would do mines first, and to check back with him about 10:00am. He did get it all ready like he said, so that was cool.

 

But everything was shut down, no grub, and the new s&s card didn't work yet for scanning at the atrium bar for drinks, but they did hand write a receipt and wrote down my folio number, so that was cool.

 

But of course, having the same room, you don't pack up anything, you simply walk out of your stateroom to the pursers and walk off, back on, and mosey back to your comfy stateroom.

 

The End.

 

[luvmysox1]

Definitely try to book the same cabin. Best part is when everyone else has to pack up and get ready to home, you know you have 3, 4, 5, or 7 more days on that beautiful fun ship.:p

[keene state mom]

I have done a lot of B2Bs and I only changed rooms once, and what I did was to put most of my clothes on hangers, and carry them to the new room that way, and replace them with the hangers from the new room , so I did not have to really pack and unpack much, the room stewards left both the doors open for me to make it easier.