Back to Back Cruising on the Glory!

[FnyFACEnAL]

We have booked back to back cruises on the Glory, first Western then Eastern in December 2005. Can anyone tell us where we will be staying while folks are debarking? Can we stay in our cabin? I hope to do laundry while everyone is boarding. (We have been told that we will not have to pack up our cabin.) Would love to hear from anyone who has done back to back cruising. Thanks!

[SouthernCaribbean]

We have booked back to back cruises on the Glory, first Western then Eastern in December 2005. Can anyone tell us where we will be staying while folks are debarking? Can we stay in our cabin? I hope to do laundry while everyone is boarding. (We have been told that we will not have to pack up our cabin.) Would love to hear from anyone who has done back to back cruising. Thanks!

 

Dont think you will be able to do laundry while in port

 

Can I wash my clothes while on board?Self-Service Launderettes

 

Each ship has at least 2 self-service launderettes located on the stateroom decks.

 

There are two or three washers and dryers, and one iron and ironing board in each launderette. The cost is $2.00 per washer load and $2.00 per dryer load. Vending machines dispense small boxes of detergent and water softener at $1.00 per box.

 

Note: Due to local environmental requirements, the washing machines in the guest' launderette will be closed in port, per each ports specific requirements; the dryers and irons will be available for guest use.

[rhondanrob]

Did you get any kind of break on the price or did you basically buy two cruises? We asked about doing a back-to-back when we were on the Glory last month, and they seemed to think it was no big deal, you could stay in the same cabin, no need to leave the ship, it just never occured to me to ask if you had to go somewhere specific while they were changing passengers. I sort of figured if it was us, we'd just grab some deck chairs for a while, as it would probably be the only time in a week that you could be certain of finding a chair where ever you wanted, and then do lunch at the Red Sail, by which time the new guests would be coming aboard.

[grammymarcia]

We did back to backs this past Sept. on the Glory. If you have the same room for both weeks, you will not have to pack. All the back to back people will get off together as a group after all the other passengers have disembarked. We all met by the pursor's desk. We just walked into the terminal, cleared customs, sat for about 30 minutes and then got back on. Some people chose to go and shop. We swam in the pool. Very quiet. It was about 3 hrs before the 1st passengers for the next week came on board. Laundry was closed . Hope this helps.

[OCruisers]

We did back to backs this past Sept. on the Glory. If you have the same room for both weeks, you will not have to pack. All the back to back people will get off together as a group after all the other passengers have disembarked. We all met by the pursor's desk. We just walked into the terminal, cleared customs, sat for about 30 minutes and then got back on. Some people chose to go and shop. We swam in the pool. Very quiet. It was about 3 hrs before the 1st passengers for the next week came on board. Laundry was closed . Hope this helps.

 

grammymarcia .... Thanks so much for your time to reply. :)

 

We'll be doing a B2B on Glory in January '06 so we're interested. We've been on B2B's on OTHER cruise lines ... but this will be the first for us on Carnival.

 

How about LUNCH? Do they do anything special? Are any "appreciation" gifts sent to the cabin? :confused:

 

Thanks again! Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[FnyFACEnAL]

I was hoping we would not have to get off of the ship. Did you notify the purser when you got on the ship that you were doing a back to back?

Were you glad you did the back to back? This will be a first for us. Did you take advantage of the laundry special or just bring lots of clothes? Were there quite a few folks doing the back to back?

 

We received the Military discount on both cruises. We feel like this deep discount may go away so we would take full advantage of it and since the Glory is going to different ports we will be okay. (Carnival is now offering the Military discount to any Veteran with two years service with an Honorable Discharge.)

[grammymarcia]

Our 1st week was supposed to be the eastern route, but had to go west due to hurricane Jean. We had 3 cabins. When the 1st week was over, "Jean" had decided to double back and we could not get back to P. Can. tried to get into Miami, but they closed the port at 4:30Am so we went back out into the straits for 2 days. 2nd week was shortened to 5 days and we ported in Ft.Laud. the new passengers were bused down from Pt.Can. we had 11 cabins with family the 2nd week, all came!! No lunch until about 1:30 when a few passengers started arriving. We sent out some clothes to the laundry, I just budget for that if the cruise is longer than 7 days. It was a great cruise even though it was west-west.

[grammymarcia]

We had a large group the 2nd week so we had a cocktail party, and the "fruit basket". There were 40 b2b but only 21 stayed for the 2nd week. Most of them were from the UK and they got 9 days and didn't want to go west again. We each got a ship board credit of $100 they second week and 35% of the 2nd week back in a check from Carnival. We really made out because we got our full 2 weeks. Most of our family came from Mass. and Ind. so they got back money that cost them to change flights and hotel rooms for the 2 days prior. Thought Carnival did a great job.

[grammymarcia]

Sorry, I didn't answer 1 of your questions. Purser's office will send a letter to your cabin on what you need to do. Don't forget the 2nd set of tickets.

[Sea Turtle]

I've done two B2B with Carnival.

 

The first was out of Miami, and I did have to disembark. I had to wait for all departing pax (including my little sister) to exit then I went through Customs, came back into the entry terminal, picked up my docs (I had none--last minute cruise), went back through security scan, got checked in (no arriving pax allowed in at this time) at the 'regular' check in desk, got a new security photo, and proceeded back on the ship. Painless, and took maybe 10-15 minutes total. As far as I know I was the only B2B on this cruise. The originating cruise was an 8-day eastern Caribbean followed by a 16-day Panama Canal from Miami to San Diego. I received baskets from the Chief Purser and from the Maitre d’.

 

The second time was an Alaska cruise, and I did not have to disembark. And, if memory serves, this was because when I boarded the ship in Vancouver, BC we were checked in by the Canadians but the last stop before setting foot on the ship was with US officials who cleared us to reenter the states as our ports of call would be in the US from beginning to end. So once we reached our final port of call in Seward, AK and all pax were disembarking for the return home, the B2B pax did not have to disembark. I received a basket full of thanks in my cabin, and was treated royally by the entire staff. It didn’t hurt that both of my B2B’s were on the same ship/same staff. They knew me well after 24 days on the first go-around. :)

 

I did my own laundry onboard, and it must have been the first sea day of the second part of the cruises as I know there was no one else in the laundry room, and that would stand to reason if others just got onboard--I would think they came with clean clothes. ;)

 

Hope you enjoy your B2B as much as I did mine. And, yours will most likely be even smoother than mine because I travel ‘guarantee status’ so I had to change cabins on both journeys.

 

Enjoy the evening, and your cruise!

[FnyFACEnAL]

Grannymarcia...were you expecting the $100 shipboard credit or was it a total surprise? I wonder if we will get a gift for back to back? Would you please e-mail me direct? fnyfacenal@aol.com

THANKS!

[FnyFACEnAL]

Sea Turtle..thanks to you also for your response.

We would be so excited if we did receive anything from Carnival for doing the back to back. We did not use a TA but booked directly through Carnival. Do you think the baskets are the norm? Were you in a suite? We are in an inside cabin at a great rate so maybe we won't receive anything extra. We have cruised many times but this will be a new experience for us.