B2B Cruises, Different Cruise Lines

[510picker]

We have a 7-day HAL cruise already booked, but I got a crazy idea to book another cruise the week before with another line. Curious if anyone here has done this and how it worked out. Both cruises are out of the Ft Lauderdale and end/begin on the same day.

 

Thanks!

[rafinmd]

Hopefully, somebody will have experience with Ft. Lauderdale and chime in, but here's what I know.

 

I did this transferring from the Crystal Serenity to the Wind Surf in Civitavecchia (Rome). I went up to the lido back deck to hang out until I was one of the last ones off the ship, then dropped my bags off at the new terminal and spent a couple hours exploring the town before heading to checkin on the Surf.

 

I believe Ft. Lauderdale has shuttles in the port which can take you and your bags to the new ship. If you want to spend some time in Ft. Lauderdale I don't know if there's a shuttle or if you have to take a taxi.

 

Are my bad habits spreading?

 

Roy

[510picker]

Thanks Roy! I don't recall shuttles (at least free ones) at Ft Lauderdale, but I think there is some distance between the docking piers of the two cruise lines (HAL and Princess), so a cab would be the best route and would probably inexpensive ($10) to take us.

[HamOp]

I kind of wish you had said you had a day between cruises. What if God forbid your first ship is delayed getting back?

 

It sounds like a fun thing to do, but too close for comfort for me.

[510picker]

I kind of wish you had said you had a day between cruises. What if God forbid your first ship is delayed getting back?

 

It sounds like a fun thing to do, but too close for comfort for me.

 

Excellent point. One I hadn't thought of.

[Krazy Kruizers]

There are no shuttles in Ft Lauderdale to go from one pier to another. The shuttles for the airport and car off site car parking lots.

To get between Princess and HAL -- you have no choice but to use a cab -- the distance between is quite lengthy and not easy to walk with luggage and carry-ons.

And many of the cab drivers to not like to that short distant ride -- they don't make money on that run.

Another problem you encounter. You have to be off ship usually no later than 10 and the other cruise line won't open up their terminal untl around 11.

Yes -- I have talked to people who have done it - but they said it was too much of a hassle and wouldn't do it again.

[sail7seas]

Should be quick and easy.

You may have to wait a few minutes at cruise #2 until they start embarkation but assuming both ships arrive back in port relatively on time, no problem.

 

As to the taxi, KK is correct. The driver will not like he has such a short ride but he'll pick up someone at the other line when he lets you out. One of you should stay outside the taxi while the luggage is loaded in the trunk. The other of you should get in the taxi but DO NOT tell the driver your destination until both of you are seated in the taxi. Then tell him where you need to go. Be sure he puts on the meter. It's a lot harder for him to tell you (s)he's not going to take you where you want to go when your luggage is loaded and you are seated in the closed taxi than if he knows while one of you is still standing outside.

 

 

 

 

 

[sail7seas]

The only shuttles I have seen at Port Everglades are for crew taking them to grocery store/WalMart type places. I have never seen one for guests.

[Ray in NH]

I kind of wish you had said you had a day between cruises. What if God forbid your first ship is delayed getting back?

 

It sounds like a fun thing to do, but too close for comfort for me.

 

There are no shuttles in Ft Lauderdale to go from one pier to another. The shuttles for the airport and car off site car parking lots.

 

To get between Princess and HAL -- you have no choice but to use a cab -- the distance between is quite lengthy and not easy to walk with luggage and carry-ons.

 

And many of the cab drivers to not like to that short distant ride -- they don't make money on that run.

 

Another problem you encounter. You have to be off ship usually no later than 10 and the other cruise line won't open up their terminal untl around 11.

 

Yes -- I have talked to people who have done it - but they said it was too much of a hassle and wouldn't do it again.

 

We have done what the OP asks about (B-2-B on different ships) a few times, and will be doing it again next January, after the Maasdam Holiday Cruise.

As KK points out the biggest issue is timing from getting off one ship and being allowed to board the second ship. This is somewhat mitigated by one's ability to qualify for preferential boarding (due to Loyalty Status, or Stateroom Category). Yes, some taxi drivers are not thrilled with the short trip, and others don't really care (cruise terminal to airport isn't very long either). We just tip as if the trip was to the airport, or a local hotel -- that helps soothe any discomfort.

If both cruises are on same day, any delay in disembarkation may work to OP's advantage? Of course, if possible, a day or so in between is also nice. Our Maasdam cruise ends on a Friday and our succeeding cruise doesn't start until Sunday (we usually stay and extra day after disembarking any way).

Ray in NH

[sail7seas]

A Friday debark with a Sunday embark is perfect.

 

Enjoy.

[jaguarstyper]

We did exactly that back in 2004. Princess the first week and HAL the second week. I don't think you'll be able to walk from one pier to the other, so you'll probably need a cab or some other form of transport. We had a car in the parking garage, so that wasn't problem for us. We got off the Princess ship as early as possible and left to do a little shopping. Without transportation, you may need to sit around a wait a little bit. I seem to remember Princess offering some sort of shore excursions in FLL. Maybe that's something you could look into to burn some time between debark and embark. Or, stay on the ship until the kick you off to minimize the wait time.

 

It was a real neat way to really compare cruise lines and did a lot to solidify our preference for HAL.

 

In regards to another post questioning what to do if the ship is late arriving at the port. In all the cruises I've been on, this has never happened. Maybe I'm lucky, I don't know. How often does this really happen? I mean they have a ton of work to do to turn the ship around, so I'm sure they take every precaution possible to ensure they arrive on time. But we all know about that Murphy guy and his stupid law. Just curious how big of a concern this really should be. We never even gave it a thought when we did it.

[rafinmd]

Just wondering, could you take the shuttle to the parking garage and then a return trip back to the new ship?

 

You might also post this query on the Florida Ports of Call forum.

 

I know it is theoretically possible to be late arriving at the final port (A HAL cruise which had a medical emergency on the way back from Hawaii comes to mind) but it must be a VERY rare event.

 

Roy

[donh1]

I'd simply tell the cab driver I going to give him whatever is on the meter plus $10 and I'm certain he'd think that was 10 minutes well spent. If it's on a real busy day the cab drivers don't seem to spent very much time waiting there turn in line and most are only doing the short run to the airport anyway.

Re: Delayed Ships.... Murphy's Law might prevail and mess you up if one ship or the other was delayed but it's highly unlikely the delay would be long enough to affect your plans. I for one would definitely take that risk.

[catl331]

What if God forbid your first ship is delayed getting back?

It's a pretty rare thing for a ship debarkation to be delayed more than a couple of hours. Even if you didn't get off until 2:00pm you;d still have plenty of time.

 

I disagree with Sail7 about not telling the taxi driver where you want to go until after you are in the cab. I would be up-front and offer him a flat $15 or $20, which is all he would get for a run to the airport, and he'd use less gas.

[Boytjie]

I know it is theoretically possible to be late arriving at the final port (A HAL cruise which had a medical emergency on the way back from Hawaii comes to mind) but it must be a VERY rare event.

 

In 2010 we had a rare one: a delayed embarkation on the Eurodam in Port Everglades. The ship did not dock until 12:30 pm since it was delayed due to problems raising the anchor at Half Moon Cay the previous day. Our boarding started at 3 pm, so even with that late arrival one could most likely make it in time to board the next ship.

[jaguarstyper]

With all the passengers debarking, there are going to be lots of cabs in the area. I really do not think any one of them would have a problem taking a fare to another pier and getting right back in line. It's what they do.

[sail7seas]

In 2010 we had a rare one: a delayed embarkation on the Eurodam in Port Everglades. The ship did not dock until 12:30 pm since it was delayed due to problems raising the anchor at Half Moon Cay the previous day. Our boarding started at 3 pm, so even with that late arrival one could most likely make it in time to board the next ship.

 

We were disembarking that cruise and while you didn't board until about 3 P.M., we disembarked about 12:30 or 1:00 P.M. OP would have had more than enough time.

 

[catl331]

I really do not think any one of them would have a problem taking a fare to another pier and getting right back in line. It's what they do.

A cabbie could be unhappy about doing it if the queue is long ... unless you offer enough money to make it worth his while.

 

Once many years ago we flew into JFK on a small plane that went to a small, separate terminal. (IIRC it was called the Marine terminal?) Anyway, we wanted to take a cab over to the American terminal because we were carrying a lot of equipment. No one would do it for what we could afford to offer. We had to take a shuttle bus.

[fleckle]

We have a 7-day HAL cruise already booked, but I got a crazy idea to book another cruise the week before with another line. Curious if anyone here has done this and how it worked out. Both cruises are out of the Ft Lauderdale and end/begin on the same day.

 

Thanks!

We have done that a number of times and it has always worked out very well so we would not hesitate to do it again. Lots of people do that. Nothing crazy about it at all.

 

The advantages are getting a new itinerary, new ship to explore, new menus and new entertainment.

 

If the berths at Ft. Lauderdale are not close enough together for you to walk, you can just take a taxi from one ship to the next.

 

Since ships typically arrive in port very early in the morning and do not depart until late afternoon or evening, there is a large cushion of time between them so making the connection is not a concern.

[rkacruiser]

I found no difficulties in doing a B2B, arriving and sailing on the same day. I transfered from Carnival Freedom at Pier 19 to the Noordam at Pier 26, walking from one site to the other. There was about an hour between the time I disembarked Freedom to when the HAL terminal opened. But, since my car was in the parking garage, I simply sat in the car waiting for the terminal to open.

[Boytjie]

We were disembarking that cruise and while you didn't board until about 3 P.M., we disembarked about 12:30 or 1:00 P.M. OP would have had more than enough time.

 

 

Yep, I remember that you were disembarking the ship. :)

[Boytjie]

Once many years ago we flew into JFK on a small plane that went to a small, separate terminal. (IIRC it was called the Marine terminal?) Anyway, we wanted to take a cab over to the American terminal because we were carrying a lot of equipment. No one would do it for what we could afford to offer. We had to take a shuttle bus.

 

The Marine Terminal is at La Guardia; maybe it was called something else.

 

JFK now has the AirTrain that connects all the passenger terminals (free ride).

[catl331]

The Marine Terminal is at La Guardia; maybe it was called something else.

Come to think of it, I think it was at LGA, not JFK, where we had to do this. It was 35 years or so ago, so my memory is a little fuzzy! :)

[Boytjie]

Come to think of it, I think it was at LGA, not JFK, where we had to do this. It was 35 years or so ago, so my memory is a little fuzzy! :)

 

Back then was it JFK or Idlewild?! :D

[Tricia724]

I disagree with Sail7 about not telling the taxi driver where you want to go until after you are in the cab. I would be up-front and offer him a flat $15 or $20, which is all he would get for a run to the airport, and he'd use less gas.

 

That may sound logical to you and me, but don't count on getting a cabbie with any kind of logic. Or one who has a good command of English.

 

We did b2bs on different cruiselines out of Miami in February, and the biggest hassle was the cab driver. We told him we wanted to go straight down the pier (less than 1/2 mile....only one other ship between us) and the guy was all bent out of shape, even though I told him he would get a good tip. It turned into a fiasco. I'll spare the details but in the end it cost us $20 and the guy was still steamed when we got out. These guys are just programmed to run back and forth to the airport, and don't even consider that they are making far more money in less time.