Anyone book B2B on different ships?

[mmpgoodtogo]

On these boards, I see the topic of B2Bs come up quite a lot, but I don't remember seeing a post regarding the scenario I mention below.

 

I haven't done a ton of research yet in this area to see if the timing would work out, but I was wondering if anyone out there has done back to back cruises, but instead of staying on the same ship, you would just switch to another ship? I am even thinking about switching lines. RCL is our fave, but we also enjoy NCL, so we wouldn't mind cruising with them again. I would even switch ports, if they were close enough like Miami and FLL.

 

Right now I am looking at Jan/Feb 2014 and browsing the super cheap 3 or 4 days with NCL and then perhaps booking a 7 day on RCL. It would be tough for us to be gone for a full 14 days which is why we were thinking the short then long, B2B might be doable.

 

I can't think of too many negatives of doing it this way, but I would be interested to hear other's thoughts in case I am missing something obvious that makes this infeasible.

[Agutaya]

Lots of people do B2B cruises on different ships. We'll be doing it in December I believe that if you do a B2B on Royal Caribbean that has one day in between the cruises they will pay for a hotel for one night, so you have a few more options. I can't think of negatives except having to move.

[Daghis]

Last October, we sailed on the Freedom of the Seas for a 7-night itinerary (Sunday through Sunday), and then on the Monarch of the Seas for a 4-night one (Monday through Friday). Like Agutaya said, Royal Caribbean provided a hotel for the night in between as well as transportation between the pier and the hotel.

 

I would have preferred to go on the smaller ship first, but that particular schedule didn't work out for us.

[cheers]

We've done b2b on different ships 3 times.

 

Always RCL and Carnival. We didn't want to stay on the same ship for 2 weeks with the same menu, same shows, etc...

 

We packed for one week and I did laundry either day one or the last day depending if Carnival was the first week or 2nd week. Took less than 1 hour. I didn't mind packing and unpacking, I don't take a lot of extra stuff so it always goes quick.

 

2 of the times the ships were parked back to back, the other time we had FLL to MIA.

 

We like the 2 weeks and only having to paying for airfare once, that is the big selling point for us.

[MrFunInTheSun]

On these boards, I see the topic of B2Bs come up quite a lot, but I don't remember seeing a post regarding the scenario I mention below.

 

I haven't done a ton of research yet in this area to see if the timing would work out, but I was wondering if anyone out there has done back to back cruises, but instead of staying on the same ship, you would just switch to another ship? I am even thinking about switching lines. RCL is our fave, but we also enjoy NCL, so we wouldn't mind cruising with them again. I would even switch ports, if they were close enough like Miami and FLL.

 

Right now I am looking at Jan/Feb 2014 and browsing the super cheap 3 or 4 days with NCL and then perhaps booking a 7 day on RCL. It would be tough for us to be gone for a full 14 days which is why we were thinking the short then long, B2B might be doable.

 

I can't think of too many negatives of doing it this way, but I would be interested to hear other's thoughts in case I am missing something obvious that makes this infeasible.

 

 

I did it this past November. Was a first back to back (errr. Non-traditional back to back for me). Started with a three day on the Carnival Sensation in Port Canaveral and then drove down to Port Everglades that same day I departed the Sensation and boarded the Carnival Freedom! Was lots of fun and I'd do it again! I did a "Live" from trip report which added to the fun a bit too.

 

My live review is at the link below.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1734869

 

My B2B was for a total of 9 days.

 

The week prior to my back to back there had been weather issues and the start of "Florida fall fog". I will say I was a bit nervous that something would happen that morning and delay our docking of the Sensation keeping from boarding the Freedom when I was supposed to. Thankfully Port Canaveral doesn't issues as much as Tampa, but the thought had gone through my mind.

 

 

Have a great cruise in whichever you decide!

[Driftwoodgal]

We have sailed on the Majesty of the Seas for three nights and then boarded the Brilliance of the Seas for an eleven night. The longshoremen thought we were crazy when we showed up for a three night cruise with tons of luggage. We pulled the luggage from one ship down the dock to the other ship.

 

Have also sailed on NCL in Europe/Barcelona. We got off the NCL ship, pulled our luggage down the dock and got on the Voyager for a transatlantic sailing. It wasn't my idea to sail on NCL and then go to RCI. I would have been happy sailing on the Voyager both times. It did give me a taste of NCL.... won't be doing that again. Each line has some good bad and frustrating. I hate being dogged to book a specialty restaurant every day, thus RCI gets my vote.

[maureencruiser]

Since you are RCI fans, you can do the Oasis on Saturday, RCI pays for your hotel then do the Allure Sunday! My dream vacation!:D

[foxesden1]

yep and i am doing the worlds slowest review right now.. see link below.

[mmpgoodtogo]

Last October, we sailed on the Freedom of the Seas for a 7-night itinerary (Sunday through Sunday), and then on the Monarch of the Seas for a 4-night one (Monday through Friday). Like Agutaya said, Royal Caribbean provided a hotel for the night in between as well as transportation between the pier and the hotel.

 

I would have preferred to go on the smaller ship first, but that particular schedule didn't work out for us.

 

I had no idea that RCL would pay for a hotel. That is a real incentive to book with them for both sailings. Not to mention it helps to push us along in our quest for pinnacle! :)

 

I think I would prefer the small ship first too.

[My2Kitties]

Dec 2011 we did the Majesty out of Miami then the Oasis out of FLL and RC paid our hotel for Friday night which included a shuttle...we took a taxi since there was 7 of us and we didnt want to wait in the lobby for the shuttle...

 

ps: RC will not offer the hotel you need to ask

[cirman52]

We are doing a b-t-b on Celebrity Solstice 29 nights, Ensenda to Sydney. RCI is putting us up in a hotel for the night in Sydney, cause the next day we board the Radiance of the Seas for 33 night cruise around Australia.

We have never done this long of a cruise before, but it as far as transferring from one ship to another, it should be seamless.

[villauk]

Last October, we sailed on the Freedom of the Seas for a 7-night itinerary (Sunday through Sunday), and then on the Monarch of the Seas for a 4-night one (Monday through Friday). Like Agutaya said, Royal Caribbean provided a hotel for the night in between as well as transportation between the pier and the hotel.

 

I would have preferred to go on the smaller ship first, but that particular schedule didn't work out for us.

 

Marc,

 

We're doing something very similar to you in August, Oasis followed by Enchantment.

 

Not getting the free hotel as there are two nights between our cruises and they sail out if different ports :(.

 

Anyway, did you find it okay or was it too much of a contrast in sizes/amenities after sailing the larger ship first? I'm quite worried the kids will be comparing after cruising on Oasis. I, on the other hand, will just be glad to be on another cruise so soon :D.

[Topo Gigio]

Have done it twice. Liberty of the Seas to carnival Liberty both ships were sailing out of Miami and the other time I did it was Carnival Freedom (Port Everglades) to Carnival triumph (NY) this was the same day. Was around 7:30 at the airport took my flt to NY and boarded the triumph.

 

As a matter of fact just today I was looking in doing a B2B on the Royal Princess (Port Everglades) disembark and catch a flt to NY and board the Norwegian Breakaway in November.

[Daghis]

Not getting the free hotel as there are two nights between our cruises and they sail out if different ports :(.

Yeah, that was one of the reasons (two nights between sailings) that we decided not to do Monarch and then Freedom. Royal Caribbean wouldn't even provide one night's lodging; they are strict with their one-night-between rule.

 

Anyway, did you find it okay or was it too much of a contrast in sizes/amenities after sailing the larger ship first? I'm quite worried the kids will be comparing after cruising on Oasis. I, on the other hand, will just be glad to be on another cruise so soon :D.

I had sailed on Majesty a couple times before, so I knew what I was getting into. Still, I couldn't help but feel that it was a significant step down to Monarch. A big part of that feeling is that I much prefer the larger ships, so the Monarch wasn't really my cup of tea.

 

That said, it was still a very pleasant cruise and I enjoyed myself. I was ready to come home after nearly two weeks away, though! :)

 

If I could design my own itinerary for a B2B, I'd definitely try to do the smaller ship first, if at all possible.

[Cigar King]

I'm leaving shortly on what I call a Side to Side (S2S) cruise. We're flying down to FLL today, tomorrow we hop on the Liberty, and when it returns we board the Vision. I'm looking forward to the cruise, but I have two minor concerns. I have to pack and unpack to move. Not a huge deal, but, it's something I would rather not deal with. I also need to take care of the transfer myself. I do plan on talking to the loyalty ambassador. I'd love it if RCI would shuttle my luggage at least, and possibly us as well, to the other ship. All that being said, I knew this up front, and I'm really looking forward to the S2S cruise.

[Bruin Steve]

On these boards, I see the topic of B2Bs come up quite a lot, but I don't remember seeing a post regarding the scenario I mention below.

 

I haven't done a ton of research yet in this area to see if the timing would work out, but I was wondering if anyone out there has done back to back cruises, but instead of staying on the same ship, you would just switch to another ship? I am even thinking about switching lines. RCL is our fave, but we also enjoy NCL, so we wouldn't mind cruising with them again. I would even switch ports, if they were close enough like Miami and FLL.

 

Right now I am looking at Jan/Feb 2014 and browsing the super cheap 3 or 4 days with NCL and then perhaps booking a 7 day on RCL. It would be tough for us to be gone for a full 14 days which is why we were thinking the short then long, B2B might be doable.

 

I can't think of too many negatives of doing it this way, but I would be interested to hear other's thoughts in case I am missing something obvious that makes this infeasible.

 

Been there, done that...

 

2007, we booked the Liberty of the Seas when it first came out...7 night Western Caribbean...We didn't wan't to fly all the way across the country for just 7 nights of cruising, so we decided to do a second cruise as well...At first thought of staying on the Liberty of the Seas for back-to-back cruises, but we had recently been to the Eastern ports it was visiting and we figured we'd end up with all the same shows twice...

So, I started looking for a cruise which met these criteria: It had to somewhat dovetail into the cruise we booked--either embarking or disembarking on the same day or within a day...from the same port or from a reasonably close port...and it had to visit places we hadn't been recently...

The search ended up with the Carnival Liberty, an 8 night itinerary out of Fort Lauderdale visiting Panama and Costa Rica...IIRC, one cruise was out of Miami, the other out of Fort Lauderdale...The Carnival cruise started the same day the RCCL ended...So we should have grabbed a taxi from one port to the other...easy enough...BUT, somehow, what we did was take the RCCL transfer back to Miami Airport...and the Carnival transfer from there to Fort Lauderdale...it actually worked out well enough...

 

Overall, the plan worked fine...

HOWEVER, what this adventure really did was that it caused us to really compare the two cruise lines/ships...All of the faults we might have overlooked with Carnival became magnified because the memory of Royal Caribbean was so fresh in our minds...Compared to RCCL, the service on Carnival was terrible...the entertainment was second rate...the ship was so obviously crowded...and so on and so on...

Some cruise lines, it is better to go in a relative vacuum...

 

My guess is that when you take Royal Caribbean and NCL back to back, you will suddenly realize that you don't like NCL afterall...

[tispwisp]

We've done B2B's several times. Sometimes on the same ship and sometimes on different lines - I call these our culture shock cruises! One time we did a 14 day cruise on the Celebrity Constellation out of Ft. Lauderdale then drove down to Miami and took a 7 day cruise on the Epic. Just this last November, we took a 7 day on the Allure and then a 7 day on the Ruby Princess. I will say that we prefer to stay on the same ship so we don't have to pack, unpack, and then pack again. But sometimes we like to try a ship or line that we aren't so sure we'd like to commit 14 days to. Both the Epic and Allure were like that for us. I'm glad we sailed both ships 7 day first. We wouldn't sail the Epic again, but liked the Allure more than we thought and booked a B2B on the Oasis in October/November! :)

[Merion_Mom]

I did a B2B on the Oasis and the Mariner. (Fort Lauderdale and Los Angeles).

 

And yes, RC did put me up at a hotel in LA and did pick me up and take me to the ship in the morning. :D

[LBumb]

only on the same ship, it was awesome

[mmpgoodtogo]

We are doing a b-t-b on Celebrity Solstice 29 nights, Ensenda to Sydney. RCI is putting us up in a hotel for the night in Sydney, cause the next day we board the Radiance of the Seas for 33 night cruise around Australia.

We have never done this long of a cruise before, but it as far as transferring from one ship to another, it should be seamless.

 

This sounds absolutely amazing! I look forward to a time when I can spend that much time on a ship.

[maureencruiser]

I'll take Melinda's double post and double her thought - would LOVE to have the time and money to do this!:)

[cruzingduo]

Next year we have booked the Silhouette for a week and then the Allure b2b. They both leave from Port Everglades. One arrives and the other departs on the same day.

 

Originally we had planned to do the Eclipse then the Allure. We were told that since there was a day in between these 2 cruises that RCCL would put us up in a hotel for the 1 night between the Eclipse & Allure. I was told by Celebrity that they do not offer this perk.

 

Normally we do a b2b on the same ship. But, as was mentioned earlier, with the cost of flying we prefer to fly once and pack in as much cruising as we can.

[harz99]

Been there, done that...

 

Overall, the plan worked fine...

HOWEVER, what this adventure really did was that it caused us to really compare the two cruise lines/ships...All of the faults we might have overlooked with Carnival became magnified because the memory of Royal Caribbean was so fresh in our minds...Compared to RCCL, the service on Carnival was terrible...the entertainment was second rate...the ship was so obviously crowded...and so on and so on...

Some cruise lines, it is better to go in a relative vacuum...

 

My guess is that when you take Royal Caribbean and NCL back to back, you will suddenly realize that you don't like NCL afterall...

 

Likewise; did Celebrity Reflection to Carnival Valor last December, which polarised my view of Carnival to - never again.

 

We are once more B2B from Celebrity Infinity to Constellation in April, with us organising transfer from Fort Lauderdale to Miami, then B2B again from Connie to the Independence TA back to the UK, with an RCCL provided hotel & port transfers back to Fort Lauderdale for the one night between the two cruises.

 

As someone else said earlier, you need to ask for the free hotel night etc. between cruises; here in the UK most travel agents have never heard of it, and you would probably need to go through the C&A/Captains Club desk to get access via the hotel desk - it can be done though.

[villauk]

Likewise; did Celebrity Reflection to Carnival Valor last December, which polarised my view of Carnival to - never again.

 

We are once more B2B from Celebrity Infinity to Constellation in April, with us organising transfer from Fort Lauderdale to Miami, then B2B again from Connie to the Independence TA back to the UK, with an RCCL provided hotel & port transfers back to Fort Lauderdale for the one night between the two cruises.

 

As someone else said earlier, you need to ask for the free hotel night etc. between cruises; here in the UK most travel agents have never heard of it, and you would probably need to go through the C&A/Captains Club desk to get access via the hotel desk - it can be done though.

 

Have you booked your air through RCI? Just wondered, only we were told the hotel for the night is only available to UK pax when booking air as well as the cruise. Also, as there are two nights between our cruise, apparently we do not qualify for the hotel. I'd be interested to know if you had/hadn't booked air, so I'd know for future bookings etc.

 

Thanks.

[harz99]

Have you booked your air through RCI? Just wondered, only we were told the hotel for the night is only available to UK pax when booking air as well as the cruise. Also, as there are two nights between our cruise, apparently we do not qualify for the hotel. I'd be interested to know if you had/hadn't booked air, so I'd know for future bookings etc.

 

Thanks.

 

No my air is independent; I was also told that but when I spoke to the lady on the hotels desk via Captains Club/C&A and explained/stressed just how much holiday time and money etc. I had invested with RCCL for this year and next, she obtained authority from Miami to offer what I was asking for - worth about £250-£300 for us.

 

Only applies to one night though, two is a definite no no.