Back to back cruise on Sunshine

[lovestocruise19]

DH and I might be doing a back to back on the Sunshine in January. We already booked a 5 day Bahamas and are thinking of adding the 8 day to St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Grand Turk and San Juan onto it. Never done a B2B before. I know you have to meet somewhere with other B2Bers and debark the ship and then get your new S&S and get back on the ship, but DH and I were wondering if you book the same exact room, do you have to take your luggage off or can you just leave it in your room? Any other tips for B2B? Thanks!

[2Shoes2Go]

Just finished a B2B last week on Sunshine. Also a five, then eight day. You do not have to move a thing if you are in the same cabin for both legs. Give your steward a heads up; he/she likely will already be aware of the b2b. Check to see that the two cruises are linked. Speak to your Maitre'd near end of first leg for dining arrangements for the second.
We took only our passports and customs declaration off when we cleared the first leg. Very simple! Oh, enjoy a drink on GS and have your "We Love our Back to Back Cruisers" pix made!
Love doing B2Bs! Bet you will, too. :)

[riclop]

[quote name='lovestocruise19']DH and I might be doing a back to back on the Sunshine in January. We already booked a 5 day Bahamas and are thinking of adding the 8 day to St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Grand Turk and San Juan onto it. Never done a B2B before. I know you have to meet somewhere with other B2Bers and debark the ship and then get your new S&S and get back on the ship, but DH and I were wondering if you book the same exact room, do you have to take your luggage off or can you just leave it in your room? Any other tips for B2B? Thanks![/QUOTE]

You don't have to take your luggage off.

[ready2cruzagain]

If you have the same room you don't take your luggage. You just meet in the Atrium (unless a very large group of b2ber's) around 9:30am. They take your S & S card, give you a new one, walk you off the ship, through a customs line where you show your passport (or proper id) and then they walk you back on the ship. At that point you are free to do what you want.

Even if you don't have the same cabin it is still easy. You pack your stuff up that morning, leave clothes on hangars in closet and room steward will move everything to your new cabin.

[lovestocruise19]

We just booked it! Same room! So when they escort you off, do you get your own customs line?

[shof515]

[quote name='ready2cruzagain']They take your S & S card, give you a new one, walk you off the ship, through a customs line where you show your passport (or proper id) and then they walk you back on the ship. At that point you are free to do what you want. [/QUOTE]

I am doing my first b2b next year, do they really take your S&S card? What if i want to keep my old card as a memory from that cruise? in all of my previous cruises,i never had to give back the S&S card. I was expecting them to just deactivate the old and give me a new activated card.

[N2Mischief]

They will give it back to you, we had to just go to guest services and ask.

[ready2cruzagain]

[quote name='lovestocruise19']We just booked it! Same room! So when they escort you off, do you get your own customs line?[/quote]
There will be no one going through customs except the people doing the b2b. Everyone else has already cleared the ship and customs. Basically you just walk and keep on walking, flash your passport to the Customs Agent and keep walking back onto the ship.

[tandemcruzr]

[quote name='ready2cruzagain']There will be no one going through customs except the people doing the b2b. Everyone else has already cleared the ship and customs. Basically you just walk and keep on walking, flash your passport to the Customs Agent and keep walking back onto the ship.[/quote]

And if you have anything to declare on your Customs Form, just hand it to them for a quick review along with passport/ID and a quick return to a mostly empty ship. Enjoy -- :)

[lovestocruise19]

[quote name='N2Mischief']They will give it back to you, we had to just go to guest services and ask.[/QUOTE]

I sure hope they would give you your S&S card back! I collect mine from all my cruises as a souvenir. :D Eventually I'm thinking of framing them or something and making it into a piece of artwork.

[Jenhem31]

[quote name='lovestocruise19']I sure hope they would give you your S&S card back! I collect mine from all my cruises as a souvenir. :D Eventually I'm thinking of framing them or something and making it into a piece of artwork.[/QUOTE]


I hot glue a magnet to the back of mine and stuck them on the fridge.

[lovestocruise19]

[quote name='Jenhem31']I hot glue a magnet to the back of mine and stuck them on the fridge.[/QUOTE]

That's a super cute idea! I collect magnets from each port. Adding my S&S cards would be cool!

[summersigh]

[quote name='lovestocruise19']thinking of adding the 8 day to St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Grand Turk and San Juan onto it. [/QUOTE]

We did this one last January. We wished we'd booked our balcony cabin on the Port side rather than the Starboard where we were. The arrivals are all in the daylight with the Port side facing the islands. The departures (except San Juan) at that time of year are in the dark so even though the island view was on our Starboard side sailing away you couldn't see anything because it was dark.
Just a thought ... :)

[JAGR]

[quote name='summersigh']We did this one last January. We wished we'd booked our balcony cabin on the Port side rather than the Starboard where we were. The arrivals are all in the daylight with the Port side facing the islands. The departures (except San Juan) at that time of year are in the dark so even though the island view was on our Starboard side sailing away you couldn't see anything because it was dark.
Just a thought ... :)[/QUOTE]

I'm curious. Last year we sailed out of San Juan and security scanning was in the terminal. People were bringing booze in and then the took off the security tags given from the people scanning, and then waling up onto the ship without scanning. We are on this itinerary in a few months, and wonder if the security in San Juan is set up the same was as when it is a port of origin? I would assume not, but wanted to check.