Researching back-to-back cruises

[camperhawk]

How does everyone find back to back cruises? Just started looking into it. Think we would like the same ship but different itineraries. Is there an easier way than going through Carnival's website and looking at each ship and dates? What do all the expert back to backers find the easiest? Thanks in advance!

[Essiesmom]

I would start with cruisetimetables.com. If you have a ship in mind, choose that ship from the ships list, and then the month you want to sail. It will show you what her itineraries will be. You can decide if two back to back will suit. Or choose your departure port. Some people on a closed loop will get off one ship and get on another - not always the same cruise line! Or, If cruising from, say, Miami, they get off at the end of the cruise, travel to FLL and board another ship the same day. It's a fun site to play around with. EM

[coevan]

I would not want to pack, unpack and change ships, what a pain. Pick a date, cruising area (Caribbean), most ships change itineraries every week.

[crooooze]

Simple - We start by researching for a single cruise that would enjoy.

 

Once we decide on the one cruise, we check out the itinerary for the same ship the sailing before and the sailing after.

 

 

 

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Edited June 23, 2016 by crooooze

[Charlie911]

Start with the ship you want to cruise on and see where that ship is cruising to. Most of the time ship cruises 2 different itineraries, One week they will do the western caribbean and the other week they will do the eastern caribbean. For instance I booked a BTB on the Vista next year, the first part is a 6 day cruise to the western caribbean and the second part is a 8 day cruise to the southern caribbean. It is best to stay with one ship, no re-packing and moving to another ship. Plus on the second part of the BTB you will have the whole ship to yourself for a little while before everyone else gets on board.

[wickedhangover]

I tend to create an excel spreadsheet of the cruises I would want to take based on itinerary. Then figure out what lines up from there. It's probably more complex than what others do but I find it to be the simplest.

 

I've tried different websites but at the end of the day, I need the data presented to me in a format that I can make sense of. If I was looking for b2b for say jan/feb timeframe, I'd have all the days for jan/feb across the top, all the cruises down the left and then I'd block off the dates for each cruise. When it comes to Carnival, I'd use two lines for something like the Conquest where one week it does 6 days and the second it does 8.

 

Not sure if that helps, but it is how I do it and find that the setup really does help.

[PatchesJ72]

I just call my PVP/TA and tell him/her the ports I'm most interested in and ask what he/she can find on the same ship and same cabin B2B I the time frame I'm looking to go

[camperhawk]

Thank you everyone, great suggestions to get me started! Really like that site Essiesmom!

[jmcancruise]

We did a b2b on the Valor out of San Juan a couple of years ago. That cruise had the same itineraries both weeks. It was so port intensive, 5 ports, that as a b2b we were able to have a really relaxing cruise. We simply spread our planned excursions out over the two weeks and spent a couple of days just going ashore long enough to shop.

 

We came home feeling like this was our best cruise ever, except for our first of course. Tried doing the same cruise again last year, but they switched ships on us, then the Liberty had a fire and we did our second week on the Magic out of Galvaston.

 

I know most people like to switch up their itineraries, and we have done that also, but for us this made for a perfect cruise.

[camperhawk]

Thanks, I'm thinking about that also! Sounds very relaxing.

[kona_wahine]

I wanted to go to Aruba and Grand Cayman. Aruba was an 8 day on the Breeze and Grand Cayman was the 2nd leg in a 6 day. Worked out perfect. You don't necessarily need to stay on the same ship, or even cruise line.