Back to Back Cruising

[SKrauss]

Hello All,

 

My Husband and I are considering a back to back cruise July 5 & 8 2019 on the Mariner of the Seas. We have never done a B2B before... Can someone explain Royals policy on how the "reembarkation" works? If we can get the same stateroom I imagine we won't have to move our belongings?

 

Thanks!

[Clarea]

Hello All,

 

My Husband and I are considering a back to back cruise July 5 & 8 2019 on the Mariner of the Seas. We have never done a B2B before... Can someone explain Royals policy on how the "reembarkation" works? If we can get the same stateroom I imagine we won't have to move our belongings?

 

Thanks!

Correct, if you are in the same stateroom, you do not have to pack/unpack.

 

Normally you would leave the ship for a short time on changeover day to have your passports checked, but that may or may not be the case by the time your cruise rolls around.

[lifes-a-beach]

We are on a back - to - back cruise now on Vision out of Galveston. We were told to meet in the atrium at 9:30. About 10 the group of about 60 folks were walked off the ship and into the terminal which was empty. We literally walked up to a uniformed officer from, I presume, homeland security with our passports in our hands and opened. Flashed them to him and turned around and walked back on. The hardest part was that the escalator wasn’t turned on so stairs or elevator were the options. Once back onboard we could go wherever. They even served us lunch in Giovanni’s at noon. There was a special menu with one appetizer, two entrees and one dessert. It was very good and easy. This was our first B2B and was a very easy experience. Major props to the staff who assisted us. They were very nice and all had a smile on their face.

 

As for the stateroom, we informed our room steward that were were staying. That was it. He cleaned it just as normal and didn’t leave us luggage tags and stuff the last evening of the first leg. Incidentally, we had booked the first leg and a couple of weeks decided to book the second. We got the same room but had decided that if it wasn’t available we would rebook to have the same one. No way would I pack and move.

[gadaboutgal]

Back to Back, changing cabins is not all that difficult if you hang most of your items as they will move them directly to your new cabin's closet. Miscellaneous items do need to be packed, but not as carefully as when you packed from home. I sometimes just use small totebags and put them on hangers.

Also, we move our safe items and the smaller loose items ourselves if the second cabin is empty and cleaned before we go to the turn-around.

[Ashland]

Also remember your SeaPass account balance due, OBC does not transfer over to 2nd leg they are two separate accounts. The first one has to be -0- out completely.

[Langley Cruisers]

We love B2B's and have been blessed enough to have had the same cabin both times. On turnaround day, we gave our steward the morning off - we put the Do Not Disturb sign in the door and told him/her to not worry about our room that morning. S/he came in that evening as usual. They are so busy on turnaround day getting all the cabins ready that we decided to help out as we could. :)

 

Enjoy your B2B!

[UnMe4ever2gether]

Hello All,

 

My Husband and I are considering a back to back cruise July 5 & 8 2019 on the Mariner of the Seas. We have never done a B2B before... Can someone explain Royals policy on how the "reembarkation" works? If we can get the same stateroom I imagine we won't have to move our belongings?

 

Thanks!

 

Following

[2chiefs]

We've done several B2B's. Always easy off and easy on in a group.

Always a nice lunch (once with officers and a couple times with free wine - never in Giovanni's like some lucky person reported earlier). This indicates to me that lunch varies from ship to ship but we always had an exclusive sit down lunch.

We always book them ahead of time with the same room so we have no experience with changing rooms.

[KuffMUp]

Our last (and first) was not as smooth but, hey, we were waiting for a new cruise so no problems. We met in a lounge. Unfortunately, our disembarkation was delayed. Part of it was because the terminal they put us in kept filling to capacity and they had to stop the disembarkation several times. Not sure what the problem was. Maybe everyone decided not to do the self assist and were stuck in the terminal. I don't know.

 

Then we had the problem of missing people. We were missing Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton. The crew came around multiple times to confirm who we were and if everyone in our party was accounted for. We finally lined up at 1130 to get off and as we passed through the doors the crew asked if we were Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton. No, sorry. They are MIA. Lets just get off already.

 

We got off. Handed our passports to CBP and back on to a nice lunch in the MDR. My upcoming B2B, I'll bring a book to pass the time if need be. Yes, we couldn't go hang out but that was OK. We were still on a cruise!

[Merion_Mom]

We love B2B's and have been blessed enough to have had the same cabin both times. On turnaround day, we gave our steward the morning off - we put the Do Not Disturb sign in the door and told him/her to not worry about our room that morning. S/he came in that evening as usual. They are so busy on turnaround day getting all the cabins ready that we decided to help out as we could. :)

 

Enjoy your B2B!

That's what I do, too.

 

Hi, Karen! :*

[Merion_Mom]

We've done several B2B's. Always easy off and easy on in a group.

Always a nice lunch (once with officers and a couple times with free wine - never in Giovanni's like some lucky person reported earlier). This indicates to me that lunch varies from ship to ship but we always had an exclusive sit down lunch.

We always book them ahead of time with the same room so we have no experience with changing rooms.

Just FYI: not every ship on every sailing offers a nice lunch for consecutive cruisers. It usually depends on the numbers.

[davekathy]

We've done several B2B's. Always easy off and easy on in a group.

Always a nice lunch (once with officers and a couple times with free wine - never in Giovanni's like some lucky person reported earlier). This indicates to me that lunch varies from ship to ship but we always had an exclusive sit down lunch.

We always book them ahead of time with the same room so we have no experience with changing rooms.

We did a B2B cruise on the Jewel March/April 2017 and on our TAD they even served wine with our TAD lunch in the MDR.

[Langley Cruisers]

That's what I do, too.

 

Hi, Karen! :*

 

Backatcha, sugar pie! :*

[compman9]

You will be instructed how to get back on - it is always very smooth and easy. We usually treat the 'day between' as a shore day and do a trip, so it just feels like a longer cruise

 

We also change room and category, so it feels like a trip is stepping up - Next January we have a balcony week 1 (and dining package) and aqua week 2

 

Some people treat a b2b as the same trip, we treat it as a different experience on the same vacation