Back to Back cruises

[wesport]

I am looking at two cruises back to back. The first one ends in Miami, and the next one leaves from Miami. I have a suite assignment(currently booked) for the first segment. Haven't booked the second leg. Will just book an OB on the second one as it was not planned.  I am assuming I would be assigned a different suite, but do you have to leave the ship? I am a US citizen. 

[Mauzac]

We've booked 2 back to backs for next April (also ending in Miami and then leaving Miami!) and there were not many suites left whereby we didn't have to move suites.  So I suppose it depends on availability of your first suite.

 

 

[raphael360]

2 hours ago, wesport said:

I am looking at two cruises back to back. The first one ends in Miami, and the next one leaves from Miami. I have a suite assignment(currently booked) for the first segment. Haven't booked the second leg. Will just book an OB on the second one as it was not planned.  I am assuming I would be assigned a different suite, but do you have to leave the ship? I am a US citizen. 

We do back to back cruises all of the time.  If you rebook this as one cruise with SB you will receive both the "back to back cruise discount" and keep the same suite. There are always 'passengers in transit' on SB so they do this everyday.

[Mauzac]

2 hours ago, raphael360 said:

We do back to back cruises all of the time.  If you rebook this as one cruise with SB you will receive both the "back to back cruise discount" and keep the same suite. There are always 'passengers in transit' on SB so they do this everyday.

 

When we booked this, (UK), it was way cheaper for us to do two seperate cruises (two seperate SB booking numbers) than the one cruise (2 x 15 days, as opposed to 1 x 30 days) and we were limited to choice of suites as there were very few available for the whole 30 days of the V4's we like.  I've never heard of a back to back discount (but have never done one before) but wonder if it is a US thing and not available in UK...

[florisdekort]

I’m US ports you will have to leave the ship on turn around day but you can leave all your luggage etc. on the ship.  

[raphael360]

5 hours ago, Mauzac said:

 

When we booked this, (UK), it was way cheaper for us to do two seperate cruises (two seperate SB booking numbers) than the one cruise (2 x 15 days, as opposed to 1 x 30 days) and we were limited to choice of suites as there were very few available for the whole 30 days of the V4's we like.  I've never heard of a back to back discount (but have never done one before) but wonder if it is a US thing and not available in UK...

Most of the SB cruises we do are 'back to back' cruises and the going rate discount is 10% for US customers.  This year our 14 day Barbados to Barbados cruise was really back to back 7 day cruises.  Our upcoming 21 day Caribbean cruise consist of back to back cruises: a 7 day and a 14 day.  

 

When doing back to back cruises as one single cruise, we are considered a "passenger in transit" on the day of disembarkation for the passengers leaving the ship.  We're always invited to a "passenger in transit" party in the back of The Club to meet our fellow passengers continuing on with the ship. I've never been ask to leave the ship as a "passenger in transit" but I can't speak about the Miami stopover.  With this said, I couldn't think of a better city to kick around for a few hours it I was asked to vacate.

 

Here is a link on SB website that briefly mentions the back to back cruise option:  https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/faq.about.915.html

[raphael360]

9 hours ago, wesport said:

I am looking at two cruises back to back. The first one ends in Miami, and the next one leaves from Miami. I have a suite assignment(currently booked) for the first segment. Haven't booked the second leg. Will just book an OB on the second one as it was not planned.  I am assuming I would be assigned a different suite, but do you have to leave the ship? I am a US citizen. 

Have your TA or SB work out the price both way: separate tickets and back to back.  Are you, by chance, on the Montreal to Miami cruise?

[wesport]

34 minutes ago, raphael360 said:

Have your TA or SB work out the price both way: separate tickets and back to back.  Are you, by chance, on the Montreal to Miami cruise?

We are on the 12 night 11/28  MIA to MIA which used to be the Cuba cruise.  Booked with final payment coming 8/30. Penalties have already started.  The next leg is MIA to San Juan. Seabourn just reduced the price that is too tempting. I would just book the open balcony, so probably won't get the same suite. Since it wasn't planned, would do the least expensive option. Flights from San Juan to Fort Lauderdale are pretty frequent, so getting home would be easy. 

[raphael360]

Giving this more thought: if you take 2 separate cruises you're for sure going to have to get off the ship in Miami and cycle through immigration and customs.  It would be excellent if you can leave your bags on board and kick around downtown Miami for half a day or take Uber to South Beach :)

Edited August 13, 2019 by raphael360
add

[Mauzac]

Just now, raphael360 said:

Giving this more thought: if you take 2 separate cruises you're for sure going to have to get off the ship in Miami and cycle through immigration and customs.  

 

Interesting to think we'll have to do that, but we'll put up with it given the savings we made doing it this way!  Our TA said it was unusual that it was cheaper to do 2 x 15 than 1 x 30.  

Thanks for your explaining this to some of us, as I said it's our first B2B!   

[raphael360]

55 minutes ago, Mauzac said:

 

Interesting to think we'll have to do that, but we'll put up with it given the savings we made doing it this way!  Our TA said it was unusual that it was cheaper to do 2 x 15 than 1 x 30.  

Thanks for your explaining this to some of us, as I said it's our first B2B!   

I just went on Seabourn's website for kicks and grins and didn't really see the 10% for back to back discounts on the Caribbean cruises.  Maybe that 10% discount has become a "use to be".  Lot of things "use to be".  Gas use to be 32 cents a gallon.  Bananas use to be 10 cents a pound.  I use to be young and healthy.

 

You guys make a valid point though.  I've only shopped total cruises and maybe I should start to look at separate cruises as B2Bs.  I can see where a situation like westport finding a great deal to continue on is a, well, a great deal....

[SKP946]

I realize that it’s not the Caribbean but In the most recent  mail-out that I have from Seabourn,  (Antarctic and South America  Cruises) it states (Combination cruise savings of UP TO 15%.  (my CAPS).

Edited August 14, 2019 by SKP946

[2SailingNomads]

Yes you will have to disembark in MIA unless the ship only visits US ports.  In our experience you can wait until everyone else has disembarked then someone from Seabourn will accompany you to immigration.  You will then have to wait for some undetermined period before you are allowed back on the ship.  When we had to go thru this exercise we choose to not go with the group to wait and walked around the port for about 20 minutes to get some exercise.  When we got back in the terminal those who waited were still waiting.  We were planning on going into town but since we had our passports and not our beach things wanted to return passports to the suite safe first before heading to the beach plus we had been led to believe it was walk off, go thru immigration then immediately walk back on, but that was not the way it turned out in FLL that day.  And we do have US passports.

[Mauzac]

 

11 hours ago, raphael360 said:

 

 

You guys make a valid point though.  I've only shopped total cruises and maybe I should start to look at separate cruises as B2Bs.  

 

 

My TA didn't realise this, but we worked out the savings from doing it as two seperate cruises so it's worth looking at, yes.  

[Ken the cruiser]

On 8/13/2019 at 7:16 AM, raphael360 said:

We do back to back cruises all of the time.  If you rebook this as one cruise with SB you will receive both the "back to back cruise discount" and keep the same suite. There are always 'passengers in transit' on SB so they do this everyday.

I realize this is 2 years ago, but would you by chance know where I can find information about the B2B discount you mentioned. We're planning a B2B and can't find any reference to it on the SB website.

 

Update: I just relooked up the thread you posted in and realized these were special B2B discount promos going on at the time on selected sailings rather than a standard SB policy. Sorry.

Edited August 30, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[marazul]

If you look at the prices of, say, a 14-day cruise, you will see that it is less than the sum of the component 7-day cruises.

On 8/30/2021 at 3:53 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

I realize this is 2 years ago, but would you by chance know where I can find information about the B2B discount you mentioned. We're planning a B2B and can't find any reference to it on the SB website.

 

Update: I just relooked up the thread you posted in and realized these were special B2B discount promos going on at the time on selected sailings rather than a standard SB policy. Sorry.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

15 minutes ago, marazul said:

If you look at the prices of, say, a 14-day cruise, you will see that it is less than the sum of the component 7-day cruises.

 

This is true. However, at the time I posted that b2b question, we were only allowed to book the two legs separately that made up the much cheaper 20 day cruise because they had no 3 person cabins available even though there were plenty on both of the 2 separate legs. Magically a few days later, there were plenty of 3/4 person cabins available on the 20 day cruise and about $5000 cheaper and booked one right then. 

Edited September 6, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[don731]

We did B2Bs on the Oceania Riviera in 2020 out of MIA.  Booked at the same time, so we kept the same cabin.  On turnaround day, we got off the ship and did some personal upkeep...hair, nails, lunch, light shopping, etc. in downtown MIA.  Easy day, back on board by late afternoon.