2nd week of a back to back cruise

[M4RK]

My wife and i are booked two weeks on the Bliss. Can anyone that has done multiple weeks give us some insight to boarding day of the second week. Do we have to disembark? If so do we have to take our luggage off or is there a process to hold it on board?

 

[biker@sea]

8 minutes ago, M4RK said:

My wife and i are booked two weeks on the Bliss. Can anyone that has done multiple weeks give us some insight to boarding day of the second week. Do we have to disembark? If so do we have to take our luggage off or is there a process to hold it on board?

 

 

 

 

You will get an ( In transit ) sticker for easy on/off the ship.

Leave your cabin as is if you have the same one, if not your steward will help you move.

 

.

Edited September 2, 2019 by biker@sea

[Oldgoat61]

You will get a letter a few days before the end of the first leg.  It gives you the info you need, as well when you meet the staff, and what options you have.  You can stay onboard if you like, or get off the ship to peruse the port.

[don't-use-real-name]

For the exact details check with Guest Services on board the ship.

Things may be easy with little of no complications -BUT-

if there is CBI (Customs Boarder Immigrations & Duty Free purchases)

involved you may have to exit the ship (Intransit) and return on board.

Check with Guest Services - - -

 

[KeithJenner]

Be careful of relying on what people state as their experiences. For example, in some ports you are allowed to stay onboard, but in others the ship has to be cleared, so you must get off.

 

As stated earlier, find out the exact procedure when you get onboard.

[casofilia]

You might get better advice if you mentioned the cruises and, especially, the port in the middle

[njhorseman]

4 hours ago, don't-use-real-name said:

Things may be easy with little of no complications -BUT-

if there is CBI (Customs Boarder Immigrations & Duty Free purchases)

There's no "CBI".

The name of the United States government agency responsible for such matters is United States Customs and Border Protection, abbreviated US CBP, or even more often as just CBP.

[njhorseman]

4 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

Be careful of relying on what people state as their experiences. For example, in some ports you are allowed to stay onboard, but in others the ship has to be cleared, so you must get off.

 

As stated earlier, find out the exact procedure when you get onboard.

 

33 minutes ago, casofilia said:

You might get better advice if you mentioned the cruises and, especially, the port in the middle

Right you are.

 

In many countries you will not have to disembark.

 

In the United States current procedure requires disembarkation.  You can't re board the ship until a "zero count" is reached...meaning all passengers from the previous sailing have disembarked.

 

So...without knowing the turn around port we can't give correct advice.

[bonvoyagie]

If you are staying in the same cabin - you will not need to pack. If changing cabins then you will need to pack and the room stewards will move your stuff to the new cabin. 

 

As for having to leave the ship that depends on the country the port is in. In Canada we did not have to disembark the ship, we could if we wanted to but did not have to. We were also given "in transit" tags to wear so we would not have to go through check in.

 

Again, this was all explained  in a meeting that at least one person in your cabin had to attend.

[don't-use-real-name]

2 hours ago, njhorseman said:

There's no "CBI".

The name of the United States government agency responsible for such matters is United States Customs and Border Protection, abbreviated US CBP, or even more often as just CBP.

Picky picky - techy techy - The key word here was CUSTOMS no matter what which other department of it is defined.

If Customs is involved then indeed following the instructions given !

[njhorseman]

8 hours ago, don't-use-real-name said:

Picky picky - techy techy - The key word here was CUSTOMS no matter what which other department of it is defined.

If Customs is involved then indeed following the instructions given !

You're wrong about that too. Passengers on a b2b are not going through a customs check, they're going through an immigration (passport) check, so "customs" is not the key word for the process at all. CBP handles both immigration and customs screening at US ports of entry.

Edited September 3, 2019 by njhorseman

[SouthLyonCruiser]

15 hours ago, Oldgoat61 said:

You will get a letter a few days before the end of the first leg.  It gives you the info you need, as well when you meet the staff, and what options you have.  You can stay onboard if you like, or get off the ship to peruse the port.

Are you sure that you can stay on the ship? I thought that I had heard that you have to get off but can get right back on. Just askin'

[SouthLyonCruiser]

11 hours ago, njhorseman said:

 

Right you are.

 

In many countries you will not have to disembark.

 

In the United States current procedure requires disembarkation.  You can't re board the ship until a "zero count" is reached...meaning all passengers from the previous sailing have disembarked.

 

So...without knowing the turn around port we can't give correct advice.

Great advice. With what you said, the person on the turn around cruise can just laze around until the last of the groups is disembarking and stroll off and then back on. Sounds great to me.

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, SouthLyonCruiser said:

Great advice. With what you said, the person on the turn around cruise can just laze around until the last of the groups is disembarking and stroll off and then back on. Sounds great to me.

It's usually a little more organized than that. NCL will have the b2b passengers gather in one place...for example in the atrium near the guest services desk and give you a sticker to wear...most recently we got one that said "I'm still on vacation." When the disembarking crowds have started to thin out a guest services rep will escort you as a group to the CBP check point, then after everyone in the group has cleared immigration you'll be escorted to the seating area in the cruise terminal where you'll await the call to re board the ship.

 

The exact mechanics may differ a bit from port to port depending on the facilities.

 

If you want to go out on your own to do some sightseeing or just walk around in the port area you have to tell the guest services rep handling the b2b group that you'll be disembarking on your own rather than with the group. Otherwise everyone else in the group will be delayed while they try to find out where you are.

[Oldgoat61]

4 hours ago, SouthLyonCruiser said:

Are you sure that you can stay on the ship? I thought that I had heard that you have to get off but can get right back on. Just askin'

When we were on the Gem, we met in the theater, and those that wanted to leave the ship were given a "in transit" sticker to get back on the ship.  Those that wanted to stay on board stayed in the theater until the staff disembarked them in the system, and then were put back into the system.  They were free to enjoy an empty ship until they let people on for the next cruise.  This process may be different on other ships, where they walk you off, and walk you right back on.

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, Oldgoat61 said:

When we were on the Gem, we met in the theater, and those that wanted to leave the ship were given a "in transit" sticker to get back on the ship.  Those that wanted to stay on board stayed in the theater until the staff disembarked them in the system, and then were put back into the system.  They were free to enjoy an empty ship until they let people on for the next cruise.  This process may be different on other ships, where they walk you off, and walk you right back on.

As I said, the exact mechanics can differ by port. The procedure also changes from time to time, and it can even depend on your itinerary. For example if a cruise had already visited a US port prior to the final port of call the passengers may have been cleared by immigration at that time, hence making it unnecessary to clear again in the final port.

 

If you tell us what disembarkation port you were in, the ship's itinerary, and when this occurred there may be an obvious reason why it was handled in other than the typical way.

[casofilia]

Until @M4RK tells us the specific port at which the B2B occurs no-one is able to give him the information he requires.

[M4RK]

Thanks for all the info. I am on the Bliss leaving from LA in October.

 

[casofilia]

Is that where the B2B takes place?

[BSR]

12 minutes ago, M4RK said:

Thanks for all the info. I am on the Bliss leaving from LA in October.

 

We did a b2b on the Bliss last year out of LA.  We were led off the ship and right back on.

[M4RK]

51 minutes ago, casofilia said:

Is that where the B2B takes place?

Yes.

 

[casofilia]

We have been there/done that and were NOT impressed.   My wife and I joined a LONG queue to get off, it took over an hour and we were lucky!!   I went into San Pedro for a couple of hours and then went back to the ship.  My wife had been sitting in a reception area for almost as long as I had been away and had returned to our cabin only 10 minutes before I arrived.   I hope your turn round is smoother than that as has happened to us a number of times at other US ports, notably Miami where the shortest time we had to wait was under 10 minutes; off to on.

[bonvoyagie]

So you are on the Pacific Coastal Vancouver to LA and then doing a Mexican Rivera back to LA. 

 

In LA you will have to get off the ship as it is a US port where the ship must be zeroed out.

My last B2B was Boston to Quebec and then Quebec back to Boston  - our key cards were all set for both weeks, we had the same cabin etc.

 

You will probably know more when you board in Vancouver - take a look at when your card key expires - that will be a clue if you need to go all the way back to check-in for the second cruise- which you might have to do. 

[M4RK]

7 hours ago, bonvoyagie said:

So you are on the Pacific Coastal Vancouver to LA and then doing a Mexican Rivera back to LA. 

 

In LA you will have to get off the ship as it is a US port where the ship must be zeroed out.

My last B2B was Boston to Quebec and then Quebec back to Boston  - our key cards were all set for both weeks, we had the same cabin etc.

 

You will probably know more when you board in Vancouver - take a look at when your card key expires - that will be a clue if you need to go all the way back to check-in for the second cruise- which you might have to do. 

Actually we booked back to back with both weeks on the southern route. We were not lucky enough to get the same cabin on the two legs.  So we will have to pack and move.