European / Med B2B's

[JP82]

Given recent cancellations and my new found FCC, I'm thinking about turning a 3 day cruise I have booked in November on Grandiosa into a longer one by booking a four day cruise starting on what would be our disembarkation day. (won't hit the trigger for while, but its on the cards).

 

Anyway I've researched on here, and most posts annoyingly are about Miami B2B's!! (come on European MSC Sailors represent yourselves here on the forums!!!). Does anyone know the procedure round these parts for B2B's. Do you need to leave the ship etc? Port would be Genoa, if that matters? Not sure if it's EU or Italian law type things here.

[Até]

Cruise Critic's search function is terribly limited now.  While there is a lot about B2B in Miami, there are posts here on CC that do state EU B2B sailings do not require getting off the ship.  That is actually what causes a lot of problems with MSC on US sailings, many European customers don't realize they have to get off and crew have to go looking for them so they can clear the ship for US customs.

[Nunagoras]

As an EU citizen, let me to explain the whole thing so that you and the others may understand.

 

If all the ports of call for both your cruises are settled to be ports in the EU countries, and high chances are for them to be, both your cruises will be basically considered domestic cruises as if they were cruises calling just a single country. Basically is would to be the same as to start a cruise in New York and finish it in Miami with no other ports in the middle, so no visit to immigration then!... So now: If at least one of the cruises has a port of call outside the EU, then you'll need to exit ship and go trough immigration control at turnaround day. MSC might require you to exit ship just for paperwork confirmation and new cruise cards emission. Depending of your market you might to be able to purchase the 2 cruises as one single cruise and then no exit or they may have some sort of internal arrangement.

 

Hope to have helped a little bit. Do note that due to the current Covid-19 situation things might vary in the mean time.

 

Have a nice day!... 🙂

[JP82]

Thanks, I am an EU citizen (ish, for now). That was more of a throwaway comment regarding the Italian/EU law sitch. In short I just wanted to know if I need to get off and back on or not, and a general feel of how it works as I'm not finding a lot of answers by forum searching.

 

I have already booked the 4 day initial cruise like I mentioned. So would be adding to it with another, so cannot purchase as one at this point.

 

Thanks for answering anyway.

[lizinvan]

On 4/3/2020 at 3:11 PM, JP82 said:

Given recent cancellations and my new found FCC, I'm thinking about turning a 3 day cruise I have booked in November on Grandiosa into a longer one by booking a four day cruise starting on what would be our disembarkation day. (won't hit the trigger for while, but its on the cards).

 

Anyway I've researched on here, and most posts annoyingly are about Miami B2B's!! (come on European MSC Sailors represent yourselves here on the forums!!!). Does anyone know the procedure round these parts for B2B's. Do you need to leave the ship etc? Port would be Genoa, if that matters? Not sure if it's EU or Italian law type things here.

We did it last spring; first leg Genoa to Hamburg and Hamburg RT around the UK.  We could not book the same cabin for both cruises (booked at different times) but the first was upgraded!:)  We had to be packed up by breakfast but luggage stayed in the first cabin until the second was ready.  Crew would move for us so we were free to go about our day.   There were a few hours mid am til early aft when we did not have access  and our key card had to be changed.  If you are in the same cabin they may only have to update your key card.  May depend on your ports but we had no issues.  Hard to say what conditions will be like in November.  Something to look forward to!

[JP82]

1 hour ago, lizinvan said:

We did it last spring; first leg Genoa to Hamburg and Hamburg RT around the UK.  We could not book the same cabin for both cruises (booked at different times) but the first was upgraded!:)  We had to be packed up by breakfast but luggage stayed in the first cabin until the second was ready.  Crew would move for us so we were free to go about our day.   There were a few hours mid am til early aft when we did not have access  and our key card had to be changed.  If you are in the same cabin they may only have to update your key card.  May depend on your ports but we had no issues.  Hard to say what conditions will be like in November.  Something to look forward to!

Oh great, this is just the type of detail I hoped for. Thank you so much.

 

I don't think we will have the same cabin, as we booked an interior for the first leg. But now that we have the FCC from our cancelled April Cruise, if we do go ahead with this plan we will put it towards a balcony cabin for the second leg as it's not a whole lot more.

 

Also when we booked the first leg it was during the Fantastica free premium drinks package, and from my dummy booking it seems like that is over now. So we would have the first leg all boozy, and then the second leg we can be more sedate and also chill on our balcony a bit more and enjoy the views. Have never sailed through The Strait of Gibraltar before!

 

All in all I think I'm fairly sold on this plan now. Just need to see how things proceed over the next few weeks/months I guess. But will be good to have something to look forward to, even if it's in November. And on Grandiosa we should be good if the weather doesn't play to our favour, as there's a lot of indoor activity.