Why B2B ?

[Tedferg]

It seems some people break a cruise into segments as B2B2B, if so, why do they do this ? I understand a person taking two separate cruises back to back, but if a cruise is offered as 14 days why book it as two 7 day B2B ?

[skynight]

2 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

It seems some people break a cruise into segments as B2B2B, if so, why do they do this ? I understand a person taking two separate cruises back to back, but if a cruise is offered as 14 days why book it as two 7 day B2B ?

First, do the math. With promo, shareholder, loyalty, military, T.A., FCD's, OBC's booking as two could be less expensive than one. We have been sailing b2b for years. We almost always book as separate booking numbers. Everything carries over and there is one on board account invoice on final disembarkation day. Separate bookings also allow you to take advantage of price reductions or promos for one of the legs while leaving the other alone. Allows flexibility. The only downside is that you have to be careful when you select your cabin. Find a cabin that is available for both legs, book that cabin and have it marked no upgrade. Otherwise you may have to change cabins. If you book as a single cruise you will not have to change cabins.

[Tedferg]

So for example I would get two military OBC one fore each leg ? Doesn't the OBC vary by length of cruise ? I guess you are saying it is not always a benefit 2*7 might cost more that 1*14 right ?

 

Is it easy to see when a cruise is offered in segments ? We are looking at Sydney to SFO and by chance I see this is also offered as Auckland to SFO, so I assume Sydney to Auckland might be offered.

[beg3yrs]

1 hour ago, Tedferg said:

So for example I would get two military OBC one fore each leg ? Doesn't the OBC vary by length of cruise ? I guess you are saying it is not always a benefit 2*7 might cost more that 1*14 right ?

 

Is it easy to see when a cruise is offered in segments ? We are looking at Sydney to SFO and by chance I see this is also offered as Auckland to SFO, so I assume Sydney to Auckland might be offered.

Exactly right about the military OBC. And, yes some OBCs do vary based on the length of the cruise. It doesn't always work out but does often enough that it's worth taking the extra few minutes to figure it out. Heck even at its most basic level sometimes the fares alone are cheaper separately rather than as one combined cruise. Go figure.

 

On another note with separate legs there's a convenience if you use EZ-Air. You can book the departure air travel a bit earlier as you don't have to wait for the last leg's return flights to become available, just the return flights of the initial leg. It's also simpler to manage departure and return air travel separately if you are like me and recheck air fares almost every day. Typically I make at least three changes to get a lower fare (or better itinerary) before things settle down.

[Tedferg]

Interesting I did a quick check Inside Cabin,  April 2, 2022 Sapphire.

Sydney - SFO 28 day $2039. Vet OBC $250

Sydney - Auckland       $384  Vet OBC $50

Auckland - SFO         $1,529  Vet OBC $250

 

So B2B would be $126 cheaper, plus $50 OBC, plus extra Specialty Dinner, $206 savings. $362 per couple Not a huge $ amount but it is cheaper. Will check Balcony difference 🙂

 

Edit: Balcony saves $122 per person, 2* Specialty dinner $60 $354 savings, only one of us is Vet $50. $354 saving per couple

 

Edited March 16, 2021 by Tedferg

[skynight]

We have a spreadsheet that we use for every cruise. The top section handles the fare, ins., port fees. The next section has all the different OBC, free dining. The next has expected onboard and pre purchased expenses. We can then easily net the costs and credits for b2b’s and compare them if booked as a single booking number or a booking number for each leg. If new promos become available it’s easy to add another column for comparison.

[LACruiser88]

We usually cruise on longer voyages.  Rarely, do we find the segments to be cheaper.  But, it has occurred a couple of times over the past 25 years.

[memoak]

If you are elite you will get a 2nd mini bar setup for the 2nd leg

[pompeii]

56 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Interesting I did a quick check Inside Cabin,  April 2, 2022 Sapphire.

Sydney - SFO 28 day $2039. Vet OBC $250

Sydney - Auckland       $384  Vet OBC $50

Auckland - SFO         $1,529  Vet OBC $250

 

So B2B would be $126 cheaper, plus $50 OBC, plus extra Specialty Dinner, $206 savings. $362 per couple Not a huge $ amount but it is cheaper. Will check Balcony difference 🙂

 

Edit: Balcony saves $122 per person, 2* Specialty dinner $60 $354 savings, only one of us is Vet $50. $354 saving per couple

 

If this is the April 2022 sailing, we are booked on that one.  We started out as a 28 day but quickly figured out, as you have, that a 6 + 22 worked to our benefit.  Also, since hubby gets a casino discount, the shorter segments were discounted but the longer one was not.  You'll also get more shareholder obc, slightly more fcd obc, and more internet minutes (if any of that pertains to you).

 

I had a thread on here not long ago asking what all changes with a b2b (such as dining assignment, etc) because we were making this exact decision.  Needless to say, we went with the b2b.  

[AF-1]

I have done two b2b's.  We just wanted to see more of Europe than just seven days; plus the port stops were different, and we liked not having to change cabins.  It's fun not having to end your cruise right at seven or ten days.

[RLK33853]

Just remember to compare apples to apples. 

 

We usually break longer cruises into separate legs to get the individual cruise credits, but on the Sapphire from Sydney, the price for individual legs was more for a mini than booking it as one cruise - even after including the extra OBC, Shareholder, and Military.  The other problem was that we couldn't get anything other than a guarantee on one of the legs (can't remember which one).  On short 7 day BTB we don't really care about location, but on a long cruise we don't want to move.  Therefore we just booked Sydney to Vancouver as one.  Also do you have enough FCD"s to book each leg separately?

[Tedferg]

2 hours ago, memoak said:

If you are elite you will get a 2nd mini bar setup for the 2nd leg

Only in my mind 🙂

 

[Tedferg]

AF-1 that is how I imagined a B2B, like Vancouver to Anchorage (Whittier) the back to Vancouver on the second leg. It is breaking one longer cruise into segments that had me puzzled.

 

RLK8553 we do not have any FCD our cancelled cruise FCD was converted to FCC. Interesting that B2B2B increases the number of cruise credits, so another bonus.

[Tedferg]

2 hours ago, pompeii said:

If this is the April 2022 sailing, we are booked on that one. 

Yes that is the one - fingers crossed Australia will open up and we can take it. We have never done more than 12 days and wondered how we would feel about this length, wondered about getting off in Hawaii but Princess does not segment it that way.

[caribill]

 

If an itinerary can be sold as segments, then some cabins are reserved for individual segment booking and some reserved for booking the combined itinerary.

 

If the cabin category you want is not available on the combined itinerary, it may be available if you book the cruise as individual segments. When doing this you may be lucky enough to find the same cabin available for both segments or you may have to book different cabins.

[2 cruises a year]

5 hours ago, memoak said:

If you are elite you will get a 2nd mini bar setup for the 2nd leg

 

We have found that the mini-bar is replenished on every leg even when we book it as one.  I don't think they even bother trying to sort out whether it is one cruise or two, etc.  Probably not worth the effort.

Also, you usually have to ask the Internet Manager to carry over any unused time, but internet minutes are done cumulatively by each leg also.  Never had a problem with that.

We've also found that even if we book a cruise as one cruise, our number of Captain Cruises Completed goes up by however many segments it was.  For example, one cruise we booked as one cruise shows up as 36 days, 3 cruises.

Edited March 17, 2021 by 2 cruises a year

[caribill]

2 hours ago, 2 cruises a year said:

 

 

We've also found that even if we book a cruise as one cruise, our number of Captain Cruises Completed goes up by however many segments it was.  For example, one cruise we booked as one cruise shows up as 36 days, 3 cruises.

 

Until around 2010 it was one point per booking number, so a 3 segment cruise would only earn one point.

 

Around that time they did change it to one point per segment no matter how the cruise was booked.

[2 cruises a year]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

Until around 2010 it was one point per booking number, so a 3 segment cruise would only earn one point.

 

Around that time they did change it to one point per segment no matter how the cruise was booked.

Good point. I see that now.  We didn't start getting one point per segment until 2014.  I feel cheated. 😁

I guess that we lost....., hmmmm, can't think of anything. We were having too much fun to care.😉

[caribill]

1 hour ago, 2 cruises a year said:

Good point. I see that now.  We didn't start getting one point per segment until 2014.  I feel cheated. 😁

I guess that we lost....., hmmmm, can't think of anything. We were having too much fun to care.😉

 

For several years they allowed you to call in and get the extra points for the segments that were not counted.

 

With luck, maybe you could reach someone at Princess who would still do that.

[2 cruises a year]

59 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

For several years they allowed you to call in and get the extra points for the segments that were not counted.

 

With luck, maybe you could reach someone at Princess who would still do that.

Thanks, but here we have another example of trying to be fasicist in writing. I was trying to show that with the emoticons. How many cruises, how many days, the color of our card was not the point. We could care less. The differences between B2B segments and one cruise was the point. A minor one.

[OccasionalSanta]

I booked a 14-day Caribbean cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale in 2018 which turned out to be two 7-day cruises B2B. 

I received 2 cruise credits, but my shareholder credit was $250 for a 14-day as opposed to getting $100 twice for two 7-day cruises. 

 

We did have to exit the ship in Ft. Lauderdale between legs, but we kept the same cabin for both legs. So we just got off for about 30 minutes, then got back on.

 

I believe I would have gotten twice the wifi minutes for being platinum (150 twice rather than 250 total)  but on the second leg, they had just turned on the medallion wifi, so everyone on that leg got unlimited minutes

[skynight]

3 minutes ago, OccasionalSanta said:

 

We did have to exit the ship in Ft. Lauderdale between legs, but we kept the same cabin for both legs. So we just got off for about 30 minutes, then got back on.

Standard U.S. law at U.S. ports on turn around day*. All passengers have to go through immigration no matter how it is booked. In Ft. Lauderdale most times you have to leave the ship and then re-board. A few times I have experienced immigration come on board.

* Vancouver to Whitter is an exception.

[Tedferg]

13 minutes ago, OccasionalSanta said:

I booked a 14-day Caribbean cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale in 2018 which turned out to be two 7-day cruises B2B. 

Was it shown as two separate 7 and one 14 option ? If so did you see a difference in fare ?

[gmjc2]

We went on B2B --Sydney to Cairns and back then Sydney to Hawaii in the same cabin but had to change when we added Hawaii to San Diego as an afterthought. It turned out better than the whole cruise as one because we changed membership levels after the 2 nd cruise and therefore got the perks. If you book all one cruise they will not give you your new status until the next trip!  40 days total. The good old days!!!😂😂

[skynight]

51 minutes ago, gmjc2 said:

We went on B2B --Sydney to Cairns and back then Sydney to Hawaii in the same cabin but had to change when we added Hawaii to San Diego as an afterthought. It turned out better than the whole cruise as one because we changed membership levels after the 2 nd cruise and therefore got the perks. If you book all one cruise they will not give you your new status until the next trip!  40 days total. The good old days!!!😂😂

If you book multiple cruises as a single cruise you are awarded a cruise credit(s) for each leg of the cruise. If the extra cruise credit(s) doesn't show in your account just contact the Captain's Circle. If you change loyalty status while on board, at the end of any leg, you may have to visit the on board Captain's Circle rep. to have your status changed and to receive any additional benefits.

If you book multiple cruise legs b2b.... as individual bookings and you qualify for a new loyalty level at the end of any one of the legs you may also have to visit the Captain's Circle rep. in case the new loyalty level is missed.  

Edited March 17, 2021 by skynight