Back to Back logistics questions

[Tonopah]

I know I’ve seen this but with 937 pages of posts I guess my search-fu isn’t working.

 

We’re ready to book back to back - Southampton-Norway/Northern Lights/Southampton then continuing Southampton-NYC on the QM2. We should be able to keep our same cabin. 

1. If we’re keeping the same cabin, can we just leave everything in the cabin? 

2. I realize we’ll have to leave the ship, but do we have to go through the whole security thing again before reboarding? If not, how early/quickly can we re-board?

3. Once we settle our account for the first cruise, do we need to go to the purser’s desk to get new keys/cards for the crossing?

 

 

 

Thanks a million. 

[bluemarble]

With the caveat that this is how it has worked for us in the past, here are my answers.

 

1. If you have the same cabin for both voyages, then yes, you may leave everything in your cabin. I recommend you place "no upgrade" on both of your bookings so that Cunard does not attempt to upgrade one or both of your bookings to another cabin.

 

2. Actually, unlike in New York, I don't think you need to leave the ship in Southampton. You will need to go through the formality of scanning off the ship with the keycards for your first voyage and scanning back onto the ship with the new keycards for your second voyage, but I don't think you are actually required to leave the ship in Southampton. If you do leave the ship between voyages in Southampton you will need to go through the standard security screening through the scanners which all passengers are required to do. I'm not sure the earliest time you are permitted to re-board in Southampton but certainly any time after general boarding has begun will be fine. Once you return to the terminal, bypass all the check-in desks and proceed straight to the security screening checkpoint where you'll show your new keycards for the second voyage.

 

3. There will indeed be separate keycards for each voyage. You will receive the first keycards for your Norway voyage when you check in for that voyage in Southampton. You will receive the second keycards for the subsequent crossing while on board the ship. The procedure has varied recently when we've done this. Our new keycards for the second voyage used to be delivered to our cabin during the final full day of the first voyage. Lately though I've had to inquire at the pursers deck during the evening of that last full day and have been told to check back with them in the morning. When I point out we're staying in the same cabin and they used to deliver the new keycards to our cabin, they have put a note in our file and the new keycards are waiting in our mail slot or slid under our door sometime later that evening or early next morning. Your mileage may vary, but at the very latest you will be able get your new keycards from the pursers desk the morning you arrive back in Southampton.

[TheOldBear]

48 minutes ago, Tonopah said:

I know I’ve seen this but with 937 pages of posts I guess my search-fu isn’t working.

 

We’re ready to book back to back - Southampton-Norway/Northern Lights/Southampton then continuing Southampton-NYC on the QM2. We should be able to keep our same cabin. 

We'll be on that same cruise - for us beginning and ending in Brooklyn [M234A]

48 minutes ago, Tonopah said:

1. If we’re keeping the same cabin, can we just leave everything in the cabin? 

Yes - I think the room selection & the 'upgrade fairy' is biased toward minimizing room swaps.

 

48 minutes ago, Tonopah said:

2. I realize we’ll have to leave the ship, but do we have to go through the whole security thing again before reboarding? If not, how early/quickly can we re-board?

I think only NYC will have the 'zero passenger' requirement.

For past TA round trips, we have left the ship in Southampton, but there was no requirement for everyone to leave.

48 minutes ago, Tonopah said:

3. Once we settle our account for the first cruise, do we need to go to the purser’s desk to get new keys/cards for the crossing?

Your original key cards should be fine [unless you need to switch cabins to a different muster station]

 

We have found there may be some minor inconsistencies - for example, unused spa days booked on our eastbound crossing evaporated in Hamburg, and required a trip to the Purser to bring them back.

 

The 'world club' WiFi credit was restored on each segment that could be booked as a separate cruise [NYC-SOU; SOU-Hamburg; Hamburg-LeHavre-SOU; SOU-NYC] We had lists of wifi time available

48 minutes ago, Tonopah said:

 

 

 

Thanks a million. 

I've started a roll call thread for the M234A round trip sailing.

Checking the voyage personalizer, some shore excursions are listed - so far none for Tromso, but I'm expecting several choices of northern lights photography excursions.

[bluemarble]

17 minutes ago, TheOldBear said:

Your original key cards should be fine [unless you need to switch cabins to a different muster station]

 

Great minds think alike. I managed to beat your post by just a matter of a few seconds. 🙂

 

The point I've quoted above is one place where our responses differ. I'm pretty certain the first set of keycards will no longer function on the second voyage. Now if the trip could be booked as one single voyage with one booking reference number, then naturally one set of keycards would cover the entire trip. But with separate booking reference numbers for the two voyages, I'm pretty sure that requires separate sets of keycards for each segment. Of course I'm always willing to be proven wrong about details like this.

[oskidunker]

I am doing back to back Northern lights the Canary Islands. I assume they will move our luggage as we are in a different cabin on second cruise. Princess Grill then Balcony. First time so want to compare. I guess we leave the first cabin and maybe wait somewhere. 

[Tonopah]

Yes, if we were doing the entire voyage it would be one with none of the rigamarole. But my brain doesn’t want to be away from the animals a whole month. For some illogical reason, I can handle 22 days, but not 31. 

[Colin_Cameron]

9 hours ago, oskidunker said:

I am doing back to back Northern lights the Canary Islands. I assume they will move our luggage as we are in a different cabin on second cruise. Princess Grill then Balcony. First time so want to compare. I guess we leave the first cabin and maybe wait somewhere. 

Again, in the past ...  There has been no need to pack the clothes that are on hangers. They have brought one of those rails on wheels and simply moved the hanging stuff from the old wardrobe to the new one. 

 

We hung around with friends who were waiting to disembark until the new cabin was ready. The room-stewards/housekeeping will co-ordinate things and your new cabin will be one of the first to be prepared, so they can get your stuff out of the old one ASAP. The new cabin was ready at least an hour before our friends left. 

 

If you're not planning to go ashore and you have any laundry to be done it's a good day to do it.

[Roger88]

10 hours ago, oskidunker said:

I am doing back to back Northern lights the Canary Islands. I assume they will move our luggage as we are in a different cabin on second cruise. Princess Grill then Balcony. First time so want to compare. I guess we leave the first cabin and maybe wait somewhere. 

Canary Islands is a great place to spend some time chilling on the beach. They got like on the best climates in the world due to water flows. One of the best places on Earth

[Se1lad]

I've got a few questions on B2B as well.  I'm doing a 4 night Southampton - Hamburg - Southampton as 2 separate cruises (as it was £600 cheaper in QG that way!)   Managed to secure the same cabin both ways and have opted out of upgrades.

• I presume I will get my $50 shareholder OBC twice - i.e. once on each of the 2 bookings?
• Will we get the complimentary bottle of champagne twice - i.e. a second bottle at the start of the second cruise in Hamburg?
• Even if we have not finished the first 2, will be able to select 2 more bottles of spirits at the start of the second cruise?

Edited May 26, 2021 by Se1lad

[bluemarble]

7 hours ago, Se1lad said:

I've got a few questions on B2B as well.  I'm doing a 4 night Southampton - Hamburg - Southampton as 2 separate cruises (as it was £600 cheaper in QG that way!)   Managed to secure the same cabin both ways and have opted out of upgrades.

• I presume I will get my $50 shareholder OBC twice - i.e. once on each of the 2 bookings?
• Will we get the complimentary bottle of champagne twice - i.e. a second bottle at the start of the second cruise in Hamburg?
• Even if we have not finished the first 2, will be able to select 2 more bottles of spirits at the start of the second cruise?

 

1. Yes, you are entitled two sets of $50 shareholder OBC (one per booking).

2. We've only sailed in Britannia grade, but given that caveat I can tell you we've only ever received one complimentary bottle of Pol Acker at the beginning of the first voyage. Nothing at the beginning of the second voyage.

3. Having never sailed in QG, I can't answer your third question about additional bottles of spirits.

Edited May 26, 2021 by bluemarble

[Colin_Cameron]

8 hours ago, Se1lad said:

 

Even if we have not finished the first 2, will be able to select 2 more bottles of spirits at the start of the second cruise?

Given that the drinks are for in-cabin consumption, not taking home with you, can you drink 4 litres in 4 days?

[Se1lad]

21 hours ago, Colin_Cameron said:

Given that the drinks are for in-cabin consumption, not taking home with you, can you drink 4 litres in 4 days?

More to have the increased choice (I.e. 4 different spirits) - plus if you host any pre dinner drink parties in your cabin (assuming covid restrictions are lifted) then you can get through a bottle of gin very quickly!

[Tonopah]

We have added “buy wine AND CORKSCREW in Southampton” to our to-do list. I even found a thread about nearby shops that sell wine.

 

It appears after our visit to Norway we will move up to “Gold” in the World Club for our Westbound TA. Do you think they will automatically give us internet time? We probably won’t use it, as we try to keep our phones off when on board, but still...

[Victoria2]

22 hours ago, Colin_Cameron said:

Given that the drinks are for in-cabin consumption, not taking home with you, can you drink 4 litres in 4 days?

Never having done two separate but B2B cruises I have no idea on the doubling up of bar set up or not as we just book such an itinerary on one ticket, but if we're not  flying back from a cruise and we have an almost full bottle of gin left, we bring it home with us. Might as well.

If flying back, it gets donated to a fellow guest who is staying on, or a crew member.

 

 

[TheOldBear]

1 hour ago, Tonopah said:

We have added “buy wine AND CORKSCREW in Southampton” to our to-do list. I even found a thread about nearby shops that sell wine.

 

It appears after our visit to Norway we will move up to “Gold” in the World Club for our Westbound TA. Do you think they will automatically give us internet time? We probably won’t use it, as we try to keep our phones off when on board, but still...

This is one of the must segment inconsistencies - it you have a single booking reference, then it is unlikely you'll get the world club upgrade during the voyage. If you have two separate bookings [M235 & M236] you should get the upgrade [and a new key card, even for the same room]. 

[Tonopah]

18 minutes ago, TheOldBear said:

This is one of the must segment inconsistencies - it you have a single booking reference, then it is unlikely you'll get the world club upgrade during the voyage. If you have two separate bookings [M235 & M236] you should get the upgrade [and a new key card, even for the same room]. 

We have two separate bookings. I’d love to go the whole round trip NY-NY but a month is just too long for me. I’d give up any promotion for an extra week on the Queen, but until my dog and chickens leave us, 3 weeks will be my max. 

[tv24]

We've completed 4 BTBs that passed through Southampton.  On one of them (Hamburg-Southampton-NYC), we were required to disembark and pass through the entire security check.  This requirement popped up after we had been assured the day before that there was no required to disembark.  Hopefully that experience was one-off.