B2B vs 14 day cruise?

[phabric]

I have seen a cruise I am interested in.  Can be done as two 7 day (B2B) or 14 day cruise.

 

Is there any advantages if booked as B2B vs 14 days?

[chrysalis]

depends on price, obc's offered, fcd's, and other perks

[Steelers36]

@chrysalis is absolutely correct - presuming you can book the same cabin on both legs so you don't have to move.  A move can be a minor inconvenience or more, but normally you can find a suitable cabin on both legs.  Most of the time, I find the separate bookings work out financially better net-net after OBC's.

[LACruiser88]

As mentioned above, you have to do the $$$ math.  For longer voyages, we usually find the single voyage to be cheaper.  Enjoy your cruise which ever way you go!!!

[skynight]

As others said check fares and OBC, but also check available cabins. Any fare amount difference is usually small. Different and more cabin choices are allocated for the 7 day vs. the 14 days. The two 7 day bookings also offer more flexibility in case fares or promos change for one and not the other. We normally book as separate cruises when booking b2b's. Whatever you do the medallion app will show your first sailing date and your final disembarkation date. There will be a single on board account for the entire 14 days no matter how booked.

[phabric]

I am looking at Europe 2023 which will be coming out soon.  I compared the 2022 cruises and both were within $10 of each other.  My agency is having a sale in August for new bookings with $$$ OBC.  I will see what OBC/pp they are offering for each cruise, if per length, or cabin type.

 

My last cruise, I booked a 14 day vs B2B, I received 2 mini bar setup, and 1 loyalty OBC.

[Astro Flyer]

1 hour ago, phabric said:

My last cruise, I booked a 14 day vs B2B, I received 2 mini bar setup, and 1 loyalty OBC.

That has been my experience & also 2 cruise credits for you towards a higher loyalty OBC level which for me moved up to $75 for our future cruises.

 

In November 2019 on the Sky (Med/TA) the net cost as a 28-day cruise was better than as 7/7/14 day cruises. The lower cruise fare offset the additional OBCs including shareholder & veteran benefits.

 

As others have stated, the best net price could vary with each cruise but for me in Europe booking as a longer single cruise provided my lowest net cost.

 

Edited June 26, 2021 by Astro Flyer

[Thrak]

OBC from Future Cruise Deposits works out the same.

 

Shareholder OBC is definitely better for a 14 day cruise.

 

OBC from CCL Stock

Sailings of 6 days or fewer $50

Sailings of 7 - 13 days $100

Sailings of 14 days or more $250

 

 

Edited June 26, 2021 by Thrak

[RRFan]

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

OBC from Future Cruise Deposits works out the same.

 

Shareholder OBC is definitely better for a 14 day cruise.

 

OBC from CCL Stock

Sailings of 6 days or fewer $50

Sailings of 7 - 13 days $100

Sailings of 14 days or more $250

 

 

The Elite free WiFi minutes are 150 min per 7 days or 250 min for the 14 day, so 2 7-days are better and on b2b’s they let you carry first weeks forward and not start the 2nd week until you’ve used all of the first. Also an Elite benefit, you get a mini bar (and can trade for 15 coffees per person) on each week. If you have one 14 day trip, you only get that once. 

 

Edited June 26, 2021 by RRFan

[Thrak]

4 minutes ago, RRFan said:

The Elite free WiFi minutes are 150 min per 7 days or 250 min for the 14 day, so 2 7-days are better and on b2b’s they let you carry first weeks forward and not start the 2nd week until you’ve used all of the first. Also an Elite benefit, you get a mini bar (and can trade for 15 coffees per person) on each week. If you have one 14 day trip, you only get that once. 

 

 

Excellent points. The Internet minutes didn't make a difference for us as we tend not use all the minutes on our last few cruises. The mini bar is a good call. With a B2B you can also take twice your "free" wine allotment.

 

Note: Hopefully the Internet access is as good as they now claim. We have always had horrible Internet access on Princess. Even on our last cruise which was on Emerald Princess and was billed as MedallionNet the service was atrocious with lots of unhappy people. As it was a TA from Barcelona to FLL at least part of the cruise should, in theory, have had good access due to MedallionNet. Nope.Horrible the entire way.

[JimnKaren]

A lot might also depend on where the ship 'turns around'. What might you do on that day? Some places are more 'convenient' than others. Those days can be goofy sometimes. We have been on them where disembarking passengers get off before turn around passengers. Many times, the turn around passengers only get off early if they have booked a shore excursion with the cruise line.

A turn around in Civitavecchia is different than one in Barcelona. Same with USA, San Diego is much different than Ft. Lauderdale.

Jim

Edited June 26, 2021 by JimnKaren

[skynight]

1 hour ago, RRFan said:

The Elite free WiFi minutes are 150 min per 7 days or 250 min for the 14 day, so 2 7-days are better and on b2b’s they let you carry first weeks forward and not start the 2nd week until you’ve used all of the first. Also an Elite benefit, you get a mini bar (and can trade for 15 coffees per person) on each week. If you have one 14 day trip, you only get that once. 

 

We have always received a new mini bar for each cruise leg of the b2b, even when booked as a single cruise.

[Astro Flyer]

1 hour ago, RRFan said:

Also an Elite benefit, you get a mini bar (and can trade for 15 coffees per person) on each week. If you have one 14 day trip, you only get that once. 

 

 

Each time I’ve received minibars based upon the number of shorter cruises included within a longer cruise booking.

 

On a 28-day cruise that could be booked as 3 shorter cruises (7/7/14) we received 3 minibars.

 

Phabric & skynight had the same experiences.

 

6 hours ago, phabric said:

My last cruise, I booked a 14 day vs B2B, I received 2 mini bar setup, and 1 loyalty OBC.

 

Edited June 26, 2021 by Astro Flyer

[beg3yrs]

1 hour ago, Astro Flyer said:

 

Each time I’ve received minibars based upon the number of shorter cruises included within a longer cruise booking.

 

On a 28-day cruise that could be booked as 3 shorter cruises (7/7/14) we received 3 minibars.

 

Phabric & skynight had the same experiences.

 

 

I have had the same experience as well. You get a new minibar setup for each segment no matter how it's booked.

[Astro Flyer]

33 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

I have had the same experience as well. You get a new minibar setup for each segment no matter how it's booked.

Near the end of a cruise I’ll call room service to request for the next cruise…either our preferred minibar (10-beers; 10-Diet Cokes) or 2 coffee programs.

[caribill]

9 hours ago, JimnKaren said:

A lot might also depend on where the ship 'turns around'.

 

What happens is the same on turnaround day whether you booked it as a B2B or as a single cruise.

[Steelers36]

13 hours ago, JimnKaren said:

A lot might also depend on where the ship 'turns around'. What might you do on that day? Some places are more 'convenient' than others. Those days can be goofy sometimes. We have been on them where disembarking passengers get off before turn around passengers. Many times, the turn around passengers only get off early if they have booked a shore excursion with the cruise line.

A turn around in Civitavecchia is different than one in Barcelona. Same with USA, San Diego is much different than Ft. Lauderdale.

Jim

 

We have been on a B2B with Port Everglades (PE) as turnaround.  Yes, they deal with disembarking passengers first and there is a meeting of the B2B'ers and head off for CBP processing at the same time.  Besides the CBP step, Princess needs to "zero" the ship in order to start up the next voyage. 

 

However, you are always free to disembark and go through CBP on own.  However, my understanding is that when you return to the terminal, you can only board once general boarding has begun.  If that has changed, nice to know.

 

I have also read that, in general, foreign ports are a lot simpler on turnaround as there is no equivalence of the CBP processing.  But I would think Princess still "zeros" the ship.  If all goes according to plan, we are going to have departure and return to Civitavecchia next fall with turnaround days in Athens and Barcelona.  If you can explain any differences, would be nice to know.  (I suppose I should ask or look on the port pages, but your post mentions the topic - thanks).

[skynight]

We have done turnarounds in ports outside of the U.S. Every one was just like another port day. No special in person passenger processing. U.S ports are the only ones where we experienced zero out and in person passport review requirements. With today's technology CBP probably should review this process to make it easier for themselves. 

[Steelers36]

17 hours ago, Thrak said:

OBC from Future Cruise Deposits works out the same.

Assuming a Balcony booking.  For Inside & OView, a 14-night gets $75/pp, whereas a 7-night gets $25/pp.

 

I look at everything for net-net - except internet as free minutes mean nothing to us anymore other than the exchange for unlimited package.  And that become cheaper per day with longer voyages.  But you can always buy a longer voyage package on linked cruises rather than buy it by segment. 

 

I also consider free Specialty Dining as OBC since we would go anyway.  If that is an offered bonus, you get two if book as two segments. 

 

Also, I have seen where our discount TA may have a group OBC on the one or both segments, but not on the longer voyage. 

 

And of course the cruise pricing affects the equation. 

 

So, it may be worthwhile to give up $50 of shareholder OBC sometimes and get back more from other things.  If the bottom line is negligible difference then I'd look at cabin inventory to make the call.  

 

Another thing that may or may not pay off - and someone mentioned it - is if there is a pricing change, you might get advantage of re-faring a segment.  I have had that situation occur.

 

ETA - The mini-bar setup is not an issue, but I do get extra corkage-free allowance with segments. 

 

IDK if this happens for booking as full voyage, but we are getting coupon books with each booking.  No, don't use much from them, but I get a free BJ tournament coupon and there is a first night free Specialty Dining and I forget the other thing we would use.

Edited June 27, 2021 by Steelers36

[Steelers36]

8 minutes ago, skynight said:

We have done turnarounds in ports outside of the U.S. Every one was just like another port day. No special in person passenger processing. U.S ports are the only ones where we experienced zero out and in person passport review requirements. With today's technology CBP probably should review this process to make it easier for themselves. 

 

But they wouldn't want the situation where a passenger could just wander off the ship into the country without processing? 

 

Even if not "zeroing" at a foreign port, Princess must at least "balance the load" by making sure the only passengers left on board and not "pinged" off the ship are legitimate B2Ber's.

Edited June 27, 2021 by Steelers36

[skynight]

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

But they wouldn't want the situation where a passenger could just wander off the ship into the country without processing? 

 

Even if not "zeroing" at a foreign port, Princess must at least "balance the load" by making sure the only passengers left on board and not "pinged" off the ship are legitimate B2Ber's.

Documentation provided to CBP by the ship would list everyone that is staying on for the next voyage including their passport numbers and citizenship. It would also show where and when they originally boarded. If immigration wants a person to show themselves they can make that known in advance to Princess. That should be enough. Immigration has the option of having everyone pass through if they choose go ashore. No wandering. But I see no need to pass through immigration if you don't go ashore. The zero out rules and passport flash by seem unnecessary and not productive.

Princess knows at all times who is on board and who has disembarked. If someone that was scheduled to disembark has not done so it will show in their records and they will send out security to locate them. 

[rbtan]

On 6/26/2021 at 10:36 AM, phabric said:

I have seen a cruise I am interested in.  Can be done as two 7 day (B2B) or 14 day cruise.

 

Is there any advantages if booked as B2B vs 14 days?

I prefer something like the Circle the Caribbean cruise. Here the menu does not repeat as it will on a 14 day B2B. Also you really lose time when returning to port to restart the cruise. I will, however say on our Regal cruise some years back the first week was a total trailer trash trip the first week. This was due to a huge amount of pax who made it a week long Super bowl event. Gotta love those Panther fans. The second week it was excellent after the fans left.

[jimdee3636]

9 minutes ago, rbtan said:

I prefer something like the Circle the Caribbean cruise. Here the menu does not repeat as it will on a 14 day B2B. Also you really lose time when returning to port to restart the cruise. I will, however say on our Regal cruise some years back the first week was a total trailer trash trip the first week. This was due to a huge amount of pax who made it a week long Super bowl event. Gotta love those Panther fans. The second week it was excellent after the fans left.

I won't comment on the "trailer trash" aspect of rbtan's post, but I agree that a "true" 14 night cruise is likely to be a more interesting one than two B2B's. Not only are you not repeating any of the ports, but you're not forced to get off the ship on the seventh day. Those who say that it's just like any other port day are forgetting that on a "real" port day you can, if you choose, stay onboard and enjoy a nearly-empty ship. I've done that plenty of times when the port is overly familiar or doesn't do much for me.

[skynight]

Princess does offer a few 14 day Circle the Caribbean. Other lines may also offer some. I was speaking with the Cruise Director one time. He confirmed that 7 day voyages are more profitable than true 14 day and longer ones. Probably the real reason so few longer Caribbean are offered.  

[caribill]

2 hours ago, skynight said:

Documentation provided to CBP by the ship would list everyone that is staying on for the next voyage including their passport numbers and citizenship. It would also show where and when they originally boarded. If immigration wants a person to show themselves they can make that known in advance to Princess. That should be enough.

 

It is not a Princess idea to "zero" the count. It is a CBP requirement.

 

Since every passenger could at some time during the time in port leave the ship, CBP wants to make sure every passenger is legally allowed to do so.

When it comes to government rules, what should be enough has nothing to do with it.