B2B vs 14 day cruise?

[caribill]

5 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

 

 

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. 

 

No, Princess does not zero the ship on turnaround days at non-USA ports as there is no legal requirement to do so.

 

Obviously they will make sure that every passenger who is not continuing on the ship has disembarked.

[Thrak]

2 hours 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.

 

We have only sailed the Caribbean once. (Our second one was cancelled by the virus.) We did a 14 day Circle Caribbean. Oddly enough, it didn't hit Princess Cays. I know those who have sailed the area many times wouldn't have an issue with that but it was our first (and so far only) time to cruise the Caribbean and we were disappointed. While we are happy we did the 14 day instead of B2B 7 day cruises that returned to Fort Lauderdale, we found the cruise exhausting. Having never done that area of the world we got off at every port. It was a great cruise but, like I said, tiring. We needed more seas days. 🤪

[nreeder]

I can only mention our own experience.  We booked a 28 day trans-Atlantic/Baltic cruise on the Regal.  It was also sold as a separate trans-Atlantic and a separate Baltic.  We were in a suite and are Elite.  So we got on the first part of the cruise two mini-bar setups EACH!  Plus the free specialty restaurant on the first night.  When we reached Copenhagen where some passengers got off and some got on, we had the same mini-bar setup and free speciality restaurant on the “second leg”.  We are now booked for a circle Caribbean next year so I assume it will be similar.  Norm

[Steelers36]

6 hours ago, nreeder said:

I can only mention our own experience.  We booked a 28 day trans-Atlantic/Baltic cruise on the Regal.  It was also sold as a separate trans-Atlantic and a separate Baltic.  We were in a suite and are Elite.  So we got on the first part of the cruise two mini-bar setups EACH!  Plus the free specialty restaurant on the first night.  When we reached Copenhagen where some passengers got off and some got on, we had the same mini-bar setup and free specialty restaurant on the “second leg”.  We are now booked for a circle Caribbean next year so I assume it will be similar.  Norm

Not if you booked the true "Circle Caribbean".  That is a 14-night round-trip out of FL/PE and it does not return to PE until the trip is over and is only sold as 14-night single voyage.

[nreeder]

Sorry, used the wrong “name”, we are on a 14 day “Caribbean East/West Adventurer from Fort Lauderdale and return to Fort Lauderdale after 7 days.  Norm

[skynight]

18 hours ago, caribill said:

 

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.

Yes, fully understand the CBP regulations. What I am saying is that they are old and should be modified by CBP using current information tech. It can be very difficult to move or change government procedures, but it is possible. Lobby by the cruise line industry could do wonders. A change would be better for the cruise lines and easier for CBP without immigration security issues. I fail to see how the current passport walk by as well as the zero count really improves immigration reviews. In the early 90's I was directly involved with an industry group in changing Customs tariffs around the world, including the U.S. We met with officials in Washington and in other locations around the world. Difficult things like this can be done. 

[socialworker]

On 6/26/2021 at 9:36 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?

When we started out with Princess, it didn't make any difference to us 2 Seven day cruises or 1 fourteen day.  But once we were closing in on "Elite" status and we wanted "Free Laundry" for an upcoming 16 night cruise, we booked two back to back short cruises, simply to reach Elite.  It worked!  

[skynight]

Just now, socialworker said:

When we started out with Princess, it didn't make any difference to us 2 Seven day cruises or 1 fourteen day.  But once we were closing in on "Elite" status and we wanted "Free Laundry" for an upcoming 16 night cruise, we booked two back to back short cruises, simply to reach Elite.  It worked!  

Works either way, no difference. If you book two seven day cruises as a single 14 day voyage you will receive 1 cruise credit for each 7 day leg. Works out the same if you book as two separate 7 day cruises.

[socialworker]

3 minutes ago, skynight said:

Works either way, no difference. If you book two seven day cruises as a single 14 day voyage you will receive 1 cruise credit for each 7 day leg. Works out the same if you book as two separate 7 day cruises.

Would need to look through cruise log, but there was some benefit to doing 2 cruises rather than number of days sailed.  Maybe we did 2 really short cruises, b2b.

[skynight]

4 minutes ago, socialworker said:

Would need to look through cruise log, but there was some benefit to doing 2 cruises rather than number of days sailed.  Maybe we did 2 really short cruises, b2b.

Yes there is. You can reach elite status with 150 days which averages out to fifteen 10 day cruises. You can also reach elite status with 15 cruise credits with one credit for any length of cruise plus extra credits if booking in a full suite or as a solo in a cabin. If you just count 7 day cruises 15 cruises would be only 105 days assuming 1 credit/cruise. You can achieve loyalty status with even less days if you book shorter cruises.