Dos and don’tof B2B cruising.

[atexsix]

9 hours ago, Roz said:

I did b2b cruises once and turnaround day was a disaster.  It was in Vancouver, and the passengers staying on knew more about what to do than the ship's employees.  Canada Place was in a state of chaos.  It was not at all the smooth process described by so many here on CC.

That's funny because one of our B2B's involved Canada Place and it was a cluster as well (best I don't get started)...our other was Smith Cove and that was no better.  The ships at least were consistently unhelpful, the terminals however, UGH....we'd get told something and 5 minutes later another employee would come wandering by and tell us the opposite, LOL!  

[Roz]

@atexsix, they dragged us from one end of Canada Place to the other and didn't seem to know what to do with us.  What?  Passengers are staying onboard for the next cruise?  What an oddity!

 

Things were complicated by the fact that there were 2 large Australian tour groups embarking, and again, officials at Canada Place acted like they had never encountered an Aussie before.

[crystalspin]

1 hour ago, Roz said:

they dragged us from one end of Canada Place to the other and didn't seem to know what to do with us.  What?  Passengers are staying onboard for the next cruise?  What an oddity!

Things were complicated by the fact that there were 2 large Australian tour groups embarking, and again, officials at Canada Place acted like they had never encountered an Aussie before.

Where is the "Shaking My Head" emoticon???

[Chickadee910]

Thank you once again, I am finding this very interesting. Since I am prone to getting everywhere early, I’ll have my iPad with a new book loaded and just wait for the other shoe to drop.

[triiip42]

We just finished our first B2B. Our turn-around port was Quebec City. During the week We made it clear to Guest services that we wanted to get off first thing in the morning and explore town. So all our questions to them had to do with that. I have attached(I think) a copy of our In-Transit letter we received the day before turn around. The getting off in A.M. went smooth......The terminal activity was a zoo. Supposed to be a shuttle for in-transit explorers but no one knew what was going on, so(just be flexible) we hoofed it into town and spent the day. Upon return, the terminal staff we encountered were not sure what to do with us. But because of what we had read from other CC people, we explained about the little in-transit card and bypassing the lines. I even ended up showing them where we could go to get past the lines.LOL...then that was very smooth to get to ship...Actually the whole thing went okay just a few little bumps along the way.

Another thing to remember is that any non-refundable OBC will end at each cruise segment, only refundable OBC will carry over to your ongoing account.

[Chickadee910]

Thanks again

[crystalspin]

12 minutes ago, triiip42 said:

Another thing to remember is that any non-refundable OBC will end at each cruise segment, only refundable OBC will carry over to your ongoing account.

Thank you this! We will have $200 for each of our separately-booked B2B cruises, I believe all non-refundable. Must remember to spend it up! 

[Clay Clayton]

Our upcoming b2b (Alaska and Hawaii on Konigsdam) has two separate booking numbers and we have an assigned obstructed Veranda cabin on the 2nd leg but a guarantee-obstructed Veranda on the first. Our TA says she has put in a request that we be assigned the same cabin for both legs but we recognize that may not happen. I see nothing in either booking that references that they are one leg of a b2b, is there something that might let whoever assigns cabins know this?  The only linkage I can see is that the booking numbers are exactly the same except for the last letter. 
 

Is there anything I can do to further to request HAL assign us one stateroom for both legs?  Or to make sure they recognize that we are staying aboard after the first segment?

[triiip42]

18 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

Thank you this! We will have $200 for each of our separately-booked B2B cruises, I believe all non-refundable. Must remember to spend it up! 

You are welcome. This almost got us because when I clarified with GS that we were doing B2B they said that everything in our account would transfer over to 2nd leg. I questioned that again with someone else and they clarified that nonrefundable vs refundable at the end of the segments. Since we had HIA and pre-paid crew appreciation, DW had nothing to do but go on a end of segment shopping spree...She managed to survive thru it..

[crystalspin]

1 minute ago, triiip42 said:

Since we had HIA and pre-paid crew appreciation, DW had nothing to do but go on a end of segment shopping spree...She managed to survive thru it..

This^^^ is me!

 

 

[Florida_gal_50]

7 hours ago, crystalspin said:

Thank you this! We will have $200 for each of our separately-booked B2B cruises, I believe all non-refundable. Must remember to spend it up! 

Best to check about this one.  I was on a b2b in March of this year.  I had 2 separate booking numbers.  I had non refundable obc and it did carry over.

[crystalspin]

6 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Best to check about this one.  I was on a b2b in March of this year.  I had 2 separate booking numbers.  I had non refundable obc and it did carry over.

It nearly immaterial, as $200/week is not so hard to spend -- Sommelier Suite here, specialty dining there... even with 3* discount! 

[atexsix]

14 hours ago, triiip42 said:

We just finished our first B2B. Our turn-around port was Quebec City. During the week We made it clear to Guest services that we wanted to get off first thing in the morning and explore town. So all our questions to them had to do with that. I have attached(I think) a copy of our In-Transit letter we received the day before turn around. The getting off in A.M. went smooth......The terminal activity was a zoo. Supposed to be a shuttle for in-transit explorers but no one knew what was going on, so(just be flexible) we hoofed it into town and spent the day. Upon return, the terminal staff we encountered were not sure what to do with us. But because of what we had read from other CC people, we explained about the little in-transit card and bypassing the lines. I even ended up showing them where we could go to get past the lines.LOL...then that was very smooth to get to ship...Actually the whole thing went okay just a few little bumps along the way.

Another thing to remember is that any non-refundable OBC will end at each cruise segment, only refundable OBC will carry over to your ongoing account.

We were provided a similar letter the night before we arrived in Vancouver and it'd have been nice if the terminal and customs had the same information.  The biggest issue was we required wheelchair assistance and ship services told us we'd need to arrange it in the terminal, course in the terminal they were clueless...finally someone took pity and brought over a chair for my Dad to use.  

 

23 hours ago, Roz said:

@atexsix, they dragged us from one end of Canada Place to the other and didn't seem to know what to do with us.  What?  Passengers are staying onboard for the next cruise?  What an oddity!

 

Things were complicated by the fact that there were 2 large Australian tour groups embarking, and again, officials at Canada Place acted like they had never encountered an Aussie before.

you're not kidding about being dragged from one end to the other, presumably to keep us separate from the hundreds of passengers arriving.  CSA for HAL mentioned none of this, I specifically asked if we'd need to leave the ship and she said no.  If I had known I would have brought our own wheelchair.  

 

bottom line, HAL, the ship, the terminal, and customs will all be on a different page...if OP is lucky that won't be the case where they're going.  

[Chickadee910]

Start end start end in San Diego.

[Horizon chaser 1957]

Non refundable OBC may not carry over to the next leg, but a wine package you buy with it does. 😁

[DaveOKC]

7 minutes ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:

Non refundable OBC may not carry over to the next leg, but a wine package you buy with it does. 😁

If you are not sure about the wine package I guess you could just take the left over bottles with you onto the next cruise?

[Horizon chaser 1957]

Just now, DaveOKC said:

If you are not sure about the wine package I guess you could just take the left over bottles with you onto the next cruise?

Yes. If it doesn’t officially carry over, you collect the remaining bottles on the last night of leg one, as per protocol, and leave them in your room for the second leg. I’ve checked this out, because most of my OBC is on a 9 day cruise B2B with the Grand Africa, with 71 days and less OBC.

[triiip42]

Okay, for us another lesson learned yesterday in-regards to B2B accounting of cruise credits.

They posted our new credits yesterday for the 2 segments that finished last Saturday on N. Statendam. The first booking totals looked about what I was expecting. The second booking totals looked to be about 7 days less then I was thinking.

Called Mariner Society and asked about it. He politely explained that per the ships accounting we had spent all this money on the first segment but hardly anything on the second especially with no shore excursions. I said, whoa, rein that horse in a little bit cowboy. I politely read off to him all the SE we had done (thru HAL) and the OBC my DW was "forced" to spend each segment....He paused and then He put me on hold for about 10 minutes. Said his lead figured out that the accounting had placed nearly all our spending under the booking number for the first leg. Said they had seen this before and it would take a bit to sort it out. 

We had lost those extra points because you cannot earn more then the days of the cruise.

To my surprise, 50 minutes later  I received an email with the corrected statements. Double checked online and all is good. They most likely would never have questioned it if I had not called.

So make sure you have an idea of what you should earn and double check that it is applied correctly to both(or more) bookings. Actually this applies to any cruise not just B2B.

[Chickadee910]

I’m glad this topic is being helpful to more travelers than just myself. Enjoying the feedback quite a bit.

[skurvish]

Another benefit of booking B2Bs as separate legs is that each leg is priced separately and one leg may go down in price before final payment and you can have it refared. If you book the B2B as one cruise then you only get to refare if that combined cruise drops in price.

 

We have a B2B2B of 3 14-day cruises starting in March in Japan. Since booking 2 of them have had price drops.

[DaveOKC]

33 minutes ago, skurvish said:

Another benefit of booking B2Bs as separate legs is that each leg is priced separately and one leg may go down in price before final payment and you can have it refared. If you book the B2B as one cruise then you only get to refare if that combined cruise drops in price.

 

We have a B2B2B of 3 14-day cruises starting in March in Japan. Since booking 2 of them have had price drops.

Great point that I had never thought of!  I do this on the airlines (especially SW) for the same reason and have changed my fares many times.