B2B on different lines

[edrussell]

Hi all, my wife and I are contemplating trying a B2B with a twist.  We have only sailed on RCCL thus far, but we want to give Carnival a try also (hope this thread doesn't derail because of that).  So what we thought about doing was booking a sailing on RCCL, as we leave that sailing jumping on a Carnival sailing.  We would likely do a 4 night RCCL and then a 3 night Carnival.  We want to get some perspective and compare the 2 lines to determine where we will likely settle.   Our RCCL sailings are all casino COMP (we've never paid out of pocket for the base fare) and we will likely end up with casino COMP via Carnival as well.  Since we live in Ontario we are thinking of doing this via Port Miami.  Has anyone ever done such a thing?  The reason why I am leaning towards doing this is that with the Carnival sailing only being 3 nights we figure even if we don't care for it, it is only 3 nights.

 

[mek]

Which ships?  Are they both out of Miami?

3 Night cruises regardless of the line, tend to be party cruises and if it's over the weeknd, there will be more children.

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by mek

[time4u2go]

Be aware that a 3-night cruise is probably not the best way to judge any cruise line.

[PhillyFan33579]

Just one person’s opinion, but if I was coming from Ontario, I would do a 7 day cruise instead of two shorter cruises on two different cruise lines. By changing ships you are losing at least part of a day with debarkation, embarkation, having to kill time between getting off one ship and your check-in time for the next cruise, and packing and unpacking. 
 

Having said that, what you are doing is simple enough. I have done it before, for 7 day cruises, and doing it again, but not until 2024. I have a 7 day cruise booked on Icon on 2/3/24 and a 7 day cruise booked on Apex on 2/10/24. I will have to drive from Port Miami to Port Everglades, but that is an easy drive even with I-95 traffic. 

[lakelorain]

I've done RC to MSC in Miami.  There is some downtime between cruises.  If it's nice weather, it's no problem because there are places to sit outside.  When I did it, it was raining so we had to hang out under a canopy while waiting. Not a big deal. 

 

[edrussell]

2 hours ago, mek said:

Which ships?  Are they both out of Miami?

3 Night cruises regardless of the line, tend to be party cruises and if it's over the weeknd, there will be more children.

 

 

Haven't picked the ship(s) yet.  I am definitely aware that the shorter cruises out of Miami will likely be party cruises.  In fact we are 100% OK with that.  We don't mind jumping into the fray and having fun.  As for the more children aspect we are looking to do this in Sept which will help cut down on that quite a bit, but also that isn't a significant issue for us.  With enough drinks I can safely ignore the kids.

 

[edrussell]

2 hours ago, time4u2go said:

Be aware that a 3-night cruise is probably not the best way to judge any cruise line.

 

I 100% agree with you and totally get that.  This would only be a 'taste' of what Carnival would offer.  We are really just trying to dip our toe into their waters.  We will likely end up with future COMP from them and this would only serve to be a jumping off point.

 

Truth be told I suspect we will actually end up splitting our sailings between both lines as the traditional loyalty aspect of RCCL via Crown & Anchor doesn't really benefit us all that much.  We get our COMP via the casino, my employer covers my internet packages and we both are Prime and can drink whenever we want in the casino so there isn't much there via C & A.  Unsure about Carnivals programs as I haven't done much research on their offerings yet.

 

[edrussell]

2 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Just one person’s opinion, but if I was coming from Ontario, I would do a 7 day cruise instead of two shorter cruises on two different cruise lines. By changing ships you are losing at least part of a day with debarkation, embarkation, having to kill time between getting off one ship and your check-in time for the next cruise, and packing and unpacking. 
 

Having said that, what you are doing is simple enough. I have done it before, for 7 day cruises, and doing it again, but not until 2024. I have a 7 day cruise booked on Icon on 2/3/24 and a 7 day cruise booked on Apex on 2/10/24. I will have to drive from Port Miami to Port Everglades, but that is an easy drive even with I-95 traffic. 

 

Appreciate your take on this.  My wife doesn't have as much vacation as I do so we are going to try and squeeze in this plan in a week.  We already have 2 other RCCL 7 day sailings booked for next year already (considering our first ever cruise was Jan of this year we are HOOKED), so that is the main reason for looking at this option.

 

I do fully hear you about losing a partial day, however my thought is that if we hang out on the first cruise as long as possible, go and have breakfast etc and then leisurely go over to the new ship with an early embarkation time we won't actually lose all that much time.  As for packing and unpacking that only takes us about an hour to pack anyway.  We are light packers.  Definitely appreciate your opinion.

 

[Sunshine3601]

Just a little FYI, this is called a Side to Side (S2S) not a back to back.    Back to back is same ship.    Side to Side is getting off any ship and getting on another ship for a consecutive sailing.    

[mek]

1 hour ago, edrussell said:

 

I 100% agree with you and totally get that.  This would only be a 'taste' of what Carnival would offer.  We are really just trying to dip our toe into their waters.  We will likely end up with future COMP from them and this would only serve to be a jumping off point.

 

Truth be told I suspect we will actually end up splitting our sailings between both lines as the traditional loyalty aspect of RCCL via Crown & Anchor doesn't really benefit us all that much.  We get our COMP via the casino, my employer covers my internet packages and we both are Prime and can drink whenever we want in the casino so there isn't much there via C & A.  Unsure about Carnivals programs as I haven't done much research on their offerings yet.

 

Is there anything in particular you would like to know about Carnival?  We have cruised on many lines - including Carnival and have never had a bad experience on one of their ships. Regardless of what some people think on the Royal forum, most of the cruisers on mass lines are from the same demographic pool and the only thing that I personally think changes the mix is when a sailing offers a give away price and that can change the vibe of the cruise.

Edited October 26, 2022 by mek

[Husky1987]

We're long-time Royal cruisers, and we've done a Carnival sailing and found it to be just fine.  In fact the best bartender I've ever had on a cruise ship was at the Alchemy Bar all week on Carnival (just one of the things that they do better than Royal...others being pizza and burgers).  For everyone on here saying Carnival sucks, you can find the same number coming back here to post saying their Royal cruise sucked.

 

All of which to say, rather than going through the hassle of two short cruises and the accompanying disembark/embark day....why not just do a 7 day on Carnival?  You know what Royal has to offer at this point.

 

YMMV, but my wife STILL gets "free" cruise/free drinks offers from the Carnival casino program to this day, and it's been three years since we sailed with them. 

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Just a little FYI, this is called a Side to Side (S2S) not a back to back.    Back to back is same ship.    Side to Side is getting off any ship and getting on another ship for a consecutive sailing.    

An FYI to your FYI, a side to side cruise is a term that originated on Cruise Critic and is not widely accepted within the cruise industry. 

[edrussell]

43 minutes ago, mek said:

Is there anything in particular you would like to know about Carnival?  We have cruised on many lines - including Carnival and have never had a bad experience on one of their ships. Regardless of what some people think on the Royal forum, most of the cruisers on mass lines are from the same demographic pool and the only thing that I personally think changes the mix is when a sailing offers a give away price and that can change the vibe of the cruise.

 

Nothing in particular that I want to know that I cannot find out on my own.  More just the 'feel' of the ship, the crew, the ambiance etc.  Not something anyone really can put their finger on often times.  We will just know it when we feel it.  As a comparison we did quite a lot of research and before we cruised RCCL we had a feeling it would work for us.  We first cruised on Enchantment OTS at 35% capacity, then Adventure OTS and finally Oasis OTS.  We were right, we fit right in with the overall atmosphere on RCCL.  We believe Carnival will be very similar but want to experience it for ourselves.

 

We are avid travelers to Vegas for instance and have stayed all over from the smallest property to the large mega-properties.  We've also gambled in holes in the wall and in the high limit room at Wynn.  We almost always gravitate towards middle of the road properties with a lively vibe.  While we've no interest in OMMPPH, OMMMPPHH parties, we do like to enjoy ourselves.  Some have mentioned the kid aspect and we accept that on lines like Carnival and RCCL kids are par for the course.

 

Thanks all, if anyone has anything else to add I am all ears.

 

[edrussell]

36 minutes ago, Husky1987 said:

All of which to say, rather than going through the hassle of two short cruises and the accompanying disembark/embark day....why not just do a 7 day on Carnival?  You know what Royal has to offer at this point. 

 

Good point and to be honest the answer is being cheap...  I am going to get a complete COMP on the 4 night from RCCL.  At this point I am unsure if we will be able match into Carnival and get a COMP on the first cruise.  So a 3 night out of pocket will be much cheaper to dip our toe into the water.  

[lakelorain]

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

An FYI to your FYI, a side to side cruise is a term that originated on Cruise Critic and is not widely accepted within the cruise industry. 

I thought a side to side is when you go from one cruise on a line to another cruise on a line.  For example, Jewel of the Seas to Oasis of the Seas.  Going from one cruise line to another is a bag drag.  Ha Ha.

[Grizflob]

7 minutes ago, lakelorain said:

I thought a side to side is when you go from one cruise on a line to another cruise on a line.  For example, Jewel of the Seas to Oasis of the Seas.  Going from one cruise line to another is a bag drag.  Ha Ha.

Some night even argue that an RCCL to Carnival is an up to down 😜

[JessyCruises]

@edrussell We live in New Brunswick.  We don't like flying down to the US either unless we are going on multiple cruises because of the transportation hassle and cost.  We are considering doing the same. We have sailed on a few Carnival cruises along time ago but are thinking about trying it again.

 

We are casino cruisers too.  If you have not already done so, you should submit a request through Carnival Fun Match.  I did it a month or so ago and hubby and I already started getting offers.  We are using our Prime Certs for next year for a B2B on the Wonder out of Port Canaveral on 3/5/23 & 3/12/23 ending 3/19.  We have the Grandeur booked out of Miami 3/19 but Carnival gave us an offer for a free balcony on the Magic out of Port Canaveral on 3/19 with $100 free play and drinks in the Casino.  We are considering cancelling Grandeur and hopping on Magic for this 6 nighter as it is in Port Canaveral so will save on the transportation cost.  The only thing holding me up is losing those 5 points as we are trying to get to Pinnacle in 2024 lol

 

Here is the link to carnival site for the fun match. https://www.carnival.com/Registration/Promotions/casino-funmatch

[Mum2Mercury]

Saying this very gently:  I don't like your plan. 

- You're talking about two short cruises, which are likely to cost more than one 7-day cruise. 

- The time necessary to disembark /board the new ship /get your new room /get yourself oriented again is going to eat up most of a day.  If you were going to do two 7-day cruises, it would seem justified, but not for two short cruises.  

- If you want to try Carnival, I strongly suggest you just do a 7-day Carnival cruise.  If you're not happy, it's just a week.  

9 hours ago, mek said:

3 Night cruises regardless of the line, tend to be party cruises and if it's over the weeknd, there will be more children.

We're going on our first-ever three-day soon -- at least it's not a weekend.  We might end up being sorry, but it was only $99, and we had SUCH a great time on our recent "return to cruising" vacation.  We saw the low price and jumped.  

[blueslily]

Yes, I have done this a few times. They were usually 7 day sailings. Earlier this year, I did MSC and NCL out of Miami. In Feb, I'm doing MSC and Royal.  Again, both 7 days. I might be able to sneak in a NCL and Carnival combo next year as well. I love doing comparisons back to back on different lines and ships. It's fun. I havent sailed with Carnival in over 15 years. But, now I'm addicted to trying new ships so I want to try the new Carnival Celebration next year. LoL

[time4u2go]

15 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

You're talking about two short cruises, which are likely to cost more than one 7-day cruise. 

Read again. One of the cruises is comped. 

[edrussell]

Thanks very much @JessyCruises, really appreciate your take.  I had already signed up with Carnival fun match, but our offers mostly are in my wife's name so she is going through that process now.  Will see what pops out of that.  If we can snag a 7 day offer from Carnival I would rather go that route to accomplish the same thing.

 

It is nice to hear that others have done this kind of thing and we are not out of our minds for thinking about it.  Once again nothing booked yet, still toying around with the idea.

[edrussell]

Following up on this one.  My Fun Match did not trigger many offers.  However my wife did her own registration and it took a little while but offers started to trigger.  We hopped on a 8 day sailing from NY calling on San Juan, Grand Turk, St. Thomas.  It was an offer where you pay a token amount for each guest and then they match that amount in OBC.  Which we will use in the casino anyway.  So we only came out of pocket for taxes and port fees.  We sail in Sept of 2023 on Carnival Magic!  Not bad considering we have no relationship with Carnival at all.  This gives us a chance to try out Carnival at very limited risk.  If we don't care for the ship and vibe we just won't gamble all that much and turn our attentions back to RCCL.  If we do like it we will wager what we are comfortable with in hopes to trigger continuing offers and then have 2 lines to choose from.  A win.

 

[Crazy planning mom]

Sounds like a good plan to do the 7 day out of NY on Carnival.