2 cruises, 1 ship. How does that work?

[kmdress]

We will be on our first Mediterranean cruise in June. Symphony of the Seas has a 7 day Rome to Rome on 6/18 with a stop in Barcelona on 6/25. Our cruise is Barcelona to Barcelona starting 6/25. I’m used to the usual ‘welcome aboard’, check at muster station, check reservations, wait for luggage, etc. How does it work if half (?) the ship is full and our boarding is just a port for them? Seems like it would be a nightmare for staff.

Thanks for any insight.

[little britain]

It’s called Interporting. RCI have done this in the Med with Oasis class ships for years. It works smoothly.  The only thing you will notice on Rome day is some new faces and a few announcements for them to go to muster. 

[RobInMN]

Congratulations!

We did the same cruise in 2018, also Rome to Rome and also on Symphony (her inaugural season). 

Basically, you are doing days 5, 6, 7, 8 (nights 5, 6, 7) of 1 cruise, and days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (nights 1-4) of the next cruise. If they keep things the same, about 2/3 of the people port from Barcelona, and about 1/3 in Rome. 

This was pre-COVID, and so the muster drill would have been everyone in the theater, but I honestly don't remember if we (Rome passengers) had to do this on embarkation day, or if everyone did it on Barcelona embarkation day regardless of where you boarded.

Didn't really seem to be a big deal to be a port day for most of the ship. I really don't remember things being real different or anything. Luggage worked the same, can't remember if they still had people stay out of the halls until like 1PM or anything (either port).

The only thing odd was that the "Bon Voyage" party was day 4 for us. And the app was a little messy. at that time, you had to select the cruise you were on, it was all information, not interactive. So you had to select the Barcelona cruises, and change cruise part way through. Hopefully they have that working for the instructiveness the app has now.

 

Are you spending any time in Rome before/after? We loved Rome. Spent a week before and still have a list of things to do if we get back there. This is the main reason we picked Rome over Barcelona for our embarkation port.

 

 

[Tin can]

I've always wondered if this interpreting changes the passenger dynamic during the cruise with people boarding and leaving at different times. 

[kmdress]

5 hours ago, RobInMN said:

Congratulations!

We did the same cruise in 2018, also Rome to Rome and also on Symphony (her inaugural season). 

Basically, you are doing days 5, 6, 7, 8 (nights 5, 6, 7) of 1 cruise, and days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (nights 1-4) of the next cruise. If they keep things the same, about 2/3 of the people port from Barcelona, and about 1/3 in Rome. 

This was pre-COVID, and so the muster drill would have been everyone in the theater, but I honestly don't remember if we (Rome passengers) had to do this on embarkation day, or if everyone did it on Barcelona embarkation day regardless of where you boarded.

Didn't really seem to be a big deal to be a port day for most of the ship. I really don't remember things being real different or anything. Luggage worked the same, can't remember if they still had people stay out of the halls until like 1PM or anything (either port).

The only thing odd was that the "Bon Voyage" party was day 4 for us. And the app was a little messy. at that time, you had to select the cruise you were on, it was all information, not interactive. So you had to select the Barcelona cruises, and change cruise part way through. Hopefully they have that working for the instructiveness the app has now.

 

Are you spending any time in Rome before/after? We loved Rome. Spent a week before and still have a list of things to do if we get back there. This is the main reason we picked Rome over Barcelona for our embarkation port.

 

 

We’re boarding in Barcelona and our day in Rome is a holiday, so we’ll see how that goes! Thanks for the information!

[RobInMN]

9 hours ago, kmdress said:

We’re boarding in Barcelona and our day in Rome is a holiday, so we’ll see how that goes! Thanks for the information!

Oops! reversed that in my head as I was responding.