Back to Back Seascape

[wiseguy]

My husband and I are booked on the Seascape for a 14 day back to back Carribean cruise that leaves this Sunday. My question is after we dock in Miami for the second week of our cruise will we be required to get off the ship or will we be able to just stay on board? Hoping we can just stay on board!

 

[morpheusofthesea]

You get off and should be first back on board after going through facial recognition, when the ship clears at around 11 am. (You will be last off at around 10 10:30)

Edited February 15, 2023 by morpheusofthesea

[Av8tor]

Morpheus is correct (as always 😉) in that you must get off and then get back on but at least it's a special procedure for B2Bers rather than just the "normal" disembarkation and embarkation processes.  You don't have to slep any baggage with you - it stays on board.  

Hopefully your experience will go smoother than ours a week ago where we had to wait in the terminal (no seating) for awhile before proceeding down to the immigration area.  Then more standing around in that processing area before CBP actually started processing us.  They treat the B2Bs as one big group, so everyone is held in the respective areas until all are processed, then they all are allowed to move on - you can't just go on your own through each step...

[morpheusofthesea]

5 hours ago, Av8tor said:

Hopefully your experience will go smoother than ours a week ago where we had to wait in the terminal (no seating) for awhile before proceeding down to the immigration area.

They took us all down to the baggage claim area where the facial recognition takes place. We all lined up and had to wait until the "zeros" finally show up to get their bags and do facial recognition before CBP, Customs and Border Protection will process our 'faces'. "Zeros" are those that refuse to leave the ship. I suppose they kept your B2B group upstairs and oblivious to what was really happening downstairs with the dilly dallying "Zeros" that care nothing about inconveniencing all the rest of us waiting to be processed. The only reason we 'knew' what the hold-up was about was because a butler pointed 'them' out to us. I proceeded to film them, the zeros, when DW pointed out the sign "NO Filming or photos" and deleted the "zeros". When the word was passed why the delay the hostility grew.

P.S. Thank you.

[Markanddonna]

We did a B2B on the Divina out of Miami, and they gave us an instruction sheet on the process. We were given two options: leave the ship before 8:30 AM and return no earlier than 11:30 or get off later and be processed in the theater with a mandatory custom's interview that could take up to two hours. We spoke to another couple that said it took over two hours.  This was in late Jan 2023.

[styles27]

Some of my family will be on Seascape this Sunday too! I’m praying it’s a positive experience for them as I booked it for them 🤞

 

We did a B2B in Miami last month but on Divina.
 

We (B2B pax) all met in the theater and 3 MSC crew members took us down to the terminal as a group to clear immigration.
We just had to bring our passports. 
We had cruised to Colombia so immigration was slow that day. We were supposed to meet at 11:45 in the theater to go down but we didn’t get through immigration til close to 1:30. It was a long morning.

 

If I had to do it again I would get off the ship and do an excursion just to avoid all of the sitting around. 

[Markanddonna]

BTW- there is a very nice free trolley that will take you are Miami. We went to Bayside to pick up some items in between cruises. You pick up the trolley right outside the terminal. Miami has a very good website that even shows the trolley locations live.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

On 2/16/2023 at 11:16 AM, styles27 said:

Some of my family will be on Seascape this Sunday too! I’m praying it’s a positive experience for them as I booked it for them 🤞

 

We did a B2B in Miami last month but on Divina.
 

We (B2B pax) all met in the theater and 3 MSC crew members took us down to the terminal as a group to clear immigration.
We just had to bring our passports. 
We had cruised to Colombia so immigration was slow that day. We were supposed to meet at 11:45 in the theater to go down but we didn’t get through immigration til close to 1:30. It was a long morning.

...

 

Ugh - sounds like "fun".

 

I'm looking at a B2B that is just OC, Nassau, Cozumel (from Pt Canaveral). I'd hope that a turnaround in that case would be a bit more streamlined.

Tom

[Suzieanna]

On a back to back, do you get to go to the Diamond party etc twice? 

[morpheusofthesea]

13 minutes ago, Suzieanna said:

On a back to back, do you get to go to the Diamond party etc twice? 

Should you so desire.

[Jess777]

I hear if you go off ship for a few hours to Miami and later go back,  because you are a B2B passenger you go through priority embarkation. 

[morpheusofthesea]

23 minutes ago, Jess777 said:

I hear if you go off ship for a few hours to Miami and later go back,  because you are a B2B passenger you go through priority embarkation. 

You are sent up stairs with the rest of the passengers and moved up to near the Yacht Club group.

[BeeeJay]

Do you have the option of doing an excursion and returning later?  I was thinking about playing golf in Miami on the back-to-back switchover

[morpheusofthesea]

1 minute ago, BeeeJay said:

Do you have the option of doing an excursion and returning later?  I was thinking about playing golf in Miami on the back-to-back switchover

Yes.