Question about turn around day of a b2b cruise

[Biker19]

11 minutes ago, Nessa1dc said:

Will we have early access to our new room?

Talk to the cabin attendant for the cabin on your second cruise to negotiate that.

[Nessa1dc]

9 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Talk to the cabin attendant for the cabin on your second cruise to negotiate that.

So during our 1st Leg...we should go where our 2nd cruise cabin will be and chat w/ the cabin attendant?  Hmm....a little tip may help too.  Nice idea.  Thank you.  Is that the normal procedure?  Or do you normally just go up with the new passengers?

 

Edited December 6, 2023 by Nessa1dc

[Biker19]

8 minutes ago, Nessa1dc said:

Is that the normal procedure? 

For the folks who've done this a few times, yes. Otherwise, follow the instructions on the letter you'll get in your cabin on the first sailing.

[njkruzer]

1 hour ago, Nessa1dc said:

We are doing a B2B on the Liberty in NJ.  We have done B2B before, the only difference this time is that we will be changing cabins.  We will move from a Balcony to a Jr. Suite.  Will we have early access to our new room?

 

Absolutely.   As others have said, speak to both room attendants and arrange the move with them.  Move the stuff in the safe yourself. We did a change in San Diego in October on the Radiance for the canal transit.  There were loads of passengers changing cabins.  They staff were very accommodating. 

[Denversail]

1 hour ago, Nessa1dc said:

So during our 1st Leg...we should go where our 2nd cruise cabin will be and chat w/ the cabin attendant?  Hmm....a little tip may help too.  Nice idea.  Thank you.  Is that the normal procedure?  Or do you normally just go up with the new passengers?

 

I switched cabins on my last b2b. The evening before I went and found my new room steward to make sure he was aware that I was moving to that cabin and already on the ship. He assured me he would get the room ready as soon as the prior cruisers left. I also made sure my prior steward knew to move my stuff. After going through the process of getting off and back on with the other b2b cruisers I went to my new room and it was ready. I will say I think this was closer to almost 10 am. My regret in this process was showing up to the theater a little early. They make you wait until everyone is off the ship. I would probably head that way more like 20 to 30 minutes after the time they requested in the future. 

 

I will note that I did get some comments from other cruisers when they saw me go to my cabin. Some people actually tried to stop me because cabins weren't ready. The cruising police enforcement. lol

[bonsai3s]

24 minutes ago, Denversail said:

I switched cabins on my last b2b. The evening before I went and found my new room steward to make sure he was aware that I was moving to that cabin and already on the ship. He assured me he would get the room ready as soon as the prior cruisers left. I also made sure my prior steward knew to move my stuff. After going through the process of getting off and back on with the other b2b cruisers I went to my new room and it was ready. I will say I think this was closer to almost 10 am. My regret in this process was showing up to the theater a little early. They make you wait until everyone is off the ship. I would probably head that way more like 20 to 30 minutes after the time they requested in the future. 

 

I will note that I did get some comments from other cruisers when they saw me go to my cabin. Some people actually tried to stop me because cabins weren't ready. The cruising police enforcement. lol

Denversail...you are spot-on! ...great info.

[temple1]

Fresh off a b2b on Independence out of Miami. We kept the same room but we were not aware we could reenter early. The letter with instructions arrived the day before docked back in Miami. We arrived at the meeting lounge on time and were give our new Sea Pass cards. Once all the cruisers had checked in we left the ship, using our old Sea Pass. The hiccup was once off the ship we had to wait in line about 20 - 30 minutes to go through immigration, several passengers had not left the ship and we were not allowed back on until the ship was cleared. Once cleared the process was incredibly quick, We walked up to the immigration officer, looked at a screen, it found us and we went back on the ship. By that time the bars were starting to open and we hug out in Schooner until our 11:30 lunch was ready in one of the dining rooms. 

 

One person in line said they had to wait almost an hour once while they forced a person off who thought she could stay. I asked a crew member why we couldn't stay in the lounge until the stragglers were found, she said it was not their option. They had to escort us off. 

 

My thoughts on how the cruise staff discussed the stragglers, once their time to depart the ship had passed and they were still on, they shouldn't be called guests, they were now trespassers and should be treated as such.  

Edited December 6, 2023 by temple1

[Ashland]

2 hours ago, temple1 said:

Fresh off a b2b on Independence out of Miami. We kept the same room but we were not aware we could reenter early. The letter with instructions arrived the day before docked back in Miami. We arrived at the meeting lounge on time and were give our new Sea Pass cards. Once all the cruisers had checked in we left the ship, using our old Sea Pass. The hiccup was once off the ship we had to wait in line about 20 - 30 minutes to go through immigration, several passengers had not left the ship and we were not allowed back on until the ship was cleared. Once cleared the process was incredibly quick, We walked up to the immigration officer, looked at a screen, it found us and we went back on the ship. By that time the bars were starting to open and we hug out in Schooner until our 11:30 lunch was ready in one of the dining rooms. 

 

One person in line said they had to wait almost an hour once while they forced a person off who thought she could stay. I asked a crew member why we couldn't stay in the lounge until the stragglers were found, she said it was not their option. They had to escort us off. 

 

My thoughts on how the cruise staff discussed the stragglers, once their time to depart the ship had passed and they were still on, they shouldn't be called guests, they were now trespassers and should be treated as such.  

Sorry you didn't know you would have access to your same cabin. It was made very clear to us and quickly slipped in/out the closed hallway door. Nice, and one of the great advantages of keeping the same cabin. We always do.

[Nessa1dc]

Just for additional information.  On our previous B2B's we received a notice 2 or 3 days before debarkation day to attend a meeting in one of the Lounges.  They explained the process.  Our Room Attendant would ask us about it close to the last day and explained that he would get our room together first.  On Turnaround day, we met everyone in an area...went through customs as a group, given our new cards and then released.  We often went back to our cabins (just opened the gray doors and closed them behind us) until the group lunch.

[LeeW]

The letter normally says you have access to your room.  In the meeting they do ask you to close the fire door after entering.

 

Might be kind of fun to organize the B2B folks to "escort" the guests who are delaying getting off.  Have seen a few that were proud to be the last off and were holding back to ensure they were despite being called by name multiple times over the PA.  Thinking a plank ceremony....

Edited December 6, 2023 by LeeW
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[screenname2004]

Assume we have early access to our new cabin, do we stay there until b2b group lunch? When does group lunch start?

[njkruzer]

20 minutes ago, LeeW said:

The letter normally says you have access to your room.  In the meeting they do ask you to close the fire door after entering.

 

Might be kind of fun to organize the B2B folks to "escort" the guests who are delaying getting off.  Have seen a few that were proud to be the last off and were holding back to ensure they were despite being called by name multiple times over the PA.  Thinking a plank ceremony....

Yes!  The same with passengers who don't think they have to clear immigration at 1st US port because they're not getting off or those who think they can skip muster, even the new one.

[njkruzer]

8 minutes ago, screenname2004 said:

Assume we have early access to our new cabin, do we stay there until b2b group lunch? When does group lunch start?

You have full access to everything open on the ship, i.e., pool, bar, food, and your cabin if you want to stay there.

[bonsai3s]

42 minutes ago, screenname2004 said:

Assume we have early access to our new cabin, do we stay there until b2b group lunch? When does group lunch start?

As njkruzer said, you'll have access to the entire ship. Enjoy the ship before the new passengers board.

 

Lunch starts at 12 noon, MDR...but we did have a b2b lunch in the Windjammer on the Navigator...they opened the WJ at 11:30am.

 

* Back in the day, b2b lunches were sometimes at specialty restaurants. When in the MDR, there's a limited, but very nice, menu...and complimentary wine...not anymore.

 

* On TAD, I enjoy the empty jacuzzi and a couple of Bloody Marys...nice.

[temple1]

On 12/6/2023 at 5:53 PM, screenname2004 said:

Assume we have early access to our new cabin, do we stay there until b2b group lunch? When does group lunch start?

Our group lunch was in the main dining room and started at 11:30. 

[njkruzer]

8 minutes ago, temple1 said:

Our group lunch was in the main dining room and started at 11:30. 

So did ours.

[rcrabb1513]

On 12/4/2023 at 6:18 PM, BND said:

Our experience on every b2b cruise we've done is on turnaround day, b2bers meet in the morning and walk off as a group using old cards to get off and then go past customs and get back on with our new cards.  We've never done anything the day before and we've done 4 or 5 b2b's.   The only difference on our last one on Jewel was since we had turnaround day in Quebec, we didn't have to get off the ship.  They did the check out/check in onboard and we were free to go around 915.  Usually it's at least 1030.   We've never met up the day before.   We get a letter a couple of days beforehand with instructions on what to do on turnaround day.  We definitely have access to our cabin all day on turnaround day.

We did a B2B in August 2022 on Alaskan cruises on Ovation out of Seattle.  The consecutive cruisers met in Bolero lounge and there were about 20 of us.  We turned in our old sea pass cards and received new ones.  This process took about 30 minutes.  We had the same cabin and did not have to leave the ship.  We returned to our cabin which had already been cleaned and we hung out there until Cafe 270 opened for lunch.

Others have said they had to leave the ship.  I really *think* it depends on the Coast Guard in the port of embarkation whether they require a true "zero" count or are willing to consider B2B'ers, once accounted for by the ship staff, as part of the zero count.

[BND]

4 hours ago, rcrabb1513 said:

We did a B2B in August 2022 on Alaskan cruises on Ovation out of Seattle.  The consecutive cruisers met in Bolero lounge and there were about 20 of us.  We turned in our old sea pass cards and received new ones.  This process took about 30 minutes.  We had the same cabin and did not have to leave the ship.  We returned to our cabin which had already been cleaned and we hung out there until Cafe 270 opened for lunch.

Others have said they had to leave the ship.  I really *think* it depends on the Coast Guard in the port of embarkation whether they require a true "zero" count or are willing to consider B2B'ers, once accounted for by the ship staff, as part of the zero count.

The Coast Guard has absolutely nothing to do with it.  It's Customs and Border Patrol that handle it.  We've done several b2b's and other than in Canada (where US law doesn't apply) we've had to leave the ship as I said.  We've done b2b's in PC, Baltimore and Quebec City(4 total so far with several more scheduled).  I just posted OUR experience for all of our b2b's.  Your experience may vary, but staying onboard is much, much rarer than your one experience would indicate.  They all require a true zero out before they will start reboarding (dinging people in) so you didn't just turn in your new cards and receive  old ones.  I guarantee you were taken out of the count and added back in (In Canada we were dinged out with a handheld and then we had to walk out on deck and go through a "walk on" by dinging back in where we were promised our old cards would be returned (they were a few days later).  

[rcrabb1513]

42 minutes ago, BND said:

The Coast Guard has absolutely nothing to do with it.  It's Customs and Border Patrol that handle it.  We've done several b2b's and other than in Canada (where US law doesn't apply) we've had to leave the ship as I said.  We've done b2b's in PC, Baltimore and Quebec City(4 total so far with several more scheduled).  I just posted OUR experience for all of our b2b's.  Your experience may vary, but staying onboard is much, much rarer than your one experience would indicate.  They all require a true zero out before they will start reboarding (dinging people in) so you didn't just turn in your new cards and receive  old ones.  I guarantee you were taken out of the count and added back in (In Canada we were dinged out with a handheld and then we had to walk out on deck and go through a "walk on" by dinging back in where we were promised our old cards would be returned (they were a few days later).  

OK I got the agency wrong.  I too posted as you put it, OUR experience, that we were not forced to leave the ship..

[screenname2004]

Had our turnaround day yesterday on the Odyssey. Received instructions 2 days before end of our 1st cruise. Met at 270 in the morning.. they checked our name off the list and gave us our new card. Walked us off the ship around 9:45. We have to wait a bit because there were few non-b2b passengers took longer then expected to clear custom (on wheelchair and many luggages). Once they are out, we went through customer and checked in by the regular RC terminal staff. We reboarded the ship around 10:45 am. We didn't try to access our new cabin, just sat by the pool. Soon after we boarded, general boarding started. in the instructions, they did mention about lunch at MDR starting at 11:30 am but I think is is the same lunch for the new cruisers and not anythin special for consecutive cruisers.

[brillohead]

9 hours ago, screenname2004 said:

in the instructions, they did mention about lunch at MDR starting at 11:30 am but I think is is the same lunch for the new cruisers and not anythin special for consecutive cruisers.

 

No, the new cruisers don't have access* to lunch in the MDR on the first day -- that is a special menu that is only available to consecutive cruisers.  

 

*For people who purchased The Key, they do have access to a DIFFERENT lunch in the MDR with a limited Chops menu on boarding day.  

[njkruzer]

10 hours ago, brillohead said:

 

No, the new cruisers don't have access* to lunch in the MDR on the first day -- that is a special menu that is only available to consecutive cruisers.  

 

*For people who purchased The Key, they do have access to a DIFFERENT lunch in the MDR with a limited Chops menu on boarding day.  

Agree.  We've done it several times.