B2B Cruise Questions

[Happy0810]

As I've read through numerous posts lately, I've been surprised by the number of people who have taken or planned B2B cruises. Okay, maybe the word "surprised" should be changed to "jealous"....lol. :p

 

So some questions for you B2B'ers....

 

Do you usually stay in the same cabin (assuming you're on the same ship)?

 

If staying in the same cabin, do you have to pack everything thing up, disembark, and reimbark?

 

Just curiousity questions on my part as I'm not sure how everything works if you're staying onboard for the next cruise. Hopefully one day, we'll be lucky enough to do B2Bs.

[LHT28]

Do you usually stay in the same cabin (assuming you're on the same ship)?

 

If staying in the same cabin, do you have to pack everything thing up, disembark, and reimbark?

 

.

 

Yes if you can get the same cabin for both trips. You book them at the same time the cruiseline does try their best to accommodate you.

NO if you are in the same cabin you do not have to pack up...if you have to move to another cabin the steward will usually assist you with your belongings.

You do have to clear immigration on turnaround day at least for US ports

 

Lyn

[Bonnie J.]

We've done two B2B cruises, in Sept,. & Feb. In Sept. we had to change cabins -we booked 2nd week JUST before 1st week but no big deal as we were just down the same deck. Your room steward will help. In Feb. we had the same cabin, told our steward not to remake our cabin until nightly turn down. He appreciated that!

We got a notice the day before to meet the day we got back unless we were going ashore. We met with everyone staying on board. We were all taken to immigration, showed our passports and turned around and got back on the ship. This was before any new passengers were on board. Easy as pie.

But now we think 7 days is too short. Have done 10 & 12 day cruises but like B2B better - if ports are different.

[cruiserbryce]

we are doing a B2B on 2 quick Carnival cruises next month. I have been on the phone asking some of these same questions. We are able to stay in the same cabin...I guess it doesnt always work out this way. We dont have to pack but have been told that we will have to pass through customs at some point and will be escorted by a crew member off and then back on the ship

[iheartbda]

Every cruise line is different.;)

 

I did a B2B last year but the 2 weeks were booked at different times so I did not have the same cabin. That was no problem, the cabin steward was great and took care of everything.

 

The first week I checked in at the main desk just to make sure about the procedure at the end of the week. They assured me I would receive a letter the night before but I got nothing. The next morining I went to the desk and the person I talked to did not even know what a B2B was.:eek: She even asked me if I had made a reservation. Ummmmmm, no, I just decided to do it one the spur of the moment. NO, I didn't say that, I was very patient and calm through this part of the ordeal plus the next three.:)

 

After several computer checks, they couldnt find me.....not good....more checking "in the back", still nothing. FINALLY, the head of security came out to talk to me.:confused: Seems I was the only one doing a B2B.They printed my new card, I got off the ship,by myself, no escort, met my DH but when we went to check in they had him but...you got it......not me and I ALREADY had my new card! Repeat of computer checking, supervisors, etc. plus another new card printed. More problems when actually getting on the ship but won't go into those.;)

 

Moral of the story: Check beforehand with your particular cruise line, then ask again once you get on the ship. My story is certainly not the "norm" AND..... I'm doing the same B2B on the same ship this year.:D

[FUN33]

We do several B2B's a year. If we can't stay in the same cabin, we don't go at all.

 

That's just us. Do whatever makes you happy. When we stay in the same cabin, the change over day is just like a regular day in port. We can leave our cabin whenever we choose, spend as much (or as little) time in port as we like, and then return to the ship and everything in our cabin is exactly where we had it on the previous cruise.

 

We both hate flying, so when we go to Europe, we often take 3 B2B's and can be on board for over a month. When we used to fly to Europe and just take a 10 day cruise, the air fare was often 1/2 the price of the total trip. We want to spend our money on cruising, not flying.

[WendyCn]

DH & I are doing a B2B for a 4-day followed by a 5-day cruise going to 4 different ports. We have the same cabin number and will not need to change cabins. Plus, we are doing the B2B so we do not need to fly twice and we have 2 more cruises to add to our belts as we try to get to that Platinum level:D.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

we do it we should start a club

[Happy0810]

Thanks for all of the answers! It's definitely been fun learning about the B2Bs. I like learning the reasons why people do B2Bs. Longer cruise time but different itineraries, less flying with B2Bs - I never thought about it as a way to extend (make the most of) the price of flying.

 

We both hate flying, so when we go to Europe, we often take 3 B2B's and can be on board for over a month. When we used to fly to Europe and just take a 10 day cruise, the air fare was often 1/2 the price of the total trip. We want to spend our money on cruising, not flying.

[hajekfam]

We did our last back to back for a different reason. I always wanted to do a Med cruise but 12 port days out of 14 seemed extremely busy to me. I like coming home from a cruise rested but knew that we wouldn't be after visiting that many ports. So we backed it up with a transatlantic - 14 days with only 4 ports at the beginning of the cruise so we had all those wonderful sea days to rest up from all that heavy sightseeing tours. 28 nights aboard the ship - if we weren't getting to see our grandkids in Florida after the cruise, my husband wouldn't have been able to get me off the ship.

We normally do a transatlantic every other year as a means of relaxing and booked the trans as soon as bookings opened. But after booking the transatlantic, we both decided to retire that year and we added the Med cruise as a retirement celebration. By the time we added the Med, we were not able to get the same cabin that we had for the trans (it had a larger balcony), but we were lucky to get the cabin next to it. So moving was a breeze, we didn't need to pack everything to move, we just moved drawer by drawer.

[Tugboatbob]

One small thing to note about B2B cruises are that they are considered two separate cruises.... as such you are legally required to attend the life boat drills at the start of each week. However on B2B cruises Princess did not enforce this but RCCL did.