Back-to-Back Desk????

Earlier this week...we booked a B2B cruise for 2016. I called later to tweak it a bit. The Celebrity rep asked if I had booked

cruise with a CVP or with the Back-to-Back desk???.......Anyone ever heard of the B2B desk? What would the advantage be booking with them?

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Since we live in the interior of Alaska we tend to do B2B cruises as it just seems a more efficient use of air fare. I've never heard of a "B2B desk." I am curious if anyone else has heard of this.

Yes, there is a back-to-back desk.

I have booked several back-to-back cruises and have had to deal with the B2B Desk after booking the cruises. I did not book either leg of the cruises WITH the B2B Desk, however. I was just transferred TO the B2B Desk in order to deal with certain issues.

I don't know that it is so much that there is a benefit to dealing with the B2B Desk, but more that the B2B Desk knows how to handle certain issues, and they are therefore the appropriate desk for handling some issues.

The first time I booked a B2B, I got the impression that certain issues HAD to be handled through the B2B Desk, and the conversation when I called in to the main desk (after the initial booking process) went, "Oh, that is a B2B booking....I will have to transfer you to the B2B desk...".

My TA has had the same issue when dealing with my B2Bs. They are usually booked on board, but any changes have to go through the B2B desk. Dunno what they do differently, but apparently they perform some special function.

Interesting! I've never dealt with a "B2B" desk, didn't even know that one existed, and we almost always do B2B cruises. What types of issues do they need to deal with?

We had booked a b2b ... I had read here on CC about the b2b desk ... I had a question or two about something, called the number on my invoice, asked for the b2b desk, and no one had any idea what I was talking about ...

We had booked a b2b ... I had read here on CC about the b2b desk ... I had a question or two about something, called the number on my invoice, asked for the b2b desk, and no one had any idea what I was talking about ...

Do a B2B almost every year and never heard of a "desk" :confused:

Have a B2B2B2B booked and nothing has been mentioned....

A few years back I booked the two legs of a b2b separately (one was the last cruise of the season and a year later I booked the first cruise of the new season to create the b2b). At the time, each leg of the 7 and 8 day cruises was entitled to a $100 OBC. However, the current promotion at the time, gave $250 OBC to 15 day cruises. My TA was in touch with the "back to back desk" so that I could be changed to the promotion for a 15 day cruise.

I don't know if it still works that way, but it might be worth checking to see if there are any additional benefits due to you if your b2b was treated as one longer cruise. (I'm thinking NOT with the current All Inclusive promotion, but perhaps at another time, there would be a benefit.)

Do a B2B almost every year and never heard of a "desk" :confused:

 

Have a B2B2B2B booked and nothing has been mentioned....

They must have a REALLY big desk to handle one of those! :eek: :D ;)

Up until about a year ago, Celebrity and RCI used to take care of people doing B2B cruises who needed special arrangements between them, such as transfers and/or hotel arrangements.

So the back-to-back desk would provide such transitions between the two cruises for us, which was very nice and gave passengers the incentive to book such B2B cruises that were not merely consecutive cruises on the same ship. You might, for example, take a transatlantic cruise on one ship and then transfer to another ship leaving a day later, with the cruise line providing your hotel and transfers between them.

But since they stopped doing that, we have no longer needed to involve the back-to-back department when booking consecutive cruises.

Just had my travel agent make a change to one of the cruises, booked separately but consecutive. He had to consult with the b2b desk in order to make the change to the second cruise. Apparently once the reservation lands on that desk, he doesn't completely control it anymore.

Just had my travel agent make a change to one of the cruises, booked separately but consecutive. He had to consult with the b2b desk in order to make the change to the second cruise. Apparently once the reservation lands on that desk, he doesn't completely control it anymore.

I don't want to be nosy, but can I ask what the change was (i.e., change in dining times, stateroom change)?

We originally had a B2B scheduled for the fall of 2015, and in September I added a third cruise to the sequence to create a B2B2B. We had the same stateroom for the original B2B pair, and that stateroom wasn't available for the newly added cruise. But there was another A1 stateroom which was available for all three cruises, and no one consulted a "B2B desk" to change the stateroom on the original pair so that we have the same stateroom for all three legs.

It was a stateroom change. Do you use a travel agent? Or a Celebrity agent?

Up until about a year ago, Celebrity and RCI used to take care of people doing B2B cruises who needed special arrangements between them, such as transfers and/or hotel arrangements.

 

So the back-to-back desk would provide such transitions between the two cruises for us, which was very nice and gave passengers the incentive to book such B2B cruises that were not merely consecutive cruises on the same ship. You might, for example, take a transatlantic cruise on one ship and then transfer to another ship leaving a day later, with the cruise line providing your hotel and transfers between them.

But since they stopped doing that, we have no longer needed to involve the back-to-back department when booking consecutive cruises.

 

Ah so the B2B desk people are talking about is in fact the "Hotels Desk". Now I understand. I dealt with a very helpful lady here in the UK a couple of years back in just the above situation, but I think she is long gone.

Ah so the B2B desk people are talking about is in fact the "Hotels Desk". Now I understand. I dealt with a very helpful lady here in the UK a couple of years back in just the above situation, but I think she is long gone.

For example, back when they used to provide the transition, they comped a limo for us between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale when our first cruise disembarked at Miami and the next cruise departed from Port Everglades.

Now I suppose they would still make the transfer arrangements for us if we wanted them to, but the big difference would be that now we would have to pay the transfer costs ourselves, so I don't see where there would any longer be an advantage to using them.

Some of the instances mentioned sound more like consecutive cruises then B2B cruises. I've made changes on both sets of our B2B2B cruises in 2015 and they were just handled by the first person who answered. The first set is Celebrity and the second Royal Caribbean.

Now I am curious if there is still a "B2B" desk. :)

Back to back and consecutive are one and the same, aren't they?

Celebrity uses them interchangeably.

Back to back and consecutive are one and the same, aren't they?

 

Celebrity uses them interchangeably.

Yes, they are the same

They are still doing something. My TA just paid off my February cruises, and when she sent me the receipts, the second one referenced both cruises and the total cost of the two cruises together.

I just asked a friend who works for Celebrity about the "Back-to-Back" desk, and she told me that the "Back-to-Back" desk is not a physical desk, but a level of training. So when you are transferred to the "B2B" desk, you are transferred to someone who has specialized training in the issues that come up for people who take back to back cruises.

When you call in to Celebrity, you might reach someone, on the very first call, who has this training, and they will deal with all your issues seamlessly, and you won't even hear about the "B2B" desk. If you reach someone who doesn't have the extra training to deal with your issues, they will "transfer you to the B2B desk", that is, to someone on the roster who does have the training to handle all your issues.

Since there is a much smaller percentage of people who take B2B cruises, I guess it makes sense that not all of the CVP's would need the extra training, and this keeps the smaller pool of "B2B-trained" CVP's current, as they will get more opportunity to use their training, and so will keep their B2B skills sharp and it will cost less for Celebrity to keep a smaller group up-to-date.