question about B2B cruises

My wife and I have just finished booking B2B on the Caribbean. First cruise is departing out of New York on August 13th 2009 to the Caribbean and then we are doing the next cruise departing August 22nd to New England and Canada. We have confirmed with our TA that we have the same suite on both trips but Princess does not consider this a B2B. They say we have to leave the ship for the day, our luggage can stay on board, and then have to again go through the process of Embarkation. We have never done a B2B before, Is this how normal B2B are done. Thanks

No matter who tells you what, or what happened on other B2B, the actual process is decided on board the ship by the PSD (Purser's Office). You will receive detailed "written" instructions. Even most at the PSD service desk will not know the actual process except for the few supervisory level persons. So just relax. But during the first cruise, go a couple of times to the PSD desk and just let them know that you are doing a B2B. There will be many others on-board who will also be doing the B2B. Non-US Citizens may also have different procedure but in the one's we took, Canadian Citizens had the same process as US.

Normally, if doing a B2B, you will meet in one of the lounges the last morning of the first leg of the cruise with any others doing the same thing, then be escorted off the ship to go through immigration and then back on. I have never heard of being made to stay off the ship for the day before you are able to return.

Not sure about the statement that Princess does not consider this a B2B, that doesn't make any sense?????????????????????

My wife and I have just finished booking B2B on the Caribbean. First cruise is departing out of New York on August 13th 2009 to the Caribbean and then we are doing the next cruise departing August 22nd to New England and Canada. We have confirmed with our TA that we have the same suite on both trips but Princess does not consider this a B2B. They say we have to leave the ship for the day, our luggage can stay on board, and then have to again go through the process of Embarkation. We have never done a B2B before, Is this how normal B2B are done. Thanks

Yes it is a B2B. Each cruise has a different voyage number and I'm sure each of your cruises has a different booking number. You will not leave the ship for a day. You will disembark when told (usually after those passengers who are not continuing on), and go through embarkation again. You will need a new photo ID for the 2nd voyage. You will be off an on again in very little time. That is of course unless you choose to stay off the ship until later in the day. That would be your choice.

Pia

This a B2B... you will get your new cruise card in yuor cabin the night before. you will be leaving the ship about 10 am and allowed back on within the hours. once in FLL I could go back on-in San Juan I had to wait with others for an hour.

can not remember if i needed a photo ID or not. But you will need cold weather clothes for the second cruise.

You will need to go through immigration and customs and then reboard, a short period of time.

Yes it is a B2B.You will be off an on again in very little time.

This is not always the case. Sometimes (as we encounted in LA while doing B2Bs on the Golden) you have to stay off the ship for an hour or hour and a half and then are the first to reboard when the new passengers begin to board. As has been said, it really depends on the ship, the cruise, the ports, the passenger services desk, etc.

I have not yet encountered a situation where I had to take my luggage off the ship...just myself.

When we did B2B in Alaska last summer, we never got off the ship at all! It was pouring so we didn't even want to get off. They had sent "in transit" cards and new cruise cards the night before and said we could just go down and get new pictures on the level where they would be boarding, so that's what we did.

It was so cool to one of only a handful on the ship. We went to the dining room right after it opened and we were the only ones there!! Strange, but kinda cool!

We loved our B2B and will definitely do it again when vacation time/schedules allow.

We have done three b2b - one in San Juan (Dawn) , one in Southhampton (old Royal), and the other in Barcelona (Star).

The procedure was the same for each of these: letter 2 days before outlining what was going to happen, new cruise card delivered night before end of 1st cruise, instructed that sometime during "turn around day" we were to go down to gangway to have new cruise card inserted in machine and photo taken.

We never had to leave the ship or go through another embarkation process. If we wanted to leave the ship we were told where and when to meet and all "in transit" passengers would leave at the same time.

The two voyages were linked together by Princess in their system and the ship was aware that we would be staying on for the next voyage.

I don't understand "Princess does not consider this a B2B" unless the person making that statement was referring to a new type of booking. These new booking are when Princess sells a cruise + the following cruise as one cruise. We are going on the Crown for a 25 day cruise in May and that cruise is also sold as a 15 day cruise and a 10 day cruise (we have 2 other booked this way). This 25 day cruise is not considered a b2b but it is actually a b2b booked as a single cruise.

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We have done three b2b - one in San Juan (Dawn) , one in Southhampton (old Royal), and the other in Barcelona (Star).

 

The procedure was the same for each of these: letter 2 days before outlining what was going to happen, new cruise card delivered night before end of 1st cruise, instructed that sometime during "turn around day" we were to go down to gangway to have new cruise card inserted in machine and photo taken.

 

We never had to leave the ship or go through another embarkation process. If we wanted to leave the ship we were told where and when to meet and all "in transit" passengers would leave at the same time.

 

The two voyages were linked together by Princess in their system and the ship was aware that we would be staying on for the next voyage.

 

I don't understand "Princess does not consider this a B2B" unless the person making that statement was referring to a new type of booking. These new booking are when Princess sells a cruise + the following cruise as one cruise. We are going on the Crown for a 25 day cruise in May and that cruise is also sold as a 15 day cruise and a 10 day cruise (we have 2 other booked this way). This 25 day cruise is not considered a b2b but it is actually a b2b booked as a single cruise.

 

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If you buy your cruise as a B2B, then you are on two separate cruises. This has happened many times, since the OBC is better if we buy them separately. In Sept. we'll be on the Crown which we bought as a 10 day and an 18 day. Yes, it's also being sold as a 28 day, but we have two different voyage numbers and two different booking numbers. We also will get two separate setups (we're Elite).

We booked using FCC's and had we booked a 28 day would have gotten a total of $300 OBC. Doing it this way, we get $500. It also give us much more OBC by being a CCL shareholder now that we're able to double dip.

Pia

If you buy your cruise as a B2B, then you are on two separate cruises. This has happened many times, since the OBC is better if we buy them separately. In Sept. we'll be on the Crown which we bought as a 10 day and an 18 day. Yes, it's also being sold as a 28 day, but we have two different voyage numbers and two different booking numbers. We also will get two separate setups (we're Elite).

 

We booked using FCC's and had we booked a 28 day would have gotten a total of $300 OBC. Doing it this way, we get $500. It also give us much more OBC by being a CCL shareholder now that we're able to double dip.

 

Pia

Now that they are allowing it again our 2009 fall cruise we booked as an 18 day and a 31 day instead of a 49 day cruise - there was no price break for booking as a single cruise plus by booking the day before they announced 2009 Europe was opening we were able to get the cabin we wanted for both voyages (checking yesterday that would not be possible plus the category is already on guarantee for the single 49 day cruise). I think this was because they added the 49 day cruise after we had already booked so all cabins were available for both cruises at the time we booked.

Yes we know about changing cabins and we did change cabins on one of the b2bs but we didn't want to go throug that again. It didn't go as smooth as other report. First despite a letter saying our Shipboard account would be carried over to the second cruise it was not and there was a big problem getting into the second room when the first room steward wanted us to leave. These are just hassles we prefer to avoid so will book a b2b only in the same room even if loosing out on a second mini bar setup.

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Very true- but when we booked we did it that way for two reasons: 1) could not get the cabin we wanted by booking separately as they only release certain cabins for each of the 3 voyage numbers and 2) the price was much more by booking them separately so even with the increased OBC and second Elite mini bar setup we were dollar wise better off booking the single cruise - in fact on the November cruise we got a much larger OBC with a special Princess offer of OBC for booking the cruise as one. They only started doing the "double dip" for the CCL after these cruises were booked so we hadn't figured that into the equation. Now that they are allowing it again our 2009 fall cruise we booked as an 18 days and a 31 day instead of a 49 day cruise - there was no price break for booking as a single cruise plus by booking the day before they announced 2009 Europe was opening we were able to get the cabin we wanted for both voyages (checking yesterday that would not be possible plus the category is already on guarantee for the singe 49 day cruise).

 

 

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For the 49 day....are you referring to the Tahitian from NY to Cape Town? We are contemplating that one too, and everything is still wide open. However, if we do it, most likely will only do the 31 from Dover. I would like to know where the ship is going after Cape Town.

Pia

For the 49 day....are you referring to the Tahitian from NY to Cape Town? We are contemplating that one too, and everything is still wide open. However, if we do it, most likely will only do the 31 from Dover. I would like to know where the ship is going after Cape Town.

 

Pia

I just checked again and from what I'm seeing the 31 day cruise in the category we booked AB is already saying Guarantee.

I doubt they will be announcing the cruise after Cape Town for another year. I'm sure others are waiting for that to be announced before booking but with this itinerary that hasn't been available for 4 or 5 years we wanted to get it booked now plus for the room choice. (I edited my previous post) If this cruise is anything like our Athens to Manaus of Bangkok to Whittier cruises where the prices have gone up $1,000 to $1,400 pp it will do nothing but increase in price.

Yes

 

I just checked again and from what I'm seeing the 31 day cruise in the category we booked AB is already saying Guarantee.

 

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You know, I've seen them do this before. Offer the AB and AC at the same price and then put a "guarantee" on the AB. The AC is showing 2 available and the AA of course is wide open. We've been in 8002 twice; loved it. It's a left handed room (the way I look at it) and that's made to order for me.

Pia

You know, I've seen them do this before. Offer the AB and AC at the same price and then put a "guarantee" on the AB. The AC is showing 2 available and the AA of course is wide open. We've been in 8002 twice; loved it. It's a left handed room (the way I look at it) and that's made to order for me.

 

Pia

We also have a "left handed room" ,assuming you mean port side, booked on both the Pacific and the Tahitian.

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I see that most of you that did b2bs did the same ship. Have any of you ever done a b2b on two different ships?? My DH is interested in doing a b2b but two different ships. I think staying on the same ship would be the way to do it. Any suggestions?? Thanks:)

Carol, We did a b2b on the Island (round trip Hawaii) and Sapphire (Mexican Riv) in 2006. Just walked off the Island with our luggage, crossed the sidewalk and then got in line to board the Sapphire. Wasn't a problem at all. It was much more fun to stand in another boarding line than having to get in a taxi and go home. We are doing this again in Nov in Fort Lauderdale. Will be leaving the Royal and boarding the Ruby.

Question for the future: I'd heard that being forward on a small ship like this was a very rough ride, compared to mid-ship or aft, should the seas be rough. Did you experience any rough seas when in 8002?

 

We also have a "left handed room" ,assuming you mean port side, booked on both the Pacific and the Tahitian.

 

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8002 is not that far forward. In front of 8000 you see "dead space." Up there are cabins where the staff lives. There's a whole corridor and they are actually up in the "nose"; you aren't.

By left handed room I mean that when I walk in, the sofa and desk are on my left. And if I get out of bed in the middle of the night, the bathroom is on my left. What can I tell you :D I buy houses that way too.

Pia

What can I tell you :D I buy houses that way too.

 

Pia

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Thanks everyone for your info, I am going to contact our TA again on Monday and ask them to confirm why Princess does not consider this a B2B. I will post the reply when I get it. I understand that you should get a discount of some kind if doing a B2B, Is this true? Has anyone recieved a discount in the past? Thanks again

Thanks everyone for your info, I am going to contact our TA again on Monday and ask them to confirm why Princess does not consider this a B2B. I will post the reply when I get it. I understand that you should get a discount of some kind if doing a B2B, Is this true? Has anyone recieved a discount in the past? Thanks again

No discount.:(

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I understand that you should get a discount of some kind if doing a B2B, Is this true? Has anyone recieved a discount in the past?

The only discount we have received for doing B2Bs on Princess (we've done four B2B cruises on Princess, 8 total) is when a discount is promoted in the brochure. For example, we have (and will) receive a two category upgrade on both cruises for booking 10 night Caribbean cruises B2B. Not a huge savings, but still nice.

Thanks everyone for your info, I am going to contact our TA again on Monday and ask them to confirm why Princess does not consider this a B2B. I will post the reply when I get it. I understand that you should get a discount of some kind if doing a B2B, Is this true? Has anyone recieved a discount in the past? Thanks again

They may call it one cruise for your booking, but as someone earlier posted, you will have two different cruise cards with with different validity dates and two different voyage numbers. Also as posted, you do not get the second card until near turnaround day.

Thanks everyone for your info, I am going to contact our TA again on Monday and ask them to confirm why Princess does not consider this a B2B.

When we have booked B2B's in the past, the price is just added up for both legs. We have never received a discount for booking B2B cruises.