Has anyone booked different cruises/ships/lines sort of back to back?

I'm starting to plan for my next cruise vacation and seeing as I have a little more than 2 weeks of vacation time, an idea popped into my head that I can add a few extra cruise days to the standard 7. I think I have my husband pretty much convinced to fly to Florida this time (we usually cruise out of Galveston, or in the past Long Beach), and I'd like to take advantage of the time since we have to go through the time and expense of air travel.

I've pretty much narrowed down the cruise ship/dates that will work for me, leaving the first week of my vacation wide open to possibilities.

I started looking at 3-5 day cruises out of Florida that would work with my time frame and came up with several. Has anyone done this? I'm not really talking about back to back cruises since that entails turning back around on the same ship, but actually cruising on a different ship and possibly different cruise line and port. I had looked into the possibility of a longer cruise such as a 10-12 day but nothing fits my time-line, and I think experiencing two different ships would be fun.

I know this would work, but just wondering if others have done it and their experiences. The hardest part for me will be to convince the hubby.

My parents have done it often, and are doing it again this spring. This spring the two ships are in the same port, but one spring they arrived in Miami and drove up to Ft. Lauderdale to join our ship.

Of course it can be done, and it's not all that difficult. You just have to plan your dates and make arrangements for hotels if you're returning and going out from different ports on different dates. It's all logistics and that's about it. But, realize those short cruises, especially those three and four day cruises, are pretty much a drunken party cruise and are a lot different from your usual seven day cruises.

Yes, while I have been on many back to back cruises staying on the same cruise ship I have done it once moving from one ship to another.

Keith

A few years ago did an Eastbound Transatlantic on Norwegian Star, spent six nights in London, then boarded the QM2 for back-to-back Ireland/Scotland and Westbound Transatlantic cruises.

We ended up meeting multiple passengers who had similarly booked the NCL TA and then the Star's next cruise to the Baltics, afterward boarding QM2 for the return TA.

I know the OP is working on a much smaller scale. My point is that the logistics were nowhere near as daunting as they seemed to be when first contemplating such a vacation combination. And in retrospect the per diem was not as costly as might be feared, actually was a very fair value for the varied experience.

I'm starting to plan for my next cruise vacation and seeing as I have a little more than 2 weeks of vacation time, an idea popped into my head that I can add a few extra cruise days to the standard 7. I think I have my husband pretty much convinced to fly to Florida this time (we usually cruise out of Galveston, or in the past Long Beach), and I'd like to take advantage of the time since we have to go through the time and expense of air travel.

 

I've pretty much narrowed down the cruise ship/dates that will work for me, leaving the first week of my vacation wide open to possibilities.

 

I started looking at 3-5 day cruises out of Florida that would work with my time frame and came up with several. Has anyone done this? I'm not really talking about back to back cruises since that entails turning back around on the same ship, but actually cruising on a different ship and possibly different cruise line and port. I had looked into the possibility of a longer cruise such as a 10-12 day but nothing fits my time-line, and I think experiencing two different ships would be fun.

 

I know this would work, but just wondering if others have done it and their experiences. The hardest part for me will be to convince the hubby.

Well, we did a 4 night Bahamas cruise just prior to B2B Eastern/Western Caribbean cruises (two different ships, 2 days between 4 night and first 7 night cruises).

We were going to do this- we booked on Celebrity Eclipse, then an overnight at the same port before going on to P&O's Ventura. Everything was going to be very, very smooth....:)

...Then OH toppled a piano over and crushed his foot, so bang went all our plans! :O

In April we are booked on MSC Seaside out of Miami, staying one night in Fort Lauderdale, then doing Royal Caribbean Allure. Both 7 nights.

We live central Florida and normally do one way rentals. Saves us on parking and wear and tear on our car. So getting double bang for our bucks by doing 2 cruises on the same trip.

Plan on doing laundry at the hotel too! ;)

Done it twice. Primarily because, like you, we wanted to save on airfare.

It's been a few years, the first time was spending a week on the Grand Princess then walking over to the Voyager of the Seas. The second time was a week on the Allure of the Seas then walking over to the Celebrity Solstice. It was a fun to experience the differences between ships.:)

In 2016 we cruised for two weeks in December, the first week on the Norwegian Getaway, the second week on Regal Princess. We had to get from the Miami pier to Fort Lauderdale for Princess. It was really no problem. There were people outside the ship at the POM filling shuttles to the Ft. Lauderdale airport for $15pp and they agreed to take us to the dock for the same price.

We had been going to use Uber, but the above was a good price and easy.

We enjoyed the two cruises and comparing them. Kind of astoundingly, we liked the Getaway better for most things, especially entertainment and room. It would be easier to stay on the same ship though, or at least the same port.

 

I know this would work, but just wondering if others have done it and their experiences. The hardest part for me will be to convince the hubby.

We do it every year. When we leave home we are gone 2-3 months at a time. This past fall we left home in September and returned in December. We were on the Island Princess, Emerald Princess (2 cruises), Allure of the Seas, Caribbean Princess, Crown Princess (2 cruises), and the Grand Princess. We also rented a car and had a two week national park road trip in there.

The planning is A LOT of work! I have a spreadsheet that list the ships and where we are each day of the entire trip. It includes air, hotels, excursions, port/sea days, etc. It would never work without the spreadsheet.

We are doing it this Oct./Nov. Doing the 12 night Symphony transatlantic Barcelona to Miami, get off the the ship and going next pier over to get on the 3 day Mariner of the sea Bahama cruise.

I've done it out of Miami with NCL. I booked two 7 night cruises, one aboard the Escape leaving on Saturday for the Eastern Caribbean, disembarking the following Saturday. I booked a hotel overlooking the Port of Miami for one night, and boarded the Getaway on Sunday morning for another 7 nights on the Western side of the Caribbean. Loved it!;)

Thank you all for your comments! It sounds like you all have had a lot of fun and success doing this. It makes me more excited, and I just hope that I can pull it off with my hubby. He has a hard time with too much change when he has been perfectly happy with the way things have been. Thinking about a new cruise line and a new port is already taking him out of his comfort zone, but I'm going to start planning and researching.

In 2015 we did a true B2B on Legend Of The Seas, first 11nts and then 10nts.

In 2016 we did a 3nts on Majesty Of The Seas out of Miami and when we returned we took a shuttle bus (S.A.S Transportation) to the airport in Fort Lauderdale and then took a taxi to port Everglades and boarded Celebrity Equinox for 11nts. I would NOT take a 3 nighter again, to much of a booze cruise for my liking.

In 2017 we did a 9nts on Navigator Of The Seas out of Miami and when we returned we took a shuttle bus (S.A.S Transportation) to the airport in Fort Lauderdale and then took a taxi to port Everglades and boarded Freedom Of The Seas for 6nts.

On December 31st we boarded Navigator of the seas for NYE cruise. After the five days, we stayed in a hotel that night and boarded the Carnival Glory the next morning for 7 Days. Have also done b2b on Indy one going western and one going eastern.

So, I did it! Yesterday we hashed out our cruise plans and I booked a 4 night RCI cruise for August 13 and then a 7 night MSC cruise for August 18. My vacation days are the 11-26 and hubby was able to match his up, so that gives us the perfect time for these cruises. We have only cruised Carnival and it took some convincing to get hubby to agree to 2 cruises, especially ones that weren't Carnival, but not as much convincing as I'd thought. (I won't show him all the negative reviews and postings, especially regarding the Seaside - I always keep those to myself because we will have a wonderful time, we don't sweat the small stuff and let it ruin our vacations.)

Now the hard part - waiting. I know it's only 6 months, but I've never booked a cruise farther out the 3 1/2 months. Oh well, more time to look forward to it.

Because cruise ships are pretty reliable at getting to port of debarkation on time, there seems little risk as long as the second cruise is from the same port , or a nearby one - see Fort Lauderdale and Miami, or New York and Bayonne or Brooklyn.

The problem I’d see is the wasted day and hassle - boarding and debarking, as well as packing and unpacking, are annoying processes -best avoided.

We are doing this in April-May. First aTulip and Windmill cruise with Uniworld. Flying to Stockholm the day it ends to board the Viking Sea for the Baltic Homelands cruise.

OP, that is not really b-to-b but rather is ' consecutive cruises.'. I 've read of a number of people who do tha t particuartly in Port Everglades, though certainly elsewhere

What we used to do to make for a longer vacation was have a pre-cruise hotel stay in FLL<, do a true b-to-b for 14 to 20 days, have a post cruise stay in FLL and then fly home. It was wonderful. :)

We often turned a 7 day cruise into a 17 day vacation by flying to FLL, stayed in i our hotel 3 - 4 nights, board the ship for two 7 day cruises, have a 3-4 day post cruise stayin the hotel and then fly home.

OP, that is not really b-to-b but rather is ' consecutive cruises.'. I 've read of a number of people who do tha t particuartly in Port Everglades, though certainly elsewhere

 

What we used to do to make for a longer vacation was have a pre-cruise hotel stay in FLL<, do a true b-to-b for 14 to 20 days, have a post cruise stay in FLL and then fly home. It was wonderful. :)

 

We often turned a 7 day cruise into a 17 day vacation by flying to FLL, stayed in i our hotel 3 - 4 nights, board the ship for two 7 day cruises, have a 3-4 day post cruise stayin the hotel and then fly home.

This is the approach we prefer - the classic was when we flew to Rome, spent a week there, then boarded Royal Caribbean's Mariner (not our favorite by a long shot, but sometimes itinerary trumps) for a T/A debarking in Galveston a few days before Thanksgiving, where our Houston daughter picked us up for a week's visit before flying home to CT.

We do it every year. When we leave home we are gone 2-3 months at a time. This past fall we left home in September and returned in December. We were on the Island Princess, Emerald Princess (2 cruises), Allure of the Seas, Caribbean Princess, Crown Princess (2 cruises), and the Grand Princess. We also rented a car and had a two week national park road trip in there.

 

 

 

The planning is A LOT of work! I have a spreadsheet that list the ships and where we are each day of the entire trip. It includes air, hotels, excursions, port/sea days, etc. It would never work without the spreadsheet.

We also take long trips (3-6 months usually) and combine cruises and road trips, guided tours, ferries, flights, trains, etc. The planning is a lot of work and without my spreadsheets it couldn’t be done. The most complicated trip was....

In 2015 (July - December) we flew north FL to Boston, cruised HAL Boston to Amsterdam, train to the UK, met US friends in London for month rental car road trip through the UK, ferry to Europe, train to Amsterdam to meet other US friends for 2 week rental car road trip through Germany, guided beer tour through Belgium, train hopped around Belgium, France & Luxembourg, train to Venice, cruised Norwegian Venice to Fort Lauderdale, flew back to north FL. During that time we had several private day tours, meet ups with various friends living in UK, Germany, Belgium and France, some train and ferry tickets had to be bought ahead of time, others day of. It was a lot to manage, but it can be done.....with a spreadsheet!

Train to the UK, met US friends in London for month rental car road trip through the UK, ferry to Europe, train to Amsterdam.

You do know that the UK is a part of Europe?

You do know that the UK is a part of Europe?

Yeah, just an easy way to differentiate between UK and the rest of the continent.

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We’ve done it a few times and doing again in August. Like mixing up the different line experiences. Ok it’s a pack and unpack but I don’t mind

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