Back to back 7 day cruises

[Middle Aged and Happy]

Later this year, I am taking the Statendam on the north bound Alaska voyage and then the seven day south bound voyage. This will be my first B2B cruise and I have a few questions. Will everything be the same, i.e. menus for dinner, movies, entertainers, etc.? How does disembarking and embarking occur. We were fortunate to get the same cabin both ways but do we embark the same as others or can we get off and on as we would any other port? As for the tab, will we recieve a bill for each leg of the cruise or will it be a combined tab for the two weeks? Are there any other considerations I should take into account? Thanks for your help. I hope this will be a great cruise and that the issues on the Statedam are ironed out before we depart in late summer.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great itinerary -- have done that back-to-back cruise a few times on both the Statendam and Ryndam.

Your bill will not be closed off at the end of the first cruise.

The menus will be the same for both weeks. Most of the entertainment will be the same as well. Maybe a comedian or a juggler might leave the ship in Seward and new ones come on. But the production shows will be the same.

In Seward you will not have to worry about going through immigration at the end of the first cruise -- you are in an American port. Thus you can get off the ship any time you want to and do whatever you want to that day.

Same goes for the other ports -- as soon as the ship is docked and/or anchored -- and all is cleared -- you can do whatever you want to do.

The tender port is the only place where you will have to get in line with everyone else to get a tender ticket.

[SilvertoGold]

We took the Statendam north and southbound this May, so I can give you some answers specific to this ship and cruise.

 

You will receive a letter outlining some of the plans for the southbound changes. Menus are substantially different, with only a few items repeated.

They offered an excellent Indonesian buffet for the "Collector's Voyagers" for lunch on turn-around day in Seward.

You will be informed that you need not attend the Safety Briefing (muster drill).

Your account can be continued for the southbound, or you can inform the Front Desk that you want to close it off and start a new account.

For you Seward will be just another port. You will be given an "InTransit" pass, but no one has ever asked us for it. Just take it with you in case.

 

The Statendam had an excellent crew in May. Cindy Castro the Guest Relations Manager was outstanding: I hope she is still onboard. Food was uniformly excellent, service superb. The issues the Statendam has had were certainly being worked on and should be cleared up.

 

Any specific questions, please ask.

[Middle Aged and Happy]

Thank you both for your detailed responses. This is very helpful.

[deserttraveler]

I'm also doing this B2B in September, and appreciate the questions and the answers!