Help for a Back to Back

[gottogocruisin]

We are considering a B to B with a transatlantic first and then a Holy Land cruise from Rome back to Rome. It is a 27 day BB and we need to hear from anyone who has done a BB or have been on a long cruise. Thanks for your help in advance.

[cruisenfever]

We are considering a B to B with a transatlantic first and then a Holy Land cruise from Rome back to Rome. It is a 27 day BB and we need to hear from anyone who has done a BB or have been on a long cruise. Thanks for your help in advance.

Have done numerous consecutive cruises with the shortest being 29 days and the longest being our upcoming 3 cruises on Radiance for a total of 51 days. What do you need to know?

[Tucker in Texas]

We did this last year except our B2B was the Med to Egypt and Athens.

 

They had a meeting for us a couple of days before we got to Rome explaining what we needed to do. We were to meet in a lounge, "zero" out with our old cards and given new cards. For those of us who wanted to go ashore, we were to get our new cards from guest relations and use our old cards to get off the ship, new cards to get back on.

 

We were told that we would not be able to get back on until general boarding was commencing around 11:15 a.m. They, also, told us that we could not take anything with us other than a tote or purse. We planned to do wash and had a suitcase full of dirty clothes. She said I couldn't take a suitcase ashore. It was the port's decision.

 

After thinking about it for a few minutes, I started wondering how would they know I wasn't just disembarking for good with a carry-on and how would they know when I came back that I wasn't getting on for the first time with a carry-on? I carried my suitcase full of dirty clothes off and back on with no difficulty at all. No "authorities" checked anything at any time. If you want directions to the washateria, e-mail me at whitlock@alumni.utexas.net. Free bus to the port entry, easy two or three block walk to the washateria.

 

We could not get the same cabin for both legs. However, our steward worked with the new steward and the change was very easy. They moved the hanging clothes. We packed other stuff except some toiletries which we threw in a sack after breakfast. By the time we got back from breakfast, everything had been moved except the toiletries. Our new room steward told us we could get into our cabin any time. In fact, husband had to go down to it to retrieve our dirty clothes suitcase which they had taken while we were at breakfast. They even took my cooler, emptied it, and it was filled with ice and in the shower when he went down to get the suitcase.

 

In addition, they had a special seated luncheon in the dining room for those of us doing the B2B which was very nice.

 

Royal wants $92 pp for transport to the airport. We arranged a private shuttle for eight of us for around 25 euros each. We were overnighting at a hotel near the airport and they dropped us off there after dropping off the people flying home. That saved us 6 euro each the hotel would have charged us.

 

Feel free to e-mail me with any questions.

 

Tucker in Texas

[gottogocruisin]

Thanks so much for the information. It was very helpful. This is our 50th anniversary sailing and we want it to be special. Your reply helped, but too bad it is already on page 2.