Back to Back questions

[twinkle toes]

Can everyone enlighten me as to the draw of doing a back to back cruise? I always thought the only advantage was only one airline ticket to purchase. And, the fact that you have to get off the ship between cruises, and take your belongings, seems like a negative to me. What am I missing?

[ar1950]

Can everyone enlighten me as to the draw of doing a back to back cruise? I always thought the only advantage was only one airline ticket to purchase. And, the fact that you have to get off the ship between cruises, and take your belongings, seems like a negative to me. What am I missing?

 

What are you talking about? In US ports you get off, yes, and you don't take anything with you except your documents. Anything else you take is up to you. If you don't have the same cabin, then you just load up your small stuff in your suitcase. The room stewards pick them up along with your hanging items and move them to your new cabin while you are going through immigration. No negatives about any of it.

 

We did a back-to-back last March and we are doing two more coming up.

Edited October 20, 2014 by ar1950

[Princess Patches]

Princess makes it very easy for the b2b passengers. If you are in the same cabin, then just leave your belongings there. If you are in a different cabin, they will move your belongings for you. Getting off the ship and going through immigration only took us about 1/2 hour or so. They met us in a lounge and walked us all off together and then back on the ship. You do not have to wait in the normal line when reboarding the ship. The process is streamlined and very easy for the in transit passengers.

[paul929207]

We have done a number of b2b(2b2b) on Princess. We never had to pack out stuff and take it off. All our turnarounds have been outside the US so there was no need to go thru immigration. Often we have different itineraries each leg. Last year we sailed around South America. The first leg was Fort Lauderdale to Buenos Aires, the second was BA to Santiago and the third ended in San Francisco. Note that of the 2500 passengers on the Grand Princess for this trip, about 2000 were on for all 49 nights

[skynight]

Can everyone enlighten me as to the draw of doing a back to back cruise? I always thought the only advantage was only one airline ticket to purchase. And, the fact that you have to get off the ship between cruises, and take your belongings, seems like a negative to me. What am I missing?

 

No drawbacks. They are really nice. Realize that some entertainment, mainly production shows, will repeat. Schedule your evenings accordingly.

[AKman2495]

For us it is time aboard. We fly a long way to get to a cruise so we want to have to most time aboard. We have done 6 cruises, which were really 3 B2Bs. It is great. We have been lucky to have the same cabin for the cruise (different for each B2B) Princess made our 14 day Caribbean last winter even better because it was a week in one set of ports and a week in a second set of ports. That gave it a completely different feel. Even the return to FLL was not bad because we signed up for a tour while we were there so it felt like another port day.

 

B2Bs are great!

[twinkle toes]

Wow, the couple we talked to on board last year went on and on about how they had to cart all their stuff off. I wonder why they made it sound so bad?

[nukesubsailor]

Wow, the couple we talked to on board last year went on and on about how they had to cart all their stuff off. I wonder why they made it sound so bad?

 

I have seen instances where cruisers do a cruise on one ship, get off that ship, get on a different ship to start a second cruise and call that a back-to-back. That is the only reason I could see for carting your stuff off the ship.

[paul929207]

If the b2b turnaround is in the US, you will usually have to get off and go thru immigration. You do not go thru customs, so you don't need to carry any stuff off. If you have the same cabin, everything just stays.

 

If the b2b turnaround is outside the US, we have never had to even go thru immigration. Sometimes, we have never left the ship. We did have to go to the top of the gangway to close our old cruise card and open the new one.

 

If you are changing cabins, then some packing will be needed.

[ggprincess2004]

Outside of staying on the ship for longer periods of time, one of my favorite things about b2b's is others are packing and putting their luggage out the last night and we are not, we are staying and cruising some more. It's one those times when we are quite grateful and feel very blessed.......and happy.

[Coral]

Can everyone enlighten me as to the draw of doing a back to back cruise? I always thought the only advantage was only one airline ticket to purchase. And, the fact that you have to get off the ship between cruises, and take your belongings, seems like a negative to me. What am I missing?

 

Multiple reasons - we live in the middle of the country and it takes a full day to travel to either coast as we don't have direct flights anywhere. Also, due to this, if you have a 7 day vacation and 2 days of flying, for me, it doesn't feel like much of a vacation for me. I have a stressful job, I don't relax until probably day 4-5 which is when the vacation is almost over. So to truly relax, I take B2B cruises.

 

Ironically, the cost of the flight has never really played a role into this.

Edited October 20, 2014 by Coral

[AKman2495]

Outside of staying on the ship for longer periods of time, one of my favorite things about b2b's is others are packing and putting their luggage out the last night and we are not, we are staying and cruising some more. It's one those times when we are quite grateful and feel very blessed.......and happy.

 

Yes, I feel the same way-but...OTOH...after they leave a whole new bunch of people board. Usually, the last day is serene. People know there way around the ship...nobody is hustling...the elevators are quiet...then comes boarding and the ship is like a madhouse!

 

We got back from our turnaround day excursion. We had no problem boarding the ship but then!!! Chaos-the elevators only went up....they were jammed with people and luggage...there were crowds of people looking totally confused...etc. etc. etc....

[OCruisers]

Wow, the couple we talked to on board last year went on and on about how they had to cart all their stuff off. I wonder why they made it sound so bad?

 

Maybe they were doing their next cruise on a different ship! :confused:

No way do you have to do this when staying for another sailing on the same ship! :)

LuLu

[BrandiGreg]

Another consideration, if you get OBC for stockholder, military, FCC, etc is that it may be better to break up, for example, a 28 day cruise into two b2B 14 day segments (if that is possible...if they are offered as separate cruises). Then you get the max OBC for each segment, instead of just for the 28 day cruise. That may earn you more OBC. Also, perks like free internet, mini-bar setup, loyalty credit, cruise credits, etc may be worth your while splitting it up. Figure it out each way to see what works best in your situation.

We did a B2B Alaska inside passage Vancouver to Whittier then retraced the route back to Vancouver. All we needed was a RT flight to Vancouver. (however, I will avoid embarking on a cruise in Vancouver in the future, as it is the poorest embarkation port we have ever had)

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Yes, I feel the same way-but...OTOH...after they leave a whole new bunch of people board. Usually, the last day is serene. People know there way around the ship...nobody is hustling...the elevators are quiet...then comes boarding and the ship is like a madhouse!

 

We got back from our turnaround day excursion. We had no problem boarding the ship but then!!! Chaos-the elevators only went up....they were jammed with people and luggage...there were crowds of people looking totally confused...etc. etc. etc....

 

Half the fun of turnaround day is watching all the "newbies" bumbling around like deer in headlights as they try to figure out where the H#%** they are. Little diagrams in hand, arguing over fore, aft, port, starboard, etc (like they know what any of this really means).

 

I prop up on a barstool at Crooners with my Kindle and a Savignon Blanc and enjoy the mayhem :D

Edited October 21, 2014 by scottamiller

[ggprincess2004]

Yes, I feel the same way-but...OTOH...after they leave a whole new bunch of people board. Usually, the last day is serene. People know there way around the ship...nobody is hustling...the elevators are quiet...then comes boarding and the ship is like a madhouse!

 

We got back from our turnaround day excursion. We had no problem boarding the ship but then!!! Chaos-the elevators only went up....they were jammed with people and luggage...there were crowds of people looking totally confused...etc. etc. etc....

 

Yes, it is intermittently annoying and I try to remember we were all lost at least once early in our cruising "careers", so if someone looks lost or confused, I do ask if I can them find something. That is usually good for a smile and Thank you, hopefully sometime soon they will be able to pay if forward.

[ready2cruzagain]

I personally would never do a single cruise again (well, unless someone gave it to me for free:D). To me it just isn't worth the long travel time to go for a few days.

 

We will have to pack everything up on our next b2b2b2b and take it off the ship with us but that is because we are switching ships after the first 5 day cruise. The next 21 days are all on the same ship. The first 7 days are in one cabin, then we switch. Even this will be no hassle. We just pack our bags, leave the hanging items on the hangars and the room steward moves everything for us.

 

The last cruise is booked as a 14 day cruise even though we go back to Ft. Lauderdale. Of all the many times we have done b2b's, this is the first time we have had the same cabin. Thinking I will love that!

[dorisis]

If the b2b turnaround is in the US, you will usually have to get off and go thru immigration. You do not go thru customs, so you don't need to carry any stuff off. If you have the same cabin, everything just stays.

 

If the b2b turnaround is outside the US, we have never had to even go thru immigration. Sometimes, we have never left the ship. We did have to go to the top of the gangway to close our old cruise card and open the new one.

 

If you are changing cabins, then some packing will be needed.

 

On our last B2B on Princess we did not need another key card and did not need to attend the 2nd muster drill

[JF - retired RRT]

Wow, the couple we talked to on board last year went on and on about how they had to cart all their stuff off. I wonder why they made it sound so bad?

 

Maybe they didn't want to share ;) :rolleyes:

[Buckerook]

On some cruise lines you also get a discount in fares for B2B.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk -

[jasbo49]

I would add one thing on the negative side: On our just-completed back to back, I felt like we lost three hours of cruise time to waiting time. We were asked to be out of our cabins by 9 a.m., yet weren't meeting until 10:20. Since you have to wait until everyone else is off the ship (unless you're treating it as a port day) we didn't actually disembark until maybe 11:15 and didn't make it back on board until a little after noon. So three hours spent mostly just waiting.

 

Also, despite everything I've read here, we did go through Customs. Had to fill out the sheet and declare foreign purchases we had no intention of bringing ashore yet. I can't count the times I've read here that you go through immigration, but not Customs. On Oct. 17 in San Pedro, we did have to go through Customs, though it really didn't take much time.

 

I think if I had it to do over again, I'd get off the ship and do something, then reboard with the last wave of the new group, when the lines have eased. Then you'd have the usual time waiting to get off the ship and to get on, but not three hours of sitting/standing around.

 

Jim

[paul929207]

I would add one thing on the negative side: On our just-completed back to back, I felt like we lost three hours of cruise time to waiting time. We were asked to be out of our cabins by 9 a.m., yet weren't meeting until 10:20. Since you have to wait until everyone else is off the ship (unless you're treating it as a port day) we didn't actually disembark until maybe 11:15 and didn't make it back on board until a little after noon. So three hours spent mostly just waiting.

 

Also, despite everything I've read here, we did go through Customs. Had to fill out the sheet and declare foreign purchases we had no intention of bringing ashore yet. I can't count the times I've read here that you go through immigration, but not Customs. On Oct. 17 in San Pedro, we did have to go through Customs, though it really didn't take much time.

 

I think if I had it to do over again, I'd get off the ship and do something, then reboard with the last wave of the new group, when the lines have eased. Then you'd have the usual time waiting to get off the ship and to get on, but not three hours of sitting/standing around.

 

Jim

Wondering why you had to be out of cabin by 9am. Did you change cabins?

[ggprincess2004]

I would add one thing on the negative side: On our just-completed back to back, I felt like we lost three hours of cruise time to waiting time. We were asked to be out of our cabins by 9 a.m., yet weren't meeting until 10:20. Since you have to wait until everyone else is off the ship (unless you're treating it as a port day) we didn't actually disembark until maybe 11:15 and didn't make it back on board until a little after noon. So three hours spent mostly just waiting.

 

Also, despite everything I've read here, we did go through Customs. Had to fill out the sheet and declare foreign purchases we had no intention of bringing ashore yet. I can't count the times I've read here that you go through immigration, but not Customs. On Oct. 17 in San Pedro, we did have to go through Customs, though it really didn't take much time.

 

I think if I had it to do over again, I'd get off the ship and do something, then reboard with the last wave of the new group, when the lines have eased. Then you'd have the usual time waiting to get off the ship and to get on, but not three hours of sitting/standing around.

 

Jim

 

We also had to fill out the customs form when doing our most recent b2b in FLL. That was new, I think, as I do not remember having to do that in FLL in Feb with our Ruby b2b. So glad I had a pen with me.....filled in the form on the fly as we were waiting/walking along in line.

[ggprincess2004]

I would add one thing on the negative side: On our just-completed back to back, I felt like we lost three hours of cruise time to waiting time. We were asked to be out of our cabins by 9 a.m., yet weren't meeting until 10:20. Since you have to wait until everyone else is off the ship (unless you're treating it as a port day) we didn't actually disembark until maybe 11:15 and didn't make it back on board until a little after noon. So three hours spent mostly just waiting.

 

Also, despite everything I've read here, we did go through Customs. Had to fill out the sheet and declare foreign purchases we had no intention of bringing ashore yet. I can't count the times I've read here that you go through immigration, but not Customs. On Oct. 17 in San Pedro, we did have to go through Customs, though it really didn't take much time.

 

I think if I had it to do over again, I'd get off the ship and do something, then reboard with the last wave of the new group, when the lines have eased. Then you'd have the usual time waiting to get off the ship and to get on, but not three hours of sitting/standing around.

 

Jim

 

If you don't want to have to leave your cabin until it is time to meet, that is fine. What we do on a b2b, since it is such a busy day for our cabin steward, is tell him the evening before not to worry about making our cabin up in the morning, as we will be relaxing in there, and will be fine until the evening turndown. We also mention that we will be having lunch in the dining room...in case he does have the time to take care of it. We've always gotten the bed made, fresh towels and empty waste cans that way. And we honestly can go one morning without our cabin being attended to.

[caribill]

Also, despite everything I've read here, we did go through Customs. Had to fill out the sheet and declare foreign purchases we had no intention of bringing ashore yet. I can't count the times I've read here that you go through immigration, but not Customs. On Oct. 17 in San Pedro, we did have to go through Customs, though it really didn't take much time.

 

 

We also had to fill out the customs form when doing our most recent b2b in FLL. That was new, I think, as I do not remember having to do that in FLL in Feb with our Ruby b2b. So glad I had a pen with me.....filled in the form on the fly as we were waiting/walking along in line.

 

This is definitely different than in the past.

 

One thing that makes it unusual is that you can only use your customs exemption once every 30 days. Theoretically, if you do turn in a customs form between segments, then you have $0 exemption when you do finally leave the cruise ship after the next segment.

 

Of course, the government is unlikely to put 2 and 2 together and realize that when your cruise does end.