Pride of America, back to back cruises

[piglettravels]

Not sure, but we are thinking about staying on for 2 trips around the islands as there is so much to see and do. A few questions:

 

Are back to back, or two consecutive cruises even allowed?

 

Has anyone done one?

 

Can you book back to back on the website, should call, or need a travel agent?

 

How difficult is it to get the same cabin?

 

Do you have to take your belongings if you have the same cabin? Different cabin?

[laurabegorrah]

I've never done one, but a lot of posters here have. I think you can leave your stuff in your cabin, but you do have to get off of the ship. I'm not sure if they will issue you a new key when you reboard, I assume they would to reset your accounts and stuff.

 

I tend to book all of my cruises through a travel agent, but I don't think it's necessary - it's pretty easy to book through NCL online.

[DaisyGoldberg]

There was a young couple from Australia who did this 3-5 years ago and wrote a nice trip report. Hopefully they're still around and can direct you to it.

 

If money permits, it's a great idea. It's a very port intensive cruise, so it would have been nice to take it a little bit more slowly, knowing we'd be back a week later! The on board activities are great, so you would be able to take more advantage of them -- this is one cruise where a lot of people are in bed by 9, completely wiped out!

 

My experience with back to back itineraries is that you get a note telling you where to report and you will be given some kind of sticker on your card. (First order of business on the first cruise is to make sure they have you booked through for the two weeks, otherwise you will need to get a second cruise card midway. Not a terribly big hassle, but if you can book the two weeks as one unit it will save you that step. Your ability to do so probably depends on whether NCL is marketing it solely as a 7 day or part of a 2 week cruise, so you may be out of luck having it done day 1 of 14)

 

At any rate, the sticker on your card will show that you can reboard without going through the main security line. You would have to get off the boat, but would not be considered a "new passenger". You would still go through a short line and have any packages and bags scanned, but not the big check in with photo, etc.

 

If you just plan to stay on the ship that day, there might be a place for you to get off and wait and then get back on without leaving the building. There was in Quebec when we did it there.

[Rancher Dave]

I'd expect it to be one of the easiest B2B since it's all in the USA and there would be no CPB clearance to go thru at the end of the first week before the second week.

 

Best to have your TA get the specifics of how it will work for the dates you want to go since things could have changed from when others have done so.

[ohioNCLcruiser]

It's very easy to do and can keep the same cabin normally however I would suggest just doing one cruise and then split the second week between two Islands and stay in a hotel. 7 day cruise followed by 3 days in Maui and 3 in Kauai is perfect in my opinion!

[Mom2B&Z]

[Q,UOTE=ohioNCLcruiser;46276213]It's very easy to do and can keep the same cabin normally however I would suggest just doing one cruise and then split the second week between two Islands and stay in a hotel. 7 day cruise followed by 3 days in Maui and 3 in Kauai is perfect in my opinion!

 

Ita, we did the March 28 sailing of POA and followed it with a week in Kona. The cruise is great, but you can do so much more when you stay in one place. You'll never do everything you want to do in a two week trip, so the cruise lets you get a taste of 4 of the islands, then staying in one place lets you really experience an area.

Next time we are spending more time in Kauai :)

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[piglettravels]

Well, maybe one week cruising and one week staying put is the thing to do. Lots to think about. Thanks.

[silvercrikhix]

For us, a week NCL cruise and a week on island worked perfectly.

There is no doubt that the cruise is a fabulous way to get a taste of the islands.

We would do a B2B cruise there for sure though, provides for a bigger bite than just a taste!

You can't go wrong either way, Hawaii IS magical and has so much to see & do!

[greatlakesgirl]

Someone on the POA - Hawaii price drop thread just posted that they booked a b2b. Having already been on the POA, I'd book b2b in a second!

Edited April 17, 2015 by greatlakesgirl

[3XX1XY]

So... to be totally honest if I personally had that kind of money to spend, I would NOT do back to back POA cruises. If I had that kind of money, I might take the cruise and then spend 7 days touring the islands myself.

 

I did POA in 2006 and I deeply, deeply regretted it. I barely got to EXPERIENCE hawaii. I got to SEE it from my balcony. But sit on the sandy beach? no. I could only look or go there for a few scant hours while in port. That volcano looks awesome! Well by the time we got there, we didn't have enough time to take the tour we wanted.

 

Hawaii has so much to see and do, it's ridiculous. We rented a car and attempted to drive the road to lahaina... we got about a third of the way and had to turn around and come back! Tour a sugar plantation? Not enough time. The luau we booked as an excursion (pretty much the entire ship at the time did it) was awful. I hear it's been changed since then so it might be better now.

 

I'm just saying... if I could get back out to Hawaii, no way no how would I do it by cruise. Nope. My DH and I both agreed that it was very painful to get back on the ship in the evening, we did not want to.

 

So if you have that kind of cash laying around, consider doing a week cruise and then maybe a week split at two resorts with a rental car. I know a lot of people will disagree with me, but I really felt like It was like going to disney and only getting to ride one ride. And not the best one either. Like I went to disney and I only got to ride the monorail and look at all the other great rides but not actually ride them. YEah, that's accurate for me.

[Paphillyguy]

I do disagree with the poster that said they would never do the cruise again. I thought it was great. We rented a car for 2 days in Maui and 2 days in Kauai. We got to do a ton of things. We did a the road to Hana and drove to the top of the Volcano and did a Luau and drove to Lahaina. We definitely had enough time to see it all but would have loved more time. We also drove all around Kauai.

[Ilovesailing]

Not sure, but we are thinking about staying on for 2 trips around the islands as there is so much to see and do. A few questions:

 

Are back to back, or two consecutive cruises even allowed?

 

Has anyone done one?

 

Can you book back to back on the website, should call, or need a travel agent?

 

How difficult is it to get the same cabin?

 

Do you have to take your belongings if you have the same cabin? Different cabin?

 

We have done this cruise 3 times all b2b and have just booked to do the same in Jan. 2017 Because we are in Canada its too expensive and a long flight just to do one week plus jet lag.

 

Call NCL to make your reservation so that you can lock in the same cabin for both legs.

Don't know if your Latitudes but if so you will want to make two reservations so that u get the perks for both weeks otherwise one reservation means one set of perks.

 

If you have same cabin you will not need to move your stuff.

 

Suggestions for the middle of cruise, first you will have to leave the ship but not sure for how long as we usually do an off ship excursion or there is plenty to see and do around the pier as the pier is located in the financial area. There is a palace right across the street that's worth touring, the streets are nice as well to weve in and out of, china town is not far but suggest you walk one way and cab it back as it is quite a walk or vise versa.

[Ilovesailing]

So... to be totally honest if I personally had that kind of money to spend, I would NOT do back to back POA cruises. If I had that kind of money, I might take the cruise and then spend 7 days touring the islands myself.

 

I did POA in 2006 and I deeply, deeply regretted it. I barely got to EXPERIENCE hawaii. I got to SEE it from my balcony. But sit on the sandy beach? no. I could only look or go there for a few scant hours while in port. That volcano looks awesome! Well by the time we got there, we didn't have enough time to take the tour we wanted.

Hawaii has so much to see and do, it's ridiculous. We rented a car and attempted to drive the road to lahaina... we got about a third of the way and had to turn around and come back! Tour a sugar plantation? Not enough time. The luau we booked as an excursion (pretty much the entire ship at the time did it) was awful. I hear it's been changed since then so it might be better now.

 

I'm just saying... if I could get back out to Hawaii, no way no how would I do it by cruise. Nope. My DH and I both agreed that it was very painful to get back on the ship in the evening, we did not want to.

 

So if you have that kind of cash laying around, consider doing a week cruise and then maybe a week split at two resorts with a rental car. I know a lot of people will disagree with me, but I really felt like It was like going to disney and only getting to ride one ride. And not the best one either. Like I went to disney and I only got to ride the monorail and look at all the other great rides but not actually ride them. YEah, that's accurate for me.

 

 

Your experience in 2006 was when there were three ships. If you did not get to see the island then that's your fault my friend. There is so so much to see and do we still haven't seen everything.

 

NCL happens to be the best way to see the islands as they have the two over nighters at two of the best islands and no other cruise line does that.

Also the other lines have less time in ports which make it difficult to do off ship excursions as tour companies don't want to take the risk of missing the ship.

And your comparison to Disney is absolutely absurd.

 

Lastly your opinion as to whether or not you have enough money to this cruise as ab2b and that you would choose some other cruise is simply your opinion and really none of your business to comment on one's financial situation.

FYI we have done 30 plus cruises and still counting so I think we have covered most of the cruises except for Asia which we really are not interested in.

Lastly if this cruise is so bad then why does it pretty well sell out with the exception of the undesirable cabins, thus affords NCl to be able to mark it up more than other cruises.

 

As for the comments about 1 week on and 1 week at a resort, you will want to make sure it's all inclusive because none of the islands are cheap and food is extremely expensive as everything is import in to the islands.

Been there done that.

 

Remember to add all your costs up including flying to another island from Honolulu.

[piglettravels]

We have done this cruise 3 times all b2b and have just booked to do the same in Jan. 2017 Because we are in Canada its too expensive and a long flight just to do one week plus jet lag.

 

Call NCL to make your reservation so that you can lock in the same cabin for both legs.

Don't know if your Latitudes but if so you will want to make two reservations so that u get the perks for both weeks otherwise one reservation means one set of perks.

 

If you have same cabin you will not need to move your stuff.

 

Suggestions for the middle of cruise, first you will have to leave the ship but not sure for how long as we usually do an off ship excursion or there is plenty to see and do around the pier as the pier is located in the financial area. There is a palace right across the street that's worth touring, the streets are nice as well to weve in and out of, china town is not far but suggest you walk one way and cab it back as it is quite a walk or vise versa.

 

Thank you! This was VERY helpful. We are not Latitudes as we have never sailed NCL. Nice suggestions for between sailings, too.

Only concern is if the cabin gets too small after two weeks. Will we end up divorced at the end of this trip? LOL