New to Princess - Back to Backs? Wedding onboard.

[joeecco]

Hi all

 

We are about to book our wedding onboard Sky Princess for the August 20th 2022 sailing to Norway and the fjords out of Southampton.

 

We have never sailed with Princess before and so we are hoping if anyone can share some useful tips and thoughts about our onboard wedding. 
 

We are also going to do a back to back sailing and stay onboard for the 3rd September Baltic sailing - can anybody advise how the process of back to backs work when arriving into Southampton mid way. Do we have to disembark etc? We are going to book the same cabin for both, will we be allowed to keep everything in the cabin etc. We’ve never done a back to back before. 
 

Also, I know P&O offer a 10% back to back discount, do Princess offer the same or similar? 

thanks a lot in advance for any help and advice. 

[Jadn13]

5 minutes ago, joeecco said:

Hi all

 

We are about to book our wedding onboard Sky Princess for the August 20th 2022 sailing to Norway and the fjords out of Southampton.

 

We have never sailed with Princess before and so we are hoping if anyone can share some useful tips and thoughts about our onboard wedding. 
 

We are also going to do a back to back sailing and stay onboard for the 3rd September Baltic sailing - can anybody advise how the process of back to backs work when arriving into Southampton mid way. Do we have to disembark etc? We are going to book the same cabin for both, will we be allowed to keep everything in the cabin etc. We’ve never done a back to back before. 
 

Also, I know P&O offer a 10% back to back discount, do Princess offer the same or similar? 

thanks a lot in advance for any help and advice. 

If you haven’t sailed Princess before take advantage of the refer a friend program before booking! 
 

https://book.princess.com/captaincircle/referralRewards.page 

 

a little OBC is a good thing 💵

[joeecco]

1 minute ago, Jadn13 said:

If you haven’t sailed Princess before take advantage of the refer a friend program before booking! 
 

https://book.princess.com/captaincircle/referralRewards.page 

 

a little OBC is a good thing 💵

We are English, and we don’t get this benefit sadly 😞 

[Jadn13]

13 minutes ago, joeecco said:

We are English, and we don’t get this benefit sadly 😞 

That seems unfair.

To answer some of your B2B questions. (I have done a B2B out of South Hampton) 

You can leave all your belongings in your Cabin if you don’t switch.

You will be required to show up at a designated place to meet with the rest of the Pax staying on board.

(If you choose not to leave the ship to replenish your wine stash  😁 1 bottle per passenger per sailing) 

 

[joeecco]

1 minute ago, Jadn13 said:

That seems unfair.

To answer some of your B2B questions. (I have done a B2B out of South Hampton) 

You can leave all your belongings in your Cabin if you don’t switch.

You will be required to show up at a designated place to meet with the rest of the Pax staying on board.

(If you choose not to leave the ship to replenish your wine stash  😁 1 bottle per passenger per sailing) 

 

Haha nevermind, at least you guys get the benefit! 
 

Thanks for that, so do we have to stay at that designated place or just check in and then free to do our own thing? We’re hoping we can enjoy the ship at its quietest 🙂 

[Esprit]

Not quite a wedding but we had our renewal of vows aboard Royal Princess in 2016. They did an amazing job and the planning was faultless.

 

There were a couple of weddings on the the same day and these were recorded for the ITV documentary. If you do a search I'm sure you will find the episode. The programme was called "The Cruise" and I'm sure it was part of series 2 that we saw being filmed. 

[Jadn13]

3 minutes ago, joeecco said:

Haha nevermind, at least you guys get the benefit! 
 

Thanks for that, so do we have to stay at that designated place or just check in and then free to do our own thing? We’re hoping we can enjoy the ship at its quietest 🙂 

We were sent on our way once everyone checked in 
I have heard people being walked off and walked back on as well, in a group.

 

[Esprit]

On our Mediterranean B2B's we didn't need to get off. The ship is quiet until noon so we get a sunbed where ever we want.

It's fascinating watching the new arrivals wander around the sundeck, pool and bars in awe.

[skynight]

59 minutes ago, joeecco said:

Hi all

 

We are about to book our wedding onboard Sky Princess for the August 20th 2022 sailing to Norway and the fjords out of Southampton.

 

We have never sailed with Princess before and so we are hoping if anyone can share some useful tips and thoughts about our onboard wedding. 
 

We are also going to do a back to back sailing and stay onboard for the 3rd September Baltic sailing - can anybody advise how the process of back to backs work when arriving into Southampton mid way. Do we have to disembark etc? We are going to book the same cabin for both, will we be allowed to keep everything in the cabin etc. We’ve never done a back to back before. 
 

Also, I know P&O offer a 10% back to back discount, do Princess offer the same or similar? 

thanks a lot in advance for any help and advice. 

B2B - Treat as just another port of call and a normal day. You will not have to disembark, but you can if you wish. The walk off/on as a group mentioned in post #8 is specific to U.S. ports, not the U.K. Everything remains in your cabin. Your cabin steward will service your cabin just like any other day. Your medallion will indicate your final disembarkation date. You will receive one final invoice for on board expenses on your final disembarkation day. All on board balances will roll over on your turn around day. There could be covid protocols on turn around day that are not known at this time. I have never seen any discounts on Princess b2b's in the 15 or so years we have been booking them.

 

B2B production shows will repeat. Other entertainers may or may not repeat. You can spread out your evening activities over the two voyages.

 

You may wish to book some specialty dining experiences during your voyage. The DR serves nice quality meals, but you may wish to enhance your experience with some specialty dining. Sky has 3 specialty restaurants, Crown Grill, Sabatini's and La Mer. There are also special dining experiences such as the Chef's Table, Wine Maker's Dinner, breakfast or dinner Ultimate Balcony Dining. Do try Alfredo's for lunch or dinner. It's open from 11am until late evening and is no charge. Also try the International Cafe open 24/7. No charge for food items. Specialty coffees are served. There is a charge for specialty coffees unless you purchase or book with a beverage package included. In the U.S. the current promo includes unlimited wi-fi, gratuities, Premier Beverage Package. Not certain if it is available in the U.K. where I assume you are from based on your P&O comment.

 

Note that balcony cat. cabins have one desk chair only. No other inside seats. There are 2 chairs and a table on the balcony. Deluxe Balcony cabins have the desk chair and a two seat sofa. Mini suites have a 3 seat sofa and extra space. Club Class mini suites come with special Club Class Dining. Most balconies are small 9ftx4ft. Some are larger, you can locate these on the deck plans. Obstructed view balcony cabins have lower fares and the obstruction isn't really much. They are listed with interior cabins.

 

The Norway fjords and Baltic are great itineraries. Pack some warm clothing and don't forget the rain jacket.

 

 

[joeecco]

45 minutes ago, Esprit said:

On our Mediterranean B2B's we didn't need to get off. The ship is quiet until noon so we get a sunbed where ever we want.

It's fascinating watching the new arrivals wander around the sundeck, pool and bars in awe.

Do you get a discount for booking two cruises back to back so you know? 

[skynight]

2 minutes ago, joeecco said:

Do you get a discount for booking two cruises back to back so you know? 

Never have seen a discount in my 15 years of booking them.

[joeecco]

Just now, skynight said:

Never have seen a discount in my 15 years of booking them.

Okay thank you. Just wanted to check in case we booked then got told afterwards haha! 

[skynight]

3 minutes ago, joeecco said:

Okay thank you. Just wanted to check in case we booked then got told afterwards haha! 

You should discuss with the Travel Agent. There may be some extra OBC, specialty dining or something that they can provide. Speaking about OBC. Vet or active military, search Princess Military Benefit. Own Carnival Corp. stock, search Carnival Shareholder Benefit. 

[Esprit]

51 minutes ago, joeecco said:

Do you get a discount for booking two cruises back to back so you know? 

No, we didn't. It was booked as a two week cruise.

Another reason for sailing with Princess. You can pick and choose which best two weeks of their one week itineraries suits you best. We have done this again for our 2021 July cruise (if it actually sails!)

 

[joeecco]

Thank you guys for your input, we have just booked for our wedding onboard Sky from 20th August for 28 nights 🥳

[Astro Flyer]

20 minutes ago, joeecco said:

Thank you guys for your input, we have just booked for our wedding onboard Sky from 20th August for 28 nights 🥳

Great...we enjoyed 28 days on the Sky around the Med & transatlantic in November 2019.

 

During our cruise Colo Cruiser posted a Live from thread about the ship including photos if you want to see a preview.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2709251-sky-princess-extremely-low-key-live/

Edited March 30, 2021 by Astro Flyer

[voljeep]

20 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

Colo Cruiser posted a Live from thread about the ship including photos

best live from i've ever followed on this board

[Esprit]

40 minutes ago, joeecco said:

Thank you guys for your input, we have just booked for our wedding onboard Sky from 20th August for 28 nights 🥳

Congratulations.

I know you have had the disappointment of postponing your wedding but I'm sure once on board a Princess ship it would have been worth the wait.

[joeecco]

3 minutes ago, Esprit said:

Congratulations.

I know you have had the disappointment of postponing your wedding but I'm sure once on board a Princess ship it would have been worth the wait.

Thanks a lot for your nice comments, yes we are very excited now, and the good news about it all is that we now have a longer holiday, to our favourite place (Norway) and somewhere new (Baltics) on a nicer ship! Shhh don’t tell Azura haha! 

[san diego sue]

Princess will offer tours there for turn around day. We did that once and did a trip to Windsor Castle.

Another turn around day we walked around Southhampton. A really lovely town. There are some pubs that had good food and drinks.

[tcdcruiser]

Consider having your bookings classified as “do not upgrade”. Sometime Princess as a courtesy will automatically upgrade your cabin. For example, they might upgrade from an aft balcony to a mid deck balcony (exact same layout but slightly better location).  This will then require a change of cabins.  
 

Some first time b2b passengers then discover the upgrade too late to switch back to the original cabin. 

[caribill]

18 hours ago, joeecco said:

 

Also, I know P&O offer a 10% back to back discount, do Princess offer the same or similar? 

 

 

Not just because it is a B2B.

 

However, sometimes Princess will market a B2B a single cruise (one booking number).  When they do offer this, the pricing may be better than the combined price of the individual segments (two booking numbers).

 

But I do not see this option for your cruise.

[caribill]

18 hours ago, joeecco said:

 

 

We are also going to do a back to back sailing and stay onboard for the 3rd September Baltic sailing - can anybody advise how the process of back to backs work when arriving into Southampton mid way. Do we have to disembark etc? We are going to book the same cabin for both, will we be allowed to keep everything in the cabin etc. We’ve never done a back to back before. 

 

 

 

Pre-Brexit, it would be like just another port day for you. Get off when you want (if you want to) with no immigration requirements.

 

I do not know what the requirements will be now that the UK has left the European Union.

 

By the way, as others pointed out you do not have to do anything with your belongings on turnaround day. However you might let your cabin steward know he can tend to your cabin last so he can concentrate on getting the other cabins ready for the new passengers first.

[joeecco]

8 hours ago, tcdcruiser said:

Consider having your bookings classified as “do not upgrade”. Sometime Princess as a courtesy will automatically upgrade your cabin. For example, they might upgrade from an aft balcony to a mid deck balcony (exact same layout but slightly better location).  This will then require a change of cabins.  
 

Some first time b2b passengers then discover the upgrade too late to switch back to the original cabin. 

Do you know how to check your booking to see if it says yes or not to free upgrade? Thanks for the heads up. I think I ticked no to an upgrade when booking but I’m doubting myself now haha! 

[skynight]

4 hours ago, joeecco said:

Do you know how to check your booking to see if it says yes or not to free upgrade? Thanks for the heads up. I think I ticked no to an upgrade when booking but I’m doubting myself now haha! 

In the U.S. you have to call Princess or your Travel Agent to have no upgrade marked in your booking. As far as I know you can't do this on line. Probably the same in the U.K.