Changing Ships on a B2B

[orville99]

We have a Mariner of the Seas Southern Caribbean that sails from PC on Saturday 7/9/22 and returns on Sunday 7/17/22. There's a Harmony of the Seas Western Caribbean that sails from PC on 7/17. While this is not a true B2B, is it possible to move from Mariner to Harmony without having to pack up everything, or do we end the first cruise normally, pick up all of our luggage, and then go back through the normal check-in process for Harmony?

[firefly333]

Yes you will need to pack up everything and check into the new ship.

 

I did it once, 2 ports, and it stormed and I got delayed. Too close for comfort. Samd port should be easy. 

[Ourusualbeach]

15 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We have a Mariner of the Seas Southern Caribbean that sails from PC on Saturday 7/9/22 and returns on Sunday 7/17/22. There's a Harmony of the Seas Western Caribbean that sails from PC on 7/17. While this is not a true B2B, is it possible to move from Mariner to Harmony without having to pack up everything, or do we end the first cruise normally, pick up all of our luggage, and then go back through the normal check-in process for Harmony?

Everything is as it would be for 2 separate cruises.  The only thing you might get is a complimentary ride on a shuttle between the ships. 

[orville99]

3 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Everything is as it would be for 2 separate cruises.  The only thing you might get is a complimentary ride on a shuttle between the ships. 

Thanks. That's what I figured would be the case. We've never done a B2B like this before, but with the possibility of our 7/11/21 Allure cruise being cancelled, it would be the most logical L&S option for us. We may just decide to do the Mariner Eastern on the 17th. instead of switching ships if RCL lets us L&S to Mariner instead.

[Nado44]

We did something similar in Port Everglades a few years ago. We read reports that Royal will put you onto a crew shuttle that goes from ship to ship. Royal, to our surprise, put us onto a passenger shuttle that went from Harmony, to FLL airport and then to Adventure. Total travel time of 1.5 hours. We wished we took a cab instead.

[neverbeenhere]

Non-Technically called a side by side.  Hang out as long as possible on the first ship.

[Cigar King]

My advice is to skip it.  Seriously, skip it.  It's a huge pain to pack, move to the new ship, and unpack again.  When I did it Royal did not help move me.  If you are going to do so, and the ships aren't right next to each other, I suggest you cab it to the new ship.

 

Seriously, don't do it.

 

BTW - I think I may have coined the side by side description.  At least I can't find an early use here than mine.  If true, that would be kind of cool, in a geeky sort of way.

[kwokpot]

1 hour ago, Cigar King said:

My advice is to skip it.  Seriously, skip it.  It's a huge pain to pack, move to the new ship, and unpack again.  When I did it Royal did not help move me.  If you are going to do so, and the ships aren't right next to each other, I suggest you cab it to the new ship.

 

Seriously, don't do it.

 

BTW - I think I may have coined the side by side description.  At least I can't find an early use here than mine.  If true, that would be kind of cool, in a geeky sort of way.

I've done side to sides many times and I don't think it's that big of a deal, especially if you're a frequent cruiser. In fact many times it's been different ports ie Port Miami to Port Everglades or the reverse. Also many times it's different cruiselines for a different experience.

[later]

1 hour ago, Cigar King said:

My advice is to skip it.  Seriously, skip it.  It's a huge pain to pack, move to the new ship, and unpack again.  When I did it Royal did not help move me.  If you are going to do so, and the ships aren't right next to each other, I suggest you cab it to the new ship.

 

Seriously, don't do it.

 

BTW - I think I may have coined the side by side description.  At least I can't find an early use here than mine.  If true, that would be kind of cool, in a geeky sort of way.

The ships have to be at 2 different terminals at Port Canaveral.

[neverbeenhere]

1 hour ago, Cigar King said:

..

BTW - I think I may have coined the side by side description.  At least I can't find an early use here than mine.  If true, that would be kind of cool, in a geeky sort of way.

 

If true, next time you come up with one...get thee to the trademark office and register it.

[Hogbay]

3 hours ago, orville99 said:

We have a Mariner of the Seas Southern Caribbean that sails from PC on Saturday 7/9/22 and returns on Sunday 7/17/22. There's a Harmony of the Seas Western Caribbean that sails from PC on 7/17. While this is not a true B2B, is it possible to move from Mariner to Harmony without having to pack up everything, or do we end the first cruise normally, pick up all of our luggage, and then go back through the normal check-in process for Harmony?

It is two different cruises ,if you can't pack all your bags take your mummy. 

[orville99]

27 minutes ago, Hogbay said:

It is two different cruises ,if you can't pack all your bags take your mummy. 

Not really a problem. We drive to the port anyway so if we decide to do the side-by-side, we will just pack separately for the second leg and swap out the suitcases with the dirty laundry for the suitcases with fresh clothes. 

Edited May 14, 2021 by orville99

[Sunshine3601]

3 hours ago, orville99 said:

We have a Mariner of the Seas Southern Caribbean that sails from PC on Saturday 7/9/22 and returns on Sunday 7/17/22. There's a Harmony of the Seas Western Caribbean that sails from PC on 7/17. While this is not a true B2B, is it possible to move from Mariner to Harmony without having to pack up everything, or do we end the first cruise normally, pick up all of our luggage, and then go back through the normal check-in process for Harmony?

I believe this is called a side by side instead of back to back cruise.     We have done this several times.   Last one was Jan 2020 where we went from Allure to Serenade.  You pack up everything and disembark just like you would on any other cruise.   

Since we were doing a b2b on the Serenade (2- 10 night cruises) I wanted to do some laundry that day since we could not board Serenade that early.     So we took a taxi at the port over to the serenade dropped off all the luggage except the one bag I kept with clothes to wash.   I then went to the Embassy Suites hotel and did my laundry at their self serve machines and sat by their pool while my laundry was being done.    Then took an uber ride back to the serenade and boarded.     Everything worked out terrific.      

Enjoy your cruises and have fun planning. 

[Cigar King]

1 hour ago, neverbeenhere said:

 

If true, next time you come up with one...get thee to the trademark office and register it.

where where you when I needed you?  😉

[CHOPPERTESTER]

"Side to Side" or "Drag Your Bags to the Airport"?

 

I'll take "Side to Side" for $200, Alex (RIP).

[SeaHunt]

4 hours ago, Nado44 said:

 We wished we took a cab instead.

 

Watch out for this thinking - the last time we did this between an NCL and a RCI ship my husband felt sorry for the taxi driver who would have lost out on another full fare "regular" trip to a hotel, airport, etc., and gave him $25 on a probably $3 trip  ☺️

 

(Keep in mind my husband is the same guy who will leave and drive across the street from Lowe's to Home Depot to save a couple dollars on something. He probably shouldn't have finished off the bottle of Champagne in the cabin before getting off the first cruise, I think it affected his wallet LOL).

[mac_tlc]

We have one planned for March 2022 -- Get off Celebrity Reflection, hop on Allure of the Seas. Both in PE. My guess is we will be using the Allure laundry bag on Day 1, although I love the idea of separate luggage. Depends on whether we have a car or not. 

 

mac_tlc

 

 

[orangeglitter]

True story

We did this once. Went from a NCL cruise ship to a carnival docked next to it. Should have been simple except someone took my luggage by mistake. You know how it says "bags look alike check yours"!!!. My luggage tags have my picture on them. The woman took my bag all the way to MIA and they wouldn't let her check it cause she hadn't packed it. I know this sounds crazy. She was going to send my bag to our home. Well I need my clothes for the next cruise. I made her bring it back to the port where I was waiting.

 

[Cigar King]

1 hour ago, SeaHunt said:

Watch out for this thinking - the last time we did this between an NCL and a RCI ship my husband felt sorry for the taxi driver who would have lost out on another full fare "regular" trip to a hotel, airport, etc., and gave him $25 on a probably $3 trip  ☺️

I did the same thing.  The cab driver has to go to the end of the queue, so they potentially miss out on a full fare.

[robtulipe]

1 hour ago, orangeglitter said:

True story

We did this once. Went from a NCL cruise ship to a carnival docked next to it. Should have been simple except someone took my luggage by mistake. You know how it says "bags look alike check yours"!!!. My luggage tags have my picture on them. The woman took my bag all the way to MIA and they wouldn't let her check it cause she hadn't packed it. I know this sounds crazy. She was going to send my bag to our home. Well I need my clothes for the next cruise. I made her bring it back to the port where I was waiting.

 

Didn't she have to pick up her own luggage since she mistook your"s for her's so it likely wasn't a wasted trip back to the port?

 I wonder if she made her flight after all of that.

Edited May 15, 2021 by robtulipe

[keyboardjunkie]

We are 'experienced' doing the "side-by-side" (including being at the same port and having to change ports).  Treat cruise # 1 as if you were heading home.  Since you said you had a car, drive to the new port area and switch bags (dirty clothes luggage goes into the car, clean clothes bag comes out......toiletries are packed in a roll on bag that remains just as is and goes from one ship to the other with us).  We, personally, recommend parking in the lot by cruise # 2 and leaving the car there.  We always find that easier.  Why?  Because you generally have lots of time before cruise #1 to park and mosey your way to the ship.  For cruise #2, you never know if you will get in late and then there is a rush to get the car and change the dock area. 

 

If you are changing embarkation ports which are not located near each other (i.e. the time we were "side-by-side" from a ship in Miami but cruise #2 was out of Tampa), go to guest relations and explain that what you need to do.  Guest Services has ALWAYS been accommodating and had us meet one of the crew at a certain location and they made certain we were some of the first off. 

 

If you are remaining in the same port area (i.e. moving from  Port Canaveral Cruise Terminal 1 to Cruise Terminal 5), stay on board ship #1 as long as possible - have a leisurely breakfast and then find someplace to read/people watch - and then travel over to the other terminal.  (If you are not familiar with Port Canaveral, CT1 is within walking distance of restaurants and shops,  CT5 is not.)

 

I hope this helps.....

[JsMom2]

I did an Allure followed by Mariner.  Same embarkation port, but with a night in between.  Stayed at a hotel that had self service laundry and headed back to port!  Doing same with Allire and Odyssey this fall.  

[cruisegirl1]

On 5/14/2021 at 10:09 AM, Ourusualbeach said:

Everything is as it would be for 2 separate cruises.  The only thing you might get is a complimentary ride on a shuttle between the ships. 

We did B2B/s2S  in whatever you wanna call it a few years ago.  We were in Port Canaveral. Not only were we on our own to get from one ship to the other, RCCL recommended we walk from one ship to the other. Of course, walking across the water is generally not possible. 
 

 

m

[cruisegirl1]

On 5/14/2021 at 9:52 AM, orville99 said:

We have a Mariner of the Seas Southern Caribbean that sails from PC on Saturday 7/9/22 and returns on Sunday 7/17/22. There's a Harmony of the Seas Western Caribbean that sails from PC on 7/17. While this is not a true B2B, is it possible to move from Mariner to Harmony without having to pack up everything, or do we end the first cruise normally, pick up all of our luggage, and then go back through the normal check-in process for Harmony?

How would you move from one ship to another without packing your things?  
 

Of course you need to pack up, get off one ship and get on another ship. 
m

[orville99]

1 hour ago, cruisegirl1 said:

How would you move from one ship to another without packing your things?  
 

Of course you need to pack up, get off one ship and get on another ship. 
m

We always do traditional B2B’s (5-6 a year), and in those rare occasions when we couldn’t get the same suite for both legs, all we had to pack was the stuff in the drawers - the suite stewards moved everything else. Since we’ve never done a side-by-side before, and given that both RCL ships were in the same port (PC), we asked what we thought was a simple and logical question.

 

Of course we also expected to get a few snarky and dismissive responses...