Booking a series of Back to Back Cruises

[CNSJ]

I marvel (and have some degree of jealousy) at those that book a series of back to back cruises that result in 60+ days on same ship that is not doing a grand voyage or world cruise.  I see benefits of multiple visits to same ports where the one day visit just isn't enough to see things you want to see.  I also think that Shareholder and First responder credits apply to each leg, so there's something to be said for that.  

 

My questions are:

 

1.  How do you work with your TA or PCC or Website  to get same cabin for three of more legs, as some chunks of cabins are held for longer cruises that are in fact two shorter cruises combined.  

 

2.  Do you need to get new Keycards each leg.  Is that a hassle?

 

3.  Do you price the combined legs to determine pros and cons of each segment as a stand alone trip?  If using HIA, it seems a better deal to buy multiple segments as you get more shore credit and more dinners than one big cruise. 

 

4.  When more than one ship is in region (like Med) do you ever jump ship for a a seven day segment, to (a) spend more time ashore in the embark/disembark port (b)  or switch to another dam ship?

 

Interested to hear various approaches and methodologies.

 

 

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, CNSJ said:

I marvel (and have some degree of jealousy) at those that book a series of back to back cruises that result in 60+ days on same ship that is not doing a grand voyage or world cruise.  I see benefits of multiple visits to same ports where the one day visit just isn't enough to see things you want to see.  I also think that Shareholder and First responder credits apply to each leg, so there's something to be said for that.  

 

My questions are:

 

1.  How do you work with your TA or PCC or Website  to get same cabin for three of more legs, as some chunks of cabins are held for longer cruises that are in fact two shorter cruises combined.  Just have your TA link the cruises together. Easily done.

 

2.  Do you need to get new Keycards each leg.  Is that a hassle? No need for new card if cruises are linked together.

 

3.  Do you price the combined legs to determine pros and cons of each segment as a stand alone trip?  If using HIA, it seems a better deal to buy multiple segments as you get more shore credit and more dinners than one big cruise. You have to weigh the situation. Certainly with some of the HIA perks, booking with separate booking numbers can be an advantage.

 

4.  When more than one ship is in region (like Med) do you ever jump ship for a a seven day segment, to (a) spend more time ashore in the embark/disembark port (b)  or switch to another dam ship?   Maybe. Probably not in the Med, as HAL doesn't have that many ships there. Maybe the Caribbean out of Ft Lauderdale, or Alaska.

 

Interested to hear various approaches and methodologies.

 

 

The key to much of this is different booking numbers for each cruise. See comments above.

[Dutchman48]

2 hours ago, CNSJ said:

I marvel (and have some degree of jealousy) at those that book a series of back to back cruises that result in 60+ days on same ship that is not doing a grand voyage or world cruise.  I see benefits of multiple visits to same ports where the one day visit just isn't enough to see things you want to see.  I also think that Shareholder and First responder credits apply to each leg, so there's something to be said for that.  

 

My questions are:

 

1.  How do you work with your TA or PCC or Website  to get same cabin for three of more legs, as some chunks of cabins are held for longer cruises that are in fact two shorter cruises combined.  

 

2.  Do you need to get new Keycards each leg.  Is that a hassle?

 

3.  Do you price the combined legs to determine pros and cons of each segment as a stand alone trip?  If using HIA, it seems a better deal to buy multiple segments as you get more shore credit and more dinners than one big cruise. 

 

4.  When more than one ship is in region (like Med) do you ever jump ship for a a seven day segment, to (a) spend more time ashore in the embark/disembark port (b)  or switch to another dam ship?

 

Interested to hear various approaches and methodologies.

 

 

Not sure how others handle their B2B's, but here are my answers. My TA helps alot, but I still do some of the leg work.

1. Don't always have same room.

       The way they block rooms for different segments can prevent this at time of booking. Usually, can rectify before sail date but not always. If not, room stewards help with move. (There is a good thread on the site covering this).

2. Yes. Since they have different booking #.  Guest services make this process easy.

3. Yes. I do the math and decide which works best for me. Most times if HAL offers a combined cruise, it is slightly cheaper but not always.

4. Not yet. Had a cruise, 3-day train trip between ports, cruised booked in the Med however it was canceled due to covid restriction at the time.

[Real NHDOC]

Not had huge luck getting the same cabin for a lot of B2Bs.  Don't know what having your TA "combine the bookings" means.  Maybe Bruce can explain that?

 

The bookings are separate trips in the eyes of HAL so each will always have a different booking number (as far as I know) other than booking "collector cruises" where HAL combines two legs into one booking.  Not all are available as collector cruises but some are and for those you always get the same cabin however sometimes those book up and you can still book the individual legs separately (and sometimes even get the same cabin for both).  It's all a matter of what's available at the time you book.  If you see availability of the same cabin for multiple legs after you book in the same cabin category you can always ask to switch to minimize moves. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Real NHDOC

[SusieKIslandGirl]

I book through the big box store. I was interested in a certain cabin for a B2B and their listing showed it wasn’t available for both segments. They called the inventory dept. and the cabin was released so I could book it for both segments.

[SilvertoGold]

Having your TA "link" the bookings helps a lot:  same key card, onboard account carries over automatically, same cabin if booking a GUAR (not always of course, but usually), MDR knows you are onboard for the duration and you can keep same table, if you choose Fixed Dining.  Having separate booking numbers get you Mariner rewards for each, as opposed to one for a Collectors.

[DCThunder]

While I've never done a B2B on HAL, I have done so frequently on Princess and have never had an issue keeping the same cabin except one time when I added a third cruise on while on the ship and my current cabin had already been booked.  But as said upthread, the room stewards were very helpful in getting me moved to my new cabin so they could get my room ready for the on-coming guest.

[CruiserBruce]

29 minutes ago, Real NHDOC said:

Not had huge luck getting the same cabin for a lot of B2Bs.  Don't know what having your TA "combine the bookings" means.  Maybe Bruce can explain that?

 

The bookings are separate trips in the eyes of HAL so each will always have a different booking number (as far as I know) other than booking "collector cruises" where HAL combines two legs into one booking.  Not all are available as collector cruises but some are and for those you always get the same cabin however sometimes those book up and you can still book the individual legs separately (and sometimes even get the same cabin for both).  It's all a matter of what's available at the time you book.  If you see availability of the same cabin for multiple legs after you book in the same cabin category you can always ask to switch to minimize moves. 

It simply means your TA or HAL to something to show the various booking numbers are linked, officially making them a B2B2B, etc. Helps some of things get easier, like no new key card (we have never had a new key card in B2Bs with different booking numbers, and we have done several), potentially the same room for all cruises (we have never had to change rooms on a B2B, both with Collector's Cruises and individually booked cruises). It may help also regarding these things because we book out usually a year or longer...easier to get the same room.

[CNSJ]

Thanks for the fast replies. One thing I just realized is to ensure all the segments are marked "do not upgrade" so that HAL doesn't do us a favor and cause extra cabin moves.

 

[Real NHDOC]

58 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

It simply means your TA or HAL to something to show the various booking numbers are linked, officially making them a B2B2B, etc. Helps some of things get easier, like no new key card (we have never had a new key card in B2Bs with different booking numbers, and we have done several), potentially the same room for all cruises (we have never had to change rooms on a B2B, both with Collector's Cruises and individually booked cruises). It may help also regarding these things because we book out usually a year or longer...easier to get the same room.

Thanks for the explanation.  I will ask my TA about this and see what he says.  Since he's booked all of our cruises and knows we're B2B and I assume he's done this because HAL always seems to know we're staying onboard (and even when we switch ships we receive notice of the offering of a transfer bus to the other dock).  But I can't swear our cabin keys have worked without having to get new ones - usually they are just waiting for us outside of the new cabin if/when we move.