Back to Back questions

[Andyr]

Leaving this Friday for a Back to Back on the Navigator of the Seas. Flying in from the UK on Friday, One night pre cruise stay then Western and Eastern itinerary.

 

Just a few questions to you experienced cruisers.

 

We are in the same cabin for the 2 cruises (1692 aft). After 1st week how does the ship manage our disembark/embark for the 2nd week, do we leave ship?

 

Dining room menu is there a rolling 2 week cycle? or is there a 1 week cycle?

 

10 days ago I broke my foot, ( in plaster up to my knee) having booked this cruise some 18 months ago in a had to have aft cabin. I have decided to go with the blessing of my doctor and more importantly my insurance company. Any tips for getting around, anybody had similar experience, I am taking a wheelchair and crutches. Some ports are tendered, will I manage?

 

All advice gratefully accepted.

 

Andy

[Bebette]

Hi,

If you have any info on a "back to back" cruise please let me know.

I am interested on Navigator of the Seas. What about the menus and shows for the second week.

 

thanks.

[ckrobyn]

Leaving this Friday for a Back to Back on the Navigator of the Seas. Flying in from the UK on Friday, One night pre cruise stay then Western and Eastern itinerary.

 

Just a few questions to you experienced cruisers.

 

We are in the same cabin for the 2 cruises (1692 aft). After 1st week how does the ship manage our disembark/embark for the 2nd week, do we leave ship?

 

Dining room menu is there a rolling 2 week cycle? or is there a 1 week cycle?

 

10 days ago I broke my foot, ( in plaster up to my knee) having booked this cruise some 18 months ago in a had to have aft cabin. I have decided to go with the blessing of my doctor and more importantly my insurance company. Any tips for getting around, anybody had similar experience, I am taking a wheelchair and crutches. Some ports are tendered, will I manage?

 

All advice gratefully accepted.

 

Andy

 

I was waiting for an experienced B2B cruiser to hop in here, but no-one has - so here goes! ( this is based soley on what I have read and not from personal experience, I don't have my first B2B until February!)

 

Yes, you need to leave the ship briefly to clear customs for the second week of the B2B - apparently it is a short time and you are accompanied by someone from guest relations. I have also heard that as long as you have designated your cruises as a B2B, then RCI knows about it ahead of time and someone will contact you onboard with information about the procedure of turnaround day.

 

As far as I know, the same menu will be served in the dining room for the 2nd week.

 

I'm so sorry to hear about your foot! I broke mine 2 summers ago and it was very painful. I wore a walking cast for 6 weeks. You mention that you have a plaster cast.....maybe you could ask your doctor about the walking casts? They look like space boots but do allow you a lot more mobility!

 

As for the aft cabin.....I have 1694 booked for my B2B and I just had an aft cabin on the Radiance. Yes, it is a hike - but it's worth it IMHO.

 

Have a great cruise! :)

[superjerryw]

I have done B2B and this is how it works. All the B2B passengers will be told to assemble in a specific location the last morning of the first cruise. A member of the ships staff will then escort the entire group off the ship and through Customs (this is required). The entire group will then be escorted back on the ship. You will get a new Seapass card for the second week as all accounts are closed at the end of each cruise. You should verify your dining reservations for both parts of the trip during the first cruise if you have made anp specific requests such as a table for two. As for tendering, they take people with wheelchairs in the tenders all the time. It depends to a degree on what sort of tender is being used. If it's a commercial tender they can usually just wheel you right on to the tender. If they use the lifeboats as tenders you might have to get out of the chair. If so, there will be people to assist you. I see them help people on and off the tenders with wheelchairs and without wheelchairs all the time.

[amu]

I am just off the NOS Saturday. We ate dinner with 2 couples who did back to back and were on their 2nd week.

1. They had to get off the ship at the beginning of the 2nd week. It was supposed to take 20 minutes but one couple said it took 2 hours.

2. They kept the same rooms but I have heard of some people being asked to move (only if a family is coming on board and wants a block of rooms right next to each other)

3. The tablemates said the menu was basically the same each week. There are plenty of options to make it so you can try something new the next week

4. Tendering with crutches and a wheelchair will be difficult but not impossible. If the water is really rough, it would be hard but otherwise it should be OK. There are people to help you get on and off.

Good luck-I am jealous!

[Pemcorgimum]

Hello Andy- your Welsh flag caught my attention.You need a waving one like mine.

 

We did a back to back on Mariner this past August. Had same cabin too. We had to meet in the champagne bar at around 10 and as soon as the first week's people had got off we were escorted off by the concierge.Went off around 10.30ish Had to go through immigration again and get fingerprinted and photographed again by Immigration guy and then had to have our seapass photo again and then we were back on before 11. Had the ship to ourselves for about an hour and were able to get to our cabins again. There will be people stopping new people but we just said we were back to backers and they let us go through the doors.

 

The people who raced up to the windjammer to get there first were shocked to see us already eating there after 12.

 

We changed our table after the first week. We had met the head waiter who was so sweet and she got us a table right next to the captains table with ( she said) the best waiter on the ship.( not that impressed actually but no problem)

 

Sorry about your foot. Enjoy anyway. And going away and missing Saturday's rugby? Or are you a footy fan?

 

Laura

[Andyr]

Thanks for all the replies. Much appreciated

 

Laura

 

Love the flag, will have to search and find when I've got a minute.

 

Definately the Oval type, even won 2 tickets for the game this Saturday, My son is now a happy chappy.

 

What part of Wales do you live. I live in Swansea

 

Regards

 

Andy

[Pemcorgimum]

Hi Andy- lucky son

 

Sorry. I'm from Scarlet country. But I am sure you won't hold that against me!!

 

Laura

[Andyr]

Ah well, being from Ospreyalia and a season ticket holder !

 

Th Company I work for are one of the sponsors of the Scarlets and it has been known for me to enjoy the hospitality suite hic! on the odd occasion.

 

Andy

[Pemcorgimum]

Nothing beats the feeling when you see all those first week people leaving and you are staying. And we found even the cruise director knew our names the second week. Usually we don't even know who the cruise director is.

 

You can also book all your spa treatments before anyone else gets on board.

 

Any other questions?

 

Laura

 

 

 

(People reading this must be wondering what we are talking about- with the Ospreys and Scarlets. Never mind , some of my best friends are Osprey supporters but they can't help it either.35 years Scarlet season ticket holder here- I was still in school at that time!!)

[Alexis]

I figured I would just give you my review. How the "turn around day" (the day in between the two cruises) is handled is included in the review.:D

There is but one menu for the two weeks. There are many choices to pick from. You will not have to eat the same thing twice if you do not wish to.

 

My B2B on the Navigator, 9/16 - 9/30/2006 We did both Western and Eastern.

 

We did a B2B on the Navigator. The Western Caribbean on September 16 and the Eastern Caribbean on September 23. It was a great two weeks on her. We do not do tours anymore as we have been to these ports many times. This review is only about certain things on the ship.

Our embarkation was smooth and very organized. The best one we ever had. We arrived at the pier at about 10:30 and waited behind the bridal parties to board. The bridal parties board ahead of everyone else. Once the line started to move, it was just minutes before we were on board. They took our Set Sail pass, checked the Charge card and off we went.

The Windjammer had their buffet lunch ready at 12:00 and it was good with a large variety of foods. We ate breakfast and lunch there everyday. It was very good and I had no complaints about the food at all. We never had to wait on any long lines.

The passengers favorite person on board is Nestor. (Not sure about the spelling.) He is the official greeter to the Windjammer in the mornings. He was introduced at the final show as the peoples favorite employee on the Navigator. You MUST say “Hi” to him as you enter, and you better say “goodbye” when you leave. :D

We ate in the dining room every night. We had main seating at 6:00, late seating was at 8:30. We found the food to be quite good. The only complaints at our table were about the steaks. They were a bit tough and grizzly. I never received a dish that I did not like, so I was happy. We had fabulous waiters, assistant waiters and GREAT head waiters on both of our weeks. Our table mates on both weeks were so friendly and nice. We had a great time dining with them all. Everyone should be as lucky as we were to have such enjoyable company to eat with.

The Navigator does not have smart casual nights listed anymore for dinner in the dining room. Just formal and casual. So men, leave those sport jackets home..

I can truly say that most of the people on the Navigator dressed very well for dinner each night. On formal nights everyone looked formally dressed. The ladies wore a mixture of different dressy outfits, the men seemed to mostly wear suits. There were tuxes on men and boys, but I would say the majority wore suits. Everyone looked very nice.

On regular nights, most people dressed very nicely and many ladies wore everything from very dressy clothes, to Capri's. There will always be a few in dirty sneakers and ripped T shirts, but very few.

The Promenade had lots of shops, a Wine bar, a Pub with live entertainment and is a great place to sit and watch the world go by.

Also on the Promenade is the Café that has free hot tea, hot chocolate, coffee, pizza, cookies, cakes and sandwiches available 24 hours a day at no charge.

Next to the café is the Coffee bar and Ben and Jerry’s where both charge a fee.

I did not use the specialty restaurants, room service or Johnny Rockets so I can not comment on those.

I found Shane the CD to be very pleasant and did a good job speaking at the shows and all with updates on the ports and activities. Someone had posted on here that they did not like his laugh and it really got to them?? Several of us cruising had read that post and waited to hear it. We never heard anything like that at all. When he emceed the shows I thought he was good. His staff were all really nice and they handled the activities we saw very well. We do not do the pool deck activities so I do not know about them. But, if you only want to see them, go up to the Viking Crown lounge on Deck 14 and you get the best view for the “Belly Flop contest” and such spectacular sporting events. :eek:

We attended both the Repeat Cruiser parties and the Platinum and Diamond parties each week. Captain Sullivan attended them all and introduced members of his staff. He is a very visible, down to earth and friendly person and is always walking around the ship saying "Hello" and chatting with passengers.. The Captain told us he is on the Navigator for 14 weeks and then off for 14 weeks when Captain Bang returns and takes command.

The Captain also attended the Meet and Mingles parties. At the Meet and Mingles they

serve finger foods, have a raffle and gave each guest a RCCL water proof holder to be worn around the neck. They officially last about 45 minutes or so.

We had an E1 cabin, 8320 middle of the hump, on Deck 8. Our cabin was the middle of the hump and has as good of a view as one could get. I was concerned when we first saw it as it was right opposite the doorway to the hall. Not in it’s own hallway as the Brilliance hump cabins were. There was a whistle coming in the cabin door that was caused by air moving when we sailed. I put a folded beach towel on the floor up against the door and it stopped. I did this every night and no more whistle. There was no noise at all from the people coming and going by our room from the elevators. I would book it again on another cruise.

The bathroom has sliding doors on the shower, so no friendly shower curtain to grab you from behind. :p

We got bars of soap, a shower cap, a scrubby, shampoo, cream rinse and body wash gel.

I didn't care to much for the new set ups on the beds. Pillows and spread all in white There are so many pillows on the bed that the cabin attendant has to leave the biggest ones on the couch at night. The pillows were way too hard and the heavy quilted thing in between the duvet is so heavy it is hard to sleep under if you fold it down as we do.

Disembarking on “turn around day”

(the day one cruise ends and the other cruise starts.)

We were instructed to meet in a certain place on the ship for an officer to come and escort us off. We were also told what to bring with us.

We were all escorted off the ship by the officer. This is usually done after the last passenger gets off, but I believe we were taken off before that on this ship. The officer took us though to customs/immigration and we waited our turn to go through. We then returned to the ship. It was pretty fast and organized. We had to wait on line for just a little while before going through.

Disembarking on the last day of our cruises.

We choose to do the express luggage with Delta.

For $10 Each, they give you your luggage tags, airline tickets and boarding passes on the last night. You put the ships colored tag on your luggage, the airline tag, and put them in the hall. I used the TSA locks, (after permission was given to me at the Rochester airport to use them) and my luggage was locked the whole trip.

On the last morning, we were eating breakfast at 7:02 when they called our color, Lavender. (Lavender is the color for all Express luggage handled by the airlines.) The paper they gave us said we would be called between 7:30-8:30, but they were clearing very early.. We left the Windjammer and went down to stand on line to leave the ship. It took about 45 minutes and we went through customs, immigration. We retrieved the luggage from the carousel, had a baggage handler take it for us to the Delta area and off we went. Since we had the boarding passes already, we did not have to do anything but show up at the gate and board the plane. We got a cab immediately and went to the airport.

Doing the Express luggage with the airlines was the best thing that ever happened after a cruise. The luggage was in Rochester with us when we landed.

My few complaints were.

The elevators are terrible. Slow, and not enough for all the people on board after shows and such. They wiz by you empty, but do not stop??? When they do stop they are all packed with people. Be prepared to walk the stairs or you will not get where you are going in time. Take any elevator you can and ride it up and down until it gets to your stop. That is the only way you will be able to get in one.

Very dirty balcony glass made it hard to see the water. Others commented on that too from other areas of the ship.

The computers on board are soooo slow that you will eat up time faster than you think. At .50 a minute, they are making good money on them.

All in all, the Navigator is a beautiful ship and has a great crew.

I will be happy to answer any questions if I can.

__________________

 

[Andyr]

Alexis

Thanks very much for the information and review, just the detail I needed.

 

I noticed that your on the Empress next year, We done the same cruise over Christmas 2004, 11 nighter from San Juan.

 

You'll love this ship, yes it's smaller and the cabins are tight, however, the captain and crew were fantastic, the food excellent and the itinerary second to none.

 

I believe that the Empress is a training ship so you really get the quality of service.

 

The EOS is definately my favourite ship In my limited opinion.

 

Once again thanks to everyone for the info

 

Andy

[cruisenfever]

One important thing is that you will receive your new SeaPasses for the second week the Friday/Saturday before the first cruise ends. Make sure you sign and have this new SeaPass with you, because on our most recent b2b, the cabin door would not open up with our old SeaPass, the new one had already been activated.

 

If you plan to leave the ship, take your travel docs with you.........seems that the security folks that work on the pier do not recognize b2b folks all the time, or don't understand what a b2b is, and they might make you go to the end of the longest line. This happened to us just once, but luckily a crew member recognized us and got us through without any waiting.

[Alexis]

Alexis

Thanks very much for the information and review, just the detail I needed.

 

I noticed that your on the Empress next year, We done the same cruise over Christmas 2004, 11 nighter from San Juan.

 

You'll love this ship, yes it's smaller and the cabins are tight, however, the captain and crew were fantastic, the food excellent and the itinerary second to none.

 

I believe that the Empress is a training ship so you really get the quality of service.

 

The EOS is definately my favourite ship In my limited opinion.

 

Once again thanks to everyone for the info

 

Andy

 

Hi,

Thank you for the great talk about the Empress. :) I love to see others on here say they love that ship too. :)

But to prove what a small world it is, we also sailed the Empress on December 6, 2004 to the same 11 night Southern Caribbean itinerary. We were probably getting off as you got on. :D She is also my favorite ship since then. I love that ship. We had JS cabin 9644 in 2004 and we will have it again on this next one. Great location so keep it in mind.

If I can answer any more questions, please ask and if I can, I will. ;)

[pmshirl]

My B2B was a little different. Our leaving port was San Juan. After week one, since customs already was dont at a prior port (ST. Thomas) we did NOT have to get off the ship. We had the same cabin. Were told we could stay in the cabin until approx 10am, so the cabin steward could clean the room. We received a letter the nite before to meet in the Champagne Lounge the next morning at 11:30. In the Champagne Lounge we were given our new sea pass and were asked if we planned on leaving the ship at that time we would be escorted off and our new pics would be taken at that time. If we didnt opt to leave at that time we were told that sometime before our departure time we did have have our new pics taken, which was done by walking out to the deck where the new pax enter the ship. It took a matter of 10 minutes for the entire sea pass exchange. It is so nice to watch everyone leave and have that ship all to yourself, knowing that you are headng back out to sea. Have a wonderful Cruise, you will love the B2B, I'm sure!

[ckrobyn]

My B2B was a little different. Our leaving port was San Juan. After week one, since customs already was dont at a prior port (ST. Thomas) we did NOT have to get off the ship. We had the same cabin. Were told we could stay in the cabin until approx 10am, so the cabin steward could clean the room. We received a letter the nite before to meet in the Champagne Lounge the next morning at 11:30. In the Champagne Lounge we were given our new sea pass and were asked if we planned on leaving the ship at that time we would be escorted off and our new pics would be taken at that time. If we didnt opt to leave at that time we were told that sometime before our departure time we did have have our new pics taken, which was done by walking out to the deck where the new pax enter the ship. It took a matter of 10 minutes for the entire sea pass exchange. It is so nice to watch everyone leave and have that ship all to yourself, knowing that you are headng back out to sea. Have a wonderful Cruise, you will love the B2B, I'm sure!

 

Okay now I am getting really excited! You didn't even have to leave the ship?????? We are sailing on the AOS 2/25/07 - 3/4/07 and I thought for sure we would have to do the whole get off and on again thing.

 

Where did you go between 10:00am when you had to leave the cabin, and 11:30am when you were told to meet at the Champagne Bar? Were there many B2B folks onboard with you?

 

You said you went to where the new pax were boarding to have your new pics taken - how did that work when there is a steady line of new pax anxious to board...did they boot you to the front?

 

I'm looking foward to my first ever B2B :D

[djwcruisejunkie]

This is all really useful info! We are doing B2B on Navigator Jan 6th & 13th - getting really excited!! Been on Navigator before but never done B2B.

 

Our cruise is out of Miami. Does anyone know if you can get off after you have had your Sea Pass re-validated? Does it cause problems when you return to the ship?

 

Would like to spend time in Miami if possible, but not do an organised excursion.

[LAKaye]

What is it about the Navigator that passengers doing B2Bs in the same stateroom have to get off? Is that actually if you are a passenger from a country other than USA? I am curious.

 

We have done several B2Bs with RCI, most recently on the Explorer out of Bayonne in October of this year. We have never had to get off of the ship, we only left our stateroom for the typical 30 minutes or so to eat breakfast while the steward cleaned, and in the past have usually had our 2nd week Seapass cards at least 24 hours ahead of time.

 

Is it the Navigator's own policy that you must disembark? Is it because the OP is from South Wales? Do people all follow this process if they are changing staterooms?

 

Our next scheduled B2B is a year from now on the Freedom. That will be the first time we sail in two different staterooms---first in our own Cat E before adding family into a family suite the second week. I am hoping that we will not need to disembark.

 

Leslie

[rubrrick]

It all depends on the route of the ship whether you have to get off and come back aboard on a back to back. We have had to do both. On the Monarch on a B2B, you have to get off, go thru immigrations, then wait till the ship reopens for the next cruise. On the Jewel, we just stayed aboard, and were given new sea pass cards.

 

Rick

[Alexis]

What is it about the Navigator that passengers doing B2Bs in the same stateroom have to get off? Is that actually if you are a passenger from a country other than USA? I am curious.

 

We have done several B2Bs with RCI, most recently on the Explorer out of Bayonne in October of this year. We have never had to get off of the ship, we only left our stateroom for the typical 30 minutes or so to eat breakfast while the steward cleaned, and in the past have usually had our 2nd week Seapass cards at least 24 hours ahead of time.

 

Is it the Navigator's own policy that you must disembark? Is it because the OP is from South Wales? Do people all follow this process if they are changing staterooms?

 

Our next scheduled B2B is a year from now on the Freedom. That will be the first time we sail in two different staterooms---first in our own Cat E before adding family into a family suite the second week. I am hoping that we will not need to disembark.

 

Leslie

 

If you mean my Navigator review? You do have to vacate your cabin by a certain time so they can clean it as they do all the others. You just hang out in a specified area until you are met by an Officer to officially start your next cruise.

When I spoke of "getting off on turn around day", I was only saying you are escorted off by an Officer to go through customs/immigration and then taken right back on the ship.

Once you are done with that, then you may go off if you want. Or, stay on the ship if you want.

This takes but minutes.

You do not have to get off and stay off the ship. ;)

Each port can do this differently. It is not up to RCCL how it is done. It is up to the port officials.

[LAKaye]

This explains it. It has to do with the port and its officials, not the ship. I guess that we have been fortunate in the past then; we've never had to get off.

 

I wonder what Miami does. Off all of our B2Bs, none of them have been in Miami.

 

Leslie

[Pemcorgimum]

This explains it. It has to do with the port and its officials, not the ship. I guess that we have been fortunate in the past then; we've never had to get off.

 

I wonder what Miami does. Off all of our B2Bs, none of them have been in Miami.

 

Leslie

 

Yes Leslie I think it is the port but not just Miami as we were not in Miami but in Port Canaveral on the Mariner and it wasn't just non US as I was travelling with US citizens and they had to do the same as me

[pmshirl]

You ask what we did from 10-11:30. We went up on the pool deck and watched all the pax with sad faces waiting to be called off. For our pics, no there wasn't any line. The boarding did not even start till 12:15, so what we did was walk off ourselves at 11:55 (not with the escort person) and when we got to the podium where the rep stands to do your pics when you board, we told him we needed a new pic for the second week cruise, stood in front looked into the screen and poof we were back on the ship! There were 9 other cabins doing B2B with us (not out personal friends) some of them did what we did, others left with the escort. Just to let you in on a little secret (pisst don't tell anyone) when you leave your cabin, the doors leading out to the elevator areas (after walking through your deck halls) will lock and you can not get back in, until the boarding for the ship begins.BUT if you look up top to the side of the door ( on the inside or outside) whichever side you are on, you press the square button and it releases the lock for you to get back to your cabin! We did go back and forth to our cabin between 10-11:30 also , but made sure to stay out of the way of the workers. Yes it does depend on what port you are departing from and whether you have completed customs, to determine whether you have to physically leave the ship for a B2B. You will Love it!!!! I have never cruised for less than 7 days in my life, and now it is so hard for me to do a 7 day anymore. I opt for 9+ days or else I am not satisfied. Wish I could opt for the 365 days.

[ladylawyer]

Alexis, this is OT, but I had to smile when I read your signature about the TMC. I did 2 cruises before our Freedom cruise, in order to be Diamond for the Freedom. The August Monarch cruise point didn't show up, but the September Radiance cruise points (we were in a suite) showed the day after we disembarked. However, by October, we were still waiting for the August cruise point. :( When it looked dire, they finally manually entered the August point (to make us Diamond) on October 7th, for our October 15th sailing. The good news was that, even though all our booking info said Platinum, our SeaPass showed us a Diamond and we received the Diamond perks. The bad news is that we didn't receive the additional balcony discount, because of the late status change.

 

If you don't have another cruise coming up, before the "three months," hang in there. However, if you have something coming up, they CAN manually add the point. You just have to keep calling until you get someone who WILL do it. :)

 

Back on topic: Thanks so much for this thread. I have my first B2B coming up in March and this has been very helpful! ~ LL

[CanuckCruizer]

We are doing a B2B on the Freedom next year and wondering about wine packages. Does anybody know if we buy the large package (I think it is ten bottles) if we can carry it over to the 2nd cruise? Or do they let you take the remaining bottles to your cabin and then you have to order a different package for the 2nd cruise? We want to know ahead of time if we have to buy two separate smaller packages or if we can buy the large one and use it for both cruises. Any info would be appreciated.