Back-to Back on Different Ships

[teacherman]

We are considering Celebrity Century (Sep 13) from Amsterdam to Barcelona (8 nights). Staying at a hotel on the night of September 21, and then a 7 night western Med leaving Barcelona on September 22. (RCCL) It seems as though the price for the 2 is less than single price for a 15 night. Has anyone done anything like this before? Would there be much hassle in Barcelona? Advise and info is appreciated.

[Globaliser]

I'm not sure what sort of "hassle" you have in mind, but all the extra hassle that I can think of is that you have to do the whole embarkation/disembarkation/stay-overnight-the-night-before-the-cruise thing twice instead of once. If you're OK with that, then there shouldn't be any problem.

 

Some people who I regularly cruise with have done cruises where the second ship departs the same day as the first one arrives, and at a different port (Miami -> Fort Lauderdale); and on one occasion a cruise where the second ship left Miami the day before the first cruise returned there. Those (particularly the second) were ones that needed some real planning and work.

[pcur]

I would suggest a few things:

 

1. Pack as a light as possible. We are on a 2 night hotel-12 night cruise-5 night hotel-1 night hotel trip in April/May. I am putting us in two 30-inch rolling duffels, just in case we have a lot of walking on our journey. Makes for less fuss in your "turnaround" days.

 

2. Book your hotel close to the port, preferrably along Las Ramblas in Barcelona. Then you can get to it quickly for the overnighter, find an easy place to eat, and get back quickly the next day.

 

3. Be the last off the ship at the end of the first cruise. You have all day, basically, to get to the hotel. We have tipped our room steward extra to stay in the cabin after breakfast. He just cleaned ours last. Keep your luggage with you (assuming you did #1 above).

 

Sounds like a great trip!!

[JLC@SD]

We are considering Celebrity Century (Sep 13) from Amsterdam to Barcelona (8 nights). Staying at a hotel on the night of September 21, and then a 7 night western Med leaving Barcelona on September 22. (RCCL) It seems as though the price for the 2 is less than single price for a 15 night. Has anyone done anything like this before? Would there be much hassle in Barcelona? Advise and info is appreciated.

Sound doable.....and it will give you some time to see some of Barcelona. Stay at a hotel that is within an easy taxi ride.

[Keith1010]

Sure, what you've come up with easily works. It sounds like a wonderful plan.

 

We have done back to backs but it has been on the same cruise line/ship and by booking early we had the same cabin on both cruises. So, on the day of disembarkation we could come and please on and off the ship as if it was a normal port day.

 

But, what you have planned is easily done as well. It's easy because you are in the same city and even have one day in a hotel as well.

 

The only thing to think through is would you rather stay on one ship longer vs going on two different ships but either way will be good. Obviously, the advantage of one ship vs. two is that you don't have to pack multiple times but that's not the end of the world.

 

So, in the end, it sounds very doable.

 

Keith

[Steamboatin]

Well we did a 40 day combined cruise, tour and a second tour a few years ago.

 

First was a 16 day cruise leaving us in Rome. Both 10 day escorted land tours started and ended in Rome.

 

However, between the cruise and 1st tour we had a 2 day lay over at a local hotel where the 1st tour was starting from.

 

Between 1st and 2nd tour another lay over this time of 4 days split between 2 hotels. First hotel was where first tour ended and second hotel was where 2nd tour started.

 

It worked fine for us and we had a blast.

 

However, laundry became a MAJOR problem and a MAJOR cost.

 

Neither of your vessels will have self cleaning laundry facilities and getting things cleaned on a vessel will be expensive as we quickly learned. Hotels are no cheaper when it comes to cleaning clothes. Major expense.

 

So pack enough underwear and socks. We took what we had and than threw away as we used them. We keep an 11 day supply for our last tour. On last tour we threw away again as we used thus ending up at home with only the underwear and socks that we were wearing. This saved space and weight in our luggage for "goodies purchased" on our return flights.

 

Real fun was packing for those 40 days in only 2 pieces of luggage that included our formal wear for the cruise. Escorted land tour limited us to 1 luggage bag each. Boy that was fun.:D Thus for us laundry was a must.