Back to back cruising: details on the process please!

[hbg4]

Why would it be 4 hours of wasted time? I get that the time you wait before and in the terminal is kind of a waste, but once you're back on the ship I think it'll be awesome to walk around and see empty spaces and see the crew in action.
Is this not your experience? Were you limited in where you could wander?

Unfortunately, on both B2Bs, turnover day was wasted from about 9am - 1pm.

I think that 4 hours of doing "nothing of interest" at the port would be a waste of time. Now if I could have some that time in the rainforest spa, watching TV, catching up on sleep or just relaxing in my cabin or balcony, I would be much happier. If DCL will allow us to stroll around the ship I wouldn't object to that either.

 

[AlexandNessa]

I think that 4 hours of doing "nothing of interest" at the port would be a waste of time. Now if I could have some that time in the rainforest spa, watching TV, catching up on sleep or just relaxing in my cabin or balcony, I would be much happier. If DCL will allow us to stroll around the ship I wouldn't object to that either.

I am sorry for the confusion. It's not like you are sitting around the port. We were back on the ship around 11am/11:15. It's just that hardly anything is open on the ship then. If you are not changing rooms, your cabin steward will work it out with you to clean your room first. However, there is no going in and out of your room. If you go there, you almost have to stay there as they do not want anyone "jumping the rope" that closes off the staterooms. We saw officers giving one family who was on the B2B with us a hard time trying to drop stuff off at their room before going to the pool. On the Dream, it would've been awesome had the Aquaduck been open, but it wasn't ready to go till 1:30/1:45. You go to your room, the pool, or do laundry. The crew was very busy getting things ready for the new cruise, so we more or less felt like we were in the way. And then there is the joy of doing the muster drill twice. On our first B2B, we were actually excused from the muster drill on the second cruise, but that was pre-Concordia, and that does not happen anymore.

 

[bats]

We're doing our first B2B in August 2013 (a 4 night then 7 night Med). We have rooms 2009 and 2011 as couldn't get the same ones unfortunately.

We're hoping that on disembarkation day, we can just gather up our belongings and dump them in the new room once the occupants have left ... we'll have the same host (or should have) and we would ensure nothing was in his way (or her). We don't really want to have to 'pack' everything, if we could just dump in next door instead!!

I'm so excited about doing a B2B .. we've already done 2 Med cruises with DCL, so this will make 4, but as we're from Europe anyway, it's not quite so important that we get off the ship to explore! We can get a cheap flight back to any of the destinations should we wish to explore them properly.

There's a small shop in the terminal at Barcelona, so if we have to get off, we'll just grab more beer!

 

[lodge]

I am sorry for the confusion. It's not like you are sitting around the port. We were back on the ship around 11am/11:15. It's just that hardly anything is open on the ship then. If you are not changing rooms, your cabin steward will work it out with you to clean your room first. However, there is no going in and out of your room. If you go there, you almost have to stay there as they do not want anyone "jumping the rope" that closes off the staterooms. We saw officers giving one family who was on the B2B with us a hard time trying to drop stuff off at their room before going to the pool. On the Dream, it would've been awesome had the Aquaduck been open, but it wasn't ready to go till 1:30/1:45. You go to your room, the pool, or do laundry. The crew was very busy getting things ready for the new cruise, so we more or less felt like we were in the way. And then there is the joy of doing the muster drill twice. On our first B2B, we were actually excused from the muster drill on the second cruise, but that was pre-Concordia, and that does not happen anymore.

I would suppose, then, that somehow you are informed where you are allowed to go, not told "get outta here!" when you're all settled in a spot (ok, they'd be nicer than that, I'm sure). It'd sure be nice if they let you in the concierge lounge for the transition time!

 

[AlexandNessa]

I would suppose, then, that somehow you are informed where you are allowed to go, not told "get outta here!" when you're all settled in a spot (ok, they'd be nicer than that, I'm sure). It'd sure be nice if they let you in the concierge lounge for the transition time!

In both our experiences on Disney, they mostly wanted you at the pool or Cove Cafe. (thats where the letter directed us). On the Dream, the concierge staff knew we were back to back, and they offered to review our itinerary with us the last night of the first cruise because the lounge is such a madhouse on embarkation day. They definitely didn't offer up the lounge for us to hang out in on turnover day. In fact, on turnover day, we were trying to bide our time because we thought 9am (the instructed time) was a little early to try to get through customs with all the people still left on the ship. Yup, you guessed it. One of the concierges did in fact kick us out of the lounge at 9:02, reminding us of the time and saying not so subtly that "Customs doesn't care if you are concierge or back to back."

 

[Namsupak]

... One of the concierges did in fact kick us out of the lounge at 9:02, reminding us of the time and saying not so subtly that "Customs doesn't care if you are concierge or back to back."

This is really shocking for concierge. I mean rules are rules but it seems like maybe it could have been worded less harshly.

 

[Namsupak]

... One of the concierges did in fact kick us out of the lounge at 9:02, reminding us of the time and saying not so subtly that "Customs doesn't care if you are concierge or back to back."

This is really shocking for concierge. I mean rules are rules but it seems like maybe it could have been worded less harshly.

 

[AlexandNessa]

This is really shocking for concierge. I mean rules are rules but it seems like maybe it could have been worded less harshly.

Agreed. He wasn't mean about it, but we were ushered out for sure. They've since become a little more reasonable and let B2Bers off at 9:30am instead of 9. When we were shooed off at 9, we actually took pictures of how many people were still in the lobby, with their luggage, still taking pics, sorting out their bills, etc. We thought that they sure didn't make it easy on us. Then on the Magic, it was much better as they had us meet in Sessions, and waited till most were off the ship and customs was ready to take us as a group. Much smoother process.

 

[owensamo]

When disembarking between cruises on our last B2B, we were pretty much on our own (Wonder). We were told to be off the ship by (I think) 9, but spent probably a half hour sitting in chairs on deck 4 overlooking the atrium watching people leave before it died down and we headed out to check back in - I want to say it was probably pretty close to 9. We were back on the ship before they opened it to new cruisers at 10-10:30 (back before Port Arrival times) so we weren't off the ship very long.

I do have to say that on my next B2B in June, I'll probably spend the swap-over port time taking pictures of port and the ship! There's *no one* there, so you have plenty of opportunity to take great photos! The downside is there are no characters like for normal embarkation - but there are plenty of other opportunities for those during 2 cruises!

 

[lodge]

It'd be nice to find a quiet place to sit, with a cup of Joe and a tart, and enjoy the silence!

 

[lodge]

d anyone do a trip review that did a b2b?