Back to back cruises

[sunryzez]

Has anyone ever done a back to back cruise on the same ship before. I just got off the wonder last week and booked a 4night and back to back 3 night on the dream for next year. Can anyone give me any insight on how that works? Do I need to pack my luggage and go through disembarkment? ( I got the same stateroom number for both cruises)
Also does Palo offer brunch and dinner rservations on 3 and 4 night cruises?
Did you enjoy doing a back to back or did it seem repetitive?
THanks in advance for any and all comments!!

[PrincessShmoo]

Originally Posted by sunryzez

Has anyone ever done a back to back cruise on the same ship before. I just got off the wonder last week and booked a 4night and back to back 3 night on the dream for next year. Can anyone give me any insight on how that works? Do I need to pack my luggage and go through disembarkment? ( I got the same stateroom number for both cruises)
Also does Palo offer brunch and dinner rservations on 3 and 4 night cruises?
Did you enjoy doing a back to back or did it seem repetitive?
THanks in advance for any and all comments!!

Believe it or not, there have been many others who have done a B2B.

The exact procedure for each B2B varies. The one constant is - at the end of your first leg, you will receive a letter in your room telling you what your procedure will be.

Generally, you will be directed as to how/when you will disembark. Yes, in the US, you must disembark between cruises. As you have the same stateroom, you will, most likely be directed to just leave your"stuff" in your room. You will need to take you cruise documents with you off the ship to re-checkin for the second leg.

Palo has dinner every night. Palo brunch is only on sea days, so only the one sea day on the 4 night cruise will have brunch available.

Doing a 3 & 4 night B2B will be repetitive, yes. You will repeat the same menus/shows for 3 nights of the 4 night cruise. The added night will be Pirate night with it's own Pirate menu in the MDRs and either a movie or entertainer in the WDT for the show.

We did a 10 night Med B2B with a 14 night WBTA, so 10 of the 14 nights were repeated, but it didn't feel as much of a repeat as a 3/4 B2B would to me.

[Silly Little Pixie]

We've done B2B's- twice. Once two 3 nights on the Wonder (Thanksgiving week) and once a 4/5 on the Dream. We LOVED them! Didn't find it repetitive at all. Even when the menus repeated, we chose something different to eat. We aren't dedicated to the shows so I'm not sure we even saw everything doing it twice!

What we did find very special was the way the crew treated us. Once they knew we were the back to back folks, they definitely took a lot of time to get to know us by name, etc. We had the BEST crew interactions we ever had- and this was on 2 different ships.

We also found the reboarding/customs process very quick and easy. We were back on board with an empty ship to ourselves in about an hour. Plus, I got to be first on the AquaDuck! We would do it again if the price were right vs a 7 night.

[jadedjojo]

Originally Posted by sunryzez

Has anyone ever done a back to back cruise on the same ship before. I just got off the wonder last week and booked a 4night and back to back 3 night on the dream for next year. Can anyone give me any insight on how that works? Do I need to pack my luggage and go through disembarkment? ( I got the same stateroom number for both cruises)
Also does Palo offer brunch and dinner rservations on 3 and 4 night cruises?
Did you enjoy doing a back to back or did it seem repetitive?
THanks in advance for any and all comments!!

PrincessShmoo did a nice job of summing it up! I only wanted to touch on a few things. I've done B2B on both Dream and Wonder, and they were two very different experiences. When we did Wonder, it was AWESOME. We had the same stateroom, so we were told to just take our paperwork and disembark around 9:00. We went right back into the terminal, checked in, and waited in the terminal maybe a total of 30 minutes before they let us right back onboard. We had the ship to ourselves for a good couple of hours, taking silly pictures and playing giant jenga. We had a ball! But when we did it on the Dream... /sigh. We had the same stateroom like before so we left everything but paperwork onboard, but they made us disembark the ship right away. We went back into the terminal, but they wouldn't let us check in for about an hour. Then we were sequestered with about 10 other B2B'ers in the concierge area, and weren't allowed to re-board until 11:00 or 11:30. Then when we finally got onboard (barely in front of the regular crowd), there was a tour going on for AAA! There were about 300 people onboard already! We were very disappointed, and felt that we wasted that day waiting. But we may have had an odd experience on the Dream, because it was the inaugural year, so maybe the kinks weren't worked out yet (and it explains the giant tour group). Your experience will be unique, so just be open to anything! And be prepared if you do have to wait, bring a board game or a book. I was disappointed because I had expected a free-for-all like we had on the Wonder, so if you are ready for anything, there will be no letdowns .

The itinerary can be repetitive, but we love CC so we don't mind . We stayed onboard for the second Nassau day (on both cruises) and swam in the pools, played mini golf and did the detective agency (on the Dream). We are just thrilled to be onboard, so I could be on a 7-day to nowhere and be happy . I'd suggest researching in depth different things to do at CC and Nassau. TripAdvisor is awesome for little known outings in Nassau. We've been to Nassau 9 times, and we still have not seen everything. For our upcoming cruise, we are going to visit the Cloister and Versailles Gardens (free!). Can't believe we've never been there- it's fairly close to Atlantis (and did I mention it's FREE!). Cabbage Beach is nice, and Saunders Beach is nice for photos. There's also the Queen's Staircase, the Fort, and Cable Beach besides the obvious Atlantis. At CC, we mix it up by doing completely different things on the two days. One day will be beachy, swimming, sitting on the beach, snorkeling, etc., and the other day will be nature inspired- cycling to the observation tower and the trail along the adult beach, kayaking, etc. They used to have a scavenger hunt... not sure if they still do that or not. Believe me, it only gets old if you let it .

[chateau]

Originally Posted by PrincessShmoo

The exact procedure for each B2B varies. The one constant is - at the end of your first leg, you will receive a letter in your room telling you what your procedure will be. (snip)

PrincessShmoo gave us advice on our B2B and this quote is dead on! Others joined in and gave varying experiences to the length of time you may spend prior to reboarding.

At least you KNOW you have the same stateroom (maybe request a "do not move" on both reservations or have a note put in your reservation that it's a B2B), so that you don't have to pack and unpack.

Enjoy your time onboard with very few people (but crew about)... lots of photo ops!

[sunryzez]

Thanks for the information everyone. My dh and I were debating between the 7 night on Fantasy or the back to back on dream. The price really isn't that different so I originally wanted to go on the Fantasy but his job schedule and kids school schedule allows us to only go on certain weeks and that week is the western Caribean and we have already done that itenarary twice ( once on wonder and once on magic) So I really would like to go somewhere else. We went to Nassau (sandals) for our honeymoon years ago and loved it so I know doing two days there will be great for us. I am just concerned about feeling like we lost a whole day with doing the back to back.

You have all made me feel a lot better but I do have one more question. If they let you on the ship a bit earlier are you allowed to use the pool areas or go on the aquaduck or is everything pretty much closed until 1:00?

[PrincessShmoo]

Originally Posted by sunryzez

Thanks for the information everyone. My dh and I were debating between the 7 night on Fantasy or the back to back on dream. The price really isn't that different so I originally wanted to go on the Fantasy but his job schedule and kids school schedule allows us to only go on certain weeks and that week is the western Caribean and we have already done that itenarary twice ( once on wonder and once on magic) So I really would like to go somewhere else. We went to Nassau (sandals) for our honeymoon years ago and loved it so I know doing two days there will be great for us. I am just concerned about feeling like we lost a whole day with doing the back to back.

You have all made me feel a lot better but I do have one more question. If they let you on the ship a bit earlier are you allowed to use the pool areas or go on the aquaduck or is everything pretty much closed until 1:00?

You will be able to use the pools, once they are cleaned. Aquaduck doesn't open until the new cruisers start boarding.

[tinkerone]

does anyone know/remember if there is wifi in the terminal? i'm wondering if we could catch up on email there while we wait to get back on.
I just don't remember if there was or not.

[PrincessShmoo]

Originally Posted by tinkerone

does anyone know/remember if there is wifi in the terminal? i'm wondering if we could catch up on email there while we wait to get back on.
I just don't remember if there was or not.

I don't know for sure, but I seem to remember that someone posted once that there isn't WiFi in the terminal.

[Silverfox97]

We are probably going to back to back the 5-night double dip on the Magic (first cruise after dry dock!!!!) with the 2-night cruise to no where out of Miami to get out 7-nights in. We do have different staterooms, although they are directly across the hall from each other (would be nice of they pixie dust upgraded us on the 2-night so that we didn't have to change rooms). I'm hoping we are off & back on the ship super quickly - I'd hate to waste a day.....

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[Anal Annie]

We did b2b's on the Wonder once, starting with the 4 night followed by the 3 night. It was OK but I don't think we'd do it again. We really weren't fans of the 3 nighter (noticeably diff. clientele). Our 4 nighter was a double dip so we had 3 stops at CC and 2 at Nassau and just 1 sea day. While CC is nice we like to cruise for the destinations and there is only so much you can do / see on CC. We prefer the longer 7 night cruises. I WISH we could afford to do even longer than that. Maybe one day we can find a 10-12 nighter to do. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[sunryzez]

I am still so torn between doing the Fantasy or dream b2b because of the itenerary. I think it really boils down to spring break itinereary for 2015. If I can get the eastern that I want the week of my kids spring break that year I will do the fantasy then and in 2014 stay on the b2b dream. Anyone know when dates are released for each year?

[PrincessShmoo]

Originally Posted by sunryzez

I am still so torn between doing the Fantasy or dream b2b because of the itenerary. I think it really boils down to spring break itinereary for 2015. If I can get the eastern that I want the week of my kids spring break that year I will do the fantasy then and in 2014 stay on the b2b dream. Anyone know when dates are released for each year?

Not to sound snippy or anything, but pretty much whenever DCL gets around to it.

[Silverfox97]

Originally Posted by sunryzez

I am still so torn between doing the Fantasy or dream b2b because of the itenerary. I think it really boils down to spring break itinereary for 2015. If I can get the eastern that I want the week of my kids spring break that year I will do the fantasy then and in 2014 stay on the b2b dream. Anyone know when dates are released for each year?

This is just my opinion, but I would 1) always choose the Fantasy over the Dream & 2) would definitely do the 7-night instead of the B2B unless you want the double stop to Castaway Cay. The 7-night cruises are so relaxing & just have a totally different feel. Plus, usually, B2B cruises cost more (not always).

We are doing the 1st Magic after dry dock which is only a 5-night (albeit a double dip) and the only reason why we are B2B with the 2-night is to get our 7-night vacation. We really want to get back on the Magic. In fact, we are booked on the Oct 12th Fantasy & still haven't moved that one yet....

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[sunryzez]

I have pros and cons for both. As far as price, when you break down the price of the fantasy or b2b dream and account for onboard credits the Fantasy is literally only 7 dollars more so price is not swaying me either way.
In my head I'm thinking pros for Fantasy:
-newest ship
-straight 7 day so no lost time
-no repeating anything ( I know the 7 nights have more to do as well)
cons-
-itinerary ( I have visited Mexico each DCL so far just because of timing of when hubby can get off and there are two Mexico stops on this trip So that would pretty much make it like 2 more at sea days for me since I wouldn't get off and there is already 2 at sea days)
Dream pros-
-palo 3 times instead of two ( 1 brunch , 2 dinners) this is my favorite part on the ship
-two castaway cay visits ( favorite part of the whole trip)
-itinerary ( LOVE Atlantis so I have no problem stopping there twice either)
Cons-
Losing a day ....Im thinking that whole day will be a wash between disembark/reembark, another sail away and safety drill
-repeating things on ship. Which Im not sure if I would hate or love. We just got off a 5 night and felt rushed and wish we could of done more because of scheduling so repeating would give me a chance to do that...but there is really no way to know how I will feel until I actually do the back to back...

With all that in mind what would be your decision? Thanks for letting me sort this all out...when I just think about it in my head I feel confused but seeing others made same decisions make me feel better. At the end of the day either way I'm sure I will love it!