Back to Back: Pros and Cons
Pros:
1. For us it was Cheaper than the 7 day (we went in October).
2. Got to really get to know the new ship (would never have happened on either a 3 or 4 night cruise.)
3. 2 Days at Castaway Cay. (If the ship never stopped anywhere else I'd still go just for this island.)
4. The repeating menus allowed us to feel free with doing other things for dinner. (Remy, Palo, eating in, etc.)
5. In the same vein, the repeating shows allowed us to explore more. (Hanging on deck at night, family games. Swimming with nearly empty pools, pictures with the characters.)
Cons:
1. The changeover day was a wasted day. I've heard others say it and really didn't think it was true because, after all, It's
DCL!!! (Went to fast with nothing to do really. we should have arranged a quick jaunt to WDW for the day. If DCL was smart they'd offer this for those who are B2B. it would get them out of their hair for a while and they'd make money.)
2. Even though you have a bunch of days on the ship you really only have one "at sea" day. (That means only one chance at Palo brunch.)
3. Two Days at Nassau. (Meh. We did enjoy the ship completely at this time though.)
4. Changing rooms. I wanted to experience two different "new" types of rooms on the Dream. Mistake. Swapping rooms was a hassle. Stay in your same room. (No, really, stay in your same room!)
Hints for B2B'ers:
1. Stay in your same room.
2. Do laundry on the first night of your second leg. NO ONE is using the laundry on the first night of their cruise.
3. We were not allowed back to our rooms until everyone else was allowed there. So make sure that you have a day bag packed and think about how you are going to handle the time during the change over. We hung out at a coffee shop area which was okay but not optimal.
4. Keep your same servers if possible. This made dinner times really cool because they already knew our preferences.
5. If you couldn't score one of those rare Palo ressies online and your second leg is the 4-night (that's what we did) then don't despair, you'll have first crack at that the onboard reservations if you do it when they first start boarding the new passengers.
I think that I all I have to say. Except, Have Fun!