Info, Tips and Tricks for First-Time B2B on the Fantasy

[tivo4me1]

Hello all!

After enjoying two cruises on the Wonder (EBPC in 2012; 7 night out of Galveston in 2013), my wife, daughter and I have decided to do B2B cruises on the Fantasy, first the 11/28/15 Western, followed by the 12/5/15 Eastern. [Flying across the country with a four-year old seemed wasteful if we'd only have 7 nights on "Mickey's Boat"!]

I know some of the basics of doing B2B cruises; keeping our stuff in our cabin and having some sort of short turn-around in Port Canaveral between trips, etc.... But I'd like to see if folks have any specific recommendations on how to best take advantage of a B2B trip, or more of the details that I just haven't figured out yet. [Do we settle up our bill at the end of cruise 1, or cruise 2? If our dining and/or cabin staff are staying the same, what's the etiquette about giving tips beyond the mandated minimums - would it be at the end of cruise 1, or cruise 2? Do we need to make a special request to keep our same dining staff for both cruises? Can we access our cabin after getting back on the ship for cruise 2, before the "rope drop" for the rest of the cabins in our section? And so on....]

To make things even more complicated, we're having a close family friend join us in our cabin for cruise 1, and then a dear family member joining us for cruise 2. How do we meet up with our family member at the beginning of cruise 2? Does she need to get her own PAT and come on the boat as if it were a normal embarkation for her, meeting us somewhere on the ship? Can she join us in our "shorter" turn-around time so that we can all board together?

Looking forward to getting back to DCL (our 2014 cruise was also through Panama, but on NCL...and BOY, are we excited to get back to Disney), as well as your answers, advice, etc. Thanks in advance for the help!

Rich from California

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hello all!

After enjoying two cruises on the Wonder (EBPC in 2012; 7 night out of Galveston in 2013), my wife, daughter and I have decided to do B2B cruises on the Fantasy, first the 11/28/15 Western, followed by the 12/5/15 Eastern. [Flying across the country with a four-year old seemed wasteful if we'd only have 7 nights on "Mickey's Boat"!]

I know some of the basics of doing B2B cruises; keeping our stuff in our cabin and having some sort of short turn-around in Port Canaveral between trips, etc.... But I'd like to see if folks have any specific recommendations on how to best take advantage of a B2B trip, or more of the details that I just haven't figured out yet. [Do we settle up our bill at the end of cruise 1, or cruise 2? If our dining and/or cabin staff are staying the same, what's the etiquette about giving tips beyond the mandated minimums - would it be at the end of cruise 1, or cruise 2? Do we need to make a special request to keep our same dining staff for both cruises? Can we access our cabin after getting back on the ship for cruise 2, before the "rope drop" for the rest of the cabins in our section? And so on....]

To make things even more complicated, we're having a close family friend join us in our cabin for cruise 1, and then a dear family member joining us for cruise 2. How do we meet up with our family member at the beginning of cruise 2? Does she need to get her own PAT and come on the boat as if it were a normal embarkation for her, meeting us somewhere on the ship? Can she join us in our "shorter" turn-around time so that we can all board together?

Looking forward to getting back to DCL (our 2014 cruise was also through Panama, but on NCL...and BOY, are we excited to get back to Disney), as well as your answers, advice, etc. Thanks in advance for the help!

Rich from California

You will settle your bill at the end of each cruise.

Generally, your head server will touch base with you toward the end of the first cruise to find out your dining preferences for the next one (at least that's what's happened on all our B2Bs). These would be - whether to keep the same serving team, dining rotation, table.

At the beginning of cruise 2, you will board before the new cruisers, so I'd suggest you specify a time and place onboard to meet up after, say, 12:00. She will not be able to join you with the B2B people in early boarding.

 

[Disneypeach]

here's a B2B tip someone gave me that I found helpful:
if you use the self serve laundry, do it on the first night of the second cruise...almost no one else in there!

 

[bfamily5]

Thanks OP for starting this thread. We are doing our first B2B on the Wonder - Jan 31 Southern Carribean followed by the 5 night repo to Miami. I was going to start a similar thread! Love the laundry tip!

 

[over50visits]

You'll settle your bill after each one, and keep the same serving team. You can check with them to be sure (or even talk to the dining room manager if you want any changes). There isn't any "etiquette" about the tip amount, myself I'd just do what felt good at the end of each cruise. You can get to your room right away if you reboard with the other B2Bs, you may be asked to not come and go though to keep from stressing other passengers who can't get to their rooms.

As for meeting someone (who will board at their own PAT/boarding number), it's easy. Don't worry about setting a time or place, you're in port and your cell phones are working perfectly. Just stay in contact and you'll know exactly when they get on and where they go!

Hope Disney Fantasy comes across this thread, what a great source of good information he is, and this is a pretty cool topic.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

We did it,

We were approached with information on the Thursday told to meet at guest services at 9 am there were 18 of us.

We were asked if we wanted to stay with our servers for the second we or new ones.

We tipped and settled our account at the end of each cruise.

We went off checked in at 10.15 back on and did our laundry.

No ship services running bar guest services and cove cafe till embarkation St 11.15am.

Details here