Back to back cruises? Help if you've done it!

[thesoldtrain]

Hi there and sorry in advance that this question will be long A question for those of you who may have cruised back to back in the past....we have the opportunity to cruise on the tail end of our WDW Xmas trip (how lucky are we?!?!?! YAY!!!!!) but have a couple questions about this...

Our first choice was the 7-night cruise on Dec. 28, but that is sold out (if only we had known earlier, we would have gotten a jump on booking!!!). We prefer a 7-night cruise, but no other 7-nights are available within the time frame, so we are thinking of maybe doing a back to back cruise on the Wonder on 1/2 and 1/6? Those 2 cruises would be the 3-night and 4-night combined for 7.

Another option is to do the 4-night Magic cruise on 1/4, which is great, but not as long.

Option 3 is to do a 7-night outside of Disney (wahhhh!) on RCCL Mariner, which I hear is wonderful, but we really like Disney.

I was leaning towards doing the back to back but just am not sure which way to go??? I guess my questions for ya'll who have done the back to back thing is....1) Do you have to get off the ship in between, with luggage and everything? Seems like a hassle, considering the amt. we will have with 2 little ones.....2) Do you find doing the 2 back to back repetitive with shows, entertainment, food, ports etc?

I would appreciate any input any of you have with this....we are so lucky to be able to do this and it is a once in a lifetime trip for us, so we just want everything to be as hitch free as possible THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

 

[WDWLVR]

Jeanette,

Does this mean you aren't sailing with us on the 10 day? We'll miss you!

 

[thesoldtrain]

Mary,

Wish we could do that one and originally had planned on it, but we ended up with an engagement we cannot miss that first weekend of the 10-night cruise....URGH, we SOOOO wanted that one, but just can't do it. So, instead we have a bit of time at WDW and THEN cruise, but again, we cannot seem to make up our mind how to do it, LOL.

 

[GeneralMax]

All Seasons Travel's web page shows them as still having rooms for the 12/28 7 night Magic cruise. I just looked because we are trying to convince a friend to go with us. I haven't called but maybe that is an option for you. Good Luck!

 

[WDWDennis]

I sure hope that someone who has done back to back cruises can answer this. My wife and I have talked about doing 2, 7 nighters in a row, but we were wondering if they would make us get off the ship and re-check our bags. It would definitley be a hassel, but still worth it IMO!! But it sure would be nice to just stay in your room and enjoy the day as everyone else has to go home!! hehehehe

 

[ChrizJen]

WDWDennis-
I've never done this, but from what I've read on here, you do not have to exit the ship, but you are required to stay out of your room for a time in between cruises. But I don't think it involves having to take your luggage anywhere. I may be wrong, but I think that if you stay in the same stateroom for both cruises, you don't have to do anything except leave the room for a while to give the crew time to do that "in-between stuff" that they do. And if you have to change rooms, I think they will just arrange to have your luggage transferred to your new room.
I think you can hang out on deck 9/10, but the pools are closed for maintenance during that time. But you can roam the ship, or hang out on deck and relax. (as long as you let the crew do their thing)
Like I said, I'm not an authority on this, but since no one had responded, I figured I'd at least tell you what I've read here before. HTH
-Christal

 

[TootyJane]

I believe what Christal has written is true plus I've read some other posts as well. We're booked on back-to-back cruises in August 2006 (in the same stateroom) and the CM told us at the time of booking that we could leave our belongings in our stateroom and that we would have the opportunity to roam the ship or we could get off the ship. Dh wants to go and check out the Kennedy Space Center and since we've never had the time to do so on our prior cruises this is probably what we'll do. We will need to do some laundry and this would be an awesome time to do so.

 

[WRH3MD]

My wife and I did a back to back, 7 day western followed by 7 day eastern in 2003. Loved it. We booked the same room for both ends and did not have to move our luggage. We did however, have to leave the ship. We stayed on board and did laundry while everybody else debarked. Just before they started the new boarding we went to guest services and one of the pursers escorted us to the check in desk in the terminal so we could get new KTW cards and take care of immigration issues. We were then escorted back on. We were off the ship probably no more than ten or fifteen minutes. It was great. wes

 

[Regina]

I did the back to back on the Wonder. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the same stateroom. The morning of the second cruise, I brought my luggage to guest services where it was held until the new room was prepared.

I didn't have to get off of the ship, but I chose to because DH was joining me for the second part and I wanted to meet him in the terminal.

If I chose to stay onboard, basically I was nicely told that I would need to "stay out of the way." While I would have been welcome to use the public spaces, no services would be available.