We are thinking of doing B2B cruises on the Dream this summer. Wondering if someone who has done this can offer some tips. If we have the stateroom for both cruises, do we have to remove our luggage? Do we have to leave the ship? Etc. Thanks in advance for your help!
We did a B2B on the Dream out of PC. There was only 2 families doing a back to back, us and a family of three. We were sailing concierge both times and received a letter saying to disembark at 8:30am. The crew members actually advised us to stay on board until last call which didn't end up being until 9:30am . We were the last off the ship and then the first back on board. We didn't take anything off the ship except our passports/documents, phones, iPad and camera. It took us 30 minutes to get through the customs line and when we got there, we were waved through since we were on a back to back and had nothing to declare. We went straight back up into the terminal and could check straight in. No other cruisers were in the terminal yet. We used the time to take some photos around the terminal, make pressed pennies, make a phone call before we were asked to wait in the concierge lounge in the terminal. The other family wasn't sailing concierge but they were also in the lounge area in the terminal. We received a special card which we had to present on re boarding. Boarding was very fast. There was no photographers there yet and no one to announce us boarding. We just walked straight back onto the ship. We were back on board by 10:30am. We had already spoken to our house keeping staff and they did the deep clean on the
Castaway Cay day. They already had our room ready and we were told we could access our room once we boarded again. The concierge lounge was closed until midday. We were told we were free to roam around the ship and it was fun to watch what goes on during turn around. The cafe in the adult area was open. We had many crew members approach us for a chat. It was like having the ship to ourselves (for about an hour)
A few downsides to doing B2B.
- You'll have the same or similar rotations of shows. For us this was perfect as we love the shows we were very happy to watch them twice.
- You'll have the same menus for both cruises, unlike a longer cruise where each night is different.
- Most entertainment is similar on both cruises. An example would be trivia questions are the same on both cruises.
- You'll need to do the lifeboat drill twice. It's mandatory for every sailing.
- You technically waste half a day between disembarking/reboarding and lifeboat drill.
A few upsides of doing a B2B
- You can relax more without trying to fit everything into one sailing. You can catch the show next sailing, or see it the first time around and skip it the second time around. Swim, nap, go Palo, visit the spa. We spent a full day at Castaway the first cruise and the second time we only spent a few hours there and reboarded a very quite ship to enjoy the empty pool. If you're visiting the same ports, you can fit in twice as much as you'll visit twice. Or you can stay on the ship one day and enjoy the ship facilities.
- Since there was so few of us sailing a B2B, we found many of the crew remembered us and loved to have a chat
- Knowing you get to stay on the ship while everyone else is leaving. We really enjoyed the last night of our first cruise as we weren't sad to be saying goodbye. Our last night of the cruise is usually a little tear filled. We never want to leave!
If you have the same state room, you don't need to pack. You can leave the room as it is. If you're changing, you pack your bags and leave them in the state room. The crew will move your bags to the new room once you've disembarked.
When you disembark, don't forget to take any documents and ID/Passports. You will need to check in as normal so you'll need identification.
I hope that helps you out!
We're doing a b2b on the Magic out of Miami.
