What it's REALLY like to stay on board between cruises!

[BethC1952]

OK, today is the day when most trip reports end. You know…we had breakfast, we said goodbye, etc.

BONUS of back-to-back cruises…you can linger over that last breakfast! We enjoyed it completely, knowing that we didn’t have to leave the ship. You can read the details of our morning on board as the only passengers at http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=970735 . It really was a lot of fun to wave to the people who were waiting to board!

The first day of the second half of our cruise was great, since we didn’t have to unpack and get organized. We enjoyed yet another wonderful lunch at Beach Blanket Buffet We were able to get some time in the empty hot tub while everyone else was busy boarding and getting settled. We attended the lifeboat drill again, and headed upstairs to watch the sailaway and take some more pictures. We saw “Hercules” again (we both LOVE that show!), and then headed back to our room to get ready for our first-ever dinner at Palo.

We had already arranged to have Agnes as our server again. We were greeted at the entrance like returning royalty! What a great feeling! This time, we didn’t have a window table, but since it was dark out anyway, we wouldn’t have seen anything. We decided to start with a cocktail (an unusual event for us). Jim had a Bellini and I had a Limoncello Martini. It was extremely hard to decide what to have as an appetizer, but Jim decided on Minestrone Soup, and I decided on the Buffalo Mozzarella and Plum Tomatoes. Agnes surprised us with HER favorite appetizer, the Carpacio of Eggplant. All three choices were great, and we ate every last bite of all three! For main courses, Jim chose Veal Scallopine and I chose Penne Arrabiata with Shrimp. Once again, Agnes brought us her favorite choice, which was Cod with Roasted Peppers. The food was really good, and once again, we ate every bite. Before we finished our meal, Agnes reminded us that, if either of us wanted to try the Chocolate Souffle, it had to be ordered. I decided to try it. While we waited, Agnes provided us with a wonderful sampling of deserts…maybe on our next cruise, we’ll start with the deserts so that we have more room for them! The Chocolate Souffle was good, but I won’t have it again. It’s really VERY chocolate, and gave me a migraine which sent me to bed. I’m glad I tried it, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who doesn’t get migraines from chocolate! Fortunately, we had dinner quite late and we had been up quite early, so heading back to the room wasn’t really a bad thing at all. Jim watched more of Madagascar, and some of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and I took my medication and drifted off to sleep so that I would be able to enjoy our planned excursion in Nassau the next day.

 

[brack]

On our 14 day B2B on the Magic during the change over I sat on Deck 9 calling all my friends back home in Oklahoma "rubbing" it in. I also took time to wave at the new passengers waiting to board.

 

[matsterrocks]

If you were to switch rooms btw cruises would guest services hold your bags btw cruises or what would be the procedure in this case?

 

[cntkg1]

If you were to switch rooms btw cruises would guest services hold your bags btw cruises or what would be the procedure in this case?

Or....if they made you leave the ship, could you just leave your bags and stuff behind (if you stay in your same room)?????

 

[BethC1952]

We were told that, if we wanted to leave the ship during that day, we could leave all of our stuff in the room. We would have had to go through the check-in process again in the terminal when we were ready to re-board.

 

[matsterrocks]

Wondering about doing laundry during this time would you have to have it done before 9 if the room stewart wanted to clean your room? Dose your room stewart give you access to your room after he is done cleaning it?

 

[matsterrocks]

What is the latest one could probably stay in thier stateroom if doing Back to backs on the morning btw cruises?

 

[BethC1952]

We arranged with our room steward to knock on our door when he was ready to clean the room. He was there sometime after 10, but before 10:30. We gathered up my computer and work stuff and headed up to Deck 9. By the time I was finished my report he was finished with our room. When we went back downstairs, the hallway was closed off, but we told the CM that we were already on board from last cruise, and we were allowed in and out with no further problems.

We did our laundry right after breakfast, so it was between 9 and 10, and no one stopped us at all.

If you and all of your party are American citizens, you may not have to leave the ship at all between cruises, and just work things out with your steward when your room will be done. I have to say, DCL did everything they could to make our stay on board that morning very pleasant and easy. I would love to do it again sometime, but it won't be this year. It looks like I'll be heading to England and Ireland for my vacation this year, to visit my niece in London and a friend outside Dublin.

 

[Jennifer48]

I found this TR thanks to lbgraves and it is very informative! Thanks for taking the time to share your b2b report!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

This is great- thanks for posting about your b2b experience- we're going to be doing this in 2008!

I'm wondering- do you HAVE to work out a time for them to clean your room that day? I wonder if we could just skip having our rooms cleaned that day- or atleast one of them (we'll have 2 staterooms) because it doesn't sound like there is a thing to do that the kids might enjoy doing for an hour or two to let them have time to clean the room and such. Sure I'd like to just sit around on the decks but the kids will grow tired of that after a few minutes probably. LOL If we could just stay in the room though- that would be fine.. we could look out on the verandah, kids watch tv or do other things in the room.... we could use that time to shower/etc. also. What do you think about the possibility that IF they let us stay onboard that we could just hole up in our room and just not have them clean it that morning? Or is that mandatory? I'd really rather not get off (unless we have to) because we'd have to lug off all our stuff including swimwear and passports/etc. in order to check back in and then in order to swim and such when reboarding.

So there isn't a problem with getting back in your room? They don't make you leave from the time they cleaned the room until the 1:30pm or so that they allow everyone to go back to their rooms? Do you just open the door yourself or have someone open it for you? I liked the idea of staying onboard in between cruises but now I'm wondering if the kids will be majorly board during that time... but it would be okay if we could just stay in our room during that time.

 

[BethC1952]

BibbidyBobbidyBoo:

I think they HAVE to clean your room, but you can probably work it out so that they do one and then the other. Our stateroom host was more than happy to work with us about the time so that it was convenient for him, too. As I understand it, if you do have to get off, you don't have to take ALL of your stuff, just what you'll need to reboard -- your cruise docs and your ID. Just wear your swimwear under some lightweight clothing!

We had no trouble going back and forth to our room. The first time we went back after breakfast, the hallway was roped off, but we explained that we were staying on board, and they were always very nice about moving the ropes for us. As long as you stay out of the way, everyone on the ship is very nice. I was fascinated at how quickly the cleaning crews work! We were able to do some laundry, relax a bit, and I got my work done. I expected it to be very noisy, but it wasn't bad at all.

Sitting on Deck 4 and watching the people in the terminal looking at us really was a lot of fun. You didn't say how old your kids are, but they might be interested in watching the ship being loaded for the next cruise. My DH was intrigued by the number of tires and other vehicle parts that were being loaded onto the ship, and we saw them being unloaded at Castaway Cay. I guess it was time to service some of the vehicles there! You can also see the TONS of food that comes on board.

I can't wait to do this again. My DH thinks this a better idea than the 7 night cruise, because he loves the onboard life, and he's afraid that I might make him get off the ship if we start visiting new ports . It did give us the opportunity to stay on board in Nassau AND to get off the ship, so we had the best of both worlds.

 

[Disney owl]

Great info thanks

 

[Babs417]

I didnt know that you could do that>

 

[disneydance]

Sounds real fun we will have to do B2B someday

 

[sja03a]

Just finalized arrangements to do the very same for dec 9th-13th and dec 13th-16th 2007. Thanks for the heads up about being able to stay on board, i was hoping that would be the case.

 

[angipoo]

subscribing - interesting reading!

 

[DizzneyDAnn]

Totally off topic--why were both ships at CC??? That would've been very exciting!

 

[slindamood]

The Magic was at Castaway Cay as scheduled. The Wonder was on a special 4 day itinerary for Thanksgiving (with embarkation on Wednesday instead of the usual Thursday). Thursday was Nassau, Friday a day at sea. So while at sea, the captain decided that we would go visit the Magic. It was not announced until we were on the way there, about 10 AM. Very exciting as the ships exchanged special "wish upon a stars" several times.

 

[frdeb1999]

We have been thinking about doing this ever since it was mentioned to us on board. And after reading your report I want to do it even more so. We want to do a 7 day but don't want to go to LA to do so. And that we thought would be our only option with the dates we were able to go. Did you get off the ship the 2nd time around for excursions or just enjoy the quiet time when everyone else was off? We are already booked for a 4 day in Aug 08 and will deffinately be looking into this option! Thanks for the info!!

 

[CraftyMouse]

FYI - You are no longer allowed to stay onboard between cruises. They now make you disembark and check-in in the terminal. From what I have heard they do escort you back onto the ship earlier than the newly arrived passengers, but you will spend about 90 minutes off of the ship between cruises.

We have a back-to-back scheduled for 12/1 and 12/8 and I was told that we would have to disembark between cruises. I will report back after we sail.