Does anyone have any advice for back to back cruies, specifically day of disembark/embark. Is there time to go to Kennedy Space Center on this day? Do you need anything for reboarding other than your passport and cruise forms?
My daughter (16) and me - Did back to back cruise in August of 06. 'Never again'. It's alot to pack and unpack. I would do a longer cruise - but never back to back again. Our 1st cruise was Carival - 2nd Royal Caribbean. By the 2nd cruise we were just ready to come home.
Usually back-to-back cruises means two consecutive cruises on the same ship in the same cabin. No wonder you said "never again"; I got tired just reading your post.
There was a recent post that mentioned this was a good way to save on airfare--fly once, take two cruises--but on two different ships on two different cruise lines, the paperwork alone would be exhausting.
Hello Fam4, welcome to Cruise-Chat. You could check to see if the ship offers an excursion for Kennedy Space Center. That would tell you if you have enouugh time to do it on your own. Back to back passengers will be taken to the terminal to get their new seapasses. you will need all your cruise documents when you do this. It's really simple. Once you have your seapass you can come and go as you please just like any other port.
f-mattox, I was the one who posted saving money on the airfare. What paper work? Our paperwork is made out before we start cruising. We'll be on the Enchantment for only 5 nights. Then we just get off the ship in Ft. Lauderdale and take a cab to the Port of Miami and board the Liberty. I like the thought of being on two different ships. Being on one ship for more than 10 day is a bit too much for me. We will be taking 4 suitcases any will only open one while on the 5 night cruise. Airfare is over $500 every time we cruise out of any Florida port. If I lived in Florida or close enough to drive to a port, I'd have more that 34 cruises.
We just came back from a back2back on the Radiance. We had the same cabin, sp no pack and unpack. We´ve got the new seapass the day before we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale in our cabin, together with a card that we are b2b guests and a custom declaration form. The 3rd purser escorted us at 10.15am to the terminal, no problems with customs and we had to wait for a while, until we were allowed to enter the ship with the new seapasses.
People who wanted to make a tour, were allowed to leave the ship earlier, but had to check in with their new seapasses when they came back from their tour to the ship.
The menu, activities, will pretty much be the same. The ships singers and dancers shows will be the same. There may be a change in the hired entertainers that go from ship to ship. This is another reason is think doing a back to back on two different ships is appealing. It's more of a hassle to lug your luggage to another ship like I'll be doing in October, but I'll have another week that will be totally different. Oppis brought up an interesting fact about the new seapass cards for back to back passengers. RCCL is adding new things that many of us haven't learned of yet. I love the open booking plan where you keep a booking number for up to 3 years and get your onboard credit for what ever cruise you decide to take.
Thanks to all that replied w/ info and advice. We're actually cruising in 2 weeks, so I'm pushing it on time with figuring out the details. We're doing Western then Eastern Caribbean, so we're expecting some of the same events, but there is so much going on, I figure we'll be able to see it all without exhausting the kids and grandparents. Assuming we can just disembark the Mariner as soon as it gets into port without too much fanfare, except customs?
Fam4, at least you'll be on one of the best, if not thee ship in the fleet. You're right about missing alot of the activity the first time around. Plus, you will have a whole new itiniary on your second cruise. It's the only way I'd consider a back to back on the same ship. You'll feel great at the end of the first cruise knowing you don't have to get off the ship.
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