jabberwk

It's been a roller coaster for us. We've had to cancel two cruises over the past year and reschedule another. Hoping this itinerary sticks. Lol. Since we're less than 90 days away from this one, I'd like to think it'll come to fruition. Anyone else out there on this sailing?

….plus 18% gratuity

You can reserve your spot on the Cruise Planner. 25% Pre-Cruise savings!

How about this one…a group comes in late to the show, knocks over your drinks while trying to get to their seat, and then sits for 5 mins and decides to leave. 😒 that happened last night 

I was always told to think of it this way:
If you leave from the US to go to Europe, you wake up every morning with one hour lost. 8am becomes 9am. The next day, 8 am again becomes 9am. You keep losing time. You then also have to make the long flight back to the US when your cruise is finished.
If you leave from Europe to go to the US, you wake up every morning with one hour gained. 8am becomes 7am. The next day, 8am again becomes 7am. You are gaining time, and then you don't have the major flight/travel to get home (you did that prior to the cruise).
When I book a transatlantic someday, I'm definitely doing Europe to US!

Sometimes there are and sometimes there aren’t. Read the description very carefully because sometimes the title of an excision will say “airport drop-off” but when you read the details it will say that the shuttle will return to the ship for B2B cruisers. I have two such excursions that say that on upcoming cruises. Here is the wording: 
 

This was VERY helpful. Thank you!!

This was VERY helpful. Thank you!!

Always check in for the second half of a B2B, if for some reason you can’t make the first 1/2 you’ll have a check in time for the second half. 

3. On our B2B's, even in different cabins, we have been able to go to our new cabin and unpack as soon as we get back on. We arrange this with the room stewards ahead of time and they have been very helpful. Onthe last one we unpacked, left the room and went into the hallway through the closed doors to a big crowd waiting to get in. They all asked why we were able to get into our room when they had to wait. We told them we lived on the ship and if they did they could get to their room early too.🤣

These questions might seem to have obvious answers for some, but my husband and I will be doing our first B2B cruising next spring and I'm not sure what to expect.
1. Do we have to complete online check-in through the app for both legs of the itinerary or only the first?
2. Do we have to disembark with everyone else and then reboard for the second leg?
3. If we have to disembark, are we allowed to head directly back to our cabin when we reboard or wait until everyone is cleared to enter cabins in the afternoon?
Thanks for the help everyone!

Congratulations on your first B2B. They are addicting !
1.  I have always completed the online check-in for both legs b/c I want to be sure that they know I am going to be there !  I'm not sure that you actually need to check in for the second leg, but we always do.  I don't worry about getting an early arrival time b/c I know I will already be on the ship....but I still go through the motions.
2.  You do not disembark with everyone else.  The B2B'ers will be the last to leave the ship and the first to get on.  You will be told when/where to meet so that you can orderly disembark the ship, go through customs and get right back on the ship.  On rare occasions, you will not leave the ship at all (but I would not expect this to happen) b/c customs agents come onto the ship to process you.  I have only had this situation once on a B2B so I would definitely be prepared to get off the ship and then right back on.
3.  If you have the same cabin on both legs of your B2B then you will be allowed to go back to your cabin as soon as you get back on the ship.  If you have to change cabins, you will have to wait like everyone else until your new cabin is ready.

Yes, you need to complete check-in for both cruises. They are treated as 2 separate cruises.
You should get specific instructions on where to meet on debarkation day for your first leg. If you don't get instructions, make sure to visit Guest Services before the last day of your first leg to make sure you are on the consecutive cruiser list.
Each ship and cruise has a different process for B2B, but usually all the consecutive cruisers meet in one location where they are given their SeaPass cards for the next sailing. They are then escorted off the ship and back on the ship right before boarding starts for the next cruise.
If you are in the same cabin you should be able to go back to your cabin when you board. You can mention it to your room steward on the first cruise so they know they won't have to do a completw turnaround of your room. 

After having to cancel 2 cruises over the course of 18 months, I learned my lesson. I *always* get travel insurance and I *always* do refundable deposits.

"Cancel for any reason" is generally an additional cost rider that is offered by SOME companies. I just purchased a travel policy for my wife & I for a November '24 cruise. Buying a policy outside of the cruise line offering available at booking a reservation is a series of compromises in the end to keep the cost reasonable. For us it came down to the best medical/evacuation coverage we could afford since we're retired and on Medicare which with rare exception, DOES NOT COVER anything outside the US or shipboard medical care.
As an aside, this is the first time we didn't opt for cruise line coverage. A recent ER visit for my wife due to a significant asthma episode and a diagnosis of Influenza B (In July??!!!) persuaded us the cruise line coverage for medical is not sufficient.  We used one of the consolidator websites to view policies, picked a few for comparison & skimmed the actual policy documents before deciding on coverage. Our primary considerations were adequate emergency medical/evacuation-repatriation, and coverage of pre-existing conditions that didn't require a bunch of hoop jumping to qualify. And as @Xaa advised me, there is a narrow purchase window of (we found 14-20 days) from initial payment for your travel to qualify for cancel for any reason or pre-existing condition waiver coverage. Took us an entire afternoon to noodle out, but wound up with a policy that should meet our needs and wasn't prohibitively expensive.

If the cruise line cancels, insurance doesn't play into it. They will offer choices of refund, future cruise credit, different itinerary, etc. If I have to cancel for any reason, it applies. Keep in mind - at least for RC - if you haven't paid your full fare yet AND you have a non-refundable deposit, you will still lose your deposit. If you've paid your full fare, you get everything back, including the deposit. This is why I always get refundable deposit as well. The last cruise I had to cancel wasn't paid in full so we lost our $500 deposit. That's a huge chunk of change. Having the refundable deposit would've only increased our total cruise cost by less than $300 so we wouldn't have been out quite so much in the end.

After having to cancel 2 cruises over the course of 18 months, I learned my lesson. I *always* get travel insurance and I *always* do refundable deposits.

All insurance is a waste of money until you need it, and then it's the best money you ever spent.
When I started cruising I never bought travel insurance because I was cheap and thought being young we had low risk factors.
Then one cruise my wife felt ill and I had to weigh getting her care vs the big bill waiting for me since we didn't have travel insurance.  I didn't want to go through that kind of gut check again.
Now, we always sail with travel insurance.

Yup, travel insurance is a lot cheaper than most people think

After having to cancel 2 cruises over the course of 18 months, I learned my lesson. I *always* get travel insurance and I *always* do refundable deposits.

We always, always, always tip as we go.  We have learned over the years that you can never depend on having the same staff from day-to-day or meal-to-meal.  We’ve had room stewards change in the middle of a sailing.  You just never know so we tip as we go along…at every meal and with very drink we receive.  On our last B2B (SY) our room steward changed decks on the second leg of our B2B.  Good thing we had tipped her before the end of leg #1.
The last thing I want to do when trying to “wrap things up” is go try and find someone to give them a tip.

Looking forward to meeting others who are booked on this cruise out of New Orleans. 🙂

Many times. More than I can count, but I always have my travel agent do it.

Sorry we missed meeting up formally; we had a fantastic cruise and met several new friends who we spent a bunch of time with.