Back to Back Cruises on the Same Ship - Advice Please!!
Matt Brown
help with this question.
My wife and I have done two Carnival cruises - 7-night Mexican Riviera and
15-night Panama Canal. We loved the "vibe" on the shorter cruise with a
young crowd (we are early 40s) but it was over too soon. On the longer
cruise it was just more sedate because their were very few non-seniors. We
don't have anything against seniors at all; however, many of the activities
from the shorter cruise were not included or were even canceled (no rowdy
games, contests etc.). And the dance clubs closed at 11:00 PM which we
thought was actually a ripoff!
The real problem, though, is that we have the time and income to do longer
cruises and we really prefer them. But we like to whoop it up with more
people in our demographic, while still enjoying the great food, formal wear
and entertainment.
Someone mentioned the concept of doing two back to back seven day cruises on
the same ship -- ideally, when the ship changes itineraries, so that you
don't repeat the same route. And they said you just keep your cabin and hang
out on the ship during the debarkation/embarkation. Can anyone out there
comment on this??? Has anyone done this or learned any information about it?
Please help!
Thanks,
Matt Brown
Matt Brown
pay full price for two cruises. Thanks,
Matt
"Matt Brown" <matt...@attbi.com> wrote in message
news:nmQva.858034$S_4.877012@rwcrnsc53...
D Ball
"Matt Brown" <matt...@attbi.com> wrote:
>Hi again, also, what I mean is are there deals where you don't have to just
>pay full price for two cruises. Thanks,
>
>Matt
>
>
Matt:
For deals, you hit it on the head when you mentioned the same ship doing
different itineraries two weeks in a row. Your best bet is to look for what
are essentially one-way cruises, e.g., we got a deal on our only back-to-back
doing a one week US-Southern Carib, second week Southern Carib-US city. Sometimes,
those are re-positioning cruises. Other times, the US port will be the same
on both ends. Those types of one-way cruises (vs. roundtrip in/out of the
same port) tend to be a little more difficult for the cruise lines to sell
because pax who can only do the one week have more obstacles finding cost-effective
air transportation (and thus often go with cruise-supplied air).
If you have a good cruise specialist TA, he/she will be able to help you
come up with ideas along those lines. If not, you can do some preliminary
research on your own by going somewhere like Travelocity and selecting a
ship you'd like to try. At the bottom of the main page for that ship, you'll
see the itineraries offered. Choose one, then go to the first and last sailing
on that itinerary. Look at that cruise. Now, go back to the main itinerary
listings and find the itinerary that the cruise just ended before switching
to this one or the itinerary that the cruise is embarking on just after this
one. I'm not explaining this very well, but if you poke around, you'll get
the picture! There are some times of year you will see these changes happen
more than others--the lines tend to move their ships from a winter location
to a summer location and vice versa. Also, there is a period of a few weeks
to a month or two in the spring and fall when the lines tend to offer several
varied sailings during that brief time period before they resume a solid
weekly schedule in the Carib or Alaska or wherever. Now that I'm thinking
about that, another good place to look would be the cruise line's site itself--say
you want to try Royal Caribbean, then go to their site and find the cruise
calendar. You can see a graphic representation of the year and zero in on
the months where itinerary changes occur.
As far as entertainment goes, you are correct, a back-to-back will give you
the same level of entertainment both weeks. At least that is what we experienced.
The negative is that the same shows are offered, with the exception of any
different headliner entertainers. Ditto as to dining room menus. The positive
is that you don't feel compelled to rush around the first week seeing and
doing everything when you know that you'll have the second week. You are
much more in charge of your vacation time and can even order room service
in and watch a movie without feeling like you are missing something.
Good luck! We thoroughly enjoyed our back-to-back. Hope there's one in your
cruise future.
Diana Ball
Near Houston, TX
http://www.dianaball.net
NCL Sea – W Carib - Holidays 99
RCI Explorer – E Carib - Holidays 00
RCI Rhapsody – W Carib - Holidays 01 (back-to-back)
NCL Star – Hawaii - June 02
Dawn Princess – Alaska - July 02
Star Princess – Mex Riviera - Holidays 02
RCI Serenade – Transatlantic – Inaugural 08/04/03
RCI Mariner – E or W Carib? - Holidays 03
spam-@telus.net PMM
"Matt Brown" <matt...@attbi.com> wrote in message
news:VrQva.301065$Si4.2...@rwcrnsc51.ops.asp.att.net...
What you might want to do is pick a repositioning cruise (usually good
prices) and then carry on with the following cruises. For example, last
year we booked 3 back to back cruises on Princess. Excellent prices.
Vancouver to Hawaii, Hawaii to Tahiti, Tahiti to Hawaii. It meant you went
around the Hawaiian islands 3 times and Polynesia twice. But this meant you
got to something different each time on a island. Gave you 2 to 3 days at
each island to explore.
PMM
Mike Cordelli
every other cruise. You could take any two cruises and have a back to back.
Not sure if they still do or not, but it's something to see if they, or
other lines offer. A couple of the port stops were the same, but most were
different.
"Matt Brown" <matt...@attbi.com> wrote in message
news:nmQva.858034$S_4.877012@rwcrnsc53...
Kallie
will be like when we sail on her in September. I was assuming that most of
the activities would be the same. Will there be a deck party, will there be
horseracing??? Bingo is, of course, a given. I really want the boomer
music to be there as it was on our 2 previous "fantasy class" Carnival
cruises. Anyone out there "in the know" and can tell me what to expect.
Would the September 7th "Pride" repostioning cruise have the potential to be
livier than the Elation. Any guesses???? Matt, now you have me second
guessing my cruise. LOL. And to think that I could possibly join the
"Norway" group instead. Hmmmmm. Lots to think about. Opinions greatly
appreciated !!!! Kal
"Matt Brown" <matt...@attbi.com> wrote in message
news:nmQva.858034$S_4.877012@rwcrnsc53...
Amber
>Princess use to have two Southern Caribbean routes, alternating between them
>every other cruise. You could take any two cruises and have a back to back.
>Not sure if they still do or not, but it's something to see if they, or
>other lines offer. A couple of the port stops were the same, but most were
>different.
Princess still does this. Fall/Winter 2003-04 it will be the Dawn Princess out
of San Juan.
Juliana L Holm
St. Thomas) alternating with "Exotic" Southern (Martinique, Antiqua, St. Martin,
Tortola, St. Thomas) out of San Juan.
But pretty port intensive, unless you stay o n ship one of the ST. Thomases.
Lots of lines alternate EAstern and WEsetern routes, like I think on e of the
RCCL Behemoths of the Seas does this, right?
Julie
--
Julie
**********
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm
Robert Bob Edwards
table assignment and waiter, you should be able to arrange to be seated
at the same table (if the waiter will still have that table).
Another advantage of back to back to back cruises is that the
debarkation day at the end of the first segment is like an extra port
day. You can get off the ship and enjoy that port as you would any
other port during the cruise.
Annie Noname4
Howard and Eileen Garland
We have done back to back cruises on the Carnival Victory (7 days each)
and Carnival Legend (8 days each). We have also done back to back
cruises on different ships like the Golden Princess and Explorer of the
Seas. In Feb-March of this year we did a back to back, where we followed
and 8 day cruise with a 15 day cruise. All of these back to back
cruises were great and you are quite right about a younger and livelier
crowd on shorter cruises. It is great to be able to dance and hang out
until sunrise almost every day (and we are in our 50's), which is
something you don't generally find on longer cruises (FYI we have taken
38 cruises and many have been for two or more weeks so I do have a basis
for comparison). Another real plus of the back to back experience is
that you get to know many of staff and they get to know you. I haven't
found any special deals for cruising back to back, except for the fact
that you save real dollars on one airfare. In my opinion, you have the
right idea. Go for it.
Howard
pen...@spamcop.net
>Hi. Now you have ME wondering what Carnival's Elation repositioning cruise
>will be like when we sail on her in September. I was assuming that most of
>the activities would be the same. Will there be a deck party, will there be
>horseracing??? Bingo is, of course, a given. I really want the boomer
>music to be there as it was on our 2 previous "fantasy class" Carnival
>cruises. Anyone out there "in the know" and can tell me what to expect.
>Would the September 7th "Pride" repostioning cruise have the potential to be
>livier than the Elation. Any guesses???? Matt, now you have me second
>guessing my cruise. LOL. And to think that I could possibly join the
>"Norway" group instead. Hmmmmm. Lots to think about. Opinions greatly
>appreciated !!!! Kal
Longer cruises usually = older crowd. Retired or people wiht
seniroity usually have more free time than young couples or families.
I'm not quite retired but have enough vacation time to manage this
sort of folly. We'll be on that cruise as well.
Jim P.
Rich
Eastern Caribbean and back to Ft. Lauderdale then out for seven days Western
Caribbean. I figure we can catch all the shows or whatever we miss the
first time or double our pleasure if it is really fun!! Also will know
which night to pick for alternative dinning etc... We are looking forward
to it!!
Rich
"Matt Brown" <matt...@attbi.com> wrote in message
news:nmQva.858034$S_4.877012@rwcrnsc53...
Tom & Linda
experience the 2 weeks.
--Tom
Kallie
sure don't want it to be like our HAL experience. Hubby ended up assisting
one of the 90+ dinnermates to the showroom at times while I went ahead to
secure seating which I was not comfortable doing but felt obliged due to the
circumstances. I love seniors. And I work with seniors but I do NOT want
to care for them on my cruise. LOL. Hope that doesn't offend anyone. BTW,
we are in our late 40's. Thanks for your feedback !! Kal
<pen...@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:35b0cv8jgak8c4stf...@4ax.com...
Linsifer
activity level as my 7 night Star Princess cruise last year. There wasn't a
huge difference, but there was just the feeling of clubs closing up sooner or
the music sometimes was geared more for the folks who enjoyed the ' 30s and '
40s as opposed to Baby Boomers whose "oldies" meant ' 50s and ' 60s and beyond.
Linsifer
face all day, by the same token, I don't want to be tripping over walkers and
having to be a nursemaid for the elderly, either. Or listening to Glenn Miller
all the time. :) I like a nice mix of ages, but for the most part, I prefer the
MAJORITY to be in the ' 40s and ' 50s age group. Or families that include kids
and grandparents.
The kind of senior I hope to be someday is the one who is young at heart and
stays on top of things---someone who is kind of feisty and keeps active and is
willing to try new adventures. A person who is a pleasure to be around. These
is also the kinds of seniors I love to cruise with. I had a blast dancing FAST
with one old gal who was recently widowed. Her daughter brought her on this
cruise to take her mind off of things. She swam with the dolphins and whooped
it up on the dance floor and had no problem going out and dancing alone or with
the other gals like me. :) A really great ol' gal.
~Lindsay
Linsifer
(someday), but I really do want more of the Baby Boomer experience. My aunt and
uncle who are in their late 70s just got back from the NCL Sea ( Historical
America cruise back East) and they belong to a club called S.I.R.S (Seniors in
Retirement), so not only did their group have the ship booked, but another
large retired group was aboard. My uncle said there were 5 kids total and he
loved it! And, all the songs were from the ' 30s and ' 40s. It was 13 days, I
think. As much as this sounds like a nice itinerary, I definitely would have
felt out of place.
~Lindsay
George
back, but on two different ships. The main thing
that we discovered about ourselves is that you
get a much bigger emotional bang for the buck
by not doing that. For us, it would have been
more fun to spread them out at least by a month.
Why? As you stand in line for processing to board
your second ship, notice that everyone around you
is sky high with expectation. You'll probably not
be as excited. It is more like waiting for a taxi.
But we would do it again if 'forced' to do so. :)
George
Ronald H. Nicholson, Jr.
Matt Brown <matt...@attbi.com> wrote:
>My wife and I have done two Carnival cruises - 7-night Mexican Riviera and
>15-night Panama Canal. We loved the "vibe" on the shorter cruise with a
>young crowd (we are early 40s) but it was over too soon. On the longer
>cruise it was just more sedate because their were very few non-seniors. We
>don't have anything against seniors at all; however, many of the activities
>from the shorter cruise were not included or were even canceled (no rowdy
>games, contests etc.). And the dance clubs closed at 11:00 PM which we
>thought was actually a ripoff!
I know lots of 50 and 60 years olds who would also consider the dance
clubs closing before midnight on a cruise a real ripoff.
If you want a younger crowd, another alternative to back-to-back cruises
is an adventure cruise. Depending on the itinerary, these sometimes draw
younger and more adventurous travelers.
I was on a Marco Polo cruise 12-day cruise to the Antarctic Peninsula
a few years back. The cruise drew a wide ranging age group (from young
career to retired couples, many singles, a few very well behaved kids),
all very active and interesting people.
I danced until midnight, but with the sunlight still glowing from the
horizon, at least once or twice. (Does that count as dancing 'til
dawn? :)
Trip review here:
<http://www.nicholson.com/rhn/antarctic.cruise.txt>
I heard that some of the Mediterranean cruises on the smaller ships
with sails also draw a younger crowd. I went a 13-day Mediterranean
cruise as a single in my 30's and met lots of people in my age group.
IMHO. YMMV.
--
Ron Nicholson rhn @ nicholson . com http://www.nicholson.com/rhn/
#include <canonical.disclaimer> // only my own opinions, etc.