Back-to-Back Cruises

I first heard of doing back-to-back cruises during my recent Alaska cruise with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. With the Alaska cruise, I thought it was kind of redundant. You'd do the same cruise only in reverse order ending back in Vancouver. However, with other cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises alternates itineraries between cruises which can make it worthwhiled doing back-to-back cruises. In my case, both of my cruises leave out of San Juan, Puerto Rico (a fantastic place to sail out of, really pretty at night.). I'll be cruising to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Basseterre, St. Kitts; Oranjestad, Aruba and Willemstad, Curacao. Normally, I wouldn't care to go back to places I've already visited once cruising BUT, in this case, I won't mind going back to Aruba and Curacao as I didn't see much of either of them during my first visit. I did scuba diving trips on those 2 islands and, the trips took up virtually all the time I had on those islands. I couldn't tell you anything about what those islands have to offer barring some very good scuba diving. So, I'm looking forward to seeing them again. Also, 8 months after I visited Aruba, they opened a Hard Rock Cafe there. Any readers out there know I collect the t-shirts and, I'll be delighted to add the Aruba t-shirt to my collection.

The second cruise stops in Bridgetown, Barbados; Castries, St. Lucia; St. John's, Antigua; Philipsburg, St. Maarten and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. This cruise will be neat in that there is just 1 day at sea then, the cruise island hops its way back to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Also, I've never been to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua or St. Croix. On St. Maarten, like Aruba and Curacao, I haven't seen much of it though in this case it was because of a stinker of a deep sea fishing trip I went on which I still haven't forgotten. The captain of the boat was supposed to drop us off at the cruise ship pier and, he didn't. My friend Harvey and I ended up walking nearly 2 miles to get back to the cruise ship pier. We were not happy campers when we made it back.

Another aspect that'll be interesting about doing back-to-back cruises is that there are special procedures for such travellers and, Royal Caribbean has a special department that handles such things as I found out. Apparently, Royal Caribbean's website doesn't like back-to-back cruises. It wouldn't show both of the cruises on My Cruises webpage. I called Royal Caribbean's tech support who referred me to the Back-to-Back cruises department. They got the problem solved eventually. I learned from the man I spoke with that at the end of the first cruise, I'll go to a special waiting area that is just for people doing back-to-back cruises. All people must clear customs when the ship returns to San Juan since they're leaving the ship. However, I won't have to since I won't be leaving. Once everyone has disembarked from the ship, I'll be allowed back on. In regards to my luggage, my suitcase won't ever leave the ship. Instead, it'll be transferred from my first cabin to my second cabin. Due to price differences, I couldn't afford to have a balcony cabin for both cruises. Interestingly, I'll have the same SeaPass for both cruises. Some how, Royal Caribbean will program it to open my first cabin during the first cruise and open the second cabin on the second cruise.

Overall, it should be a really fun adventure barring paying for it. Right now, I owe over $2,700 for the 2 cruises. I'll get them paid off in time though I wish Royal Caribbean didn't demand full payment by 70 days out from your cruise. I suspect that's so they can still sell the cabin if the person backs out. I bet it's still pretty hard to sell cabins for a cruise at the last minute. I know I couldn't take advantage of that. I have to plan my trips at least 6 months in advance. The only reason I was able to break that rule in this case was because I was only adding another week and, it wasn't going to break the bank to add the second cruise. Royal Caribbean was offering a decent price for an Ocean View cabin. We'll see how much I like being enclosed like that. I do like having a balcony cabin. It's awesome to walk out in the morning and watch as your ship sails into port. It was particularly spectacular during the Alaska cruise with the stunning scenery. Stay tuned for more travel adventures all!