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Cruising has a certain amount of fixed costs unless you happen to live in a port city. You have to get to the departure port whether by air or car both have costs. Smart cruisers plan to arrive at least the day before departure, so a hotel night is another cost. There will likely be meals costs until you actually get onboard the ship. Having already “invested” these costs into your cruise vacation, why not book another cruise on the end of the first so you wouldn’t have to incur all of those costs again if you planned it as a totally separate vacation?
There are many options as to how to accomplish a longer vacation by means of back-to-back cruises. You could book the very next trip on the same ship to keep it as simple as possible. If you book early enough you may be able to remain in the same cabin throughout both cruises. The cruise line may even offer you assistance in transferring your personal items from one cabin to another if remaining in the same cabin is not possible.
You could also book your second cruise on a different ship or even a different cruise line but out of the same port city. The biggest risk in doing this is if your current ship is delayed for any reason you may miss the second ship you were planning to transfer to on the same day as your arrival. You could reduce this risk by planning on spending a day or more in the transfer port city if it is a place you’ve never been and then getting on another ship. This obviously adds hotel, food, and transport costs, but at least saves you airfare in getting back to a place the ship has already brought you.
You might also utilize this strategy if you wanted to book a European cruise but did not want to have to face that long and costly flight home. You could book your initial cruise toward the end of the season and then book a transatlantic crossing as your back-to-back and end up back in the USA in a relaxing no jet-lag sort of way (such a great way to cross the Atlantic btw).
There are many cruises that are essentially one-way, or in other words, they do not end at the same port city they departed from. If you weren’t keen on flying home from the port city your desired cruise ends up in, you could book a back-to-back cruise to allow you to end up in a more desirable place to fly home from.
You can really end up planning your very own customized itinerary by means of booking back-to-back cruises. In December 2022 my wife and I left Lisbon, Portugal on a 14 day crossing cruise that ended up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The flight options from Rio were not great for us, so we opted to book another 7 day trip from Rio to Buenos Aires, Argentina to both extend our trip and place us in a better city to fly home from. Had we realized the World Cup finale was going to coincide with our disembarkation in Argentina we might have planned differently! The NCL Star happened to leave Buenos Aires and continue to Antarctica after we left the ship and ended up in Lima, Peru so that would have been amazing to add that to our trip!
Another idea is to book the exact same cruise twice as a back-to-back. We did this for our first cruise post-pandemic in September 2021. It was a 7 day Mediterranean cruise so the first week we stayed onboard the ship at all of the ports. This allowed us to more or less have the ship to ourselves as most guests went in to explore the port cities. For the second week we explored several of the ports and had a wonderful time having enjoyed much relaxation during the first week.
So what are some things to consider when planning to book consecutive cruises? You will want to know the procedure of the cruise line for the second cruise. If you’re booked on the same ship then will you be required to disembark briefly to get your new room keys, clear customs, etc. or will they simply have a designated area for all of the consecutive cruisers to meet to accomplish that? Will your room attendant be able to assist you with transferring your personal items to your new cabin if necessary? You will also likely want to consider purchasing a laundry package if not included as part of your loyalty status. Some ships offer DIY laundry facilities, so if that option is available to you plan accordingly.
While some may say that being away for longer than a 10 or 14 day cruise is not possible, you could create your own 10 or 14 day cruise by combining shorter cruises in order to offer you the option of seeing more ports that interest you. By planning well and knowing what to expect, booking back-to-back cruises can be tremendously enjoyable. The best part is being relaxed and happy while watching all of the sad faced guests leaving when you know you get to stay another week, or more! – René
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