The old slogan of Doublemint chewing gum: “Double your pleasure, double your fun” comes to mind in the case of back-to-back cruises as they are a double delight. My husband, Humberto, and I have often said to ourselves after a week-long or shorter cruise that just as we are getting acquainted with the ship we have to disembark.
And, of course, who would want to disembark when we feel so comfortable already on the ship: knowing well what is the best way to get to the spa and the gym from our cabin, where the card room is located, and which is the best elevator to take to go to each of the alternative restaurants of the ship. And we also know many crew and staff members and they know us and our likes and dislikes, making us feel like we are part of a family.
What can we do so as not to feel sad at the end of a cruise? The remedy is easy: take two consecutive cruises! Humberto and I have done it several times including two back-to-back cruises on Regent's Seven Seas Grandeur sailing from Miami to idyllic Caribbean and Central American ports this winter and we noticed that in addition to feeling very lucky at the end of the first sailing, we also have some other important benefits.
Among these benefits are financial perks. It is often cheaper to take two back-to-back cruises than two separate cruises as some cruise lines offer discounts on the second of two back-to-back voyages. On Seven Seas Grandeur, for example, Regent Seven Seas Cruises gave us 5% off the second cruise. But even if the cruise line does not discount the second sailing, there are other savings – including transportation costs: we incur charges for flights or other modes of getting to the pier just once instead of twice when we are taking two separate cruises during the year. These transportation costs also include transfers from our home to the airport and from the airport to the ship, baggage fees, and porterage tips. Other savings include pre-cruise hotels (we like to spend a night at the port city ahead of a sailing).
Another benefit of back-to-back sailings: waiters and cabin stewards already know our routines and expectations at the very start of the second cruise. For instance, we like to have breakfast early, so they know they can come to our cabin early in the morning to clean, and staff at the ice cream parlor know how we like our ice cream and toppings, and servers know how we like with our salads in the main dining room, etc.
Also very important is that back-to-back cruises offer the opportunity to know a region in depth as more ports are visited in the area. In the case of our Seven Seas Grandeur back-to-back cruises, we had the opportunity to visit the popular Western Caribbean islands of Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica along with Central American ports including Belize and less-visited Santo Tomas de Castilla in Guatemala and Roatan in Honduras as well as the Southern Caribbean Dutch gems of Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire plus British-influenced Barbados and Antigua and seldom-visited Grenada, among others. We could tour the Mayan ruins at Quirigua Archeological Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site during the stop at Santo Tomas de Castilla; enjoy tequila and chocolate tastings in Cozumel; admire colorful and picturesque Dutch-Caribbean architecture in Willemstad, Curacao; sample local rums in Jamaica and buy nutmeg and other spices in Grenada; partake in the British custom of afternoon tea in Barbados; shop for Dutch Delft china in St. Maarten and so much more. We returned home with a good appreciation for the rich mosaic of Caribbean cultures, not to mention memories that will last a lifetime – like our visit to the Mayan Eden bird and animal sanctuary in Roatan when two toucans perched on my arm and one on Humberto’s head!
On our Seven Seas Grandeur cruises, no port was repeated, which we liked. On some back-to-back voyages, ports may be repeated, which we also enjoy because it gives us an opportunity to explore more at each stop. On consecutive voyages in Canada/New England we took several years ago with Holland America for example, we found that at one stop in Bar Harbor, Maine, we could spend the day in beautiful Acadia National Park on the first voyage. In the second cruise visit at that port, we could take a whale-watching excursion and explore the quaint town, visiting a museum and enjoying local delights including blueberry pie and lobster rolls. We have often said to ourselves when leaving a port that we would like visiting there again someday, and now on some back-to-back cruises we are returning to some of the ports on our itinerary that we loved very soon!
Additionally, and just as important, when taking back-to-back cruises, we have more time to enjoy the ship. On our Seven Seas Grandeur voyage, we could linger longer by the pool, enjoy two or three spa treatments, participate in more activities such as the ship’s delicious and musical afternoon tea, trivia contests and cooking classes. And enjoy more entertainment and delicious meals at the dazzling, Gaudi-reminiscent Compass Rose (the main restaurant) and the delectable alternative venues of Prime 7 (steakhouse), Chartreuse (French cuisine), Sette Mari at La Veranda (Italian) and Pacific Rim (Asian).
In addition to the convenience of having to unpack only once, having extra time on a ship that felt like home, and getting to know a region better, there are yet other advantages – perhaps less obvious, but nonetheless real. Things like suddenly becoming a prized trivia team member and dazzling your team members as some trivia questions may be repeated on the second voyage and you already know the answers! And when ports are repeated, buying a t-shirt and wearing it ahead of the return visit (this is an instant ice breaker as people want to know what you think of the port and what you recommend they should see). Also, when passengers find out you are on your second cruise on the same ship, they want to ask you about things such as if you liked the food at the alternative restaurants. And not to mention the comfort you enjoy with the familiarity with your cabin (we had the same one on both sailings), your surroundings and your stewards, as well as knowing your way around the ship from the first day of the second voyage.
Our experiences of back-to-back cruises have been so wonderful – each time a double delight – that we are going to do it again in April on the Oceania Vista. And we also plan to expand on the idea: we think that the only thing better than back-to-back cruises is back-to-back-to-back voyages. So we have also booked the ultimate back-to-back experience: Regent Seven Seas Cruises, “The Sense of Adventure” World Cruise aboard Seven Seas Mariner setting sail in January of 2026!
By Cruise Specialists client, Georgina Cruz
Georgina Cruz is a freelance travel writer specializing in cruises. Her work has appeared in national magazines and regional publications as well as on travel websites. She has been on more than 200 voyages including seven circumnavigations, all booked through Cruise Specialists.