Guest Trip Report: December 24, 2021 3 Night Christmas Sailing on the Disney Dream – Part 3

This is part 3 of Cynthia’s guest trip report.  You can start from the beginning here.

Guest Trip Report: December 24, 2021 3 Night Christmas Sailing on the Disney Dream

Part 3: The Back-to-Back Process

Day four of our Disney Cruise vacation was a new experience for our family – the last day of our 3-day cruise and the first day of our 4-day cruise.  We are officially “Back-2-Back” cruisers.  Here is the process we experienced transitioning from cruise number one to cruise number 2.

You might remember from my previous blog that, due to a cabin mix-up, we were not sailing in the same cabin on both cruises.  This meant we had to pack everything at the end of cruise number one so our luggage could be moved to our new cabin.  Luckily our new cabin was just down the hall from our first cabin, so the move was not inconvenient.

On the last evening of our first cruise we received a message providing us with all the instructions for the transition between cruises.  The instructions were very simple:  Pack everything up, leave it in our cabin, and report to Pub 687 on Deck 4 at 9:00 a.m.  Our cabin steward told us he would move everything to our new cabin for us.  He also told us we were free to go to our new cabin as soon as we re-boarded the ship.  We were also told that we were free to eat breakfast at any time before arriving at Pub 687.

We elected to skip breakfast and sleep in until closer to 9:00 a.m. but were up in plenty of time to make our way to Pub 687 for our assigned meeting time.  When we arrived, a ship’s officer greeted us and checked our names off the list of repeat cruisers.  We were told there were 32 Back-2-Back cruisers.  Everyone arrived in time and we were asked to wait together until we were cleared to disembark as a group.

Not too long after 9:00 a.m. the ship’s officer and another crew member escorted our group off the ship and through the baggage area.  They were very careful to keep us together and moving.  They did not want us to get mixed into the crowd of departing guests.  Once we reached the curbside area outside the terminal, we were escorted across the street to the Covid testing tents.  Even though we all tested negative before the three-day cruise, we were required to retest before being allowed to embark on the four-day cruise.

This re-testing process was very easy and quick because the first port arrival times for the new passengers was still about a half an hour away.  Our group was escorted through the testing process and into a separate waiting tent.  Only the Back-2-Back cruisers were allowed in our tent.  We were asked to wait together until everyone was cleared and then we would once again go as a group to the terminal.  The waiting time was pretty short – about 20 minutes.  Everyone in our group was cleared to reboard, so off we went.

By this time, the first group of new cruisers were arriving at their designated port arrival times, so there was a bit more traffic in the testing area and at curbside.  We were escorted through security and then up into the terminal.  The terminal was absolutely empty.

We were shown to an area close to the big Mickey Ears and told that as soon as the ship was cleared, we would be escorted as a group back on board.  We lounged in the terminal for about 30 minutes before the all clear was given.  Our group was immediately taken on board – they had not yet begun calling the regular boarding groups, but people were starting to arrive in the terminal.

We were walked right back on board and told we were free to go back to our cabins or roam the ship.  Also, if you needed new cabin keys because you were sailing in a new cabin (that was us!) you had to first go to guest services and pick up your new Key to the World Cards.  All the keys were printed and ready for us as soon as we got to the desk.  

One difference with boarding before general boarding is there are no cast members introducing your family and no welcome show in the Atrium.  We all simply boarded and scattered!

I did notice as soon as we boarded that all signs of Merry-Time Christmas and the holidays were gone.  The Atrium was back to normal and the cast members were no longer wearing their holiday accessories.  

In a matter of a few hours the Atrium went from this:

To this:

This explains the “cargo” I spotted on the dock next to the ship as we waited to reboard.  All the Christmas decorations were already packed and off the ship!  

I wish I could pack up my Christmas decorations so fast.

Once we had our new Key to the World Cards (it was about 11:00 a.m.), we headed back to our cabin.  Generally the cabins are not available until about 1:00 p.m., but we were told we could go under the ropes and have full access to our cabin.  When we arrived at our new cabin, our luggage was there waiting for us, so we unpacked and began our day with an early afternoon nap because the restaurants were not yet open.  It was interesting to experience the ship while there was so much crew activity taking place.  It makes you appreciate all the hard (and quick) work necessary to turn the ship over from one cruise to the next.

Our Back-2-Back experience was very smooth and organized,  We simply followed instructions and kept up with our group of 32!  I would not hesitate to book Back-2-Back cruises again.  

Up Next:  Highlights of cruise #2 –  December 27, 2021 4 night on the Dream