My wife and I would like to have take a cruise in Feb 2017 for our 40th anniversary. We want our kids and grandkids all to come as well. We would probably need 5 (or 6) staterooms total. My wife and I are currently scheduled to take a cruise this summer, then a B2B cruise next January. Would the two of us be able to book 2 staterooms for each of those cruises, with us being named on only one reservation to get us the number of rooms we need?
Yes, for sure, and probably it'll be super smooth, but there could be some quirks to work around.
You *might* end up with a recalcitrant booking agent on board who wants someone from your cruise to be booked in the first onboard room. If that happens on your first cruise, you can just put you and your wife in whatever room you want. If it happens again on the second cruise, you can have them remove your wife from your existing booking and put her in some other room with someone else for now. When you get home, you can straighten everything out. Hopefully it won't even come up.
And keep in mind you can book more than two rooms, and get a lesser bonus for the 3rd (and 4th, 5th, etc.). You get the onboard credit of $100 or $200 per stateroom (depending on length), but not the lower deposit or 10% discount, for each room after the first 2.
So if you need 5 or 6 rooms, you'd probably want to book 3 on the first cruise and 3 more on the second cruise. That way you have 6 if you need them. If it turns out you need 5, cancel one of the rooms that has the lesser discount.
Four of your rooms will get a 10% discount, $100 or $200 onboard credit, and a lower deposit if the cruise is 7 days or longer. Two of the rooms will just get the $100 or $200 onboard credit, which ain't nothing.
I would definitely build a spreadsheet or a list or something to keep track of all your booking numbers, who you've booked and who you haven't, etc. especially if you have to split you and your wife to satisfy the booking agent.