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Large groups on SD


lovecruisingtoo
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Wife and I were looking at the 2018 Med itineraries that were released the other week. Decided to book the June 2nd, 2018 SD 1 cruise from Monte Carlo to Civitavecchia. However, when we went to book, it appears that there is a large group that has reserved all of Deck 3 (other decks appear to be wide open). Trying to get more information from SD relative to the group. But if it is one big group, I am very concerned that they will basically take over the ship and detract from the SD experience. FYI, we have sailed extensively with WindStar and this will be our first time on SD.

 

What is everyone's experience when there has been a large group onboard? Should we be concerned?

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Be concerned. We are on SD1 right now and looked at the same cruise. It looked like they also had deck 4 booked from what we saw. We are trying to get more in fo, too, and will let you know. Meanwhile, the one after it looks good, too. If the timing works for you, consider it. It is RT Rome, and has a number of the same ports. It is also very open when we looked the other day.

 

There is a fairly large group on the ship now. It does change the character, as it is harder to get to know people since the group tends to be insular. Also, they might all show up for breakfast or lunch at the same time.

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How were you able to see availability? It would be nice to not have to call or write to see what the availability is. Was able to confirm with SD that it is a large group that has booked the entire deck. Will probably pass on that cruise. We are retired so timing of a different cruise is not an issue.

Edited by lovecruisingtoo
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Like many here, we are frequent SD cruisers.

 

Last November, on our trans-atlantic crossing, we tried to book a cruise

for late 2017 only to be told that entire deck three was occupied.

 

A few weeks ago, in calling to make yet another reservation, we found out

that space had now become available and we were able to secure our

desired accommodations. Voila!

 

Can't explain what happened BUT, be patient. I do agree, however, that

large groups can (an often do) change the tenor of a cruise ... more

often than not for the worse.

 

Still, much rather cruise with 102 passengers and an engaging crew than

with 8,600+ passengers on Allure of the Seas.

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Wanted to thank everyone for confirming my thoughts. We love sailing on small ships (have sailed on WS about 7 times). One time there was a large group on the cruise and it definitely took away from the experience.

 

We will look at other SD cruises (and WS when they come out) to see what itinerary is best for us. We are really looking forward to booking our first cruise on SD.

 

Thanks again for everyone's help.

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We have sailed on both Windstar and Wind Spirit and more than two-dozen times on Sea Dream ... a few comparisons:

 

Cabins similar, food far superior on SD, outside deck space SD wins hands down,

crew, again SD wins.

 

All in all, and we've done Royal Clipper, Azamara, Windstar and a few of the larger

ships, the nod in most categories goes to Sea Dream.

 

I will concede that a large group on a small ship can be disruptive but have always

found a place to escape the madding crowd on Sea Dream. You will not be

disappointed. :)

 

 

 

 

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Well, WRIPRO, I thought it was you (not me) who said "If it were me I'd

cancel. If a group has booked an entire deck chances they will take over all

the public spaces too." And, "Groups tend to think they own the whole ship

and act accordingly". Sounds like a mall at Christmas to me!

 

What I was trying to infer was that if a FEW passengers tend to rankle your

feathers, you can always find a little corner on SD to escape to. As I

said, on over two-dozen voyages on SD we have never experienced

what you obviously have to lead to your conclusions. Are you certain you

are not confusing Carnival with Sea Dream?

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Well, WRIPRO, I thought it was you (not me) who said "If it were me I'd

cancel. If a group has booked an entire deck chances they will take over all

the public spaces too." And, "Groups tend to think they own the whole ship

and act accordingly". Sounds like a mall at Christmas to me!

 

What I was trying to infer was that if a FEW passengers tend to rankle your

feathers, you can always find a little corner on SD to escape to. As I

said, on over two-dozen voyages on SD we have never experienced

what you obviously have to lead to your conclusions. Are you certain you

are not confusing Carnival with Sea Dream?

 

I have to come a bit to Wripro's defense here as we have had at least 4 SD cruises very negatively impacted by groups doing just those things. Those on this board that have only had perfect cruises are very lucky. Our last 4 have been wonderful with great passenger mixes and very few to no kids. On Carnival we have never had issues with large groups taking over.:eek: Hard to do that on a huge people farm.......:eek: Last month, come to think of it, there was a group on our cruise. 16 cabins on 3 deck were booked by Zoom Vacations. They specialize (according to the website) in "High End Gay Travel". They were a great group and mixed in well. No problems with the "gang" mentality with them but it does happen. The owner and his usual entourage is a prime example. Ok enough from me.......Time to test the new batch of Tequila. :D

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I personally suspect that a group of 16 cabins booked by Zoom Vacations would be very different from a group that booked probably 50% or more (all of Deck 3 and a large portion of Deck 4) of the ship either before the itinerary was released to the public or very rapidly thereafter. To me, this means the group is probably a large corporation or organization where most people would know each other and probably have organized activities on the ship.

 

Commander, your comments are exactly why we want to try SD. We just feel that for our first cruise on SD we do not want to take the risk of having a very large group possibly "take over" the ship.

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If I can add our experience to the discussion?...

 

Two years ago we booked on SD2, we heard there was a large booking about 70% of the boat booked by a company, an incentive cruise.

We were very nervous but decided to bite the bullet and go anyway. Well, glad we did go! The group turned out to be lots of fun! Met great people and really enjoyed learning about how this particular company operates. The people were very inclusive of the rest of us Seadreamers and we had great fun with them.

A very memorable seadream experience. You just never know who you'll meet!

Just my two cents!

Kathy.

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Well, WRIPRO, I thought it was you (not me) who said "If it were me I'd

cancel. If a group has booked an entire deck chances they will take over all

the public spaces too." And, "Groups tend to think they own the whole ship

and act accordingly". Sounds like a mall at Christmas to me!

 

What I was trying to infer was that if a FEW passengers tend to rankle your

feathers, you can always find a little corner on SD to escape to. As I

said, on over two-dozen voyages on SD we have never experienced

what you obviously have to lead to your conclusions. Are you certain you

are not confusing Carnival with Sea Dream?

 

Well, COMMANDER COURAGEOUS, I did say "if it were me I'd cancel," and I did say "groups tend to think they own the whole ship and act accordingly." These are entirely consistent with my comment that one should not need to search for place to escape the madding crowd. Escaping a few rankling passengers is much easier than escaping half the ship. That is what led me to my conclusions. And believe me, I did not confuse Sea Dream with Carnival.

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Sitting in the exec lounge at St. Martin, so I have wifi and can add my two cents worth. There are groups and there are groups. The large group we just had on SD1 definitely did not dominate the ship. As I understand it, they were a group put together by their TA, and may or may not have known all the others. If the TA can get discounted fares for everyone, it sounds like a good plan. People seemed to go their own way, and I was never really aware of who was in that group. Not the same as a sales incentive for car salesmen. I suspect that a number of them were repeat cruisers, based upon the fact we had more than 60 of the 103 passengers who were Club members. Others, I suppose, were people the TA wanted to introduce to the ship. Nobody seemed out of place.

 

Having said that, we found that there were very few couples traveling by themselves as we were. This inhibited our ability to socialize, but a table for two every night on deck 2 can be very nice, too.

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Sitting in the exec lounge at St. Martin, so I have wifi and can add my two cents worth. There are groups and there are groups. The large group we just had on SD1 definitely did not dominate the ship. As I understand it, they were a group put together by their TA, and may or may not have known all the others. If the TA can get discounted fares for everyone, it sounds like a good plan. People seemed to go their own way, and I was never really aware of who was in that group. Not the same as a sales incentive for car salesmen. I suspect that a number of them were repeat cruisers, based upon the fact we had more than 60 of the 103 passengers who were Club members. Others, I suppose, were people the TA wanted to introduce to the ship. Nobody seemed out of place.

 

Having said that, we found that there were very few couples traveling by themselves as we were. This inhibited our ability to socialize, but a table for two every night on deck 2 can be very nice, too.

 

As you say, that is not a group. It's a conglomeration of individual passengers who have nothing common with each other and so will not act as one unit. Apples to oranges.

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As you say, that is not a group. It's a conglomeration of individual passengers who have nothing common with each other and so will not act as one unit. Apples to oranges.

 

That's true, wripro, but if all you know is that an entire deck has been booked, how do you know if they are apples or oranges? Or do you just play it safe, like we decided to do, and book a different voyage?

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