Please compare Celebrity to the other cruiselines for our very large group

[SantaFeFan]

I am a fan of Celebrity. Almost all of our cruises have been on various Celebrity ships. I have little practical knowledge of other cruiselines.

 

I am on a committee of a hobby organization that is beginning to research the possibility of chartering a large group, possibly as large as 1,000 people, for a cruise/hobby convention in 2015. The attendees would generally be older, with moderate income, and from all over the US, Canada and some from Europe. The organization will be presenting clinics on board, which would utilize five or six meeting rooms to hold approximately 50 people each. These would run from mid morning to mid evening. We'll also have a need for rooms to conduct contests and our own 'company' store selling our personalized hobby related items. Ports of call would have special, organization provided tours of local hobby related sites, attractions and activities.

 

Since I am mostly familiar with Celebrity, how would you rate Celebrity, Princess, NCL, Holland America and Royal Carribean for our group? I know I haven't provided a lot of detail. We're still hashing out exactly what we would provide for our convention goers.

 

I will be posting this to the general cruising forum as well in order to gain opinions from non-Celebrity fans to collect as many coments from as varied a data pool as possible.

 

Thank you for your insights and suggestions.

[jakeil7]

Five or six meeting rooms are alot of space for a cruise ship. You will probably have to contact each line directly to discuss with them you specific needs and general costs. Since you'd probably need to take over public spaces, this might become difficult.

 

Just a thought.

 

Jake

[Essiesmom]

I replied on you other thread. EM

[gimletgal]

You definitely need to be speaking with a group representative from Celebrity. In some cases (i. e. M-Class) if you have 1,000 people, you would be taking over 1/2 of the ship.

[SuiteTraveler]

I think that you mention of moderate income indicates that you should probably book a less expensive line than Celebrity. One thing that is going to be an issue is having enough meeting space. Most ships just don't have that many meeting rooms that can be used simultaneously.

 

RCCL is owned by Celebrity. It caters to a very active crowd, including active seniors, specializes in entertainment and activities. There are many, many shows. The food is good to great. It is less expensive than Celebrity. The Oasis class of ships (Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas) have plenty of meeting space because the capacity is 6,000 passengers. I suspect that RCCL Oasis Class would be your best bet for this type of event short of doing a charter on a smaller ship owned by some other company.

[ocngypz]

You'd proably be better of looking at one of HAL's "S" class ships for a full charter if you are looking at 1000 people plus the need for so many different meeting venues and your retail activities.

 

Several scrapbooking cruises have been held on Celebrity - I believe it was Millie. They were full ship charters.,

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I think with a group that large you would need to charter the whole ship. So I wouldn't think Celebrity would be a good fit because of this. If 50% of the cruise was a group, the other 50% of the passengers might be annoyed. That is just my suspicion.

[dmwnc1959]

The organization will be presenting clinics on board, which would utilize five or six meeting rooms to hold approximately 50 people each. These would run from mid morning to mid evening. We'll also have a need for rooms to conduct contests and our own 'company' store selling our personalized hobby related items.

 

Would this become an issue for other passengers on the ship unless you do a full-ship charter? Taking over numerous public spaces for extended periods of time?

 

In addition to a 'cruise ship' did you ask your members whether there were other options they would like to explore for the venue to hold the convention? A land-based resort or a theme park that would have plenty of entertainment and dining options after all your sales seminars and meetings are held? Places like Branson, Las Vegas, Tampa or Orlando? Even Nashville, San Diego, or New Orleans? Maybe a single city location with various evening options would be easier than picking a cruise line or ship from the numerous possibilities?

[We're The Groupnors]

I've never been on a Celebrity ship when a convention has been on board (at least not that I'm aware of), but I can see that meeting space on their ships may be a challenge, especially on the new S-class ships where many of the venues and lounges are in open spaces.

 

I have been on a Princess ship when a convention was on board. The convention used various spaces for their meetings, including the main theatre, the wedding chapel, a dining room, a lounge, and various smaller "boardrooms". The ship had multiple dining rooms, so the convention was assigned to one of the three, and therefore had their own "private" dining venue for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

 

Good luck with your plans!

[SuiteTraveler]

I was on RCCL's Oasis of the Seas when there was a huge real estate convention going on. That ship is so big that it was hardly noticeable except we'd see people with nametags from time to time in passing and one night when we ate at the Solarium restaurant, we became aware they were having a party a deck above us - it wasn't noisy - we just saw many of them taking the stairs to get to the space for the party. I think a ship that holds 6,000 passengers can more easily absorb a huge convention group than ships that only hold 2,000 passengers or less.

[SantaFeFan]

Thanks for all the replies. For the record, I don't think it's a good idea holding this convention on a ship. Others on the committee think it's a great idea, including some who have never cruised before - I think they are pushing this as an excuse to finally go on a cruise.

 

I'll pass along your comments to the committee. The biggest concern I'll emphasize is the lack of meeting rooms. Having been on several cruises I personally wouldn't want to be a bad neighbor to other passengers by tying up areas they thought they would have access to when they booked their cruise.

 

Thanks again.