How many people to expect

[smiley01]

I am getting married on Royal Carribean's Majesty of the Seas March 2012. They are only blocking rooms at the locked in rate for 30 days. We mailed out 80 save the dates close to a month ago and only have 1 week left before they release the rooms and only a few people booked. We have several people say they are going to go but have yet to book. How far in advance do most guests book to attend wedding and about how many attend?

[acireta]

we sent out STDs back in December and we only have 9 people booked. I'm not holding my breath.

 

Even if your 30-day booking date passes, you can still add people to the group, but they'll have to put $250 down per person, instead of $25pp. You can add people to your group at any time, not just within the 30 days.

[Lipz]

We sent our STDs in August of last year....and to date out of 53 guest 7 have booked, besides us. There are also a few young adults booked with their parents so there are 15 of us sailing so far. Our last booking tok place about a week ago and we have about 3 months to go. We are not expecting anyone else to book at this point.

Your guest will still be able to book, just as acireta said...they will just need to pay the full deposit.

You will have a fabulous wedding with or without everyone you've invited. Try not to worry...as I stopped months ago lol.

[Artemis908]

I am getting married on embarkation day and invited guests to also sail with us. Only person who decided to go on the cruise was my mother... we had a few people tell us they thought they'd come but one got divorced, the others just didn't have the money.

[crislen]

We invited 150 people and ended up with 55 coming (53 sailing and 2 non-sailing)

 

We had a big group book at the beginning (mainly my fiance's family) and then a few people here and there up until February (May wedding) which was our last booking.

 

I think it all depends on your group. We had tons of people who said they would go but then backed out. Then again we also had people who we didn't think would come who are.

 

As long as the people who are most important to you are there, that is what matters, not how large a group you have!

[chars]

That's one of the reasons that I chose an embarkation day wedding. Many people are taking advantage of coming and not having to sail with us. I think it is hard for people to commit a year in advance. On my wedding website, I stated that the group rate prices were available for a limited time and that if they chose to sail after the 30 days they would have to pay the current rate available. Some people are choosing to take that chance because they werent sure if they would be able to cruise.

[Lipz]

We also chose the embarkment day wedding so that those who couldn't cruise would still be able to attend. In a way I'm glad we did since we only have a handful of sailing guest. As it turns out though our best buddies and their kids are cruising, a family of 6, and we couldn't be any more excited. They were the only ones we hoped could sail even if no one else could. My own mother and brother aren't even sailing and that doesn't even phase me lol.

No matter who sails, you will have a blast I am sure.

[smiley01]

Im getting married day cruise leaves, but have not advertised non sailing guests can go as we are not doing reception on cruise instead doing it in Bahamas at restaurant since we are there till midnight. Tomorrow is last day and so far 16 have booked including us. Not getting married till next March. Im just afraid the ones that have not booked and thinking about it will forget.

[flgatormom29]

Im getting married day cruise leaves, but have not advertised non sailing guests can go as we are not doing reception on cruise instead doing it in Bahamas at restaurant since we are there till midnight. Tomorrow is last day and so far 16 have booked including us. Not getting married till next March. Im just afraid the ones that have not booked and thinking about it will forget.

 

Don't be afraid to send a friendly email reminding them that the group booking ends tomorrow. A year is a long time in advance to think about it, if your not the one getting married....

When i started talking about it in dec (10 months before the wedding) people just couldn't be bothered to think about it. I wanted to mention it early because most of my guests used their tax return to book. But in jan, i made a website and sent it out. People started booking late feb....

 

And we only have 12 people going (not including my family of 4) with us. 11 people sailing. I'm happy with that number since it's just the people we are closest with coming and that's all we wanted....

[Lipz]

Im getting married day cruise leaves, but have not advertised non sailing guests can go as we are not doing reception on cruise instead doing it in Bahamas at restaurant since we are there till midnight. Tomorrow is last day and so far 16 have booked including us. Not getting married till next March. Im just afraid the ones that have not booked and thinking about it will forget.

 

Money has been tight for everyone we know these last couple of years so we were not expecting a large group to cruise if anyone at all. We are happy that a few have booked though and we will have a blast no matter the size of our group.

 

 

 

And we only have 12 people going (not including my family of 4) with us. 11 people sailing. I'm happy with that number since it's just the people we are closest with coming and that's all we wanted....

 

We have a family of 4 as well, and 11 guest booked making us 15. Funny thing is besides our kids who we paid for, none of our family is going.

My mother always cries broke but even when she hit the slots a few months ago for $3,000+ she didn't even think to say 'let me book my daughter's wedding cruise since this is money I didn't have to begin with'. Instead she shopped. Now that hurt, but..... her loss! We are going to be talking about this trip for years to come.

[Liv2bCruzin]

You should be able to extend deadline up to three (3) times renewing 29 days This is not something Carnival lets you know....My TA extended it 3 times every 30 days!! I would call someone. It took pretty much the entire time to get all guests to put down there deposits. I ended up with 33 cabins and 60 guests.(I also live 10 mins from the port of Tampa) It works out good when you give people plenty of time and the ability to space out the payments. My first initial deposit for guests was 25 dollars per person which a lot of TA's won't do because they are afraid people will drop out of the group before the 250 per person deposit is due and them do all that work for nothing.(Another thing carnival does not advertise all the time.) The second deposit is 250 per person and the third payment of the reaming balance what is due the usual 60 days prior to sailing.

 

Even though I was able to extend my deadline 3 times but I put on my Save the Dates the of payment deadline 3 weeks before the third deadline truly occurred. Which I am glad I did because I had about 3 cabins book after the fake deadline....lol (my deadline) and they were able to the late ones of the bunch but did not push them into the 250 per person date. Because after my all my extensions expired guests were no longer allowed to only pay the 25 per person they had to pay the 250 per person to lock in a cabin. Basically the 25 dollars is just locks them into the CAT of there choice.

 

Anyhow I would get on the phone with Carnival right away and demand a extension because this is not something my TA was offering this is CARNIVAL.

[Liv2bCruzin]

You should be able to extend deadline up to three (3) times renewing 29 days This is not something Carnival lets you know....My TA extended it 3 times every 30 days!! I would call someone. It took pretty much the entire time to get all guests to put down there deposits. I ended up with 33 cabins and 60 guests.(I also live 10 mins from the port of Tampa) It works out good when you give people plenty of time and the ability to space out the payments. My first initial deposit for guests was 25 dollars per person which a lot of TA's won't do because they are afraid people will drop out of the group before the 250 per person deposit is due and them do all that work for nothing.(Another thing carnival does not advertise all the time.) The second deposit is 250 per person and the third payment of the reaming balance what is due the usual 60 days prior to sailing.

 

Even though I was able to extend my deadline 3 times but I put on my Save the Dates the of payment deadline 3 weeks before the third deadline truly occurred. Which I am glad I did because I had about 3 cabins book after the fake deadline....lol (my deadline) and they were able to the late ones of the bunch but did not push them into the 250 per person date. Because after my all my extensions expired guests were no longer allowed to only pay the 25 per person they had to pay the 250 per person to lock in a cabin. Basically the 25 dollars is just locks them into the CAT of there choice.

 

Anyhow I would get on the phone with Carnival right away and demand a extension because this is not something my TA was offering this is CARNIVAL.

[Lipz]

You should be able to extend deadline up to three (3) times renewing 29 days This is not something Carnival lets you know....My TA extended it 3 times every 30 days!!

 

You are helping someone you don't know your helping, me! lol

I'm already planning our next cruise which is a family reunion next July with Carnival. When I called them for info the consultant told me it was $250 deposit per person due in two weeks if I wanted to book. Of course me being me, I also sent my info request to my TA and not only did he get us a $25 per person deposit, but it's not due til May 27th. Ummmmm....

At any rate, does this 3 time extension mean for the initial $25 deposit? Although $25 isn't much, if you have a family it may be to much to ditch out to soon for some.

 

It works out good when you give people plenty of time and the ability to space out the payments.

 

This trip I'm trying to plan is for next July. We mapped it out where guest would have to make the deposit in May and then have 11 more months to pay as the balance would be due in April. For a Balcony that's $150 a month per person and for an inside it's $100 a month per person.

 

 

Basically the 25 dollars is just locks them into the CAT of there choice.

 

I wondered why the deposit was so low. Good to know.

 

Anyhow I would get on the phone with Carnival right away and demand a extension because this is not something my TA was offering this is CARNIVAL.

 

I've read over and over again TA's don't get any special rates and that it's all the cruise line. It's just sad that they don't give the same information to us layman!

 

We're doing our wedding cruise via NCL and so the Carnival group booking is new to me. Do you know what the amenity points are like for groups on Carnival?

[mrsgomez2011]

You really never know how many people are going to cruise until they tell you they booked. We have (2 months away) now 20 ppl; 3 just booked 3 days ago!! LOL

 

STDs and even invites don't seem to get their arses moving!! haha

 

But out of all the invites we sent out, only 2 people declined because of work. Everyone else is attending just not sailing.

[Lipz]

My first initial deposit for guests was 25 dollars per person which a lot of TA's won't do because they are afraid people will drop out of the group before the 250 per person deposit is due and them do all that work for nothing.(Another thing carnival does not advertise all the time.) The second deposit is 250 per person and the third payment of the remaining balance what is due the usual 60 days prior to sailing.

 

Because after my all my extensions expired guests were no longer allowed to only pay the 25 per person they had to pay the 250 per person to lock in a cabin. Basically the 25 dollars is just locks them into the CAT of there choice.

 

 

So here's an update.

We got the same info from the TA $25 per person, but when we went to book and pay the $50 today Carnival said we had to pay $500 ($250 per person). This is what my TA emailed me:

"I called in the $50 but to actually select something, a category or cabin, they want, not only names, but full deposit $500 ($250 per person), same as quads and triples." Have a nice evening."

So now I'm confused and I got in to late to reach my TA.

Since you've done this I have a question... do we have to collect the $25 from everyone first in order to book. For example, minimum is 8 cabins for a group so therefoer we would need $400?!? ($25 x double occupancy = $400). If this is the case I don't know if we can get folsk to fork over $25 in 4 weeks! People aren't usually ready to commit so fast, and if we need $250 from each person...that ain't gonna happen in no 4 weeks for sure!

[smiley01]

We blocked a bunch of rooms and gave us 30 days. We sent STD right after we booked group with all the information. Our guests called to book their rooms and everyone that booked had to put $100 deposit down. After 30 days they release all the rooms and that were not booked and people still can call and reserve under that group but can not garatee same price. Our 30 days is up today and we had 20 people book. Im hoping some more will book later.