Organizing a Group Cruise- HELP NEEDED!

[bookworm0911]

Help! I have been talking cruise, cruise, cruise at my office and now I have friends and co-workers interested in cruising together and of course they are looking at me to organize! Where do I start after we decide where we want to go?? I'm sure it will be Caribbean, Ft. Lauderdale, HAL, and 7 days and pretty much know the choices I will give them.

 

BUT- THEN WHAT? Was it worth all the trouble or did you find the organizer had no fun? Does the group get special amenities from HAL? Who do I contact? Best to get competing TA bids? How many cabins are needed to be a group?

 

I know so many of you have been on group cruises and also a few have organized them, so-- h-e-l-p, please. :eek:

[DFD1]

Find a post here by HeatherInFlorida. Her signature has her email address HeathersIsland@aol.com (I think). She has done a wonderful job putting together the CC Halloween cruise for 10/29/06. She's a super lady and I'm sure she would be happy to help you get started. Drop her a note. She may see your post here even sooner.

 

Good Luck. It's a lot of work, but should be great fun. DFD

[bookworm0911]

Oh, yes, HEATHER would be a great source of information. I hope she will be able to answer questions here and give us her valuable experience. My gang wants to be reading along as the excitement level is rising. :D

[gizmo]

Where do I start after we decide where we want to go?? I'm sure it will be Caribbean, Ft. Lauderdale, HAL, and 7 days and pretty much know the choices I will give them.

 

BUT- THEN WHAT? Was it worth all the trouble or did you find the organizer had no fun? Does the group get special amenities from HAL? Who do I contact? Best to get competing TA bids? How many cabins are needed to be a group?

 

I know so many of you have been on group cruises and also a few have organized them, so-- h-e-l-p, please. :eek:

 

Mr. Gizmo and I were part of a very large group a couple of years ago. We joined the group after the cruise was chosen by the group. There were a couple of people in this group that I would consider to be group leader types. From conversations I had with people from the group there was a lot of work envolved. Many hours were dedicated to handling things for the group, including handling complaits from group members.

 

This is how it went. Multiple cruises were voted on by the group. These cruises were then bid on by a TA. The TA then negotiated with the cruise lines for prices and amentities. On my cruise, the TA told me it was between Princess and Hal. Both Princess and Hal had lots of amentities but when Hal threw in the hotel at no additional cost the business went to Hal.

 

Off hand I don't know the number of cabins needed to be considered a group for HAL.

 

Each cruise line has their own standard number of cabins required to be considered a group and receive the free cabin for every x amount of cabins booked. I am sure this should be fairly easy to find out. On my cruise we had multiple free cabins.

 

As far as amentities go, they were fantastic.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Hi, Bookworm! Someone told me you were looking for me:D . You can do 2 kinds of group cruises. One would be here through CC or you can do it on your own. The reason we did it on CC was we liked the idea of having our own Message Board. I don't know if you've visited it, but please drop in a take a look.

If you arrange a group cruise outside of CC, you cannot use these boards to discuss it except on a roll call.

Or you can go to any TA and book it through them. I know the TA I use for my individual bookings has a special area on their website that tells you all about how to do it.

Our group is all CC members and since we all met on this board, we wanted to go through CC. I did a thread to get a feel for where everyone wanted to go and for how long. We went with the majority on that and then went to LauraS to get bids, etc. You can click the links in my signature to see the web page with prices and also the link to our message board.

Anything over 8 cabins is considered a group by most cruiselines ... certainly HAL. The extra amenities involved depends on the agent, the cruiseline, etc.

I'll go over to my CC email address in case you've emailed me. Any help I can be just let me know and I'm here for you.

[bepsf]

One has to have 8 double-occupancy staterooms sold to be considered a group on HAL

[HeatherInFlorida]

Following up to my previous post, here's the link to CC's site for "How To Become A Cruise Critic Group Leader": Cruise Critic Group Cruises: Become a Cruise Critic Group LeaderThat will give you a ton of information. Once you've gathered your group and know where you want to go, contact LauraS. It take awhile for her to get you the quotes, but from there on it's a lot of fun ... a lot of work, but fun just the same. If you want details about the "work", email me:)

[dhowell]

My group (aka my extended family of 20) booked our HAL cruise through a TA. We ended up with 9 cabins (2 with 3 people). Basically, for every 16 people booked - assuming 2 people per cabin (must book 8 cabins), the 16th person is "free" which means at the end of our cruise, we will receive a refund for the cost of that 16th person. Since we are celebrating my parents 50th wedding anniversary, some of that money will be spent while on the cruise - we plan to have them renew their vows with all of us participating. The cost of this adds up, so I will pay for the whole thing, then reimburse myself out of the money we get back. If we purchase other things for our parents, we may earmark that money as well. Otherwise, we will divide up the balance of the refund or maybe put it towards a final dinner on their actual anniversary.

 

Anyway, the other thing we got were some "perk" points which we could apply to a number of things. We chose to have snorkeling equipment and banana boat rides at HMC, a private party with drinks and hors d'ouvres one night, and a meal at the Pinnacle grill (no surcharge). My TA said that HAL is not as generous as some of the other cruise lines with the perks, but it also depends on the time of year of your cruise.

 

I've enjoyed coordinating things for the cruise since I have more time than my siblings. Once everything is paid off, it's a breeze because it's up to everyone else to book excursions, etc. on their own - there's only so much you can plan! We booked www.patouche.com for an excursion in Tortola and will have the whole catamaran to ourselves- Something to consider if you have less than 20 people and if you're going to Tortola, of course!

 

One last thing, you can get group insurance - check insuremytrip.com and look at the group rates - much cheaper than individual. I think you need only 10 to be considered a group for insurance.

 

Good luck!:)

[the2ofus]

One caution - every day you must remind yourself that you are not responsible if things go wrong or if some of your group are not happy on the cruise.

 

There were just six of us, all family. When there was a problem which really affected my SIL and her husband I felt just horrible for ever suggesting they join us and for really talking up the joy of cruising. THEY did not blame me, but I still felt bad that they did not have the wonderful time we promised them.

[doone]

I have a group sailing on the Volendam next Feb. and had my TA book it as a group booking through HAL. Dhowell is correct, you need 8 cabins booked with double occupancy, then the 16th will cruise free. There are other ammenities that go along with this group booking that your TA will help you with.

[bookworm0911]

Thanks so much for the quick responses, Heather, doone, dhowell, and gizmo. If I've left anyone out, excuse me. I wasn't able to get back here last night and have read all your posts this morning and thank you, Heather, for the link. Read all of that, so have a much better idea of what goes on!

 

My friends are reading this and discussing when we can all go. Shouldn't be a problem with that. I do understand now about doing a group through CC and or through our own TA. As we all are close friends and neighbors we won't need the CC roll call, so we are able to pursue all kinds of TA options.

 

I understand now about the 8 cabins and the 16th person gets the rebate of fare. Heather, do you think it fair for the group leader to use that herself or share it back with the group? I wouldn't want to appear greedy and don't know what is usually done with that. Also- you all mentioned amenities and perks. Can you give me an idea what we are talking about with that, please? :confused:

 

I'm sure this will be a lot of work, but also fun.

[HeatherInFlorida]

What you decide to do about the "free" fare is entirely your choice. I know few who spread it out, but if it's friends and family you may want to do that. But do bear in mind that there is a lot of work involved. I'm going to email you an idea because it's not appropriate to post it here.

 

Good luck with this!

[gizmo]

Bookworm,

 

You are welcome.:)

 

Since you brought up the free fare, I will tell you how it was handled on my group cruise.

 

There were many free fares. Everyone shared in this perk. It was very nice. I recall there was something about Hal not wanting to give us the credit for the free fares before the cruise, instead, it would be after we returned. The TA handled it somehow and we all received our piece of the pie. :) (I believe I have read that the normal procedure for the free fares was to get the refund after the cruise.)

 

I am not 100% sure but one of the free fares might have gone to the TA since she and her husband went with us. There were lots of things she was handling.

 

Group leaders did not get a free fare.

 

Some of the perks were:

• Hotel included in price
  
• Transportation to the ship
  
• Numerous cocktail parties
  
• Free group picture and frame
  
• First choice of time and tables for dinner. (Everyone received what they requested)
  
• Booking of excursions prior to the cruise. This was a perk since at that time you could not book an excursion on line prior to your cruise.
  

[LauraS]

Hi Bookworm:

 

If you are interested in leading a Cruise Critic group cruise....please feel free to e-mail me at groups@cruisecritic.com. If not, good luck! I've seen the amount of tireless effort our Cruise Critic leaders put into a group cruise here on the forums. It is often much more difficult to "lead" a group of folks whom you've never met before...let alone family and personal friends. My hat is off to ALL of our leaders who spend so much time, effort, and yes, many times even their own money on favors etc to ensure that their "new" friends have a great time sailing together!

 

Laura