Need help ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!

[cuthbert732]

Please someone help me i did't know it was my turn to host the family vacation.How do i make it affordable for people like down payments and i have the date for the cruise NOV.17 and they want it to be 6 days we will rent vans for the people from Ga and the ones from Boston will fly in.Thinking about the Breeze WHAT DO I DO WHERE DO I START:eek:.

[Cruizinman]

Dont do the six day GT , Falmouth , Nassau your better off to choose a more southern cruise !!!

Nov 2013 ,:D it's a while yet to go . No Rush .

[letsgo39]

You should get a good travel agent or use the Carnival PVP. They will help you through the process.Good Luck.

[Cushing985]

So many questions...so few answers...so few details!

 

If I were you I would find a travel agent (one with a local presence) experienced in both group travel and Carnival specifically. Tell the agent about your family and what their expectations are for the cruise. Let the agent go from there.

 

You have just under a year to organize it...don't sweat it. Let the agent do his or her's job but follow-up with the plans as things progress so you aren't surprised.

[Liverpoollovely]

Please someone help me i did't know it was my turn to host the family vacation.How do i make it affordable for people like down payments and i have the date for the cruise NOV.17 and they want it to be 6 days we will rent vans for the people from Ga and the ones from Boston will fly in.Thinking about the Breeze WHAT DO I DO WHERE DO I START:eek:.

 

 

Ok have you booked the cruise yet? If not does it have to be the breeze? Are you wanting to sail from port of Miami? If so .. Go a day earlier on the carnival liberty it's cheaper and u get to do more ports ...

 

Consider if you have any military members there is an option on the site and therefore I'm guessing their is a discount .. There's also discount for 55 and over cruisers if anyone in your family is there's a possibility of a discount .. There's also special rates for residents and those who are VIFP ... So if anyone is you can get special rates ...

 

 

I am by no means an expert though having only sailed on two carnival cruises before your probably best dealing with carnival directly .. Good luck though :)

[deedle7544]

relax, it will be great for everyone. when we planned a family cruise, we gave everyone the dates, and the first time worked with a trvel agent, 2nd time did not as I was comfortable with organizing directly with Carnival. So Step 1, figure out your comfort level, on how much responsibility you can take on. If its not a lot, get a TA or PVP and let everyone deal directly with that person, but I would ask everyone to incule you on everything so you can know whats going on.

 

Above all, don;t panic - its fun!

[CanWeGoYet?]

A suggestion if you want to find a travel agent: if you ask "are you familiar with carnival cruise lines" I think it's likely any travel agent will say yes.

 

They want the business. Start by asking which cruise lines they have sailed with, and work with the most for booking clients. Ask which cruise line they would recommend. And if it sounds like they have a lot of experience booking carnival cruises go from there. I have spoken with travel agents who know little about carnival & try to steer their client away from this line. He knew nothing about platinum perks, insisted NCL had great food compared to Carnival - & not talking about premium restaurants. But if their potential client was stuck on carnival I'm sure he would have said Oh yeah I know all about carnival etc.

 

A TA or Carnival vacation planner can link your dining together so you could be seated together or at least near each other - if the group is large. Don't do Early Saver unless you & everyone is dead set on this particular cruise - changes or canceling before final payment will be more simple if it is a less restricted (regular) booking.

[silvercrikhix]

Give this a read---from a very organized CC member who planned one for her group: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=36254689&postcount=3

[Tbay-eh]

I personally would never take on this much responsibility - I would notify everyone of the cruise you picked - date, ship, itinery and would let everyone look after everything else, including booking the cruise themselves, arrange transportation to and from it. You can, like others say, have a common TA or PVP do all of the leg work. Do you have to pay for everything, do they pay for everything, do you share in the expenses and how do you go about this. I love my family and extended family dearly but would not, could not and could not afford to do it.

[PDXJAS]

I did a family cruise in 2007. It was a great way to do it. It was only a 3-day, but I will tell you what I learned. It was not on Carnival, but RC. I had found a great deal on Travelocity. I put out the word and 35 family members all booked the cruise.Everyone booked on their own. I thought great easy for me. I got everyones booking # and cabin. I called a head to RC and tryed to get us all seated near each other for dinner. They would not talk to me since I had booked travelocity. Called Travelocity they say no problem. Give them all the booking #'s rooms ect. No problem all set. Great I tell the group we are all together. Get on the ship. We are not together at all. Some have late dining. Others in the dining room above. Talk to the matre d after first dinner. He has nothing. So you can get everyone to book sep, but make sure EVERYONE goes thru the same agency. I found out during that not everyone booked the way I had told them.

[SNJCruisers]

Dont do the six day GT , Falmouth , Nassau your better off to choose a more southern cruise !!!

Nov 2013 ,:D it's a while yet to go . No Rush .

The OP was probably specific about the Nov 17 6 day sailing for a reason. I am inferring it's because it is Thanksgiving Week and those that have to drive to the port will have it easy because the cruise starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday, giving them the buffer days before and after to drive to and from the port.

 

To the OP....talk things over with your relatives first and get as much info and input from them as possible. If the 11/17 sailing of the Breeze is what has been decided on, half your battle is done. It's now just deciding on what type of cabins every body wants and whether your group will be eating main, late or anytime.

 

Once you have the cruise booked, then you can start on the secondary part, such as joining your roll call here on CC, and doing ports of call research and independent tour research. Good luck.

[kingoftheicedragons]

Where do you start with the planning? Start by just assuming that it's going to be only you (and your immediate family) going on the trip. Find out what the deposit would cost for your family, and start getting price quotes. In this day and age, you can do a lot of this online in your pajamas over the course of an hour or maybe two.

 

If it's affordable to you, it's probably going to be affordable to the others (without knowing what everyone's financial situation is). If you want validation from the others that they can afford that or would enjoy that vacation, then ask them.

 

Really, planning a family vacation is no different from planning an individual vacation unless you're expected to pay for everything. Once everyone is booked, you can call Carnival directly and ask to 1) have the dining reservations linked together so you can all eat together, and 2) seeing if you can get rooms at least fairly close to each other. This last part may not be possible as some may want a suite, or a balcony, and others may just want to keep the trip as affordable as possible and do inside cabins on the low decks.

[goodml]

Where do you start with the planning? Start by just assuming that it's going to be only you (and your immediate family) going on the trip. Find out what the deposit would cost for your family, and start getting price quotes. In this day and age, you can do a lot of this online in your pajamas over the course of an hour or maybe two.

 

If it's affordable to you, it's probably going to be affordable to the others (without knowing what everyone's financial situation is). If you want validation from the others that they can afford that or would enjoy that vacation, then ask them.

 

Really, planning a family vacation is no different from planning an individual vacation unless you're expected to pay for everything. Once everyone is booked, you can call Carnival directly and ask to 1) have the dining reservations linked together so you can all eat together, and 2) seeing if you can get rooms at least fairly close to each other. This last part may not be possible as some may want a suite, or a balcony, and others may just want to keep the trip as affordable as possible and do inside cabins on the low decks.

 

This is a great answer! I'm setting sail a week from today on Valor with a group of 18 from my husband's side of the family. I have done most of the planning. I started by doing exactly as suggested above. Jammies, glass of wine, iPad and a couple of hours is all I needed to get started:D. I knew the week we needed so I looked at all the available itineraries for that time period, basically sorted by price to find something reasonable, then chose three that I thought would appeal most broadly to the group and sent out the details. Majority ruled on the choice and then we sent the decision back out and let everyone decide individually if they were going or not. I actually have a client that's a TA (I never use one anymore personally) so I contacted her with the details of what we were doing and gave her the booking. She put a group together for us and took care of determining who wanted which type of cabin, making the reservations, linking for dining, finding cabin blocks etc.

 

I also watched for flights regularly and sent out an email blast when I spotted a good rate so people could go on and book or call the TA or wait it out hoping for a better price. Same for hotels and excursions. So basically OP if you're the planner/researcher you can be a great source of info but not have to be responsible for the work of managing the actual reservations for everyone.

[lovebelle]

I personally would never take on this much responsibility - I would notify everyone of the cruise you picked - date, ship, itinery and would let everyone look after everything else, including booking the cruise themselves, arrange transportation to and from it. You can, like others say, have a common TA or PVP do all of the leg work. Do you have to pay for everything, do they pay for everything, do you share in the expenses and how do you go about this. I love my family and extended family dearly but would not, could not and could not afford to do it.

 

This is exactly what I did for my family cruise. It is simply too much work organizing a lot of people, so I simply picked the cruise and sent messages to everyone on the details. I also forwarded the information for my PVP to those wanting to book directly through carnival and those that preferred using a Travel agent I provided my booking# so they could link the reservations together.

 

Another reason I did not want to get involved in planning aspects of each person's vacation is because everyone's financial situation is different. Some of my family booked immediately when I did, and others still have not booked and are waiting until Tax returns. Also some may want to stay in a nicer hotel pre or post cruise and others may want something more economical. To each their own, but I did not want to get involved with all that.

 

So that would be my advice to you. Once you know who all is going and when it gets closer, then you can worry about booking vans and things like that.

[Brenna's Mom1]

Having traveled a lot with family (from a half dozen peeps to 12 family units) I would strongly suggest that you 1-pick the cruise, and 2-let everyone know. I agree you get a single TA or a Carnival rep and forward that info to everyone.

 

Don't be in charge of any monies, don't try and get group rates, don't plan and book "family" air fares, car services, etc. Research and choose what you would do as a single family from airlines, transport, airlines, shore excursions, dining times, etc. send that out and then let everyone choose to follow along with you or go their own routes.

 

Provide everyone who is going everyone else's contact info. Let groups within the families plan their own stuff...they will...and have them post it on a set-up family blog and issuing invitations for others to join them if they so choose. But again...and I can't emphasize this enough...let each family book and pay their own. Don't try and get everyone's rooms together (why would you), let Carnival know as soon as everyone has booked that you would like to be seated together at dinner (and I would suggest everyone request the same set dining time) on several banquet tables. Then just mix and match each evening.

 

Do set up a point of commitment date, do set up a family meet and greet for the first day (choose any bar on the ship and just meet there) and have everyone bring their planned itinerary.

 

One thing I do know is that staying attached at the hip causes nothing but problems and the "planner" often ends up being the brunt of everyone else's frustrations.

[cuthbert732]

Thanks everyone for the help and no way can i afford to pay for everything. The reason everyone wanted that date is because of vaction time and they will travel back to Ga after the cruise.Alot of ideas i'm gold on carnival and will contact a TA on carnival and go from there. Thanks again i hust want everyone to hav e a good time and don't want the event i plan be a disaster.

[golfadj]

You should get a good travel agent or use the Carnival PVP. They will help you through the process.Good Luck.

 

Good advise

[BigDfromTN]

You should get a good travel agent or use the Carnival PVP. They will help you through the process.Good Luck.

 

This would be my advice with an emphasis on a good PVP. They are accessable via toll free number and can handle all types of rates and room types with good knowledge. I know mine has done such a thing and helped us with multiple families booking several times.

This makes it so much easier for you!!!

[Sparky2]

Having traveled a lot with family (from a half dozen peeps to 12 family units) I would strongly suggest that you 1-pick the cruise' date=' and 2-let everyone know. I agree you get a single TA or a Carnival rep and forward that info to everyone.

 

Don't be in charge of any monies, don't try and get group rates, don't plan and book "family" air fares, car services, etc. Research and choose what you would do as a single family from airlines, transport, airlines, shore excursions, dining times, etc. send that out and then let everyone choose to follow along with you or go their own routes.

 

Provide everyone who is going everyone else's contact info. Let groups within the families plan their own stuff...they will...and have them post it on a set-up family blog and issuing invitations for others to join them if they so choose. But again...and I can't emphasize this enough...let each family book and pay their own. Don't try and get everyone's rooms together (why would you), let Carnival know as soon as everyone has booked that you would like to be seated together at dinner (and I would suggest everyone request the same set dining time) on several banquet tables. Then just mix and match each evening.

 

Do set up a point of commitment date, do set up a family meet and greet for the first day (choose any bar on the ship and just meet there) and have everyone bring their planned itinerary.

 

One thing I do know is that staying attached at the hip causes nothing but problems and the "planner" often ends up being the brunt of everyone else's frustrations.[/quote']

 

Good points, Brenna'a Mon 1.

[LHP]

You should get a good travel agent or use the Carnival PVP. They will help you through the process.Good Luck.

 

Please use a Travel Agent that comes highly recommended.....

 

let THEM do all the worrying!!!

[RuthlessBoss]

How did the other family members handle it when it was "their turn"?

[Carnival_Brides]

We (FI and I) are doing a family cruise for our wedding next month and have handled almost everything for the 17 people (7 cabins) in our group. We obviously picked the date, itinerary and ship first and then gave everyone the information. We didn't worry about group perks because someone ends up paying for those in the end and we didn't worry about blocking rooms because some people want an Interior and some want the Grand-Super-Extra-Deluxe Captain's Suite.

 

When people were ready to book (only a few had traveled before, let alone cruised) they called us and we three-wayed our Carnival PVP to make sure they got the rooms and rates they wanted. We did pay for several cabins. As others have suggested, I wouldn't deal with the money part because that's where things can go ugly and where you might want a PVP or TA. We did however, remind people about the upcoming final payment because we did have one couple who almost forget about the last payment.

 

We have found StacyandPaul's review very helpful because of all the information sheets she created and we were able to adapt and add to (Thanks Stacy!).

 

If anything, make sure your family understand that there is a new pricing structure and what they are locking themselves into with the new rates. My brother would have loved to book the cheapest (non-refundable) rate as a surprise to his wife in August, until he found out she was pregnant a week later and almost wasn't able to cruise (she will be squeaking by at 22 weeks).

 

I hope some of this information helps.