Cruising with 50 people - suggestions?

[ExFed drvr]

Remind everyone that you are not joined at the hip..Suggest one area in the Lido for breakfast. Rotate seats at dinner. Dennis

[muffinbaby]

send them on a different cruise... then you can enjoy it... :)

 

hope you have a good time

 

 

I agree!

[Rapsmac]

Just remember:

Make sure everyone is there before boarding the ship.

Do anytime dinning, the wait will not be that bad.

Have someone save 50 lounge chairs using a towel, book, flip flops or shirts so you will all be in the same area.

Never go anywhere without the whole group.

Have one person get in the buffet line and everyone else can cut the line.

Smuggle lots of alcohol or have one person buy the drink package, and hand out drinks to the whole group.

I think with fifty people you are allowed one barrel of wine. Maybe two!

Find the secret door on the ship so you all can have some alone time.

:D

Actually having that many friends on board sounds like a blast! Have a great time.

Edited June 26, 2014 by Rapsmac

[sailingwithfriends]

I love to cruise with a group. I have planned four group cruises in the last five years. Our groups have ranged from 16-35. Here are a few things that I do to help make it smooth.

1. Use a travel agent. I contact him with date and ship. I let everyone know (by email) his contact phone number. Each person is responsible for their own booking. I actually help the people select a cabin location by doing mock bookings through Carnival online. When people tell me they would like to join our group, I usually tell them a good cabin # to tell the travel agent. That has worked out every time.

2. Make sure you are booked as a group. That will help you get a discount on your cabin. A free cabin for every 8 paid cabins. You will still have to pay fees and taxes. That "free" part can also be divided into parts for every cabin.

3. Assigned Dinner Time. Select that early on and make sure everyone knows they must book the cruise early enough to be assigned the same time. If people add to your group after assigned dining time has been given, they might not be able to sit with you at dinner.

4. Group Excursions. I generally book independently of cruise line. I have used cruise line if I was worried about getting back to ship on time. I generally only have one group excursion per cruise. I set up the details and everyone must decide if they want to participate. I generally require they give me the money up front. They are all responsible for their own tips to excursion drivers, etc. On some cruises, everyone participates. On other cruises, some people participate. It is offered, but each person can decide ahead of time if they want to participate.

5. Group Photos- Carnival is easy to work with. A different cruise line wanted a huge sitting fee, so we actually found an individual to take our photo on a different set of stairs than were being used by photographer. That photo turned out okay, but not fantastic. On carnival, go to the photography center and set up a time. You will have to pay an up front fee, but it is $150.00. They will give you 15 8x10 for that price. I then divided the price by number of photos being purchased. It ends up being much cheaper. They probably have other package deals you can select from.

6. Precruise Hotel- I decide where I'm going to stay. I let the other people in our group know. We always drive to the port from home. Staying at a hotel with a cruise and park package is cheaper than parking at the port the entire length of the cruise. After I select the hotel, I give the info. by email to everyone. It is up to them to make their own reservations. Almost everyone stays at the same hotel. The fun starts the day before. We sometimes caravan down the day before. We have teenagers, so they get to hang out with each other in pool or at dinner the night before.

7. Non-excursion ports. I generally decide what I want to do. At dinner the night before, I'll tell people. If they want to join me, that's great. Sometimes they will. Sometimes they have other plans.

8. Communication on ship is difficult. You can call their rooms directly. You can use post it notes. I actually used a portable doorbell on our cabin door on our last cabin. (I wrote a review called Group Cruise on Carnival Sunshine May 30, 2014). It gives you some info. about that. We had an aftwrap cabin. When we welcomed company, the doorbell was put outside our door. We could sit on the balcony and still hear the doorbell. You can't hear anyone knock on the door if you are on your balcony.

9. Make sure everyone has a list of cabin #s for your group. I also had a list of cell phone #s for travels down and back from cruise. We used those #s a lot.

10. If you have teenagers, they will probably hang out together a lot. Being with a group helps relieve the worries of parents. They will generally have one cabin that they hang out in or one spot on the ship.

I hope you have a wonderful time. I currently planning my next group cruise to Alaska.

[Athankfulheart]

Yes, I organized the cruise. All guests handled their own cruise bookings. I was only in charge of setting up the group # and talking to Carnival about the perks. As for diner: Does anyone know how big the biggest table is that Carnival has in the dining room? 8 or 10 top? Booked on Paradise leaving out of Tampa at the end of next month. Thanks.

 

I would definitely ask the groups coordinator about this. There is a lady named Vernisha Williams at Carnival who I found to be very helpful and accommodating. I am not familiar with the Paradise, but on the Dream we could have 5 tables for 10 alongside the windows and these were available in several areas of the rear diningroom.

[gatorphin]

Excellent advice everyone.

We are only in port 1 day. Cozumel. Most of us are going to Mr. Sancho's.

We have late seating for diner. I plan on going to the dining room after I board to discuss seating.

Carnival is giving us an hour of open bar for the first 2 people listed in each cabin (which is fine because the other 2 in each cabin are kids anyway). They are also giving us $25 OBC for each cabin booked and every 16th cruiser gets their cruise free (which we will convert to OBC and distribute equally among the families).

I've already made a map for all cabins booked since we're all on the same floor. I've also made a Facebook page (private) to keep everyone up to date.

I'm not real worried about anything, just going with a No Worries attitude. After all, anything can be fixed with another drink. :)

[StaceySteveDMB]

Don't wait around for everyone. Have a favorite hang out place where everyone can meet up and relax together.

 

 

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[Mary Ellen1]

Excellent advice everyone.

We are only in port 1 day. Cozumel. Most of us are going to Mr. Sancho's.

We have late seating for diner. I plan on going to the dining room after I board to discuss seating.

Carnival is giving us an hour of open bar for the first 2 people listed in each cabin (which is fine because the other 2 in each cabin are kids anyway). They are also giving us $25 OBC for each cabin booked and every 16th cruiser gets their cruise free (which we will convert to OBC and distribute equally among the families).

I've already made a map for all cabins booked since we're all on the same floor. I've also made a Facebook page (private) to keep everyone up to date.

I'm not real worried about anything, just going with a No Worries attitude. After all, anything can be fixed with another drink. :)

 

Did you know you can email the Maitre'd' in advance, and request dining arrangements? That might be a better option, with a group of your size. If you wait till you board, he'll have a bigger job on his hands, trying to juggle things around. (Although, if your reservations are linked, he'll already have you seated together for dining.)

 

The email addresses are on these boards -- if I find it I will post.

[Mary Ellen1]

Here ya go:

 

Maitre’d Email Addresses:

 

1st two letters of ship +maitred@carnival.com

Example: (Liberty) limaitred@carnival.com

 

BR Breeze

CQ Conquest

DE Destiny

DR Dream

EC Ecstacy

EL Elation

FA Fantasy

FS Fascination

FD Freedom

GL Glory

IM Imagination

IS Inspiration

LE Legend

LI Liberty

MI Miracle

PA Paradise

SE Sensation

SP Spirit

SL Splendor

SU Sunshine

TI Triumph

VA Valor

VI Victory

[pbsteve]

Like everyone said, plan dinner together and that's it, people will form their own mini groups throughout the cruise. Just be ready and understand when something bad happens. After the last family cruise I and most of the rest if the family did not speak to my father for years. Everyone agreed it was his fault, but I stopped going to dinner with the family on the 3rd night. Expect something like this to happen, because it might. Don't be a schedule ****, if someone doesn't show for dinner usually there's a reason. After that night, about half the group ate in the mar the other half with me wherever I we found ourselves hungry.

 

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[gatorphin]

Here ya go:

 

Maitre’d Email Addresses:

 

1st two letters of ship +maitred@carnival.com

Example: (Liberty) limaitred@carnival.com

 

BR Breeze

CQ Conquest

DE Destiny

DR Dream

EC Ecstacy

EL Elation

FA Fantasy

FS Fascination

FD Freedom

GL Glory

IM Imagination

IS Inspiration

LE Legend

LI Liberty

MI Miracle

PA Paradise

SE Sensation

SP Spirit

SL Splendor

SU Sunshine

TI Triumph

VA Valor

VI Victory

 

Thank you! I just email him/her.

[flarad]

Just remember:

Make sure everyone is there before boarding the ship.

Do anytime dinning, the wait will not be that bad.

Have someone save 50 lounge chairs using a towel, book, flip flops or shirts so you will all be in the same area.

Never go anywhere without the whole group.

Have one person get in the buffet line and everyone else can cut the line.

Smuggle lots of alcohol or have one person buy the drink package, and hand out drinks to the whole group.

I think with fifty people you are allowed one barrel of wine. Maybe two!

Find the secret door on the ship so you all can have some alone time.

:D

Actually having that many friends on board sounds like a blast! Have a great time.

 

 

Thank you. I just laughed out loud. It would be so fun to try a few of these!

 

 

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[Oppalopa]

I am thinking of taking that one. The Paradise.

Edited June 26, 2014 by Oppalopa

[asaulo1]

Once did a 10 day Alaskan cruise with a total of 30 people and we had such a great time. We had a section of the dining room just for us which consisted of 4 tables. We switched out people every night so that you get to sit with a different set of people every night. We ended up being the loudest group in the dining area and people would come up to us saying that they wanted to join our group since we all looked like we were having a blast. We would schedule activities and just leave it to the families if they wanted to join in and for the most part, everyone seemed to be together most of the time. Definitely a fun way to cruise....,

 

 

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[dorisis]

I have hosted a large group. My biggest suggestions are 1) have everyone book and handle their own finances. 2) Link for dinner and make that the only time that you see the group. Beyond that people can book excursions together if they want to, but the "obligation" is dinner each night. Its a really nice balance.

 

Very good advise. The best part of cruising with a group is letting everyone do their own thing. Then discuss their day at dinner. Swicth around at tables.

[morganboys]

I would re-emphasize the let everyone do their own thing. It was bad enough when we had a group of 10. couldn't imagine 50 or 60 people. you will have do early or late seating since getting that many in to my time dining would be tough and you most likely wouldn't be together. forget the idea of having lunch at the buffet together. would be dang near impossible to get enough table together to sit as a group. same goes for the shows.

Edited June 29, 2014 by morganboys

[LuckyZ]

I plan on going to the dining room after I board to discuss seating. :)

 

if you booked as a group, I believe Carnival will already know to seat you in the same area of the dining room.

 

But if everyone booked on their own accord, I think waiting till you get on the ship will be too late.

[kristy29]

I traveled with a group of over 50 people a couple years ago. We did all link our bookings so our tables were together at dinner, and we were in a corner so we were out of the way of other diners. During the day everyone did their own thing on the ship, but we did see each other a lot. We had certain spots where there were always people hanging out, like in the buffet we always gathered in the same place, and near the pool. We did mostly do excursions together, I organized one. It was to Paradise Cove in Freeport, and they sent 2 buses for our group and then we hung out on their beach all day, it was a lot of fun. If you want to do that, contact come places and see if they have a group discount. It's not as hard as it seems to organize a group excursion.

 

Most of all, be flexible, and have fun!!

Edited June 29, 2014 by kristy29

[Lerin]

I think some people are missing the part when you said 50 friends, not 50 family members.

You'll have a great time, nothing to worry about. ;)

[Mrs. Squirrel]

I think some people are missing the part when you said 50 friends, not 50 family members.

You'll have a great time, nothing to worry about. ;)

 

Yes, maybe that will cut the potential drama. I don't even have 50 friends with whom I'd want to cruise, so I am impressed with OP just on that point alone!

 

We have done several group cruises and land vacations, though. You have already gotten some great ideas, but my personal favorite group must dos are the group photo and the matching shirts.

 

Have a great cruise!

[Thebosn1]

I'm cruising with over 50 of our friends at the end of this month! Ages range from 7 - 50+. Anyone out there done this before and do you have any suggestions for us? Thanks!:)

 

I have never sailed with more than a few friends, but as someone who has never sailed with a group let me say this;

 

Please do not use the fact that you are in a large group to give you any advantage over families and individuals. Some large groups feel entitled to "take over" entire sections of the ship for themselves. I had a really bad experience onthe Freedom a few years ago where a group kept showing up some place and basically pushing everyone else out so they could have it for themselves. Last night of the cruise I finally lost it when they piled into the piano bar and were telling people who had been sitting there to "Move, we are a group!" It didn't go well.

 

I'm sure your group is not like that, but just keep in mind that families and individuals paid for their cruise same as you, and have the same right to enjoy ALL the venues just the same. Even if they are not all wearing the same T-shirt.

[asaulo1]

Well, just finished an 12 day Euro cruise with family members and compared to our 30 member cruise party (mostly of friends) last year in Alaska, this one proved to be more challenging. Being obligated to do excursions together was extremely difficult since everyone felt differently about activities during the trips. As opposed to the "friends" party, we were pretty much free to do what we wanted and if we wanted to join in another group or they wanted to join our activities, it was a choice. I guess that's usually the case. All in all, it was still fun.

 

 

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[rubysmom]

I agree with someone on here about not micro managing...to me that is the worst part of someone organizing for a gang....we went in a big group in February....I loved that my friend took care of the bookings...I did our own flights....everybody did their own thing during the day..if you wanted to hang along with people who are doing what you want to do..go for it..a lot of people were strangers..at the beginning... But by the end of the cruise it was old home week...we ate near each other every night and usually you ran into others after dinner or in the casino...I like the no pressure thing..there is nothing worse than a den mother plotting out your every move..!!! The good thing with our group was we had none of that...and the one excursion that almost every one of us booked on Roatan together was a wash since we couldn't dock there...go figure!!! .The first day we met for sailaway at the bar after our luggage was in the room...then it was every man for himself...most of the rest of the time..!!! Have a great vacation!!!

Edited July 19, 2014 by rubysmom

[ma_t_gus]

We are traveling group of about 100 peoples on July '15. Gonna be fun since most of us have known each other for over 20 years and our kids have known each other since they were born. Celebrating our 5th year anniversary trip when 60 of us went to Cancun for a week.

Edited April 29, 2015 by ma_t_gus

[dnj1]

send them on a different cruise... then you can enjoy it... :)

 

hope you have a good time

 

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