Ideas for cruising with 10 people on the Getaway.

[lola4795]

We are going with extended family. The general idea of the people in charge is for all of us to spend the whole trip together. Are there any good tips for traveling with this huge pack? What are the best thoughts for dinners? We won't be doing any specialty restaurants. Only non-charge places. Any tips you can give for traveling in a herd would be appreciated!

[ColinIllinois]

My recommendation for "packs" of cruisers is to have a couple of night where people just do what they want and eat where they want. That lets people rest up if they want and doesn't have the feeling of "forced" fun, if that makes sense.

[mobu2015]

We've cruised with that number before. It's not that difficult to manage but one thing I'd keep on mind is that even though it's a family vacation, it's also each person's vacation too. I'm as close to my family as anyone could be but we all agreed beforehand we'd meet up for breakfast and dinner every day and if some in the group wanted to go off in port and do their own thing then no hard feelings. We picked one uncrowded but central spot in the ship and said we could meet up there during down times. We tried to stay in the same area around lunch every day we were on the ahip so if part of the group wanted to join they could. We chose one excursion to do as a group and ended up spending most of the time together but I think it's unrealistic to excpect everyone to do everything together at all times.

 

For example, my sister and her husband weren't into getting off the ship at one port so they spent the day at the pool while the rest of us did our own thing. Some took a taxi tour, some went ziplining and some shopped near the ship. We all had fun and at dinner in the MDR that night had lots of fun stories to share.

 

My husband and I aren't into the shows. We skipped those in favor of a movie or wandering around the ship. My dad and uncle went to the casino. We would all meet afterwards for a quick drink.

 

It is definitely doable, tons of fun and makes for amazing memories but again don't expect everyone to spend all of their time with eachother, leave some room for everyone to make their own memories.

 

Have fun planning!

[cb at sea]

Bad, bad idea.....eat dinner together, and then join each other when you wish! You will have 10 very unhappy people, if you try to get everyone on the same page at the same time...

 

You should do a traditional dining time, so there is no guesswork...same time and table nightly. IF someone wants to do something on their own, they should certainly be allowed to do so!

 

The people "in charge" will have a case of mutiny if they expect folks on vacation to kow-tow to them!

 

And, I would have everyone make their own arrangements thru a travel agent....that way, 1 person is not responsible when something goes wrong...and something always goes wrong...murphy's law.

Edited June 14, 2015 by cb at sea

[Kamloops50]

Bad, bad idea.....eat dinner together, and then join each other when you wish! You will have 10 very unhappy people, if you try to get everyone on the same page at the same time...

 

You should do a traditional dining time, so there is no guesswork...same time and table nightly. IF someone wants to do something on their own, they should certainly be allowed to do so!

 

The people "in charge" will have a case of mutiny if they expect folks on vacation to kow-tow to them!

 

And, I would have everyone make their own arrangements thru a travel agent....that way, 1 person is not responsible when something goes wrong...and something always goes wrong...murphy's law.

 

I agree with this . Even when we travel with another couple we don't always stay or eat together every night.

[LrgPizza]

I love my family dearly, and have vacationed numerous times with them. With what your group is planning though? I'd stay home.

 

Book a couple dinners for the group - maybe go to a couple shows together. Other than that, I'd maybe create an itinerary of ideas and give people the option to join or enjoy their vacation doing something else. As someone else mentioned, forced fun generally has the opposite effect.

[maywell]

We are going with extended family. The general idea of the people in charge is for all of us to spend the whole trip together. Are there any good tips for traveling with this huge pack? What are the best thoughts for dinners? We won't be doing any specialty restaurants. Only non-charge places. Any tips you can give for traveling in a herd would be appreciated!

 

Please don't do the entire week 'together', you're going to hate each other real fast. How about doing 1-5 breakfast and/or dinners together during the week and maybe 1-2 shore excursions but don't do everything as a group.Some in your group might think mini-golf is fun, while others think rock climbing while another thinks sitting on the balcony is but doing all three and other activities at the same time is just going bring problems. That's the beauty of the cruise - everyone can do different things during the day then meet up for dinner to discuss what they did without resentment.

 

If you truly need to see each other throughout the week -

 

1) set up a breakfast / lunch / dinner schedule time and designated location (buffet, O'sheenan, Flamingo grill. One of the MDR). Regarding the MDR, you can reserve tables there(I think up to 8 or 10); give the maitre'd or guest services onbard a call to schedule meal times.

2) Bring Walk-talkies or use the NCL app to stay connected

3) Plan out what shows and shore excursions to do during the week, when you get on board look at the dailies to see what activities to do

4) Realize that not everyone in your group will want to do the same things as you at any given, so please do not take it to heart or think its condemnation against you. It is what it is.

[SuiteTraveler]

When we cruise with family, we all go do our own thing during the day and just meet for dinner. If someone wants to eat somewhere else, it's fine. My inlaws prefer to eat in the buffet for all meals and they go to stuff like art auctions and raffles that we NEVER go to. They do whatever they want to do and my husband and I do our thing. It's really best that way for all concerned. Let your family go to whatever shows they want to when THEY want to. Trying to schedule for everyone will only cause misery and disappointment and eventually a mutiny.

 

incidentally, I had originally thought that we would have to "babysit" the inlaws a lot since they had never cruised before, but they took to it, read their schedules and planned their own activities for every day. It was great!

[Pia1913]

We are doing the exact same thing; July 25th Getaway. We have 4 cabins; 10 people. We also have the dining package and reservations are already made for all dinners. Other than that, everyone will do their own thing from dawn to............... We've done many family cruises thru the years; mostly with all 17 of us. This time only 10 could do it.

[kydustbunny]

Lola ~

 

No one knows your family like you do.

If y'all want to spend every minute together, you can certainly pull it off.

 

We traveled in May with a "herd" of 8 ....

our immediate family of 6 (me + hubby + 4 adult kids aged 19 to 25)

+ 2 best friends.

 

On our sailing, we all meet up for dinner every night

+ reserved all the same show times (Burn the Floor + the Imaginarium

+ Legally Blonde).

We also all booked the same excursions with the exception of the walking tour we did in Nassau which our best friends opted out of.

 

Tips:

#1 - Get the NCL iconcierge app! Communication was SO EASY with it!

#2 - No sweat getting into the MDR's: We literally never had more than a 5 min wait to get into any of the free dining venues with our party of 8.

I think the 5 min was so they could push tables together for us.

#3 - If everyone agrees on seeing the shows, reserve before you sail.

#4 - Ditto on your excursions. The more popular ones sell out before the ship leaves Miami.

#5 - Once on board, find a "designated" hang out where your family can meet as a default. We always sat in the same area at the buffet each morning for breakfast and folks who woke up in time headed there once they woke up. We also migrated to the same area in Spice H20 each afternoon for the same reason.

#6 - We all did the slides together on Day #1 (before the rest of the passengers seemed to realize they were there). All 8 of us did them multiple times as a group. FUN stu

 

Having said all that, we chose to let everyone do their own thing on Sea Days and 2 of our kids slept in every morning instead of meeting up for breakfast.

 

HOPE these tips help.

HAPPY SAILING to you and your extended family !!!

[bambione]

A year ago we had eight of us on the Getaway. In January we will be cruising with around 14 of us to celebrate my dad's 90th birthday. There is no way I would want to hang out with my relatives the entire time. I even need quiet time away from my husband! I would suggest that you pick an earlier time for dinner each night, 5 or 5:30. It seems the later a larger group eats, the longer it takes for them to serve the group. I brought along a few magnetic wipe-off boards that I stuck on the cabin doors. People could leave notes where they were going for everyone. I would also suggest the Iconcierge app to keep in touch with each other. Make sure you download the app before you get on board. But in our group some people were too cheap to pay the 7.95 for the texting option, or they didn't have the right phone. That's where the magnetic wipe off boards came in handy. I like going with a large group, because if I get tired of some people, I just go hang out with someone else! Have fun!

[sparkinator]

We've cruised in groups before and I echo others sentiments on just having a scheduled dinner together each night. That was the only thing that we agreed we would do together for the week. That was our gameplan and it worked out great for us. At times, we would go on excursions together, or maybe just a few of us together, but we'd always meet back up at dinner, and we always had something great to talk about.

Edited June 15, 2015 by sparkinator