Booking a Group Cruise

[cruisinfromtampa]

Hello All,

 

A few questions about group cruising.

 

1. What is the benefit to group booking versus just booking separately? Is there a discount? OBC? etc.

 

2. The room that I want is currently available. If I book it before I set up the group with RC, am I able to then get it added to the group? I just don't want to miss booking my room.

 

3. Is dining automatic? Or do we still have to stop by after check in to get a joint table?

 

4. For those of you who have done group cruising, do you recommend a block of rooms near each other or spreading yourselves out?

 

Thanks for any answers and any further advice you can give.

[Clarea]

Depending on the size of your group and the sailing, you may be able to get OBC and a credit for booking a group.

 

You can move an existing booking into a group.

 

Dining will be handled by the group coordinator on the ship.

[cruisinfromtampa]

Sweet. That mean I'm book my corner aft JS now!

 

By group coordinator, do you mean me since I'm the one setting up the sailing?

[Clarea]

Sweet. That mean I'm book my corner aft JS now!

 

By group coordinator, do you mean me since I'm the one setting up the sailing?

No, you would probably be the Tour Conductor.

 

The Group Coordinator is a ship crewmember than helps with group activities.

[belmontcrew]

Hope this helps.

 

Hello All,

 

A few questions about group cruising.

 

1. What is the benefit to group booking versus just booking separately? Is there a discount? OBC? etc.

 

First you must have at least 8 rooms to qualify as a group booking. Each room requires a $500 deposit regardless of how many are in the room. Each cruise has a certain amount of GAP points assigned for group bookings. Our cruise happened to have 4 GAP points so each cabin gets a $50 OBC. A cruise that had 2 GAP points would get a $25 OBC per room. The max GAP points for any cruise is 8. I have no idea what determines the number of GAP point a sailing gets. Your OBC will not be posted to your account until the second night of the cruise.

 

You will also get a tour conductor credit in the amount of a single passenger's charge of the category room that you have booked the most in your group. On ours, an inside is booked the most, so we will receive a credit in the amount of one passenger in an inside cabin. The amount is not as large as you would believe as Royal takes out taxes and fees plus what I think is the commission amount had the booking been completed by a TA. Our group plans to divide the TC credit by our number of cabins.

 

You do get a group discounted rate that COULD be lower than the current price. For our group, the last deal of free gratuities was better for anyone booking an outside cabin or higher so the discounted rate had no impact. For those in a Promenade or Interior, it saved some money.

 

2. The room that I want is currently available. If I book it before I set up the group with RC, am I able to then get it added to the group? I just don't want to miss booking my room.

I booked my cruise last year and was able to move to the group once we had eight cabins.

 

3. Is dining automatic? Or do we still have to stop by after check in to get a joint table?

Dining is done just as it would be if you had booked as individuals and wanted to sit together. Our group will end up with two tables next to each other.

 

4. For those of you who have done group cruising, do you recommend a block of rooms near each other or spreading yourselves out?

This is a personal preference.

 

Thanks for any answers and any further advice you can give.

[SonicShip]

Hello All,

 

A few questions about group cruising.

 

1. What is the benefit to group booking versus just booking separately? Is there a discount? OBC? etc.

 

2. The room that I want is currently available. If I book it before I set up the group with RC, am I able to then get it added to the group? I just don't want to miss booking my room.

 

3. Is dining automatic? Or do we still have to stop by after check in to get a joint table?

 

4. For those of you who have done group cruising, do you recommend a block of rooms near each other or spreading yourselves out?

 

Thanks for any answers and any further advice you can give.

 

One benefit is that all the reservations in the group are linked. So that everyone can sit a the same table or groups of tables.

 

You can transfer a booking to a group but there maybe a time limit like with the transfer to a travel agent.

I had the dining changed from three tables to two table of 14 before we got on-board. For the rooms we had in the group, all the balconies were in a row. It made it easier when we needed to leave information or get people.

 

When you have a group booking you get tour conductor (depends on the number of cabins) credits and GAP points (depends on the sailing date). With these you can get options such as OBC or dinner at a specialty restaurant for all the guests in the group.

 

On my wedding cruise (Navigator), a few weeks ago we had a cocktail party and dinner at Giovanni's for everyone.

[Eggfrmr]

I am part of a group sailing on FOS in Oct. I was reading about the casino's link to Mlife (MGM resorts). The fine print stated that if you are part of a group you can not accrue Mlife Tier points. Can anyone verify that I was reading this right? Sucks if its true, as this is our only trip this year and really wanted to be able to earn some Mlife credits.

 

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[Summerknight]

We are booked in a 5 day group. Every cabin paid $200 deposit. We have insides thru balconies reserved.

[shipshape sam]

Good info. Want to book a group sometime in 2017 or 2018.

 

Thanks

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

In terms of moving a cabin into a group, it could depend on the type of group you're booking under. If it's just a family or bunch of friends it seems to be doable.

 

But if it's an organized group with an outside coordinator, there may be rules preventing that. Example - last year I went to Alaska on the Great Alaskan Running Cruise. It's a group where we have a cruise escort who works at the agency used to handle everything. She then has a person she works with on the cruise (and she is on the cruise as well). They reserve a certain number of cabins in each category, and as they are all pretty much clumped together by type my guess is the cabins are pre-blocked out. Being part of the group you get access to all the group events (a couple of cocktail parties, stretching and strength training sessions, escorts off the ship first in order to make the races, etc.). The booking information clearly states that you must book as part of the group in order to BE part of the group - in other words in this group's case you could not have booked a cabin and then move it into the group; you would have to cancel your original cabin and book one within the group's block.

 

So the answer to moving a cabin into it is pretty much an "it depends on the group you're booking with".