Pub Crawl: Through NCL or on our own?

[Gimmiethebeach]

Hi. I'm organizing a pub crawl for our roll call and I have a couple of questions. For those of you who have organized/attended pub crawls, is it better to try and organize something through the cruise line, or just make up our own? I've read in some instances where NCL says they won't do them anymore, so if that's the case I won't have a choice. But if there is a choice, does NCL do anything special? Do they still charge a fee even with the UBP? Anything else really fun you have done on a pub crawl? Thank you!!

 

 

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[Putangie63]

I did one with NCL a few years ago. The games at each bar is what really made it fun. They divided us into teams and had different contests. It was convenient having drinks already made when we got to each bar. The one a few years back was $25 a person.

 

 

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[cage keeper]

We did one with some of our CC roll call group the first night on the ship 3/15. Planning to do it again this March with that other group I found. (not allowed to say the other on here).

[margie1221]

Bumping this up in hopes of getting some more replies...

[Gimmiethebeach]

I did organize ours last March so I can just tell you my experience. I have not seen one organized by NCL show up on the dailies although I’ve only cruised three times with NCL. I’m guessing with the UBP the NCL pub crawls are a thing of the past.

 

It’s basically just like being at a bar with a huge group of people. Regular UBP rules apply. I did not try and organize it through NCL, just did it on my own. Picked the order of the bars so people could find us if they couldn’t start with us, played some games and had some prizes. It was really fun and a good way to meet some new people.

 

 

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[margie1221]

Thanks for sharing - do you remember which bars you hit and the order?

 

 

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[xriva]

I’ve done a couple on my own since Norwegian doesn’t seem to do them any more. My last one had 90+ people signed up and was completely unmanageable by the time we got to the Meet & Greet so be ready to create teams or set a sign-up limit.

 

I asked one of the cruise directors how many people he thought could show up at a bar at one time without breaking everything, and he said 25 - so that’s a upper target. If it gets beyond that, I would talk to the cruise director or food & beverage manager to get assistance with scheduling.

 

My usual methodology was to start at the top of the ship, forward, and then move from forward to aft on each deck, and then move down decks.

 

Remember that the old ship-run pub crawls had “sample-size” drinks at each stop, so there was some control over intake. If you have 20 people with the UBP, drinking full-size drinks at each stop, you may require naps or stomach pumps.

 

If you time it right, you could end up at the Friends of Bill meeting. Just saying.

 

I made a map of the ship with the bar locations and then verified hours (which can vary) once we were onboard. We started at 1pm at the pool bars (or the Spinnaker lounge) so we wouldn’t run over the evening activities and in case the aforementioned nap was required.

 

It’s fun! It’s work, but it’s fun.

 

 

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[jdvmd]

I’ve done a couple on my own since Norwegian doesn’t seem to do them any more. My last one had 90+ people signed up and was completely unmanageable by the time we got to the Meet & Greet so be ready to create teams or set a sign-up limit.

 

I asked one of the cruise directors how many people he thought could show up at a bar at one time without breaking everything, and he said 25 - so that’s a upper target. If it gets beyond that, I would talk to the cruise director or food & beverage manager to get assistance with scheduling.

 

My usual methodology was to start at the top of the ship, forward, and then move from forward to aft on each deck, and then move down decks.

 

Remember that the old ship-run pub crawls had “sample-size” drinks at each stop, so there was some control over intake. If you have 20 people with the UBP, drinking full-size drinks at each stop, you may require naps or stomach pumps.

 

If you time it right, you could end up at the Friends of Bill meeting. Just saying.

 

I made a map of the ship with the bar locations and then verified hours (which can vary) once we were onboard. We started at 1pm at the pool bars (or the Spinnaker lounge) so we wouldn’t run over the evening activities and in case the aforementioned nap was required.

 

It’s fun! It’s work, but it’s fun.

 

 

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I'm impressed that you organized 90+ people!

[Gimmiethebeach]

Thanks for sharing - do you remember which bars you hit and the order?

 

 

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This is what we did. We had 25-30 people show up. And I did check the most recent dailies I could find to make sure we weren’t going to run into NCL planned activities...

 

“The pub crawl is going to be on the first sea day, so day 2 of the cruise. In order to give those with small children time to get them to the kids club, we will meet at 2:15 at the Spice H2O bar on deck 16 aft. I will have mardi gras beads for everyone so we can identify our group. We will plan on spending 20-30 minutes at each bar, with Sugarcane possibly taking longer just because of the handmade drinks. I have fun things planned at each stop with prizes at the end. No worries, no crazy drinking games!

 

From Spice H2O, our route is as follows (arrival times to each bar are approximate in case anyone needs to meet up with us mid-crawl):

 

Chill Out Bar, deck 16 aft - 2:35-2:40

 

O'Sheehan's, deck 7 mid - 3:10-3:15

 

Sugarcane Mojito Bar, deck 8 mid - 3:40-3:45

 

Sunset Bar on the Waterfront, deck 8 mid - 4:15-4:20”

 

 

 

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[xriva]

I'm impressed that you organized 90+ people!

 

 

The interesting part was that a couple of the teams had people appoint themselves as leads. One team ended up hanging out almost every night of the cruise.

 

It was waaaaay too many people.

 

This was a Transatlantic cruise, so there were lots of people looking for something to do during the day!

 

If I do it again, I will set a limit.

 

On our last cruise, we were supposed to have a poker pub crawl, but the organizers felt ill, so it was canceled.

 

The poker pub crawl participants would be limited by the number of cards - and it’s limited to five bars since that’s the number of cards in the hand.

 

 

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[jinteso]

This is what we did. We had 25-30 people show up. And I did check the most recent dailies I could find to make sure we weren’t going to run into NCL planned activities...

 

“The pub crawl is going to be on the first sea day, so day 2 of the cruise. In order to give those with small children time to get them to the kids club, we will meet at 2:15 at the Spice H2O bar on deck 16 aft. I will have mardi gras beads for everyone so we can identify our group. We will plan on spending 20-30 minutes at each bar, with Sugarcane possibly taking longer just because of the handmade drinks. I have fun things planned at each stop with prizes at the end. No worries, no crazy drinking games!

 

From Spice H2O, our route is as follows (arrival times to each bar are approximate in case anyone needs to meet up with us mid-crawl):

 

Chill Out Bar, deck 16 aft - 2:35-2:40

 

O'Sheehan's, deck 7 mid - 3:10-3:15

 

Sugarcane Mojito Bar, deck 8 mid - 3:40-3:45

 

Sunset Bar on the Waterfront, deck 8 mid - 4:15-4:20”

 

 

 

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I am responsible for planning one for our cruise and never even have been to one. Can you share what type of games (fun things) and prizes you had?

[bbryan5]

I've done the NCL organized ones, and also have created our own. I like creating your own because you choose which bars to hit, for how long, and what to drink. Have fun.

[icicle]

What kinds of games do you organize for the pub crawl?

[coach jim]

I have organized a pub crawl the last two years, first on the Getaway then on the Escape this past Feb. With both we decided to do it right after sail way. This way everyone could get a feel for the ship. We hung out with people we met on the pub-crawl the rest of the week. The other reason we did it the first day was because of the the activities planned for the first sea day, M & G, gift exchange, cabin crawl and slot pull. Doing it after sail away means it will run into dinner but that was not a problem. Key is to hold to a "schedule" at least the first three bars, 15-20 minutes at each bar. After that things start to take on a life of their own! We started at Margaretaville at 4:45, then Waves bar, down to seven for O'Sheehan's, then up to eight for Sugarcane, Sunset/5 O'Clock bar on the waterfront and the District Brew House. Key with timing was hitting the sunset bar/5 O'Clock Somewhere on the water front at sunset! The crew that made it to the DBH were the people we hung out with the rest of the week. With the Getaway, Sunset bar was the last stop. I put together cocktail and beer trivia and attempted to connect it to the bar. We gave out poker cards for correct answers, best hand won and were crowned king/queen of trivia. This past Feb we had two outstanding trivia masters so we crowned a Queen and King! First time the group was about 20, this year we started with over 30. It is a great way to meet people and get the layout of the ship. We asked that everyone wear Mardi Gras beads to identify they were part of the group, I brought extras.

[NancyL2]

I have organized a pub crawl the last two years, first on the Getaway then on the Escape this past Feb. With both we decided to do it right after sail way. This way everyone could get a feel for the ship. We hung out with people we met on the pub-crawl the rest of the week. The other reason we did it the first day was because of the the activities planned for the first sea day, M & G, gift exchange, cabin crawl and slot pull. Doing it after sail away means it will run into dinner but that was not a problem. Key is to hold to a "schedule" at least the first three bars, 15-20 minutes at each bar. After that things start to take on a life of their own! We started at Margaretaville at 4:45, then Waves bar, down to seven for O'Sheehan's, then up to eight for Sugarcane, Sunset/5 O'Clock bar on the waterfront and the District Brew House. Key with timing was hitting the sunset bar/5 O'Clock Somewhere on the water front at sunset! The crew that made it to the DBH were the people we hung out with the rest of the week. With the Getaway, Sunset bar was the last stop. I put together cocktail and beer trivia and attempted to connect it to the bar. We gave out poker cards for correct answers, best hand won and were crowned king/queen of trivia. This past Feb we had two outstanding trivia masters so we crowned a Queen and King! First time the group was about 20, this year we started with over 30. It is a great way to meet people and get the layout of the ship. We asked that everyone wear Mardi Gras beads to identify they were part of the group, I brought extras.

 

That sounds amazinly fun! We need you to join the Gem 10/20 cruise and organize the m/g and a pub crawl. :) :D;);)

[coach jim]

That sounds amazinly fun! We need you to join the Gem 10/20 cruise and organize the m/g and a pub crawl. :) :D;);)

Would love to but already booked for the Bliss Feb, 2019! We have a big part of our Escape crawl booked for the Bliss.;)