Nation annual cruise

[DebbieMacG]

I’ve just found out that the second week of my cruise on Nieuw statendam is also a group cruise for the “Nation” 

 

Does anyone know how large this group is normally? I’ve found reference to their 2005 group cruise having 450 onboard, which seems a lot.

 

Final payment for my cruise is Monday so help would be appreciated. I understand this group cruise to be of a political nature.

[CruiserBruce]

Was on a cruise a couple of years ago with them. No problem. The previous week (we were on a B2B), was a conservative group. Both were small...5-600. No problems with either.

[DebbieMacG]

Thanks, that seems  a lot of me but I come from a village of 600 people in the Highlands of Scotland 😁 it is 20-25% of the ship capacity as well.

 

 

[wesport]

Actually The Nation is a liberal magazine. Main speaker is Katrina Vanden  Heuval.  We were on a cruise several years ago with Newsmax a conservative group, and had no problems.  It was fun to see everyone walking around with Sarah Palins new book. 

[DebbieMacG]

9 minutes ago, wesport said:

Actually The Nation is a liberal magazine. Main speaker is Katrina Vanden  Heuval.  We were on a cruise several years ago with Newsmax a conservative group, and had no problems.  It was fun to see everyone walking around with Sarah Palins new book. 

I’ve got no clue who they are just their website said this

 

”Join The Nation on our 22nd Nation cruise — December 8th - 15th, 2019 — to come together with like-minded citizens in the lead-up to this electoral moment.”

 

As long as it  doesn’t impact my cruise it’s fine, I’m there to  experience a Holland America ship for the first time and the Caribbean not to get into debate, liberal or otherwise about American politics.  I live in a country trying to gain its independence  back so I’ve got enough  with my own politics 😂

[Krazy Kruizers]

JMO -- I wouldn't go on a cruise if I knew beforehand that there was going to be a group of 500 - 600 people on board.

 

Years ago before we had someone listing groups on board we did end up on a cruise with a little over 600 people in a group.  They had the main stage reserved nearly every morning and afternoon thus anything that would normally be scheduled for there like Bingo was moved.  Other activities for regular passengers was cut back.  In the evening the Crow's Nest was closed several times for their cocktail parties.

[Aquahound]

31 minutes ago, DebbieMacG said:

As long as it  doesn’t impact my cruise it’s fine...

 

For your sake, I hope it doesn't.  No way would I want a political group to be on my cruise.  One of the reasons I cruise is to disconnect from that sort of crap.  

[DebbieMacG]

5 minutes ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

JMO -- I wouldn't go on a cruise if I knew beforehand that there was going to be a group of 500 - 600 people on board.

 

Years ago before we had someone listing groups on board we did end up on a cruise with a little over 600 people in a group.  They had the main stage reserved nearly every morning and afternoon thus anything that would normally be scheduled for there like Bingo was moved.  Other activities for regular passengers was cut back.  In the evening the Crow's Nest was closed several times for their cocktail parties.

 That is my concern, this is the second week of a two week cruise so I would actually have to either cancel the two weeks and book something else or cancel one of the weeks. I don’t really want to do this as I have already changed ship after the sky princess  transatlantic.

 

Holland America have just emailed me back and said that at the moment there are 230 in this group I’ve replied and asked if this is likely to increase, if it isn’t then its fine. This does however seem a smaller number than the previous years as I found a few mentions so far of 450 to 500 people. I wonder if they mean cabins?

[DebbieMacG]

1 minute ago, Aquahound said:

 

For your sake, I hope it doesn't.  No way would I want a political group to be on my cruise.  One of the reasons I cruise is to disconnect from that sort of crap.  

Exactly! And it’s not even my country’s crap 😂😂

[CruiserBruce]

Again, there was zero public political display from either group on our cruises. You will see people coming and going from their meetings. I don't recall either group locking a specific dining time. Yes, they took the main show room a few days...during the day time, when it isn't used much anyway, except for bingo.  They took standard excursions, as far as I know.

 

It was absolutely no bother to us.

[WeRockChalkKU]

I think that is the same group we had on one of our cruises. They all proudly wear there ID lanyards and stuck to their own group. The negative for us was that they were given all the fixed dining times and and we had to use the As You Wish dining times (or whatever it is called). They also did have crows nest and main lounge reserved for a couple of private events. The positive for us was that we got a major upgrade to a suite at the last minute and was told it was because the private group did not sell/fill that cabin with their group offering. So...we got a nice upgrade. Too bad it was just a 7 night cruise. 

[DebbieMacG]

11 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Again, there was zero public political display from either group on our cruises. You will see people coming and going from their meetings. I don't recall either group locking a specific dining time. Yes, they took the main show room a few days...during the day time, when it isn't used much anyway, except for bingo.  They took standard excursions, as far as I know.

 

It was absolutely no bother to us.

Thanks, HAL have told me they are on late seating for dinner, we aren’t so that’s fine, for us anyway, I don’t play bingo either so that won’t be a bother.  It’s good to hear from someone who’s actually been on a cruise with this group, hopefully our experience will be the same as yours. On the bright side it’s one week of two and we already have a retreat cabana booked for the whole time.

[DebbieMacG]

3 minutes ago, WeRockChalkKU said:

I think that is the same group we had on one of our cruises. They all proudly wear there ID lanyards and stuck to their own group. The negative for us was that they were given all the fixed dining times and and we had to use the As You Wish dining times (or whatever it is called). They also did have crows nest and main lounge reserved for a couple of private events. The positive for us was that we got a major upgrade to a suite at the last minute and was told it was because the private group did not sell/fill that cabin with their group offering. So...we got a nice upgrade. Too bad it was just a 7 night cruise. 

 Thank you for the feedback, congratulations on the upgrade! we have an interior accessible, I would’ve preferred a balcony but nothing is available, this is the reason we booked a retreat cabana as compensation. 

[WeRockChalkKU]

Just now, DebbieMacG said:

 Thank you for the feedback, congratulations on the upgrade! we have an interior accessible, I would’ve preferred a balcony but nothing is available, this is the reason we booked a retreat cabana as compensation. 

Go, enjoy your cruise and then please report back here afterwards. Others will be fit from your thoughts.