Going with a LARGE group, why do other cruisers have a problems?

[kikiwik]

I personally would not want to be on a cruise where there was a large group going. I'm going on my first cruise in may and im looking forward to that but if there was going to be a large group on it i think it may turn me off of crusies!

[specialthing1]

We have also been on a group cruise. We showed up on time for 1st night in dinning room and were moved 3 times to accomadate the tire company which we wernt a part of bearly had time to eat after they finaly found a table that would "accept" us.Ship did a lot of tendering in ports and all priority was given to the group.

[grest]

We had a high school senior trip group sailing on the Nieuw Amsterdam on our first cruise many years ago. These kids took over several areas of the ship, drank excessively, and the chaperones were largely missing or partying themselves. HAL was not pleased...an announcement was made to over the loudspeaker that the whole group would meet with the powers that be. They were told in no uncertain terms that they either clean up their act, show some courtesy to the other passengers, and the chaperones better do their job, or they would be unceremoniously left behind at the next port...and this worked!

[gizmo]

I was part of a large group once. There were "clicks" in the group that cruised together every year. There were others like me that joined the group for the price. This was a 10 day cruise.

 

Hal provided 2 cocktails parties in the Crows Nest. It was in the afternoon and the Crows Nest was closed off to others.

We had priority in the dining room.

We had priority for excursions. This was before you could book ahead of time on line. The TA sent us the excursions and we could book them before sailing.

 

Not all groups are alike. The larger the better. Hal was providing the hotel. We were supposed to stay at Pier 66. Along comes a LARGER group. We got kicked out and had to go to the Marriott North. :rolleyes: There were a lot of angry people over this.

 

This group books a cruise every year. They have never gone back to Hal. I had the impression the hotel incident may have contributed to that decision.

[Nasmas]

My wife are I are considering changing our reservations to the 2/3/07 Maasdam. That's a NUDE cruise :eek:

 

And you're ok with that? My hubby would stroke

[herb]

And you're ok with that? My hubby would stroke

 

OMG, I was only kidding, if my wife and I showed up nude the cruiseship would end up becoming a private yacht! :D

[jhannah]

Has Hunky Dory really left the Zuiderdam? I think I read somewhere else he is now on the Volendam?

No, he's on the Zuiderdam. The real one, at least. See the thread "Will the real Hunky Dory please stand up."

[flashdog_1]

When I was cruise shopping lately I had figured out the itinerary I wanted, and noticed some differences in prices for different dates within weeks of the other.

 

I went to the roll call boards for each of them. Most had just a few posts. One had 50 or so so I clicked to see who the passengers were. One person asked another, "are you a part of the xxx group?" So I googled xxx and found out it was a gay and lesbian group that were offering discounted rates on the cruise. It clearly said "you do not have to participate in any group activities. You will still get the group rate. And you do not have to be gay to get the low rate."