Family Reunion Cruise

[a3593]

Has anyone held a family reunion on the ship?   if so what activities/excursions did you do?  Our reunion will be on the Oasis this summer, and I'm trying to avoid a situation where everyone is scattered doing separate activities and there's no "togetherness."  Its a fairly large group, hence the difficulty.  Any suggestions?

[Scoobydobe7]

10 minutes ago, a3593 said:

Has anyone held a family reunion on the ship?   if so what activities/excursions did you do?  Our reunion will be on the Oasis this summer, and I'm trying to avoid a situation where everyone is scattered doing separate activities and there's no "togetherness."  Its a fairly large group, hence the difficulty.  Any suggestions?

On a sea day organize a "family scavenger hunt" ..have the list ready pre-cruise...i.e. car in promenade, base of abyss, central park umbrella bin...etc...have family's snap a picture of each item....have some medals for 1st, 2nd and third place..

I am sure you will get a lots of suggestions.

Have fun!!

 

Edited February 16, 2023 by Scoobydobe7

[Cruiser_1977]

How large of a group? Ages? Is everyone mobile on their own? Lots of things to consider. I like the above idea of a scavenger hunt on the ship. Makes it easy for all ages/mobility levels. If you haven't already, link the reservations if you'd like to have dinner together in the evenings.

Edited February 16, 2023 by JennyB1977

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, a3593 said:

Has anyone held a family reunion on the ship?   if so what activities/excursions did you do?  Our reunion will be on the Oasis this summer, and I'm trying to avoid a situation where everyone is scattered doing separate activities and there's no "togetherness."  Its a fairly large group, hence the difficulty.  Any suggestions?

Leave lots of time for people to do things on their own.  Everyone's tastes are different.  Plenty of time to get together on board but people need time for their families to enjoy as well.

[smokeybandit]

I would schedule 1-2 events a day and leave the rest of the time for people to be on their own otherwise it'll just cause tension, even among the closest families.

[easyqueasy]

Or team challenges in addition to scavenger hunt like completing: round of golf, zip line, rock wall climbing to first bell, lap around track, boogie board, ride the carousel, go down slide, etc. Only one person is needed per team to complete or however you want. 

[Toddcan]

2 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Leave lots of time for people to do things on their own.  Everyone's tastes are different.  Plenty of time to get together on board but people need time for their families to enjoy as well.

 

2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I would schedule 1-2 events a day and leave the rest of the time for people to be on their own otherwise it'll just cause tension, even among the closest families.

 

This!! 100% 

 

Same thing applies for a land-based vacation, but I think it's amplified for a cruise for some reason (captive audience, likely).   Nothing stresses even the best of friendships like being told what to do all of the time - all day. 

[Cigar King]

Personally I'm going with everyone can do their own thing, other than I would like everyone to have dinner together.  I want everyone to be able to enjoy themselves and not everyone wants to participate in these events.

 

Oh, get off my lawn!  😉

 

[Toddcan]

13 minutes ago, Cigar King said:

Personally I'm going with everyone can do their own thing, other than I would like everyone to have dinner together.  I want everyone to be able to enjoy themselves and not everyone wants to participate in these events.

 

Oh, get off my lawn!  😉

 

 This is exactly what we're doing with our kids this summer. I booked 4 cabins for all our kids and their kids, but our only planned together activity is dinner to catch up. Might see someone at the show, or on deck - but might not. 🙂

 

I did book excursions as a group though - after review as a group. 

[Joseph2017China]

Reunion: a social gathering attended by members of a certain group of people who have not seen each other for some time.

 

Vacation:  a leave of absence from a regular job or an instance of leisure travel away from home

 

So a reunion is an event where a group gathers for a few hours but a vacation is a full time of relaxation.  Pretty hard to make a vacation into a reunion, however, like others suggested, have a few items, like a dinner, or if you have younger people things like a specific mini golf tournament, or maybe a basketball game in the sports plex, Ice skating family time, or flow rider period.  But definitely make it so that it is simply an optional time to have fun together

 

[JustinPlusLauren]

I'd perhaps create an email group or a private Facebook group for the whole family. Ask people to make suggestions of what they're really looking forward to doing on the ship. Choose a couple of activities from that list or perhaps book an excursion together if you can all agree to one. I'm sure there will be lots of different tastes and preferences and you don't want to force everyone into continual activities with one another the entire time. I think it should be a group decision 🙂

[Amberle3]

If there's a particular type of shore excursion that most people are interested in then you can see about trying to plan one of those for the group. I don't know if Royal will do a private shore excursion but there are shore excursion companies that will.

[TRadle]

We've done this a couple of times.  We planned one excursion during the cruise that everyone went on and had dinner reservations for the entire group each evening.  This has worked out great.  The older generations and the younger generations were very happy!

 

Enjoy the time with your family. 

[Fouremco]

We had a family cruise a couple of years ago on the Allure, twelve of us in total. We enjoyed it so much that we are booked for a repeat performance on the Symphony. Other than shore excursions and a couple of shows that were booked beforehand, we had no set plans other than having a group dinner every night at a table for twelve that was set up for us. For port days, we tended to split into two groups, sometimes three, depending on people's preferences. Much the same for sea days, although the number and size of the groupings fluctuated throughout the day. It seems like everyone was happy with that model, and we'll do the same for the coming cruise. With ages ranging from 8 to 80, interests and abilities dictate a variety of activities, and dinner provides an excellent time to recount the day's events.

[derorim]

14 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

We had a family cruise a couple of years ago on the Allure, twelve of us in total. We enjoyed it so much that we are booked for a repeat performance on the Symphony. Other than shore excursions and a couple of shows that were booked beforehand, we had no set plans other than having a group dinner every night at a table for twelve that was set up for us. For port days, we tended to split into two groups, sometimes three, depending on people's preferences. Much the same for sea days, although the number and size of the groupings fluctuated throughout the day. It seems like everyone was happy with that model, and we'll do the same for the coming cruise. With ages ranging from 8 to 80, interests and abilities dictate a variety of activities, and dinner provides an excellent time to recount the day's events.

 

We did the exact same as you for our similar family group. Everyone was given the freedom to do the things that interested them most during the day.  We always ate dinner together, but everyone was able to go do different things afterwards.  We often did the same things, and we usually went on excursions together, but it was not a requirement.  Relax and let everyone enjoy the experience.

[hollins2007]

My first cruise was a family reunion in 2009.  We didn't have any set activities.  I think we met up on the ship the first day, prior to ship leaving port, to say hello and go to dinner together.  We had dinner together most nights (though two tables, since there were 17 of us, I think?).  I did some excursions with my immediate family but most everyone did their own thing, then again, meet back for dinner.  We also got a group photo together.

 

I think it would be nice to do a poll or something to see if there is an excursion or two to do together, if everyone has similar interests; meanwhile, come together for meals to share experiences and have that time together!  That's my suggestion anyway.  🙂

[earltonharley]

We do a family cruise (our kids and grandkids) every couple of years. The kids know what time their mother and I go to breakfast. They can join us, or not. The only thing I want is to have dinner together. At dinner, we are updated as to which grandchild will be with us for the next day so the older ones can do things with their parents. It is everyone’s vacation. They all do loads of things on their own. Coming from a family of 145 just from my maternal grandparents, I’ve found that the only time we had to force activities on the kids was in a place where there wasn’t much going on. I’ve NEVER booked a cruise for a family vacation on a ship that nothing was going on. Next family cruise is Symphony!  Happy sailing!