Group sailing

[sunny4jj]

For all of you who have sailed with a group. How did you handle get together? I am organizing a surprise cruise for my husbands 70th birthday. There could be anywhere from 10-20 people. I don’t want to be overly structured. I want people to enjoy their cruise. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[Mic101680]

I've done it a couple different ways, but usually we will either hire a travel agent to secure a group of rooms and everyone books through the TA (takes the hassle of arranging everything on your own) or someone in the group will book a trip and everyone else just books what they want on their own.

We make loose plans to meet for dinner or at one of the bars or whatever, set a time for everyone to meet for a group picture, then the rest of the trip is on our own. We all will get the chat plan and have a group chat so we could say "I'm going to the comedy club if anyone wants to join" and then everyone can respond or just show up if they want to meet up.

We found this works great - we've done it with just 4-5 people and as many as 40 and have had a great time every time.

[sunny4jj]

1 hour ago, Mic101680 said:

I've done it a couple different ways, but usually we will either hire a travel agent to secure a group of rooms and everyone books through the TA (takes the hassle of arranging everything on your own) or someone in the group will book a trip and everyone else just books what they want on their own.

We make loose plans to meet for dinner or at one of the bars or whatever, set a time for everyone to meet for a group picture, then the rest of the trip is on our own. We all will get the chat plan and have a group chat so we could say "I'm going to the comedy club if anyone wants to join" and then everyone can respond or just show up if they want to meet up.

We found this works great - we've done it with just 4-5 people and as many as 40 and have had a great time every time.

Thanks, do you think we will have any problems getting a large enough table for dinner? I’m thinking I’ll just do it one night, on his birthday. Then keep everything else fairly casual. Great idea for a group picture. 

[Mic101680]

6 hours ago, sunny4jj said:

Thanks, do you think we will have any problems getting a large enough table for dinner? I’m thinking I’ll just do it one night, on his birthday. Then keep everything else fairly casual. Great idea for a group picture. 

This will depend on how many you have in your party. Usually they only have a couple of tables to seat 10-12 max and there could be a long wait if you have anytime dining. The next best thing they can do is seat everyone at smaller tables close together, but even that can be a longer wait for large parties.

I would suggest trying to get everyone on the same early or late set dining time to help get everyone together at once, or see if everyone can get reservations at the same time for a specialty restaurant on the celebratory day. Someone may need to correct me on this part because it's been a long time since I've done it - but to be seated together for the early or late seating, you may have to contact Carnival to get the reservations linked and/or speak to the maitre'd once you're onboard the first day to arrange this.