Help with group planning

[strawhat]

Hi everyone,

 

Last year my wife and I took an Alaska cruise on Celebrity. It was my first and my wife's third cruise and we had a great time. We live on a small island in the Caribbean and have owned a small business here for the past ten years. We want to thank our staff for their support over those years and we are thinking about taking them on a Carnival Cruise - more fun and a bit less expensive.

 

I am trying to figure out the best way to make arrangements for a group. We would probably need at least 12 staterooms and would be taking about 16 people. Is there a particular TA that deals with this sort of thing? Can I do it easily through Carnival's website? What are the dining options like for a large group?

 

We would ideally like to cruise the Western Caribbean (we are in the Eastern Caribbean) and would like a 7 day cruise. We would want to board in San Juan as it is more convenient to get to but I also understand that you may be able to catch a ship in Barbados which wouldn't be too difficult either.

 

Does anyone have experience doing this and, if so, could you offer any tips or suggestions? We are not planning on traveling until next year so we can organize and get it right with plenty of time for everyone to get excited about it!

 

Thanks in advance for your answers.

[GoinCruisin]

Hi everyone,

 

Last year my wife and I took an Alaska cruise on Celebrity. It was my first and my wife's third cruise and we had a great time. We live on a small island in the Caribbean and have owned a small business here for the past ten years. We want to thank our staff for their support over those years and we are thinking about taking them on a Carnival Cruise - more fun and a bit less expensive.

 

I am trying to figure out the best way to make arrangements for a group. We would probably need at least 12 staterooms and would be taking about 16 people. Is there a particular TA that deals with this sort of thing? Can I do it easily through Carnival's website? What are the dining options like for a large group?

 

We would ideally like to cruise the Western Caribbean (we are in the Eastern Caribbean) and would like a 7 day cruise. We would want to board in San Juan as it is more convenient to get to but I also understand that you may be able to catch a ship in Barbados which wouldn't be too difficult either.

 

Does anyone have experience doing this and, if so, could you offer any tips or suggestions? We are not planning on traveling until next year so we can organize and get it right with plenty of time for everyone to get excited about it!

 

Thanks in advance for your answers.

 

Hi there. We can't recommend TA's on here, but you can go with Carnival directly through their groups dept. You can also try groople.com (I think that is it, I see the banner ads here all the time)

 

They will link your bookings, and try to put you close together in the dining rooms.

 

Good luck and have a great time!! I'm sure your employees will be thrilled!!

[lvtotrvl1]

Linking a booking is not putting a group together. You will not receive any amenities. You can call the group department at CCL and they can be helpful if you don't have a TA in your area (if you don't , maybe I will move and volunteer for the job:) ). It really sounds that CCL may be your best bet!

[Stircrzy]

I've had good service from Groople. They advertise on Cruise Critic.

 

Carnival has a new group online site...CarnivalConnections.com. Haven't used it yet.

 

I've also had good service from my travel agent.

[GoinCruisin]

Linking a booking is not putting a group together. You will not receive any amenities. You can call the group department at CCL and they can be helpful if you don't have a TA in your area (if you don't , maybe I will move and volunteer for the job:) ). It really sounds that CCL may be your best bet!

 

Yikes, I hope that wasn't what I implied!!! LOL! Linking bookings definitely doesn't constitute a group :D