Large Groups On Cruise?

[nabby]

Does anyone know of a way to check ahead of time if a large group is on your cruise? I have been alarmed by a few posts here saying that there were large groups on their cruise and that certain public areas were closed to everyone except these groups.

 

I would be pretty upset to get on board and then find that I can't use all of the ship's facilities, or can't eat in the dining room when I wish.

 

Does the ship offer any onboard credits (or such) if they deny access to some of the public areas? I realize that sometimes things need to be closed (the pools during a Code Red, for example) but this is different. This is a case of denying access to some passengers just to accomodate other passengers.

 

Oosterdam Jan. 27, 2007

[Charliesmom]

You could Google your ship's name and the date of the sailing. Sometimes groups will show up then. We had two groups on the Veendam and I never saw nor heard from them. Perhaps they canceled.

 

Roberta

[Oceanwench]

Yes, try Googling. Sometimes it will lead you to a group's Web site, where they'll be announcing a group cruise.

 

We've sailed with groups, big and small. With the small ones, you don't even know they're on board.

With the larger ones [not sure the # of pax, but they did close down some areas] we never were given any shipboard credit. Nor did we expect it! :)

 

I have heard it's less likely to get a large group aboard if you book a crusie that is longer than 1 week.

[nabby]

Thanks for the tip. The only 2 that I could find for my week was a Dermatologist group :D and a SANS seminar. (Hmm, since SANS does computer security, that could mean that they might be tying up the computer access.)

 

Note to anyone sailing Oosterdam Jan. 20-27 - you will have a "Baby Boomers Singles Cruise" on board, and it is sold out (don't know how many of them there will be). It's kind of funny, because my friends and I fall into that category! Looks like we missed it by 1 week. Oh well, I hate singles "mixer" parties anyways. On the other hand, that might be a fun group.

 

Oosterdam Jan. 27, 2007

[Fblack]

I too hate to cruise with large groups. They often think they own the ship. On the Millennium in Europe there was group of 400+ from a European country. They smoked everywhere, blocked elevators, and bullied they way around the ship.

 

After about two days, the ship started posting signs around directed at them. My Favorite said "Do Not Wear Bathrobes in the Public Rooms on the Ship".

[hammybee]

They keep building new ships and to fill them, the cruise lines covet and compete for group sailings. It's quickly become a fact of cruising life, on 7 day sails. We have a choice to either accept this or book longer intineraries.

 

Expecting an obc when sailing with a group is not going to happen. I guess we could form our own "hate to cruise with groups" group cruises and level the field. :)

[hammybee]

I too hate to cruise with large groups. They often think they own the ship. On the Millennium in Europe there was group of 400+ from a European country. They smoked everywhere, blocked elevators, and bullied they way around the ship. .

 

I know what you mean and we have run into groups on all the mass marketed cruise lines. In a way, a large group does own the ship for the cruise as they committed to bring $X amount of revenue onboard. It's unfortunate that most passengers don't realize this when they book. But as I said, it's a fact of cruising life now. We have to either accept it, book around it or pay up for a cruise line that does not seem to continuously need to expand beyond it's core customer base.

[dakrewser]

Susan Trubey (and I haven't seen Susan or Lane here in a while - anybody heard from them?) was maintaining a list here of groups cruising.

[RuthC]

Dave, I read that they couldn't keep up with maintaining the list and no longer attempt to do so. If I'm incorrect on this I do apologize. :o

[kryos]

I know what you mean and we have run into groups on all the mass marketed cruise lines. In a way, a large group does own the ship for the cruise as they committed to bring $X amount of revenue onboard. It's unfortunate that most passengers don't realize this when they book. But as I said, it's a fact of cruising life now. We have to either accept it, book around it or pay up for a cruise line that does not seem to continuously need to expand beyond it's core customer base.

You're absolutely right about that. We have to grin and bear it. The only thing I don't like is that the cruise lines have no obligation to inform you in advance if your ship is expected to be overrun by a large group on the week of your sailing. To me, that is very unfair. Of course, when I talk large group, I mean something that would amount to at least half the passenger capacity of the ship.

 

On just about every sailing you will have some groups. Most of these groups are relatively small, and other than perhaps booking a couple of meeting rooms for their private affairs during the daytime, you don't feel any impact at all from them. But when you get a huge group ... with all kinds of special events planned ... you'd better believe the cruise line (HAL or otherwise) is gonna cater to them. The entire cruise will be colored by their "theme." If it's a StarTrek cruise, you'll find all manner of StarTrek events going on. You wanna sit in that bar and enjoy a drink? You'll sit amongst people dressed in StarTrek costumes and order from a menu that will contain StarTrek names for the drinks. If it's a Christian cruise, perhaps all of your entertainment that week, in the lounges and perhaps maybe even the main show lounge, will be Christian and gospel music.

 

All this stuff is fine ... IF your interests happen to coincide with those of the group. But if they don't ... tough luck. To me, that's not fair. I didn't book a StarTrek or a Christian cruise ... I booked a cruise. Period. And now I'm stuck with the interests of the group ... not to mention the priorities of the group (dining times, special private parties closing down venues onboard ship for a certain period of time, etc.) whether I like it or not. This is why I always say it is not necessarily a bad thing to get bumped from your cruise because the group got enough people onboard to just charter the sailing. I say wonderful! Let them have it.

 

Sadly, this situation will only get worse as more and more ships are built. Every cruise line markets heavily to groups. They are big bucks to the cruise line and to the travel agents that handle them. Fortunately, though, groups tend to restrict themselves to seven-day or shorter sailings ... because of the simple fact that the shorter the sailing, the cheaper the price, and the more people who will be able to get off from work to take the cruise ... and maybe even bring their entire families. When you try to do a group on a longer sailing ... and by group I mean the type of groups (affinity) that can reach 1000+ people ... you have a very hard time filling the ship simply because the price of the cruise gets higher and locks many out, and the time required to take the cruise is simply too much to get off from work and/or pull the children out of school.

 

So, for my money, I try to stick with longer cruises where my likelihood of getting one of these large groups is lower. But, besides that ... I would love to see travel agents band together in support of their individual customers and force some consumer legislation that would require the cruise lines to divulge the fact and nature of any very large groups onboard any sailing. This way before final payment is made, you would know that there is a very large group (large being defined as any number at or above one-half the ship's sailing capacity), and the nature of that group. This way the individual cruiser would have the opportunity to switch their booking to another sailing without any type of penalty. After all, I think that's only fair ... don't you?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[dakrewser]

Dave, I read that they couldn't keep up with maintaining the list and no longer attempt to do so. If I'm incorrect on this I do apologize. :o

 

Now that you mention it, Ruth, I vaguely remember that. They do say the memory is the second thing to go. What was the first? :rolleyes:

[dakrewser]

Dave, I read that they couldn't keep up with maintaining the list and no longer attempt to do so. If I'm incorrect on this I do apologize. :o

 

Now that you mention it, Ruth, I vaguely remember that. They do say the memory is the second thing to go. What was the first? :rolleyes:

[hammybee]

 

So, for my money, I try to stick with longer cruises where my likelihood of getting one of these large groups is lower. But, besides that ... I would love to see travel agents band together in support of their individual customers and force some consumer legislation that would require the cruise lines to divulge the fact and nature of any very large groups onboard any sailing. This way before final payment is made, you would know that there is a very large group (large being defined as any number at or above one-half the ship's sailing capacity), and the nature of that group. This way the individual cruiser would have the opportunity to switch their booking to another sailing without any type of penalty. After all, I think that's only fair ... don't you?

 

Blue skies ...--rita

 

A few years back, in Europe on an RCCL 12 day cruise, it was said that about 1% of the population of Malta was aboard. The people we met were absolutely delightful and we enjoyed the cultural exchange.

 

As for T/As banding together, I doubt that will happen given they are competitors and exist at the pleasure of cruise lines. I think many fear that in the not too distant future, cruiselines will go the route of airlines and major chain hotels and offer the best price guarantee for direct bookings.

 

Having said this, there is nothing to stop an individual agency from staying on top of the group cruise scene for passengers with bookings. Most group bookings have a long lead time and use the web to market the cruise. It does not take much effort to check this out a few weeks before final payment and let the client know in enough time to do something about it. This might help distinguish one T/A from another and especially for B/M agents that manage their own client base.

[hammybee]

Now that you mention it, Ruth, I vaguely remember that. They do say the memory is the second thing to go. What was the first? :rolleyes:

 

Ruth is correct, as usual.

[Sailorgirlseattle]

We took a cruise with the Seattle Seahawks last summer. We had several hundred of us onboard, and it was HAL. For the most part, I think our group pretty much melted into the woodwork. They DID have something going every day, but at times when it wouldn't really bother other people. We had two or three events in the show lounge midday, and two events in the Crows Nest ... so that got shut down for us, for an hour or two per event. A crew party later also shut down the Crow's Nest, and I wasn't peeved about that. We had a bon voyage party on the aft deck, and I think anyone was allowed to enter that. Otherwise, the only way you'd know we were onboard is you see a lot of people wearing a Hawks logo on their shirt or hat, and you'd sometimes run into a couple of really BIG guys on deck.

[Jemima]

Since our favorite daytime location is the Crows Nest, we aren't happy with it being off limits even for an hour or so.

[cruisinjudy]

Nabby, you should join our cruise critic group on the roll cal boards for January 27th Oosterdam.

[cruisinjudy]

I see January 27th Oosterdam listed here.

http://www.continuingeducation.net/schedule.php

[kryos]

Having said this, there is nothing to stop an individual agency from staying on top of the group cruise scene for passengers with bookings. Most group bookings have a long lead time and use the web to market the cruise. It does not take much effort to check this out a few weeks before final payment and let the client know in enough time to do something about it. This might help distinguish one T/A from another and especially for B/M agents that manage their own client base.

Unfortunately, though, this is not always gonna work. Sure, if the group is marketing the cruise through the web, yes ... a good TA who knows how to use the internet effectively will be able to locate the group and warn her clients. But, if the group is something else ... i.e., not open to booking by the general public, then you can search the net until the cows come home. You won't find it and you'll only realize you are sailing with the large group when you step onboard and see all the signage welcoming the group. Groups such as this could be incentive groups ... large groups of salespeople who exceeded their sales goals for the year and got the cruise as a bonus. These are almost always the worse groups to sail with as they tend to be very loud and very boisterous. The company will also host lots of special events for them while onboard ... games, cocktail parties, team building exercises, and the like ... and the ship's staff will block off certain areas for their exclusive use for extended periods of time.

 

Not saying all groups are bad ... just that if the group onboard is big ... and their "theme" is not one you would enjoy ... you're stuck and your cruise will not measure up to what you expected. Basically in this case you lose ... and there is not a thing you can do about it.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita