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Is There a Way To Determine If a Group Is Booked On Your Cruise


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Even if you find out that specific groups are scheduled for your cruise, how do you determine if they will be completely taking over certain rooms or areas? Will anyone at HAL tell you in advance? ... please don't restrict the run of the ship which we all pay for.

 

No, HAL will not tell you anything in advance. The obvious reason is that they want to be able to get away with this, and they know perfectly well that if you knew about it in advance, you'd cancel and go elsewhere. All we can do is guess, from whatever info we can glean from the organizers of the group itself. (For example, a group of 50 doctors taking continuing education classes is not likely to have any impact, whereas a group of 800 poker players or music fans may be another story.)

 

Toots, I don't know if you've been following the other threads on this subject, but it appears that HAL is in denial about how angry it makes people when they close off the CN for a group for substantial portions of a cruise. Please express your dissatisfaction about your Rotterdam experience directly to HAL, loudly and clearly. They apparently won't "get it" unless more people start complaining vocally. Thanks.

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Just a factoid I'd like to share: the "Geek Cruises" groups usually number 50 or fewer, and they don't take over things like the CN. Mostly they're specialized courses on technical topics held in privately-booked atriums or rooms which are designed for that sort of thing.

 

I know the president of Geek Cruises, and he's a very nice fellow who cares about how his groups are perceived. You won't have any trouble from them if you cruise with them.

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I find "Fuzzy's" comments way out of line. About 7 years ago we took a cruise on the American Queen Steamboat. We were rather young then, & as now, eating at 5:30 was ridiculous to us. We were confirmed in writing for the second seating. Upon boarding, they informed us we would be at the 5:30 seating. We complained vociferously & they finally put us on the 2nd seating. What they never told us, then, or before was that the National Review magazine had booked the entire 2nd seating. We had requested a table for 8. They put us at a table for 2 on the outskirts of the DR. We were outcasts for the entire cruise. We never got to go to a "Captain's Dinner" or had any of the other festivities usually held in the main DRs.

 

The point I'm trying to make is that we thoroughly admired Wm. F. Buckley, the head of National Review, who was present. The people seemed friendly and nice, however we were not included in their dining festivities in any way. This group completely impacted our enjoyment of the cruise to a great extent. We did not meet many other people & being gregarious, we greatly missed the chance to meet & socialize with others at dinner. They were a large-size group for a ship that size. A group of 500 - 800 people, whoever they are, is probably going to impact a cruise for the general passenger & although I admit to a few "predjudices" of my own, I am concerned about large groups for that reason.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I applaud your efforts and would like to see full ship charters also included in the list (perhaps in bold as such, "FULL SHIP CHARTER"), since there are some groups I don't particularly want to FOLLOW.

 

One type comes to mind and that's nudist cruises. I haven't been on one but I don't want to SIT where they SAT unless they aren't NUDE while they were doing their sitting, if you know what I mean.

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For your own cruise, I offer these suggestions: Holland America and/or ship name, try with the month spelled out and the month using the abbreviation, then try some affinity groups like Christian, band, and, poker.

 

Re Christian, you can get more specific and you'll find "Book of Mormon", "gospel", "Catholic", and for the sake of equality, let's not forget "glatt kosher" as in http://www.kosherica.com.

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I find "Fuzzy's" comments way out of line. About 7 years ago we took a cruise on the American Queen Steamboat. We were rather young then, & as now, eating at 5:30 was ridiculous to us. We were confirmed in writing for the second seating. Upon boarding, they informed us we would be at the 5:30 seating. We complained vociferously & they finally put us on the 2nd seating. What they never told us, then, or before was that the National Review magazine had booked the entire 2nd seating. We had requested a table for 8. They put us at a table for 2 on the outskirts of the DR. We were outcasts for the entire cruise. We never got to go to a "Captain's Dinner" or had any of the other festivities usually held in the main DRs.

 

The point I'm trying to make is that we thoroughly admired Wm. F. Buckley, the head of National Review, who was present. The people seemed friendly and nice, however we were not included in their dining festivities in any way. This group completely impacted our enjoyment of the cruise to a great extent. We did not meet many other people & being gregarious, we greatly missed the chance to meet & socialize with others at dinner. They were a large-size group for a ship that size. A group of 500 - 800 people, whoever they are, is probably going to impact a cruise for the general passenger & although I admit to a few "predjudices" of my own, I am concerned about large groups for that reason.

 

 

While I tend to admire different public figures than you, I am otherwise in complete agreement with what you wrote. The impact these groups have can be enormously detrimental to other folks who are on the cruise with them, especially when (as they usually do) they restrict entrance to their events to only "their people." You can't meet them or dance with them. They "vunt to be alone;" problem is they want their alone time in major public lounges with the best dance floors.

 

Some modern ships have more facilities than in the past that are set aside specifically for meetings, and these present less of a problem than when groups take over major rooms.

 

Imagine you are taking a cruise to celebrate a special anniversary and you want to dance with your sweetie. If "Let's Dance Vacations" (or similar) is on your cruise, they will have private EXCLUSIVE access to at least one of the dance floors.

 

Read from their website at http://letsdancevacations.com/mission_statement.htm

 

"6.) Each participant is guaranteed that admittance to all Dance Events is strictly limited to those passengers that have booked their cruise through "Let's Dance" Vacations."

 

You thought you'd trip the light fantastic at the Ocean Bar or The Crow's Nest, JUST AS THE BROCHURE SHOWS?? Nah, forget about it.

 

And since these ballroom dancers want to dance all night, they all dine at early seating, so if that's what you want, forget it.

 

Their website states the following:

 

"5.) Early Dinner time for Group Dinners is scheduled to allow for maximum Dance Party time each evening."

 

At a minimum, they will utilize FOR THEIR OWN EXCLUSIVE USE the following:

 

"1.) Thirty (30) hours of Nightly Dance Parties with live music in the ships lounges for 7 day cruises, forty (40) hours for 10 and 11 day cruises and sixty (60) hours for 14 day cruises. Dance Parties include, but are not limited to, Fox Trot, Waltz, Tango, Rumba, Cha Cha, Bolero, Mambo, East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, Hustle and Nightclub two-Step".

 

They specifically state "IN THE SHIPS LOUNGES"....30 prime time hours.

 

 

HAL won't tell you this information ahead of time, NOT EVEN IF YOU MAKE THE EFFORT TO CALL YOURSELF TO ASK ABOUT THE IMPACT.

 

Frankly, I think it's shameful of HAL.

 

Let these groups CHARTER the entire ship, but if they can't fit into meeting rooms specifically set up for SMALL groups, then they should not be permitted to take over the public ones.

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Gillianrose:

 

You have hit the nail on the head. I agree completely. Large enough to charter, but small enough not to take over is allowed!

 

While I tend to admire different public figures than you, I am otherwise in complete agreement with what you wrote. The impact these groups have can be enormously detrimental to other folks who are on the cruise with them, especially when (as they usually do) they restrict entrance to their events to only "their people." You can't meet them or dance with them. They "vunt to be alone;" problem is they want their alone time in major public lounges with the best dance floors.

 

Some modern ships have more facilities than in the past that are set aside specifically for meetings, and these present less of a problem than when groups take over major rooms.

 

Imagine you are taking a cruise to celebrate a special anniversary and you want to dance with your sweetie. If "Let's Dance Vacations" (or similar) is on your cruise, they will have private EXCLUSIVE access to at least one of the dance floors.

 

Read from their website at http://letsdancevacations.com/mission_statement.htm

 

"6.) Each participant is guaranteed that admittance to all Dance Events is strictly limited to those passengers that have booked their cruise through "Let's Dance" Vacations."

 

You thought you'd trip the light fantastic at the Ocean Bar or The Crow's Nest, JUST AS THE BROCHURE SHOWS?? Nah, forget about it.

 

And since these ballroom dancers want to dance all night, they all dine at early seating, so if that's what you want, forget it.

 

Their website states the following:

 

"5.) Early Dinner time for Group Dinners is scheduled to allow for maximum Dance Party time each evening."

 

At a minimum, they will utilize FOR THEIR OWN EXCLUSIVE USE the following:

 

"1.) Thirty (30) hours of Nightly Dance Parties with live music in the ships lounges for 7 day cruises, forty (40) hours for 10 and 11 day cruises and sixty (60) hours for 14 day cruises. Dance Parties include, but are not limited to, Fox Trot, Waltz, Tango, Rumba, Cha Cha, Bolero, Mambo, East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, Hustle and Nightclub two-Step".

 

They specifically state "IN THE SHIPS LOUNGES"....30 prime time hours.

 

 

HAL won't tell you this information ahead of time, NOT EVEN IF YOU MAKE THE EFFORT TO CALL YOURSELF TO ASK ABOUT THE IMPACT.

 

Frankly, I think it's shameful of HAL.

 

Let these groups CHARTER the entire ship, but if they can't fit into meeting rooms specifically set up for SMALL groups, then they should not be permitted to take over the public ones.

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Pax 0 means no one has given any indication of group size and any website found does not contain the information. Where a number is given, it has been supplied either by a website, or a participant or organizer.

 

Rich

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We are booked on the Maasdam in October this year.

 

Where can I go to find out if there are any groups booked on "my" cruise. It's MY cruise...

 

Anyway, can someone point me to where I need to go to get this info?

 

Thanks so much,

 

Shay

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I know they are easy to overlook - I usually skip right over them, but there is a "sticky" at the top of the Holland America board with the same title as your thread here. It has lots of good information, but it's kind of a frustrating situation - difficult/impossible to get firm answers from any cruiseline.

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You're doing a great job on this and deserve A BIG THANK YOU!

 

Lots of ZEROS but that's, I guess, because Clubs, Associations, TA's etc. etc. need advertising/promotion time to generate bookings.

 

I'm sure things will change.....you'll be kept on your toes! :D

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This company puts together sizeable groups on many ships, but I have listed only three that I found for HAL:

 

July 23, 2007 Volendam

*****cruises/alaskatour/

 

September 16, 2007 Noordam Their "4th Annual" Alaska Cruise

*****cruises/alaska/

 

October 25, 2008 Eurodam "7th Annual Halloween Cruise"

*****cruises/2008/halloween/

 

Considering all the extensive activities mentioned, they must use public lounges for many of their private parties. This sounds like a group that ought to be chartering ships, based on all the private group activities that they have on board. You can read more at their website:

 

 

*****

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Richwmn, we are sailing on Oosterdam 12/8. I find no group listed for that sailing, but on HAL's website, both early seatings are closed, and have been for at least 6 weeks. HAL's website shows availability in nearly all cabin levels for that sailing, so I am a bit concerned as to why the early dinings are closed. I don't want the early dining, just no large groups as we have had a very bad experience with that. Do you or does anyone have any idea as to why the seatings should be closed when the ship appears nearly empty?

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I would like to take a quick opportunity to thank everyone who has sent updates to me for the group list. It is interesting to me to see the wide range of groups that book, some of which we would never know about because they really don't impact our cruise.

 

To onthegogirl -- if you go to the HAL website and book a cruise up to the point of selecting a cabin type, at the bottom of the page it shows which dining times are available and which are wait listed.

 

Rich

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Hi,

I think I found an error listed. The 10/05/07 cruise on the Westerdam is not an Alaskan cruise. This event is not listed on the COPIA website and must have happened in the past. We were on the last Alaskan cruise on Westerdam in 2006 (9/17) and this years 10/05 is a Rome to Ft. Lauderdale transatlantic.

GN

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sorry, the alaska part was a bad cut'n'paste, that has been corrected. The cruise appears on a site for the signature travel network which also lists the other COPIA cruises. I hesitate to take it off at this point.

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I have updated the list with several groups mentioned in the active threads. I also changed the program to allow listing only one ship. I hope ya'll find this useful and update me on groups to add

 

Rich

rich at wa70 dot com

 

This is soooo awesome! How many times I've read about groups taking over a ship and thinking that someday that could be me.

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Rich,

I just found out it is a Copia group cruise. Is there any way to find out how large this group is? I just emailed my TA to do some snooping.

Thanks,

GN

The only way I know of right now is if someone involved in the group reports a number. The size of the group does not appear anywhere I have seen on web sites.

 

Rich

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We really need to get some idea of the size of these groups and whether or not they will hold events in PRIME space, such as public lounges like the Piano Bar in the evening, Crow's Nest at any time, etc.

 

I think if groups that provide entertainment take over the Crow's Nest or the Piano Bar or such "beloved" HAL spaces, they should not be permitted to exclude ANYONE, whether or not that person booked through their "special" travel agency or not. SINCE THEY HAVE NOT PAID TO CHARTER THE WHOLE SHIP, I FEEL FREE TO GO ANYWHERE ON THE SHIP, aside from true "meeting" rooms, to enjoy what I paid for.

 

If these groups DO want to exclude passengers who have read HAL's marketing about the amenities aboard and want to enjoy the use, too, how about getting into the room before "their" event and establishing "squatter's rights?" ;) :D :D

 

And how about getting some news media in on it? HAL will NOT like that sort of publicity, that's for sure.

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