Group Cruising

[FAMILY 4 CRUISING]

Hi All: We Are Trying To Get A Group Together Consisting Of Friends And Neighbors In Our Township In Pa. We Will Be Traveling From Phila. To Miami. Has Anyone Ever Been A Group Leader? Do You Have Any Advice For Us Regarding Air And Ground Transportation. Other Issues Or Problems? What Does The Group Leader Do?

Thanks

[waitin4acruise]

This is a question for our host mach....

[GoinCruisin]

Hi All: We Are Trying To Get A Group Together Consisting Of Friends And Neighbors In Our Township In Pa. We Will Be Traveling From Phila. To Miami. Has Anyone Ever Been A Group Leader? Do You Have Any Advice For Us Regarding Air And Ground Transportation. Other Issues Or Problems? What Does The Group Leader Do?

Thanks

 

As far as air and ground transportation, you can work with your TA on that. I personally prefer everyone get their own, as they can usually save money. We tend to arrange group travel (ground) when it is needed, but typically we plan a group hotel, with a pre party... everyone is responsible for getting there on their own. As far as what a group leader does, they are all different. For mine I design the tshirts (bubba kegs, hats, visors, etc), collect money, get them ordered and shipped along with door signs, name tags/lanyards, agenda newsletter... make buttons, plan various activities and excursions in ports, put together a few get togethers and activities on the ship, etc. It really depends on how in depth you want to get. It's a lot of work, but it is also a lot of fun!! Good luck!!

[FAMILY 4 CRUISING]

Thanks very much Lucy!! Great Information!!!!

[GoinCruisin]

Thanks very much Lucy!! Great Information!!!!

 

No problem! I'm happy to help if you have any more questions! Also, sometimes you will get a shared party with your group, we always have an extra one as well... they are $11.44 for an hour open bar and $19.55 for 2 hours. These are great times to get together with the group!! We also do a raffle at this party... I get a lot of items from the CC store, and this last time our TA came with us and brought along some Carnival goodies, so we had some great giveaways!! So many things you can do as a group... best of luck to you!

[Jsme]

Yes, I am group leader of a cruise with a bunch of friends.

 

It is a lot of work.

Are you giong to be in charge of everything?

 

You will need to provide information on flights, shuttles, hotels, group activities, excursions etc.

 

It is a lot of work but I am enjoying it a lot.

 

Remember as a group you will get certain things from the cruiseline for each cabin such as OBC, robes, champagne and more. You get a certain amount of amenity points to use as your group would like to use them. After a certain amount of cabins you get a free berth. A lot of times the group leader will use this berth since they do all the work. For our group I am dividing the berth up between all the people booked.

[GinaJ]

Hi Everyone,

 

I have booked and organized quite a few groups. Mostly for family and friends.

 

I try to make it as easy and organized as I can for everyone. Especially to be extra helpful with the ones that have never cruised.

 

Once we decide on a ship and date I send out the initial letter with the cruise pricing and basic info and then collect deposits for those who want to go.

 

After people are confirmed, I send a 2nd letter that basically walks them through and or refreshes their memory on the basic cruise stuff. Passports, helping with air, sign and sail, dress codes, shore excursions blah blah blah.

 

I usually pick a hotel and then book everyone into it. If they want help with air then I do that as well. I only arrange for transportation to the hotel for them if someone asks me to. Otherwise I let them do it on their own. I do arrange for shuttle vans from the hotel to ship because I think it is fun to get on the ship together.

 

I pick a restaurant the night before the cruise and anyone who wants to join in can.

 

I also Pick my shore excursions and then ask anyone to join us that wants to. For our trip in April I have arranged private transportation and day passes for all of us at the Pineapple Beach Club in Antigua.

 

I pick one night for the group to go to supper club and then they have the option to join or not. I have already made the reservations for April.

 

I have a pre cruise party about 3 months before the cruise so people can ask any questions they have. This is extremely helpful to the first timers. It is also a good refresher for people who may have not cruised recently.

 

I give everyone a list of what cabins people are in. I also advise them to put out the do not disturb sign when they don't want people to knock on the door. With 25 or so people you can have 6 people knock on your door to invite you for a drink or whatever when you are napping :)

 

I also provide them a list of must bring items that I have compiled over all my cruises. The over the door shoe bag was I think the best tip I ever received.

 

I don't do buttons, hats, t-shirts etc as I am not very creative in those respects but I think it is a cute idea.

 

I hope this gave you a few more ideas. If you want me to fax you any of my letters or lists I would be happy to do so.

 

Sincerely,

 

Gina

[cj3510]

Gina - I'd like you to fax me copy of your newsletter as a sample. We have a group cruise scheduled in November..

 

Thanks,

Conny

[MamaParrotHead]

and decided against it.

 

The main reason being is that if you book individually (yet link your reservations so you can still dine together, etc.) you can usually get better rates. If anyone in your group is eligible for military, past guest or senior discounts, they will be unable to get those. By booking through the groups department, you get some small perks (a bottle of wine or chocolates in the room, plus a small OBC $50 or $100 per cabin, I think) but you can miss out on deals you'd normally be eligible for.

 

I have set up a group on Yahoo groups, that lists all the info we have, current "roster" of fellow cruisers, info on excursions, etc. It also automatically sends out reminders for deadlines (deposits, payments, helpful reminders such as having mail held, taking in dry cleaning, booking airfare, etc.).

 

I'm also keeping an eye on airfare trends for everyone, have the scoop figured out for dinner the night before we leave, transportation issues ironed out, etc.

 

Someone in our group actually put a "brochure" together for those people who prefer to have things on paper and in front of them.

 

Oh, and http://www.customink.com has an awesome website where you can design your shirt online, and see what it will look like right there. You can also save the designs, email them to other in your group to get a consensus opinion, etc. You can also try it on different colored shirts, they have stock graphics and fonts, even pre-made designs you can plug in whatever information you need to it. And there's no minimum number to order, either. Kids and larger sizes also available, as well as other items besides tshirts.

[Jsme]

 

Oh, and http://www.customink.com has an awesome website where you can design your shirt online, and see what it will look like right there. You can also save the designs, email them to other in your group to get a consensus opinion, etc. You can also try it on different colored shirts, they have stock graphics and fonts, even pre-made designs you can plug in whatever information you need to it. And there's no minimum number to order, either. Kids and larger sizes also available, as well as other items besides tshirts.

 

I will have to check out this website. In the past we have used http://www.cafepress.com

[Jsme]

I am in the process of doing my first newsletter. lol:p

 

I started it off with information such as deposit deadline, final deposit, and the a few things about finalizing our name, t-shirts, etc. Then at the end I put the various links for the group to look at online.

 

It is alot of work but the end will be worth it when I see all of my cruising friends again having a good time.

[GoinCruisin]

I will have to check out this website. In the past we have used www.cafepress.com

 

Everything I have ever seen from Cafepress looks like an iron-on... I've never been impressed. Custom Ink does a great job... they have a great art team. This is just one of the ones they have done for us, they are great quality :)

 

[camreesmom]

Wow, Gina......you are quick! I thought it was super late but then noticed where you are at so it's not quite as late over there. ;) I will get together the info that I emailed to our group (this was the third year straight we've done this girls' getaway cruise). Our first group was 20, last year we had 39 and this year we only had 12 but it was the most work for me out of all of them! I'll send you what I have this weekend after I've had some time to recover. :D

 

One thing that I have done every year is make door decorations for each cabin to let everyone know who is in which cabin. The first two years I cut fish shapes out of craft foam and wrote our names on them. This year I made life preservers out of styrofoam circles and had anchors cut out of the craft foam with our names on those. Everyone really enjoys them and they say it makes it easier to find their cabin after a night of partying!

 

So are you a travel agent?

 

Thanks again!

~Julie

[cantw82cruise]

I have only put together one group so far and I found it to be a lot of fun. There are different things you can do depending on where you get your group from. Ours was friends and co-workers so we had three different cruise parties to let everyone get to know each other. If you are doing a CC group this would be a little more difficult. We played some games with Carnival prizes like drink coupons, cards, and T-shirts. We would also discuss something at each party. Like air and transportation at one, tours and ports at another. We also took the birth money and put together gift boxes for each couple.

 

One of the things I did that I thought was very helpful was each couple was given a folder that contained all of our information. It contained our ship name and itinerary, flight information both going and returning. Precruise hotel information address, phone number, conformation number. Tour information for each port, conformation numbers, where and when to meat. I had each couples cabin number listed so you could call each other. I also asked everyone to fill out an emergency contact sheet in case something happened to someone on the cruise I wanted to know who I needed to contact. I gave everyone a sheet to leave with their family that had our information on it as well as an emergency number for Carnival to call shore to ship.

 

Going with a group is the best way to cruise but it can get stressful to be the group leader. Try to have fun with it and remember even if they don't all express how grateful they are for what you do they really are....

 

Have fun……