Booking a Group Cruise

[DDFla]

Who has booked / organized a group before? I am considering trying this for next summer. I have read if you get more than ten cabins the savings are worth it. Can anyone give me an idea if it is worth the headaches?

I was thinking about a graduation group, I can think of several obvious issues with this age group, but am looking for feedback. Does each cabin have to have a "Responsible" individual or individual over a certain age?

[firefly333]

Id say since Early Saver rates started, its a lot more iffy if its worth it. ES rates are going to be cheaper than group rates, almost always, but if you get OBC for booking 8 cabins or more as a perk, when you consider the OBC the overall rate seems to be running maybe $20 pp cheaper than booking on your own. Some people are going to balk at paying more than they can book on their own.

 

Just call Carnival's group dept, and they will book you.

 

btw as people here will tell you, people CAN book the lower fares such as military and ES, and join your group, but their cabins will not count into the total you need to obstain the perks and they will not receive any of the group amenities.

[bazarr2]

Id say since Early Saver rates started, its a lot more iffy if its worth it. ES rates are going to be cheaper than group rates, almost always, but if you get OBC for booking 8 cabins or more as a perk, when you consider the OBC the overall rate seems to be running maybe $20 pp cheaper than booking on your own. Some people are going to balk at paying more than they can book on their own.

 

Just call Carnival's group dept, and they will book you.

 

btw as people here will tell you, people CAN book the lower fares such as military and ES, and join your group, but their cabins will not count into the total you need to obstain the perks and they will not receive any of the group amenities.

Not only will you get 100. OBC for booking 8 cabins you will also get one free berth which you can divide up among everyone or keep for doing the group.

You will earn one free guest with every 8 cabins sold. The free guest will only be responsible for processing charge, and taxes of $222.23. (VPP is additional.)

 

That's not all! In addition to this incredible deal, for a limited time only, we are offering you 5 fun points at no additional charge which you may use towards Carnival bathrobes, a bottle of wine and/or onboard credits to spend on your Cruise (subject to special terms and conditions). On this sailing the $100 per cabin onboard credit amenity is only 4 points. If selected, each cabin in your group will be able to receive $100 to spend onboard as they wish.

 

All we ask is that you hold space with a minimum of 8 cabins and invite your friends, family and co-workers to join you on this Fun Ship vacation of a lifetime!

 

This is what I got from Carnival, you points might be different depending on ship and ports.

[kcparrothead]

So, is military rate usually cheaper than a group rate??

[Luluwa]

Taking on a group is alot of work, IF you do it, get yourself a good travel agent who will guide you and be your advocate. You can just be the group leader and you still get the perks but without having to communicate with Carnival. It's the best of both worlds. :D

[*Mach*]

Who has booked / organized a group before? I am considering trying this for next summer. I have read if you get more than ten cabins the savings are worth it. Can anyone give me an idea if it is worth the headaches?

I was thinking about a graduation group, I can think of several obvious issues with this age group, but am looking for feedback. Does each cabin have to have a "Responsible" individual or individual over a certain age?

 

 

Group cruises are a TON of work but also a great deal of fun.

If your group is ten or twelve cabins, go for it. If your group is 25 or 30 cabins find someone else to do it for you...

:rolleyes:

:)

[firefly333]

Not only will you get 100. OBC for booking 8 cabins you will also get one free berth which you can divide up among everyone or keep for doing the group..

 

Amenities vary from one cruise to another. The OBC isnt always a offered perk. Good when it is. ....sometimes you can get two perks. I dont know why they pick some cruises to get more perks than others, but apparantly it is so.

[sa7776]

Carnival has VERY STRICT rules concerning student groups. I know you are probably thinking that if they have graduated from high school they will not be considered students..... WRONG. I have been told that any group that is more than 50% 18-20 year olds is considered a student group. You may be able to get away with booking one adult over 25 in each room but be aware that the adults will not be able to get their keys changed to switch places once they are on board because they will look at the cabin to make sure there is still one adult in the room.

 

If you are considering taking a graduation group I STRONGLY suggest you get with a travel agent that is well versed in this type of group. Carnival has a group called "Rock The Boat" that is the contract agent for student groups. Your travel agent should know how to contact them.Carnival only allows these groups on specific ships and limits the number of groups on each ship so booking early is important.

 

Royal Caribbean has a similar policy. Princess and NCL have a more liberal group policy.

[mr jailerman]

I inquired with Carnival Directly via their Group Cruise Dept last week, what was involved with Forming a Group with My March 27Th Dream cruise as my small group already has 4 cabins booked ? The Group salesman told me that my sailing was ALREADY CLOSED for any new group bookings at this time :rolleyes::D! Kind of hard to believe:rolleyes:, But it would have been nice to get over a $1,000 knocked off the bill if we hit 8 cabins as I'm sure we may as more people from work are asking us about this sailing.. OH WELL..:)

[BigDfromTN]

I inquired with Carnival Directly via their Group Cruise Dept last week, what was involved with Forming a Group with My March 27Th Dream cruise as my small group already has 4 cabins booked ? The Group salesman told me that my sailing was ALREADY CLOSED for any new group bookings at this time :rolleyes::D! Kind of hard to believe:rolleyes:, But it would have been nice to get over a $1,000 knocked off the bill if we hit 8 cabins as I'm sure we may as more people from work are asking us about this sailing.. OH WELL..:)

 

See if you can contact and join the other group????

[just4kixx]

I inquired with Carnival Directly via their Group Cruise Dept last week, what was involved with Forming a Group with My March 27Th Dream cruise as my small group already has 4 cabins booked ? The Group salesman told me that my sailing was ALREADY CLOSED for any new group bookings at this time :rolleyes::D! Kind of hard to believe:rolleyes:, But it would have been nice to get over a $1,000 knocked off the bill if we hit 8 cabins as I'm sure we may as more people from work are asking us about this sailing.. OH WELL..:)

 

Yo Jailerman.... I got an idea!!!

 

Switch sailings to The Independence on 03/28/10 and we'll make a group from there~~~ :D

Hope you and DS are doing well!

A~

[firefly333]

I inquired with Carnival Directly via their Group Cruise Dept last week, what was involved with Forming a Group with My March 27Th Dream cruise as my small group already has 4 cabins booked ? The Group salesman told me that my sailing was ALREADY CLOSED for any new group bookings at this time :rolleyes::D! Kind of hard to believe:rolleyes:, But it would have been nice to get over a $1,000 knocked off the bill if we hit 8 cabins as I'm sure we may as more people from work are asking us about this sailing.. OH WELL..:)

 

In order to get $1000 knocked off, 8 cabins would have to agree to pay the group rate, which as noted above is often higher than some other rates you all might be booked at .... the rest can be booked at other rates, but you need 8 at the group rate to get the amenities. (some can cancel later, but you need to start with 8 Im told).

 

Its not near as easy as signing up at the ES rates you might be booked at and getting $100 OBC automatically ... assuming it was even offered as a perk on your date.

[omgletmeon]

We have a group I am in charge of now and for my son and his friends, we had to have one adult in any room where both guests were NOT 21 or older. For example my son will be 21 when we sail but his friend will only be 20 so we had to book my husband in the room with them. Two other friends were each 21 and the TA let them book with just the two of them.

 

As for price, we got the $100 OBC per cabin and when you subtract that from the price, you end up being same as the ES rate (for our cruise anyway) and we have the benefit of it being refundable should anyone decide they could not go. The ES rate scared me with so many people so I did not even consider it.

 

It was also explained to me that you could still get the $100 OBC with 5 cabins in the group booking, you just did not get the free berth without having 8 cabins booked.

 

I got lots of great info from this board about what to expect so when the first TA I talked to offered me $50 OBC and no other perks I figured she was using some of the points to give herself a bigger commission..yes, they CAN do that...so I called Carnival and was told how many points for this sailing and went from there and found another TA who has been great.

 

Also, Carnival requires the whole deposit and sometimes for a large group it is hard for all to come up with that amount at one time a year or so in advance and a TA has the ability to offer you a smaller deposit. Ours was $25 per person.

 

Hope some of this helps you with your questions. Just send me a message if you have any other questions that I may be able to answer.

[ogtiger10]

I was the person in charge on my son's senior trip in May 09. We booked through a TA as a group with 10 cabins. We received amenity points which we used for 2 bottles of wine in each room and a shared cocktail party with another group. It is a LOT of work to be in charge of a group but worth it. I shared my free berth credit with another lady who also helped do alot of work. I believe the extra amenities are worth the work. We had to book an adult into each room with the students. We thought that when we got on, we could just get extra keys so that we could exchange rooms. However, the lady in charge at the desk said that would mess up the security system. So she spent about 30 minutes with me and we exchanged each person to the correct rooms. It wasn't a problem and they didn't care who was in each room. So that really isn't an issue. If you have any questions about a student cruise, I'd be happy to answer questions. Email me at s_cox@bellsouth dot net. We had a major issue with permission slips since some students were going without their parents. We had to change to the "friends & family group" instead of a student group. So you really have to investigate all the options. Good Luck!