Groups on your cruise - Should Princess tell you ahead of time?

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, I mean this for ANY and ALL groups.

Do you think Princess has an obligation to inform you when a group has booked more than 10% of the total cabins on your cruise?

I chose 10% as I think that is the level at which a group can begin to overwhelm or totally monopolize one area of the ship (a theater, the Sanctuary, the new Retreat area...)

Mike

We were on a HAL cruise once that was booked by some of us as a Dixieland cruise. People who were not part of that group were not allowed to attend the concerts,or even enter the rooms where the Dixieland music was being played for dancing. There were a lot of unhappy passengers and I don't blame them.

So yes, a special event like that should be made known to other passengers.

Yes, and I understand why they don't.

Money

Absolutely.

I would like to be informed about large groups, but 10% of cabins would not likely have that much of an impact.

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, I mean this for ANY and ALL groups.

 

Do you think Princess has an obligation to inform you when a group has booked more than 10% of the total cabins on your cruise?

 

I chose 10% as I think that is the level at which a group can begin to overwhelm or totally monopolize one area of the ship (a theater, the Sanctuary, the new Retreat area...)

 

Mike

Mike,

I knew about this group and it was one of the reasons I chose to cancel. They took over the adult pool?????

Will never cruise with a large group again, they had the adult pool and one dining room tied up.

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Often, Cruise Critic Roll Calls make up 10% or more of the ship. Should others be warned of us?

Often, Cruise Critic Roll Calls make up 10% or more of the ship. Should others be warned of us?

Now that is funny......good one!

often, cruise critic roll calls make up 10% or more of the ship. Should others be warned of us?

yes!!!

Hi There,

Simple answer is yes, but not at 10% as almost every cruise has a group of this size,

300 folks on a ship of 3000 not going to worry me much,

900 well that's different,

have cruised with large groups to the point Princess changed menus

made broadcasts in Spanish,

even the Royal Maiden had a group with there own meet, rep etc

had no impact.

yours Shogun

Hi There,

 

...have cruised with large groups to the point Princess changed menus

 

yours Shogun

I would not have thought they would change the menus, however found out first hand on our last cruise. I noticed the HC and the MDR offerings were a lot different than past two cruises. All three were to Alaska. While on the UST, the head chef actually commented they will sometimes change it, based on the majority of the nationality of the passengers.

David & Ellen

Hi There,

 

Simple answer is yes, but not at 10% as almost every cruise has a group of this size,

 

300 folks on a ship of 3000 not going to worry me much,

 

900 well that's different,

 

have cruised with large groups to the point Princess changed menus

 

made broadcasts in Spanish,

 

 

even the Royal Maiden had a group with there own meet, rep etc

 

had no impact.

 

yours Shogun

I agree that 10% really doesn't affect the cruise much.

We've had 2 experiences with large groups which clarified this to me.

Years ago we were on the (then) Tahitian Princess for B2Bs. The second cruise (when we were comfortable and familiar with the normal operations of things) was unexpectedly (for us) taken over by a group of French people who seemed to have booked with one agent. I think they had booked almost half of the ship.

She took over half of the Purser's desk, announcements were made in French, rooms were blocked off, seats everywhere (pool and shows) were held, etc. It was awful! Even the crew that we had become friendly with on the first cruise noticed it. :(

Then last year we were on a cruise that had a group of Star Wars aficionados .

I found out about it on our Roll Call before the cruise and almost cancelled.

It turned out that there were about 300 (or so) of them on a 3000 passenger ship and other than the costumes I sometimes saw, there was no effect at all on the cruise.

I think when the group gets up to a third of the ship and is large enough to affect the experience of people not in the group it would be wonderful to be notified but I don't expect that will ever happen.:rolleyes:

I think that if dining rooms, entertainment venues or other areas will be blocked off to regular passengers they should be informed in advance. Also, 10% of the passengers being in a group might not be readily visible on the bigger ships, but I would think it would make a difference on the smaller ships.

I voted yes, but I do think the 10% number is too low--I doubt if that many would seriously affect others.

So far we haven't been on a cruise that had such a large group that it affected others not in the group, luckily. I do think that if a ship has a truly large percentage of a certain group aboard, to the extent that certain venues will be closed to other passengers, that information should be made public.

I understand why it is not, however.

I think that if dining rooms, entertainment venues or other areas will be blocked off to regular passengers they should be informed in advance. Also, 10% of the passengers being in a group might not be readily visible on the bigger ships, but I would think it would make a difference on the smaller ships.

I agree. And I think regular passengers should be allowed to cancel without penalty if they feel their cruise experience will be impacted by not having access to public areas reserved by large groups - such as pools, entertainment venues, etc.

How can you find out if there are any large groups on the Cruise you are going on?

Unfortunately, cruise lines are not going to tell us ... but I wish they would.

Also, I wish we could post the "Groups" we find out about here on Cruise Critic ... but it's against CC rules.

LuLu

~~~~

The reason they don't tell us is that legally they can't. It's discrimination. I've been on cruises with large groups and they don't begin to affect the ship until about 500 in number.

The reason they don't tell us is that legally they can't. It's discrimination. I've been on cruises with large groups and they don't begin to affect the ship until about 500 in number.

I'm not sure that it's illegal. We were booking a hotel in Laughlin, NV once and they said they had an obligation to let us know that there was a big bike rally in town that weekend. I do think they don't tell for reasons already stated - people would cancel if they knew of a group that might impact their trip.

Just some quick math here, lets use the Royal Princess as an example.

You have 3,600 passengers, 10% is 360. That is more then enough to take all the available space at the Retreat pool or the Sanctuary. That is more than enough to fill up the LIVE theater, Club 6, the Wheelhouse bar or the Crown grill.

That is how I came up with the percentage I used.

And I am talking about "Official" groups, not the roll calls. Offical groups can get venues and areas closed off for their exclusive use or they can just overrun an area when they decide that the group will meet at a certain venue at a certain time.

Mike

They don't tell you since they don't want you to cancel and they don't have to.

What I do is just Google my ship, date of cruising and look up if any group is on my ship. I found a few in the past but they were small groups and didn't change my plans.

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, I mean this for ANY and ALL groups.

 

Do you think Princess has an obligation to inform you when a group has booked more than 10% of the total cabins on your cruise?

 

I chose 10% as I think that is the level at which a group can begin to overwhelm or totally monopolize one area of the ship (a theater, the Sanctuary, the new Retreat area...)

 

Mike

Would you have a problem with an "S&M" group ??? What if they "tied up" all of the common areas ??? LOL ;):D;)

YES, I think Princess should share the fact that they have a large group booked!

We once sailed out of Florida with a group of 900 people who took over the pool area and made a whole lot of passengers uncomfortable. Especially those with small children. Several areas were blocked off for their own use and private parties! I would have have canceled and rebooked if I knew this group was on board! Only because this group was OUT OF CONTROL and they were doing things in public areas that should have been kept in the cabins!! :eek: