Large groups on a sailing?

[katiel53]

I am trying to find a site that tells me if there are large groups of passengers on a sailing. I have seen the site previously on the CC, but I have gone through search and can't find it. We are thinking about a cruise for next year and would like to know if large groups will be on there. Thanks for the information.

 

Katie

[fireguy091]

What do you consider a large group and why is it an issue? I'd hate to go on a cruise and be the only one there,lol

[katiel53]

To me a large group is 300 and up. The reason I asked is that friends of ours wanted to go on the Dec 10 Celebrity cruise and it is already sold out and I feel that with the way prices are going for other cruises, I thought if no large groups were booked, the prices might be lower than if there were. We want to book onboard the Sovereign for our Celebrity cruise. In the past we were fortunate enough to have prices come down once we booked and although it is unlikely, I thought if no groups going to increase the prices, there would be a better chance of lowering them.

 

katie

[barbon2]

There was a similar type of thread posted not too long ago. I too would like to know if there is any very large group going on ANY cruise I select to go on. All ships have some smaller groups aboard and most of the time they are non obtrusive. However, when a ship would have a very large contigent of people they could tend to overtake the ship and activities. I too wish there was a site where you could obtain this information.

Barbara

[kitty9]

Cruise lines do not publish or announce when large groups will be on board any ship, and the reason is clear--to avoid exactly what the posters are saying---they don't want passengers canceling cruises because there might be a group on board. They won't even tell travel agents when groups are booked because they don't want mass cancellations. You just go and take your chances. I've been on board ships where there are large groups, and while they did have parties in the lounges on some days, it by no means ruined my cruising. Heck, I've been bumped off Seabourn because Oprah chartered the ship, I've been on ship with 250 Mexican Ford salesmen, and with 500 Amway salespersons. No big deal. The only time a group was a problem was when 700 people from Taiwan were on NCL and they took over the entire first seating at dinner. When we got to the late seating, many of the menu items were not available because they had all eaten two and three of everything. That was not a fun cruise.

[Melissa at Mohair Meadows]

We were on a cruise with a very large number of insurance employees - they too took over the first dining. However, they were a very enjoyable group. They were so happy to be there.

 

Has anyone had any other good or bad experiences with groups? I am on a cruise next year that has a senior class party on-board. (I believe it is a college class party). Am I looking at animal house? :eek: It has DH a little worried.

[fredhanson]

Has anyone had any other good or bad experiences with groups? I am on a cruise next year that has a senior class party on-board. (I believe it is a college class party). Am I looking at animal house? :eek: It has DH a little worried.

 

I recently returned from a Crystal cruise in which over 2/3 of the passengers were booked through AHITravel, a college alumni travel organization. Most of these folks were from midwestern universities, and were older, more Republican, and larger than average (I was criticized for saying they were fatter, and, indeed, many were noticably taller as well as wider and heavier than the average cruiser). Many were first-time cruisers, and were less formally dressed. None of these obsesrvations should be considered criticisms; we met a number of interesting and very decent people from this group.

 

I knew a group had booked since the available cabins went from many to none in one week. On this cruise, the group may have produced a small amount of crowding (Crystal ships apparently often sail with half to 2/3 capacity filled) but the quality of the cruise experience was unaffected.

 

On the other hand, the continuing cruise after mine (from Caldera, Costa Rica to LA) was a nightmare, according to reports posted on the Crystal Message Board.

[fredhanson]

On the other hand, the continuing cruise after mine (from Caldera, Costa Rica to LA) was a nightmare, according to reports posted on the Crystal Message Board.

 

This statement does not refer to the midwesterners, most of whom debarked at Caldera. Very unusually, Crystal allowed a large group of Mexican nationals to board the ship part-way through the LA-bound cruise, and their behavior--according to some reports posted on the Crystal message board--was out of keeping with the standards of cruise passengers, and included loud, disruptive behavior throughout the ship, and late appearance and smoking in the dining room. Crystal has so far responded with a self-serving letter, and doesn't se itself to blaim.