Anyone led a group cruise before?

[EagerToCruise]

I am coordinating a group cruise for 26 friends, all in our mid to late 40's. We are going with a 5 night itinerary as this is the first cruise for most. I have the most cruising experience and LOVE to research destinations, excursions, cruise plans, deck plans, etc. But I would appreciate suggestions from anyone on how to organize this many people. I am also in charge of hotel arrangements for pre-cruise although each couple will arrange their own travel to Galveston. Thanks for your help.

[msjaxson]

I am currently in the final stages of coordinating my third group cruise - we are sailing the MAriner on 5/15 -- there are 30 of us . The most improtant thing is to realize that you will not be together all the time. Here are some tips

1) make a list of everone's cabin numbers so everyone has it before hand.

2) let everyone book their own excursions based on personal interests.

3) make sure your TA has all the bookings linked together for the dining room- that is really the only time we are guaranteed to catch up and see each other

4) its a nice idea to pick a meeting place for a predinner drink to touch base.

Most of all have fun and don't drive yourself insane trying to work out every detail.

janine

[caviargal]

I do this both professionally and as a favor for friends and family. My groups have ranged from 25 to this next one of 181 (and counting).

 

I have found it helpful to do an itinerary and give this to each person. Do you have any group events planned? I provide all the emergency contact info for ship and hotel, recap the itinerary, and include cabin numbers and names. Since I am a creature of habit, folks always know they can find me in the fitness center in the mornings early and at a favorite per dinner cocktail spot (Champagne Bar for me usually).

 

Good luck and have fun!

CG

[JeffKoz]

3) make sure your TA has all the bookings linked together for the dining room- that is really the only time we are guaranteed to catch up and see each other

 

This is an important one...I put together the group cruise on my recent Sovereign sailing - 16 of us. My biggest worry was the dining room seating - and my worrying ended up being justified.

 

Although my TA reassured me numerous times he had us all cross referenced, when I got on board I found none of us seated together - different tables and different dining rooms. After a lot of work with the Dining room staff I got us all together, but we had to change to late seating. Was not poular with everyone, but we did get to sit together.

 

Make sure you have a list of everyone's name and cabin number. If you all plan on arriving at the ship separately, I would recommend you get to the dining room immediately upon boarding and have them check the assignments using your list.

 

Other than that, we had a great time. I kept an email distribution list and sent a lot of information to everyone - listing excursions, ship activities and other info for them to review. They all appreciated it. I also setup a meeting for all of us to get together at sail-away (in our case it was near the pool bar on the sun deck). It got us all together for a while and ended up working out very well.

 

Another little thing I did was to have one of our group make a small "banner flag" with our group name on it. Whenever we went up to the pool deck, or out on the beach on CoCo Cay we had the banner up. Made an easy way to find the main group....

 

Have a great cruise...

[Ladydee]

Hi,

 

I am coordinating a cruise for our group of 28 next month. I am working with a travel agent who has been wonderful with all my questions, requests, etc. So.....

 

1.) Find a good travel agent

2.) I held a meeting at my house before any booking was done. I had a Fodor's and a Frommer's lying out for people to read. I also had Compasses from our last cruise.

3.) Do as much online research as you can beforehand and narrow some options before you all get together. With a big group, too many options are not good. I had narrowed our decision down to 2 cruises based on some conversations with individuals in the weeks prior.

4.) I handled all the bookings and was the only one to deal with the TA directly. I think this makes it much easier for you to track of things as well as the agent.

5.) I'm pretty decent on the computer. I made a "Cruise News" Newsletter and sent it out to everyone. So far we've had two issues. This keeps everyone up to date on the planning. I included some basic info that I copied from other sites as well as a diagram of everyone's cabin numbers, etc. If you are interested in taking a look, I can email it to you privately.

6.) 2 months before the cruise I had another meeting to discuss excursions, airport arrangements and other details

7.) We are down to a month before sailing. I did a spreadsheet on excel showing what stops we're making and for how long as well as who's doing what excursions at each stop. I will attach this to my final newsletter which will go out next week.

 

I hope this helps!

[Cruiser21]

Does the cruise line give the lead person in a group booking any discount based on the number people in the group booking?

[BuyReallyLow]

Having done this only three times, others may have more detail, but each time RC has a discount policy if you achieve certain group levels. On the last one (which we leave on Saturday) - once 8 couples was achieved, the value of one inside cabin berth was given to the group to be used at the discretion of the group coordinator. In our situation, we divided the discount by the couples traveling and reduced the cost. In other situations, we have every couple receive an on-board ship credit. If you wish to use it to reduce your cost, that would be up to your group.

 

 

 

I would echo everything else said above - a good travel agent is very helpful when working with RC - they can be a great conduit. YOU can sweat the small details like room placement, dining arrangments, etc - but I would suggest that you leave airfare and excursions in the hands of your Travel Agent (airfare) and individual travelers (excursions). We tend to do ONE group excursion each trip so memories are made - it is normally with our group some "Jolly Roger" type event - low keyed good times.

 

 

 

Enjoy! The planning is almost as fun as the trip!:)

[EagerToCruise]

Thanks everyone! You've given me lots of information and great ideas. Ladydee, I would love to see your work, as I can make a decent flyer or brochure if I have an inspiration! gbricker@frontiernet.net is where you can send it to me. I so appreciate everyone's input. Because we are almost a year away from our cruise, I do have time to put some things together and I'm even designing a t-shirt for all of us to wear to board the ship and meet on deck for sail-away! Keep the ideas coming!

[#1BradyFan]

I am currently in the final stages of coordinating my third group cruise - we are sailing the MAriner on 5/15 -- there are 30 of us . The most improtant thing is to realize that you will not be together all the time. Here are some tips

1) make a list of everone's cabin numbers so everyone has it before hand.

2) let everyone book their own excursions based on personal interests.

3) make sure your TA has all the bookings linked together for the dining room- that is really the only time we are guaranteed to catch up and see each other

4) its a nice idea to pick a meeting place for a predinner drink to touch base.

Most of all have fun and don't drive yourself insane trying to work out every detail.

janine

Hi~

I am part of MsJaxson's party of 30.:eek:

We or should I say I nicknamed her Julie (Cruise Director from Love Boat :)

Everyone should have a group leader like her....

She is on top of everything....follow her advice and you can't go wrong!!

Have fun in the sun!!

Sherri :D

[Starlite]

Ladylee:

 

Would luv to see your newsletter that you use you can email it to me at confersm@aol.com . Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

Starla Confer

[valparker]

Ladydee,

 

I saw your post about your group cruise planning and I am also getting a group of thirty of my friends together for Feb. 5th, 2006 on the Mariner. Can you please email me the newsletter. I would love to see it.

 

valparker

valparker@optonline.net

[dreamscometrue2]

I would also like to see your newsletter. Please email me at linjeffe3@yahoo.com.

 

Thanks for your help.

[kyriecat]

I think you are better researching a few private excursions for each of your stops. Make a list of the stops and the excursion options to present to the rest of your group. Some of the excursions will offer a discount rate if you have 8 (sometimes 12) or more guests. If some members of your group aren't interested in the options, they can book their own. It will save some money (ship excursions are expensive compared to the alternatives) and give your group the opportunity to be together.

[njoyndride]

I'm on my 4th group leaving in just 30 days. The only thing I disagree with is I have everyone deal with the TA individually and let the TA tie all bookings etc. That way they can deal with the TA with credit card info etc. and if something ran amiss I was out of the picture. I usually plan one excursion open to the whole group. As #1Bradyfan said dinner is the time to come together and for everyone to share what they did during the day and it's important that they spend their time doing what interests them.

[tribefan]

I guess you would say I am the cruise director of our upcoming cruise in March 06. We have 25 people going right now and looks like we will be adding a few more here shortly. One of our close friends and us picked out the cruise we were to go one. Since our sons are in college and wanted to go during spring break to the eastern, it didn't leave much of a choice. After that, we sent the word out to everyone with the TA's phone number and let them do the booking. We just held our first of many get togethers on the 1 yr sailing date. Our group is also going to look into t-shirts. If anyone has any great ideas on what to put on them, email me, really need some help with that one! Also, Ladydee, would you please add me to your mailing list for your newsletter (tswheel@aol.com. That sounds like such a great idea!!! Since many in our group only know a few, it would be nice to do a little bio on each of us.

 

As for doing things on the ship, last cruise with 24 of us, we just told everyone what we had planned on doing for the day and anyone was more then welcomed to join us. It worked out great that way. It's impossible to keep everyone together and happy the entire time. Usually after dinner many of us would be sitting out in front of the Pig and Whistle and would meet up with others. :D

[Nitra]

I take a group every year and if it is booked as a group then there is no reason why you are not seated together. As for a discount, Im not only the group leader, Im a TA, I use the credit to do a couple of things for the group, usually book a party, or if we do a pre night hotel, I use some of the money to pay for a private transfer to the ship for the group, if we book the hotel on our own. Also depending on the sailing and ship you may get points that can be used for things, like discounts, champagne, etc.

 

We pick one excursion and do it together. The rest we do on our own, because some dont want to do the same thing at every port. Even the one we do as a group there will be some that opt to do something else. I figure this is not only my vacation but their vacation too so let everyone do what they want. My group knows they can find me by the pool every morning.

 

I put together booklets every year too including a list of everyone, their cabins and their home addresses and phone numbers, so you have them afterward. I make an itinerary and then include info on the ship, deck plans, port information, like the history and what to do and include a day by day of what to expect on the ship, with such info as muster drill, sailaway, dinner time, and little tips. I also do a goody bag for everyone, I pick up things from orientaltrading.com and the dollar store and then just make it fun and themed, like tropical things. If we do a party one night then I make up invitations telling everyone when and where. It takes me a few months of work to put it all together but I love it and it makes a nice keepsake for everyone.

[mcaron]

Having done several group cruises, I echo the advice above and offer the following.

 

1. Plan a group cocktail party, In the past our T/A or RCCL has provided rebate money per cabin after reaching the Group cabin minimum. We have used this cash for a group Cocktail /private party. Your T/A should be able to arrange this with RCCL.

 

2. If you have rebate cash left over, and there is a Horse auction/racing on board you may want to consider buying a horse or two. This was a fun group event on sea days.

 

3. Plan a group Photo. This can be arranged after boarding with the Ships Photogragher.

 

Have fun.

[journey2002]

Laydee...I would love to have a copy of your newsletter. Please email me at journeylove2002@yahoo.com

[MCazer]

Laydee, please also send me a copy of your newsletter. (MCazer@aol.com)

 

:) We have 12 cabins booked for the Mariner for November 27, 2005.

 

I think I will call our travel agent and see about setting up a cocktail party with the credit. Because when you divide the discount by 12 cabins its not alot, but would probably make a nice party or perhaps photo op.

[tribefan]

Well, I just finished our first group newsletter and so far everyone who has read it loves it!! Thanks Ladydee for the great idea! Now I just have to keep it up everymonth. It gives everyone something to look forward to:D

[jewel]

Could I also have a copy? I am getting married in Nassau and will be sailing with 80 guests(so far!) on Majesty in July!! Thanks so much!!! juliv@comcast.net

[normaxs]

EagerToCruise, noticed you are from Central Illinois. I'm in Peoria and working on my first group cruise in September. Have a small group but hope this will grow. Have had a great time planning & staying in touch with everyone. Several of the couples leave out of town and are friends &/or family of friends.

Since I don't know some of these people, I wanted a gift that everyone could enjoy. Bought some small hptp albums and am decorating the covers. At a scrapbook store I found many cruise related items I could use. I'll give these out after we board with the list of cruisers names, addresses etc.

I also copied & enlarged the ship deck picture and entered just the name next to the cabin and mailed that out with my most recent update.

My TA has really been a good resource for me and has helped handle details.

Most of the people have not cruised before and are also concerned about clothes so I'm making up a packing list to send out over the summer.

Have urged them all to come into the embarkation city the day ahead. (New York-my home town)Found a hotel in a good area for sightseeing if they want.Planning for all of us to go out to dinner and will treat to a before- dinner drink to say welcome.

 

Have enjoyed all the tips from everyone. Thanks for sharing.

Norma

[Holly_M]

Ladydee, I'm organizing a group cruise too and would very much appreciate you e-mailing a copy of your newsletter to me: hmixon@sc.rr.com

 

The information I've gotten from CC has been so helpful! Thanks to all of you who take the time to respond to the posts!

:D

[MszKitty]

Something that no one mentioned was "round robin dining". I was just the group leader of a group of 50 friends and family and we chose round robing dining and it worked out great. With round robin dining your group will be all seated in the same area of the dining room. You don't have to sit at the same table with the same people each night. You can switch tables each night if you want. If you want to sit with couple 1 at table 2 one night...then you decide you would like to sit with couple 3 at table 4 the next night, you can do that. The only negative (which I, personally, didn't find a negative, but some people might) is that everyone must pre-pay all their tips with their final payment before the cruise. And everyone must do it. You can't have some do it and others not. (But the postitive about pre-paying tips is you don't have to worry about it at the end of the cruise....of course you can always add more at the end of the cruise if you want...but thats another debate...LOL)

 

I also made up magnets to put on everyone's door. (I got this idea from these boards) I made one that had the name of our group "Family-Name Family & Friends" and on each one I put the first names of the couple that was in the cabin. I also made up some smaller ones of cruise related items, like palm trees, drinks, sunglasses, etc...you get the idea. I made them from graphics that I either already had in my computer, or that I found along the way. They all loved the magnets and some said it helped them find their door after a late night out partying...LOL I printed them off my computer onto magnetic paper that I purchased at Staples.

[Eager to Cruise]

I love the magnet idea! We have a stuffed tropical fish pillow as a mascot and we take him to our group parties. I have made a four page booklet for our first newsletter and I'll be handing them out tomorrow night at our first monthly get-together. I can't wait to see what they think. This first one covers confirmations and boarding documents, transportation arrangements, hotel choices, dining, and cabin amenities. I, too, have printed out the deck plan with our names beside each cabin. There is one room already booked right in the middle of us... they'll either love us or hate us by the end of the cruise! All these ideas are super. I could work on this stuff all day!