Political Groups Chartering Part of a Ship

[michmike]

The post about upcoming charter groups got me fuming again about our experience on Nieuw Amsterdam last week. I plan to do an in-depth review when I have time this weekend, but what irritated me and many others was that there was a group of 400+ on board as part of a group booking sponsored by a liberal magazine called "The Nation".

 

While they was not a lot of direct prosyletizing, you could not escape their tiresome leftist drivel wherever you went, in the lounges, lido, tenders, etc. One lady did accost my buddy's wife on the beach at HMC and attempted to spread the word and didn't respond well to a polite rebuff.

 

They were not hard to spot as they walked around with a name tag hanging from their neck with "The Nation" on it and their name. Truth is that with their children of the 60s time machine appearance you wouldn't have needed the name tags to spot them. As if that wasn't enough, one of the "earth mothers" sat in the lido reading Jane Fonda's autobiography. I was tempted to sneak up behind her and yell "incoming!!!!"

 

But wait.. there's more..... as part of their entertainment for the week they had Joan Baez on board. ( a pity that Phil Ochs is dead) And they staged a banner carrying protest march of some sort in Grand Cayman, further showing their backsides.

 

In silent protest, I fashioned a "fair and balanced" name tag that I wore all week. That got me a few high-fives from others onboard who were not impressed by being subjected to this political group.

 

So if you've read between the lines up to this point, you might guess that I'm a bit right of center (and a proud USAF veteran on SE Asia, back when Jane was entertaining the troops in Hanoi).

 

But the point of this is (and HAL, I hope you're listening) I would have been only slightly less irritated if this had been an O'Reilly Factor outing.

 

The bottom line is that unless a political group can do a whole ship charter, they should not be accommodated. I was on vacation. I just spent the past 6 months being inundated w/ political advertising on TV and radio, not to mention the robocalls. I didn't want or need this political bent while on board.

 

Just as a snarky aside.... I had great hopes that with Roatan being our closest stop to Guyana, that the group planned to drink their koolaid there and leave us with a quiet sea day on Sat as we cruised back to Ft Lauderdale... but alas, they were back on board as we sailed away ( I suppose to the great relief of the sandal making and granny glasses industries...*S*)

 

So, am I wrong? Name and town, name and town if you wish to opine... *L*

[CruiserBruce]

We were onboard the N. Amsterdam B2B last December with the Nation one week, and the National Review- a conservative group, with Juan Williams, Fox reporter as the featured speaker, the second week. Didn't bother us one bit. About 500 in each group, so one quarter of the pax.

 

And my Bachelors is in Political Science.

 

Regardless of their political, religious, ethnic or other view, you can't refuse them, saying they can only have a full charter, not a "group" booking, which is what they had in your case, not a charter. Moving on....

[Roz]

A couple at my dinner table back in 2005 complained about a cruise they were on with this same group, so apparently nothing has changed.

 

I would probably be more annoyed with some conservative, evangelical religious group, but that's just me.

 

BTW, I nearly spit my coffee out on the monitor when I read your "incoming" comment. Cracked me up. :D

 

Roz

[aliaschief]

We were on a Eurodam cruise when the National Review was on-board. There were a couple of times that some public venues were closed for awhile. We did get the feeling we were at a major convention and outsiders but we still had a Dam good time.

[twinkletoes4445]

As if that wasn't enough, one of the "earth mothers" sat in the lido reading Jane Fonda's autobiography. I was tempted to sneak up behind her and yell "incoming!!!!"

 

This make me laugh out loud so loudly, that I scared my cats!!

 

I'm sorry you had do deal with this group. I am in total agreement with your post.

[peaches from georgia]

I know National Review has a big group cruising on HAL once, maybe twice a year, which would annoy a lot of pax, too. The last person i want to see in the Neptune early in the morning is Bill Kristol. :eek:

 

Frankly I don't want any group of that size on a cruise with me no matter who they are. Which is why cruiselines play dumb and refuse to tell you about groups if you ask. You have to do your own research to find out about groups cruising. I resent it. Much better to book at least a 10 day or longer cruise. Most large groups go on 7 dayers.

[PathfinderEss]

If you can stay away from those 7 day cruises you should be fine. 7days is where you will find alot of those and other kind of groups on board. I think I would be in big trouble if that group 'The Nation' was on board with my DH. He is quite vocal.

[Typhoon1]

400 guaranteed bodies is something HAL won't refuse.

[SwissMyst]

I wonder why Nation keeps picking HAL. Reported in wikipedia they make $200,000 from these cruises. Perhaps you could write them a check instead?

 

But appreciated your description ... and view point. But it is not dissimilar to complaints about so many "old" people on HAL ships too in the big picture. So many other venues on these larger HAL ships where you can get away and realize every sold space helps keep all of our cruise prices down. :rolleyes:

[michmike]

Perhaps you could write them a check instead? /QUOTE]

 

I'd be willing to pick up the tab for the koolaid *wink*

[YubaSutter]

Too bad you allowed yourself to have a bad time. I would have loved being on that cruise. But then again I do some of my morning runs in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, on Nancy Pelosi Drive. ;)

[serendipity1499]

As others have said HAL can't refuse any groups as this would be discrimination..

While I may not agree with a groups political or religious beliefs, your attempt at being amusing by suggesting that those people drink "Koolaid" is not funny at all!

In fact I find it disgusting & appalling!:mad:

Betty

[sapper1]

It truly sounds as though the group you experienced was over the top as far as its effect on other passengers.

 

We cruised with the National Review group last month and while I had my misgivings regarding a group at the onset, I can honestly say that they were very respectful of other passengers and made only a slight impact on the cruise. In fact, were it not for the name tags they would not have been that visible at all.

Their impact consisted of suspension of anytime dining for the week, changing of show times to 7 and 9 PM and closing of the Lido pool area for a few evenings.

 

One of their members was concerned enough to ask me near the end of the cruise about any negative impact they may have had. I knew her from our roll call and told her that I honestly was not bothered at all-----and those who know me on CC know I usually say what I think.

 

From reading the OP’s comments, I would say we were very lucky with our group encounter.

[sapper1]

As others have said HAL can't refuse any groups as this would be discrimination..

While I may not agree with a groups political or religious beliefs, your attempt at being amusing by suggesting that those people drink "Koolaid" is not funny at all!

In fact I find it disgusting & appalling!:mad:

Betty

 

Not to mention inappropriate and insensitive.

[SwissMyst]

We have sailed on ships that had a large Elderhostel (Exploritas) groups and felt they had an impact on the overall feeling of the cruise too, and not all positive. But they filled the seats and kept to themselves -- which did feel like part of the problem.

[sail7seas]

I know National Review has a big group cruising on HAL once, maybe twice a year, which would annoy a lot of pax, too. The last person i want to see in the Neptune early in the morning is Bill Kristol. :eek:

 

Frankly I don't want any group of that size on a cruise with me no matter who they are. Which is why cruiselines play dumb and refuse to tell you about groups if you ask. You have to do your own research to find out about groups cruising. I resent it. Much better to book at least a 10 day or longer cruise. Most large groups go on 7 dayers.

 

 

We were on Maasdam with Bill Kristol and his Weekly Standard Group. Seeing Maasdam is a smaller ship, and seeing the group took almost all of the "S" suites, I was sure we'd be jumping ship from having them all in Neptune holding court and doing whatever it is they were doing.

That, in no way happened. We were never once bothered by them EXCEPT we did not have a Suite Welcome Aboard Party. The group was having a cocktail party somewhere other than Neptune and seeing they had just about all the Suites, those few of us in the left over suites had no party. :(

 

We chatted for a few minutes with Bill Kristol as we were entering Neptune from our Suite right across the hall and he was leaving. We thanked him for keeping their meetings from bothering others and for respecting there were other suite guests using Neptune.

 

We were pleasantly surprised.

 

[michmike]

Not to mention inappropriate and insensitive.

 

ergo my footer....

 

am reminded of dame margot fonteyn's advice to appreciate the difference between taking one's work seriously and one's self seriously .. one is imperative, the other disastrous

[frbob]

The post about upcoming charter groups got me fuming again about our experience on Nieuw Amsterdam last week. I plan to do an in-depth review when I have time this weekend, but what irritated me and many others was that there was a group of 400+ on board as part of a group booking sponsored by a liberal magazine called "The Nation".

 

While they was not a lot of direct prosyletizing, you could not escape their tiresome leftist drivel wherever you went, in the lounges, lido, tenders, etc. One lady did accost my buddy's wife on the beach at HMC and attempted to spread the word and didn't respond well to a polite rebuff.

 

They were not hard to spot as they walked around with a name tag hanging from their neck with "The Nation" on it and their name. Truth is that with their children of the 60s time machine appearance you wouldn't have needed the name tags to spot them. As if that wasn't enough, one of the "earth mothers" sat in the lido reading Jane Fonda's autobiography. I was tempted to sneak up behind her and yell "incoming!!!!"

 

But wait.. there's more..... as part of their entertainment for the week they had Joan Baez on board. ( a pity that Phil Ochs is dead) And they staged a banner carrying protest march of some sort in Grand Cayman, further showing their backsides.

 

In silent protest, I fashioned a "fair and balanced" name tag that I wore all week. That got me a few high-fives from others onboard who were not impressed by being subjected to this political group.

 

So if you've read between the lines up to this point, you might guess that I'm a bit right of center (and a proud USAF veteran on SE Asia, back when Jane was entertaining the troops in Hanoi).

 

But the point of this is (and HAL, I hope you're listening) I would have been only slightly less irritated if this had been an O'Reilly Factor outing.

 

The bottom line is that unless a political group can do a whole ship charter, they should not be accommodated. I was on vacation. I just spent the past 6 months being inundated w/ political advertising on TV and radio, not to mention the robocalls. I didn't want or need this political bent while on board.

 

Just as a snarky aside.... I had great hopes that with Roatan being our closest stop to Guyana, that the group planned to drink their koolaid there and leave us with a quiet sea day on Sat as we cruised back to Ft Lauderdale... but alas, they were back on board as we sailed away ( I suppose to the great relief of the sandal making and granny glasses industries...*S*)

 

So, am I wrong? Name and town, name and town if you wish to opine... *L*

 

 

HOOYAH! And thanks for your service!

[ChelseaSailor]

MichMike It seems like you spent the Cruise venting about what another group was doing. If you concentrated on your own business you might of had a better time.

ChelseaSailor

[yogisan]

I agree... half a ship or even 400 plus should not be chartered to a group that side....I would have wanted to get off.... Yes, after that election and the nastiness I would have jumped overboard! I love the fair and balanced name tag!! LOVE it.

[sail7seas]

[

I agree... half a ship or even 400 plus should not be chartered to a group that side....I would have wanted to get off.... Yes, after that election and the nastiness I would have jumped overboard! I love the fair and balanced name tag!! LOVE it.

 

 

A group of 400 on a Signature ship is one thing.......

 

A group of 400 on an "S" Class ships is quite another. That goes from about 20% to a full third and that is too much, IMO

 

[bphman]

We'll be on the Westerdam with a Bell Ringer group. I understand they can be quite wild. Hope they don't take over the ship.

 

We sailed on the Maasdam to Canada with a lesbian group. I was wondering why there were so many female couples until the light in my head turned on. We had a great time and made some friends. There was a thread a few years back where a large swinger group caused quite a ruckus. I guess it depends on the size and nature of the group.

[Himself]

Last month I was on the Nieuw Amsterdam and National Review was on at the same time doing their "post election cruise" and I found them to be a nice group of people. They did not try to prostelize.

[Wakepatrol]

The post about upcoming charter groups got me fuming again about our experience on Nieuw Amsterdam last week. I plan to do an in-depth review when I have time this weekend, but what irritated me and many others was that there was a group of 400+ on board as part of a group booking sponsored by a liberal magazine called "The Nation".

 

While they was not a lot of direct prosyletizing, you could not escape their tiresome leftist drivel wherever you went, in the lounges, lido, tenders, etc. One lady did accost my buddy's wife on the beach at HMC and attempted to spread the word and didn't respond well to a polite rebuff.

 

They were not hard to spot as they walked around with a name tag hanging from their neck with "The Nation" on it and their name. Truth is that with their children of the 60s time machine appearance you wouldn't have needed the name tags to spot them. As if that wasn't enough, one of the "earth mothers" sat in the lido reading Jane Fonda's autobiography. I was tempted to sneak up behind her and yell "incoming!!!!"

 

But wait.. there's more..... as part of their entertainment for the week they had Joan Baez on board. ( a pity that Phil Ochs is dead) And they staged a banner carrying protest march of some sort in Grand Cayman, further showing their backsides.

 

In silent protest, I fashioned a "fair and balanced" name tag that I wore all week. That got me a few high-fives from others onboard who were not impressed by being subjected to this political group.

 

So if you've read between the lines up to this point, you might guess that I'm a bit right of center (and a proud USAF veteran on SE Asia, back when Jane was entertaining the troops in Hanoi).

 

But the point of this is (and HAL, I hope you're listening) I would have been only slightly less irritated if this had been an O'Reilly Factor outing.

 

The bottom line is that unless a political group can do a whole ship charter, they should not be accommodated. I was on vacation. I just spent the past 6 months being inundated w/ political advertising on TV and radio, not to mention the robocalls. I didn't want or need this political bent while on board.

 

Just as a snarky aside.... I had great hopes that with Roatan being our closest stop to Guyana, that the group planned to drink their koolaid there and leave us with a quiet sea day on Sat as we cruised back to Ft Lauderdale... but alas, they were back on board as we sailed away ( I suppose to the great relief of the sandal making and granny glasses industries...*S*)

 

So, am I wrong? Name and town, name and town if you wish to opine... *L*

 

 

You probably should have stayed in your cabin, and overdosed on Fox news

[mightycruisequeen]

Gack! :eek: That many people on the same ship parroting the same political blather...no thanks.

My condolences, michemike.