Large groups taking over cruise - opinion please :)

[whataboutport]

I hope my one brother-in-law isn't on your sailing. He looks a bit like Paul and breaks out into song everywhere! Looking like him yes! Sounding like him NO!!! :eek:

The Beatle cruise was in March. I saw a few of them wearing their t shirts. But on such a large ship they were barely a blip.

[flczr]

On our 2005 Mariner cruise we had to deal with Red Hat ladies they took over the ship and Functions

[petesweet]

Eeeek not BIKERS!

 

I hope you know most bikers are actually something else... lawyers, electrician, doctors and judges...

 

These guys all like to ride...

 

If the cruise was "Outlaw" bikers.... then you might want to "gird up your loins" or wear something speacial ;)

 

(I'm a biker too)

We are sure we are going to meet some of the nicest people!

Happy sails.

Kathy

[goodycruising]

This thread is about large groups on cruise ships. The Carnival Paradise carries a little over 2 thousand passengers. Over 80 % of the cruise was elderly. There were less than 10 children on board. So there were 1600+ from the two retirement condo villages. If this doesn't count as a large group what does? Did I say I didn't like OLD people (I'm getting there myself)? The balance was just way way off. I've looked at the forum for "Banned" topics and I don't see one about "Old People". This topic is about large groups on cruise. Don't get your kickers in a bunch. I will stop posting, all you get when you join in is grief.

 

I really like many old people, but some of them have sharp elbows, and are very impatient. I am sure I have heard some similar comments about some large groups of certain nationalities. Many of them can be nice individually, but in a group it can highlight the bad manners or just different cultural habits sometimes. I also hear some people don't like the idea of cruising with lots of children.

 

I personally appreciate the feedback about this sort of experience. When you have limited time for trips, and lets face it - they are not cheap, then it is better if you can work towards getting in the demographic that is more favorable to your tastes.

[PORT ROYAL]

Howdy! My husband and I are going on a cruise soon (FOS), and it has come to our attention that a rather large group of about 800 people are sailing with us.

 

Has anyone experienced this? We are worried that large groups like this can take over public spaces when they come together to meet and/or hang out. I understand that they have their own shows to go to in reserved sections of the ship, but I have heard horror stories of large groups "annoying" other passengers, getting in everyones way, and generally "taking over" parts of the ship. Any input would be great! I am hoping to hear some good stories... its too late for us to cancel now...

 

About three years ago, sailing out of San Juan, there was a 'winning' group all employed by a "Smoothie Style Company" in San Juan. There was over 200, all had met their sales targets.

The crowd being noisy, rude, obnoxious with disgusting manners, with all 200 plus hogging the spa pool, sunbeds etc just spoiled the cruise.

The Group even started a Q at 20.00 hours for the 10.30 pool buffet, grabbing all tables. The Buffet was destroyed in less than 15 minutes after opening.

MDR just forget it! - Table for 6 = 21 entrees!! - Have a conversation with another table 20 yards apart. Then Group singing.

On subsequent discussions with the HD, I was told that the Cruise Line could not turn down a lucrative block booking at $300.00 per head. On asking as to why the ship did not ask clients to pay $20.00 each to keep them off, the HD terminated the meeting and ask me to leave.

Block bookings! - You have been warned!

[Aquahound]

Our only negative from group experiences are with large groups of quinces.

 

Same here. But in my case the quince group was 1300 on the Adventure out of PR. This group had a huge negative impact on that cruise. During that cruise, major venues on the ship had to be closed...once, it was the Solarium due to a broken window with glass all over the deck and somehow, in the pool....and once in the Royal Promenade when they knocked over the entire liquor table, spilling booze and broken glass all over the RP floor. A lot more ocurred, but those are 2 of the biggest highlights.

[LucasLounger1]

There's apparently four groups on my cruise in February: some bikers, a Christian group, Paws 'n' Claws, and some kind of classic rock enthusiasts. I hope they don't crush out my enjoyment!

 

That being said, I was part of the line-dancing group on Carnival in 2011. I think, and hope, that we were courteous to others. I didn't hear of any negative feedback from others.

[Chrislynn55]

In all of our cruises we've only seen a group on board once. This was a large jazz group (probably one quarter of the passengers) and they took over a lot of venues...all of which were closed to regular passengers. They were all on early traditional dining, forcing many others into late seating (this ship did not offer any version of anytime dining when we sailed it). It did have a negative impact on our cruise and ever since we have done our best to find out if there will be any groups on our cruise before we book....so far, so good.:)

[petesweet]

I bookmarked this thread so I could report on my FOS cruise this past week.

Rest easy.

Of course, it depends on the group, but we had about 2000 bikers cruising with us (rather, us with them!). They were certainly a colorful group, and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting them. They did NOT spoil the cruise at all! While they were a bit "exuberant" right at the beginning as they were greeting old friends, etc. (especially noticed this during the muster drill), there was no other negative impact. There were always loungers available around the pool, and I did not notice any public areas closed off their benefit. They did, I understand, have the entire late seating in the dining room.

We also cruised the week before this on the Allure, and there were 600 dentists from Israel. We knew there was a dental convention, but that's all we knew. Of course, a group of 600 on a ship the size of the Allure is like nothing.

Happy sails.:)

Kathy