Effects of partial charters on regular cruisers

[The P]

....is how I first heard about the charter. Don't know how that member found out. I will feel better after the ship group co-ordinator offers more information. We had planned to do mostly specialty and very casual dining options, so MDR usage is not a deal breaker. My main concern is more inline with "group dynamic" behavior which can turn into feelings and actions of an entitled nature.

 

Unfortunately, there really is no other viable alternative given the parameters of our group, timing and transport. Really do appreciate all your thoughts and opinions.

I'm booked on the 1/19/2014 BREAKAWAY. A lot of people have cancelled and booked the earlier 12 day cruise, but I don't understand the panic. It's too big of a ship to not have space for all of us to have fun. Have you ever had a problem finding a place to eat on a cruise? If I get attitude, I'll give attitude. Que sera sera!;):cool:

[mafig]

We've been on cruises with groups twice that I know of.

 

The only reason we found out was because it was mentioned on our roll call.

 

Celebrity was a medical convention .... I think they had one specialty restaurant reserved one night from 7 - 9.

 

Norwegian was a Mormon group. Didn't even know they were there.

 

Depends on the group, how many in the group and the size of the ship.

[dwjoe]

Actually, I heard that The Haven that week, was a horrible experience.....the suites had 5 or 6 kids in them each.....and the parents did nothing to control there children.....

 

I question the accuracy of that ... here's a post from someone who was actually in the Haven on that sailing:

 

That's interesting that you heard that about the Haven on our trip- I found it to be just the opposite. We spent a lot of time in our GV hot tub, but on two or three occassions, I brought my two older guys (aged 5 and 3) to the Haven pool and hot tub for about 30 minutes each time, and I was actually concerned (even though my kids are generally very polite and quiet) about taking them in there because it was soooooo quiet- almost entirely older folks laying on lounges and not even speaking. As it turns out, I worried for naught because several of the Haven guests later commented to me about how cute/well behaved the kids were, but I am always hyper concerned about my children bothering other people (which is why the GV was sooooooo great for us.) I did see one other child in the hot tub once when I went to get coffee, but he seemed quiet as well. I guess maybe it was different during other time of the day or night though. I'm sorry to hear that rumor turned your husband off the Haven- I don't think I could sail NCL without it now!

[Studebaker59]

Actually, I heard that The Haven that week, was a horrible experience.....the suites had 5 or 6 kids in them each.....and the parents did nothing to control there children.....

I don't think this statement can be true because 5 or 6 children wouldn't be booked in each suite. It isn't allowed.

 

In any case, we were on this cruise. The designated kosher dining room venue & time did limit our main dining room choice. It was an inconvenience.

 

We've taken NCL January cruises for years. In the past, there were few schoolage children on the sailings. Nobody on our very active CC Roll Call ever mentioned Yeshiva Week. I didn't even know such a thing existed.

 

It was a shock to have so many (800?) children on a January nine-nighter. Whenever you have such a large number, there's bound to be all types of behaviors....good & bad.

 

Had I known, I definitely would have booked the previous sailing.

[dwjoe]

We've taken NCL January cruises for years. In the past, there were few schoolage children on the sailings. Nobody on our very active CC Roll Call ever mentioned Yeshiva Week. I didn't even know such a thing existed.

 

It was a shock to have so many (800?) children on a January nine-nighter. Whenever you have such a large number, there's bound to be all types of behaviors....good & bad.

Hi Studebaker. :)

 

Just to clarify for the benefit of others reading this thread:

 

The large number of children on the Gem in January were from Orthodox Jewish families whose kids were on school vacation. Jewish religious schools have their holidays in mid to late Jan, this is called "Yeshiva week". These cruisers were not part of the Kosherica group, although many of the negative reviews confused the two or lumped them all in together.

 

EDIT: according to the HD we had approx 500 kids on our sailing.

[room010]

Charter groups who require exclusive use of public areas and facilities which I've paid for too are a problem for me. In my experience they can also alter the overall dynamic and ambiance with an unfortunate Us -v- Them mentality. If I knew my cruise had a charter group I'd try to book an alternative.

[Shelli]

My main concern is more inline with "group dynamic" behavior which can turn into feelings and actions of an entitled nature.

 

I'm not at all sure what you mean by this.

 

Several years back, we cruised on HAL, and that ship had a large charter of gay folks, predominantly men. They had some private functions that occasionally took over public areas, but nothing that impacted us much. Mostly, we found them highly entertaining, something many of them seemed to encourage. But I witnessed no "feelings and actions of an entitled nature."

[room010]

^^^^ Ive seen a LOT of entitlement from a group (not gay and not religious!) so it does happen sometimes.

[NYcruzzer]

We were on the cruise last year with this group and although I knew ahead of time there was a large group going, I didn't notice any disruptions from our plans. However, there were other groups that were loud and disruptive on our cruise, but not the folks from Kosherica.

 

I was on the 1/18 sailing on the Gem. We sail the same week in January on the Gem but never during Yeshiva week. Was not expecting so many children on a 9 night Winter cruise. I think most of the people who were unhappy with this cruise were so because of the large amount of unexpected kids, not the fact that there was a partial charter. Despite the large crowds we had a wonderful time.

[Cruising4]

I've been on some very very nice award trip my husband won from his company (back in the good ole days). I always felt bad for the other vacationers as we swarmed upon their resort.

 

Feeling of entitlement spurred on by a "master billing" account abounded.

[jljcruise]

How do you find out if your cruise is going to have a large group on it?

[Crusin6]

I'm curious about what I've highlighted in red means.

google kosher eating requirements and you will see.

 

BTW..the vast majority of people do not keep a kosher home..so yes, it is different than ours.

[njhorseman]

google kosher eating requirements and you will see.

 

BTW..the vast majority of people do not keep a kosher home..so yes, it is different than ours.

 

Please read post #24 in this thread. I don't have to google anything.

[Crusin6]

I see the 12/29/13 NYE cruise is Kosherica.

[Crusin6]

Please read post #24 in this thread. I don't have to google anything.

so why did you ask , to make a point, I would guess.

but it doesn't really matter to me because I happen to like Kosher restaurants/food and I am not Jewish.

[bakerintn]

I'm curious about what I've highlighted in red means.

 

This group does Kosher cruises and tours and they have special dietary rules ...that and the menu choice make the difference and why they need separate dinning places with dedicated kitchen space.

[dwjoe]

Here is review of an NCL Pearl sailing with Kosherica by a CC member. May help provide some idea of what to expect. They will have some dedicated dining space and slight usage of public venues. You do not need to worry about a sense of entitlement or "taking over" the ship.

 

Glossary:

Kashrut - Jewish kosher laws and procedures

Mashgichim - Experts in kosher food preparation and supervision

Shabbat - Jewish Sabbath, Friday night thru Saturday night

 

Alaska on Norwegian's Pearl and Kosherica

 

My wife and I decided to treat ourselves and sail to Alaska on Norwegian's Pearl (Aug. 12, 2012 departure) through Kosherica -- a group tour company that makes sure that all meals for group members are strictly kosher. We cringed at the cost -- about double the normal price. The price is not just higher food costs, but you're paying for a rabbi to supervise the kashrut, four mashgichim (for a crowd of less than 80 Kosherica guests), a group organizer, and a guest speaker -- a distinguished rabbi (Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, president of the Rabbinical Council of America) and his wife, a reserved room for classes, lectures, and prayers, and prayer books and a Torah scroll. For our smallish group, Kosherica had to reserve 4 chefs from the Pearl to make things happen nearly around the clock. The food was great, especially compared to the frozen kosher meals provided to us by Norwegian on past trips. Eating with Kosherica has its bad points, though, besides the cost -- you cannot take advantage of NCL's Freestyle Cruising concept where you can eat when and where you want. You are tied to a time and a table. Too bad. When we ate frozen meals on a previous cruise with our children and grandchildren, we had the ability to catch an early show, run to the room to babysit the grandchildren, allowing our children to catch the late shows.

The Alaska exeperience was amazing. I have tremendous photos of grand landscapes and glaciers, and photos of humpback whales and orcas. I saw an eagle or two, but they were too fast for my camera. We saw bears near a distant glacier with our binoculars, but they were too small for my camera. No moose, though. We were extremely fortunate with the weather. It was warm and clear at all times except our first day sailing to Juneau (when it didn't matter). At Juneau we took the excursion for whale watching and a visit to the Mendenhall Glacier. The whale watching was amazing. We saw more than a dozen humpback whales and 5 or 6 orcas. The humpbacks were bubble-net feeding -- an amazing method used only by some whales, but taught to others (google the topic, it's fascinating). We also saw 7 or more orcas rapidly swimming past our balcony, obviously on the hunt for something, and clearly working together as a team. Note that the this combo leaves precious little time to see the glacier. In Skagway we took the train to Canada and saw Liarsville on the way back by bus. The scenery from the train is gorgeous. My photos would have been better had I stood by the railing between cars. Liarsville is cute and the put on a nice short show. In Ketchikan we saw the Saxman native american village -- very educational -- and attended the lumberjack show, which is a definite must-see. We skipped Victoria as our arrival was during Shabbat, and there was little time after Shabbat to go ashore.

NCL is known for its entertainment. Frankly, we enjoyed the shows more on the Gem in December. The Frankie Valli tribute group, "Oh What a Night," was fair. One singer -- whoever took the lead on "Sherri," had some "pitchy" moments, which isn't good for a vocal group that needs to be harmonically perfect. The writing is also a bit stiff. Juggler Charles Peachock was very good, but his performance paled in comparison to his own highlight reel he showed before the show featuring his performances on America's Got Talent. Why get us expecting the spectacular when the live performance will be something less special? The comic, though, was very funny. I didn't remember his name, which is a shame. I should have bought his DVD.

All in all, I went for the Alaska experience. The entertainment was not a priority. The Cruise Director, Julie, is OK and perhaps very good compared to most. But I've been on ships with Sinam Ulucay twice, and I'm totally spoiled.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=107781

[steph7021]

I can assure you I know what it means to follow kosher dietary laws. ;)

 

I'd still like the person who made the post to explain what they meant by the words they chose, including why it was necessary to put the word "so" in capitals.

 

On a fishing trip are ya? Seriously, it is a different way of eating and one could reasonably say SO without intending to offend. Over sensitive much?

[JMHAM1]

We have sailed with a couple of groups. One was a bunch of lawyers and they had some of the venues closed during the day for lectures. No issue for us at all as there were plenty of other things to do.

 

We also went on one that had a large group of square dancers. I didn't even know there was a group on board until I saw them in their beautiful outfits.

 

The tattoo cruise sounds fun tho!

[wvfrogg]

I, unfortunately, was a part of a group on a Celebrity Cruise. It was an "award" cruise for a group of top producing store owners which was sponsored by their company (and of course paid for by their suppliers of which my daughter was one). We basically took over the 8:30 dining time, and activities for the winners also took over some of the lounges, etc. All-in-all, it was my least favorite cruise ever. We had a suite, which was nice, but I personally felt that Celebrity down-graded their normal service a little bit because of the group. The food & service, for which they are known (as they kept reminding us) was mediocre at best!

 

I don't know, but I personally wouldn't want to go through that again - on either side of the coin.

[njhorseman]

This group does Kosher cruises and tours and they have special dietary rules ...that and the menu choice make the difference and why they need separate dinning places with dedicated kitchen space.

 

I know what that group does, and I know what is required for kosher dietary rules.

[njhorseman]

On a fishing trip are ya? Seriously, it is a different way of eating and one could reasonably say SO without intending to offend. Over sensitive much?

 

If you don't understand why saying their way of dining is SO different might be offensive then I feel sorry for you.

[steph7021]

If you don't understand why saying their way of dining is SO different might be offensive then I feel sorry for you.

 

Ok. Well other posters on the board just thought you were asking about the dietary restrictions. I doubt anyone was trying to pick a fight with you. Remember...things in writing can often be misinterpreted.

[pyrrhus]

I was on the Gem on January 18th from NYC and while a regular partial charter would probably not be a problem, the Kosherica charter requires the use of one of the dining rooms. So dining times were an issue with one of the main dining rooms closed for certain hours. If that would be an issue for you, I would pick another date if that is possible. While the crew did the best that they could to keep this from affecting the other guests, I would probably not pick a cruise that was a Kosherica cruise again. I love Norwegian but if I had my choice of weeks, I would pick a different date.

 

There are several reviews in the review section if you want to read some of the stories.

 

Hmmmm, a Kosher cruise... Kinda cool. My question, was the cruise a little subdued on Friday evening?

[Casino Comp Chick]

....is how I first heard about the charter. Don't know how that member found out. I will feel better after the ship group co-ordinator offers more information. We had planned to do mostly specialty and very casual dining options, so MDR usage is not a deal breaker. My main concern is more inline with "group dynamic" behavior which can turn into feelings and actions of an entitled nature.

 

Unfortunately, there really is no other viable alternative given the parameters of our group, timing and transport. Really do appreciate all your thoughts and opinions.

 

I found out by doing my homework, I 1st learned of the Jan Gem cruise from NCL Facebook (Posts have been removed now, I guess because of the cancellations), I also looked up the reviews on CC. Someone mentioned the website on FB, I looked it up since I had already booked 2 cruises and saw the schedule. I decided to put it on the roll call for the 12 nighter after mine because I know I would not want to be stuck on a ship with 800 unruly children and parents who think their children can do no wrong for 13 days. I also am paying top dollar to be on a brand new ship and I want (and should) be able to enjoy every inch of it.