Any advice for cruising with a large group?

[Awwsnuffie]

Posted in another forum but thought this may be a better spot:

 

Cruising on the NCL Breakaway in December with a large group: 10 adults; 5 children (age 6-10); and 1 tweenager (age 12?). I am used to cruising with just my fiancee. Does anyone have any good advice to make this an unforgettable cruise? Things to avoid? Have you made any mistakes that I can learn from? Thanks!

[rigs32]

Don't expect to spend all day together. Meet for meals, maybe the show. But allow everyone to do what makes them happy.

[DevCruise]

Cruising on the NCL Breakaway in December with a large group: 10 adults; 5 children (age 6-10); and 1 tweenager (age 12?).

 

By my count, that's 16 people. If you were able to do 2 to a cabin, you could qualify for a group. Might be worth a call to the groups department and see what they can work out for you.

[sdmike]

• Don't over-plan. Different people have different likes
  
• If you're going to eat as a group, go early before it gets crowded
  
• Get rooms close to each other. It really makes it easier to interact
  

 

We would losely plan stuff with our large group. We picked one night on our 7 day Jewel cruise where we reserved Moderno together. Otherwise we just sort of played it by ear for meals. A gentle tap on someone's door and a "we're going up for breakfast in 15 if you want to join us" worked out real well. Sometimes a small group would go up, sometimes not. For evening shows, about half our group would go and the other half would be doing something else. You can do an amazing amount of "ad hoc" organizing just by chatting across the balcony or visting rooms.

 

Have fun! :)

[umpy10]

Only one rule or advice that makes sense: Make sure that all of you get along with each other no matter what and enjoy each other.

After that, nothing else really matters does it?

Have great cruise, sounds like fun.

 

cheers...the Ump...:D

[dexddd]

I've done 2 cruises with large groups of 4-5 families. Pretty much everything said above - don't try to coordinate too much for the whole group thinking everything will come together - it won't. Too many different ages, sleep patterns, food favorites, entertainment likes, etc.

[gatorsfam]

Be very clear up front that you are cruising together as a group and if there are any expectations to be together at special times, and keep those pretty limited - maybe embarkation photos, 1st night dinner, etc... If interests are similar for shore excursions and activities, great, but you want to avoid everyone following you around for a week asking what you're doing next... Just be on the ship together and hit stuff as you go. Don't over plan. It is fun to travel with a group, but that fun can wear off quickly if your party doesn't feel they have the latitude to actually vacation themselves.

[garycarla]

Good advice above.

 

Do NOT make yourself the master planner. Make sure others do research in advance and know what to expect.

 

Do NOT book a suite for for anyone in the group. The Suite people will have certain perks that others do not have and it will only cause issues - like trying to take somebody to the Suite only breakfast or lunch venue.

[TSUmom]

I agree with what the other posters have said. Our first group cruise I planned everything ( I am a planner) only to be upset when others complained about what the plans were or were late. I asked for input pre cruise for ideas and dinner options and they all said "youjust plan it." Never again.

 

This last cruise I left notes on my door on where we would be or what we were doing and if others cared to join us they were more than welcome. We planned one dinner together at Moderno and then Cirque Dreams. It worked out much better. We are early risers and have coffee on our balcony then head down to breakfast and on port days off the ship. Most of our group slept in (late nights in the casino and bars I guess) We are not good at waiting on people so this plan worked much better.

[TSUmom]

Good advice above.

 

Do NOT make yourself the master planner. Make sure others do research in advance and know what to expect.

 

Do NOT book a suite for for anyone in the group. The Suite people will have certain perks that others do not have and it will only cause issues - like trying to take somebody to the Suite only breakfast or lunch venue.

 

We booked a suite on our upcoming cruise knowing that we can escape the rest of the group when we want to...;)

[sdmike]

Good advice above.

 

Do NOT make yourself the master planner. Make sure others do research in advance and know what to expect.

 

Nailed it!

 

Don't set yourself up as the planner and tour guide. You'll only be stressed out trying to make sure everyone has fun, and you won't!

 

With our group of 14 we simply emailed each other in advance to organize the few things that were coordinated. Like I said, we did one dinner planned in advance. However, I think we all ate dinner together most nights just because it worked out that way. Our pre-planning on Jewel consisted of emailing in advance. I would send an email that said, for example..."In Juneau we want to take the small boat tour out to the glacier, anyone else in?". We ended up with 12 of the 14, and the others went whale watching. In Ketchikan we scattered. I went fishing with my immediate family, some went to a dog sled camp, etc.

 

I guess my point is, decide what YOU want to do and if others want to join in, great! But as stated earlier, you're not responsible for their enjoyment. :)

[Awwsnuffie]

This is all great advice! Keep it coming! Anyone have any horror stories?

[garycarla]

This is all great advice! Keep it coming! Anyone have any horror stories?

 

No specific stories (well into happy hour here).

 

But - waiting for one person to arrive for some event will set up a really bad mood for the rest of the day/evening. As the group grows, this WILL happen.

[MeHeartCruising]

When you first all get together as a group, sync up your watches. And all agree on a "we will wait xxx minutes before leaving you behind" time limit. So if a group agrees to meet somewhere at 7:00 to go to breakfast together and someone who you THINK was supposed to go doesn't show up by 7:06, they will know that you left at 7:05 and they shouldn't be mad. They should just do their best to catch up or make other plans. No hard feelings.

[BurtonRiderT6]

Make sure everyone is aware that it's a cruise and vacation therefore no arguing if someone runs late to something, like dinner. I had 4 friends with me that had never cruised before. I told them what I had planned on doing at which ports and if you're down then let me know and I'll pencil you in too. Otherwise have fun and be back to the ship in time. Don't try to force group events. Just let them happen if they happen. I like to gamble so we made reservations for 630pm. Well I was in a poker tournament that happened to run up until 630pm only because myself and the other guy left opted to split the pot and end it early (I had a lot more chips too). I got to the restaurant and the GF, and 4 friends all had a great time by the pool and weren't upset by me being a little late. Especially since I came with an extra $400.

 

Bottom line is don't stress the small stuff.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

Megadittos to all of the above. I am the planner for our group and am usually worn out by the end of intensive cruises like the Baltics when we had lots of private tours booked.

 

Onboard, we met each afternoon at a certain bar to visit and people could make plans for dinner together, or not. Worked well.

 

Our biggest problem is having several avid, or should i say rabid, photographers in our gang. While we do come home with fabulous photos, it can get tedious after a while.

 

As others have suggested, keep it loose. Its a vacation so dont overplan

 

Have fun!

[TSUmom]

Make sure you have time to yourselves - My mother in law insisted that we all have breakfast, lunch and dinner together every day and then all of our excursions were together too. She would come and knock on all of our doors and say "time to eat". After 7 days of togetherness I was ready for them to leave the ship. I am now divorced from her son so needless to say I won't be travelling with her again:)

[cole]

Make sure you have time to yourselves - My mother in law insisted that we all have breakfast, lunch and dinner together every day and then all of our excursions were together too. She would come and knock on all of our doors and say "time to eat". After 7 days of togetherness I was ready for them to leave the ship. I am now divorced from her son so needless to say I won't be travelling with her again:)

 

Too much togetherness? :eek:

We had an all adults family reunion cruise a couple of years ago and did as everyone has suggested - do your own thing during the day, meet for breakfast at a certain time if you wanted, same for lunch and we had booked a larger cabin than the others, so had cocktail hour in our cabin every evening to catch up on what folks had done during the day and then walked to dinner together. Of course, it was "bring your own drink" kind of cocktail hour. It worked out great and everyone still talks about how great the cruise was. Also - scheduled a special photo session with the ship's photographer and took several wonderful family photos in the atrium, etc. Priceless memories! :D

B. Cole

[medicalma'am]

I have cruised four times in a large group, usually 22 or more, of friends/family. It is fun to have some meals together as a group. I would not try to do everything as a group. It is like any large gathering or reunion: some play horseshoes, some sit and talk, kids play games or swim, some play cards, dominoes or do puzzles, some drink and some don't. Extend that over several days and several meals and come together in smaller groups to share what you have done. It is fun to do at least one excursion as a complete group, we have done that on two occasions.

 

Get a group picture!

Relax and don't feel selfish about your alone time.

[Clay Clayton]

Haven't cruised with as big a group as yours but when we have done a group cruise, we tend to split up the ports and one person is in charge of doing research on it. We then have either gotten together or shared via email the information. Typically, we have settled on a particular activity and then the person in charge sets it up for all interested.

 

If you know everyone's stateroom numbers and phone numbers in advance, it is nice to have a small copy made for everyone. I did this on our last cruise. Kept one by the phone in the room and one in my pocket when we were ashore.

 

Only other suggestion is to find a magnectic dry erase board and put in on one person's door, so everyone can leave notes for each other at one location.