Help planning a group cruise

[shelly11]

I will be planning a cruise for a group in about 2 years. I've never done this before and was looking for any tips and suggestions. Mainly on how to get a great price, room selection (all together or pick your own), getting payments from the group, anything else I'm not thinking about yet.

 

All help will be greatly appreciated!

[Lexi731]

I believe a lot of the answer depends upon how many people / staterooms you are planning for and if you are all family or just friends.

 

In my family I am the "family cruise" planner and have done three of them now. Basically once we have decided which cruise we are going on I take their info and handle everything from there (just something I like to do).

 

If I were planning a cruise for a group that included people outside of my family - I would go thru a travel agent or cruise line certified planner.

 

I can handle the family discussions and preferences (ie fights lol) but when it comes to those outside of the family I would think it is best left to an independent third party IMO.

 

Good luck!

 

Karen

[toyotaford]

I have been planning group cruises for our employees for years. I have done them through travel agents and through the cruise lines directly. I have preferred dealing directly with the cruise lines. For the company cruises we only have one bill for payment so different bills is not an issue.

 

I am currently booked on a group cruise with a group of friends and we each paid our fares individually.

 

Most cruise lines I have dealt with grant one free cruise fare for every 8 rooms booked. This does not include port fees and taxes.

 

Cruise lines have a specific department for group cruises. I currently have 3 group cruises booked with NCL and the agent I am working with has been great.

 

Good luck and have fun!

[shelly11]

Thanks, I didn't think about a cruise line group planner or a travel planner. Might be worth looking into.

 

It will be part family and part friends and we're not sure how many rooms yet as we've just started talking about it.

 

Thanks for the advice!