Travel agent shows

[214fingerman214]

Ok.. to all the experienced cruisers... heres my issue.. i recently found out that there will be a Tejano Musician performing on one of rhe cruises thru some travel agency..I called Carnival to verify about the Tejano show and they said they have no info about it that maybe the travel agency charted the ship.. so if this is true, and i book thru Carnival and not the Travel ageny will I still be able to see the show on the boat.... oh, and the travel agency is charging 3 times more for the cabin.... please help ,i hope i explained my self right

[Hlitner]

You did a great job explaining yourself. So lets talk about what this can mean. If a group charters the entire vessel the only way to get on the cruise would be to book through the group. If that same cruise is also being sold by other TAs and the cruise line then a group has not charted the entire ship. But that is where its gets interesting. Carnival (and the other mass market lines) do accept bookings from groups of all sizes. We were once on a RCI cruise that had a single group of 1100 passengers. Groups will often have their own private events, and some large groups might provide some of their own entertainment and/or speakers. It is possible that these events (with their entertainers) will be private and not open to the other passengers. I would add a personal thought (based on more then 3 years on ships as a passenger). We try to avoid any cruise that has a large group because that group will often take over part of the ship which is then denied to other passengers. This can be a bummer when you want to go to a lounge and its closed.

 

Hank

[214fingerman214]

Hank, so your saying ,its possible they wont allow us to see the show,... i dont mind the large group, that just means there will be more latin woman on ship..lol

[Scrapnana]

The extra that the TA is charging includes admission to the group's shows as well as various other activities open only to the people who paid the money for them.

 

From the website for this cruise...

 

"All events will take place inside and non group related customers will not be allowed to purchase tickets on the ship." So, according to this, you will not be able to attend.

[Keith1010]

Yes, this sounds like it would be for only those who book through the agency. If it was me I would just find a TA where I could book the cruise and not worry about the extras.

 

Keith

[Krazy Kruizers]

We avoid any cruise that will have a large group on board. Years and years ago we happen to be on a cruise with a large group -- and they had many areas of the ship closed to regular passengers.

[Hlitner]

Hank, so your saying ,its possible they wont allow us to see the show,... i dont mind the large group, that just means there will be more latin woman on ship..lol

 

Yes, it is possible. Our first introduction to large groups was in 1989 on the RCCL Sovereign of the Seas. We had booked a cruise and reserved Early Sitting because we were taking our then 9 year old daughter. Our early sitting was confirmed at booking, but a few months later we got an e-mail from our TA that the cruise line had switched us to late sitting. So I called RCCL to complain and get our early sitting restored (DD would not be able to handle dinner at 8:30) and they said that the entire first sitting was booked by a large group of over 1000. At that point we were very upset and the RCCL staffer said (off the record) that if it were her she would change our cruise to a different date. She hinted that we would not want to be on that cruise with this group...but she was not allowed to tell us anything about the group.

 

So we switched our cruise to the following week. When we went on that cruise, one of the bar tenders was an old friend from previous RCCL cruises. We asked him about the large group (from the previous week) and he told us it was awful. They were a large Evangelist Christian group that did not drink, did not party, and brought all their own Christian entertainment. They annoyed other passengers who were wearing "skimpy" swim suits and also took over many of the public venues for private parties. Sure glad we missed that cruise. To this day the cruise lines will not normally tell you about large groups, but sometimes you can discover this info by using Google and looking for group cruises.

 

Hank

[98Charlie]

Just got back from Carnival Conquest with a group on board. Nothing the size that Hank and others are talking about so it wasn't really a problem.

 

However they did have a couple of venues used during the cruise. One was on the aft lido deck. Since that's where the 24/7 pizza is located they couldn't really block off the entire area. I grabbed a slice and listened to some of the music for a while. The area they had was roped off with notices of group ID needed to go beyond the ropes.

 

You may luck out and be able to listen to some of the music that way.

 

Watch out if there are a lot of Quinceañeras on board.;)

 

Charlie

[214fingerman214]

98charlie, thanks for the tip.. I just founs out that its a Latin Jam (Tejano music) so theres gonna be alot of Latin women

[214fingerman214]

Ok, now to the experience cruisers, who would be the best person to cash bribe for a group pass...

[kitty9]

Ok, now to the experience cruisers, who would be the best person to cash bribe for a group pass...

 

There's no way to get a pass without paying for it. Those in the group will be wearing some kind of ID that will be required to enter the group's events. I've been on many cruises with large groups on board and they closely monitor who walks into the special venues.

[214fingerman214]

Kitty9, do you happen to know what kind of id.. i heard itbwould be like a wrist bad. So i was thinking i could try to buy the band from a group member and have they say they lost it.. lol