Ideas for Larger Groups on Oasis?

[Gatordad815]

Hi all! I originally had just my wife & 2 small kids booked with me on the Oasis Eastern itinerary in November 2018, but happily this weekend I convinced my siblings and a few others to join in as well-super excited about it! We currently have 9 adults & 4 kids booked in 6 rooms all on deck 6: 4 balcony rooms in a row, along with 2 other balcony rooms nearby. The group will likely grow to 4-5 more rooms, perhaps 20ish people in total.

 

Since I instigated all of this, I’ll be the de facto group leader. I’ll call in during the week when the Dining team is open to try and request the same dinner time for everyone (hoping for early so the 4 kids can do family dining). Aside from that, do any of you have tips for someone planning for a larger group? I’m not even going to think about trying to get everyone doing tons of stuff all day every day as a large group-I’m definitely realistic about the impossibility of that. But for any of you who have done this before, I’d love to hear your ideas for fun (non-stressful) ways to loosely coordinate daily activities for a big group that leaves lots of flexibility for everyone. Thanks in advance for any ideas!

[bearette]

You can set up group rates with hotels/transer companies, but make everyone pay the companies directly.

 

You can share tours you are interested in, but again let everyone select, pay for and pick their own.

 

After 8 cabins you get a free cabin based on the most booked room type, you can share the refund with everyone or keep it for yourself as the group leader.

 

You already have dinner situated.

 

Not everyone will be happy with Every decision, know that up front and don't try to please everyone. Use majority rules for final decisions, but don't overwhelm everyone. For example present two hotels and then have everyone vote for the one they want. Maybe plan on group excursion, but mostly let everyone pick, find, and select their own.

 

Remember everyone has different budgets and priorities so while you might spend $150 on speciality restaurants your friend may not be happy with being forced to pay for an experience he has no interest in (or the money to include this splurge). I plan what I want to do and invite others, but I don't force/require anyone to do anything but the cruise ship. We have taken different flights, tours, room styles, and everything else under the sun, but the same dinning time helps keeps groups together.

 

 

You will find many will do what you are because they don't want to plan, but not forcing people into that choice keeps everyone happier. There is always one difficult person who will complain about everything (but offer no solutions) so know that going in and try to ignore their gripping.

 

Happy planning!

[cb at sea]

Make sure everyone has requested the same dining type and time. Sounds like everyone booked on their own. If you are in MTD, EVERYONE must be, in order to sit together. Same with traditional, except you will need to "link" your booking numbers to sit together in traditional dining. And yes...let everyone do their own research and planning. Get together when you board (if not before) and let everyone in on everyone else's plans....not everyone will want to do the same thing at the same time.

[qianabb]

I travel with 3 other couples and when we have all the kids, it’s 19 of us. We do a group T-shirt and or tumbler/tote bag to commemorate the event.

We also book one excursion all together so that we have at least one group activity. We love having the kids together, they watch each other [emoji5]

 

 

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[meandralph]

We always travel in a herd. As many as 28 on numerous occasions. I agree with all of the above comments. One thing that we always TRY to do is: one group excursion for the week. Everyone comes to dinner each night and always, a group pic on the stairs. We do not plan any other daily events or outings so that everyone can do their own thing but with that many people, we always run into each other . If you go to guests services as early as possible in the week and tell them how many people etc, they can help find activities for all of you. On one of the cruises, they helped set up an impromptu scavenger hunt. It was the best time ever. More than anything, enjoy every moment with your family and friends remembering it’s their vacation too.

[SET TO SAIL]

We usually travel with a group of 8 to 12. We do my time dining but usually end up eating early due to the availability of larger tables. We try to get together once or twice before we cruise at a local pub. A few people bring iPads so we can look at excursions, shows, etc. and come up with a plan. Adds to the fun. Our reservation numbers are linked on the web site, but it’s not always easy for one person to book shows for everyone. Our “group leader” does try it from time to time. Sometimes he’s successful; sometimes not. We call him Julie McCoy:)

[awestover89]

We are going on our first group cruise and I'm the leader, currently 12 people confirmed, 6 pending. What is the best way to handle dinner? We have all 6 confirmed reservations linked and set for My Time dining, but are wait listed for early dining.

 

What's the best way to make sure we can all sit together?

[SET TO SAIL]

A few members of our group head to the dining room as soon as we board to get a request in for one of the larger tables. We sometimes set up the entire week on that first day.

[Turtle05]

I only travel with my lover/husband, but something we do on basically all of our vacations is our own family olympics. This originated on a cruise ship (the Allure, specifically), so it works very well in that environment. Since you have such a large group, perhaps you guys could do it in teams of two for all interested. Anyways, so via choosing things out of a proverbial hat, you select a start and end location and several "tasks" to do around the ship. We did things like eat a cupcake, drink a certain drink, drink a drink at a certain bar, ride the carousel, take a picture of this, get a pool towel, etc. Whoever manages to complete everything and get to the end spot first wins. We purposefully selected tasks that literally made us run all over the entire ship (such as a drink at the Viking Crown Lounge). If your group is relatively active, this might be a fun game.

[aniefets]

Following this thread! I'm in a group of 10 on Allure in February. I'm a planner and the rest of the family is NOT so it's been a little stressful. :rolleyes:

[gingersvp]

If everyone is on Facebook start a private group and post a list of cabin numbers and planned events in the description.

 

We are traveling next week with a group of 30 for a wedding. We have the wedding, one cocktail party and one dinner planned as a group.

 

For the rest we'll be breaking off into smaller groups for a variety of meals, shows and excursions.