Made my first group, AND my first cruise

[Noam]

Hello all,

 

I organized a group for my 21st birthday celebration. It's comprised of family and friends and is a total of 35 guests.

 

We are going to be on the Imagination this January and I have a couple of questions for you veteran cruise-go'ers out there.

 

1. Some of the members of my party have been on carnival cruises and suggested we bypass formal night. Is this possible? Should we do it?

 

2. Secondly, the group has pre-paid gratuities and I was wondering if it is customary to tip more eventhough the entire group has already paid gratuities.

 

Any other info I would want to know would be appreciated!

 

Noam

[candigirl41]

Do not bypass formal nights. Some of the best food is served then. Do they want to skip because of dressing up? If your tips are pre-paid I would only tip extra for any extra services or if someone goes above and beyond.

 

Candi

[jckvpa0]

Hello all,

 

I organized a group for my 21st birthday celebration. It's comprised of family and friends and is a total of 35 guests.

 

We are going to be on the Imagination this January and I have a couple of questions for you veteran cruise-go'ers out there.

 

1. Some of the members of my party have been on carnival cruises and suggested we bypass formal night. Is this possible? Should we do it?

 

2. Secondly, the group has pre-paid gratuities and I was wondering if it is customary to tip more eventhough the entire group has already paid gratuities.

 

Any other info I would want to know would be appreciated!

 

Noam

 

Congrats on your 21st birthday!!! What a great way to celebrate! If I were you I would want to go to formal night, think of all the great pictures you will have to remember you 21st birthday.

As far as extra tipping that is completely up to you, If you think someone deserves it I'm sure they will appreciate it very much.

There are many people on these boards that are very experienced in group cruises I'm sure they'll be along to help.

[Noam]

Wow! Wish i found these forums earlier, filled with awesome people and tons of useful info!

 

I also booked a party for the guests (one hour open bar w/ hot&cold snacks then a 1 hour cash bar) it is in the Shangri La Lounge. Any hints&tips here?

 

Also, a buddy of mine is skeptical about the 24/7 complimentary room service.... Should I be?

 

I never knew how much work it was to organize a group but if everything goes as well as I hope, it would be truly worth it and I plan to do it again.

 

Thank you for all the info everyone!

[GoinCruisin]

The room service IS free and IS 24 hour... but it is a limited menu. The food is good.. and please tip the person that delivers it ;)

 

If you are paying for the cocktail party... that is fine. Most of the times, depending on the size of the group, you will get a free one hour party, but it will be shared with other groups, unless your group is very large.

 

have fun! And don't miss formal night!! It's a great night!! :D

[serene56]

Nothing to be leary about the room service menu--it is free for 24 hours a day. Please tip the server a buck or two when the tray is delivered.

http://image09.webshots.com/9/7/64/14/114576414PfSdSF_fs.jpg

 

I would like to know why the people think that skipping formal nights is a good idea. I for one would hate to miss formal nights. Its all part of the cruise experince. this is thee only night that lobster is served.

[bjr928]

I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and say DO FORMAL NIGHT! I think it's so fun as I rarely have an excuse to get all gussied up! Let the fuddy duddies that don't want to do formal night do their own thing and eat at the buffet! ;)

 

Serene - when I try to pull up your link, I get an error message that says I am forbidden to view it. Don't you like me? :eek: :p

[serene56]

www.webshots.com type in the search Carnival room service menu. you will get three options--the one in the middle is the best

[aggieastrosfan]

I agree with formal night. It's my favorite night(s) of the cruise! I don't go anywhere anymore where I have an excuse to get that dressed up. Plus, think of how neat it would be to have a group picture from your birthday cruise with everyone dressed up. It is possible to "bypass" it, but you'll be eating at the buffet, and will miss out on the best meals.

 

Have fun!

[tarababy18]

congrats on the 21st... you'll have a great time!! i am turning 22 in jan so here is a lil info from someone so close to ur age...

 

don't skip formal nites, just like everyone said, it's the best food and it's fun to get all dressed up, even if it is just for an hr or 2... my bf hates getting dressed up and he even enjoyed himself because it was only for a couple hours.

 

we also prepaid gratuities, but tipped a little extra to our waiters and our room steward because they were exceptional, especially our waiters. (we didn't know what something was on the menu, and when it was explained i guess we made a confused face still because he brought us a plate over for us to taste, so nice of him because it was a great idea to try something new)...

 

where is ur cruise going? are you really excited?

[cruzeluver]

As others have said, please don't skip formal night. One o mny favorite parts.

 

I'm soooooooo jealous of you. Partly because I don't have a cruise coming up :mad:

 

And also because I'll never get to experience my first ever cruise again. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time. For me, once I tried cruising, that was it!!

[Noam]

We are doing a 5 nights cruise out of Miami, to Caymans and Jamaica then back to Miami.

 

I wasn't as excited originally, seeing as I had to plan the whole thing and my family is spread all across the globe, literally people are coming from LA, Boston, Slovakia, Switzerland, Israel etc! So it was quite a headache to get everyone and everything lined up.

 

My friends have recently started getting all stirred up about it since 10 of them or so are going and now I'm all caught up in it.

 

I found out the imagination has a sushi bar too, dang... this gets better and better!

[serene56]

http://cruiseclues.com/shipstips/imagination.htm