Tips for 8 traveling together

[chrismch]

We'll be cruising on Brilliance in January out of Tampa. This will be with siblings and spouses. I'm the one that suggested RCL as it was the easiest one for all of us to agree to sail on. We're all regular cruisers, just not on RCL. Any insider tips for keeping everyone happy and enjoying the cruise?

[Merion_Mom]

We'll be cruising on Brilliance in January out of Tampa. This will be with siblings and spouses. I'm the one that suggested RCL as it was the easiest one for all of us to agree to sail on. We're all regular cruisers, just not on RCL. Any insider tips for keeping everyone happy and enjoying the cruise?

Get fixed traditional dining and agree that everyone will meet in the dining room for dinner, but other than that, do whatever you want. :)

[shippmates]

Do what you want during the day but meet for dinner. To make sure that you are all seated at the same table have your travel agent link all your booking numbers. Once the numbers are linked you should be seated at the same table. If you were not able to get traditional dining, all 8 of you must arrive at the dining room at the same time to be seated together. Enjoy your cruise.

[cruiseguy1016]

DW and I have cruised with friends/family many times. In fact, we are usually part of a group of 4 or 5 couples when we cruise. We are avery close group of friends that do many other things together. For cruises, this is what we have always done and it has worked out great for us. We treat this as everybody's own vacation, we just happen to be on the same ship going to the same ports. First, we link our reservations so that we all eat dinner together. Dinner is our ONLY pre-planned activity together.

 

When we first get on the ship we find an area on the pool deck (or the deckabove it) and this becomes "our spot". If you want to meet up with the group, that's where everyone can usually be found. If someone feels like lying in the sun, that's where they go. Odds are, there will be other people from the group there. If you want to be by yourself, you simply find another spot and hang out there. No one will bother you if you aren't in "our spot".

 

Shore excursions: Most groups of people don't always want to do the same activities. We understand this and plan our shore excursions accordingly. We usually get together before the cruise for a pre cruise party. We talk about the shore excursions available at the various ports. Everybody picks their own.If we all want to do the same thing, we all book it. If one couple wants to do"A" and another couple wants to do "B" then we book different excursions. Nobody is forced (or feels obligated) to do somethingwith the group. We all do our own thing and everybody is happy. Then, at dinner, we say "What did you do today? How was it?"

 

Another thing we do is pick a different bar for a pre dinner drink every night. We spread the word to everyone at "our spot". If someone isn't there,we'll call and leave a message on their phone informing them what bar we'll be at. Most people show up for a drink, some don't. It's no big deal. It's their vacation, they can do what they want.

 

After dinner most of us go to the show. Then we'll find something to do afterward. Some will hang out at the Schooner bar, some will hit the casino, and some will find a place to dance. If everyone ends up doing the same thing, great! If not, we know that people are doing the things that THEY WANT to do.

 

The key is to not make this a big, group event. Too many people with too many different opinions makes it very hard to please everyone all the time.

[Tee & Chilli]

Don't feel obligated to do everything together.

[Bloodgem]

I have a friend who takes large family cruises, they only all meet up to eat breakfast together.

[waterbug123]

Agree about doing your own thing during the day. We often travel with 12-14 family members and if we try to plan like this: "What does everyone want to do today?" with the expectation that we are all going to find something to do together, we inevitably waste an hour while everyone says, "oh we don't care, whatever y'all want to do." And everyone makes suggestions but nobody makes a decision.

 

So instead we now decide what we want to do, and we don't ask. We TELL the others, "this is what we're doing, if anyone wants to join us meet at X and such and such time." We do the same when planning excursions in advance.

 

 

Meeting for dinner is great. Our family tends to book specialty restaurants a lot, but on a 7 night cruise we leave 1 or 2 nights reservation-free, and call them "date nights" where everyone can do as they please. On a recent family cruise some were booked in suites and wanted to be able to try Coastal Kitchen which others could not do, so these nights were great for that. Some of us knew we could make a meal out of the tapas at Vintages but that others might not care for that option so these nights were great for that as well. Sometimes my BF and I literally treat it as date night, and get a rez somewhere just the two of us. We suggested that these were also good nights for room service or Windjammer if someone just didn't feel up to a big dinner.

[TeeRick]

We cruised as a family of 8 last summer (all adult age). I completely agree with the others here- it is easier and less stressful not to try and "cat-herd" everybody but just meet once in awhile and discuss options for the day and for dinner. You will end up mostly together and perhaps if cruising for a special occasion you can arrange a nice dinner all together. As another tip we all had WiFi packages and could text each other on ship our locations like at a particular bar if anybody wanted to join.

[chrismch]

Thanks, everyone for your suggestions.

Waterbug, I got a laugh about what you said about wasting time trying to decide what to do. Just to decide on a departure port and cruise line took three days of back and forth emails!

 

CruiseGuy, I like the idea of having "our spot" on the ship and giving others the option to meet there or not.

 

For all those who suggested arranging for a set dinner time, that's one thing we already have in the works. We all booked independently and my sister has all our confirmation numbers which she says will allow her TA to arrange for our set table for 8 each night.

 

Do you think it would be a good idea to book a specialty restaurant the first night? Is it 50% off? How far in advance can we book that?

[Jiffymom]

Last time we cruised with six couples we had a terrible time getting our tables together. We all signed up for MTD so I wouldn’t do that again. So with much complaining we were able to get a time set for each night,, we had two tables next to each other , much better. I would definitely sign up for traditional dinner. Another idea is each night you rotate to the right. One or two spaces. That way you are always next to someone different. Another is we always tried to meet on the top deck for sail away at each port.

[Desert Cruizers]

Our first cruise with our daughter & husbands sister, the one thing I let them both know, was Once on the ship and any tours, they do their own thing. We met for lunch & dinner. We also got together to go over our plans the next day and did go on the same tours while other times they went their own way. We would set up a meeting time & location during our days on the ship.

[MM4M]

Every few years we take a large family vacation. Generally around 15 of us and I am the one to book everyone. The age ranges go from teens to senior. I know many ppl in our party have smart phones for texting, but older members of our party do not. So I bring post-it notes and pens for everyone. I try to get each cabin their own color to leave a note on each others door if they are heading somewhere or want to communicate. ("heading to Park Café at 2pm", or "reading in the solarium at 115pm") placing a time on the note tells them if it's outdated or not.

 

I also make personalized door signs for each cabin (we always book rooms near each other). I personalize the door signs with names so it is less likely they will get taken. Then we all know which room is Aunt Jane's without having to guess or memorize cabin numbers. Then just tag your post-it to the appropriate door.

 

We also have a general meeting spot- everyone in my party knows they can almost always find me in the Solarium...

[cruiselvr04]

When there were 11 of us this is what we did. Dinner every night was not optional as this was family time. Once a day I had organized an excursion or activity for us. The excursion was optional and they were able to choose what to do. One activity was for instance a mini golf tournament. They all showed up but if they hadn’t it would have been no big deal. The rest of the day was their’s. ( This was family.)

 

We used white boards from the dollar store for communication that I brought. I had first names on their cabins doors too. I also gave everyone a goody bag the night before boarding.

 

Our week was great! Have a great cruise!

[lenquixote66]

Get fixed traditional dining and agree that everyone will meet in the dining room for dinner, but other than that, do whatever you want. :)

In 2013 we were a group of 8 on a cruise .We only saw each other at dinner and everyone was happy.

[saunalick]

I agree with everyone, have dinner together every night. my travel buddies and I went with a group from church a few years ago. we all did our own things during the day, then met in the evening, talked about the day, and things we did. all of us went to the show at night. sat other places, some liked to be close, others in the middle, or back. like someone mentioned, it is their vacation also. Have fun, no matter what you're planning!!

[chrismch]

Glad to see that family and friends groups got along. I like the idea of post-it notes for doors, optional times together before meals, and the special goody bags.

[juju2454]

In a family of 8 with dd's and sil's, grandsons and ourselves we all meet up for dinner and breakfast, and usually for lunch. But the only one we kinda insist on as a group is dinner. excursions are at will. We have done them together and apart. Being the next one is a xmas-nye cruise I suspect it will be a bit more together time but we shall see how it all plays out. We're pretty flexible.

[Merion_Mom]

Glad to see that family and friends groups got along. I like the idea of post-it notes for doors, optional times together before meals, and the special goody bags.

I take a magnetic whiteboard on all of my cruises and stick it on my cabin door.

 

[John&LaLa]

Fun to leave inappropriate comments on those, or so I hear.

 

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[brklyn78]

We all booked independently and my sister has all our confirmation numbers which she says will allow her TA to arrange for our set table for 8 each night.

 

 

 

Do you think it would be a good idea to book a specialty restaurant the first night? Is it 50% off? How far in advance can we book that?

 

 

I know it’s too late now, but if you do another trip, use the same TA if you can. It makes life easier when you have a group like that.

 

We’ve done the BOGO but not as a group — though I see no reason it couldn’t work. You don’t pick your first restaurant when you book online, but on day one you can change it if you don’t like where you were assigned. You’d just have to have them link everyone when you got on board, or buy it together (i.e. one person puts everyone on their card) and link reservations when you purchase.

 

 

 

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[chrismch]

Thanks for the suggestion, next time I'll try to get all to book with my regular TA.

[RN4Nsy]

As others have said, do your own thing during the day and agree to meet for dinner. Take post it notes or a swipe off board to leave a message. Enjoy your trip!

[MA cruisers]

Post it's are a must - they are great to leave notes for each other!! I also coordinate a group of 16. One thing that helped us is I gave everyone a two copies of a list of everyone's cabin numbers and had them keep it handy near the phone in their cabin and another one to stash in their lanyard in case they were out of their cabinand needed to call from one of the house phones on the ship. Having a central meeting place in the morning before excursions was very helpful. Also we have a general "we're meeting for predinner drinks at such and such" - it's not a command performance if they show up great, if not no biggie otherwise we will just meet them in the dining room at the table. Have a great time. It always works out!! Enjoy.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

Don't feel obligated to do everything together.

 

We have done several family cruises from 10 - 16 people, with infants and adults. Plus a Club Med Thanksgiving to Mexico. I totally agree. I'm a planner/type A and DW isn't. She beat me up for trying to plan and make sure everybody had a great time. Finally convinced and guess what everybody had a great time.

 

Many years ago we tried to meet for dinner in MDR every night. Recently, that hasn't happened. Now, we try to do at least two "all hands" dinners during the cruise and usually one is a formal so we can do photos.

 

Only other thing I did plan was getting everybody onto Barefoot Beach and renting a couple of cabanas.

 

We love large family trips that are "all inclusive". Nobody, cleans, cooks, drives, or has to entertain.

[chrismch]

We didn't want to host at each other's homes anymore, so we're cruising instead - 4 cities now one cruise ship!