Just learned my cruise is a Soca cruise

[jaredwynter]

The age of 99% of you is really showing with this one 😅

 

You guys aren't open to new fun, new cultures, new entertainment, new anything lol. OP Just stay home and save yourself the weeks migraine. 

 

It was an eye-sore to read half of this LOL

[Monica887]

3 minutes ago, jaredwynter said:

The age of 99% of you is really showing with this one 😅

 

You guys aren't open to new fun, new cultures, new entertainment, new anything lol. OP Just stay home and save yourself the weeks migraine. 

 

It was an eye-sore to read half of this LOL

And your agism is showing. Yes, this forum skews older - what do you have against more mature posters?

 

There are reasonable arguments for not wanting to get caught up in a music festival for an entire week if that's not what you signed up for. And I've been to me share of festivals and still enjoy concerts. 

 

I personally wouldn't cancel if it was just me and DH, but I WOULD hesitate if I was bringing my kids who would want regular pool access. Everyone has their thresholds.

 

The biggest problem I see in this thread is just not knowing the extent that this would affect the trip as a whole, and making assumptions based on the "type" of crowd it is. 

[PATRLR]

10 hours ago, InfrequentPNWCruiser said:

Can't imagine them chartering the Vibe space since all of those were sold pre-cruise. I'd be pretty peeved if it got closed off to me during any normally open hours as I've paid for that access for that voyage above and beyond just booking a cabin. 

There is a discussion somewhere in these boards of someone buying Vibe passes, and then having them revoked because some charter group paid to take over the whole Vibe for themselves.  So it can happen.  

[PATRLR]

11 hours ago, Ozmodiar said:

Since they don't pre-sell those passes (right?), no one would know prior that it won't be available.

Yes, they do pre-sell Vibe and generally speaking nowadays the only way to get vibe is to pre-buy.  This all changed last summer sometime. 

[Htomlin41203]

33 minutes ago, jaredwynter said:

The age of 99% of you is really showing with this one 😅

 

You guys aren't open to new fun, new cultures, new entertainment, new anything lol. OP Just stay home and save yourself the weeks migraine. 

 

It was an eye-sore to read half of this LOL

Wow…🤦‍♀️ I don’t think it’s asking too much to be informed of what to expect.

When information is vague or being withheld- it is natural for people to wonder (whether what they imagine will be accurate or not)

 

imagine booking a celebration  dinner at a small restaurant.  When you get there, half the restaurant is booked for a party that also includes music.  It changes the experience, right? While it may be something you would elect to experience (and even enjoy) if given the option, when it becomes something unexpected or out of your control, there will be frustration- questions- or maybe even worry…

 

 

Edited March 3, 2023 by Htomlin41203

[lgdesign]

57 minutes ago, Htomlin41203 said:

Imagine booking a celebration  dinner at a small restaurant.  When you get there, half the restaurant is booked for a party that also includes music.  It changes the experience, right?

 

 

BINGO!  This is exactly what happened to us a month ago.  What was supposed to be a quiet evening catching up with another couple turned into a deafening hour and half when the shindig started halfway through the meal.  We all had raging headaches by the end of the meal and couldn't hear each other speak.

Edited March 3, 2023 by lgdesign

[schmoopie17]

SOCA?? I think you misspelled SUCK,,,because it sounds like it will definitely suck.

[Homosassa]

For those of you who are worrying that children may be exposed to new music and new dance moves, don't be.

 

If you don't make a big "clutch your pearls" scene, they probably won't notice anything  any different that the gyrations seen in any music video or the hip and booty shaking, hands hooked into the belt with fingers pointed down to the pelvic movements (a/k/a line dancing) done to caterwauling Country Western Music.  

[OrangeCatRamblers]

11 minutes ago, Homosassa said:

For those of you who are worrying that children may be exposed to new music and new dance moves, don't be.

 

If you don't make a big "clutch your pearls" scene, they probably won't notice anything  any different that the gyrations seen in any music video or the hip and booty shaking, hands hooked into the belt with fingers pointed down to the pelvic movements (a/k/a line dancing) done to caterwauling Country Western Music.  

 

That's definitely not what I read from blogs and reviews of people actually attending Uber Soca cruises, so I'm happy to hear that your account negates those reviews! 

 

The blog posts I read definitely mentioned a very weed-forward experience with topless twerking. 

 

I respect that every family has different levels of tolerance, just like every teen will have different levels of acceptance for what they might or might not see in shared public spaces. Just a gentle reminder that there are some families that are more conservative than you might think, and that's okay, too. 

[sansroof]

On 3/3/2023 at 8:48 AM, Monica887 said:

The biggest problem I see in this thread is just not knowing the extent that this would affect the trip as a whole, and making assumptions based on the "type" of crowd it is. 

Exactly.  OP is making assumptions based on cruises held by another company (Uber Soca), which are 21+ cruises that look like they take over the whole ship, which is not what this other branded Soca cruise on the Prima seems to be.  Regardless, there's no one on this forum who is going to be able to make OP or anyone else feel better about this trip, because we don't have any more information than they do.  The only entity that actually knows what is planned is the Fetetopia company.  They have a phone number on their website so I would personally call them and ask the questions I wanted to ask.  

[BirdTravels]

 

On 3/3/2023 at 9:07 AM, Htomlin41203 said:

Wow…🤦‍♀️ I don’t think it’s asking too much to be informed of what to expect.

When information is vague or being withheld- it is natural for people to wonder (whether what they imagine will be accurate or not)

 

NCL has booked a group on this cruise. 
 

The group has booked venues on the ship for private events. When they book a space they specify a general description “pool party” and their requirements “interface to video screen, access to xxx power, 20 cocktail tables, 3 private bars”. 
 

NCL doesn’t have much more information. NCL should never share information on private activities with nosy people. 

Edited March 4, 2023 by BirdTravels

[ElizaSTN]

On 3/3/2023 at 8:37 AM, jaredwynter said:

The age of 99% of you is really showing with this one 😅

 

You guys aren't open to new fun, new cultures, new entertainment, new anything lol. OP Just stay home and save yourself the weeks migraine. 

 

It was an eye-sore to read half of this LOL

I have to disagree with this.  I would be just as annoyed if I found out that a large group of Irish stepdancers and musicians were planning takeovers of public venues like the pool and other areas. And I love Irish music and dancing.  But not all the time and not when I’m trying to relax on the pool deck.  It’s a very specific genre of music that is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea and IMO Norwegian should be upfront about how, where and when public venues will be taken over.  That’s the issue here - the lack of transparency about disruptions to parts of the ship that regular cruisers would expect to have normal access to.  

[styles27]

On 3/3/2023 at 8:37 AM, jaredwynter said:

The age of 99% of you is really showing with this one 😅

 

You guys aren't open to new fun, new cultures, new entertainment, new anything lol. OP Just stay home and save yourself the weeks migraine. 

 

It was an eye-sore to read half of this LOL

56 and open to all of those things just not on a cruise ship where I go to relax not to have music of any kind blasting. 

This is especially troublesome when these charters are kept secret from unsuspecting passengers not in the charter group. 
If I want that kind of cruise experience I’ll look for a group offering it and book it. 
 

In the last few years we’ve attended the Stones at Gillette, Guns and Roses at Fenway, Gaga at Fenway, Chesney and G Brooks also at Gillette and countless other concerts. We’re huge music people. The difference is we don’t go on a cruise to watch a concert. 
 

 

[marktwothousand]

I want to offer the OP reassurance but also sympathy. I didn’t get whether the OP was cruising alone, but I do think it would be hard to find yourself on a solo cruise that turned out to be any sort of group cruise. I’ve heard of all sort of groups chartering boats in the hundreds of people… accountants, real estate agents, travel agents, and other demographics. It might be more difficult to socialize because the group people tend to have more things in common. 
 

that being said, I have landed myself on a couple cruises in the past which were either group cruises or cruises skewed toward a particular demographic, whether it be time of year, port, or whatever. My opinion of it was, you wouldn’t have known a group chartered it if you didn’t ask. Sure, there were clusters of people gathered in particular venues more often than others, but that just meant there were plenty of quiet and alternate places to hang out on the ship when they were there anyway!!!

 

besides I hardly doubt NCL would dare cancel their regular programming in favour of a group booking. You might find signs in certain areas saying “booked for private event”, which would have otherwise been mostly empty at that time anyway. And perhaps they’ll add a specific showtime for this group for the Donna summer show or other show, which just means you’ll have more space when you wanna go!

 

so yeah, not ideal for solos, but not a write off.

 

and hopefully, they do have their special event parties mostly on the topdeck, it’s too damn cold to be out there on a New York cruise in April anyway! (That’s why I was leaning toward prima April and then walksd my idea back - I wanna be somewhere HOT)

[OrangeCatRamblers]

27 minutes ago, marktwothousand said:

I want to offer the OP reassurance but also sympathy. I didn’t get whether the OP was cruising alone, but I do think it would be hard to find yourself on a solo cruise that turned out to be any sort of group cruise. I’ve heard of all sort of groups chartering boats in the hundreds of people… accountants, real estate agents, travel agents, and other demographics. It might be more difficult to socialize because the group people tend to have more things in common. 
 

that being said, I have landed myself on a couple cruises in the past which were either group cruises or cruises skewed toward a particular demographic, whether it be time of year, port, or whatever. My opinion of it was, you wouldn’t have known a group chartered it if you didn’t ask. Sure, there were clusters of people gathered in particular venues more often than others, but that just meant there were plenty of quiet and alternate places to hang out on the ship when they were there anyway!!!

 

besides I hardly doubt NCL would dare cancel their regular programming in favour of a group booking. You might find signs in certain areas saying “booked for private event”, which would have otherwise been mostly empty at that time anyway. And perhaps they’ll add a specific showtime for this group for the Donna summer show or other show, which just means you’ll have more space when you wanna go!

 

so yeah, not ideal for solos, but not a write off.

 

and hopefully, they do have their special event parties mostly on the topdeck, it’s too damn cold to be out there on a New York cruise in April anyway! (That’s why I was leaning toward prima April and then walksd my idea back - I wanna be somewhere HOT)

 

 

Thanks for your perspective! I'm not solo, we're a family with a teenager, and this isn't a group of realtors, it's a music festival with several artists on board, promising on-ship performances and parties. It's also a branch of performers that has had pretty intense 21+ full chartered cruises annually. But this is not a full chartered cruise, obviously.

[marktwothousand]

Just now, OrangeCatRamblers said:

 

 

Thanks for your perspective! I'm not solo, we're a family with a teenager, and this isn't a group of realtors, it's a music festival with several artists on board, promising on-ship performances and parties. It's also a branch of performers that has had pretty intense 21+ full chartered cruises annually. But this is not a full chartered cruise, obviously.

Ya, but I think this where you’ll be fine. Seeing as it’s not a full charter, it’s probably just a cuppa hundo rooms… and if you got fam around.. you’re lucky you have company! So there ya go, I think it will be a good time actually… and even though it may be a group booking, that doesn’t mean it will REPLACE a demographic that would have otherwise been there… it will mean “in addition TO…”.

 

So you’ll still have whoever was planning to be on board and in that sense, it will probably feel like a normal cruise

 

trust me, I have been on ships with bookings before and if you weren’t part of the group, you wouldn’t have known they were there unless ya aksed 

[bookbabe]

13 hours ago, marktwothousand said:

So you’ll still have whoever was planning to be on board and in that sense, it will probably feel like a normal cruise

 

trust me, I have been on ships with bookings before and if you weren’t part of the group, you wouldn’t have known they were there unless ya aksed 

Since you’re from TO, I’ll clarify with an analogy in case you didn’t see the info previously posted about the group…she’s got Caribana on her ship, and the tour group organizing the partial charter is advertising huge pool parties and concerts and such.  It’s not a group of accountants sitting in a meeting room discussing RRSP tax breaks then heading to the buffet and a show after.

[styles27]

6 minutes ago, bookbabe said:

Since you’re from TO, I’ll clarify with an analogy in case you didn’t see the info previously posted about the group…she’s got Caribana on her ship, and the tour group organizing the partial charter is advertising huge pool parties and concerts and such.  It’s not a group of accountants sitting in a meeting room discussing RRSP tax breaks then heading to the buffet and a show after.

Exactly!

[marktwothousand]

Lawd have moicey!

[Homosassa]

18 hours ago, ElizaSTN said:

I have to disagree with this.  I would be just as annoyed if I found out that a large group of Irish stepdancers and musicians were planning takeovers of public venues like the pool and other areas. And I love Irish music and dancing. 

LOL -  NCL cruise on NCL to Bermuda in 2010:

 

We get on board and find out NCL use an Irish theme for Bermuda cruises from Boston.  No notice of this when booking.

 

Entertainment was a middle-senior high school age troupe of step dancers from a school in Queens.  And those kids were dragged out for entertainment at every evening show and other events on board.  Let's face it, once you've seen one  step dance, the music and steps are the same whether it is the whole troupe, a duo, or single dancer.

 

We pretty much wanted to shot ourselves as another "special treat" was offered  such as the thirteen year old step dancer who won a medal and was now going to perform her award winning routine.

 

There was also a comedian who was billed as the "funniest woman in Ireland." She hailed from Australia and was now floating around on a cruise ship in the Atlantic.  She was not funny.

[mjkacmom]

21 minutes ago, Homosassa said:

LOL -  NCL cruise on NCL to Bermuda in 2010:

 

We get on board and find out NCL use an Irish theme for Bermuda cruises from Boston.  No notice of this when booking.

 

Entertainment was a middle-senior high school age troupe of step dancers from a school in Queens.  And those kids were dragged out for entertainment at every evening show and other events on board.  Let's face it, once you've seen one  step dance, the music and steps are the same whether it is the whole troupe, a duo, or single dancer.

 

We pretty much wanted to shot ourselves as another "special treat" was offered  such as the thirteen year old step dancer who won a medal and was now going to perform her award winning routine.

 

There was also a comedian who was billed as the "funniest woman in Ireland." She hailed from Australia and was now floating around on a cruise ship in the Atlantic.  She was not funny.

Well, as a parent of two former competitive Irish dancers who competed internationally, no, there is a lot of different types of dances, music and choreography in Irish dance. I get it, to me watching football I just see the quarterback throw randomly to open players, even though I know they have plays. Irish dancing magazine had an Irish dance RCL cruise scheduled for July 2020 out of NJ, and as a previous poster mentioned, as much as I enjoy it there is no way I’d go on an ID cruise, sounds like a 5 day feis from hell.

[mjkacmom]

You’ve been warned https://joaniemaddencruise.com

[OrangeCatRamblers]

37 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

You’ve been warned https://joaniemaddencruise.com

 

Curious if this is a full charter, or a partial charter like the Soca group? Honestly I'd prefer Irish dance to the Soca group, in terms of family friendliness. 

[mjkacmom]

35 minutes ago, OrangeCatRamblers said:

 

Curious if this is a full charter, or a partial charter like the Soca group? Honestly I'd prefer Irish dance to the Soca group, in terms of family friendliness. 

Looks like you can book on NCL no mention of charter. I would expect some heavy drinking!

[OrangeCatRamblers]

5 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

Looks like you can book on NCL no mention of charter. I would expect some heavy drinking!

 

And Guinness flowing freely!!!