Equinox not open for pub crawls

[oceanbill457]

  Just finished a 10 day cruise on Equinox. On my roll call I had 30 plus guests sign up for a pub crawl on the second sea day. On the day before the crawl I dropped off a proposed route to the front desk for the Food and Beverage Mgr. Apparently there was a disconnect in getting it to the right place.

  The proposal was to start at 3 pm and end at 5:30 pm. On the day of the crawl I received a call at 1:45 pm stating we couldn't do this. I told the young lady the guests who signed up wouldn't be pleased. About 20 minutes later I got a call stating the Bar Mgr wanted to meet with me. We met on the third deck were he informed these events had to be prearranged with an event coordinator. He further informed me there was a  limit of 15 people and there was a charge of $35 per person. I informed him I had been on a pub crawl on Millennium last year with no such restriction. He was less than receptive to that.

  I went to the start of the crawl to inform as many as possible of the cancellation. I'm certain the ones I couldn't contact thought me  a fool. Lesson learned: Easier to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission.

[gerelmx]

Title says Cabin crawl, then you describe a Pub Crawl.

[mom says]

So not a cabin crawl, as your title states. Not sure why you found it necessary to inform the ship in advance. It would have been much simpler if you had just circulated the crawl schedule amongst your group. Assuming you weren't asking the staff to do anything other than filling the drink orders of those attending and were only going to the bars that would be open at those times.

[mahdnc]

I agree with what mom says.

[Funky Fusion FoodsJ]

I've participated in quite a few over the years and never had one that was coordinated with ship personnel.

[jelayne]

If the bars are open at the hours the crawl is planned there is no reason to involve the ships staff.

I have arranged cabin crawls and bar crawls and never had a need that required the ship personnel to do anything except make the drinks at the bars.  

 

With 35 I would have split the group into 2 or 3 smaller groups with a different route for each, as 35 arriving at the same time wanting drinks could take a while to get everyone's drink order filled.

[miched]

Do you think  that they were hoping to get  some free drinks and nibbles or a discount on the drinks because of all of the business they were going to do?
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Edited March 10, 2023 by miched

[C4HCG]

You can’t have a proper pub crawl in 2 and half hours can you? How many bars on the ship? Must be at least 10 so 10 mins in each!!!

[zitsky]

I imagine the few folks at one of these bars would be surprised when 30 people show up and take over???

[SRQbeachgirl]

By dropping off a route and schedule, it sounds like OP was expecting the F&B Manager to arrange staff schedules so there would be enough extra staff to take care of all those people. Of course, that means F&B Manager would have to pull staff from somewhere else (thus leaving another venue short-staffed) and/or expect some staff to work extra hours.  

 

Oh, and do all this extra scheduling and shuffling for free. Gosh, I can't imagine why the F&B Manager wasn't jumping for joy over the proposal.

[cruisestitch]

Somethings wrong here because there’s no reason for the bar staff to be involved in a cabin crawl that I know of.

[zitsky]

Just now, cruisestitch said:

Somethings wrong here because there’s no reason for the bar staff to be involved in a cabin crawl that I know of.

 

I believe OP just made a mistake in title and meant to say pub crawl in the title.

[Nashna]

Years ago, I organized a bar crawl at an all-inclusive resort with 7 bars.  The resort handled it perfectly.  When the bar manager realized what was happening at the first stop, he assigned two bartenders to accompany the group of 40 around to all the bars.  At several stops, they were waiting for us with special drinks.  I think Celebrity might have been more accommodating to this group.

[mayleeman]

These are the types of things I never understood.  I have done casino crawls in LV, but it was just me crawling dejectedly toward new places to lose $.....

[mahdnc]

2 hours ago, gerelmx said:

Title says Cabin crawl, then you describe a Pub Crawl.

 

The roll call (Feb 27 Equinox) had both a cabin crawl and a pub crawl that they organized for their sailing.

[RichYak]

2 hours ago, C4HCG said:

You can’t have a proper pub crawl in 2 and half hours can you? How many bars on the ship? Must be at least 10 so 10 mins in each!!!

Challenge accepted!

[AmberCascades]

1 hour ago, Nashna said:

Years ago, I organized a bar crawl at an all-inclusive resort with 7 bars.  The resort handled it perfectly.  When the bar manager realized what was happening at the first stop, he assigned two bartenders to accompany the group of 40 around to all the bars.  At several stops, they were waiting for us with special drinks.  I think Celebrity might have been more accommodating to this group.

 

The OP said the F&B manager said it needed to be pre-arranged.  It sounds like they would have worked with the group if they'd had a heads-up.  From various accounts I've read recently it sounds like some ships are understaffed or may be training new staff.  They may not have been able to just whip the bar staff around to here and there on short notice.  

[Bill Miller]

I've crawled back to the cabin a few times, but that's stories for another post.

[Arizona Wildcat]

2 hours ago, zitsky said:

 

I believe OP just made a mistake in title and meant to say pub crawl in the title.

And 35 people in either a pub or cabin crawl would be a lot.

More than maybe 20 people per group you cannot socialize at a bar and be served in a timely manner.

In a cabin think about 35 people in a veranda cabin.  Even 20 is tight.

[RD64]

Question - just because people sign up - do all 35 actually order a drink?

[jelayne]

29 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

And 35 people in either a pub or cabin crawl would be a lot.

More than maybe 20 people per group you cannot socialize at a bar and be served in a timely manner.

In a cabin think about 35 people in a veranda cabin.  Even 20 is tight.

I have don’t Cabin Crawls with 50 people.  Just broke  them into 3 groups and had the groups scheduled to start 10 Minutes apart.  

[jagoffee]

On 3/10/2023 at 7:55 AM, oceanbill457 said:

  Just finished a 10 day cruise on Equinox. On my roll call I had 30 plus guests sign up for a pub crawl on the second sea day. On the day before the crawl I dropped off a proposed route to the front desk for the Food and Beverage Mgr. Apparently there was a disconnect in getting it to the right place.

  The proposal was to start at 3 pm and end at 5:30 pm. On the day of the crawl I received a call at 1:45 pm stating we couldn't do this. I told the young lady the guests who signed up wouldn't be pleased. About 20 minutes later I got a call stating the Bar Mgr wanted to meet with me. We met on the third deck were he informed these events had to be prearranged with an event coordinator. He further informed me there was a  limit of 15 people and there was a charge of $35 per person. I informed him I had been on a pub crawl on Millennium last year with no such restriction. He was less than receptive to that.

  I went to the start of the crawl to inform as many as possible of the cancellation. I'm certain the ones I couldn't contact thought me  a fool. Lesson learned: Easier to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission.

I have never been on. pub crawl.  How did the Pub Crawl work on the Millennium?

 

Good point as I do not see how Celebrity could prevent 30 people from showing up to an open bar at the same time, although service would be slow.  

Edited March 11, 2023 by jagoffee

[Alakegirl]

So equinox IS open for Pubcrawls but you just need to make prior arrangements and perhaps pay a fee, yes?

[mahdnc]

10 minutes ago, Alakegirl said:

So equinox IS open for Pubcrawls but you just need to make prior arrangements and perhaps pay a fee, yes?

 

Most roll calls will schedule their pub crawl without making any formal arrangements with the ship.  We last attended a pub crawl on Reflection back in Jan 2019 (nicely organized by @sykimball1498).  The schedule was published on the back of the name tags that were distributed during the Meet and Greet.

 

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by mahdnc

[Alakegirl]

So that was before the restart?