Fan club / Charter experience?

[Jean Genie]

We are sailing on Summit from Miami next week and recently found out that the Golden Fans at Sea group will be onboard.  Im not sure how big the group will be, but assume X has rules around groups needing to charter full ship if they’ll exceed a certain % of the total population.   Has anyone ever found themselves inadvertently onboard partially-chartered ship?   Are some venues closed to passengers not part of the group?   I expect Golden Girls fans are a pretty fun and diverse group who won’t get too crazy but who knows 😉

[Mr. Click]

Years ago we were on a Med cruise with a big group.  It was never a problem. They did their thing, we did our thing.  They were some kind of self-help group and were really very nice people. Occasionally a lounge was closed to the public for one of their special events but it was fine.   Just go and enjoy yourselves.

[Stem to Stern]

Upon boarding Celebrity Reflection in the western Mediterranean in 2019 we found ourselves amongst a large group of Abraham Hicks enthusiasts.  I have no idea how many of them were on board.

 

Abraham-Hicks Publications - Law of Attraction Official Site

 

Since we were mostly using the ship as a floating hotel, their presence did not really have an adverse effect on our on-board experience.  We did not find this group encroaching on the public spaces.  I do not recall if we ever encountered any of the venues closed off specifically for their use.  They mostly kept to themselves although there was one member of their group that we had pleasant engagement with.  This is the next one they have scheduled on Celebrity Reflection later this year:

 

Greek Islands and Malta Cruise | Global Event Productions (lifejourneys.net)

 

Another cruise in the Caribbean several years ago we encountered a group that brought their motorcycles with them on the cruise.  It was cool to watch them take their motorcycles on and off the ship at some of the ports of call.

Edited March 30, 2023 by Stem to Stern

[Jim_Iain]

https://www.goldenfansatsea.com/

 

It is indeed a fans cruise for the Golden Girls.

 

During partial ship charters it is very possible certain venues will be closed for special events.  I've seen them schedule the Theater for events as well as the Sky Lounge.   

 

To my knowledge Celebrity has no restrictions on the size of a partial ship charter -   I've seen groups as large as 1,000 on cruises.   They generally don't disturb other guests except for special events and often they are grouped together in the dining room.

[Jim_Iain]

We were on a cruise last year with an Abrah-Hicks Group.   All I can say was it was a weird cruise.   Not because of the group but it was the day that Southwest had their meltdown.    70% of their group didn't arrive for the cruise and we sailed at about 20% capacity.

 

I will admit some of their participants were a little weird but fun.

[Honolulu Blue]

2 hours ago, Jean Genie said:

We are sailing on Summit from Miami next week and recently found out that the Golden Fans at Sea group will be onboard.  Im not sure how big the group will be, but assume X has rules around groups needing to charter full ship if they’ll exceed a certain % of the total population.   Has anyone ever found themselves inadvertently onboard partially-chartered ship?   Are some venues closed to passengers not part of the group?   I expect Golden Girls fans are a pretty fun and diverse group who won’t get too crazy but who knows 😉

I did a thread on this topic on the general board.  No Golden Girls were mentioned, but there were some other interesting stories:

 

[George C]

We did a partial charter once, no big deal, there was two groups largest was a first responder group , fireman, police etc , no real impact, cool thing was they had hired a American idol contestant who finished around #7 he did a midnight show , concierge told suite passengers we were invited also , nice show.

[Jean Genie]

1 hour ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I did a thread on this topic on the general board.  No Golden Girls were mentioned, but there were some other interesting stories:

Thanks!!   I’ll read through   This cruise is the celebrate my mom’s 70th bday so in a way the Golden Girls theme is appropriate 😉

 

[Jean Genie]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

https://www.goldenfansatsea.com/

 

It is indeed a fans cruise for the Golden Girls.

 

During partial ship charters it is very possible certain venues will be closed for special events.  I've seen them schedule the Theater for events as well as the Sky Lounge.   

 

To my knowledge Celebrity has no restrictions on the size of a partial ship charter -   I've seen groups as large as 1,000 on cruises.   They generally don't disturb other guests except for special events and often they are grouped together in the dining room.

@Jim_Iain thanks!   Maybe I’ll buy a caftan and join the party😉

[Lena11033]

I had a partial charter recently but was not a good experience. But it was also NFL fans 

[Zacb]

I have never met a Golden Girls fan I didn't like.  I'm sure you will have a great time! 

[jelayne]

We have been on 2 sailings with partial charters, on 1 you would hardly have noticed.  
 

The other had the Sunset Bar reserved from 4-5:30 4 out of 7 nights, Sky Lounge the other nights.  They descended on the Martini bar about 6.  The group dined at one time which seemed to impact overall service in the MDR.  It was reported to be a group of 400+.  Our worst cruise.

[CTSandy]

Just did a cruise on Equinox - March 9 - that was a partial charter with the Abraham Hicks group.  I was told there were about 750 of them on board - I noticed that they used the main theater every day for their events, which meant things like Beyond the Podium took place in Celebrity Central, which was a tight fit at times.  However, the Solarium wasn’t as crowded during the day because a lot of passengers were attending meetings.  Cafe al Bacio was crazy when it was their coffee break - people lined up past the shops on deck 5.  

[mduffy1834]

Our last cruise in 2020 was the Golden Girls fan club cruise also - it was great seeing all the costumes and the people were very nice.  They had their own events and at times, certain venues were closed.  But it was not a big deal.  Chic night was a hoot - lots of caftans and other outfits.  I was not a huge fan, but I do remember watching the show.  It was a memorable cruise right before the shutdown - enjoy

[1Virgo]

is there any way of finding out ahead of time if the cruise is booked for a charter/convention?

 

Our cruise in January, the hotel we stayed at was taken over by a 3 day convention.  That meant the restaurant and bars were closed to non convention guests.   Lots of unhappy guests.  

[FionaL91]

We've seen that our cruise is being advertised as partially chartered for a swinging group, not sure how that will work! Feeling a little apprehensive... 

[Honolulu Blue]

4 minutes ago, 1Virgo said:

is there any way of finding out ahead of time if the cruise is booked for a charter/convention?

 

Our cruise in January, the hotel we stayed at was taken over by a 3 day convention.  That meant the restaurant and bars were closed to non convention guests.   Lots of unhappy guests.  

I'll defer to others about the answer for finding out about PARTIAL charters.

 

For FULL charters, those are easier to find out about.  If you're booked on a cruise and the cruise company decides to charter your ship, they will kick you off.  You'll get a full refund and possibly some other perks for your inconvenience.

 

Second, there's a nice (but not all-inclusive) list of full charters at Full Cruise Ship Charters (cruisetimetables.com) .

 

Third, if you see a gap in the dates you're trying to book for a cruise ship that interests you, there's some chance that it's been chartered.

[Jeremiah1212]

8 minutes ago, 1Virgo said:

is there any way of finding out ahead of time if the cruise is booked for a charter/convention?

 

Our cruise in January, the hotel we stayed at was taken over by a 3 day convention.  That meant the restaurant and bars were closed to non convention guests.   Lots of unhappy guests.  

 

You can usually Google the dates or check Facebook to see if there is a large group organized. Other smaller groups, incentive groups, etc. you usually won't find anything. 

 

Tip...don't search the term 'partial charter' because that isn't a thing. It's either a group or a full ship charter. One or the other. 

[Honolulu Blue]

4 minutes ago, FionaL91 said:

We've seen that our cruise is being advertised as partially chartered for a swinging group, not sure how that will work! Feeling a little apprehensive... 

Load up on the upside-down pineapple magnets, baseball bats, golf clubs, dance shoes, or seat pads - depending on the type of "swinging" you're talking about! 🙃

Edited April 1, 2023 by Honolulu Blue

[chemmo]

Two cruises with partial charters both on RC so I don’t know how relevant.

 

One in the Med was a doctors convention. They seemed to all dine in one area of the MDR at breakfast at the same time daily and late seating in the evening. Staff knew when to expect them and were ready and staffed accordingly. During sea days they had various daily events in the theatre (when it normally would have not been used) and on port days they went off on their own excursions. The quietest buffet at breakfast time we have ever seen. Also the quietest sea day poolside experiences ever too. Our cruise was enhanced by their presence!

 

The second experience was in the Mediterranean with a large group of affiliated Mexican families. We were told it was a Quinceanara (hope that is correct) celebration. Family members numbered about 300 from babies to grandparents. The fifteen year old girls (lovely to see them all dressed up) were a bit giddy poolside but less of an issue than their younger siblings who entertained themselves in the lifts, buffet and corridors….The early morning buffet had lots of unaccompanied youngsters, poolside full areas of chairs were ‘reserved’. If you unfortunately sat poolside then group members surrounded you conversations would take place over you. Individually the people were lovely when we chatted with them but quite simply we felt we were invading a private party…

Edited April 1, 2023 by chemmo

[kayehall]

We were on the Silhoutte with 2 different groups.  One was called the "Bearded Bears", I think and the other liked to dress as women.  Anyway, the most unpleasant cruise ever.  The actions of the 2 groups in public areas was unacceptable.  Mainly the pool area and the Martini bar.  We did witness a situation, reported it to a higher up crew member and the person was escorted off at the next port.  People forget, there are cameras everywhere.  

[marshacruises]

We were on a ten-day Caribbean cruise with a group that took about half the ship.  They all worked for a company in Europe that paid for their cruise.  The group had the attitude that it was their ship and would try to kick people out of public areas and bars, saying that the area was reserved for them.  We verified with the bartender or other crew members that the area was not reserved for a group.  They were only onboard for the first half of the cruise, when they were disembarking, a lot of people who were staying for the rest of the cruise were at the rails waving good-bye.  I think a lot of them were glad to see them leave (and a lot of the crew seemed relieved too).  The second five days of the cruise were a lot nicer.

Suggestion about finding if there are any large groups on the cruise:  Join the rollcall for your cruise and ask the question on that board.  There are also other media areas that have groups for your cruise where you can post the same question.  So far, on my next cruise this fall, we have found that Abraham Hicks group and a crafting group have set aside a lot of cabins.  When the final payment is due, they will turn back any cabins they (the groups) have not been able to sell.

[crazyank]

 

6 hours ago, marshacruises said:

We were on a ten-day Caribbean cruise with a group that took about half the ship.  They all worked for a company in Europe that paid for their cruise.  The group had the attitude that it was their ship and would try to kick people out of public areas and bars, saying that the area was reserved for them.  We verified with the bartender or other crew members that the area was not reserved for a group.  They were only onboard for the first half of the cruise, when they were disembarking, a lot of people who were staying for the rest of the cruise were at the rails waving good-bye.  I think a lot of them were glad to see them leave (and a lot of the crew seemed relieved too).  The second five days of the cruise were a lot nicer.

Suggestion about finding if there are any large groups on the cruise:  Join the rollcall for your cruise and ask the question on that board.  There are also other media areas that have groups for your cruise where you can post the same question.  So far, on my next cruise this fall, we have found that Abraham Hicks group and a crafting group have set aside a lot of cabins.  When the final payment is due, they will turn back any cabins they (the groups) have not been able to sell.

We had a similar experience with a group from a company called Kyani.  Rudest bunch of entitled jerks we've ever seen on a cruise.  shoving people out of elevators so they could get more of their group on, running over people in the hallways, trying to take over specialty restaurants without reservations, etc.

[Boo's Mom]

On 4/1/2023 at 8:20 AM, FionaL91 said:

We've seen that our cruise is being advertised as partially chartered for a swinging group, not sure how that will work! Feeling a little apprehensive... 

Oh my. 

[Boo's Mom]

On 4/1/2023 at 8:39 AM, chemmo said:

The fifteen year old girls (lovely to see them all dressed up) were a bit giddy poolside but less of an issue than their younger siblings who entertained themselves in the lifts, buffet and corridors….

It's not funny. 

But, it was funny to read. 🥺