Goth Cruise, March 2/ NCL Escape..be a problem?

[elliotlake12]

I have heard that the cruise we booked, March 2/2024 Escape, will be hosting large Goth group,bringing their own entertainment

While i don't specifically have a problem with the Goth culture, on previous "theme" cruises, they have blocked off public areas,lounges,venues, which limits our choices.

Thoughts?

 

Edited July 28, 2023 by elliotlake12

[JamesIowa]

I take 1 cruise a year. That cruise is meticulously planned and very much looked forward to. 
I find that many times the things I think may be obstacles to a good cruise (Noro, Covid protocols, NCL policy changes, whatever) turn out to be no big deal and I have a good time despite all of the pre-cruise worry. Many times after vacation I think “that was a lot of worrying for nothing”

that being said, no way I’d take a partial-charter goth themed cruise. 

[laudergayle]

I would agree that you are likely to see some partial closures of various venues throughout the cruise…and you can only hope that it isn’t an entire venue for the entire cruise.  If it were me, I would shop around to see if any other cruises meet my needs/desires.  I am that person who would fret the entire time before the cruise.

[elliotlake12]

Think there,s any chance of rebooking different date?We booked thru 3rd party site

 

[Krispie5]

I experienced this on a HAL cruise, but I still want to give you my input. There was a Gospel group going to be on my sailing, and I was assured by the HAL TA this wouldn't be a problem, plus my parents and I were sailing in a neptune suite, and we'd have access to the concierge to make things right if there was a problem. I didn't notice the group at all, aside from people wearing special lanyards around their necks, and walking to places together in small groups. nothing was closed off in areas i wanted to be in while i was there. The only huge problem that we ran into, was that our dining was changed to early dining. There was absolutely nothing anyone would do about it. They said either you come for early dining, or go to the buffet. So if we were out late on excursions, or enjoying a later afternoon at the pool, the 3 of us would have to get back to the room early so we could all take turns showering, and getting dressed, just to get to the dining room for the early seating. I wish HAL would have been transparent about how this would impact us and the dining time, instead of us finding out after we had boarded. We aren't the type of people to cause a raucous about anything, so we just dealt with it. Looking back i think i should have asked for some specialty dining or something, so that we could have eaten when we wanted. 

[schmoopie17]

There have been many posts recently about theme cruises and people not finding out until after they have booked (or boarded). Sure would be nice if these were indicated on the NCL page so people can make an educated decision about whether they want to proceed with booking.

 

Yes, you can always cancel before final payment, but at that point people have made hotel, air, excursion reservations. 

 

The OP said they "have heard" that their cruise will be a themed cruise. How did they hear and where did they hear it? Better yet, they would have known before booking.

Edited July 28, 2023 by schmoopie17

[ziggyuk]

 

The White Hot Party will be a lot of fun 😂😂

[ColeThornton]

A Goth cruise might not be so bad.  If you think about it there will be plenty of loungers by the pool that aren't being hogged.   It's not like they're gonna lay out to work on their tans.

[DCGuy64]

12 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

A Goth cruise might not be so bad.  If you think about it there will be plenty of loungers by the pool that aren't being hogged.   It's not like they're gonna lay out to work on their tans.

Exactly! Don't those people sleep 😴 during the day and come out at night, like vampires? 🧛‍♀️🌕

[elliotlake12]

I found out from a Facebook page I am following for the cruise.Was not made aware before booking

[cruiseny4life]

Check out the Gothic Cruise website for information on the cruise. It's easy to find their website.  They even have a PDF schedule. It doesn't look like they are taking over any space for the entirety of the cruise based on the schedule and information on the site.

 

Reading through the FAQ, it sounds like they're asking their guests to be respectful of those not part of the event. On the website you can also find an article that was in Porthole Magazine that describes Gothic Cruise. 

 

I think you'll enjoy experiencing the goth culture. 

[zqvol]

2 hours ago, elliotlake12 said:

Think there,s any chance of rebooking different date?We booked thru 3rd party site

 

You are before final payment you should be able to cancel and rebook a different cruise without penalty.

[zqvol]

2 hours ago, Krispie5 said:

I experienced this on a HAL cruise, but I still want to give you my input. There was a Gospel group going to be on my sailing, and I was assured by the HAL TA this wouldn't be a problem, plus my parents and I were sailing in a neptune suite, and we'd have access to the concierge to make things right if there was a problem. I didn't notice the group at all, aside from people wearing special lanyards around their necks, and walking to places together in small groups. nothing was closed off in areas i wanted to be in while i was there. The only huge problem that we ran into, was that our dining was changed to early dining. There was absolutely nothing anyone would do about it. They said either you come for early dining, or go to the buffet. So if we were out late on excursions, or enjoying a later afternoon at the pool, the 3 of us would have to get back to the room early so we could all take turns showering, and getting dressed, just to get to the dining room for the early seating. I wish HAL would have been transparent about how this would impact us and the dining time, instead of us finding out after we had boarded. We aren't the type of people to cause a raucous about anything, so we just dealt with it. Looking back i think i should have asked for some specialty dining or something, so that we could have eaten when we wanted. 

Because of freestyle dining this couldn't happen on NCL.

[thesh0rty]

Go and enjoy the cruise! Out of 4200+ passengers, at most 300 goth cruisers, is not enough for me to cancel my cruise 😊

And their events are scheduled late at night - 11pm/12am to 3am/4am. I’ll be snoring away lol

[yakcruiser]

I am thinking that the room next to the morgue that somebody was complaining about on a different thread would be highly desirable on this cruise.

[PhillyTravelBug]

I don't dress the part, but I love the music and would love to see one of the bands playing at sea.  I've seen some live videos from bands on ships and they usually close off some of the deck area for the live shows.  If I was looking for a vacation, I wouldn't really want to be on bothered with it all. 

[Pookie2u]

It sounds like a good time to me 😄 I spend a good deal of time relaxing and people watching while I cruise.  hmmm.... what do you think a Goth bathing suit would look like.....

Too bad I planned out all of my vacation time or I'd join ya 😄 

[BlushPell]

I have nothing against Goth but I was on a cruise in the past that had a large group. The Trailer Park boys which was supposed to be a charter for the whole ship and didn’t sell out. I found out only after booking and couldn’t cancel since it was too close to sailing. I wouldn’t take another cruise again where there is a large group. It did affect the cruise I was on and not in a favorable way. I still had a good time but the experience was not the same as other cruises.

 

If the group is large I would cancel and rebook but that’s just me.

 

Here is the official website for more info https://gothiccruise.com/faq

Edited July 28, 2023 by BlushPell
Added info

[omahabob]

Nothing against goth, though I'd prefer not to see it. I'm waiting to accidentally stumble into one of those nudist cruises. Honest, honey! I had no IDEA!!!!

[jbcallender]

1 hour ago, omahabob said:

Nothing against goth, though I'd prefer not to see it. I'm waiting to accidentally stumble into one of those nudist cruises. Honest, honey! I had no IDEA!!!!

I went on an excursion in St. Maarten that included a nude beach - I didn't know as I had our 13-year old twin sons - it was a bunch of naked septuagenarian males looking for Bo Derek - no Bo showed up..

Edited July 29, 2023 by jbcallender

[UKstages]

the most important factor here is the size of the group in proportion to the occupancy of the ship. 

 

will you have to cut a swath through the goths at the buffet? will there be a gaggle of goths gathered on the gangway? will you experience delays at the bar when goths get their grog? 

 

if 50% or 60% or more of the passengers are part of an organized group, they will indeed take over the ship. i'd say that about a goth as much as i'd say that about men (or women) of the cloth. any sizable group has the capacity to make the entire ship into a private club, with other passengers feeling like outsiders. that's true regardless of how "respectful" the group is to other passengers.

Edited July 29, 2023 by UKstages

[omahabob]

49 minutes ago, UKstages said:

the most important factor here is the size of the group in proportion to the occupancy of the ship. 

 

will you have to cut a swath through the goths at the buffet? will there be a gaggle of goths gathered on the gangway? will you experience delays at the bar when goths get their grog? ...

 

Ah, yes. The infamous goth ratio (GR). Very important to know your GR.

[Travelling2Some]

19 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Exactly! Don't those people sleep 😴 during the day and come out at night, like vampires? 🧛‍♀️🌕

I am not up to speed on Goth habits but, if this is accurate, late night noise could be a concern.  Lots of people up and going back and forth to their cabins or lots of activity in the the cabins around yours very late at night?

 

We were once on a partial charter that attracted a ton of first time cruisers and there was some impact in terms of general clueless behavior .  Again, I don't really know but Goths seem unlikely to be big cruisers? 

[RocketMan275]

23 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

There have been many posts recently about theme cruises and people not finding out until after they have booked (or boarded). Sure would be nice if these were indicated on the NCL page so people can make an educated decision about whether they want to proceed with booking.

The cruise lines  usually claim that publicizing a partial cruise would violate those participating right to privacy.  IMHO, that's an excuse because the cruise lines fear regular passengers will avoid/cancel such cruises.  I would support requiring the cruise lines to tell passengers anytime there is a partial cruise that exceeds 10% of the ship capacity or whenever select venues are being reserved for large groups.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

21 hours ago, zqvol said:

Because of freestyle dining this couldn't happen on NCL.

Not necessarily so.  In August we were on the Star and there was a very large group onboard.  Nice people, no problems at all, but they had one of the MDRs reserved for their group every night.   So if you preferred the smaller MDR, you were out of luck.  You could still dine when you wanted but not in the quieter, smaller MDR.  

Edited July 29, 2023 by MagnoliaBlossom