What to do? Received Limited Dining Email this Morning

[SeaMatesNYC]

5 minutes ago, TiogaCruiser said:

Turning Point has a radio ministry

Here in San Diego they are on TV CBS local affiliate on Sunday mornings. I see it up when I am at gym working out. The Rev sells a lot of books, plans and study guides. Reminds me of “The Righteous Gemstones” on HBO. 

Edited April 17 by SeaMatesNYC
Expanded remarks

[VMax1700]

11 hours ago, crystalspin said:

I couldn't find it either; it had just drifted down. I think April's update was delayed because Colin (Vmax) is currently on a Blue-Hulled Beauty!

Not on a BHB yet but boarding on Sunday.

Next update was scheduled for end April/early May as there usually is not enough new information to warrant monthly updates.  Hope to post the update in Mid May.

I am looking to see if I can add a link to my avatar to link to the latest post.

[VMax1700]

12 hours ago, Torquer said:

Perhaps in that post about groups @VMax1700 could add info on how big the group might be, based on past experiences from other cruisers.

 

😱

The salary does not cover that amount of research 😉

But, I have rarely seen reports from cruisers regarding groups onboard, nor any indication as to size or intrusion level.  

It would be a bit like food and difficult to quantify the perception of others.

[daisy-mae]

I guess it depends on the type of group. The cruise mentioned in this. article could have been a hoot.

500 Newfoundlanders wound up on the same cruise. They had a time. (msn.com)

[VMax1700]

29 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

I am looking to see if I can add a link to my avatar to link to the latest post.

I have added the link to the latest update as a signature, now I just need to remember to update the link each time I post an updated thread.

Hope someone finds it useful.

[BetsyS.]

VMax1700 - Thanks for your work on the list. People can check it before they book a cruise. I'm sending you best wishes for your cruise on Sunday!  Bon Voyage!  😊🥂

[LonelySaxophone]

Just as an update - just received an email that I have been confirmed for the 7:30 fixed dining, although this was in response to a separate email than the one I sent up the ladder to corporate.

[Torquer]

1 hour ago, VMax1700 said:

The salary does not cover that amount of research 😉

But, I have rarely seen reports from cruisers regarding groups onboard, nor any indication as to size or intrusion level. 

First of all, thanks for your work.  I am curious how you get the information on charters and groups.  In the past I have deduced there was a charter because of no planned cruise for a ship on HAL's website, but how do you get the name of the group that chartered it.

 

I regularly read CC and have never seen groups (not charters) being discussed and never thought they would be a problem.  I had assumed they would be a couple hundred people maximum.  But obviously the case being discussed in this thread is very different where it is half the ship and HAL is not allowing anytime dining for non-group people after 6:30PM.

[Eric from San Diego]

4 hours ago, daisy-mae said:

I guess it depends on the type of group. The cruise mentioned in this. article could have been a hoot.

500 Newfoundlanders wound up on the same cruise. They had a time. (msn.com)

I went on a cruise with a group of 450 gay men.   We did have two private parties and ate together in the dining room. But we drank a lot and went to bingo, trivia and all the shows.   One woman told me that she had never had so much fun on a cruise as the one we were on. This was on Celebrity.   

 

Some large groups can be quite benign as far as disruptions because we they are there to have fun. 

[Mary229]

2 minutes ago, Eric from San Diego said:

Some large groups can be quite benign as far as disruptions because we they are there to have fun. 

I don’t think it is to besmirch the people it is that some groups do take over venues and other guests are prohibited.  There is no way of foretelling which group is just a gathering and which is a full blown convention 

[TiogaCruiser]

3 hours ago, Torquer said:

First of all, thanks for your work.  I am curious how you get the information on charters and groups.  In the past I have deduced there was a charter because of no planned cruise for a ship on HAL's website, but how do you get the name of the group that chartered it.

 

I regularly read CC and have never seen groups (not charters) being discussed and never thought they would be a problem.  I had assumed they would be a couple hundred people maximum.  But obviously the case being discussed in this thread is very different where it is half the ship and HAL is not allowing anytime dining for non-group people after 6:30PM.

I think the reason for few recent threads is Pause shut down so much, and summer is coming now, so group cruises are picking up.

 

The last time I remember regular threads about big groups was before Covid. The cruise I referenced that my friends went on was (I believe) July 2018. It was the previous season that someone posted about a very large group booking over half the ship and getting dining together, so they could have a speaker, and the showroom reserved for their productions. Non-attendees got to dine elsewhere and one show. 

Way back in 2013 I was on Veendam to Antarctica and a large (~300) LDS travel group had booked with their own speakers. They did have the Showroom booked privately a couple times a day, but I saw no impact with that. We still had the full complement of Antarctica programs. (The only impact on me was their speaker was given leadership of the “interdenominational service” on Sunday, so I attended mass with my catholic Christian brothers and sisters.)

Edited April 17 by TiogaCruiser

[Skorpora]

We were on a cruise immediately following a nudist cruise once. I think that one was a full charter. I couldn't see them having regular passengers mixing with the nudists...

[Haljo1935]

6 hours ago, LonelySaxophone said:

Just as an update - just received an email that I have been confirmed for the 7:30 fixed dining, although this was in response to a separate email than the one I sent up the ladder to corporate.

That is great news and a very fast turnaround. 

[GNC3721]

Is your cruise in July? We’re traveling in June (out of Vancouver, inner passage) and there is a group listed for that, a Southern Baptist group out of Dallas. Wondering if anyone knows the size of that group? Asking about your date because if you are in July then we’re safe for dining and venues as ours is earlier. Thanks to anyone who has any info!!

[TiogaCruiser]

June 15th? Is it with Inspiration Cruises on Kingkongdam? The website says the group is sold out.

 

https://www.inspirationtravel.com/event/pathway-to-victory-alaska-2024

 

You might want to be proactive and get assigned dining if that will matter to you.

 

Edited April 18 by TiogaCruiser

[nanlaur]

We were on an Western/Eastern Caribbean B2B in 2017 on the Nieuw Amsterdam. We did anytime dining and usually showed up at the MDR around 8:00. The first week was great. The first evening of the second week, we showed up at our accustomed time and saw a long line on the "reservations" side of things. We were informed that a big group had the dining room and anytime dining was unavailable. The staff seemed to be uninformed that there would be a group monopolizing the dining room. Had to feel sorry for them. Felt sorry for us, too. At that time of night the Lido was closing down and our only choice would have been pizza. Eventually they found a table for the six of us who were waiting to be seated, and they got us a two-top in fixed dining for the week. As I recall, the group had a mass gathering earlier in the evening and were all dismissed at the same time for dinner. I believe the evening show was offered only once at around 8:00. 

 

We definitely check the Charter/Group Information thread when booking now, and usually book cruises longer than 7 days.

[Tattycoram]

I was once on a 2-week Hawaii cruise on Crystal that had a group booking attached to a college.  They were perhaps ¼ of the ship?  It was actually lovely because on all the sea days during the day they were at lectures in the big auditorium, so the rest of the ship was emptier:  the spas, the pool, the Crystal-sponsored speakers' talks.  

 

They wore lanyards to identify themselves by, but were quite unobtrusive en masse. The group didn't attend dinner or shows or anything as a group, so none of the evening activities were compromised.  In fact, they loved talking about books and ideas with anyone who felt like doing so.

[albingirl]

On 4/17/2024 at 2:52 PM, Eric from San Diego said:

I went on a cruise with a group of 450 gay men.   We did have two private parties and ate together in the dining room. But we drank a lot and went to bingo, trivia and all the shows.   One woman told me that she had never had so much fun on a cruise as the one we were on. This was on Celebrity.   

 

Some large groups can be quite benign as far as disruptions because we they are there to have fun. 

No matter what; drinking alot and playing bingo is always fun! Fun crowd, I am sure 

[albingirl]

22 hours ago, Skorpora said:

We were on a cruise immediately following a nudist cruise once. I think that one was a full charter. I couldn't see them having regular passengers mixing with the nudists...

Haha! Great fun if it was a mix!!!

[Shalandara]

While I do always look at VMax1700's charter/group list there is no way to know for certain the size of the group involved.

 

Case in point, I was part of a group booked on an Alaska cruise on the Koningsdam.  (It was a Genealogy group).  We were about 150 total and did have exclusive use of some rooms and the theater on sea days.  That was it.  Some people probably had no idea we were on the boat really.  But only the group knew how many people were booked beforehand -- so unless you were in on those communications you wouldn't know.  We could have been 10 times that amount (unlikely, I know) and then it would have impacted the rest of the people.  (To be fair it was also in 2022 and the ship did not sail at full capacity but it was full-ish).

And depending upon how the group worked their contract/deal with HAL it might not be until close to the sail date that they have a final total # of cruisers.  Which might put it after final payment for normal cruisers.

 

So take the list as a warning, and if you do book on one of the listed weeks with a group be prepared/forewarned.  You could try to do some web sleuthing to figure out if the group might be considered annoying to your cruise ideals but you may or may not turn up useful info on number of attendees.  And yes, it is possible for the group to show up a bit after booking opens -- all depends upon how "put together" the management of the group is perhaps.

[ghstudio]

We are currently on a 9 day cruise on the oostradam with 100+ park west group.  They have taken over the crows nest for every night .. we can not watch any sail away, get a drink before dinner or specialty coffee until 9pm unless we want to sit in the arts and crafts room.  Every night 4-9.  No notification   This is todays HAL .. they don’t seem to care about non group passengers very much.  We are deciding if we want to cancel some future Hal bookings.

 

[LonelySaxophone]

7 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

We are currently on a 9 day cruise on the oostradam with 100+ park west group.  They have taken over the crows nest for every night .. we can not watch any sail away, get a drink before dinner or specialty coffee until 9pm unless we want to sit in the arts and crafts room.  Every night 4-9.  No notification   This is todays HAL .. they don’t seem to care about non group passengers very much.  We are deciding if we want to cancel some future Hal bookings.

 

Oh lord that sounds horrific - any response from HAL on board? 

[ghstudio]

1 minute ago, LonelySaxophone said:

Oh lord that sounds horrific - any response from HAL on board? 

They can’t do anything. It was a corporate decision.  I’ve escalated and we’ll see what happens.  Many are unhappy including the officers on the ship…but all they can do is listen to the complaints

 

[KAKcruiser]

This is nothing new.  Groups have been booked on ships for years.  You just have to do your best to try to find out about them before you sign up for a particular cruise.  HAL won't tell you even if you ask.