Has anyone ever hosted a cocktail party in their Suite?

[skarletohara]

I was just reading the cruise personalizer which indicates that you may

contact the purser's desk to organize a cocktail party at sea which will

include hors d'oeurves [sp] et cet, and I was curious if anyone

has done this or who has been invited to a party while on-board.

Princess states that they'll even send out the invitations to various cabins. And I'm also curious about the cost of hosting some such thing.

[newbie2468]

Where did you find this on the cruise personalizer? I looked at mine and couldn't find it... what is the cost? We are sailing on the Crown in March and that would be great if we could arrange something like that. Thanks.

[skarletohara]

Newbie,

I can't recall where I found it; I just continued to surf the site and

I think I clicked on "On Board Special Occasions" or something similar.

They don't list the cost. It's very vague.

 

I'll go back to the site and retrace my steps and let you know shortly

[Toto2Kansas]

We have done this many times, especially on longer cruises. But we have not gone through Princess to arrange it. Before they changed the liquor rules (argh), we would just call room service and order a complete bar set up with liter bottles and mixers, price was listed in the stateroom per bottle. Then we just ordered the appetizers from room service that we wanted.

Of coarse we didn't have them supply a bartender, I took care of those duties. ;) It is a bit more difficult to do now with the smaller bottles of liquor that they limit you to ordering.

 

Frankly, I would be surprised if you called Princess if anyone knew much about this cocktail party listed on their site. And I would be doubly surprised if anyone onboard the ship you sail would know much about it either. But it sounds good doesn't it?

[AZPam]

2 years ago on the Diamond a bunch of us CCer's had our own "traveling" cocktail party. Somebody who lived in LA even brought a blender! We supplied our own booze and just went to room to room, all over the ship. It was really fun and one of our better memories. A great "do it yourself" concept!

[skarletohara]

2 years ago on the Diamond a bunch of us CCer's had our own "traveling" cocktail party. Somebody who lived in LA even brought a blender! We supplied our own booze and just went to room to room, all over the ship. It was really fun and one of our better memories. A great "do it yourself" concept!

 

That sounds hysterical!:D

 

Yeah. I figured as much, that we would be supplying our own booze, and

as for hors d'vs, I can just run up to Horizon court, load up a couple plates

of crudites and cheeses and call it a "catered party"

[Charliesmom]

We've had parties in our suite. We usually bring some booze on board and then order individual drinks from room service if the people don't drink what we have. We generally have a couple of bottles of wine, some bourbon and some vodka. Suite passengers get a bar set-up, too. You can exchange what you don't want in the bar set-up for other stuff. Last April, my sister-in-law changed their bar set-up for bottled water.

 

We usually go up to the Horizon Court and load up on stuff for hors d'ouevres and nuts, but you can order hors d'ouevres from room service if you wish.

 

We try to invite 6 or 8 people at a time, so we are not overwhelmed.

 

We have been to a large party on the HAL Westerdam, in an aft suite which had a huge balcony. They had ordered hors d'ouevres. The concierge took care of all of the details for them. Since it was at Sailaway, they arranged for it in advance. We were each asked to bring a bottle of what we drank to the party. We brought a couple of bottles of wine.

 

Roberta

[joyride]

I have done this several times. A few years ago on the grand our cruise critic group was small - only about 14-16 people and we had a mini-suite. So, I invited everyone to meet at our cabin in the afternoon prior to the muster. We brought wine on board and I just told everyone to bring a bottle of wine if they wanted to.

 

When we got on the ship (early) I contacted our cabin steward right away and let him know what I was doing. He arranged for a bunch of extra glasses, ice, corkscrew, etc. I also called room service and just ordered several platters from them - veges, shrimp, fruit,etc. The platters are only $10-$15 each - I think I only spent around $50. Everything was delivered by 3 or so and I think everyone showed up between 3:30-4. It worked out great considering it was sort of short notice. Of course, it would be even easier to arrange once onboard for a few days later.

 

We did it another time and my cabin stewart got me a big bunch of strawberries for us to have with our champagne. I think if you give ample notice and they have what you are looking for onboard - they will pretty much get it for you. At least, that's been my experience.

[spongerob]

I've found lately that room service likes to have 24 hours notice for trays of shrimp and canapes. They can bring things like chips and salsa/guacamole fairly quickly. Sometimes you can arrange it all through your cabin steward; they should have order forms where you write down everything you want and sign for the charged items, and it shows up when you want. Be sure to order extra glasses and ice.

[dforeigner]

http://www.princess.com/answer/dining.html

 

PRIVATE COCKTAILS & HORS D'OEUVRES

What could be more fun than throwing a party at sea? We'll arrange for the invitations, mix the cocktails, and pour the wine. Our chef will even prepare a selection of your favorite hors d'oeuvres. Just contact the Passenger Services/Purser's Desk to plan all the details.

 

I have seen menus with the price of hors d'oeuvres but cannot seem to be able to find it. Well, well, I found it:

 

http://www.princess.com/onboard/services/gifts/culinary.html

 

I hope this helps.

[DrivesLikeMario]

We've done this twice with Princess. We ordered the food ahead of time from home.

 

Once we were onboard, we spoke with our cabin steward and asked him to provide additional wine glasses, ice, etc. He brought additional chairs for the suite balcony, a table cloth, plates, napkins, forks, and more. He was very helpful. We cleaned up as much as we could afterwards & he did the rest.

[rwdtgb]

We have done this on a couple of cruises. The last time we were on the Tahitian Princes (last March) we contacted the F&B manager and he came down to our cabin and we told him what we wanted to drink and eat he took care of everything. One hour before our party was to start the manager and 2 crew members came to set up for the party. The manager offered to leave a crew member to be our bartender. After the party we just called and when we returned to our cabin it was all cleaned up. The only cost was for the special food (not for chips, nuts) and the liquor and tips to the staff.

 

Tom

[critterchick]

We semi-hosted a Cruise Critic sailaway party on the Sun. We ordered a cheese platter & guacamole/chips/salsa platter, plus extra ice, from room service (it arrived 30 minutes late, and only then because our cabin steward hounded room service for us, but it still arrived before the guests). It was a BYOB affair. Only one person seemed to mind...