Cruising with a large-ish group

Hello cruising friends,

I am looking for tips and pointers for my February cruise on the Carnival Valor.

I posted my plan to cruise on Facebook and invited friends to join me. I was shocked when 4 couples messaged to say they were making reservations. Now it looks like my get away is going to be a group of 10.

I am thrilled to have so many friends around, but it is making me a bit anxious. I feel somewhat responsible for the group since I made the invite.

I am looking for tips from those of you with experience cruising with big groups of friends or family. What advice do you have for me?

Thanks!

First of all, you may want to be careful of what you post on Facebook about vacation plans. Up your privacy setting, but also be aware that many people can still get access to your info through mutual friends.

Second, what many people organizing a group find to be the easiest way to do so is to go to a travel agent who has experience booking cruises for groups. This way, you won't have to deal with collecting money or bear any responsibility if something goes wrong. If you know people who are interested, give them the contact info for the TA, along with a deadline that they need to book and pay for it. That way, they can select the cabin they want (advise them to book as soon as they know they can do the cruise so they can get their desired cabin).

You can also suggest linking their booking to yours if they wish to eat with you (if you're getting assigned dining). The TA can take care of this with your approval, but also let everyone know up front that you're not expecting everyone to be joined at the hip during the cruise. This way there won't be hurt feelings if someone wants to dine by themselves or wants to do their own thing in a port or on board. You can send everyone an email about the excursions or plans you have in port so if they want to join (or don't want to do the research), they can. Also give them suggestions for researching (a guide book you've found useful, or websites that have a lot of good info) so that if they want to go ziplining, but you are into just beaching it, everyone can do what they like.

We assume the OP has booked their cruise and the payments are made. So that is not the issue. As to being part of a large group, I guess its a good thing if you like being part of a large group :). DW and I do a lot of traveling (7 months this year) and have learned that we prefer to be by ourselves.....but that is a different point of view. We have also seen (and joined) groups of friends on cruises who had a great time. And we have had been with a cruiser who was in tears (several times) because she hated having a "hanger on" who would not leave her (and her DH) along.

So you might want to first establish some ground rules for the ports. Are you planning to all stick together, or do you prefer to do your own thing and not be obligated to follow the pack. When we have cruised with friends we normally agree to meet for pre dinner cocktails (and often share a table at dinner) and will often stick together during evening activities. But we have also agreed that the daytime is ours.

Hank

We had 12 people on our 25th anniversary cruise a few years ago. We agreed to meet for dinner each evening & I got us all signed up for second seating. That went great as we never had to wait for anyone. Breakfast and lunch were on our own. However, I think every breakfast & lunch we either joined someone who was already at the buffet or were soon joined by someone.

For ports everyone did their own thing. Where several were doing the same thing they did it together.

We had 12 people on our 25th anniversary cruise a few years ago. We agreed to meet for dinner each evening & I got us all signed up for second seating. That went great as we never had to wait for anyone. Breakfast and lunch were on our own. However, I think every breakfast & lunch we either joined someone who was already at the buffet or were soon joined by someone.

 

For ports everyone did their own thing. Where several were doing the same thing they did it together.

This :) ^ ^ ^

Even with a small group, I refuse to be joined at the hip. Dinner with the group is wonderful. And the occasional unplanned get-together is nice. Do not expect me to attend 18 hours of "togetherness" every day :D

This :) ^ ^ ^

 

Even with a small group, I refuse to be joined at the hip. Dinner with the group is wonderful. And the occasional unplanned get-together is nice. Do not expect me to attend 18 hours of "togetherness" every day :D

We thought ours worked great. We spent plenty of time with everyone and plenty of time without everyone.

At the end of dinner the first night, someone said "What time is breakfast?" I said it was whenever and where ever he wanted it. He finally realized we weren't going to be joined at the hip.

We thought ours worked great. We spent plenty of time with everyone and plenty of time without everyone.

 

At the end of dinner the first night, someone said "What time is breakfast?" I said it was whenever and where ever he wanted it. He finally realized we weren't going to be joined at the hip.

We did a Family cruise once. It was for my MIL's 75th birthday. I get along with two of my DW's four siblings and I enjoy spending time with them. The whole group ate dinner together but those two went off and did their own thing most of the time. Unfortunately, the other two siblings were (and are) annoying to be around and frankly couldn't tie their own shoes by themselves. So all week we were joined at the hip with those two.:(

OP, enjoy the cruise with your friends. At least you got to choose them.:D

We too usually run in a larger group...aywhere from 6-22 people..we start the cruise off with ...everyone tells each other what they would like to do, and then the others either join in or go on their own, we all meet at 5pm by the casino for HAPPY HOUR, and then off to dinner..that is the only time we all spend time together

we learned early in cruising that YOU CANNOT PLEASE EVERYONE , AND THE TIME IT TAKES TO FIND EACH OTHER IS TIME WASTED..

Would drive me crazy to have to find activities even a few people could share.....went with 3 generations to alaska....we were asked to attend dinner together and had 3 tables for 8 that we did not have assigned seats for....that worked really well....we took turns sitting with my mom who was crossing this trip off her bucket list...I would not hesitate to make it clear each friend is on their own and as plans come together it will become clear when it makes sense to do some things with some people......

We have done several family and family/friend cruises, and the first thing I think you should learn is this: you are not responsible for everyone's good time. Everyone is going on the same ship to the same ports, and if they aren't having a good time, it isn't your fault. Things happen; air conditioning fails, toilets don't flush, it rains on shore excursions - all of this is out of your control and you re not expected to fix them.

Go and enjoy your cruise - if you choose to meet up for happy hour or for dinner, great; otherwise do your own thing and enjoy seeing your friends around the ship.

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

In other words, 'Do Not Herd Cats!'

In other words, 'Do Not Herd Cats!'

????? I'm not familiar with that phrase. What does it mean?

????? I'm not familiar with that phrase. What does it mean?

Have you ever tried to make a cat do anything it doesn't want to do? :)Impossible. So something that's difficult is like "herding cats".

????? I'm not familiar with that phrase. What does it mean?

An example of something that cannot be done.

So do NOT try.

If you try to herd cats, you will fail miserably and be very frustrated

Go to your Roll Call. You can chat and plan either group activities or at least make your plans known to others. Sometimes if the group gets large enough, there are savings to be had by planning activities together with others.

Your group is a small group, so not sure that would qualify. One family cruise, we had 50 in our group. So there were huge savings on all of the land excursions as there was usually at least 25 doing any given excursion. I think everyone dressed up and met for a formal night photo, but on the ship everyone was free to do whatever they wanted and not be tied at the hip.

Then on our New England Canada cruise, I booked with a friend, then my sister-in-law and her friend decided to join the same cruise. We did get our dinner reservation linked, so we met each night at dinner, but I only saw her once on deck on the ship other than dinner. And we each did our own excursions, never meeting up for any of those either.

Have a great cruise!

Grandma and I only had one request. That we all dine together on the Formal Nights. Other than that, while we had anytime dining, we would meet at a preset time and whoever was there, ok. Table for 2,4, 6, 8, 10. Always worked out. Everyone was free to enjoy their cruise as they wanted. No stress. No problems. Harry :cool:

Thanks for all of the great advice. I promise I will never try to herd all of these cats ;)

Luv ~ I've sailed with a variety of groups over the years. Some were family & friends; some were for business. Most have been between 10 - 30 people. I'm a planner professionally so I probably do a bit more than most when I'm putting a group together but my first rule is this is your cruise....you are welcome to do as little or as much with the group as you'd like.

I put a one-sheet of information together that I send to everyone prior to the cruise. It has basic info including any planned activities (these are normally limited to one or two things throughout the cruise). We normally start with a sailaway gathering at an outdoor bar (near a pool or at the rear of the ship). That give everyone a chance to say hello and enjoy a great start to the cruise.

If I have an excursion planned for a port of call, I'll let the group know prior to the cruise, providing them with details and telling them if they'd like to join us they should pre-book the excursion on their own. I do not book excursions for others. I leave that up to them. Again, I remind everyone that things like this are completely optional.

We typically eat dinner together but I let everyone know they are free to dine elsewhere if they'd like (some do a specialty restaurant one evening). Since my husband and I enjoy a night at a specialty restaurant, I will offer to make a reservation for anyone who wants to join us.

I always remind folks that ship time is their own time. Other than dinner, I don't normally plan anything onboard since different activities attract different people. We did have a group on one cruise that decided to have a little Euchre game each afternoon around 4:00 PM but it was unplanned and just happened.

Have a good time and don't do more than you are comfortable planning. It's your cruise, too! :-)