Socializing with Group on a Cruise

I've only ever gone on a cruise with my husband or my husband and kids. But, this time, I'm going with a friend and joining a group of about 40 people who I know from "very well" to "somewhat well."

Obviously, we'll have dinner seating coordinated (our travel agent is one of the people coming and is coordinating that). Other than that, how do we find each other? A Facebook group on our phone? Set meeting times to do things together? Just hope we bump into others? We won't be in rooms close to each other, so door notes aren't really an option.

For those who've gone with a bigger group, do you only see each other at dinner? What worked?

It depends on the "group"...most times, meals are when you're "together", and at that time, you can co-ordinate your plans with others. Certainly all 40 of you will not be trooping about together...it's hard enough to get a single family to agree on plans....trying to get 40 people on the same page will be like "herding cats"....

You and your friend will meet others during dinner, and at that time, you can determine if others are doing what you want to do...and can arrange to meet for whatever that might be.

Once you "make friends" with the others, get their cabin # and you can call from cabin to cabin.

Plan specific meeting times with people and get others cabin numbers so you can coordinate.

Down load the hub app if your ship has it. And or plan ahead.

Sent from my Z981 using Forums mobile app

When we go with a big group we planned excursions ahead of time. It was really cool. The groupings each day were based on what common excursions people wanted to do. On some days you explored with one group and each day after it varied. No matter what excursion you did at each stop there was always a few people In the group that wanted to do the same thing

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

This year we're going on our 10th annual group cruise.

We meet up for dinner. During the day everyone goes their separate ways, but we almost always find each other.

This year we're going on our 10th annual group cruise.

We meet up for dinner. During the day everyone goes their separate ways, but we almost always find each other.

almost always?:):)

Download the HUB app. The app is free but the messaging function is $5 for the whole cruise. Anyone who has it can message each other

If it's a large group, you will also find yourself bumping into random group members-- and if not everyone is there, they will know where so-and-so is, and so forth and so on. You will end up finding one another.

Since you're having dinner together, you could discuss upcoming plans then.

Down load the hub app if your ship has it. And or plan ahead.

 

Sent from my Z981 using Forums mobile app

Exactly what I was going to say.

My only hesitancy with having a huge group connected with the HUB app is constantly expecting to be reachable and responsive. But, I often times like to escape the group for my own time. Use with caution! :)

Largest group I've been was 10. Still, we had different preferences. So before the cruise, we agree to disagree on things we want to do. We just have set time and place after dinner to discuss each others fun time for the day.

I went with a company once before - we always had dinner together and we did our excursion together - the rest of the time was just hit or miss if we saw them cool if not no big deal

We do groups almost every cruise we go on. The average size is probably about 30 cabins. At times, we don't even all eat together, it really depends on the dynamics of the group. Other than a shared cocktail party, the day to day happenings are hit and miss, mainly with little sub groups. To coordinate more than that will probably drive you crazy. Relax and enjoy...

Sent from my iPad using Forums

.......To coordinate more than that will probably drive you crazy. Relax and enjoy...

 

The phrase 'Don't herd cats' comes to mind.

The phrase 'Don't herd cats' comes to mind.

LOL, it will def eat you up if you let it

Definitely create a facebok group and invite everyone to join. Everyone can post what they are interested in doing for ports and then people can jump on if they want. The HUB APP definitely is good to text each other for just $5 per phone for the week.

It's much less stressful if everyone is clear about not waiting around for each other to enjoy something. If 6 people are late to a meeting time, oh well, they're on their own - go get to your fun. It ALWAYS happens in my experience so going into it knowing everyone does what they want is the best for us. We've done several groups vacations and we typically plan one or two nights where we all do dinner together and then nightly we usually meet up at the bars/dance clubs later on.

Everyone has different vacation styles. Some like to take a 2 hour nap in the afternoon while others want to sit in a hot tub or the pool. Its just important for everyone to have fun doing what they want. I can't stress that enough so no one is mad that they didn't get to do something.

Post pictures in the group after the trip. The ones taking a nap will get a kick out of what they missed....

Good Luck.

Largest group we've done was 15. We agreed in advance that the entire group would not be together all the time except for dinner.

We were all on different budgets and different age brackets so some wanted to do expensive and adventurous excursions while others wanted to spend their day in port watching the scenery from their balcony. Some days we did an activity with some while other days we did an activity with others. Other days we did our thing by ourselves.

If we wanted to get together with someone specifically the next day, we would make plans during dinner the night before. If we wanted to get a hold of each other during the day, we would call each other's cabins or leave notes under the door. Many times, we would just run into each other throughout the ship. Never seemed too pressing to get a hold of anybody immediately.

The best piece of advice that I can give you is that you don't plan on the entire group being together all the time. That you're traveling as a group doesn't mean that all of you have to do everything together. Attempting to do that will drive you nuts.

After the cruise, it was neat to look at each other's photos and compare our experiences. It was interesting to see how, even though we were on the same cruise, our experiences were in many cases vastly different.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

The nice thing is being able to walk thru the ship and see someone you know even if its just vaguely and have a nice little conversation and be on your way

Try to plan some activities together ahead of time perhaps each evening when you get together at dinner. But if you choose not to do this, then don't waste time that day trying to find other folks you haven't made an appointment with. You will waste time trying to figure out where folks are and what they are interested in doing. Just go your own way, take your tours, go to the beaches and maybe you will run into other there. Otherwise, you will get back to the dinner table that evening without accomplishing anything because you wasted time looking for folks you didn't make plans with. I went on a group cruise with 30 once and half of us had a blast at each port and others wasted time trying to get with others and not doing anything. This past winter, I went with a group of 11 and we planned each evening what we would do the next day. In some cases we hung out together and did some excursions together and in other cases we all agreed we would just go on our own. This way, everyone was satisfied. We also planned at dinner if we would do Karaoke that night together or one of the shows or comedy or even the bars and clubs. Where there is no discussion, there is kaos and a waste of what could be a fabulous experience.