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Ohhhh Nooooo.... Based on Super Large Group thread.


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After reading that thread, I decided to do some more research, and the cruise we had booked last Fall (when Bev. Package was offered) is now a 'Singles Cruise', organized by one of the major online cruise/vacation retailers.

I am afraid that this looks to be a very very large group, of singles, with as many as 11 'onboard singles hosts' shown on their web-site listing.

 

All of these singles hosts seem to be young, with a history of very active adventure-travel, sporting, etc...

 

My husband and I were hoping for the usual, off-season, more quiet Princess vibe, with lots of couples, maybe a few families, but not many since off-season.

 

OMG, should I be concerned????

 

Any thoughts or experiences or advice from you well-traveled experts?

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Please post the ship & sailing date here .

Far enough out I would cancel despite losing the package .

A group that large will effect your experience.

Princess may be receptive to changing your sailing since you know about the group .

More Sales are due soon .

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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This is offered thru one of the large well-known cruise/vacation outlets.

I am def. trying to find out as much as I can. Including how large of a group they might expect.

I will be finding out as much as I can.

 

We will def. be considering options.

 

A good sized group onboard is one thing, but what might be considered a 'singles party cruise'...

That might be an issue.

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Like everything it all depends on who will be aboard. Even though the hosts may be young does not necessarily mean the pax will be "young". By virtue of the fact that Princess does not offer a lot of physical activities and is a more adult cruise, I would not think that young active pax would want to take it. This may be for older singles that are less active than a 20 y/o and more in their 30's or 40's and settled down with a career. The OP needs to find out the age range and the number expected if at all possible before canceling.

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We ended up on a cruise with a similar singles tour group. The vibe was definitely not the usual princess type we enjoy. The group had many private events that took over the lounges so the amount of Princess sponsored activities was limited. Also the group members loved to party and the dining room and other venues were extremely loud. We tried to find out there event schedule so we could be elsewhere when they were eating.

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I took a cruise that I later discovered was hosting a large group of gay travelers. All of the hot tubs were occupied the entire cruise by gay men, pretty much to the exclusion of the other passengers, and every day, at least one lounge was reserved for their group activities.

 

I suspect that the hot tubs and pools on a heavily singles biased cruise might be taken over by that particular group.

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I guess a question that anyone should ask when booking is if the cruise is booked by any large groups...and then if booked very early check again. I think in fairness they should permit a change (with same price and package unless something better is available) with no penalty...it can and usually does impact the experience on the ship. Good luck.

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After reading that thread, I decided to do some more research, and the cruise we had booked last Fall (when Bev. Package was offered) is now a 'Singles Cruise', organized by one of the major online cruise/vacation retailers.

I am afraid that this looks to be a very very large group, of singles, with as many as 11 'onboard singles hosts' shown on their web-site listing.

 

All of these singles hosts seem to be young, with a history of very active adventure-travel, sporting, etc...

 

My husband and I were hoping for the usual, off-season, more quiet Princess vibe, with lots of couples, maybe a few families, but not many since off-season.

 

OMG, should I be concerned????

 

Any thoughts or experiences or advice from you well-traveled experts?

Several posters on the HAL forum have reported success in obtaining details about groups on board by calling the travel agency selling the cruise. The report better success if you pretend you're doing research in consideration of booking the cruise.

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My first Princess cruise was for my honeymoon. Then it was discovered that it was a singles cruise by one of those agencies. At that time, both midship dining rooms were always anytime. At a certain time, one of them would close down because it was booked by the group. This was never published anywhere. Otherwise, no issues that I could determine.

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If you sift through the hysteria in the opening post it does appear to match up with the agency sponsoring the singles group on Dec 2 Regal Princess. To me all it appears to be is a TA that specializes in singles-willing-to-share bookings (a fast fading niche) has reserved blocks of cabins. They will have two hosts onboard--but under the list of included amenities is just the standard Princess programming aside from a cocktail hour each night. Likely they will have Vista Lounge reserved for a couple hours, which is no loss based on my December cruise on Royal when that venue was rarely used. It is highly possible that the group will not be allowed to purchase the PBP as further "sharing" would be a given.

 

The only real issue I see is dinner: the group is promised "single-mingle dining" which I presume would be a group of large tables set aside for everyone to seat themselves as they wish. But will those tables be in the Traditional or Anytime dining room? If the OP's preference is Traditional and their time is confirmed they should have nothing to worry about. ATD may be the one chink in the armor. But I can't imagine a crazy number booking this seven night cruise on a slow week prior to the holidays. This won't be remotely close to the five night Emerald cruise in Spring 2016 where nearly half the cabins were sold to college groups from North Carolina.

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If you sift through the hysteria in the opening post it does appear to match up with the agency sponsoring the singles group on Dec 2 Regal Princess.

If it is the group on the Dec 2 Regal sailing, it's the same group that was on my cruise last fall. The bars were busier than usual and they did have some private events but it wasn't a super wild group. They wore lanyards around their necks so they were easier to spot but otherwise it wasn't all that obvious. There were many more women than men and most appeared to be aged 40-50+. Some of the singles appeared to partner up early in the cruise so I didn't see any crazy groups. I don't know what the dining room situation was but they certainly didn't impact my cruise one bit.

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i think the cruise line should have to tell you if there is a large group...they can easily see that on the manifest..even if the group does not have individual names they have space blocked with a date by which they have to release or put names on cabins. An agent should have no problem getting the information. No different than a small hotel being taken over by a wedding...after one experience with restaurant being closed and private parties in the pool I always ask if it seems like a "wedding location". Most groups etc. do not book at the last minute.

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Thrak shared a link yesterday. THIS SITE

 

will someone check the Crown Princess , March 11, 2018 cruise date and post any results here?

 

I tried, but when I clicked on Princess - it just gave me a general description of the lne, and not specific cruises.

 

Or just tell me what I am doing wrong - Thanks

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will someone check the Crown Princess , March 11, 2018 cruise date and post any results here?

 

I tried, but when I clicked on Princess - it just gave me a general description of the lne, and not specific cruises.

 

Or just tell me what I am doing wrong - Thanks

There is a search function in the tabs at the top of the page. I see nothing on there for the Crown on March 11

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site linked above is extremely limited and shows very few of the groups booked...more of a promo tool that actual help. I think googling the name of the cruise can give some obvious results but probably no substitute to calling the line and if one agent can't help ask for supervisor. Explain that you have had some experience being on a semi chartered cruise line and choose to avoid it in the future...they can help but my guess is they are under orders to down play it as much as possible.

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