How will “hosted singles group” affect cruise?

Curious how being on a cruise at the same time as a hosted singles cruise is.

Husband and I are thinking of celebrating our 10th anniversary on a cruise out of Barcelona in May but Google tells me that there is a “hosted singles group” on the Epic that week.

Does anyone have any info on how much that will affect our trip? Will they be using all the venues at night? Will it affect our dining choices? I’ve tried to see if I could tell how much of the ship they will be using but I couldn’t find it online.

I’d just like more information before we book so we can decide if we want to go that week or a different week. That week works best for our schedule.

Thanks

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If you're looking at May 20th, I found a cruise on line being run by an outfit that I don't think I can name on this board. It's hard to tell how many cabins they'll be able to sell, but I wouldn't think it would really be much of a problem. It's not a giant organization, just a travel agent selling specialized fares. If you're really worried, maybe you can pick a different sailing.

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If you're looking at May 20th, I found a cruise on line being run by an outfit that I don't think I can name on this board. It's hard to tell how many cabins they'll be able to sell, but I wouldn't think it would really be much of a problem. It's not a giant organization, just a travel agent selling specialized fares. If you're really worried, maybe you can pick a different sailing.

 

 

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Yes, May 20th and yes I saw the singles cruise online when I googled the date. We could pick a different date but 5he 20th works better for us so I’m just trying to get some more information before we decide.

I wanted to see if anyone had been on a cruise with one of these groups on board and how it affected them? Or if anyone knows how many cabins the take? Or how many venues they use for their cocktail parties etc?

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I have sailed on one of these hosted singles cruises, and there were around 150 total passengers that were part of this group. There were certain venues that would dedicate their space for around an hour at a time. I would say that it should not be enough to affect your cruise significantly...

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I'm curious as to why you think it will affect your cruise at all. The Epic can carry around 4000 passengers, I don't really see how a group of people who aren't in a position to cruise with anybody, and don't like the thought of cruising on there own, can have any influence on your cruise. I'm sure you won't even notice them.

Sometimes these special groups can be an impact. I am thinking of theme cruises out of Florida where they get a high number of folks onboard.

With this one being in Europe, I would expect way less of an impact. Still possible, but based what on what I can find online, not a big deal.

If you hadn't read about this, you'd never know they were there.

We were on a cruise that I believe had a group of people from the organization on your May 20 sailing.(I googled it). Can't say if it will be the same but there were only around 125 people sailing. Interestingly we also met quite a few people sailing by themselves but not part of the group. I don't know if they did this deliberately. I never saw any venue closed. The biggest difference was that people were extra chatty in the pool, etc. and also we saw at least one person sitting in the buffet by themselves who we ended up sitting with and having a nice conversation. The majority were people who had lost a spouse due to being widowed and didn't want to give up cruising. Again this was only my experience.

I was on the Epic last spring and there were 2 hosted groups one that had something to do with car parts and another I don't recall. I would say that I wasn't expecting such an American crowd nor was I expecting some of the other things that came along with that. I had a fantastic cruise. I wasn't invited to any of their events i didn't get any of their free gifts. Not a problem.

Remember that the Epic has boarding twice a week in the Med. One in Barcelona and one in Rome. There is going to be a good number of people who aren't involved in the hosted group.

Thanks everyone. I am relieved to hear it’s a small group. I couldn’t tell that from their website and so probably will have very limited impact on our trip.

My main concern was that it would be half the ship and they’d reserve the shows, dining rooms or howl at the moon every night. I think being on a ship with a large charter group can negatively impact the experience if you’re not part of the group. But this seems like it won’t be a big deal at all.

Every sailing has multiple "groups"...some are larger than others, but generally speaking, do NOT affect anyone.

We have been part of a fairly large group during sailings (think 1 entire deck our's plus scattered others). Generally we took one section of deck and stayed there, for venues they closed a bar down for us a couple times for organized events that were scheduled around the ships main events. I can't say that we didn't impact other cruisers, but in general I would say we pretty much kept to our own group.

I have been on a number of hosted singles cruises with the 2 bigger companies that run them, there are a few smaller ones that run them as well. One of those big companies is the one running the one on the Epic on May 20th out of Barcelona. You should have no problem with them though. Except for the Halloween singles cruises that can be over 600 people, few singles cruises get more than 200 tops. The Europe singles cruises are much smaller groups anyway, usually not more than 100 if that. Normally, the singles group has their own sectioned off seating area in the MDR and takes over one of the lounges for 1 or 2 hours a night before dinner. The only places you might see the singles group take over at times are the bars as the single groups tend to be a heavy drinking bunch. You will be fine. Have a great cruise!

My husband and I are sailing on this cruise, Epic May 20, 2018. I, too, am a little worried about this group taking over part of the ship so we will make sure all our restaurants and entertainment is booked when booking times open. It is a really port intensive itinerary with only one sea day so you are off the ship most of the time.