How can you tell if your cruise has been chartered?

[Debbbiee]

I've read that a large group has chartered Pride of America on October 30, 2010. I emailed my Norwegian TA and she says there may be a large group on board, but the ship hasn't been chartered.

 

When I go to group's travel website, it claims that the October 30, 2010 sailing is an all-gay cruise.

 

So how do I find out for sure? Does anyone have any suggestions? I've also emailed the travel agency for the potential charter and am waiting for a reply.

 

If I'm being booted off the cruise, fine, but I'd like to know for sure so I can make other vacation arrangements. I just wish I knew one way or the other.

[Pebbs48]

It's still available on the ncl website but...

 

http://www.gaycruisevacations.com/cruise.htm#RSVP%20Hawaii%2010-10

 

http://rsvpvacations.com/cruise_2010_hawaii.aspx?menu=agt

[crew mom]

Don't have an answer to your question but I just had to say that now I know where my other foot is!

[Cowdengelly]

I dont like large groups dominating a cruise. I would cancel and ask NCL to return my deposit.

[MrLee]

If I'm being booted off the cruise, fine, but I'd like to know for sure so I can make other vacation arrangements. I just wish I knew one way or the other.

 

You wouldn't necessarily be "booted off" the cruise but if it's a lage group you may find everything is geared towards them. Public rooms may be open only to their group at times etc.

[oLEEander]

I've read that a large group has chartered Pride of America on October 30, 2010. I emailed my Norwegian TA and she says there may be a large group on board, but the ship hasn't been chartered.

 

When I go to group's travel website, it claims that the October 30, 2010 sailing is an all-gay cruise.

 

So how do I find out for sure? Does anyone have any suggestions? I've also emailed the travel agency for the potential charter and am waiting for a reply.

 

If I'm being booted off the cruise, fine, but I'd like to know for sure so I can make other vacation arrangements. I just wish I knew one way or the other.

 

Had the same problem a few years ago when we booked a family reunion cruise. After we finally all decided on a certain week and picked our cabins I saw an obscure mention about R Family Travel chartering the Dawn for the same week we had picked. While it probably would have been disconcerting enough sharing the ship for some members in my family, the snippet I read stated the ship wasn't even maintaining the same itinerary but heading to Canada instead of Bermuda. NCL wouldn't confirm the charter. After further research on my part I found the actual Travel Agency's web site with all the detail of the charter including all the outside entertainment they were bringing in, which to me means they had contracts in place. NCL still couldn't confirm this to my TA at that time stating they didn't have a firm contract yet. I decided to just change our cruise to the next week, of course we couldn't get all our rooms together like we had arranged on the original cruise. 6 weeks later NCL finally dropped the cruise we had first booked for a private charter. I'd make other arrangements if your uncomfortable with the possible charter.

[sunshine4u2]

DH and I had this happen to us in 2006 out of NYC let me tell you it was a trip from HELL. Talk about Rude, OMG.We well not go out of NYC again, and its sad for we live in NY not the city, and I'm not saying New Yorkers that live in the city are rude thats just not so. Did I say it was a group about 500.

[erdoran]

Maybe I'm naive but it seems wrong to me for there to be a charter and at a minimum, pre-booked passengers not be notified and offered the opportunity to change to a different week FREE, with some compensation for any other expenses incurred by the change. When you book a cruise you are contracting for a specific itinerary of course, but there are also standard expectations of activities and a mix of guests, not a large percentage belonging to a specific group/family etc. What are normal cruiseline practices for this type of situation?

[MrLee]

Maybe I'm naive but it seems wrong to me for there to be a charter and at a minimum, pre-booked passengers not be notified and offered the opportunity to change to a different week FREE, with some compensation for any other expenses incurred by the change. When you book a cruise you are contracting for a specific itinerary of course, but there are also standard expectations of activities and a mix of guests, not a large percentage belonging to a specific group/family etc. What are normal cruiseline practices for this type of situation?

 

I certainly don't disagree with you but I think the reason they don't let anyone know is because so many will cancel. They always want to sail with full ships and if a charter doesn't take up the whole ship they want to sell the extra cabins any way they can. :rolleyes:

[NMLady]

... When you book a cruise you are contracting for a specific itinerary ...

 

Be sure you read all the fine print in your cruise contract. The Cruise line can change the itinerary at any time for any reason, not just weather.

[Debbbiee]

Don't have an answer to your question but I just had to say that now I know where my other foot is!

 

I love it! My other half :D

[jim9660]

Maybe I'm naive but it seems wrong to me for there to be a charter and at a minimum, pre-booked passengers not be notified and offered the opportunity to change to a different week FREE, with some compensation for any other expenses incurred by the change. When you book a cruise you are contracting for a specific itinerary of course, but there are also standard expectations of activities and a mix of guests, not a large percentage belonging to a specific group/family etc. What are normal cruiseline practices for this type of situation?

I have been on 3 cruises, all 80's rock cruises where half the ship booked through our group and the other half through normal means. Most activities were geared around us. Most people were surprised when we set sail at the 1300 or so rockers on board. Had they warned the others, no one would have booked. Right wrong or indifferent, that's what happens. All gay cruise? I would be asking to switch dates.

[amistad]

I would change if you have that option, we were on a Carnival cruise last year that had a large family reunion booked and they were very rude, it was alway's hard to find a place to eat in the buffet, because they would just stay in there visiting after they ate. I think because there were so many of them they felt they could do whatever they wanted and nobody would say anything to them. We have been on over 25 cruises and this was really the first time we had any problem with fellow passengers.

[katemsw]

Something similar happened to us on our last cruise (Freedom of the Seas). Not one, but two companies had booked incentive trips for very large groups of employees aboard the ship. This came as a big surprise to us, since the ship was the newest in the fleet at the time and it was a school vacation week for the Northeast. In hindsight, we would have made other arrangements. We were unable to get reservations in either of the paid restaurants (tried to book upon arrival) and were basically treated like second-class citizens the entire week.

 

Hope things work out for you!:)

[moneymike42o]

i feel that i would be treated unfair or "unwanted" and i would assume also that the charter would take over the boat especially a "themed cruise" but in return if i was the group i would expect to be catered to ...so its a catch 22 in my book .....:D:cool:;)

[IheartNCL]

Happened to us in 2008, Pearl to Alaska. Masala Tours, about 1200 Indians, Restaurants, lounges and the pool in the evening were off limits to us. Embarkations and other ties they jammed the halls. they were rude and cut lines and made our cruise less than satisfactory. The casino and bar staff complained too as they didnt spend any money there. The last day they jammed the reception desk to demand the DSC be removed for their kids. Now I always check http://www.masalamusic.com for a listing of all their cruises. Not again for me.

[garycarla]

Please folks, do not confuse a large group cruise with a charter. A charter means they have taken over the entire ship. They own it for the week.

 

As to sailing with large groups. Depending on the makeup and size, you may well want to avoid this, though any cruiseline is not under any obligation to tell you. Nor do they want to get into a situation where they have to decide what is large, and what is "not normal" or possibly "conflicting" before notifying anybody.

 

As to notification before the entire ship is chartered, they can not say anything until a contract is signed and paid. Would be just as bad for business as the eventual cancellations.

[luvlax]

There was a Moe cruise (a band) in one aspect it was terrific because they were up late partying and didnt eat at the same times we did so the restaurants were not crowded. However they hogged all the pool chairs. they were very rowdy (think spring break in Fla) and my kids were asking why the teenagers were drinking.

 

 

 

I've read that a large group has chartered Pride of America on October 30, 2010. I emailed my Norwegian TA and she says there may be a large group on board, but the ship hasn't been chartered.

 

When I go to group's travel website, it claims that the October 30, 2010 sailing is an all-gay cruise.

 

So how do I find out for sure? Does anyone have any suggestions? I've also emailed the travel agency for the potential charter and am waiting for a reply.

 

If I'm being booted off the cruise, fine, but I'd like to know for sure so I can make other vacation arrangements. I just wish I knew one way or the other.

[mylesf]

Please folks, do not confuse a large group cruise with a charter. A charter means they have taken over the entire ship. They own it for the week.

 

As to sailing with large groups. Depending on the makeup and size, you may well want to avoid this, though any cruiseline is not under any obligation to tell you. Nor do they want to get into a situation where they have to decide what is large, and what is "not normal" or possibly "conflicting" before notifying anybody.

 

As to notification before the entire ship is chartered, they can not say anything until a contract is signed and paid. Would be just as bad for business as the eventual cancellations.

 

Thank you for posting this. As I was reading through the tread I agree that there is confusion over the two...

[hencoll]

Would a large block of cabins disappearing be an indication that a large group has booked a cruise? Is there any way to find out if it is a large group booking?

 

We are booked on the May 29, 2011 Epic Med cruise in a 2 bedroom Courtyard Villa. I check the NCL website pretty often hoping the CY Villa we sailed in on the Epic TA opens back up. I checked last Wednesday 8/25 and there were a whole bunch of available CY Villas on both deck 16 and 17. I check again on Friday 8/27 and there are not any 2 bedroom CY Villas available, only Owner's Suites. I have a hard time believing that all of those Villas were booked individually in 2 days. So I'm thinking maybe a group... incentive trip for a company or something?

 

We sailed the Med on the Jewel in 2006 in a CY Villa. The Garden Villas, a number of the CY Villas, Penthouses and other cabins were taken by a large group of Saudi Royalty and their entourage. Service suffered because the butlers and concierge were occupied with keeping them happy and a number of public areas as well as the Concierge lounge were off limits at times because it was being used by their group. We are not interested in repeating that experience.

[Shelli]

We sailed on Holland America's Zuiderdam on Halloween week several years ago. A couple of weeks prior, I discovered (from message boards here on CC) that it was a "large group" gay cruise. We didn't change our minds about going, and as it turned out, I'm glad.

 

There were times that intermingling with the group was highly entertaining, but most of the time, we didn't see any sign of them. Nobody was rowdy; they were all well behaved passengers. They had their own activities, and while those caused some public rooms to be unavailable some of the time, it was not in any way an inconvenience to the other passengers. They had their own Halloween celebration, for example, while the main lounge was the site of the regular cruise celebration.

 

The best part of that celebration, though, was the appearance of some of the group in their costumes-- wow! They were really great! LOL

 

Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!

[cynbar]

We also once took a cruise where a large group was onboard. Big mistake. They had pre-booked the best times for the specialty restaurants and main dining rooms, and public rooms and other areas of the ship (like the pools) were closed at inconvenient times for their private group events. If anyone finds this out in advance, my advice is to rebook if you can for a different week.

[hencoll]

We also once took a cruise where a large group was onboard. Big mistake. They had pre-booked the best times for the specialty restaurants and main dining rooms, and public rooms and other areas of the ship (like the pools) were closed at inconvenient times for their private group events. If anyone finds this out in advance, my advice is to rebook if you can for a different week.

 

That was similar to our experience in 2006 and I don't want to repeat it. I'm hoping there is some way I can find out in advance if our May cruise has a large group booking the Courtyard area. This cruise is kind of a "do over" because the weather on the TA crossing made it difficult to enjoy the outdoor areas including the Courtyard and Sun deck. I would hate not being able to enjoy the areas again because a large group are using them for private events. We will definitely look into possibly changing our dates if this is the case.

[MotherofTrips]

Years ago I went on a cruise with my husband, my sister and her husband and my mother and father. I think it was Celebrity. Well there was a very large group there that were some part of a diet club. All you heard all day long while sitting at the pool was talk about dieting. In addition, these people who were apparently very large at one time, and not too small at the time of cruising and they were wearing bikinis and it wasn't always such a pleasant site. I understand that they were proud of their weight lost but as far as bikinis went..... they still had a while to go. The last thing I wanted to hear about while cruising was "dieting".

[STARFISH*4]

so HOW do you FIND OUT if there is large groups aboard:confused: