Private Party- Inspiration 10/9

[gog]

Has anybody ever done a private group party? I understand how it works but where would they have it? Wouldnt want to have it inside when its beautiful outside. And do we have a certain time and day or can we set it up whenever we want ? Just curious. Inspiration 10/9. Thanks

[Luckysll]

It has to be held on a sea day, but you can put in a request for a specific sea day. Carnival will then give you a time and place based on the number of people in your group. It won't be held outside beause as you are getting free drinks, it would be too difficult to control who is entitled to the free drinks. Ours was held in the Piano Bar (on the Pride) and there was a sign at the door that said "private party".

[JYeagersGrl]

I JUST booked one onboard the miracle you must have at least 20 ppl in your private party and its an open bar with dry snacks for an hour. Ours is being held at Frankie and Johnny's. Anyone else who shows up not in your party is charged on their sail and sign card and you need to book the party so long ahead of sailing. I told them what day I'd like to pick and they gave me times I could choose from. Don't mention anything about being from CruiseCritc or else they won't let you book they do CruiseCritic groups differently in that they will give you bartenders for an hour but its a cash bar only.

[David-n-Rita]

I JUST booked one onboard the miracle you must have at least 20 ppl in your private party and its an open bar with dry snacks for an hour. Ours is being held at Frankie and Johnny's. Anyone else who shows up not in your party is charged on their sail and sign card and you need to book the party so long ahead of sailing. I told them what day I'd like to pick and they gave me times I could choose from. Don't mention anything about being from CruiseCritc or else they won't let you book they do CruiseCritic groups differently in that they will give you bartenders for an hour but its a cash bar only.

 

We just had one on the 5-1-10 sailing of the Carnival Dream and there are pictures attached in our cruise journal. It was booked as a Cruise critic roll call party and alot from the roll participated (not all). One person was "in charge" and did all the calling to Carnival. The cost was $33 a couple and it was open bar in the Song Lounge (I believe there was about 70 people there). We sent the money to the person in charge and there was one payment made to Carnival by the person who arranged it.

Final payment I believe was 1 week prior to sailing. NO one had anything charge to their S & S card in relation to this private gathering, it was all paid for ahead of time. They had SEVERAL bartenders and you could order any drink you wanted at no charge for the the time of the party. They assigned us the place it would be held and there was a private party sign outside the door. It was a great idea and everyone got pretty drunk, us included we slept through dinner.

[jimbo5544]

It has to be held on a sea day, but you can put in a request for a specific sea day. Carnival will then give you a time and place based on the number of people in your group. It won't be held outside beause as you are getting free drinks, it would be too difficult to control who is entitled to the free drinks. Ours was held in the Piano Bar (on the Pride) and there was a sign at the door that said "private party".

Other than the private party sign, was there any other way of knowing who was or was not there? In the past we have done them with group amenity points but have an upcoming cruise where there are none and want to still have a cocktail party.

[JYeagersGrl]

Sounds like the people who paid $33 possibly got the more expensive package where you got hot food as well included in the party price. We went for the booze and dry snack option for $11.44 per person. I did the same thing was in charge of talking with carnival put it on my card etc. Had anyone who wanted to participate send me money via paypal and we are gonna have nametags for everyone. I literally just spoke with the office and they told me that how they do things with cruise critic is they only provide the room and bartenders now so it must be a recent change cause I know someone from my group had called as well to inquire and never was told that they do different things for cruise critic people. I figured they'd at least want to give cruise critic people a deal but apparently not according to the woman I spoke with she said anything cruise critic related is cash bar now.

[David-n-Rita]

Sounds like the people who paid $33 possibly got the more expensive package where you got hot food as well included in the party price. We went for the booze and dry snack option for $11.44 per person. I did the same thing was in charge of talking with carnival put it on my card etc. Had anyone who wanted to participate send me money via paypal and we are gonna have nametags for everyone. I literally just spoke with the office and they told me that how they do things with cruise critic is they only provide the room and bartenders now so it must be a recent change cause I know someone from my group had called as well to inquire and never was told that they do different things for cruise critic people. I figured they'd at least want to give cruise critic people a deal but apparently not according to the woman I spoke with she said anything cruise critic related is cash bar now.

 

It was just open bar and some snacks....lots of bartenders and alot of fun. It is possible that the charge varies from ship to ship[ but ours was informal and an 1 1/2 hour gathering.

[David-n-Rita]

Sounds like the people who paid $33 possibly got the more expensive package where you got hot food as well included in the party price. We went for the booze and dry snack option for $11.44 per person. I did the same thing was in charge of talking with carnival put it on my card etc. Had anyone who wanted to participate send me money via paypal and we are gonna have nametags for everyone. I literally just spoke with the office and they told me that how they do things with cruise critic is they only provide the room and bartenders now so it must be a recent change cause I know someone from my group had called as well to inquire and never was told that they do different things for cruise critic people. I figured they'd at least want to give cruise critic people a deal but apparently not according to the woman I spoke with she said anything cruise critic related is cash bar now.

 

Our party was less than 2 weeks ago, not really in the past at all. I would call it current info

[JYeagersGrl]

Ours is only an hour so maybe that's the difference too I dunno. I'm just passing along the information I got today from Carnival.

[MistyRo76]

I am thinking of putting together a private party for our upcoming Splendor cruise in October. We are going for my Brother and SIL's 15th wedding anniversary. I thought it might be fun to surprise them with the party.

 

I am waiting to hear back from the Group Events Planning department. I sent them an email on Friday.

 

But some of you might be able to answer a couple of questions.

 

1. Do you just have to pay for 20 people or do 20 people actually have to show up? Right now we have 18 people booked on the cruise. There will probably be more booking. But if not we are short of the 20 person limit. Can I just pay for $20 people? Or do they need the names and cabin #'s of everyone who will be attending? If we can just pay for the extra people, then we'll just divide the extra $22 up between the rest of us.

 

2. Do they do any kind of decorations for special occasions? I know we can get their cabin decorated...but I wasn't sure if they would do any little decorations in the designated lounge area....if not, no biggie. Might try to bring a few of our own.

 

3. Will they provide a cake or can we purchase one for the event?

 

I think that's all my questions for now. Thanks in advance to anyone who might be able to answer these.

 

Misty

[JYeagersGrl]

I am thinking of putting together a private party for our upcoming Splendor cruise in October. We are going for my Brother and SIL's 15th wedding anniversary. I thought it might be fun to surprise them with the party.

 

I am waiting to hear back from the Group Events Planning department. I sent them an email on Friday.

 

But some of you might be able to answer a couple of questions.

 

1. Do you just have to pay for 20 people or do 20 people actually have to show up? Right now we have 18 people booked on the cruise. There will probably be more booking. But if not we are short of the 20 person limit. Can I just pay for $20 people? Or do they need the names and cabin #'s of everyone who will be attending? If we can just pay for the extra people, then we'll just divide the extra $22 up between the rest of us.

 

2. Do they do any kind of decorations for special occasions? I know we can get their cabin decorated...but I wasn't sure if they would do any little decorations in the designated lounge area....if not, no biggie. Might try to bring a few of our own.

 

3. Will they provide a cake or can we purchase one for the event?

 

I think that's all my questions for now. Thanks in advance to anyone who might be able to answer these.

 

Misty

 

1. You just hafta pay for at least 20 people @ $11.44 per person for open bar 1 hour and dry snacks (there is a more expensive option for hot stuff and a non-alcoholic package too) but if you have more than 20 people you hafta have them on the list too you can't just stop at 20 and decide to not pay for the rest of the people. I doubt they'd complain though if you only had 18 but were willing to pay for 20. No names or cabin numbers are asked for. They did ask me what dinner seating people were at not sure why but I just said I dunno a majority of us are at late dining though so just put as all down as late diners.

 

2. They asked me when I made the reservation if I needed any equipment or anything so they might do stuff like that. Call the wedding department and they will transfer you to someone who can help you and answer your questions rather than wait to hear via email.

 

3. Again not sure I didn't ask. But I do know you used to be able to go to the coffee shop area where they have the cakes and strawberries for a price and order cakes with a custom message on them so you might be able to get one there or call the BV department and ask!

 

Hope that helps a little.

[MistyRo76]

1. You just hafta pay for at least 20 people @ $11.44 per person for open bar 1 hour and dry snacks (there is a more expensive option for hot stuff and a non-alcoholic package too) but if you have more than 20 people you hafta have them on the list too you can't just stop at 20 and decide to not pay for the rest of the people. I doubt they'd complain though if you only had 18 but were willing to pay for 20. No names or cabin numbers are asked for. They did ask me what dinner seating people were at not sure why but I just said I dunno a majority of us are at late dining though so just put as all down as late diners.

 

2. They asked me when I made the reservation if I needed any equipment or anything so they might do stuff like that. Call the wedding department and they will transfer you to someone who can help you and answer your questions rather than wait to hear via email.

 

 

3. Again not sure I didn't ask. But I do know you used to be able to go to the coffee shop area where they have the cakes and strawberries for a price and order cakes with a custom message on them so you might be able to get one there or call the BV department and ask!

 

Hope that helps a little.

 

That helps alot. I didn't think they would have a problem with us paying for more people than would actually show up. :)

 

I might try to give them a call in the morning. I emailed them on Friday and I received an automated response saying they would get back to me with the requested info within 72 hours. So if I don't hear anything tonight, I'll call them.

 

I just thought this would be a great opportunity for our whole group to do something special for their anniversary. I know from cruising with larger groups before that rarely does the whole group actually manage to get everyone together on the ship, other than dinner. So this would be great! Thanks for the help.

 

Misty