Huh? Chartering a cruise ship...??

[dsrdsrdsr]

It doesn't apply in the UK cruise market - at least, I've never heard of it, and under UK contract law if the cruise line did cancel your cruise for their own avoidable reasons, they'd be obliged to reimburse reasonable out-of-pocket expenses such as already-booked flights.

[cruiseco]

Small technicality. "Charters" are only open to the people allowed by the entity chartering the ship. The Chartering entity takes the entire ship.

 

Large "group" booking will have non group members on the ship. The general public can book on a cruise when a group is on board, but not when the ship has been chartered.

 

There's a third option called a "partial charter". The difference between a large group and a partial charter is the contract terms that the company/agency entered into with the cruise line. For example, I can book a large group of 500 cabins (out of say 1500) on a regular group contract and all of the regular group terns apply -- deposits, tour conductor credits, amenity credits, etc and I would have the option of giving back any of the unsold cabins to the cruise line with no penalty up until the scheduled final payment date.

 

But if I book those 500 cabins as a partial charter, none of that applies. I'll normally get the cabins at a net rate and can mark them up as needed. I can't give back the unsold cabins if I can't sell them -- I have to pay for them even if they're empty. My trade-off? I'm going to get a heck of a deal and if I do everything right I'll make a ton of money. More risk but potentially more reward.

[CruiserBruce]

There's a third option called a "partial charter". The difference between a large group and a partial charter is the contract terms that the company/agency entered into with the cruise line. For example, I can book a large group of 500 cabins (out of say 1500) on a regular group contract and all of the regular group terns apply -- deposits, tour conductor credits, amenity credits, etc and I would have the option of giving back any of the unsold cabins to the cruise line with no penalty up until the scheduled final payment date.

 

But if I book those 500 cabins as a partial charter, none of that applies. I'll normally get the cabins at a net rate and can mark them up as needed. I can't give back the unsold cabins if I can't sell them -- I have to pay for them even if they're empty. My trade-off? I'm going to get a heck of a deal and if I do everything right I'll make a ton of money. More risk but potentially more reward.

 

To the public, doesn't this look like a large group booking? That is, the general public can still book on this "partial charter" cruise, and not know there is a large group on it, until they get on board?

[paul929207]

To the public, doesn't this look like a large group booking? That is, the general public can still book on this "partial charter" cruise, and not know there is a large group on it, until they get on board?

I don't think that passengers who are not part of the group would be able to tell the differnce between a "large Group" and a "partial charter"

[sparks1093]

I don't think that passengers who are not part of the group would be able to tell the differnce between a "large Group" and a "partial charter"

 

But isn't it our responsibility on the first time cruiser forum to teach them the correct terms for all things cruising?;)

[CruiserBruce]

I don't think that passengers who are not part of the group would be able to tell the differnce between a "large Group" and a "partial charter"

 

I agree. That was the point of my question.

[dmwnc1959]

Half of my back-to-back 10-night cruise on the Celebrity Millennium was cancelled because the ship was chartered to Turner Classic Movies for a film festival. I had to completely re-do my vacation, airfare (already paid for), and pre- and post-cruise hotels. I did get some free Onboard Credit ($100) from the cruise line for my inconvenience and changing my plans around.

 

There is a big bank in Canada that every year charters a ship for it's employees, a large gay company called Atlantis charters entire ships several times a year, and Premiere Christian Cruises charters a ship from Carnival Cruise Lines every year and holds huge Christian concerts aboard.

 

It doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen.

[cruiseco]

To the public, doesn't this look like a large group booking? That is, the general public can still book on this "partial charter" cruise, and not know there is a large group on it, until they get on board?

 

The partial charters we did (for large corporate events) would be indistinguishable to the other passengers from any other large group.

[Jimnbigd]

This happened to the Voyager of the Seas for the March 20, 2011 cruise -- the one just before mine.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1184399

Post #15 seems to start the chartering stuff.

[Cruisin' Chick]

To the OP, most likely there will be groups on your cruise. Hopefully, none of them will affect your cruise. You may not even be aware of them if you are lucky. At other times, there may be a big enough group that gets a monopoly on some facilities onboard.

 

One group that was a significant percentage of a cruise we went on didn't get a monopoly other than a major lounge, but were as a group obnoxious. Get this, passengers taking part in a world tourney of bingo. If we had known about them and were able to predict what it would be like, we would have selected a different sailing.

 

On another ship, there was a cardiac technicians meeting. Doctors, technicians, sales staff. They even took over a lounge on some sea days. But the people we met from this group were very nice. Not a bother at all.

 

There may also be big families having a reunion. So they may try to sit together, impacting the use of the dining room.

[Cupcrazy]

A little different than Bill Gates, but the US Government chartered 3 Carnival ships (Holiday, Ecstasy & Sensation) for 6 months to house people who lost their homes during Hurricane Katrina. Carnival had to cancel all the cruises for 6 months