Large conference groups on Celebrity?

[kevinyork]

We did our first X cruise on Eclipse in July and loved it. However, on our two week cruise, there were 400 Brazilians onboard for a conference. This bothered a lot of passengers, mainly Elite members as the Sky Lounge became the venue allocated in the evening for the conference group who even had their own band in there so Elite members were given drinks vouchers to use in some other bars. The CD kept announcing that the Sky Lounge was open to all however we did go in a couple of times and it felt like intruding. On the last evening they closed the Sky Lounge for a few hours to all but the conference attendees.

 

It did make for a different make up of passengers. As the attendees mostly knew one another, were there for the same purpose and shared a language, they did tend to move around the ship, and take over areas, en masse.

 

Now we like the mix of nationalities on X and some of the group we chatted to were great but we felt that 400 conference attendees on one ship upset the balance a bit. Quite a few of the reviews posted for this cruise mentioned this issue.

 

I did write to X with some feedback on this and got a bulk standard reply saying they can and do open their cruises to affiliates.

 

I would like to ask if this is a regular occurance on X.

 

 

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[Sail Girl]

Don't know how frequently this occurs, but I have only encountered it once. This group was not from a single country, but was of a specific political leaning.

 

I have seen memos posted in the publics areas that events are being held for special groups and signs outside of Michael's Club or the Observation lounge (named differently on different X ships), but haven't encountered such a visible group.

 

On other threads regarding similar issues, I believe it was suggested one can search for "special interest cruises" to see what cruises might have large groups on board. Other posters can add much more information, I'm sure.

[ghstudio]

The answer is that Celebrity does it as much as they can...it's a marketing thrust. In most cruises there is some group on board...usually you don't even know they are there. On other cruises, the "group" will completely take over early dining, so those who want to eat early (or who booked early dining before the group bought their cruise) are moved to late seating. I think the worst group I've seen reported was the American Girl cruise where the 500 or so teenage girls apparently put their dolls on the recliners around the pool, in seats in the buffet area, in seats in the theater making everyone else find other seating, etc. I probably would have walked around throwing those dolls over the side of the ship...and I like kids.

 

It is wise to google your cruise and see what comes up. The folks that book the groups generally have web pages that are picked up by google...so go through a few pages of results and see what you find.

[mcrcruiser]

We did our first X cruise on Eclipse in July and loved it. However, on our two week cruise, there were 400 Brazilians onboard for a conference. This bothered a lot of passengers, mainly Elite members as the Sky Lounge became the venue allocated in the evening for the conference group who even had their own band in there so Elite members were given drinks vouchers to use in some other bars. The CD kept announcing that the Sky Lounge was open to all however we did go in a couple of times and it felt like intruding. On the last evening they closed the Sky Lounge for a few hours to all but the conference attendees.

 

It did make for a different make up of passengers. As the attendees mostly knew one another, were there for the same purpose and shared a language, they did tend to move around the ship, and take over areas, en masse.

 

Now we like the mix of nationalities on X and some of the group we chatted to were great but we felt that 400 conference attendees on one ship upset the balance a bit. Quite a few of the reviews posted for this cruise mentioned this issue.

 

I did write to X with some feedback on this and got a bulk standard reply saying they can and do open their cruises to affiliates.

 

I would like to ask if this is a regular occurance on X.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Good Info to know ;).Thanks .

 

Checked Google on our Oct 22nd Hawaii cruise on Century & no group shoed up :D. From now on we will check Google first before booking a X cruise:rolleyes:

[baggal]

Good Info to know ;).Thanks .

 

Checked Google on our Oct 22nd Hawaii cruise on Century & no group shoed up :D. From now on we will check Google first before booking a X cruise:rolleyes:

 

Its not just X - every cruise line does it.

[Karynanne]

We have encountered large groups a couple of times. One time there was a filming from the Food Network. It's was great watching them film around the ship. Our cruise was to Hawaii, and there was to be a Wedding filmed in Kona, and then the reception held back on the ship.

 

Sometimes large groups can be an inconvience if you want to use a particular lounge area, but on the whole, you may not even notice them.

[Blazerboy]

Yup, we were on that cruise, and met the young couple getting married. The only thing I really remember was when they had a third of the aft deck cordoned off for a wedding related event/filming. No issues and actually fun to see the added decor.

 

We were also on a Food Network cruise with Anne Burrell as the featured chef. We did see a few events for them around the ship, but it didn't impact us. We did bump into Anne on every shuttle, pier, and lounge...the group didn't do everything as one, which may have helped.

 

With all that good experience, though, I'm not sure I'd want to be on a cruise with a large group that didn't integrate with the rest of the passengers...

 

 

 

 

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[OCruisers]

Yes, every cruise line does this and it can happen from time to time.

Most of the time it's not a big problem.

 

LuLu

~~~~

[smtcan]

We were on Mercury when there was a Symphony at Sea group on board. They had a full orchestra and held concerts and master classes in various venues. They did not cause any problems, their use of the theatre was in the afternoons and some of their concerts were open to everyone. I might have felt differently if it was a heavy metal group!

[royalcruz]

Imagine how a Brazilian person must feel cruising on a Celebrity ship with 1500 Americans and when there are a crowd of Americans in the Sky Lounge at the same time! :eek:

[Blazerboy]

Imagine how a Brazilian person must feel cruising on a Celebrity ship with 1500 Americans and when there are a crowd of Americans in the Sky Lounge at the same time! :eek:

 

:D Like!

 

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[kitty9]

Celebrity seems to be booking more and more large groups. My last four cruises on X has had large groups on board, and by large I mean 500 and more. On my Equinox cruise, there were two religious groups on board, with one having 650 and the other of 470. They were all very nice people, but it did impact dining as the one group had early dining.

[uktog]

Been on cruises with large groups that are no problem, medium sized groups that are sometimes a problem and smaller, typically non English speaking extended families that were a nightmare. (And for the record also non English speaking extended families that were a delight.

 

Often it's not the size of the group but the mindset of the members that determines the impact. As others say, these groups make commercial sense to all the cruise lines so they are not going to go away

[Vol fan]

We were on an Elvis Tribute cruise! It was so funny seeing all these mostly middle aged men with coal black hair and side burns (and hefty tummies) walking around the ship. We weren't privy to all the concerts, but the ladies with their Elvis purses and Elvis blouses and men with Elvis t-shirts and hats were everywhere. No inconvenience really. Just a few venues reserved for them at different times, but it was scattered about so that none were used more than once or twice at the most. This was not on Celebrity.

 

 

We are from Memphis, so we are used to seeing Elvis folks during Death Week and Birth Week. No offense intended. We love Elvis.

[wvufan]

It seems that on every cruise we go on, there is a large group that tends to take over the most scenic area for sailaway, fills up a popular lounge on the second day, forms a pack in the casino for slot pulls, moves in a scrum for cabin crawls, monopolizes the happy hour, and stumbles en masse for pub crawls.

 

Oh, wait, that's us :eek:

 

I agree with UKTog about the mindset of the group being the most important factor. Some seem to have a sense of entitlement.

 

I would much rather be with hundreds of fun loving Brazilians than a boatload of politically focused people. One of the most enjoyable cruises we ever had was a 14 nighter immediately preceding a presidential election-not one word of politics for the whole time!

 

Happy Sails to You

 

OOOEEE :D:D Bob and Phyl

[shoreham01]

It seems that on every cruise we go on, there is a large group that tends to take over the most scenic area for sailaway, fills up a popular lounge on the second day, forms a pack in the casino for slot pulls, moves in a scrum for cabin crawls, monopolizes the happy hour, and stumbles en masse for pub crawls.

 

Oh, wait, that's us :eek:

 

I agree with UKTog about the mindset of the group being the most important factor. Some seem to have a sense of entitlement.

 

I would much rather be with hundreds of fun loving Brazilians than a boatload of politically focused people. One of the most enjoyable cruises we ever had was a 14 nighter immediately preceding a presidential election-not one word of politics for the whole time!

 

Happy Sails to You

 

OOOEEE :D:D Bob and Phyl

 

 

We were on the same cruise as KEVINYORK and I would not have called the Brazilians on that cruise 'fun loving'. We understood they were a group of solicitors/attorneys and from what we experienced many of them were extremely rude, pushing to get in lifts, pushing to get on and off the ship. For many of these seemingly well eductated people they completely lacked good manners.

 

Of course there were some very nice people amongst them, but we did come across rather too many rude people who delighted in shouting and screaming at each other and who expected everyone else to get out of their way.

 

We love meeting people from all different countries and all different backgrounds. This is why we love cruising. It was indeed unfortunate that some of this group thought they had priority over other passengers on this cruise.

 

It did not spoil our holiday, infact their rudeness made us laugh at times, but I can understand how it may have spoilt other peoples experiences, especially those with Elite status. I will now always check to see if there is a large group booked for our chosen cruise.

[navybankerteacher]

We have encountered large groups a couple of times. One time there was a filming from the Food Network. It's was great watching them film around the ship. Our cruise was to Hawaii, and there was to be a Wedding filmed in Kona, and then the reception held back on the ship.

 

Sometimes large groups can be an inconvience if you want to use a particular lounge area, but on the whole, you may not even notice them.

 

There seems to be a "tipping point" reflecting the size of the affinity group. The larger the group, the more ordinarily available public spaces become unavailable. Also, there is a sort of psychological group mentality where the larger the group, the more the members seem to think ( and act) as if they own the whole ship.

 

I believe cruise lines should advise potential passengers if a group will constitute more than 10% (possibly some other ratio) as a matter of full disclosure. Frankly, if a major lounge, section of dining room, or some other normally available public are becomes dedicated to one group, passengers considering booking should be so advised.

 

Finally, there are some groups of particular political or social orientation who actually are disturbing in their attitudes/actions - and if they represent too large a segment of the passenger load they can have a serious negative effect on the experience of other passengers.

[blueboro]

We cancelled a cruise on another line when we found out over 1,000 from a group were having a sponsored cruise. CC does not allow the link, but google THEME CRUISE FINDER and you will be able to search by ship what, if any groups, have reserved.

[billet]

We cancelled a cruise on another line when we found out over 1,000 from a group were having a sponsored cruise. CC does not allow the link, but google THEME CRUISE FINDER and you will be able to search by ship what, if any groups, have reserved.

 

The site is useful but not totally accurate since there are many groups who do not publicly advertise and will not show up on the site. The best group to have onboard is a Conference since they work during the days at sea and the pool area feels virtually empty!

[HappyTvlr]

The answer is that Celebrity does it as much as they can...it's a marketing thrust. In most cruises there is some group on board...usually you don't even know they are there. On other cruises, the "group" will completely take over early dining, so those who want to eat early (or who booked early dining before the group bought their cruise) are moved to late seating. I think the worst group I've seen reported was the American Girl cruise where the 500 or so teenage girls apparently put their dolls on the recliners around the pool, in seats in the buffet area, in seats in the theater making everyone else find other seating, etc. I probably would have walked around throwing those dolls over the side of the ship...and I like kids.

 

It is wise to google your cruise and see what comes up. The folks that book the groups generally have web pages that are picked up by google...so go through a few pages of results and see what you find.

I read about this at the time and thought how it would have been my worst nightmare!