Is it worth getting a bargain price on a cruise that's a theme cruise?

[sverigecruiser]

I would be SO mad if this wasn't disclosed to me and I paid full fare for the cruise. THAT isn't right.

 

Seven months ago we booked the March 3 Divina cruise for next year and recently I found out, here on cruisecritic, that it's the "Holistic Holiday at Sea" cruise.

 

I was mad but MSC did the right think and let me change the cruise to another date.

[dkjretired]

Really depends on what the theme or group is, you really have to be careful. We did a cruise a number of years ago on NCL and there was a group of fans from the NY Giants right after they won the Super Bowl. I was not in the group and the group was not real big so no problem. Even went on a couple of shore excursions with a couple of players. I grew up in Jersey and have been a Giants fan for 70 years so it was nice.

 

Problems can occur in the most innocuous groups. Several years ago Celebrity had an American Girl Doll cruise which turned out to be a nightmare for the others on the ship. Reports of going to buffet and not being able to find seats because they were occupied by the dolls, same for seats in the theater. Lots of other problems.

 

Another group on a Celebrity cruise a few years ago was a very religious group. They got on board and demanded that Celebrity close the casino and all the bars for the length of the cruise. They were not a full charter so Celebrity told them where to go.

 

We did a cruise 20 years ago with about 400 Brazilian debutantes. My teenaged son loved it but they were nothing but a bunch of spoiled, obnoxious kids.

 

I avoid any groups like the plague.

[drsel]

How does one come to know about these themed cruises? Is there a specific website?

[dkjretired]

How does one come to know about these themed cruises? Is there a specific website?

 

No, very difficult to research and the cruise lines won’t tell you.

[CruiseGal999]

How does one come to know about these themed cruises? Is there a specific website?

 

I can tell you about one ... Oct. 2018 Ruby Princess out of LA to Cabo. 300 pax will be with the Lt. Joe Kenda / Homicide Hunter 'group'. But 300 pax out of 3,600, we'll pretty much be invisible. Except for the HH Tshirts, etc.

[port msp]

How does one come to know about these themed cruises? Is there a specific website?

 

Give this a try. https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=349 You can also google the ship and the date to see if something comes up. I've been on a few cruises that were partial charters. It was mostly ok. Quilters, a marathon running group, The Country Family Jamboree, and a gay men's group. Some venues were unavailable some of the time, but all in all no group was overly intrusive or obnoxious. For the OP, would I book a themed cruise for a good deal? Maybe. Depends on the theme. Personally I'd stay away from proselytizing religious groups, rabid sports fans, and any other narrowly focused theme group. A world history themed cruise? Sure. A Walking Dead themed cruise? Not so much. The prices for themed cruises, which have to be purchased through the sponsoring group, with all of their events, tend to be quite a bit higher than one would pay to take the same cruise without being a part of the themed group.

[CruiseGal999]

Give this a try. https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=349 You can also google the ship and the date to see if something comes up. I've been on a few cruises that were partial charters. It was mostly ok. Quilters, a marathon running group, The Country Family Jamboree, and a gay men's group. Some venues were unavailable some of the time, but all in all no group was overly intrusive or obnoxious. For the OP, would I book a themed cruise for a good deal? Maybe. Depends on the theme. Personally I'd stay away from proselytizing religious groups, rabid sports fans, and any other narrowly focused theme group. A world history themed cruise? Sure. A Walking Dead themed cruise? Not so much. The prices for themed cruises, which have to be purchased through the sponsoring group, with all of their events, tend to be quite a bit higher than one would pay to take the same cruise without being a part of the themed group.

 

My experience with the cruise in October ... the price is the same. I priced out the cruise as a solo passenger on the website and compared to the TA solo rate ... same w/in a few dollars.