Large Groups

[tere247]

Is there a way to find out ahead of time if there is a large group sailing on our cruise? 
We are currently at the end of the first part of a b2b on the Sky Princess and there is a group of 800 that has closed the Vista Lounge and the Jazz club every night until 11-11:30 for their private events. Next week, from what I’ve heard another group of 600 will be on board.  
These venue closings have made the other areas of activities extremely, EXTREMELY crowded. Princess Live has had people blocking the walkway in order to be able to see the shows there.  All levels looking at the parties on the piazza has been so very crowded.  
Also, for some reason 5Skies is not being shown this week.  We’ll see what happens next week.   
I wish I would have known about these groups before hand. I would have booked another date.

On a side note, there was no elite bath amenities given. They only had lib balm and shower caps. But I could have if I wanted.   We’ve had the best servers in all my 27 Princess cruises.  Beef Wellington was thick and oh so tender.  Most crew members were very friendly. And I can’t find my family members with the medallion. Although they can find me.  Ship is beautiful.
 

[Colo Cruiser]

13 minutes ago, tere247 said:

Is there a way to find out ahead of time if there is a large group sailing on our cruise? 
We are currently at the end of the first part of a b2b on the Sky Princess and there is a group of 800 that has closed the Vista Lounge and the Jazz club every night until 11-11:30 for their private events. Next week, from what I’ve heard another group of 600 will be on board.  
These venue closings have made the other areas of activities extremely, EXTREMELY crowded. Princess Live has had people blocking the walkway in order to be able to see the shows there.  All levels looking at the parties on the piazza has been so very crowded.  
Also, for some reason 5Skies is not being shown this week.  We’ll see what happens next week.   
I wish I would have known about these groups before hand. I would have booked another date.

On a side note, there was no elite bath amenities given. They only had lib balm and shower caps. But I could have if I wanted.   We’ve had the best servers in all my 27 Princess cruises.  Beef Wellington was thick and oh so tender.  Most crew members were very friendly. And I can’t find my family members with the medallion. Although they can find me.  Ship is beautiful.
 

Google

[voljeep]

what kind of groups ?

 

and colo - what would the OP google … also interested for future cruises 

[neverbeenhere]

There are a number of agencies that specialize in Theme cruises. One will never be able to find all the potential groups that would be on your desired sailing, but you can check with the sites of these agencies. Also, professional organizations frequently have listing in their various publications.  Google: Theme Cruises.

 

 

BTW: Cruise Critic has a number of Special Interest cruising boards.

Edited January 17, 2020 by neverbeenhere

[Steelers36]

I wonder if the Princess sales system has these cataloged.  You call Princess on the pretense of looking for thematic cruises and if you get a list, then you know the ones to avoid.  Not sure this will work at all however.

[voljeep]

1 minute ago, steelers36 said:

I wonder if the Princess sales system has these cataloged.  You call Princess on the pretense of looking for thematic cruises and if you get a list, then you know the ones to avoid.  Not sure this will work at all however.

I went thru an online TA for a little 3-4 day cruise out of Tampa - not on Princess - turned out to be a … wait for it … Legends of the Steelers themed cruise - about 1000 out of 2000 cruisers 

 

lots of private events , some venues  booked, etc … but some of the nicest , most polite people we've ever met on a cruise

 

anyway, called the TA after and she explained, right or wrong, that they were not allowed to reveal if a cruise had 'groups' on it... something about right to privacy or something … seemed logical at the time 

[Steelers36]

11 minutes ago, voljeep said:

I went thru an online TA for a little 3-4 day cruise out of Tampa - not on Princess - turned out to be a … wait for it … Legends of the Steelers themed cruise - about 1000 out of 2000 cruisers 

 

lots of private events , some venues  booked, etc … but some of the nicest , most polite people we've ever met on a cruise

 

anyway, called the TA after and she explained, right or wrong, that they were not allowed to reveal if a cruise had 'groups' on it... something about right to privacy or something … seemed logical at the time 

Yes, I suppose that makes sense.  But I guess you are supposed to know about the group in order to book it.

 

I have heard about the Steelers theme cruise.  Didn't go.  But I do know the Steeler Nation is the best!!!

[cruzsnooze]

The crowds you speak of isn't related to any group except for the closure of the venues you mentioned. If the ship is at capacity what's the difference who makes up the demographic. The fact there is a large group on board doesn't effect how many people are at the buffet or MDR or theater, it's all capacity controlled. 

[chrysalis]

googling ship name, and cruise dates, improves your odds of finding theme cruises.

[Cruise Raider]

Sometimes, you can find out in the roll call section here on CC or even under their section for Special Interest Cruising.  

 

[paul929207]

Princess will not give out that info. You could try googling for a large group on your ship

[MissP22]

https://adventurebears.com/mexican-riviera-cruise-2020/

https://cruisedesignstravel.com/mediterranean-cruise-2020/

https://cruisedesignstravel.com/scandinavia-2020/

https://cruisedesignstravel.com/alaska-2020/

 

Edited January 17, 2020 by MissP22

[skynight]

37 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

The crowds you speak of isn't related to any group except for the closure of the venues you mentioned. If the ship is at capacity what's the difference who makes up the demographic. The fact there is a large group on board doesn't effect how many people are at the buffet or MDR or theater, it's all capacity controlled. 

When a venue as large as the Vista Lounge is closed all evening to all but the group then the remainder of the passengers are locked out of various normal entertainment activities for that evening in that venue. Things like shows, dancing, certain live bands, etc. The remainder of the passengers have to try to fit into the other small entertainment locations on the ship. The Sky is lacks any other large entertainment location. It only has the small Princess Live and Jazz Club. 

[Colo Cruiser]

2 hours ago, voljeep said:

colo - what would the OP google … also interested for future cruises 

Post #9?

 

This came up alot when the Bears group would cruise Princess 800 strong and take over the aft pool. (Emerald Princess). We have been on a couple of cruises that they were on and believe me it does affect the experience when there are that many.

 

On the Crown in Oct there was a very large wedding party that were able to take over (with the Ships blessing) Club Confusion on several nights as a private party until midnight or so. No others allowed in.

[tere247]

2 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Google

I have. Nothing

[tere247]

1 hour ago, neverbeenhere said:

There are a number of agencies that specialize in Theme cruises. One will never be able to find all the potential groups that would be on your desired sailing, but you can check with the sites of these agencies. Also, professional organizations frequently have listing in their various publications.  Google: Theme Cruises.

 

 

BTW: Cruise Critic has a number of Special Interest cruising boards.

Duh..... never thought to do that

[tere247]

12 minutes ago, skynight said:

When a venue as large as the Vista Lounge is closed all evening to all but the group then the remainder of the passengers are locked out of various normal entertainment activities for that evening in that venue. Things like shows, dancing, certain live bands, etc. The remainder of the passengers have to try to fit into the other small entertainment locations on the ship. The Sky is lacks any other large entertainment location. It only has the small Princess Live and Jazz Club. 

Jazz club was also reserved for this group

[voljeep]

3 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Post #9?

 

This came up alot when the Bears group would cruise Princess 800 strong and take over the aft pool. (Emerald Princess). We have been on a couple of cruises that they were on and believe me it does affect the experience when there are that many.

 

On the Crown in Oct there was a very large wedding party that were able to take over (with the Ships blessing) Club Confusion on several nights as a private party until midnight or so.

yep, we were on a Halloween cruise when about 400 of that group took the 2nd part of a b2b for them

 

aft ADULT pool took on a whole new meaning for that few days  … and yes that area and Outriggers are one of our go to places... but not for that cruise unfortunately

[Colo Cruiser]

9 minutes ago, tere247 said:

I have. Nothing

Guess you are clear to book.  🤔

[cruzsnooze]

1 hour ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Post #9?

 

This came up alot when the Bears group would cruise Princess 800 strong and take over the aft pool. (Emerald Princess). We have been on a couple of cruises that they were on and believe me it does affect the experience when there are that many.

 

.

The Bears have been reported to be an obnoxious group of cruisers no matter what venue they are in.  

[voljeep]

8 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

The Bears have been reported to be an obnoxious group of cruisers no matter what venue they are in.  

I thought the cruise planners group was a lot worse

[jimdee3636]

I'm not sure if the above link will work, but a CC member named "VMax1700" compiles a monthly list of upcoming Holland America charters (full-ship and partials) and drydocks. Maybe he or she can tell you how it's done. 

[pms4104]

5 hours ago, voljeep said:

I went thru an online TA for a little 3-4 day cruise out of Tampa - not on Princess - turned out to be a … wait for it … Legends of the Steelers themed cruise - about 1000 out of 2000 cruisers 

 

lots of private events , some venues  booked, etc … but some of the nicest , most polite people we've ever met on a cruise

 

anyway, called the TA after and she explained, right or wrong, that they were not allowed to reveal if a cruise had 'groups' on it... something about right to privacy or something … seemed logical at the time 

We nearly were on a 49ers fan cruise on the Ruby.  Switched to different cruise once I lrarned of the group ... mostly because we did not want to lose venue access due to the group events.

Edited January 18, 2020 by pms4104

[Mike45LC]

If Bears is being used as a euphemism for "gay", then I have been on a couple of their cruises.  When the Bears take over a pool and all of the ship's hot tubs and saunas, it does interfere with my enjoyment of the cruise. 

 

Maybe it is not "woke" of me, but seeing people -- of whatever orientation and genders -- getting "friendly" in the hot tubs is distasteful to me.  And it seems that many of the Bears are into public displays of affection, if only to shock and dismay the rest of us.  

 

But when any group -- Elvis fans with half a dozen Elvis impersonators, a sports group, a real estate investors group, a large wedding, whatever  --  take over a ship, it does seriously interfere with the rest of us.  If the Vista Lounge is closed three evenings of the seven?  That means that whatever we'd normally have there that night there won't take place.  

 

It is not that the buffet or the IC or the MDRs will be overcrowded, it is that at least one venue will be closed to us.  So there is less karaoke, trivia, name that tune, etc., etc. for us.  Too bad the art auctions aren't cancelled instead, but those generate revenue for the cruise line, and are not the events that get bumped.  

 

Of course Princess does not want us to know about groups, because Princess knows that some of us would avoid that particular cruise.  And even if the group is something I'd otherwise enjoy, I'd be barred from the special events that will close the venue to the rest of us.  If I'm not a member of the group,  I can't go into the Vista to watch those Elvis impersonators!

 

OP, it is a great question, how do we know if there will be a large group?

 

[MissP22]

57 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

If Bears is being used as a euphemism for "gay", then I have been on a couple of their cruises.  When the Bears take over a pool and all of the ship's hot tubs and saunas, it does interfere with my enjoyment of the cruise. 

I doubt if you would have enjoyed using the aft pool in Oct. It was their pool & not one other person dared to use it.