Is There a Way To Determine If a Group Is Booked On Your Cruise

[LouisV]

Unless a TA stays on top of known charter organizers for the buzz, there is no way for them to know if a cruise is apt to be chartered until the charter organizer and cruise line have a contract. It's only then, that public bookings get cancelled.

 

Celebrity is another favored cruise line for charter companies because of its size and perception of an upscale experience. Given it's almost April, I think it unlikely for there to be any further charters for 2008.

 

I hope the third time is the charm for you.:)

 

Thanks Hammybee! I hope Celebrity doesn't book any large groups for our Nov 21st cruise. It appears that HAL's Westerdam is a popular one for groups as well.

[O2B@C]

Update: The same organizers have booked another Dance Camp on the Jan. 3, 2009 Oosterdam Mexican Riviera sailing. If this one is like the one on my W'dam cruise, it will be no problem at all except for a few hours when they occupy just the dance floor portion of the Crow's Nest.

 

I just got back from a 7-day on Westerdam that had a small "Dance Camp" group on it. They were nice folks, and really didn't interfere with normal enjoyment of the ship at all. They mostly used the Queen's Lounge and some of the conference rooms, and maybe the nightclub, at times during the day when they wouldn't be used for public events anyway. They did have a few lessons in part of the Crow's Nest during the day, but they only used the dance floor area; the rest of it was open, and they weren't playing music so the lessons were fairly easy to ignore. On the other hand, this was a pretty small group - I think only about 50 students and 5 instructors. I can see that a larger group might be more disruptive.

[hammybee]

11/1 Veendam Jazz Fest Group

 

11/2 Westerdam Dave Koz Jazz Charter

 

11/9 Westerdam The Jazz Cruise Charter

 

1/18 Westerdam Smooth Jazz Charter

 

1/24 Ryndam Legendary R&B Charter

 

2/22 Westerdam ( No longer being sold- no idea who chartered)

 

( BTW, I am seeing many, many Celebrity charters too)

[LouisV]

11/1 Veendam Jazz Fest Group

 

11/2 Westerdam Dave Koz Jazz Charter

 

11/9 Westerdam The Jazz Cruise Charter

 

1/18 Westerdam Smooth Jazz Charter

 

1/24 Ryndam Legendary R&B Charter

 

2/22 Westerdam ( No longer being sold- no idea who chartered)

 

( BTW, I am seeing many, many Celebrity charters too)

 

Celebrity charters??? Can you share which ones and where are you seeing this at?

[hammybee]

Celebrity charters??? Can you share which ones and where are you seeing this at?

 

6/12 Constellation- Atlantis

8/30 Constellation -Atlantis

5/1/09 Xepedition-Romance Voyages

3/19/10 Constellation-Bare Necessities

 

Hand's down the winner in charters is Star Clippers. I also see NCL, Carnival, RCL, Windstar, Seabourn and Regent charters.

 

There are that many organizers who can fill a big ship so it's fairly easy to stay on top of this stuff. Planetout.com does a nice summary for gay/lesbian cruises. The rest tend to be well known jazz and blues cruise organizers with tremendous followings. Just google jazz or blue cruise.

 

There are also many corporate charters flying below the radar.

[marle7]

I believe Atlantis also has the Solstice chartered for March 8, 2009

[LouisV]

6/12 Constellation- Atlantis

8/30 Constellation -Atlantis

5/1/09 Xepedition-Romance Voyages

3/19/10 Constellation-Bare Necessities

 

Hand's down the winner in charters is Star Clippers. I also see NCL, Carnival, RCL, Windstar, Seabourn and Regent charters.

 

There are that many organizers who can fill a big ship so it's fairly easy to stay on top of this stuff. Planetout.com does a nice summary for gay/lesbian cruises. The rest tend to be well known jazz and blues cruise organizers with tremendous followings. Just google jazz or blue cruise.

 

There are also many corporate charters flying below the radar.

 

Thanks hammy!

[hammybee]

I believe Atlantis also has the Solstice chartered for March 8, 2009

 

Good catch, Marle. I did not notice this one.

[marle7]

Welcome! I recall there being a fuss about this on the Celebrity board as several people got bumped and it's a week before our B2B on Solstice, so I remembered.

[JackieJ]

I just booked Westerdam 3/1/08 - 3/8/08 with my mother though a group called Spirit Path at Unity Village for a spiritual retreat. I figured we would be a small group on board. Now I see that Olivia is also on the cruise. Do any of you think our trip will be cancelled? If so, how far in advance will they let us know? I have no experience with this.

 

Thanks,

Jackie

[hammybee]

I just booked Westerdam 3/1/08 - 3/8/08 with my mother though a group called Spirit Path at Unity Village for a spiritual retreat. I figured we would be a small group on board. Now I see that Olivia is also on the cruise. Do any of you think our trip will be cancelled? If so, how far in advance will they let us know? I have no experience with this. Thanks,Jackie

 

I think you mean 3/1/09. Most charters seem to be ten or more months into the future.

 

I see it advertized on the Olivia web site as a fund raiser cruise benefitting the Susan Love Org. ( breast cancer). I also see that it's being sold to the general public by HAL and travel agencies.

 

Based only upon history, Olivia charters the entire ship and so it is likely they plan to do so again. Their web site says it is one of only two 2009 cruises. The other has yet to be announced on their web site.

 

This is from HAL's web site as it relates to payment for charter cruises. I suspect that Olivia may have an "intent to charter" but has yet to finalize financing which may be subject to selling X cabins:

 

Holland America Line requires a 10 percent non-refundable cash deposit with an irrevocable Letter Of Credit for the balance due within 30 days of signing a Charter Party Agreement. Subject to Holland America Line approval of alternative financial instrument, a letter of credit may not be required.

[JackieJ]

Thanks Hammybee. You are correct, I did mean 09. I'll have to break the news to Mom! We were so excited with our aft balcony.

[hammybee]

Thanks Hammybee. You are correct, I did mean 09. I'll have to break the news to Mom! We were so excited with our aft balcony.

 

Just a thought, perhaps your mom might want to let the group organizer know about this so they can reschedule their plans if they have not already done so.

 

Only thing certain about cruising is that it's uncertain, especially when booking 7 day sails, ten or more months into the future.

[LouisV]

I just booked Westerdam 3/1/08 - 3/8/08 with my mother though a group called Spirit Path at Unity Village for a spiritual retreat. I figured we would be a small group on board. Now I see that Olivia is also on the cruise. Do any of you think our trip will be cancelled? If so, how far in advance will they let us know? I have no experience with this.

 

Thanks,

Jackie

 

Jackie,

My experience with a cancelled cruise on the Westerdam was: in the early fall of 2007 we booked two 7 day b2bs on the Westerdam with the first leg starting on Nov 9, 2008. In November 2007 I got a call from my TA saying that HAL had cancelled one of the cruises due to a group booking. We then booked another 7 day cruise to the end of the segment that wasn't cancelled. Well guess what? I got a second call within a few weeks from my TA saying that it's happened again!

 

What made this really frustrating was that I was taking my Mom on her first cruise and I felt really crummy having to tell her twice that the cruises were cancelled on us and this was to be my first cruise on a HAL ship. I was determined to experience HAL as my in-laws are professional cruisers and they really favour HAL!

 

I rebooked a cruise on the Constellation...wasn't going to take anymore chances with HAL. Now it seems I get a brochure a week from them!

[hammybee]

Poster richwmn graciously maintains a web page that allows us to see reported groups and charter plans.

 

I would hate to see this sticky go the way of some of the other stickies and so, perhaps someone could start a new thread to share and vent about groups and charters, if they so desire. :)

[JackieJ]

Just a thought, perhaps your mom might want to let the group organizer know about this so they can reschedule their plans if they have not already done so.

 

Only thing certain about cruising is that it's uncertain, especially when booking 7 day sails, ten or more months into the future.

 

I just sent an email to the group we are traveling with and the TA to make them aware of the situation. The Christian group may want to know about the Olivia group and vice versa. ;) Plus better to know now than before we do too much planning. Thanks for the suggestion!

[LouisV]

Poster richwmn graciously maintains a web page that allows us to see reported groups and charter plans.

 

I would hate to see this sticky go the way of some of the other stickies and so, perhaps someone could start a new thread to share and vent about groups and charters, if they so desire. :)

 

any idea how to get to this web page?

[hammybee]

any idea how to get to this web page?

 

It tends to get lost in all the noise.:)

 

http://www.wa70.com/hdisplay.php

 

I really appreciate the time and effort that poster richwmn puts into maintaining this web page.

 

Also note that there are groups ( a booking for 8 or more cabins) on every cruise line, every sail. Groups, like individual passengers, are notorious for cancelling their plans before final payment date. So what is reported here, may or may not bear fruit.

[JackieJ]

It tends to get lost in all the noise.:)

 

http://www.wa70.com/hdisplay.php

 

I really appreciate the time and effort that poster richwmn puts into maintaining this web page.

 

Also note that there are groups ( a booking for 8 or more cabins) on every cruise line, every sail. Groups, like individual passengers, are notorious for cancelling their plans before final payment date. So what is reported here, may or may not bear fruit.

 

I appreciate it as well, otherwise I would not have known. I don't have a problem with any group on board a ship. I'm just glad to know so far in advance there is a strong possibility that our booking could be cancelled. Much less disappointing this far in advance.

[LouisV]

It tends to get lost in all the noise.:)

 

http://www.wa70.com/hdisplay.php

 

I really appreciate the time and effort that poster richwmn puts into maintaining this web page.

 

Also note that there are groups ( a booking for 8 or more cabins) on every cruise line, every sail. Groups, like individual passengers, are notorious for cancelling their plans before final payment date. So what is reported here, may or may not bear fruit.

 

Thanks again hammy!

[Selenna]

First I want to say thanks to the community and especially to Rich for taking the time and effort to maintain this list. I'm new here, going to be taking my first cruise and found this site while trying to research and it's always a pleasure to find communities of people willing to help when there's nothing in it for them except the appreciation of the community as a whole.

 

I found a listing for FFN 2008 on Rich's list and when trying to search for more info on who and/or how large that group might be I stumbled across this site http://www.shoretrips.com/common/groups2.asp?grpsrch=GRPNAM

which apparently books shore excursions for groups.

 

Obviously it's only useful if a particular group is using them, but it's another possible point for you to check. Note that if you try to search by ship name you have to match at least the beginning of how it's entered... searching for "Westerdam" I found only a listing for Knight Family which I'm guessing is a family reunion but if you search for "HA Westerdam" you get the FFN 2008 and also ACFA Group which I searched and found to be American Cat Fanciers Association. Couldn't find any info on how many might be in that group.

 

Best bet if you're looking for your own ship/sailing might just be to sort the entire list by date and then you'd see any variations on how the ship name is listed.

 

I'll also post the group info on the rollcall for my sailing, but wasn't sure if you check those for things to add to your list and wanted to post the Shoretrips site here for others to use if they wished.

[hammybee]

2008 ( going forward)

6/18-7/15 HAL Noordam – Unknown Charter (s)

10/4 – HAL Oosterdam- Olivia Charter

10/5 - HAL Ryndam - Blues Cruise Charter

10/18 HAL Eurodam- Unknown Charter

11/2 HAL Westerdam- Dave Koz Jazz Charter

11/9 HAL Westerdam- Jazz Cruise Charter

11/23 HAL Westerdam –Olivia Charter

2009

1/18 HAL Westerdam- Smooth Jazz Charter

1/24 HAL Eurodam – Blues Cruise Charter

1/25 HAL Westerdam – Playboy Jazz Charter

1/31 HAL Eurodam- Unknown Charter

2/21 HAL Eurodam – RSVP Charter* ( not yet showing on organizer's website and remains on HAL site)

3/1 HAL Westerdam – Olivia Charter* ( Showing on organizer’s web site and HAL Site

[richwmn]

Hammybee -- all your charters are now on the list. Please send me an email when you can

 

Rich

[hammybee]

I lifted this off another thread relative to the Eurodam. Nothing is confirmed.

 

 

"They also said that the sailing for the 28th Feb looks like it may be chartered as well."

[Rusty]

Look here:

 

http://www.nwas.com/mediterranean/08jmez.html

 

My wife and I will be there. This group just may put me to sleep!!

 

How would you check to see how many signed up to go?