Thread: Is there a website that list if a specific cruise has a large group on it?

I know I have seen this website but I can't find the URL right now.

A large group MAY impact your cruise experience.

Thanks,

Tom

Dang it. I remember there was a list somewhere but for the life of me I can't remember where it was. Sorry.

I wasn't aware of a specific website, but some people will suggest going to the shoretrips website. But that would only tell you if a large group is using them to book their excursions. So I couldn't see depending on that.

I would just google the name of the ship plus date and see if some group's website comes up. If there's some organized group, they may be putting info on a group cruise on their site.

I've been on only one cruise (out of ten) that was impacted by a large group. We had boarded the Sensation and saw a sign that welcomed the passengers to the "World Tourney of Bingo." That was back in 1994 so I don't know if we would have found out about it ahead of time, but if we had and had a crystal ball, we would have selected a different week. Seriously, about 30 to 40 per cent of the cruisers onboard were these addicted types. You wouldn't have wanted to be in between the dining room door and them when the doors were opened. Same with the casino.

On the other hand, we were on a cruise that featured some sort of cardio care group -- the technicians and doctors we met seemed nice and they didn't seem to take over a lot of space onboard. Plus, I imagine if someone had medical problems onboard...

Basically my problem would be if venues onboard such as pools and major lounges were made off limits to passengers not in the group.

Here is one place to check on some of the groups sailing.
LINK

The web site mentioned in Patty's post above has changed their format and, as far as I could tell, there isn't a way to search by ship/date. They have a drop down menu listing groups by name. Here is the LINK, anyway.

We were on a soap opera chartered cruise once. Did not see much of the group since they were involved in lots of meetings and private parties. There were all over at sailaway but that is about all we ever saw of them.

My first indication that there was a group on the ship was when we met two of them on our plane flight in to Miami. We did not see them at all while we were on the cruise but we did run into them on the plane flight back. They said they had a wonderful time and were planning to do it the next year. What was really interesting to us was that that they had absolutely no impact on our cruise. They could have been on a totally different ship for all the disruption of the normal ship activities that they caused.

Now, we were also on a HAL ship once with a small group from Scientific American, I think. They had some of the smaller rooms monopolized for seminars and sessions and while smaller than the soap opera group, they had more impact on the ship activities.

Years ago I would go to many soap gatherings for NBC soaps, if they were in the LA environs (some of the people I knew would actually go all over the country -- I think they spent all of their salaries on soap stuff). One girl I knew actually belonged to something like 15 fan clubs too (I didn't join any....it was easy enough to find out about local events without joining). I remember someone talking about going on a soap cruise. One or two of the "stars" seemed to try avoid mingling with the passengers -- and that really rubbed her the wrong way. I can see that as you tend to pay a higher amount to go on one of these cruises in order to participate in the planned activities and I would imagine that the actors are getting a free cruise in return for making it a special experience for the fans. You really have to be more open to be a true soap star as your fan base expects it.

I did live in the same condo building as one soap actress. Our assigned spaces in the garage were just a couple of spaces apart so if we got home from work at the same time, I might ask a question about her show, which I was a loyal viewer of. But I would try to make it short as I didn't want to be a pain.

Again, I couldn't see paying a whole lot for a cruise for the typical activities they tend to have (usually the dinners at soap functions have auctions for a trip to the set or reading a love scene with one of the actors -- I'm just not interested). Since the soaps I've watched have all been cancelled (so in the afternoon, I would watch Ellen and that's it), I don't even pay attention to the soap world.

As you said, it's really about whether venues are made off limits to those not in the group for the most part. Or if something intrinsic to the cruising experience (such as entertainment for everyone, say if all the movies and shows are g-rated because of a religious group is onboard) is impacted.