Group cruise

[mstree7832]

What kind of exp. Has anyone had with group crusie with disney. While we are huge disney fans and are taking our 1st one in may. We would love to have our group of friends join us in 2o11 what kind of exp have you all of you had!!! Thanks a bunch! Dawn

 

[sayhello]

Sorry, I don't know a thing about group cruises, but I just had to say -- 80 pounds? That's FABULOUS! Congrats!

Sayhello

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

What kind of exp. Has anyone had with group crusie with disney. While we are huge disney fans and are taking our 1st one in may. We would love to have our group of friends join us in 2o11 what kind of exp have you all of you had!!! Thanks a bunch! Dawn

We had 17 people in our group on the Magic for the Halloween sailing. It was great! It was my family of 4 and my parents. Then my neighbor/friend added on (her ds and my ds are good friends). Then added her mom, aunt from Tennessee, her BIL/SIL and their 2 boys, 1 close in age to my ds13.
My kids had such a blast to have other kids that they knew well on the ship. They're a bit shy and hang out together on cruises but never make new friends on the ship. My friend's kids are so outgoing and made lots of new friends so my kids got to see how much fun they could have if they opened up a little. It was Jersey week and half the ship was from NJ. Their older teens (15/16) still stay in touch with friends made on the ship and met up a few times too back home.


We all agreed in advance that we didn't have to all do everything together. We all did the same excursion in Key West (electric cars) but agreed to not have to necessarily stay together, kind of hard with 3 cars.

On the other 2 ports, we all did different things and met up breifly in CC.

Ds13 was so happy to be able to do the helmet trek with his buddy and his family. They are also big time into Disney and other cruise lines but kept pleading with them to try DCL.

On formal night we switched dining tables and put all the kids at 1 table and adults at the other. That was nice too.

It was fun to walk around the ship and keep running into people we knew, stop for a while to chat, then continue on.

Miraculously, I was able to get us 5 rooms at the Hyatt MCO through Hotwire so that part was easy. We didn't all fly down together though. That was another thing we all easily agreed on. Some had different needs as far as not missing school, getting late flights, etc. that others didn't have to worry about.

Next Oct we have 24 going. 14 adults, 10 kids Same friend/neighbor and my parents but this time lots of dh's family coming too: his parents, db/sil, dsis/bil, lots of cousins and sil's friend with more kids.

I always tell my kids they are so lucky to have all 4 grandparents still alive and still married to each other after all these years. It will be so nice for them to have all 4 on the cruise with them too. I know we will be buying lots of photos that cruise.

 

[kcashner]

There is a special desk at DCL to deal with groups of 8 or more cabins. You also get a small discount (but can do better with other potentially available discounts!)

The easiest way to do it is to pick a TA and a date as far out as possible. Have each family/cabin contact the TA to reserve whatever category/deck/etc. they want. The TA will take care of linking the reservation for dinner (if more than 18-20 of you, you'll be in adjacent serving areas...right next to each other but not same table).

Agree in advance how much "togetherness" there will be. Will you rent a private boat in Grand Cayman, but do the other islands separately? Do all the adults want to do Palo the same night or would you rather have a more private time with your special person? There are no right or wrong answers, but it's best to sort out this issue in advance. In addition, the more people in your "together" activities, the more time you might spend waiting for a straggler!

Also remember that there is no saving of seats in the theatres or pool decks--so be sure everyone knows that they'll have to show up early if they want to sit as a group!

 

[TJGorman]

We have had great success with groups on DCL! In 2005, our group had a total of 10 cabins which was a total of 33 people.

PP was correct in saying to ensure everyone agrees upon the amount of "togetherness". Our group enjoyed everyone going to activities they enjoyed then meeting up for dinner to discuss his/her own day.

We all sat in the same general vicinity of the dining rooms so "most" of the group saw each other at least once a day.

We are planning another group cruise for November 2011, this group looks to be about 16 cabins which should be a total of about 50 people.

The most important item to remember is to keep everyone informed!

Good Luck!