Advice on best way to go about planning a cruise for 15 people?

[Erin D]

My mother in law wants to do a family vacation to celebrate their 40th anniversary. My husband and I just sailed our first Disney Cruise back in January and loved it and thought it would be perfect for the entire family given all the activities for children and adults. We have 8 adults and 7 children ranging from 2-13. We are looking to sail July or Aug '16 due to school schedules. At this point I'm wondering are we too late to the game? Are there any ways to get discounts or OBC for this many people? I've never booked a trip for this many people and will take any advice!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

My mother in law wants to do a family vacation to celebrate their 40th anniversary. My husband and I just sailed our first Disney Cruise back in January and loved it and thought it would be perfect for the entire family given all the activities for children and adults. We have 8 adults and 7 children ranging from 2-13. We are looking to sail July or Aug '16 due to school schedules. At this point I'm wondering are we too late to the game? Are there any ways to get discounts or OBC for this many people? I've never booked a trip for this many people and will take any advice!

I doubt that you could get any discounts (DCL doesn't typically discount), but I'd suggest you make connection with a TA to handle all the reservations. Many TAs do offer OBC if you use them to book. And it'll save the headaches you'd be getting if you attempt to the the center point for everyone.

 

[WebmasterJohn]

My mother in law wants to do a family vacation to celebrate their 40th anniversary. My husband and I just sailed our first Disney Cruise back in January and loved it and thought it would be perfect for the entire family given all the activities for children and adults. We have 8 adults and 7 children ranging from 2-13. We are looking to sail July or Aug '16 due to school schedules. At this point I'm wondering are we too late to the game? Are there any ways to get discounts or OBC for this many people? I've never booked a trip for this many people and will take any advice!

Disney Cruise Line considers a 'group' of 8 staterooms or more. I don't think you would have 8 staterooms. Also all of the 'perks' that used to be associated with booking a group are no longer offered by DCL.

I think the best place for you to start is to figure out what each family can afford to spend and then look at pricing to see what sail date/stateroom categories fit their budget. July or Aug is 'peak' and you will pay top dollar for whatever cruise you choose but knowing what people are willing to pay will help decide what you can and cannot do. Once you get those details worked out I think the rest will fall into place.

 

[ayz75]

I'm planning one for 8 adults and 3 kids.. and yes, use a TA! I've had to make changes twice (dates, room categories, etc) and it was so much easier for me to shoot an email to my TA and know it's taken care of.

I think cruises are easy for big groups, what's going to be tougher will be our Disney World stay before the cruise... lol (because I know both sets of grandparents will want to stick with us at all times while in Disney World, and planning rides for 3 kids of different ages... oh boy)

 

[A M&Asmom]

We are leaving Sunday for a 4 night Dream Cruise for my parents 50th anniversary. We have 8 Adults and 6 children. We just booked it a few months ago so it isn't too late, but you won't get any discounts for number of people. We used AAA travel to book it all and I know she got different prices and different rooms available then when we looked online ourselves. She also booked all the transportation from the airport to a WDW hotel for the day before our stay and transfers for after back to the airport. Highly suggest using a TA for that many people. Nice having it all done at one time in one place! Good luck!

 

[nikkistevej]

My in laws are taking my family, and his sisters and their families on the Dream in August 2016(the first week), there will be 11 of us, and we just booked it 2 days ago. We did book through a TA. I am usually a control freak about planning our vacations, but wanted to have someone else handle it. I am planning the Disneyworld part of it though.

 

[scootch]

No more group discounts for Disney Cruise. Not too late to book though, only have to book 3 days in advance. I have booked 28 days beforehand.

 

[jdb in AZ]

We booked our first extended-family cruise to Hawaii just 4 mos in advance. Having an excellent travel agent made all the difference. Over the years we did a dozen cruises together, with four generations aging in range from great-grandma in her 80's down to babies, and we learned really quickly not to try to do everything together every minute of every day. We got together for dinner at adjoining tables and talked about our day. Of course we'd keep running into each other on the ship, and some age groups would get together to see the evening show, or go zip-lining together, but we rarely did a shore-excursion for the whole group because of the diversity of ages and interests -- it was like herding cats. We did have family pictures taken together before dinner on formal night. Because of the size of our group we were able to reserve a time. I don't know what Shutters' policy is on this, but on our last cruise we had 48 people and it was necessary to have a reservation.

One thing I found helpful was to compile a list of which family was in which stateroom, and make copies on cardstock for each room.

For our first DCL cruise I booked the pre-cruise WDW hotel rooms directly through WDW -- I think it was called "grand gatherings" back then. It was very simple to take care of. In the early days of cruising as a family, we had our travel agent make the flight arrangements, but some family members weren't too whelmed with the flight times or whatever, so we learned it was easier for each branch of the family tree to book their own flights. For a large group, it was cheaper to book our own ground transportation through Happy Limo than to have the DCL transfers at $35 per person each way. Some of the families arrived later than others, and went straight to the port. Others were able to stay at WDW after the cruise -- the key is to be flexible and just go with what works best for each family.

Some large family groups have t-shirts made just for their cruise. You can find some cute ideas online, either through ebay, etsy, or pinterest.

 

[dyson0715]

Here's what I would do...put 14 people on the magic and I would put myself on the Dream..and then I would relax and enjoy the quiet.....

 

[MunFam]

I put together large group vacations for companies as my career....but in the 500-4,000 people range.

First, I would confirm everyone's budget (and expectations for what they "get" for that price point), then

I would figure out which itineraries everyone likes the most and price those out (eliminating any dates that people cannot go)

Then I would line item compare the different cruises with airfare.

Then I would establish which cruise and airfare best matches up with each person's budget and book it.

Then I would arrange hotel accommodations the night before at a hotel that offers free airport transfers so as each family arrives, their transportation is handled.

Then I would book a limo/bus transfer for the whole family the next day to the port and also for returns to the airport or hotel.

Last, I would contact DCL to ensure we could all dine together as a group.

 

[southerngirl528]

Here's what I would do...put 14 people on the magic and I would put myself on the Dream..and then I would relax and enjoy the quiet.....

Forgive me, Erin D, but the above quote by dyson0715 was exactly what I thought when I read your thread title! But all jesting aside, looks like you've got some great advice from some less silly folks. I especially like MunFam's advice. Good luck!!

 

[DHSbutcher]

July/August is definitely going to run you a pretty penny. By the count of guests i'm guessing you'll need at least 4 or 5 rooms most likely. You can always get an OBC from a travel agent, or you can book the whole thing yourself through Disney. If the TA will give an OBC for each room, i'd recommend booking through them as that will definitely add up. (We never use a TA, and for-go any OBC for the convenience of doing it ourselves and being in control of the reservation incase we need to make any sudden changes and god-forbid it is a weekend or holiday or our TA wants to ignore us. The maximum 200$ OBC they might give us isn't worth the headache of dealing with them for us, but with maybe 5 rooms that money would definitely be worth it-if they give OBC for each room booked.)

Before booking- definitely make sure of the budget- whether one person is paying for it, or if you are all splitting the fare- make sure everyone is comfortable with such a large, expensive, trip. As you know, its never just the base cruise fare, their are so many extras that can really run up the costs, and multiply quickly with 15 people.
When it comes to booking, make sure you have a list of each Guest's name who is sailing, their date of birth, and know exactly how you want the cabin arrangement to work. They price the children based on age, so not knowing at the time of booking can lead to extra unexpected charges later on, and know exactly how you want the staterooms arranged, as some cabins sleep different amounts of people.
Once you book, linking your reservations is no problem to ensure that you all dine together/near each other. Same for booking other excursions, activities, etc. as a group. Very easy with the Disney System.

 

[ludari]

As a solo cruiser I've only had to book for myself and I even use the assistance of a TA. With as many people you have I would definitely suggest the assistance of a TA or have each of the adults book their own (including their children) cruises. You have to remember that with each person you have to collect their credit card information, addresses, passport information, etc, etc, etc...

 

[pillow]

We just did a big family trip last year for spring break (13 of us - 5 staterooms). Whether you use a TA or not really depends on how much work you want to take on yourself. I don't mind the organizing, so I was in charge of planning and booking everything. I booked all staterooms through Costco since they pay out such a large cash card post cruise. There was a lot to coordinate, but it was probably the best family trip I've ever taken. Having separate staterooms and separate space was perfect so that we weren't on top of each other and getting on each other's nerves. Plus, having so many different activities was great; people could do their own thing during the day and then we could come together at night for the show/dinner. It really was a fabulous trip for all of us!

Jodie