Any hints on cruisin' with a big group/family??

[IvyandLace]

Hey, everyone... Haven't posted alot here since I haven't cruised yet, but our family (group of 12) is now officially booked on the Eastern MAGIC cruise November 27-December 4, 2004!!

Now I'm wondering if those of you who have done a "family reunion" cruise will give me some hints as to how it worked out for you...The family group is made up of Mom/Grandma and Dad/Grandpa, me (DH is staying home-horrible sea sickness ), newly married younger sis and DH, newly married older sis and DH and three kids (nephews then ages 16 and 12; niece then age 14), and brother and SIL. We will have four cabins (cat. 9) and are planning on having three people in each. Do we just let everyone "do their own thing" as far as Palo and the spa go....? The only rule so far is that we would like everyone to meet up for dinner...but even that is going to have to be flexible if the "couples" want some alone time at Palo. How do we keep in touch? What if the niece/nephews don't like the kids' clubs?

I guess any tips to making a big family cruise go a little bit smoother would be appreciated!! I am so use to "planning" our WDW trips for a big group that I don't really know what to expect this time around. Thanks!


IVY

 

[goodfaerie]

Hey Ivy! We just came back--there were 8 of us. One of the things that helped was that all of our staterooms were in the same area.

Bring sticky notes--those really helped. Also, leave phone messages.

I found that I could just make "face time" dates with everyone as the cruise went. We'd have coffee or meet in the spa.

We had late seating, so even though several of us had reservations on dif. nights for Palo, our reservations were early enough that we could still meet up at the dinner table for coffee after Palo.

We always met up at the dinner table, and we all made it for the character breakfast. We all also had brunch and tea at Palo at the same times. It all seemed to work out with a really nice balance of group and split time.

Hope this helps!

 

[MO Disney cruiser]

Ivy, we just took a family cruise this past September. There were 27 of us.

The most important thing is...Don't expect to do everything together. Let the individual families do what they want and set a few things that you will all do together. We met at dinner each night. If you're planning a 7 day, I'd try and pick a couple of days that alternate dining can be used by anyone in the party who wants to.

Just remember, there will probably be a tiff or two, but let it go and don't let it ruin the entire trip.

 

[NCRedding]

We've done 2 family cruises, (only 3 nights though, I'm envious of your trip). What worked for us was makng general arrangements--telling everyone we would be at the 6:30 show, and that we'll sit on the right hand side of the theater. That way, we were able to sit together, but didn't save seats. I was amazed at how often we met up with one another without even trying. 3 of us flew in to MCO the night before, the others drove in 2 separate cars stopping in 2 different towns on the way down, and we ended up boarding within 10 minutes of each other. It is a great way to travel, but don't expect to do everything together--too much work!!

 

[izzinmac]

Ivy,
Your group will be on the same cruise as our next one! There already is a "cruise Meet" thread started for that date. Join us there!

We just got back from the 11/29/03 Eastern - this years version of your cruise. We had a "family reunion" with 22 of us in all, and I agree with the comments made so far! My advice:
1) Keep it simple! As long as each of your reservations are linked, you will dine together at night, and that is probably the only scheduled time you all need to be together as a group. Remember, that will be seven nights about 1 1/2 hours each night.
2) Recognize that this is the best reunion environment you could ask for - time together, but everyone with their own privacy and ability to do their own thing also!
3) As simple as it sounds, post-its on cabin doors are an excellent way to let people know where you can be found (if you want to be found). We did this regularly, and others who were part of the group could join us if they wished.

Above all, take advantage of the benefits that a cruise provides over other "reunion" environments. That is, the reunion will happen without the hassle of planning, disagreement over activities, and time schedules for events. Go with the flow of the cruise environment and you will be surprised at how much time you have to share WITHOUT the normal bickering, disagreements, and hassles family get togethers can sometimes create!

Not everyone in our group wil be together next November (finances, ages of kids, schedules), but 9 of us are returning then and all of us agreed we want to do it again as a complete group in about two years! It was everything we expected and more!!!

 

[jrabbit]

Let everyone know that you are NOT doing EVERYTHING with them.

Luv Ya, Mean It!!

If things get to intense, when you are in a crowd, just take "3 steps to the right" and you have "lost" your family (for as long as you need to")

 

[vgaskin]

We just came back from the 11/22 Western and there were 8 of us, me & hubby, kids and kid friend, and my parents. We had 2 connecting rooms. I would suggest that or rooms close to each other. also link the reservations so you can dine together. Print out all the shore excursion info well in advance and have everyone decide what they want to do. They don't have to be the same but we happened to have some things that were similiar so we just did the same one on that day. In Grand Cayman, we all did the Stingray cruise but in Cozumel, grandma & grandpa did the fury cruise and the rest of us did the dolphin encounter.

We did have some blow ups, mostly between mother in law/son in law but you can shut the door. Bungie cords work great if you have connecting doors. I did go down and book Palo for brunch for the 4 adults and the kids had the option of going to the kids club or ordering room service and be watched by the teens. Everyone did their own thing but we were together alot. Dinner was the only required together time(and excursions for the teens) but everyone did ditch us in Cozumel which was fine.

The most important advice I have is: don't try to plan this by yourself. I planned our entire trip for 6 months and was obsessive about making this the trip of a lifetime for everyone. By the time our flight touched down(way before that really), I was already upset that the kids weren't more grateful about this or that, etc. Split up the planning and decision making and relax. We did really have a perfect trip, everything went off without a hitch. But it is too much pressure for one to do all the planning.

 

[gaga4girish]

What can I say, the bigger the better! We cruised last January with a group of 16. We all kind of started out doing our own thing, but always ended up seeing each other at the pool during the day, and always met for dinner and the show at night. The teens stuck together and the adults did their own thing. Taking a trip with this many people left many wonderful memories!

 

[lrmillen]

it always fun to know a bunch of people on a cruise, because when you want company you have it and when you don't there are plenty of ways to do your own thing. I cruised with my family, 30 of us in all, all on deck 8. we always ate dinner together and we were in the same corner of the dining room so that was neat. the cousins always liked to hang together too so for something structured they did the banana boats on castaway cay. i don't know if you'll be able to do this, but our family had a set reservation time on formal night to get a group picture, it beat having 30 people standing in line for an hour. also all the adults did palo together and sat at one table. have fun.