Cruising with your family or your best friends can be one of the most amazing experiences that every traveller should try at least once in their lifetime. However, this is also a challenging task where planning and leadership skills can come in handy to ensure that everyone enjoys a perfect vacation. Before you go on an adventure to explore the Spice Islands or the European capital cities with your fellow companions, there are a few tips that we want to share with you. Planning a group cruise will finally be easy and (almost) painless.
Appoint A Group Leader
Let’s be honest: someone needs to take all the responsibilities of booking your cruise. Being a leader doesn’t mean that you will be in command of your group, but that you will do the majority of preplanning research and take the lead in organizing the trip. No one is going to pay you for that, although your fellow companions may at least buy you a coffee.
So, why should anyone volunteer to be the group leader? If you enjoy planning every detail of your trips, or if you tend to be particularly fussy when it comes to travelling, this role may suit you perfectly. If your group chooses you as the leader, you must also be flexible enough to understand other people’s needs and ideas.
Book Ahead
Yes, we know: booking ahead is always the first advice that people are going to give you when it comes to cruising. However, when travelling with a group, this may be crucial to ensure a smooth organization of your trip.
First of all, if some members of your group have children, you should plan to travel during school holidays. Don’t forget to agree on a specific itinerary before you confirm your booking, and to check who is willing to share the same cabin while on board. With all these factors to take into account, you can understand how vital booking ahead and having enough time to organize everything can be.
Communication Is The Key
All the members of the same group should communicate regularly. You can meet once a week and discuss your plans, share your opinions and ask each other what you expect from this cruise. If your group is pretty large, communicating via email or convenient communication apps, instead of relying on phone calls may be a better idea.
By doing this, you can make sure that no piece of information gets lost or misinterpreted. Technology can help you plan your cruise more quickly and efficiently. You can also create a folder shared with your group where everyone can add their ideas or any information found on the Internet that can be useful for your planning.
Another smart thing to do is to create and establish a shared calendar of important dates. This can be used to notify your fellow travellers when the next payment is due, or the deadlines for booking certain activities, shore excursions or to fill out your forms online.
Plan Your Shore Excursions in Advance
No matter how close you are with the other members of your group: sooner or later you are going to argue over the way to handle onshore excursions. We all have a different idea of what the perfect cruise is. This means that while some people may want to visit different places every day, others may just be dreaming of sunbathing and napping until the vacation is over.
This is when the group leader should step up. While you cannot tell everyone else what they should do, you can make sure to plan your shore excursions in advance. Even if you are travelling with a group of people, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you should all do the same activities together.
On the other hand, don’t forget that some cruise lines may allow you to custom-design one or more excursions only if a certain number of people will join it. Again, this is why everything should be planned in advance. This is the only way to avoid wasting any time or money and, most importantly, spending your whole vacation arguing with your friends.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help
Booking a cruise for a group isn’t easy, and often it becomes a nightmare. If you feel this task is stressing you out, it may be time to seek professional help. A cruise or travel agent is a professional figure who specializes in planning cruises for groups and who knows how to make everyone happy.
Even if you are the group leader, you can ask for an agent’s recommendations at any time. They will find the most appropriate cruise for your group, based on your favourite travel destinations, shore excursions and, of course, the group’s needs. Most importantly, agents often have access to cruise line-approved discounts, that come as a result of high-volume bookings.
