eTravCo Experiences Travel Magazine
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Sunni the Cruise Lady featured on page 57 of Volume 1 Issue 1 Second Quarter 2008, page 57
Booking a Group Cruise.
There is benefit in booking a group cruise, but it’s not necessarily in the price. In many, if not most cases, the group prices are the same as the individual prices. So why book your family and friends on a group cruise?
The first benefit is usually for the group leader. The standard complimentary policy is that one guest goes free for every 15 full-fare guests. A full fare guest is the first and second passenger in the cabin. A third to fifth in the same cabin will pay a reduced rate; therefore, they are not considered full-fare passengers. Keeping it simple, for every eight cabins sailed you get one TC or tour conductor (Free passage).
The next benefit in booking a group cruise is that there is ofter a gift of points from the cruise line and a shopping list of amenities on which to spend them. You might select a bottle of wine for each cabin, or perhaps a shipboard credit. Your travel agent will help you select the best amenities that fit your group’s tastes.
Cruise lines love the group business and will usually make space available on the ship for family parties, and reunions, lectures, seminars or even church services. Guest that select the same dining time can be seated together in the same section of the dining room. Some groups will book a long line of cabins, side by side.
All in all, you can be as close or involved as you want to be, or you can be a loosely knit group enjoying each other’s company on occasion.
Sunni (The Cruise Lady) has more than 10 years of travel agent experience, specializing the cruise destinations of Alaska, Hawaii, the Caribbean, Panama Canal and the British Isle.
Company: BTS Cruise Center of Baltimore
Locataion: Baltimore MD
Website: www.btscruise.com
