Benefits for booking a group cruise?

[dcsmac]

Does anyone have any info on benefits when booking a group cruise? I am a Platinum Member C/A member and not sure to go thru T/A or directly thru RCCL. Would like to get the most bang for my buck or bucks. We have 6 kids and 2 graduating high school, and 3 graduating college and 1 3rd year. OMG we need a break. Any help would be great.

[Donna]

There are some major benefits when booking a group cruise. First off, I'd suggest using a good cruise travel agent. They may have some group spaces that you can take advantage of. The price is usually better and you'd get some extra perks along with the booking. There needs to be so many cabins booked in order to receive the "group" pricing, etc.

[Robbie H]

A "normal" group with "RCI" is going to be eight cabins/double occupancy to get one of the beds free (referred to as a TC or Tour Conductor on the boards and in the industry). Next comes "GAP" which are Group Amenity Points and they can vary from none given to some nice perks. This will depend on the occupancy level of your particular sailing (almost empty= lotsa stuff to being almost full= no stuff). Hope that helps, Robbie

[DiamondMember]

Good feedback here. I've got a group sailing on Liberty of the Seas in March 2008 and I went through a Travel Agent to arrange it. The booking is for 9 cabins, with a total party of 20 folks. I asked my agent to fight for a free cocktail hour for my group and the line agreed to one hour cocktail hour with food. I've sailed in groups of 15-25 once a year for the past 5 years and this is the first time we've been treated to anything special. I'm not sure if our cabins we book have anything to do with it, but this is the first time that we got one OS and two GS as part of our 9 cabins.

Hope to see what other stuff the may provide this time around. As far as the pricing, honesty, I've never experienced any "discount" other than the one free person after 8 cabins. Which by the way, you get a check for that amount 3-4 weeks after you complete your sailing. The amount is one full fare of a person in the cabin class that most of your cabins are booked in.

[dcsmac]

Diamondmember,

Thanks for the info on the free cabin. I new you got one person free with eight cabins but was not aware that it is not taken off when you book. This is great info so far. Thanks everyone who has responded. It helps alot.

Marcia