Why Cruises Are Great for Group Travel

Trying to plan a vacation for a group of people can get complicated really fast.

Where should you stay? What does everyone want to do? Does the whole group have to go to dinner together every night? What happens when half the group wants to relax by the pool and the other half wants to be out exploring?

This is one of the reasons I love cruises for groups. Whether you're planning a family reunion, birthday celebration, friends' trip, book club getaway, couples' trip or simply looking for an excuse to get your favorite people together, a cruise gives you something that's surprisingly hard to find on a group vacation: the ability to travel together without having to spend every minute together.

I've cruised with groups myself, and I also plan group cruises for my clients. One of my favorite things about them is that everyone gets to make the vacation their own while still having plenty of opportunities to come back together.

See Multiple Destinations Without Constantly Packing and Moving

This is probably one of my favorite things about cruising in general.

You unpack your suitcase once, settle into your cabin and let your floating hotel take you somewhere new. Depending on the itinerary, you can wake up in a different destination almost every day. Go explore. Take a shore excursion. Try something you've never done before. Come back to the ship, shower, head to dinner and relax while the ship sails toward the next port.

For a group, that makes the logistics much easier than moving everyone from hotel to hotel on a multi-destination trip. Nobody is repacking every other day or trying to coordinate transportation for the entire group between destinations.

You get the adventure of seeing multiple places with the convenience of having one home base.

You Don't Have to Do Everything Together

I think this might be the secret to a really good group vacation: you do not all have to do the same thing all day.

There are so many options onboard a cruise ship that different people can spend the day completely differently and still feel like they're vacationing together.

Someone can sleep in. Someone else can be at breakfast at 7:00 a.m. A few people might head to the pool. Someone might go to trivia. Another person might disappear to the spa for half the day. In port, some of the group might want an adventurous excursion while others would rather explore at their own pace.

That's okay!

Instead of creating a minute-by-minute group itinerary, you can send a text that basically says: “We're going to be at this place doing this activity at 2:00. Come if you want! Otherwise, we'll see everyone in the dining room for dinner.”

That is my kind of group travel.

You still get plenty of time together, but nobody has to sacrifice the vacation they want because 15 other people voted for something else.

Cruise Ships Have Built-In Places to Come Back Together

The freedom to split up works especially well because it's so easy to regroup.

Dinner can become your group's anchor point. Everyone goes off and does whatever they want during the day, then meets back up to eat together, talk about what they did and figure out what's happening that night.

You can also pick certain activities as unofficial group events while leaving everything else optional. Maybe everyone meets for trivia one afternoon. You plan one shore excursion together. There's a group cocktail before dinner. You all go to a show one night.

You can have as much—or as little—scheduled group time as makes sense for your crew.

And I May Add a Few Group Games of My Own…

This is where I have a little too much fun.

When I'm helping with a group cruise, I love adding extra activities that give everyone another reason to interact throughout the trip.

On one cruise, we organized a scavenger hunt where everyone had different things they needed to find, do or photograph around the ship. Some of my absolute favorite pictures from that entire cruise came from the scavenger hunt. I loved seeing all the ridiculous and creative photos everyone took while trying to complete it.

We also played a spy game that turned out to be WAY more competitive than anticipated. The basic idea was to eliminate the other players while trying to avoid getting eliminated yourself, with the goal of being the last person standing.

Except we had a slight problem: the cruise ended and we still had two survivors.

Our spy game literally lasted weeks after the cruise because neither one had managed to eliminate the other. We didn't officially crown our Last Man Standing until we all got together again one night back home.

And honestly? I kind of loved that.

The vacation was over, but this silly game we'd started onboard was still going. Those little extras can turn into inside jokes, stories and memories the group keeps talking about long after everyone has unpacked.

Cruises Work for Many Different Types of Groups

Another reason I like cruises for group travel is that there isn't just one type of group that works. A cruise can make sense for:

• Multi-generational families

• Family reunions

• Milestone birthdays

• Anniversary celebrations

• Groups of couples

• Friend groups

• Book clubs

• Girls' trips

• Bachelor or bachelorette groups

• Clubs and organizations
  

The ship and itinerary matter, though.

A group with young kids may want something completely different from adults celebrating a 50th birthday. A book club looking for downtime to read by the pool probably doesn't need the same cruise experience as a group that wants nightlife every evening.

That's where choosing the right cruise—not simply choosing a cruise—makes a big difference.

The Group Organizer Doesn't Have to Become Everyone's Travel Agent

If you've ever been the person who says, “We should all take a trip together!” and then accidentally becomes responsible for planning everyone else's vacation, you know where I'm going with this.

Group cruises create a lot of questions. Who's actually coming? Which cabin does everyone want? Who has paid? When is everyone flying? Where are we staying before the cruise? What dining time did everyone choose? Why is one couple at a completely different dinner seating?

When you work with a travel advisor for your group cruise, the organizer doesn't have to keep track of all of that alone.

Cabins

If your group wants to be near each other, I can help review cabin locations and available options. Some groups want everyone together. Others are perfectly happy being spread around the ship. Either way, we'll talk about it.

Dining

I can help coordinate dining arrangements so the group has the same dining time and can be seated together when the cruise line's policies and availability allow.

Who's Actually Coming

Instead of the organizer maintaining a giant spreadsheet and chasing everyone down, I keep track of travelers and their reservations.

And I love a good spreadsheet, so please…give me this job.

Flights and Pre-Cruise Hotels

I can help with the pieces that happen before you step onboard, including flights and pre-cruise accommodations when needed.

Communication

I can send travelers important updates and preparation information leading up to the trip, including themed nights, packing guidance, deadlines and other details the group needs to know.

That means the person who originally came up with the vacation actually gets to go on vacation instead of spending the months leading up to it answering everyone's questions.

Group Travel Without the Pressure to Be a Group 24/7

I think this is ultimately why cruising works so well for groups.

You can have breakfast together and then split up. You can spend the day exploring a new destination while someone else stays onboard and relaxes. You can meet for dinner, catch a show together and then go your separate ways again.

You can sit on your balcony at the end of the night, happily exhausted from the day's adventure, knowing you're already on your way to the next destination—and your suitcase is still unpacked.

Somewhere in the middle of all of that, you get the thing you actually wanted when you planned a group vacation in the first place: time together.

Just without requiring everyone to have the exact same definition of a good vacation.

Ready to Start Planning Your Group Cruise?

If you've been tossing around the idea of a cruise with your family, friends, book club or another group, reach out to Alyssa Schoenrock at Good Trip Travel Co. I can help you compare cruise lines, ships and itineraries, explain potential group benefits and take a whole lot of the coordination off your group's plate.

Submit your group cruise inquiry here: https://www.goodtrip.biz/alyssa