How to plan your own group cruise, part 4: dining together
If you want to organize a group cruise and perhaps sail free, it is possible! If you do it right, you may end up several free cruise cabins! Starting a few weeks back, and continuing over the next several weeks, I’m providing a series of tips for planning your own group cruise with specific sensibilities for the gay cruise traveler.
Food. It’s one of the most talked about elements of cruise travel. Some travelers adore the quantity, personally I hope for quality (it’s always my goal to not gain weight on a cruise—where it’s said some passengers gain as much as a pound a day; yikes).
But beyond the food itself, there’s the question of the dining experience. This is where traveling with friends as a group can be a real joy—after all, how often do you get to break bread with those same people seven days in a row.
Some things to consider:
Big ships with multiple dining venues. If you’ve chosen a ship with this type of dining, it most-likely will be a big ship (2,500+ passengers), which will make getting your group together each evening all-the-more important. If you’re on the Diamond Princess, for instance, where there are four different “themed” restaurants plus the formal dining room, you’ll have some coordinating to do. Talk with the F&B manager as soon as you board if you will be trying to seat a large group each night in a different restaurant.
Ships with limited dining venues. This is what I consider to be “classic cruising,” an old fashioned dining room, a buffet, and perhaps a specialty restaurant or steak house. Even if they offer so-called “open seating,” you should request “set seating” for your group. In this case, I recommend having your travel agent put in the dining room table requests ahead of time, but get on board very early on embarkation day and talk to the maitre‘d.
An evening in the “specialty” restaurant. If your travel agent has clout with the cruise line, s’he may be able to get the cruise line to “throw in” a meal in the specialty restaurant—if not for your full group, at least for you!
Bars. If you’ll be occupying the same deck space every day, find the nearest bar and make friends with the barbacks who seem to work there. Let them know if you’re frequent drinkers, and they’ll quickly figure out how to take care of you. I’ve been astonished at the excellent service attention my gay groups have received from bar servers.
Jake is discussing.
Jake 4:11 pm on December 10, 2008 Permalink |
Wow! The Celebrity Solstice looks like a fantastic ship! Trendy and stylish but not losing the elegance the line has become known for in their ship designs and decor. Very nice pictures. Thanks for the link. Too bad my schedule doesn’t permit me to do the Atlantis charter on her this March.