To many, cruising with friends and family is a most memorable vacation experience. If you’re considering such a cruise yourself, here are the steps you need to take to plan a successful  group cruise.

The Organizer–the key to group cruise success

The first thing that has to be done is to find a point person-or organizer. You need someone who is outgoing and is a good communicator.   That person’s first task is to secure the services of a travel agent–preferably one that specializes in group cruises.  The vast majority of cruises are booked through a travel agency and no one undertakes a group cruise without professional help. Let the travel professional deal with all the nuances of working with the cruise line’s groups department while you handle the interface with the cruisers.

The organizer’s role in the group cruise process is to work with the travel agent to define the cruise experience. The organizer is key to the success of the cruise as he or she will be the facilitator of communication between the the cruisers and the agency. The organizer works with the travel agent to select the cruise and sailing and to develop unique elements of the cruise such as pre- and post-cruise activities, onboard group-related events such as activities, photo opps, dining arrangements and shore excursions. The coordinator works with the travel agent to market the cruise.

Why become a group cruise organizer?

To create an incentive for someone or a couple to take on this challenge of organizing a group cruise there should be some financial reward.  The cruise lines recognize this and have provided the mechanism for this to happen.  It’s called the Tour Conductor allowance.  Each cruise line implements this a bit differently but, in general, what they do is provide a free berth for every eight cabins sold at full fare.  The cruise line usually allows the group to book special fares too such as senior, select state resident, military and police/firemen. For a complete discussion of how the Tour Conductor credit works, download my free report entitled:  Group Cruising Secrets–How To Get Paid To Cruise For Free.

The cruise lines also provide groups with amenities for certain sailings. By amenities we mean tangible benefits such a Onboard Credit, Specialty Dining Experience, Group Photo, Cocktail Party,  Marketing Funds, etc. The purpose behind the amenity system is to either provide incentives to prospective cruisers to entice them to join the cruise or to reward the organizer.  The cruise lines usually administer amenities on a points system offering different points for each sailing based on supply and demand.  If the cruise is selling well no or few amenities will be offered to groups. After consulting with the travel agent the organizer has to work with the group to decide which amenities would be best for them and convey that to the info to the travel agent and cruise line. For a more complete discussion on amenities see my free Group Cruising Secrets report referenced above.

Group cruise communications

No matter how big the group is one of the most important aspects in marketing the cruise is conveying to prospects the key elements of the cruise without overpowering them with information or making them jump all over the place to find it.  I’ve found that the best way to do this is through an email list and a web site that is kept current with cruise developments. All the organizer has to do in the way of marketing is to communicate directly to the cruise prospects and expose them to the web site.

I would also recommend creating a Facebook Event and have the web site and Event reference each other.  At the cruise web site they get all the info on pricing, itinerary, dining excursions, onboard activities, pre- and post cruise events. There’s usually a frequently asked questions and answers page along with the ability to ask additional questions for all to see the answers. With Group Cruises Unlimited as your agency you get this web site built for you within days of creating your group with us. For an example of such a web site click here.

Organizing a group cruise doesn’t have to be a daunting task and it can be financially rewarding with the right travel partners.

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This article will lay out the most popular options for you on how to cruise for free. One option is all luck,  a second is a reward,  another provides a misleading offer and the last involves incentives offered by the cruise lines and their travel partners. But before we take a look at these one by one let’s set the stage with how cruises are priced. You will soon learn that a free cruise may not mean without cost to you.

There are three components to the price of your cruise.  The first is the cruise fare.  This is the only portion of your ticket price that the cruise line can control. If the cruise line runs a sale, this is portion of the total cruise fare that can be reduced.  The other two components are: port charges (also known as non-commissionable cruise fare) and taxes/fees. They are dependent on the cruise itinerary.  Most of the time you’ll see the cruise fare and port charges bundled together as the published price of the cruise.  Taxes/fees are shown separately.  Whatever you call them, some person or entity has to pay them.

Cruise free with a raffle or game of chance

My company does group cruises with a number of charities and non-profit organizations and I always advise their group leader to raffle off a cabin  when they are promoting the cruise.  It helps extend the marketing reach of the cruise itself to a wider audience; and the charity makes a profit on the raffle.  So help out a charity or non-profit organization and enter a raffle.  You can’t win unless you play. But if you win the raffle your cruise might not be totally free.  Read the fine print.  Oftentimes the taxes/fees are something you would be responsible for. Also, you may win an interior cabin and prefer to upgrade to an ocean view or balcony–a cost that you will incur. Play bingo while on a cruise and you may win a cruise as the grand prize for the last game of the evening.

Let your employer pay for your free cruise

Many companies run sales contests and reward those that qualify with a free cruise–usually with your spouse or significant other. These incentive cruises are primarily seen in sales environments, but often non-sales people who directly support the sales team get to attend also. In other companies they may choose to reward all types of employees for superior performance or those about to retire with a gift certificate for free cruise. With the incentive cruise and an individual gift,  all the costs are usually incurred by the company.

You’ve won a free cruise postcard

There are lots of variants with these types of offers and we’ll only cover a couple of them here. You receive a postcard with a nice glossy picture of a cruise ship–usually Royal Caribbean or Carnival. On the reverse side is an offer of some sort.  It may come from a timeshare company or a travel club. If you look closely it will state that the offer is not associated with the cruise line, despite the appearance of an official logo. If a timeshare offer it will say something like: This is for the purpose of soliciting sales of vacation ownership (timeshare interests).  But don’t feel relieved if it says this either: This is not a timeshare or land sale offer.

Respond to an offer like this at your own peril.  In the case of the timeshare offer you will have to sit through a grueling 90 minute pitch and be handed back and forth to different closers.  When that’s all over you’ll have an exit interview which is a disguise for a sales pitch for another travel product. Then you get your certificate for a “free cruise.” With the travel club offer you may get to skip this process and just start booking the “complimentary” cruise.

The problem with both these approaches is that the offer you’ve received is so restrictive that you could never use it without paying a lot of money for upgrades.  The free cruise may be offered only certain times of the year. Your cabin is usually an interior with a top and bottom bunk.  The cost of upgrading to a more suitable accommodation is usually more than if you booked it outright.  And, of course, you have to pay the port charges and taxes/fees. All in all, it’s one big hassle!

Earn a free cruise by leading a group

The major cruise lines all have groups programs and one of the incentives they offer for booking a certain number of cabins is a free berth–not a free cruise. Remember those port charges and taxes/fees? They don’t come with the free berth. Groups programs have been around for a long time and the cruise lines have found out that they are a cost-effective way to help fill the ship.  Because of the nature of word-of-mouth marketing, the cruise lines have discovered that groups are an excellent way to reach that segment of the market that has not cruised before. And they know that there is a high probability that they can develop repeat business with new cruisers.

Besides a free berth, another incentive pays you a marketing fee for each cabin booked.  When combined properly they will enable you to offset the port charges and taxes/fees and to cruise free.  And if you’re willing to organize a group cruise with the right travel agency you can also get additional compensation for your leadership efforts and for bringing your business to them.

To find out how you can cruise free just grab this free report entitled: Group Cruising Secrets–How To Get Paid To Cruise For Free. In it you will learn about how to get that free berth and marketing funds as well as one agency’s unique Referral Program that allows you to earn cash for booking your group with them.

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If you’re going to schedule a cruise vacation to the Caribbean during the hurricane season you need to take extra precautions to ensure you are prepared for all contingencies. As seen in the incident in late August 2011 in San Juan, Puerto Rico with Hurricane Irene, your cruise line may have to change their departure time at the direction of port authorities. In this case over 450 people missed their ship’s departure on Royal Caribbean and Carnival because the schedule was moved up three or four hours to avoid the hurricane. Here are a few tips you use to protect your cruise vacation investment and not have to watch your ship sail off without you.

Use the services of an experienced travel agent. You will not pay a penny more for your cruise vacation and you’ll know that you’ll have a professional looking out for your best interests–especially if there are itinerary changes due to weather. You should not count solely on your cruise line to contact you if there’s an itinerary change. In fact, they may not even attempt to contact you at all.

If your port of embarkation is within driving distance make sure your cruise line or travel professional can contact you while in route. Provide them with emergency phone numbers and an email address you can check while mobile. If you don’t have email access make sure your emergency contact does.

If you have to fly into your port of embarkation plan to arrive early–before your day of departure. This will provide you a buffer in case of flight delays and changes in departure for your cruise. Yes, it will cost you more, but it’s your cruise vacation. You don’t want the stress of worrying if you’re going to make your scheduled departure time–especially if it gets moved up. Arrive a day or two early. Relax. Adjust to the time change if need be. Take in the sights.

Be proactive and contact the cruise line to make sure there are no itinerary changes. At a minimum visit the cruise line’s web site. You may need to pack a different wardrobe if your Caribbean cruise that embarks from a port in the mid-Atlantic has to completely change its itinerary and travel to Canada instead to avoid a storm. Sometimes these changes are made several days before your scheduled departure date.

Travel with a passport. Technically you don’t need one for a closed loop cruise that originates in the United States or one of its territories. But as the people in the San Jan incident found out, without one it may be very difficult to fly to another country such as Barbados or Aruba to catch up with your cruise ship–even if the cruise line is picking up the tab!

Purchase travel insurance as it will protect your cruise vacation if you are delayed and miss your departure due to weather-related events. And you never know when you’ll have a medical emergency.

Plan to check in to your cruise as early as possible. Do your sightseeing at the port the day before. You may avoid being stranded like one of those in San Juan.

Consider purchasing your flight as part of an air-sea package from the cruise line as they have the responsibility to get you to your ship on time. At least ask your travel agent for a quote so that you’ll really know what it costs, rather than rely on Internet tales.

If you enjoyed these cruise vacation tips you’ll really like my Vacation Cruising ebook. It’s available for download free.

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So you want to reduce your vacation cost with a kids free cruise

The cruise line have kids cruise free programs for one reason only: their supply of available staterooms exceeds the demand. And whenever they announce a kids cruise free offer, they generate a lot of interest. It’s good business for the cruise line and the family gets a cheaper vacation.

Only one cruise line has a standing policy that allows kids to cruise for “free” on all sailings. But before we get into which cruise lines have kids free programs let’s define what a “free cruise” actually means. To do this we’ll take a quick look at how cruises are priced. Once you understand how and why cruises are priced you’ll be able see how the kids cruise free incentives work.

Here is a sample fare (per person for the first two people based on double occupancy) for an Ocean View cabin on a cruise to Bermuda that totals $684 and how it would be broken out:

•$454 – Cruise fare
•$145 – Port charges (non-commissionable cruise fare)
•$ 85 – Taxes/Fees

Please note that even if only one of these first two people is an adult, both will pay the full fare price. The “cruise fare” for each of the third and fourth guests (if the cabin could accommodate that many) is $200–much less than the $454 for either of the first two occupants.

The cruise lines price cruises to cover the costs that are under their control (within the hull) and those costs that are not, such as port charges, fees and taxes. To add another element of complexity, port charges are also known as non-commissionable cruise fare or NCCF. Sometimes the port charges are broken out separately; other times they are bundled with the cruise fare at the cruise line’s insistence and the taxes are listed separately. Whatever you call them you can’t get out of paying them.

When the kids cruise free you still pay

So when a cruise line advertises that kids sail free on a particular itinerary they mean that the “cruise fare” portion of the overall price for either the third or fourth passenger is “free“…but you still have to pay the Port Charges and Taxes/Fees. In our example these total $225 each! Again, these are costs outside of the cruise lines’ control and they are incurred by every passenger.

What cruise lines let kids cruise free?

MSC Cruises offers a program where children 11 and under sail free with certain conditions. The offer applies to children sailing as 3rd/4th occupants in same stateroom with two adults paying Early Booking or Retail Rates. Government fees and taxes for all guests is additional and varies by itinerary (some restrictions may apply).

Some mass market and premium cruise lines like NCL, Costa Cruises and Disney Cruise Lines…and even luxury lines Crystal Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises offer kids free cruises but they all have qualifiers to their offers that limit their exposure.

Here’s a list of qualifiers or restrictions that we’ve seen in recent offers. And most offers have multiple restrictions on kids free cruises such as:

• Booking time frame – you must book by 11:59 Saturday
• Sailing period – applies only to sailings between June 15 and September 1; or Caribbean winter 2012 season
• Itinerary – offer applies only to 12-night European sailings
• Stateroom – offer available only in Veranda staterooms category 4A and 6A.
• Ship – restricted to selected CostaVictoria sailings
• Rates for 1st and 2nd passengers – parents pay Andiamo rates or two adults paying Early Booking Rate
• Age restrictions – kids under 12
• Availability – limited; offer may not be available when you want to go; cannot be combined with any other offer

Putting it all together

You might see a promotion like this one being offered by Disney Cruise Line for its first season of sailing in Alaska:

Guests 17 and under can sail free on seven-night voyages aboard the Disney Wonder when traveling with two full-fare paying guests in the same Verandah or Oceanview stateroom (Government Taxes and Fees not included). This offer is valid for most sailings departing May 3 to June 7, 2011, and covers Verandah and Oceanview stateroom categories (categories 4A to 9D).

You may be asking, “How do I find all these deals?” The short answer is: seek professional help. Don’t spend all your free time searching the Internet when your travel agent can do the work for you…and probably save you money along the way.

To summarize: you really cannot cruise with kids free. You can get the “cruise fare” portion of their fare reduced or eliminated, but you still have to pay port charges and taxes/fees. This works best with families consisting of two adults and two small children occupying the same stateroom. If you have a family with two adults and three or more children your options are completely different. We’ll cover them in a future post.

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