How to start your own cruise event?

Did you know you can throw private events on a cruise ship on pretty much any sailing? You absolutely can, usually referred to a Group Charter and you can book it or contact us and we can manage it for you of course.

Another option if you have more than a few hundred guests in your group and happen to have a few million laying around would be booking a Full Ship Charter an entire year out for you and your closest thousand friends. If you do, let us know we can definitely do that for you as well of course.

Back to the more likely scenario with Group Charters, you can do a group charter with as few as 16 guests up to several hundred depending on the ship and cruise lines. Sometimes based on your time of booking and group size you can even get some nice group amenities like gifts in each of your cabins, event space and more. 

Now that you know you can make your dream event and vacation happen all at once here are some things you need to keep in mind to plan a successful cruise event.

1. What’s the goal of your event?
   1. High energy experiences?
   2. Educational like a seminar?
   3. Casual community event?
   4. Simply a relaxing vacation for your group?
2. Identify if you need dedicated event space?
   1. Does that event space need to be setup for multiple days or is it only for an hour or two?
   2. Do you need electricity and 110v or 220v outlets?
   3. Do you need special A/V equipment and operators?
   4. How do you want your guests organized at the event space? Conference style, reception style, etc.?
3. Equipment?
   1. Are you carrying all things you need for the group or event in your luggage?
      1. If not you may need to look into clearing items through customs and finding a loading company to get the equipment onto the ship at port.
   2. Double check with the cruise line to make sure you’re not bringing on any hazardous items or contraband.
   3. Do you need any specialized equipment operators for anything you’re bringing?
4. Things to do?
   1. What do you want to plan with guests? Cocktail hours, excursions, scavenger hunts, crafting?
   2. Did you clear it with the cruise line and ship staff?
   3. Do you have all the insurance and paperwork for any liabilities for whatever you want to do for your guests?
5. Payments?
   1. Are your guests paying you for a group charter payment?
      1. How are you managing the money for them to pay for the group?
   2. Are your guests paying the cruise line directly by individually booking?
      1. Do they use their own cruise travel advisor or book directly through the cruise line’s site?
6. Communication? How will you keep everyone up to date?
   1. Are you making a facebook group, website, mobile text group or something else to keep everyone in the loop?
   2. Do you need an emailing list?
   3. How about a custom website for people that may want to join that you don’t have direct connections with?
   4. On the ship will you give them flyers, booklets, directions to your event space and times?

It sounds like a lot to do and it may be but it all depends on your goals. It can be as simple as telling everyone the date and ship you’re sailing on then casually meeting in public spaces on the ship all the way to highly curated events like GACUCON Game Cruise (GACUCON.COM). They bring aboard Virtual Reality, Video Games, Augmented Reality, Tabletop Games and more.

If you feel like you need some help let us know and we can handle the paperwork, event planning, customer service, payments and everything in between for you so you can just focus on how to have a fun event for you and your guests.

We’re here to help others share that special something that we love about cruising with friends, family and the community so let us know how we can help!