Genesis Cruisers - Is Anyone Staying A Night Pre Cruise?

Just doing an informal poll, if there is enough interest in a pre-cruise stay in Fort Lauderdale, maybe Host Ivanova (Susan) can get us a group rate on a hotel.

I'm all for arriving early, yes I'm interested in one night

Can't believe no one put this poll up sooner! Yes, we want to arrive early too. One night for sure but, willing to take two nights if necessary.

Also, I just want to point out, this will probably be a huge event with media coverage, if we want a hotel, now is the time to really get moving on this as I'm sure it's going to be at a premium, we're talking the largest cruise ship ever built taking it's inaugural sailing. There are going to be lots of people seeing this ship off.

Cruise Virgin Vinnie wrote:

Can't believe no one put this poll up sooner! Yes, we want to arrive early too. One night for sure but, willing to take two nights if necessary.

Also, I just want to point out, this will probably be a huge event with media coverage, if we want a hotel, now is the time to really get moving on this as I'm sure it's going to be at a premium, we're talking the largest cruise ship ever built taking it's inaugural sailing. There are going to be lots of people seeing this ship off.

Excellent point!

The only problem is not everyone is going to want the same category hotel. I think it's a great idea in theory, just not sure if we'll get enough people interested in the same arrival date for the same hotel.

Kenny, with so much interest, we might have enough people for groups in a variety of hotels! Didn't you get the update saying there were 100 or so people signed up as interested in this sailing. I'm sure there will be interest enough for at least one group at a hotel.

Also interested in one night pre-cruise

Yes, we always arrive one or two days early so if you get a group and select a hotel we'd normally book, we'd be interested too

Depends on the hotel selected

More than likely interested

Once we know the exact dates of the inaugural it will be possible to call hotels for group quotes. Typically we need a minimum of 10 rooms for a hotel to consider it a group. Based on how many people want to fly in early (always a good idea) we might be able to secure hotel space at more than one hotel.

And Vinnie is right - because this is an inaugural, we will want to secure the space as soon as we can.

How does a group hotel work exactly? Is there a deposit or do we pre-pay or just it work like a regular individual reservation and we get billed at check-in?

Dawns,

It varies between hotel chains. Some require a deposit upfront, others just want a c/c to guarantee the group (but nothing is charged), in which case I'd use an agency c/c to guarantee it.

Host Ivanova, when you book a group hotel do you normally go with the cruise line hotels or should we start a poll on the hotel we might like to book?

Josh,

I tend to have better luck (and better pricing) working directly with the hotels on group space, and not going through the cruise lines. By all means we can start a poll to find out where folks want to stay (assuming they want to come in early).