Genesis pre-planning

While I was in Ft Lauderdale last week for the cruise3sixty convention, I had a chance to talk to a couple of the sales managers for area hotels. They are all eager to work with pre-cruise groups, but of course we cannot set up anything without dates from RCCL. Each hotel has a limit as to how many rooms can be set aside for groups, so depending on our group size and the hotel limitations we may have to use more than one hotel.

I also spoke with a local bus company (that can provide transportation to group events). At the very least I'm thinking they will be the way to go for transportation to the cruise terminal the morning of the cruise ... otherwise we'll overwhelm the hotels (the ones that offer shuttles that is) or go nuts trying to arrange for a multitude of taxi cabs.

I also spoke with someone at the Seminole Hard Rock which works with groups of 25 or larger ... they'll provide free transportation to their property and give everyone a gaming voucher, in return you need to spend about 4 hours on property (of course they hope you are spending that time gambling).

As for finding out anything about the cruise itself ... noting, nada, zip ... maybe late May or early June they'll start releasing tidbits of information ... they won't even commit at this point to whether or not group space will be available (although it's been available on previous inaugural cruises, they are qualifying themselves by saying "Genesis is different...." "Genesis is unique....")

We're all patiently waiting!! Thanks for the great report!!

Thanks for the update!

Did anyone ever follow up with pre-cruise activities like that ferry boat and dinner idea? Any other suggestion for the night before boarding?

Former Cruise Critic wrote:

Did anyone ever follow up with pre-cruise activities like that ferry boat and dinner idea? Any other suggestion for the night before boarding?

That paddle boat seemed to have very mixed reviews and I think the idea kind of fizzled out. It was good in theory! If anyone plans on arriving TWO days in advance, I'd like to suggest a day trip to the Miami Zoo or maybe one of the those swamp boat tours. Any other suggestions?

Karl,

Without specific dates it's difficult to do much follow up - the various vendors cannot really commit to availability or pricing until we can tell them exact dates for when we want to do anything.

Are the hotels bracing for spectators along with those of us who will actually be sailing?

Anna,

I'm not sure if the hotels have yet realized exactly how HUGE this is going to be.

Are you still accepting pre-booking reservations for Genesis?

Yes, we are still accepting the prebooking reservations....

I'd like to suggest doing something at Las Olas Riverfront... There are restaurants, movies and a few shops.