Secrets Guaranteed to Stretch Your Special Events Budget

Budget.  Like it or not you have to have one in order to plan any special event.  While cruising sounds exotic, and certainly grabs the attention of potential attendees, many group organizers don’t realize that a group cruise can actually be less expensive than holding the same event on land.  Let’s take a look at the numbers:

	Hotel*	Cruise – Ocean view cabin**
Room Cost	$1,838.62	$1,435.82
Meeting Room Cost ($300/day)	$900.00	$0
Microphone/Flipchart/Screen ($75/day)	$225	$0
Breakfast ($10/person/day)	$140.00	$0
Lunch ($10/person/day)	$140.00	$0
Dinner ($25/person/day)	$350.00	$0
Cocktail Party ($20/person/day – 2-parties)	$40.00	$20
Entertainment/shows ($15/person/day)	$210.00	$0
Activiities for non-attending family members	$350.00	$0
Total	$4,193.62	$1,455.82

*Room, equipment & meal costs based on  RIU Florida Beach Hotel

 ** 7-night cruise for 2 – oceanview cabin, NCL (December sailing)

Want to extend your budget still further?    Here are our top five suggestions:

1.      Choose an off-season sailing date:  Cruises, like the rest of the leisure travel industry, are at their highest price when children are on school vacation.  “Shoulder season” (just before they get out for the summer and just after they go back in the fall) is a bit lower, but the real bargains are to be had when most people are at work and most children are in school – the first week in December is when you’ll find the best rates of the year.  A cabin that may go for $999  per person during the summer can easily be had for $799 during the first week of December.

2.      Sail from a port close to home:  This one’s a no-brainer, the less travel distance to the port, the less expense.  With cruises now sailing from over 20 different US ports, more options are available every year, ask your cruise planner about ports close to you.

3.      Look for itineraries with lots of competition:  When you have several ships sailing similar itineraries during the same season, the pressure for the ships to fill berths is intense.  In the 2014 winter season there will be over 50,000 berths to fill each week in the Caribbean.  Larger groups may be able to use this as leverage in negotiating rates, cruise lines like nothing better than knowing far in advance that their ships will be filled, but don’t expect to negotiate for groups under 50 cabins.

4.      Take advantage of GAP points:  This is not something that will get you free jeans and hoodies.  GAP stands for Group Amenity Points in cruisespeak (like all industries, we have our own language).  Points are assigned to each sailing by the cruise line.  You can use these points to purchase cocktail parties for the group, bottles of wine in cabin, cabin upgrades, dinners in specialty restaurants, etc.)  By booking well in advance (more than one year) you can sometimes take advantage of bonus GAP points above and beyond what you will normally get.   

5.       Consider 3 & 4-night sailings:  In today’s non-stop world, it can be difficult for people to get away for an entire week.  Three and four-night sailings will save you money, keep the excitement level high, and have guests go home wishing for more!

6.     Take full advantage of “free” berths.  For every eight cabins booked in a group, most cruise lines will allow one free berth for a “tour conductor”.  Book 16 cabins and you get two berths for free (two berths is one cabin).  The cruise line will reimburse the value of these berths after the sailing.

Want more money saving tips?  Contact us to help plan your next special event at sea!



Dorothy Flannery is president of Top Sail Journeys If you would like to learn more about event cruises contact her at dorothy@topsailjourneys.com, to learn about river cruise information please see http://cruisethedanube.com and http://cruisetherhine.com.