Earning your Free Cruise

June 28, 2008 - PRLog -- Cruise for free? Yes, it’s possible and it’s not as hard as you might think. Jerry Moore of New York, NY. For years, Moore had wanted to cruise with his family members for a reunion. After he talked to an accredited cruise counsellor at Cruise Planners in Brooklyn, New York about his group cruise idea, Moore decided to start promoting and reserve a group of cabins on a Carnival Miracle cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. Moore sent fliers with the cruise information to his family. His main goal was to get as his family members to sign up to have a great vacation; a second goal was to entice enough friends to book so he could earn free passage under Carnival’s group policy.

What happened? Moore was able to cruise for free when 31 people signed up. As the organizer of the group, Moore became the designated “group leader.” Group leaders work with a Certified Cruise Counsellor at a travel agency to make all the travel and onboard arrangements; their primary jobs are recruitment and communication.

The only thing you need is to find someone to travel together and an excuse to go: friends, birthday, anniversary, wedding, non-profit organization, fraternities, sororities, college reunion — or just plain fun. Sign up enough people and you will pay no fare.

Cruise lines like Carnival, Celebrity, Disney, Holland America, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Princess, define a group cruise as a minimum of 16 fully-paid people occupying eight double cabins (third and fourth passengers in a cabin are allowed, but they do not count toward the total). The 16th person (the group leader) cruises free on the cruise fare portion. However, free guests must pay applicable government taxes and fees, port charges, fuel supplement charge, travel insurance, gratuities, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, shopping, shore excursions, and airfare to the port requested.

Getting a free cruise fare is one thing; getting a free cabin is another thing. For that you need to book twice as many people and cabins. “16 is the magic number,” says Accredited Cruise Counsellor group cruise specialist, Kenneth Chow of Cruise Planners in Brooklyn, N.Y. “Sixteen people means the 16th person cruises free; 16 cabins means the 16th cabin is free.”

Off-peak sailings sometimes offer more generous terms, with some cruise lines offering groups a free fare to every 10th or 14th person. Generally, higher-end cruise lines like Cunard require fewer paid fares to qualify than do the more mainstream cruise lines.

Sail together, save together

OK, so the group leader can make out like a bandit, but what about the other group travelers? They can benefit, too. For one thing, group rates are sometimes lower than individual rates. Another way is to divide the free cruise fare evenly among the group member to save each group member's money.

There is a caveat of being a tour conductor. You will have to keep extensive records and have good communication skills to keep the information flowing between the Certified Cruise Counsellor and your group members. Yes, the travel agency will do most of the work — including making bookings, tracking payments, making stateroom assignments and setting up special onboard events — but you are the one folks will turn to when things go wrong, crying, “Look what you got us into!”

Jerry Moore and his friends had a terrific time on their group cruise. Moore says it was a lot of work, but the payoff was great: “I cruised for free. How cool is that?” He says he can’t wait to do it again. In fact, he is thinking of having his football buddies to come along.