Here is our list of the best team building cruise ideas for work.
Team building cruise ideas are activities or events that foster unity and team spirit on a fun boat voyage. Examples include brainstorming scavenger hunts, building challenges, or a simple and fun game of cannonball volley. These activities promote healthy interaction among coworkers on cruises and eventually bring about overall team improvement.
These entertainment ideas are examples of awesome team building activities you can do onboard.
This list includes:
- team building cruise games
- team building activities on a boat
- corporate cruise activities
By the way, you can book your team cruise on CruiseSheet — the #1 cruise search engine.
Let’s get to it!
List of team building cruise ideas
Planning a successful team building cruise remains a challenge to most employers. One of the main problems organizers face is finding the right activities to interest coworkers. From scavenger hunts to painting, here is a list of ideas for team building cruises guaranteed to engage and relax team members.
1. Scavenger Hunt
A scavenger hunt is a great way to take a break from regularly scheduled cruise programming. You can get your team members pumped and entertained as they try to find hidden items at the cruise venue. Excitement is good for team bonding and cooperation as the team members must work together to find items.
If you have a large group, then you can divide participants into teams.
Here is a checklist you can follow to set up the hunt:
- Make a list of hidden items. You can provide clues or riddles players have to solve to find the objects.
- Hide the items around the ship. Have each team or team member search for the items.
- The team or employee that finds the most items at the end of the allotted time wins the game.
Scavenger hunts are customizable to the environment.
Examples:
A. Mental Scavenger Hunt
Depending on the type of cruise you’re on, the classic scavenger hunt may not be feasible. For example, there are not a lot of places to hide items on a yacht or cruise ship.
Mental scavenger hunts can be just as fun as the classic version. Instead of items, you can hide puzzles and riddles at different stations for the teams to solve. The team that solves the most puzzles after the specific time limit wins the game.
B. Photo Scavenger Hunt
The photo scavenger hunt is an interesting variation of the classic game. Team members take pictures of prompts. For example, people in matching shirts, a group of people laughing, or even a type of bird. The first team to take all these pictures emerges as the winner.
Remember to keep the game simple and carry everyone along during the planning.
2. Use What You Have Challenge
Use What You Have is a great way to spark employee creativity. Teams receive the same supplies to complete a project. Each team gets a problematic scenario to solve using the supplies.
A good example is to give each team some straws and tape and tell them to devise a device that can hold an egg. No team can test their device until it is time to judge. Cruise games like this challenge team members to think outside the box because players must develop creative solutions with limited means. This kind of problem-solving is a crucial skill for employees.
3. Solve A Problem
Solve A Problem is a game where you engage the critical thinking skills of your group by dividing them into teams and asking them to come up with tough problems for other teams to solve. Teams will pick problems out of a hat. Each team has a specific amount of time to come up with a solution to the problem, and no team should solve a problem that it came up with.
After 30 minutes, each team presents and defends its solutions. It is best to keep a light mood during these games as you might hear some interesting or outrightly funny solutions.
4. What Makes You Tick
This game involves taking personality tests. Personality tests like DiSC or True Colors will explain each team member’s personality type and offer guidance on how to deal with other personality types.
Learning about each other strengthens relationships, which enhances team output. This exercise also reduces conflict among team members. Understanding each other’s preferences and triggers reduces the likelihood of clashes among employees. You can take this cruise idea further by inviting a professional to explain the test and different personality types. However, remember to keep the mood light and try to think of the game as a slightly deeper getting To know each other game.
5. Show And Tell
Each team member is unique. The goal of Show and Tell is to learn about those peculiarities. Team members bring an item they love and show it to the team, while telling them about it in under two minutes. The game is a great way for team members to learn about each other outside the workplace.
You can give each team member a heads-up to pack an item, video, or picture of an event to show to the team. Tamara from Marketing may talk about their trip to the North Pole. Maneesh from accounting may want to show their baseball card collection. Show and Tell can set the tone for the rest of the cruise if you start with the game. The game can get a little personal, but that is okay. Team members usually discover common interests, begin bonding, and get closer throughout the cruise.
6. The Guess My Name Game
Guess My Name is a game to improve communication among team members. For this game, you will need small pieces of paper, a pen, and tape.
Here are the steps to follow:
- Write the name of a famous person or place on paper.
- Tape the paper to the back of each player. No team member can know the name they carry on their back.
- Have players quiz each other, trying to guess whose names they carry.
The game is bound to spark conversations going among team members who may not normally connect during work hours.
7. LEGO Building Challenge
A LEGO building challenge is a good way to build trust and enhance teamwork. This cruise game brings out the youthful side of your team members while emphasizing communication, cooperation, patience, and problem-solving skills.
How to play:
- Pick a team member to be the team leader.
- Show the team leaders a picture of a structure built with Legos.
- The team leader goes back to their respective teams and directs the teams to build the exact structure they saw.
- The team with the structure closest to the original wins.
The time frame should be between 40 minutes to 1 hour, and each group can be five to seven members.
8. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower
A good tower challenge spices up a team building cruise. You will need uncooked spaghetti sticks, tape, and marshmallows for this exercise. Each team gets the same number of materials.
The game’s goal is to build a structure and place the marshmallow on top. The winning team is the first to build a structure that stands for at least five seconds without assistance. The task can be extra challenging since boats are not completely steady on the move. Hence, teams have to build structures that are stable enough to withstand the gentle rocking of a boat. Whichever team completes the task first deserves a prize.
9. Limbo
Limbo is a cruise ship favorite, and the game is adaptable for team building. First, team members line up. Two folks hold a rod or rope parallel to the ground, and players try to pass under the rod ’limbo-style’ without touching the bar or falling to the ground. Be sure to start with the bar high, so players can easily pass. Then lower the rod for each new round. If you split coworkers into teams, then you can crown the team that lasts the longest as the winner. Thankfully, this is one of the easiest team building cruise games to execute and does not need many props.
10. Musical Chairs
While musical chairs might seem like a child’s game, you might be surprised to see how many folks let out their inner youngster on a cruise. This game tends to bring out friendly competition.
For this game, you will need chairs that are one number less than the number of participants. For example, you will need eleven seats if you have twelve participants.
- Set up the chairs in a circle with their backs to each other.
- Participants dance around the chairs, and when the music stops, they all sit. The teammate left standing will automatically be out of the game.
- Remove a chair when one player leaves until it’s just one person seated. This person emerges as the winner.
A small reward is usually all you need to spark a competitive spirit.
11. Find My Other Half
Find My Other Half prompts communication among team members. Write halves of a common pair of things, like salt and pepper or Paris and Eiffel Tower on two pieces of paper. Then give one paper to each participant. Players can start mingling and asking questions while trying to find their other half. The first pair to identify themselves wins the game.
12. Interesting Connections
Interesting Connections is the best way for unfamiliar team members to get to know each other. In this activity, participants get some time to find a common connection with each team member. The game is ideal for both small and large teams. The connection should be personal, not work-related. For example, Mary from Customer Service and Jewan from IT might find that they both love arcade games or murder mystery movies. You can start the game by giving some examples, so all participants are on the same page. This game is great to play during cruise ship dinners to spark mealtime conversations.
13. Cannonball Volleyball
Cannonball Volleyball is bound to get participants out of their shells.
You will need:
- Balloons
- Water
- A volleyball net
- A large piece of cloth big enough for a team to hold
If you do not have a volleyball net, then you can draw a line between the two teams. Each team gets a bucket of balloons filled with water. A team serves the “cannonball” to the other side, and the other team tries to receive the balloon with the piece large fabric and send it over the net to the other side. Cannonball volleyball encourages team members to communicate and work together as they must move in unison.
14. Name That Tune
The Name That Tune Game is an oldie but a goodie. This game only requires a DJ and music-savvy team members. The DJ plays different songs, and the teams are to write down the name of the songs on a sheet of paper. The team with the highest number of correct guesses wins the game. Boat cruises should be fun, and music is an excellent way to organically add entertainment to get participants in the mood.
15. Minefield
Minefield is one of the best team building ideas for enhancing trust and collaboration among team members. The game imitates an actual minefield where players must be careful not to step on traps. The difference is that players will be blindfolded, and the “mines” can be any available safe objects placed on the floor.
The game starts with participants falling into different teams of two players. One player wears a blindfold and steps into the minefield. The other player then tries to guide the blindfolded player through the minefield by talking them through it. To spice the game up, have multiple teams on the “minefield” at once, so the players have to make an effort to concentrate on their partner’s voice alone.
16. Concentration
Concentration is a simple, easy-to-execute team building and bonding activity. First, divide participants into two teams and have players face each other.
One team will study the details of the folks on the other line. Then the group will close their eyes. While their eyes are closed, the other team changes five things about their appearance in total. The changes could be subtle, like removing jewelry, or bold, like switching jackets. The first team then opens their eyes and tries to spot the changes that have taken place. After the first team is done spotting differences, they stand in line while the other team observes them. The team that spots the most changes wins the game.
17. Human Knot
The Human Knot is one of the simplest team building activities on a boat. The game is ideal for a team larger than six people but less than fifteen. The game starts with participants standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a circle. Then, each player puts their right hand forward and grabs someone’s hand. The same goes for the left hand.
The rules of this game are:
- No one should hold the hands of people next to them
- Every player should be holding two different people’s hands.
- When the participants form the knot, have them untangle themselves without letting go of their hands.
There is not much competition here, but players are bound to have a lot of fun together.
18. The Never-Ending Story
The Never-Ending Story game is a good way to provoke creative thinking in a team building event. One team member starts a story and then stops ending with “suddenly.” Then another player continues the story, also ending with “suddenly.” This pattern continues until the plot comes to a natural end. Participants should try to make the story as long as possible so that each player can contribute.
Never-ending stories are great if you’ve had to plan a last-minute cruise. The game does not require any major preparation, effort, or props. All you need are the people on the boat. The game is perfect for rounding off a game night on a cruise. Participants can play the game while sitting in a circle on the deck under the night sky before calling it a night.
19. Picasso Pairs
With Picasso Pairs, your team creates memories and take home souvenirs of their time together. For this activity, you will need paint, paintbrushes and a canvass. Drawing books and pencils or pens can work just fine as well.
Once you have divided the group into pairs, show one partner the object they are to draw. This partner guides the other partner by describing the object part by part. Under no circumstances is the first partner permitted to outrightly say what the object is. The partner is only allowed to describe with words, and no, gestures are not allowed.
20. Play Team Or Board Games
Classic board games are great team building cruise ideas. Nothing bonds a team faster than making real-life decisions in Monopoly. Divide the group into teams and have them play a board game tournament. Most cruise ships already have ample board games on board. To make this activity extra fun, you could even pack a few oversize board games to play on deck.
Conclusion
Team building cruise activities might be fun, yet it can be challenging for the organizers to decide on activities to meet the goal of enhancing team bonding. Team building activities promote collaboration, good relations, and overall team productiveness.
Regardless of the type of cruise or the size of your team, there is surely an activity for you. To get the most out of these cruises, choose some of our suggested games above and plan everything ahead. You can also carry team members along in your cruise planning, so everyone has fun on the water. Happy bonding!
Speaking of ships, learn about William Brown’s historic sinking.
