Questions about CC meetings onboard

[mim100]

Hi everyone....our cruise is coming up fast and we'd like to meet the other CC'rs on our roll call thread....can you tell me how the CC meetings are organized? who needs to initiate it? who do we talk to ? do we wait until we're on board before we make any arrangements? thanks ! :D

[serendipity1499]

The person who starts the Roll Call Thread is the one who makes the arrangements to meet on board.. They might even ask for help of another person on the roll call if you have a large group..If the group is small the organizer picks a place to meet & advises you all of the arrangements..

If there are more than a dozen participants, they probably will contact HAL before hand to arrange a meeting area & then give all those on the the roll call thread the date/time/place..

Usually the best time for a meet & greet is the first sea day just prior to or just after lunch..HAL might even be willing to supply soft drinks, coffee & nibbles for your meet & greet if the group is large enough even though they don't officially recognize CC as RCL does....Once on board the Roll Call organizer will contact the HM for confirmation of the arrangements....The organizer may be required to supply cabin Numbers & names of the CC participants which can be done by the others through e-mail to the organizer..It's not a smart idea to put names or cabin No.'s on the CC board...

Many posters here have been able to invite some of the officers join the meeting if there is a large enough group, but it's not guaranteed..It also depends on what ship you will be on..Believe Mr. Deering is the HM on the Oosterdam & he regularly meets with CC groups..

[serendipity1499]

MM...Just found your roll call thread & realize the person EMT who started the thread has not been posting..Suggestions: Set up a special free e-mail for yourself on either Yahoo or AOL..Don't use your regular e-mail & ask those on your roll call to e-mail you with their names, where from & cabin No.'s..Then call Ships Services & ask who the peron is that is in charge of setting up special meetings on board..Be sure that person knows that you do not want to pay for anything just get together for a meet & greet..If you have a dozen or so they might give you refreshments, but don't let them chargfe them to you..Also ask them who the HM is on the ship..Contact him when you board & reconfirm..If your group is small you can meet in the Crows Nest or one of the othside bars on Lido deck..You should do this in the next week or so, as the HAL contact person in Seattle has to contact the HM in advance..Also someone on this board may even be able to give you the name of the person to contact in Seattle..Good luck & have a wonderful time..We've been through the canal several times & it always is exciting for us

:) Betty

[Sale Away]

It really depends on who takes the ball on organizing. I wound up doing it for my sailing this weekend. Which ship are you sailing on?

[mim100]

Betty....thanks so much for all the great info.....I'll post on the roll call thread and see what the interest is....not a big group at the moment so it will probably be at one of the bars

Sale Away....we're on the Zuiderdam, leaving FLL on Apr 22....our first cruise....can't wait !! :)

[Sale Away]

Our Roll Call was slow to respond too. Just start posting. It only takes one person to get it going. ;)
Have a great time on your sailing!

[the2ofus]

Mim100, I found that our roll call was fairly quiet too, until I actually said that I had contacted the HAL OnBoard services rep and there was a time and place for the Meet & Greet. After that, folks started e-mailing me their name & cabin number.

From 10 originally our numbers have jumped to 26 and I hope to have a few more before we sail.

My confirmation of reservation for the meeting room states that I should contact the Purser when I board in order to finalize details.

By the way, I have friends sailing with you on 4/22. They will be found wherever there is good dance music. He is tall and balding, she is of medium height with short light hair. They dance beautifully together. Say Hi, to Mary and Dave from me.

[hawgwildterry]

mim100,

As the others have posted, it really is not a big deal to set up the CC M&G. Our April 14 Oosterdam roll call had stalled and I took over the planning. I contacted Ship Service's in Seattle and it was taken care of by them. I received a confirmation email from HAL giving me the date/time/location that I had requested. We now have 23 people in our group and I would expect a 'lurker' or two to also show up.
I went so far as to print invitations for the Meet & Greet as HAL wanted $20 to do it. Everything else like refreshments and nibbles are provvided free by HAL.
All and all it was no biggie to get everthing organized. I would do it again as working with HAL has been a pleasure.
I even received a email from the Hotel Manager letting me know that he was personally making sure that all arraignments were being taken care of.

Terry

hogwildterry@hotmail.com

[bankerbabe]

I emailed the following text to HAL_Ship_Services@hollandamerica.com
(note that there are _ between the words HAL, Ship, and Services)

I am booked on the [insert name of ship] for the [insert # of days] day sailing beginning on [insert embarkation date] , 2007. I am a member of Cruise Critics. We have a group of [# of people signed onto roll call] signed into our Roll Call on the Cruise Critic Board, though at this point that number is likely to increase.

We would like to set up a “Meet & Greet” for our group during our first day at sea, ____[insert date here] , for mid afternoon in the Crow's Nest (not to interfere with any Mariner events as there are Mariners in our group). If possible, we would like to have some minimal or no cost refreshments served.

We would like to extend an invitation to the Captain and Hotel Manager. Please let me know if there is anything else that I need to provide.

Thank you in advance for your help.

They were very helpful and quickly responded with a confirmation letter. I plan to take that confirmation letter with me, so that I can present it to the ship's staff once onboard to ensure that they follow through.

Hope that this helps. Enjoy your cruise!

[mim100]

the2ofus...thanks for the info..I'll see if there's interest on the Roll Call....and I'll definitely watch for Mary & Dave and say hi to them

Terry...how did you get the invites to the CC'rs....was this done onboard or did you email them?

[jtl513]

Suggestions: Set up a special free e-mail for yourself on either Yahoo or AOL..Don't use your regular e-mail ...Many ISPs, such as my bellsouth.net, allow the use of "aliases" that are easily discarded when they are no longer needed, or begin to have any sort of problem. My jtloncc @ bellsouth.net is not my "permanent" email, but any mail sent there is picked up by Outlook Express as if it had been sent to my regular address! :)

[mim100]

bankerbabe...we were posting at the same time....thanks so much for that format....you've made it very easy for me !! I'll copy/paste the whole thing into my "cruise planning stuff"...thanks again..

[mim100]

Many ISPs, such as my bellsouth.net, allow the use of "aliases" that are easily discarded when they are no longer needed, or begin to have any sort of problem. My jtloncc @ bellsouth.net is not my "permanent" email, but any mail sent there is picked up by Outlook Express as if it had been sent to my regular address! :)

thanks John, I was wondering about that...:)

[hawgwildterry]

mim100,

Aftee learning that HAL wanted $20 to print the invitations, I went to a local store and purchased a twenty pack of blank greeting card stock with envelopes for less than $10.
I posted on the CC Roll-Call Board that anyone wishing to attend the Meet & Greet to either post their intentions on the board or send me an email. I also asked for everyone to provide a short bio about themselves so that we knew a little about each other. Everyone provided a bio and the majority posted their stateroom number. Some emailed me their stateroom numbers and I fully understand their reasoning.
Using MS Publisher I created a personalized invitation that I think is pretty nice. I printed individual envelopes with their names and stateroom numbers. Everyone will be personally handed their invitation at the 3PM San Diego CC Banner Wave from the ship or I will deliver them to their stateroom by late Saturday afternoon.
I know that inviations were not required and that those interested in the Meet & Greet could read about it on the Roll-Call Board. However, for my wife and I, cruising is something very special for us. I just thought the personalized inviations were a nice touch.

Terry

[GayleArc]

Terry. We have been to anumber of Meet anf Greets on HAL and they always do a nice job. I think your idea of persionalized invitations are a real nice
addition. Everyone will feel really welcome. Enojy. Gayle

[serendipity1499]

Many ISPs, such as my bellsouth.net, allow the use of "aliases" that are easily discarded when they are no longer needed, or begin to have any sort of problem. My jtloncc @ bellsouth.net is not my "permanent" email, but any mail sent there is picked up by Outlook Express as if it had been sent to my regular address! :)

JTL..You are right, I had completely forgotten about that..;) I even have a couple of e-mail addresses on my ISP..One I use only for shopping...LOL

The invitation is a nice touch.. I made up a sign about the CC meet & greet & posted it on our door with that stickum for posters..Looks like clay, can't remember what it's called..CRS is kicking in..

Happy cruising all...:) Betty

[bepsf]

These are great hints, since I'm in charge of setting up the Meet & Greet for Eurodam...
...thanks for posting them!

I've been posting folks real first-names and stateroom numbers in my Roll-Call rosters (if folks have been OK w/ providing them) so we can all know where everyone else is located in case someone wants to plan an impromptu party or just find some pals from CC.com to go do stuff with.

Door signs also are a big help to identify our CC friend's staterooms. Our previous groups have distributed these during the Meet & Greet parties - the corridor walls are steel, therefore they will hold magnetic document sleeves/magnetized tape. Plus, the newer ships have little mailboxes on the walls next to the stateroom doors, so it's also much easier to drop off little notes and invites.
:)

HAL also has a little form that we've used in the past to connect CC'ers reservations so that we can arrange for group tables - but as long as you can provide the Shipservices coordinator for your ship with a roster of names (real ones, first and last), stateroom numbers and reservation numbers - they can help arrange this for you.

[jtl513]

Door signs also are a big help to identify our CC friend's staterooms.CC sells a 2"x3.5" refrigerator magnet for $2.50 that fits nicely on the door jamb. (See CC Logowear in the page header.) But put it up high enough that small kids can't reach it. :D

You can also get the "official" door sign at www.cruisecritic.com/doorsign.pdf , but you would have to put the time/place on it yourself.

[sab490]

I, too, thank you all for these great tips. I will be the organizer for our 12/1 Noordam meet & greet. It will be hard to fill the shoes of Navy_Chief who did a fantastic job on our Noordam cruise last year, but I will give it a shot! ;)

[bethaniesmom]

one comment on the meet and greets.....we have been to several, met some great people....however, do not be personally offended if alot of people that say they are going to attend, never show! we went to one that had about six people show, actually more cruise staff showed up than CC members...but we had a good time, the crew was very friendly and informative about their ship, seemed genuinely interested in our previous cruises!

Beverly

[jtl513]

one comment on the meet and greets.....we have been to several, met some great people....however, do not be personally offended if alot of people that say they are going to attend, never show! we went to one that had about six people show, actually more cruise staff showed up than CC members...but we had a good time, the crew was very friendly and informative about their ship, seemed genuinely interested in our previous cruises!

BeverlyAnd sometimes it goes the other way: at ours nearly everyone showed up, and one even brought along someone that they met who wasn't even a CC member yet! And no officers showed. :(

[mim100]

Terry...the invitations were a great thing for you to do...sounds like you had fun doing it too !! ....what's the CC banner wave...is that something special to San Diego, or in all homeports? sounds like something else to organize !!! :D

[hot4disney]

Thanks for all the tips. I was the first to post the thread about our cruise on the Oosterdam in May...guess I'll try to keep it going... it has been a rather quiet thread but with a few nice groups of people responding. Personally I dont mind if it's a small group as long as everyone mingles and contributes to conversation.

Love all the HM info, thanks so much! We are getting that "getting close to leaving on a cruise" feeling!!! I want to start packing already!

[hawgwildterry]

mim100,

The 3pm Wave is something that takes place in San Diego. There is a webcam that is dedicated to the cruise terminal area that can be controlled by you. Not certain, but I think the 3pm Wave may be something unique to HAL cruisers. I would guess that there may be something similar happening with the other cruise lines that use the San Diego terminal.

Here is a link to the website:

http://live6.truelook.com/face/newface.jsp?func=live&name=/ecodb/sandiego/oneamerica2&pan=-101.48572&tilt=-12.994281&panfov=19.214195&tiltfov=14.976375&overlay=default&skin=default&useapplet=true&time=1175358137851&width=640&height=480&quality=60&catalogname=catalog&imagemap.x=-181&imagemap.y=-136&imagemap.w=1003&imagemap.h=752

Terry

[mim100]

hawgwild...thanks for the info & the link.....I went out there and it looks like a HAL ship at the dock...wonder which one it is....

[dvdfreakmc]

Great topic and tips. I put up a roll call for our June 16th sailing from Seattle and had a few "join", so I guess I better get the ball rolling on a get together -- thanks again for letting us know how to organize something. THANKS.