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What makes you stick with or leave a Roll Call?


Karysa
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I join the Roll Call to meet the people I will be sailing with and to find private tours. There are usually a couple f people I have previously sailed with.

 

I have not dropped out of any Roll Calls. I guess it would take one or more particularly obnoxious people taking it over to run me off.

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My currrent roll call is only my second one (did not know about cruise boards before that). I have been lucky to have been on two very active roll calls (the first one had over 2600 posts and the current one - still ongoing - has almost 2000). If I were on a really slow one, I might lose interest. Also, if there were personality issues on the roll call, I might quit. It's great when the people on a roll call just seem to become friends from the start. There is at least one roll call on CC still active for a cruise that sailed almost six years ago!

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I join the Roll Call to meet the people I will be sailing with and to find private tours. There are usually a couple f people I have previously sailed with.

 

I have not dropped out of any Roll Calls. I guess it would take one or more particularly obnoxious people taking it over to run me off.

 

I've never left a roll call and have found them helpful for the most part. My current roll call is slow, but will surely pick up as the weeks go by.

 

On my first roll call I was able to identify the "obnoxious" one by her aviator photo when I arrived at the terminal. So I did not attend the CC meeting and made sure for the rest of the cruise that I could keep my distance. By the way we had a fantastic cruise and are now hooked!

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We always join the roll call and go to the M & M for the opportunity to meet people - in particular if we are sailing alone. But there is no commitment to "bond" with anyone if the connections turn out not to be there. Some Roll Calls have more energy and show more individual personalities than others.

 

However on the last few cruises we have met people with whom we have remained friends and will sail again. In fact two of our next three booked cruises we are sailing with people we have met through the Roll Call on previous cruises.

Edited by leaveitallbehind
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I stopped going to roll calls when I started to read about cabin crawls, gift exchanges, slot pulls, someone became a bit too controlling of everyone, the demand for cabin numbers and full names........ Some of it turned me off.

 

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I stopped going to roll calls when I started to read about cabin crawls, gift exchanges, slot pulls, someone became a bit too controlling of everyone, the demand for cabin numbers and full names........ Some of it turned me off.

 

 

I understand the possible turn off, however that doesn't speak for all of them or IMO create a reason not to participate at all. Many roll calls will arrange some or all of the above - but they are all voluntary. We have frequently opted out of these events but still participated in the roll call and have met people from them. The personalities of a few don't necessarily define the entire roll call. What kind and how much info you provide and what you choose to do is entirely up to you - no one can demand of you something you don't wish to do. But it is a personal choice whether you want to be part of the roll call or not and I'm not challenging your personal decision.

Edited by leaveitallbehind
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When I feel I am not comfortable doing/participating in what the majority seem enthusiastic about, I am the exception and should bow out rather than be the 'wet rag' to the group. If they all want t-shirts and cabin crawls etc, they is just what they should do. If that is not my (and my DH's) style, that is our problem and not the group for us. JMO.....

 

That is NOT to say there aren't many great folks we likely would very much enjoy in the group but why remain active in a group where we are the 'misfits'?

 

Edited by sail7seas
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Longer cruises like transatlantics have been the most active I've participated in, and I've really benefited from the planning for shore excursions and forming smaller tours than those the ships provide at greatly higher prices.

 

i have found that things click well with some and others are more aggravating at times, but mostly i enjoy learning more about the upcoming cruise by reading posts, and participating in planning is a great prelude to the cruise.

 

i have found most meet and greet meetings to be a bore - i have been disappointed when the meetings are in lounges with tables that groups sit at and there is no or little mingling. I wont do any more gift exchanges or slot pulls because they were fairly disappointing events.

 

Bottom line, i love the planning opportunities before the cruise, and have enjoyed the opportunity for smaller groups on tours, but onboard the only CC contacts that have influenced my cruise experience are those that are in the same tour groups with me.

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Cliques, Facebook shoot-offs and too much togetherness arranged on board are turn-offs to me.

 

I have joined to see about my teens meeting other teens on board and in hopes of finding great excursions to join. I have not been very successful with either though.

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When I feel I am not comfortable doing/participating in what the majority seem enthusiastic about, I am the exception and should bow out rather than be the 'wet rag' to the group. If they all want t-shirts and cabin crawls etc, they is just what they should do. If that is not my (and my DH's) style, that is our problem and not the group for us. JMO.....

 

That is NOT to say there aren't many great folks we likely would very much enjoy in the group but why remain active in a group where we are the 'misfits'?

 

 

 

Somehow I don't think that this is what the majority wants. I have been on active roll calls that pretty much grind to a halt for days when someone mentions things like t-shirts and cabin crawls.

I can see how on a TA cruise that has 4 sea days in a row such activities may be a welcome change but on a port intensive Med cruise or a cruise with only 1 or 2 sea days I just have better things to fill my time with.

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When I feel I am not comfortable doing/participating in what the majority seem enthusiastic about, I am the exception and should bow out rather than be the 'wet rag' to the group. If they all want t-shirts and cabin crawls etc, they is just what they should do. If that is not my (and my DH's) style, that is our problem and not the group for us. JMO.....

 

That is NOT to say there aren't many great folks we likely would very much enjoy in the group but why remain active in a group where we are the 'misfits'?

 

 

I'm right there with you. I'm cruising to visit other locations, relax, enjoy myself. I'm not cruising to join a group of people who try to coerce me into wearing a group Tshirt, join their excursion so they can go for free, etc… If others like that stuff, fine. Maybe my cruises have just had bad roll calls...

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I always join my roll call, and try to chat. I attend the M&G. I've done excursions with other roll call members. I've become friends with someone I've met on an early roll call, and we have cruised sharing a cabin.

 

Sometimes they work out well, and sometimes they don't. All a roll of the dice...

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i joined the roll call for our last cruise and went along to the meet and greet. To be honest i wouldn't bother with the meet and greet next time as both my husband and I felt a bit awkward as it was mainly full of people looking to find other people for tours (which we don't do) or people that had met before. Of around 30 people that were there only one couple ever acknowledged us again.

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We've joined the roll calls to set up private tours, and also get valuable information about the ports, hotels, taxi services, etc. We've attended the meet and greet and have also arranged them. The cruise we are on later this month is all inclusive, and tours are also included, so the roll call is quite inactive. We have met other cruisers that have become friends. We've never done cabin crawls, slot pulls, but one time there was a gift exchange which didn't work out very well. We've found CC to be a great asset when planning our cruises, and have received very good advice.

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I believe the rollcalls where people exchange gifts, have cabin crawls, give out room numbers etc. are extremely few and far between. I have never encountered one, and we cruise about twice a year.

 

My opinion is that the best rollcalls are when people share a little about themselves. I like to know something about the people I am sailing with, because I am curious and a people person. IMHO, the most boring rollcalls are those where only tours are discussed. If a person rarely participates in the rollcall, there is no way I will remember them after the M&G. If they show some personality online, I will likely recognize them again on the ship. So many times (if the rollcall is large), I meet people at the M&G, then forget their faces, if I can't somehow remember something about them from their rollcall posts! I am not a visual person.

 

I am probably in the minority in my views. Most don't like chatty rollcalls, it seems!

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I stopped going to roll calls when I started to read about cabin crawls, gift exchanges, slot pulls, someone became a bit too controlling of everyone, the demand for cabin numbers and full names........ Some of it turned me off.

 

 

I have little interest in the above group activities, but usually find the roll calls helpful. We have put together private tours at a couple of port, and have arranged vans from Rome to Civita Vecchia, for example - saving a lot of money and having a comfortable transfer. It is easy enough to filter out the "rah-rah" stuff we aren't interested in and usually pick up a few good ideas about ports new to us.

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I believe the rollcalls where people exchange gifts, have cabin crawls, give out room numbers etc. are extremely few and far between. I have never encountered one, and we cruise about twice a year.

 

My opinion is that the best rollcalls are when people share a little about themselves. I like to know something about the people I am sailing with, because I am curious and a people person. IMHO, the most boring rollcalls are those where only tours are discussed. If a person rarely participates in the rollcall, there is no way I will remember them after the M&G. If they show some personality online, I will likely recognize them again on the ship. So many times (if the rollcall is large), I meet people at the M&G, then forget their faces, if I can't somehow remember something about them from their rollcall posts! I am not a visual person.

 

I am probably in the minority in my views. Most don't like chatty rollcalls, it seems!

 

 

Chatty often turns to cliquey and I think that's what turns many people off. I have been on roll calls where 60 or more different posters post that they or their family are taking that cruise and in the end the organizers of the meet and greet are struggling to get 30 people to confirm. Of that 30 probably a third find something better to do on their first sea day then to attend a meeting.

 

I always hold out hope that I can find an interesting tour to join for the last port that I just can't choose what to do in but it's not worked out for me yet.

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My currrent roll call is only my second one (did not know about cruise boards before that). I have been lucky to have been on two very active roll calls (the first one had over 2600 posts and the current one - still ongoing - has almost 2000). If I were on a really slow one, I might lose interest. Also, if there were personality issues on the roll call, I might quit. It's great when the people on a roll call just seem to become friends from the start. There is at least one roll call on CC still active for a cruise that sailed almost six years ago!

 

 

Think that could be my old roll call. We sailed in July 2006 on the Golden Princess and we just all hit it off. Several of us have met up since, visited homes and sailed again together. :):):)

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Think that could be my old roll call. We sailed in July 2006 on the Golden Princess and we just all hit it off. Several of us have met up since, visited homes and sailed again together. :):):)

 

How many of you are still active on this roll call?

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I joined a Roll Call for a Valor cruise we took over 5 years ago. We were very active and became great friends. CC finally moved our thread 3 years after our cruise. I think we had over 8000 posts. Since then we several of us have cruised together and will be cruising again in Jan.

 

I also still keep up with people I have met through other roll calls. But have been in some since that I just lost interest in.

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