Roll Call Interest Slowing Down?

Is it just me or do you feel a lack of interest in Roll Calls lately?

A couple of years ago the rolls calls for cruises were very active with people sharing info, hooking up for excursions, meet and greets, etc. There would be pages and pages of people chatting and getting ready for the cruise.

Our May Alaska cruise has very little interest so far. Even the other cruises to Alaska are showing very few posts. I thought maybe it was just the Alaska Roll Calls and checked a few others and it seems to be the same thing.

Anyone else seeing this trend?

Our TA on Epic in April seems to be hopping along.

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I think it varies a lot. Our Escape TA is going faster than I care to keep up with. lol But my last cruise had next to no posts, and we never ended up with a M&G. This time last year for a random CTN, we had a hugely active roll call, and ended up with a M&G of over 80 people.

It seems sort of random to me. On my Breakaway cruise last summer, there was an active roll call and a huge M&G turn-out. On my last cruise in the late fall on the Gem, there was no activity and no meet & greet. On my next cruise -- in two weeks on the Dawn -- there is minimal activity but some slight interest in a M&G, and I ended up agreeing to set one up. Only 22 people have signed up. On my scheduled cruise for early 2016, I started a roll call and not a single other person has even joined the roll call.

Terry

We are sailing on November 14th, 2015 on the Jade...there is very little activity on our roll call, which is really sad...I have met and stayed in contact with quite a few fellow passengers that I have met on CruiseCritic and at the M&G...I know we are 301 days from sailing, but I would think more people have booked by now!

The lack of interest in the Roll call sign up, is possibly down to the fact that a lot of cruise passengers prefer to travel privately as a couple, without the need to meet up and discuss cruise issues with anybody else.

Is it just me or do you feel a lack of interest in Roll Calls lately?

 

A couple of years ago the rolls calls for cruises were very active with people sharing info, hooking up for excursions, meet and greets, etc. There would be pages and pages of people chatting and getting ready for the cruise.

 

Our May Alaska cruise has very little interest so far. Even the other cruises to Alaska are showing very few posts. I thought maybe it was just the Alaska Roll Calls and checked a few others and it seems to be the same thing.

 

Anyone else seeing this trend?

I hear you! The rollcall we have for our Alaska cruise (September) has the same 3-4 people posting. It would be great if more would sign up.

On the other hand, in November attended a M&G where 200+ people attended and the rollcall was very active.

I hear you! The rollcall we have for our Alaska cruise (September) has the same 3-4 people posting. It would be great if more would sign up.

 

On the other hand, in November attended a M&G where 200+ people attended and the rollcall was very active.

Hi Mary! I'm thinking about booking that same repo for 2016. The roll call has one posting! :eek: Maybe we should get the Cuzins re-grouped and show them how to do a proper Roll Call!:D

Hi Mary! I'm thinking about booking that same repo for 2016. The roll call has one posting! :eek: Maybe we should get the Cuzins re-grouped and show them how to do a proper Roll Call!:D

We're working on it Ted!

BTW, we're going on the Sky in March and that rollcall also has 1, maybe 2, postings.

It seems to vary...we just did a December cruise on the Pearl, and that roll call was VERY active...we ended up with around 80 people at the meet and greet. We just got off the Epic on Sunday, and that was the opposite, maybe 15 people showed up, and there weren't many posts on the roll call.

We're doing a HAL cruise in the Mediterranean this summer, and counting me, 3 people have posted on that roll call. I keep hoping for more, as much as anything to get information on ports, etc, but not sure it's going to happen.

The activity level goes up and down. We have been very active on some, and not so much on others. Even helped arrange many of the activities including 120 people at a meet n greet in a Garden Villa.

I will admit I have dropped out of a few due to the "clientele". One in particular had one person that thought it was important to log on every single day to say "hello" and usually give a weather report where he lived. Then there were a few people that decided it was the best place to have what I would call an "over the fence discussion" that went on and on and on and on. Pretty soon it was difficult to find anything about the cruise in particular became a challenge to keep up on the posts.

So, at least one family moved on. Okay - those that feel I am anti-social or a grump, I get it.

Is it just me or do you feel a lack of interest in Roll Calls lately?

 

A couple of years ago the rolls calls for cruises were very active with people sharing info, hooking up for excursions, meet and greets, etc. There would be pages and pages of people chatting and getting ready for the cruise.

 

Our May Alaska cruise has very little interest so far. Even the other cruises to Alaska are showing very few posts. I thought maybe it was just the Alaska Roll Calls and checked a few others and it seems to be the same thing.

 

Anyone else seeing this trend?

For the cruises I've been taking the last four or five years, the roll calls have been declining. With the ability to subscribe to threads with email updates, there is no reason to visit rolls calls; In the old days, one would visit the roll call and since they navigated all the way over to the roll call thread, may have felt an obligation to post something.

Social media sites are very popular too, and members are free discuss whatever they please :)

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I think part of the problem is that we have been invaded by some internet trolls who are really ruining the camaraderie of these boards. They get into roll calls and try to cause problems and I hate all the fighting and nasty posts they cause. It is complete out of place with the purpose of these boards. We have to be able to trust each other in order to book private excursions together at foreign ports but the trolls are interfering with that at times. It's really not a good situation and I hope the moderators will do something about this.

I think SuiteTraveller and GarryCarla have it. I also get a bit tired of seeing the same "chat" about nothing in particular going on and on.:D

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I think part of the problem is that we have been invaded by some internet trolls who are really ruining the camaraderie of these boards. They get into roll calls and try to cause problems and I hate all the fighting and nasty posts they cause. It is complete out of place with the purpose of these boards. We have to be able to trust each other in order to book private excursions together at foreign ports but the trolls are interfering with that at times. It's really not a good situation and I hope the moderators will do something about this.

This is so true. We did an NCL Spirit trip last spring Grand Med Cruise and we were a very active group of chatters on here. We had one bad apple that caused so many problems, issues, comments were degrading on and on. Most of us had to block him as he was emailing us personally as well....it turned out he was NEVER on our cruise to start with. I followed him on here and he was doing the same thing to another cruise going to the Baltics... what a lesson that was. He posted a picture of himself and it was some charming dude in a tux - that looked photo shopped and fake...

Now our latest upcoming cruise thru the Panama in April started out pretty good with chat and now since Jan 1st there hasn't been one post. Very quiet and odd but yes declining posts for sure. I do like the meet and greets, posting but obviously it's a dying art...bummer!:rolleyes:

When I first offered to organize a Meet and Greet for our cruise, I doubted whether we would have enough interest to even get one together. We are a week out from our cruise now and have over 70 signed up. We also have a slot pull being organized.

It was a really slow start but picked up the pace in the last month or two. Some of the members have coordinated taxi rides to the airport and also tours. But this has all happened in the last couple of weeks.

I think the interest is still out there at least for some of the cruises.

Some of it may be the experience of attending the M&G onboard. Most of the meet & greets I've attended have 50% turnout or lower, based on online RSVPs. My wife organized one for a Christmas cruise that had 20 people RSVP and two showed up. Two. That's a bit embarrassing. The senior staff outnumbered the civilians.

The M&G experience varies widely and it's completely unpredictable. From six cruises, we've had a couple where people chatted and made friends for the rest of the cruise and beyond. We had one (ironically, the largest one) that was really just a senior staff Q&A and then everyone left immediately. The senior staff will almost always do a Q&A during the cruise - I don't go to a M&G to meet senior staff, it's a bonus.

Also, once you've sailed on Norwegian enough to know your way around, you're invited to Latitudes meetings. There's the Captain's party for suites and VIPs. These can be very similar to what the M&G ends up being (with the bonus of booze). Plus, the same cruisers overlap at all the parties.

Some roll calls are over-run by foamers who all know each other already, so it's hard to fit in. This was the case when my wife and I did an inaugural crossing. I'm more of a foamer than most, but I felt I didn't fit in. We blew off the M&G on that cruise.

A good roll call grows organically. I don't think it's necessary to post just to get back to the front of the line. However, until there is a system that guarantees there is only one thread per cruise, it will be necessary.

Make people feel welcome. Don't overload the board with random notes. Answer questions when you can. Remember that a lot of us are spending money specifically to get away from "rah-rah" people at work - so promising the "best coolest most fun M&G ever" over and over is going to alienate some that are forced to go to work rallies in between the layoffs.

Most importantly, next time you attend a M&G, make a friend. Then, both of you will have a reason to attend the next one - because it worked.

I personally don't get on a roll call anymore if it is 7 days or less. I love roll calls on longer cruises, especially transatlantics or 14+ day cruises. You have the sea days available to meet new people and getting good travel advice for the ports is a great benefit. We have had some great excursions arranged by roll call people.

I also am not a fan of weather reports and chattiness. I come to the roll call for ways to make my actual trip better. It is hard to sort through pages of one line comments.

I have been following this forum since 2005. If you have also you will remember the posts of "Shoreguy" the most informative answers and cruise posts . There were roll calls that went on for years after the cruise. I have attended a few meets & greets but they were not my cup of tea.

Could someone define foamer please?

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We have attended several M&G gatherings over the years. They ranged from good to okay. (not that broad a range)

On our panama canal cruise most of the tours we took were with the same people from our M&G. Really interesting people.

Out of other M&G gatherings, enjoyed slot pulls and cabin tours much more than the meeting. Drinks or treats in each cabin. Plenty of great conversation because you were doing something together. Never have won anything in the slot pulls though.

Someone earlier in the thread had mentioned trolls here. It does seem to me that conversation has grown sharper. Everyone knows that we have plenty of threads on UDP and UBP. If someone re-asks a question, a snippy answer is headed their way. In years past, I think there was less of that. If everyone thoroughly researched each and every question they had prior to posting a new thread, there would not be much activity here. Part of being a member here is knowing that questions are going to be asked and asked again. Maybe in the same day. Cruising is not that complex.

Our first cruise, we weren't even on this board, so if there was a M&G we wouldn't have known about it. Our next cruise was on the Sky, fairly active roll call, but no formal M&G. After that, we did a Carnival CTN because it was local. No formal M&G, but a group of us got together for sail away and would run into each other all through the cruise. Our last cruise was on the Pearl. The M&G was arranged for a sea day which unfortunately has a boat rocking storm brewing. I don't normally get seasick, but I was down for the count. I had RSVPd for that M&G, but there was no way I was making it to the top deck for the M&G without someone having to clean carpets. :(

I think the roll call interest is proportional to the excitement of the cruise. Certain destinations and new ships will generate more participation. The M&G for my cruise to Alaska on the Pearl was very active - an exciting destination and, at the time, a relatively new ship. The M&G for my last cruise on the Epic was also active - the ship was relatively new and we were enthralled with the entertainment and dining options. I expected a similar level of activity for my upcoming cruise on the Getaway, but that hasn't happened, yet. Admittedly, the Caribbean is not the most exciting destination for many experienced cruisers.

Many CC members may not be familiar with the benefits of joining the M&G. On my Alaska cruise, one of the members got offered an upgrade to the owner's suite. She took it, and posted on the roll call that her aft balcony was available. I immediately called my TA and got her balcony! During the cruise, she hosted a cocktail party in her suite for those of us who had been active on the roll call and attended the M&G. As part of the M&G, we got to go bowling - definitely something to remember.

I may be guilty of posting on a rollcall just for the sake of keeping the rollcall active. If no one posts, the rollcall sinks to page 2 or 3 and then it's too hard for newcomers to find their rollcall. Even if I talk about the weather at home, it's better than posting nothing at all. JMO.

Now that CC has a rollcall tool to find a certain rollcall, that may change. But then again, there will always be those that start a new thread just because they don't know how to search. :p