afn10305

Hi FrostyJoe. DH and I went on the Prima in early December 2022. We ate outside of Indulge several times during our 5-day (too short) cruise-- that's how yummy it was. 😋 Back then we could just order like regular from waitstaff. I personally had no desire to use the tablets anyway, and the service was very quick. Highly recommend the bacon-wrapped dates!

@joyy7403 Joyce, unfortunately, so true. There's also many people who don't understand how these forums work and are disappointed that the forums aren't quite as instant or user-friendly as some other social media sites which shall-not-be-named. We've also hosted a few M&G's over the years and only once got surprised later into the cruise getting any kind of perks like those, and that's when we booked a suite. More often we've gotten nothing else and go in without expectations of getting any "perks" for hosting. That being said, my husband and I have been discussing this ad nauseum since the *hijacking* and he thinks it may actually depend on what ship you're on. I really don't know. What I do know, is this person (whoever they are) is a coward. I've offered them a chance to communicate with me and since I'm trying to be as understanding as I can about this, I'm going to give them until Monday to make contact. If I don't get contacted, I'll be calling NCL again and letting them know this person has been non-communicative to the entire roll call and is unfit to host a Meet and Greet.

Gail, I think that's the best advice I can take today is to use the number 25 as a start and not wait to make the request. Another piece of advice I received today was to ask people to email me (for sure) of their interest in attending or "committing" to a M&G, and therefore, I would at least have their emails instead of just asking them to reply in the roll call. You are a superwoman. I don't want to be responsible for all things, and in fact usually someone will step in and volunteer for other of those type events. I once hosted a M&G and a cabin crawl on the same cruise, and it was just too much for me. I applaud you for knowing your limitations and scaling back. 👏🏼 Like you, if someone else requests first I have no problem, but then it's their responsibility to connect with others on the roll call, which isn't what's been happening. Thank you again for allowing me to be here. Truth is my darling hubby was upset for me, and HE found you all here. 😊 I'm hoping we get everything straightened out too. 🙏🏼

Well see that's sort of the issue too. I am like-minded, and we JUST reached 30, so I felt it was a good time to make the request. I think because the itinerary is from Canada and during school season, there are less people on board.

@ljrfrm Thank you for your reply. I am so happy to hear yours worked out well. That's very similar to my roll call and what happened to me this week. Unfortunately, if you read my other replies here you'll see that is not the case in my situation, as there is no other social media page in existence. The best that could happen would be that this hijacker responds somehow and we go forward from there. The NCL folks I spoke to thus far were not as helpful and actually told me that they could give me no other information and I would have to find out on my own who the other requester is!!! I'm going to call NCL again and see if I get someone different and ask if they can reach out to that person.

@cruiseny4life Someone else mentioned that here about that OTHER social media site, which in our case does not exist. I was told specifically by NCL Special Events that it was indeed for a CC M&G. I even asked them are you SURE it wasn't for another group, because anyone out there can make a request for a special event, but we all know here that a CC M&G is a bit different. Thank you for your good luch wishes. Fingers crossed that someone comes forward.

@MrsTocko Gail, thank you for posting this original thread and allowing me to vent. 🙏🏼 I think the most aggravating thing about all of this is the utter lack of communication by whomever decided to hijack. I have learned a tough lesson, and will no longer wait to make a request-- even if it's two years in advance!!! I wouldn't dare send in a request though, unless I made it known on a roll call, whether I was the roll call starter or not. And since plans and itineraries do sometimes change, it is beholden of the requester to keep people informed. I've seen people who have "handed off" the M&G when they've decided not to book. Anyway, I think COMMUNICATION is everything! EVERYTHING

@cruiseny4life If they were to "step up" and SAY SOMETHING, I'd drop it. Unfortunately-- nothing, nada, zilch, zero, zippo, and didley-squat in the way of any kind of communication since roll call was started in Nov. 2021! 😒 Finding THIS post at least allowed for me to get input from others that have had this happen to them.

@graphicguy Again, I appreciate your reply and I promise not to "shoot" you. 😁 There is no clear misunderstanding, as there has been no communication! While I most defintely understand the difference between starting a roll call and arranging a Meet and Greet, it has been clearly evident throughout my postings and replies to people on our roll call (since Nov. 2021) that I was doing the thing. If someone wanted to take it over, is it unreasonable of me to think they should at the very least post something about it, or contacted me through my posted email? IMHO I think that would be the adult thing to do, especially since I have been doing all the "leg work" all this time. 👌🏼

Thank you for your reply graphicguy. We are not newbies to hosting a M&G with NCL and are well aware of the process. We have held some successful ones in the past, and a couple where only a few people showed up. What IS new to me, is someone literally HIJACKING the process without giving me so much as a quick email to say something along the lines of them wanting to take over the hosting. This person, whoever they are, has also not been communicating anything on the roll call. I HAVE been interacting with every single poster that has come on board!

I guess that depends on what cruise line you're on? Never had that option to register online for NCL. I suppose for the future I could make having a cabin number mandatory instead of optional, but I never had this come up before. My hubby and I have always made it a practice to hold our own "unofficial" M&G on sailaway day after lunch and muster drill and before sailaway to meet people too.

@zqvol Because we like meeting people?!! Some of our best cruising friends were made through these roll calls and at the CC M&G! In YOUR opinion not worth being upset. That is your opinion. In my opinion, it was utterly rude for this person to not even try to connect with me given the fact that I repeated my email multiple times. We could have figured something out very easily had they done so.

@hallux That definitely makes sense, however our particular sailing does not have an open social media page at this time. Even if there was one, a member of any group can contact Special Events to create an event for their group. My hubby was kind enough to research this topic and found this forum here. I am absolutely flabbergasted that there were others and as I mentioned before, I hope this is not a trend.

@casofilia @ljrfrm @MrsTocko I know I am replying to this over a year and a half after this thread, but The VERY SAME THING just happened to me yesterday and today for a cruise we are taking in October!!! This is not our first M&G hosting, but I've always heard that 2-3 weeks ahead of sailing is when requests for CC M&G's should be made. We booked this cruise back in November of 2021 (almost 2 years ago) and not only did I start the roll call, but I made it pretty clear in the first post that I would be taking the lead on it. So naturally, you can imagine how completely SHOCKED I was to discover someone had already made the request. "Gazumped" as you call it! Anyway, I got the exact same response from NCL's Special Events, no info about when or who made the request and only one CC M&G per sailing. I also vented on our roll call this morning and I'm still hopeful the person who did it will email me personally so we can either co-host, or they can relinquish to me. I also didn't want to call out anyone publicly, and honestly I can't be sure who did it, but mind you-- if they don't come forward, eventually everyone will know who it is unless like in one of your cases, they are no longer sailing. See my rant post here --> https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2816315-ncl-pearl-october-6-2023-quebec-to-boston/?do=findComment&comment=66018369 I would be very interested in knowing how things eventually turned out for each of you, and would be grateful if you contacted me. 🙏🏼 I hope this is not becoming a trend. Please feel free to email me at nclcruicin@gmail.com and thank you for an input you can give me.

Unfortunately those "cheapest" prices jump up by @ $100/night in October, and that's not even including taxes and the fact that it's non-refundable and must be prepaid in full! 😲 Enjoy your HAL cruise. 307 USD Avg./night

txskier, I've looked at HW too, but even their "hot" rates are almost $300+/night! 😲

Tammy, which tour did you take prior? Which one are you taking this month? Recommendations?

Lissie, Thank you for your input. We like booking.com too when needed, but unfortunately, the HI in Boston even with a private bathroom comes out to over $700 US for two nights. Too much for us. Similarly in QC, I have already booked a room at the Le Château du Faubourg B&B (Grand Suite, 1 Queen Bed with Sofa bed, Non Smoking, City View) at a cost of $499.49 US for three nights which is a better deal, but not necessarily quite what we wanted. It does have decent reviews and comes with breakfast. At this point I figure it's best to have something booked in both places so as not to be *homeless* when we get there, however I'm always looking and exploring other options.

Will take that under consideration. How about just walking to public transportation?

I appreciate everyone's input here. 👍🏼 DH and I have never been to Boston either, and will be cruising from Quebec City to Boston and arriving on Oct. 13, 2023 and staying for two nights. Like you oceancrusin, we were SHOCKED at the prices, and never have even spent more than $300 total US/night for lodging while over in Europe!!! Then we started to think more rationally about what we needed in this case. We are not "resort" type people and are usually very happy with lodging that has clean rooms, hot showers, a fridge/microwave, and if airport shuttle and hot breakfast are available that's icing on the cake! Yeah, you know the Hampton Inns, the Comfort Inns, the Holiday Inns. (At least while in the US.) Since we will have been already three nights in Quebec City, and seven on our cruise we looked for areas/pricing that were somewhat close to public transportation, and refundable if we found something better. THEN we decided why not take the ship's 2.5 hour shore excursion after debarkation, then we don't have to carry our luggage around, we get to have a glimpse of Boston, and since it returns to Logan airport we can either get an Uber, call the hotel which has an airport shuttle, or see if the driver would be willing to take us to our hotel. (We actually did this once in NYC and it worked out great!) So for the moment we are booked in the Chelsea area which is a cool, walkable area and also has bus and train routes to Boston proper for less than 20 minutes and little cost. Hampton Inn Boston Logan Airport Chelsea

dcgrumpy, we're with you on the 11th too. There's a roll call and a couple of meet and greets planned.

Mandalay5, we are in with you tomorrow too. We have a roll call and a couple of meet and greets planned.

STUNNING! On longer cruises we tend to book a spa cabin, but we'll be going in a couple of weeks on a 5-day on the Prima and we didn't. I wonder how much a spa pass would be for a shorter cruise? THIS looks fantastic!!!

EXTRA filthy dirty with muddled olives, please! 😁

I think we're on the same 5 night cruise. 👍🏼