Roll call participation

We have booked our first HAL cruise on the Koningsdam for February 2019. I did sign up in the roll call but noticed that participation is sparse -is this typical ?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We are on the cruise just after you I believe and a roll call hasn't been started yet for ours. Not everyone participates in them. I will to some degree if one has been started more to see if anyone wants to join us on snorkeling private excursions etc. I'll go to the meet & mingle but my husband doesn't. Having said that I have met some great people (and introduced them to hubby) and we still keep in touch with them.

Your roll call will probably get busier after the summer.

We are on the cruise just after you I believe and a roll call hasn't been started yet for ours. Not everyone participates in them. I will to some degree if one has been started more to see if anyone wants to join us on snorkeling private excursions etc. I'll go to the meet & mingle but my husband doesn't. Having said that I have met some great people (and introduced them to hubby) and we still keep in touch with them.

 

Your roll call will probably get busier after the summer.

I still remember the amazing M &G you ran and how kind you were to me. I t wa s wonderful,,,,,

We have booked our first HAL cruise on the Koningsdam for February 2019. I did sign up in the roll call but noticed that participation is sparse -is this typical ?

Some roll calls are more active than others. Your cruise is a bit out at >6 months, so I'm not surprised it might be light. Its also summer (at least in the North Hemisphere) when people are out and about more.

Our cruise is only 5 weeks out and we are still having new members join.

There is frequently a deluge of new roll call members after final payment. The longer, exotic itineraries have much more active roll calls, the shorter ones not always so much.

I have also found that on the longer cruises the roll call can be extremely active. There are always a lot of people who want to participate in private tours. From my personal experience, the participation for Caribbean cruises is not normally very strong.

Helen

Helen is accurate, short cruises (less than 10 days) and those into the Caribbean generally are less active.

Jim

There is frequently a deluge of new roll call members after final payment. The longer, exotic itineraries have much more active roll calls, the shorter ones not always so much.

I have noticed the same.

You never know some Cruises are hot and some dead.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

Offer free? And maybe you will have some chatter.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

I was more active on the Roll Calls before they became mostly pleas to join private tours. I'm not interested in joining tours or finding others to join mine, so there is really no reason for me to join a Roll Call now. I'll lurk on the ones for my cruises, but I haven't seen the need to join or participate in a Roll Call in a while.

The roll call for my recent cruise was pretty quiet compared to some in the past. With in excess of some two dozen unique names of which a few indicated they were sailing with extended families our M&G that was on our first sea day was attended by three participants. In the past M&G's were often coordinated with HAL who would supply snacks and senior officers. Those days appear to be gone. It would have been embarrassing if I had attempted to set something up with HAL only to have such a poor showing. Contrast that with the 41 page roll call that is now going on for the NCL Bliss Pacific Coastal that leaves Vancouver BC on 9/30. This roll call apparently started when the Bliss was announced and cruises were scheduled. It was very active when it started in January 2017 with people speculating on the ship's amenities. CC roll calls have been compromised (in my opinion) by automatically adding individuals to roll calls. Many of these folks don't know what they are and (as far as I know) CC doesn't support private messages like many other chat boards.

I was more active on the Roll Calls before they became mostly pleas to join private tours. I'm not interested in joining tours or finding others to join mine, so there is really no reason for me to join a Roll Call now. I'll lurk on the ones for my cruises, but I haven't seen the need to join or participate in a Roll Call in a while.

You stated my point of view perfectly.

I find that most of the people who post on roll calls do not participate in this HAL board, so I don't feel I "know" them at all. They make no effort to get to know the others on the roll call, either---it's (as you say) just a means to get a group together for private touring. As if I would go off for a day with a group of strangers who might be incompatible!

Right now I am getting daily e-mails of the posts of three cruises I am booked on, but have never posted to. So far, I have seen little reason to join in. It's a shame, too, since once upon a time the rolls calls were active with people who wanted to be sociable.

There is frequently a deluge of new roll call members after final payment. The longer, exotic itineraries have much more active roll calls, the shorter ones not always so much.

exactly!

Wait until after final payment and you should see more activity - if not, place a few posts yourself to stir up interest (by bringing your cruise to the top of the board and getting attention).

We are on the same cruise as you :)... Other than flight and hotel reservations (have you found a pre-cruise hotel in Ft. Lauderdale yet?), we don't get deeply involved in planning until a couple of months before the cruise.

This year, that probably won't be until after Christmas...

Mark & Stephanie

exactly!

 

Wait until after final payment and you should see more activity - if not, place a few posts yourself to stir up interest (by bringing your cruise to the top of the board and getting attention).

Our cruise is tomorrow, and I am still only 1 out of 2 (the other started the roll call). I guess I should not expect much more interest.

I was more active on the Roll Calls before they became mostly pleas to join private tours. I'm not interested in joining tours or finding others to join mine, so there is really no reason for me to join a Roll Call now. I'll lurk on the ones for my cruises, but I haven't seen the need to join or participate in a Roll Call in a while.

You stated my point of view perfectly.

I find that most of the people who post on roll calls do not participate in this HAL board, so I don't feel I "know" them at all. They make no effort to get to know the others on the roll call, either---it's (as you say) just a means to get a group together for private touring. As if I would go off for a day with a group of strangers who might be incompatible!

 

Right now I am getting daily e-mails of the posts of three cruises I am booked on, but have never posted to. So far, I have seen little reason to join in. It's a shame, too, since once upon a time the rolls calls were active with people who wanted to be sociable.

Me too! I'm (sort of) following the roll calls of my next two cruises but will not join in. Haven't been to a CC roll call M&G since 2014....for all the same reasons as ellianne and RuthC. But that's mostly because I've never done a WC, a Grand, or a P'dam voyage. Those three unique types of roll calls are in a class by themselves and appear to be VERY worthwhile, IMO.

I find that most of the people who post on roll calls do not participate in this HAL board, so I don't feel I "know" them at all.

I noticed that too! Only yesterday I remember thinking “Who ARE these people?” Thought maybe they were brand new to HAL but it turns out that most of them are 4 & 5 star mariners! It boggled my mind. Lol

The ONLY reason I participate in roll calls is to join shared private excursions. Not to make "friends". However, if your goal is to make friends, there's no better way on a cruise than to spend the day with a small group with nice people in a beautiful foreign place.

I was more active on the Roll Calls before they became mostly pleas to join private tours. I'm not interested in joining tours or finding others to join mine, so there is really no reason for me to join a Roll Call now. I'll lurk on the ones for my cruises, but I haven't seen the need to join or participate in a Roll Call in a while.

You stated my point of view perfectly.

 

I find that most of the people who post on roll calls do not participate in this HAL board, so I don't feel I "know" them at all. They make no effort to get to know the others on the roll call, either---it's (as you say) just a means to get a group together for private touring. As if I would go off for a day with a group of strangers who might be incompatible!

 

Right now I am getting daily e-mails of the posts of three cruises I am booked on, but have never posted to. So far, I have seen little reason to join in. It's a shame, too, since once upon a time the rolls calls were active with people who wanted to be sociable.

Currently we are cruising more with HAL because of ports that we want to visit. But I do miss the active Roll Calls for Celebrity cruises.

Yes, we did plan private tours which we find much preferable to ship sponsored tours - much smaller groups and often less expensive.

We also share information about ports that some people have been to previously.

We share information about pre or post cruise hotels and transfers between airports and ship.

Last, but not least, we make new friends. On our last Celebrity cruise, we joined other Roll Call members at Anytime Dining.

We also arranged to play Mah Jongg together on sea days.

At the M&G, we were able to meet the people that we were conversing with on CruiseCritic.

I too have noticed a shift. I liked it in the past as a way of meeting others, sharing info and planning some excursions. We have met some lovely people onboard. But lately the focus appears just to fill private tours on some.

You stated my point of view perfectly.

 

I find that most of the people who post on roll calls do not participate in this HAL board, so I don't feel I "know" them at all. They make no effort to get to know the others on the roll call, either---it's (as you say) just a means to get a group together for private touring. As if I would go off for a day with a group of strangers who might be incompatible!

 

Right now I am getting daily e-mails of the posts of three cruises I am booked on, but have never posted to. So far, I have seen little reason to join in. It's a shame, too, since once upon a time the rolls calls were active with people who wanted to be sociable.

Disagree completely.. Our current roll call for a Dec Eurodam sailing is quite active, and we expect it to become more so as we get closer to sailing.

No discussion at all about 'private touring' as you say, but all about being social, and getting to know each other prior to the cruise.

And BTW, I'm a regular participant in this board, as you're probably aware..

I think our 2018 Voyage of the Vikings Roll Call has managed to strike a great balance between social activities/planning and private excursions/planning. It's a large Roll Call -- 184 members, 141 of whom have signed up for the first Meet & Mingle, 76 for the second (we're having two because we're picking up new passengers in Rotterdam).

This is only my second cruise, and the roll call for the first fizzled out long before embarkation (it was a 14-day Alaska cruise).

My observation is that the longer cruises tend to have more active roll calls, but the "tone" depends on how it gets started and who sort of takes on the "management" aspect. We've been really lucky on the VoV to have someone who took the lead who knows how things need to run to keep everyone interested.

I've seen other roll calls for longer cruises where 99% of the discussion is arranging and trying to get takers for private excursions. Not my primary interest, so I do a cursory quick "catch-up" about once a week or see and move on.

Lana in Bellingham (until Monday, when she heads south to Seattle to start the journey to Boston to get on the ship on Wednesday ... ) :D

We have booked our first HAL cruise on the Koningsdam for February 2019. I did sign up in the roll call but noticed that participation is sparse -is this typical ?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Do the math. Generally less than 10 percent (its about 6 percent on large ships) of passengers participate in CC "Roll Call" threads. Many are not aware but most simply read. The highest ratio I have seen is 14 percent of actual embarked guests participating and that was on a small ship for a repositioning. And then, of course, there are people who like to "manage" the CC Roll Call by creating their own separate "roll call" (and become enrage if you don't acquiesce to their "management") and those who act as if it was their own personal ship; the "welcome aboard" crowd. As a thirty year navy officer I cringe at that latter group.

The best CC Roll Calls are those with mature adults exchanging information and arranging private tours. We arranged a 5-day tour of the Golden Triangle with a single lady who didn't want to travel alone. Also many small tours with others, tours the ships usually do not offer because of narrow focus and limited participation.

Do the math. Generally less than 10 percent (its about 6 percent on large ships) of passengers participate in CC "Roll Call" threads. Many are not aware but most simply read. The highest ratio I have seen is 14 percent of actual embarked guests participating and that was on a small ship for a repositioning. And then, of course, there are people who like to "manage" the CC Roll Call by creating their own separate "roll call" (and become enrage if you don't acquiesce to their "management") and those who act as if it was their own personal ship; the "welcome aboard" crowd. As a thirty year navy officer I cringe at that latter group.

 

The best CC Roll Calls are those with mature adults exchanging information and arranging private tours. We arranged a 5-day tour of the Golden Triangle with a single lady who didn't want to travel alone. Also many small tours with others, tours the ships usually do not offer because of narrow focus and limited participation.

Fully agree with the above.

I will say that HAL roll calls in general tend to have fewer participants than on other major lines, at least for the cruises I have taken (generally 10-14 days). That's not to say there are some robust ones, but it's a lower likelihood on HAL.