Meet & Greet Meetings??

My first cruise will be this August. :D

Do they have a CC M&G meeting on every cruise?

What exactly does one do at these gatherings?

How long do they typically last?

Is there only one meeting?

Is anyone allowed to go?

Do you bring anything with you?

sorry

:confused:

Got to the Roll Call section of this board:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=110

And, find your sailing. Someone there is likely setting up a Meet N Greet. Can't speak for all cruises, but we've had a CC Meet N Greet on every NCL cruise I've been on. They typically last about an hour. Sometimes some of the ship's officers stop by. Sometimes NCL provides some pastries, juice, coffee, etc.

At our last M&G, we all brought a small gift for a gift exchange. It was something typically from each person's geographic area (I brought a Baltimore Orioles mug). It was a blast!

Sometimes a few of the member will get together later and have dinner or cocktails, but it's usually only been one organized meeting per cruise. And, in my experience, anyone from your party could attend. It was a great way to meet new friends. And, we usually run into each other throughout the cruise.

Another fun idea is to see if people in your Roll Call are interested in a Sail Away party upon departure. Just find a meeting spot on the ship after muster and get the good times rollin'. The Roll Call Meet & Greet can be a highlight of your cruise. Don't miss it! :)

There is not a meet & greet on all cruises. First of allthere are two types. the formal type and the informal. The formal type requires some one from your roll call to contact the ship co-ordiantor and ask to have one set up. The ship will arrange a time and meeting place, will usually supply coffee, juice a few treats and will generally send a few officers. These are usually the first sea day, mid morning and last up to an hour - depending on questions etc. The informal type is again someone from your roll call saying hey - lets all meet at this place at this time. Might be at sailway or whenever. This is not organized by the ship and is as said informal. We have been to both and both have been great. Excellent way to meet people.

Anyone on your roll call can go to these. They are not advertised so anyone not on the roll call would not know about them.

Unfortunately, RCI and Celebrity are the only lines that can have official CC parties. NCL has been very generous in their helping members set something up but it can't ever be official with logowear, advertising in the daily, etc. because other cruise lines have exclusivity.

from

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=460902&highlight=mingle

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This can be the best part of a cruise since it gives you a chance to meet numerous fellow cruisers and make friends. We rarely tour or eat dinner without a group or at least another couple. It's a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, RCI and Celebrity are the only lines that can have official CC parties. NCL has been very generous in their helping members set something up but it can't ever be official with logowear, advertising in the daily, etc. because other cruise lines have exclusivity.

from

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=460902&highlight=mingle

 

While RCCL and Celebrity have the "official" CC parties, my experience was that Celebrity did a room set up with refreshments, sent out invites, etc. Not a soul from the ship came (unless you count the dude who set the room up). On the other hand, it appeared that NCL takes CC much more seriously, as at our M&G last month on the Spirit, we had the CD, future cruise dude, hotel director, f&b director, concierge, head of housekeeping, and the group coordinator, as well as the full assortment of pastries, juice, water, and coffee. They all handed out their cards and asked that we please contact them if there is anything we need. They would rather take care of any issues we had while we were on the ship than read about them after the fact on CC. That is what I call being proactive!

The captain plus about six or seven other staff members even came to our Meet and Greet on the Jade (Jan 16-25)! More than twice as many (over 140) people showed up for the next cruise M & G (Jan 25-Feb 6) but the Captain did not make it that time, though even MORE staff members were present!

While RCCL and Celebrity have the "official" CC parties, my experience was that Celebrity did a room set up with refreshments, sent out invites, etc. Not a soul from the ship came (unless you count the dude who set the room up). On the other hand, it appeared that NCL takes CC much more seriously, as at our M&G last month on the Spirit, we had the CD, future cruise dude, hotel director, f&b director, concierge, head of housekeeping, and the group coordinator, as well as the full assortment of pastries, juice, water, and coffee. They all handed out their cards and asked that we please contact them if there is anything we need. They would rather take care of any issues we had while we were on the ship than read about them after the fact on CC. That is what I call being proactive!

On RCI, there are printed invitations in your stateroom advising you of the time and location of the M&M, an ID tag on which to print your screen name and actual name. The Cruise Director, and often the loyalty ambassador and sometimes the Captain attends the gathering which usually features a selection of treats and drinks and there are drawings for door prizes. On our most recent sailings on Jewel of the Seas there were so many registered for the M&M that it was held in the Safari Club and had excellent attendance. We also had a gift exchange that almost everyone on our Roll Call participated in. :)

There is only a small number of people currently participating in our Spirit roll call, so I'm guessing that we will have to have a very informal get together during our May cruise.:(

The printed invites that RCCL and Celebrity send out are the one real difference we found. I had only experienced M & G's on the other two lines, so when setting up the M & G's for our Jade B2B I really did not KNOW that no invites would be sent by the cruise ship! I found out just before we left home, (I asked the coordinator from NCL in an email), but it was too late for ME to print our invites (NCL said they would distribut any I brought, but would not print them out) as we were flying out the next morning. As it turned out, we had GREAT participation anyway, as I did have time to let the roll call know that they WOULD NOT be receiving personal invitations in their cabins and to please write down the day, time and place for our Meet & Greet at Le Bistro!! Everything went extremely well for both roll call Meet & Greets!! NCL gave us nice refreshments and the staff presence was quite impressive and they were very helpful and answered any and all questions!

There is only a small number of people currently participating in our Spirit roll call, so I'm guessing that we will have to have a very informal get together during our May cruise.:(

It's still another week until final payment... we may still get enough. I know I'm being overoptimistic about that. So do you think with our current numbers, it would even be worth contacting NCL?

It's still another week until final payment... we may still get enough. I know I'm being overoptimistic about that. So do you think with our current numbers, it would even be worth contacting NCL?

Sure, it's worth it even if the group is small! Email the coordinator and they'll contact the ship to get a venue. You'd be surprised how many people will join between now and May. The coordinator will contact you a week before sailing to get a final head count.

It's still another week until final payment... we may still get enough. I know I'm being overoptimistic about that. So do you think with our current numbers, it would even be worth contacting NCL?

Unlike RCCL and Celebrity, NCL never stated there was a minimum number for them to have a party.

I suppose I will just have to wait to see if anyone joins the Roll Call. I started that a while ago -- nobody has added yet.

How do you "pick" someone as the "leader" of this Roll Call? Like you guys seem to know what you're talking about and making lists, doing e-mails, etc. I wouldn't even know where to start ... obviously. :confused:

I suppose I will just have to wait to see if anyone joins the Roll Call. I started that a while ago -- nobody has added yet.

 

How do you "pick" someone as the "leader" of this Roll Call? Like you guys seem to know what you're talking about and making lists, doing e-mails, etc. I wouldn't even know where to start ... obviously. :confused:

Usually, the person who starts the roll call is the leader, but if you are that person but don't want to be the leader, you can ask for volunteers. It's not difficult - I just did one last month on the Spirit, and I would do it again in a heart beat.

I suppose I will just have to wait to see if anyone joins the Roll Call. I started that a while ago -- nobody has added yet.

How do you "pick" someone as the "leader" of this Roll Call? Like you guys seem to know what you're talking about and making lists, doing e-mails, etc. I wouldn't even know where to start ... obviously. :confused:

Two cruises ago it sort of fell on me. Because the first two dropped out.

This cruise coming up even though I was third I kept up the Roll Call. Had the email for the CruiseCritic. "Meet and Great" and posted almost everyday with information. The others sort of let me have it. I made myself "Thread Cheerleader"

Even though your roll call is slow try to keep it on the first "page" with question. Also troll the posts on the NCL board for newbies with your cruise date who don't know what the roll calls are so you can steer them in the right direction.

Cheerleader of my roll call

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Usually, the person who starts the roll call is the leader, but if you are that person but don't want to be the leader, you can ask for volunteers. It's not difficult - I just did one last month on the Spirit, and I would do it again in a heart beat.

If I was the leader, what exactly would I do? (especially not even having been on a cruise before) Keep everyone informed of what, exactly?

If I was the leader, what exactly would I do? (especially not even having been on a cruise before) Keep everyone informed of what, exactly?

What ships are in port the days you are. Reviews of the same cruise you are going to be on. Welcoming new members. Answer questions from other rollcallers. Ask questions to other rollcallers. Interesting threads form other boards. Talk about weather. Ask if they are going to board pets and children. Packing lists. What tours they are taking...................

If I was the leader, what exactly would I do? (especially not even having been on a cruise before) Keep everyone informed of what, exactly?

 

The main part would be contacting NCL about 3 months out to begin with. They will email you back and then you would update them with numbers of attending about 2 weeks out. They will tell you when and where. It would be your responsibility to communicate that info to your roll call. I would take a list of names and cabin numbers in case NCL has to change the time/location of the party last minute so you can notify everyone. Also, if you call everyone either the night before or the morning of the party, you might get a better turn out.

Take some name tags so everyone can have one with their screenname and real name. Some people bring little gifts f(usually significant to the area where you live - for here, it would be something OU or OKC Thunder, or something like that) for a type of white elephant exchange. Someone should take a camera for a group photo. On NCL, you should have at least a few officers show for your party so you can think of some questions you'd like them to answer. Getting to know them can come in handy sometimes.

I volunteered to head up the planning of my cruise's meet and greet. Does anybody on here know exactly who to email at NCL about planning one on the Spirit?

I volunteered to head up the planning of my cruise's meet and greet. Does anybody on here know exactly who to email at NCL about planning one on the Spirit?

groupeventspirit@ncl.com

Thanks a bunch!

Thanks a bunch!

In case that one doesn't work out, try shipcoordinatorspirit@ncl.com. This is a format that I have used successfully with the Sun and the Jade.

Smooth sailing, Howard