Group Martini Tasting

[Lois R]

Hi:) I will post about this again on my roll call and hopefully people

who have said they want to participate will show up.

 

I realize people can get off track once the ship sails:D and especially

on a cruise that is so port intensive;)

 

My thing is....just the courtesy of returning a phone call and even

if the land folks cannot do anything.....the person I spoke with even

took my booking number and cell phone and seemed to be quite

responsible.....:rolleyes: if she found out that it all needs to be handled

on board? The right thing to do would have been to call me and

let me know not to expect anything prior to sailing.

That's all......why take my name, number and booking number if

no follow up would be done?

I only found out about it because of a nice gal at the Capt's Club

who followed up for me.

 

Oh, if they don't want to help on the ship either? We will have 40 plus

folks showing up for lunch together......figure it might be better if they

know about earlier......thats all.

[graciepuppy]

I think the problem is they feel the special activities for CC members are getting out of hand. They do a connections party for our group but now everyone wants them to make a lot of other special arrangements for the same group. They leave it up to the individual ship's personnel upon boarding so they can see if it fit's into that particular ship's schedule. Hopefully they will be able to help.

 

Unfortunately I've seen them plan special luncheons and tastings for groups that are to include a certain number of people and many don't show up. Once on board people have a tendency to get distracted by other things they want to do and don't think of the inconvenience they cause to the staff. My suggestion would be to emphasize to your group members that if they make a committment to attend it's important that they show up. From conversations with staff I know they are more reluctant to have these kinds of activities because of this. People think that if they don't prepay something they can just skip out and it won't be a problem.

 

I promised to return and tell everyone how the martini tasting party went. It was wonderful! The staff on board the Eclipse were outstanding and very cooperative. One reason no one could give me the Event Coordinator’s name prior to boarding, was that she joined the ship the same day. Wil Famoso called me on the telephone and left a message boarding day. She was amazing and did a wonderful job arranging meeting places for all of our Cruise Critic events. Mark Tomley, the Food and Beverage Manager put me in touch with Damir the Bar Manager and after that I never had to worry about a thing. Ocha and Edy put on an amazing display of showmanship! We actually were able to hold the event in the Martini Bar, which added to the fun. Ivelin, the assistant bar manager, explained how the martinis are made and then helped with our raffle. He was a great addition to our event! The staff on the Eclipse is wonderful, extremely friendly, but one thing we enjoyed the most was the accessibility of the senior officers (stripes). They walked though the Captain’s Club event every evening, attended the cruise critic party and all Captain’s Club events and were around the oceanview café during lunch time. I overheard one passenger say to his wife, “I just met the Captain”. To a lot of people that would not matter, but to some people, it does.

 

Now, I do have a comment, and to answer a couple people who posted here, we had 50 people signed up to attend the event. I walked around and personally delivered a reminder note the day before the event with the time and place. Now we all know how busy the ship’s activities can be on a TA, and we all know that people have conflicting plans. That is not the problem and no one would care if you called and canceled. The cruise line has to staff these events based on the number of people we say signed up. Bar staff might have to give up their time off to accommodate us. It seems to me that it is just a common courtesy to call your event coordinator and cancel if you do not plan to attend. We had 15 people not show up, and the ship’s staff had gone to a lot of work to make this event very special. Needless to say, we tried to tip them extra to make up for the no-shows, but still, a courtesy phone call would have been nice so we could cut back on the staff and set-ups. I totally understand now why a cruise ship would not want to honor this request. No-shows do not matter for gift exchanges, slot pulls, etc., but when there is extra staff involved—lunches, wine tastings, martini tastings---then, I personally feel that a phone call to cancel is in order. That’s just my two cents.

 

By the way, another reason that they cannot schedule rooms in advance is that they have to schedule the “actual” group bookings first. Although we consider ourselves a group, we are not booked on the ship as a group. I did find the staff more than willing to accommodate our cruise critic events.

 

I highly recommend a martini tasting event. We all had a ball and I enjoyed my first martinis ever.

 

Barb

[H2OH!]

Thanks for letting us know the end of story!! Great job Celebrity!! :D:D

[jspqld]

I promised to return and tell everyone how the martini tasting party went. It was wonderful! The staff on board the Eclipse were outstanding and very cooperative. One reason no one could give me the Event Coordinator’s name prior to boarding, was that she joined the ship the same day. Wil Famoso called me on the telephone and left a message boarding day. She was amazing and did a wonderful job arranging meeting places for all of our Cruise Critic events. Mark Tomley, the Food and Beverage Manager put me in touch with Damir the Bar Manager and after that I never had to worry about a thing. Ocha and Edy put on an amazing display of showmanship! We actually were able to hold the event in the Martini Bar, which added to the fun. Ivelin, the assistant bar manager, explained how the martinis are made and then helped with our raffle. He was a great addition to our event! The staff on the Eclipse is wonderful, extremely friendly, but one thing we enjoyed the most was the accessibility of the senior officers (stripes). They walked though the Captain’s Club event every evening, attended the cruise critic party and all Captain’s Club events and were around the oceanview café during lunch time. I overheard one passenger say to his wife, “I just met the Captain”. To a lot of people that would not matter, but to some people, it does.

 

Now, I do have a comment, and to answer a couple people who posted here, we had 50 people signed up to attend the event. I walked around and personally delivered a reminder note the day before the event with the time and place. Now we all know how busy the ship’s activities can be on a TA, and we all know that people have conflicting plans. That is not the problem and no one would care if you called and canceled. The cruise line has to staff these events based on the number of people we say signed up. Bar staff might have to give up their time off to accommodate us. It seems to me that it is just a common courtesy to call your event coordinator and cancel if you do not plan to attend. We had 15 people not show up, and the ship’s staff had gone to a lot of work to make this event very special. Needless to say, we tried to tip them extra to make up for the no-shows, but still, a courtesy phone call would have been nice so we could cut back on the staff and set-ups. I totally understand now why a cruise ship would not want to honor this request. No-shows do not matter for gift exchanges, slot pulls, etc., but when there is extra staff involved—lunches, wine tastings, martini tastings---then, I personally feel that a phone call to cancel is in order. That’s just my two cents.

 

By the way, another reason that they cannot schedule rooms in advance is that they have to schedule the “actual” group bookings first. Although we consider ourselves a group, we are not booked on the ship as a group. I did find the staff more than willing to accommodate our cruise critic events.

 

I highly recommend a martini tasting event. We all had a ball and I enjoyed my first martinis ever.

 

Barb

 

 

Well done barb, my group of four were part of the Martini tasting event that Barb organised on the eclipse, & well done to everyone else involved in making it happen. It was a lot of fun!!!

[lobster129]

Barb,

 

Thank you for following up with a post of your ultimate experience. It does help encourage me for our sailing on Eclipse in July.

 

I have tried to organize a group dinner in Qsine. Each person (approx 20) were able to make their own advance dinner reservation in Qsine ....but definitely could not all get the same time. I hope to meet with the Maitre d' at embarkation and confirm we all want to dine together @ the same table (if possible)

 

I agree that Celebrity could help CC members of a roll call arrange some activities in advance. We obvoiusly have people committed to the event, since they prepaid their dining reservations!

[graciepuppy]

Barb,

 

Thank you for following up with a post of your ultimate experience. It does help encourage me for our sailing on Eclipse in July.

 

I have tried to organize a group dinner in Qsine. Each person (approx 20) were able to make their own advance dinner reservation in Qsine ....but definitely could not all get the same time. I hope to meet with the Maitre d' at embarkation and confirm we all want to dine together @ the same table (if possible)

 

I agree that Celebrity could help CC members of a roll call arrange some activities in advance. We obvoiusly have people committed to the event, since they prepaid their dining reservations!

 

We had a birthday party at Qsine and the host was able to get the big center table. There were 14 of us and that table was full and we added a table for two. It might be hard to get 20 at one table. The host of the party went to the Maitre d' at embarkation with the names of the people (we all made advance reservations) in the party and arranged it. The staff was more than accommodating and we loved dining in Qsine.

 

Joe and Caroline (jspqld)it was so much fun meeting you and so glad you and your friends Natalie and Bec enjoyed the martini tasting!

 

Barb

[lobster129]

We had a birthday party at Qsine and the host was able to get the big center table. There were 14 of us and that table was full and we added a table for two. It might be hard to get 20 at one table. The host of the party went to the Maitre d' at embarkation with the names of the people (we all made advance reservations) in the party and arranged it. The staff was more than accommodating and we loved dining in Qsine.

 

Joe and Caroline (jspqld)it was so much fun meeting you and so glad you and your friends Natalie and Bec enjoyed the martini tasting!

 

Barb

 

Thank you Barb. That is try encouraging about Qsine. We realize we may not all sit at the same table....but hope to be somewhat close together so we can share the evening's experience.

[navyrotorhead]

Thanks Lois, we have 50 people signed up for the tasting. I will wait until we board. We were thinking 2:00 at a bar that doesn't open until 4 or 5. I will have to wait until we board and keep my figures crossed it will all work out.

 

Barb

 

I couldn't help but notice:rolleyes: I am pretty sure you meant to say FINGERS crossed instead of FIGURES.:eek: But then again, you just never know when it comes to martini tastings.:D

 

I thoroughly enjoyed every single martini I tasted on the Solstice TA:) and cant wait to do it again this fall! Thanks for the GREAT IDEA!