Meet & Mingle Trevails

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

I have gone to a couple Meet and Greets and one bow wave in San Diego which was fun. I hesitate to commit to them as often happens they are at 10AM on the first sea day which usually means a port talk which I like to attend especially if I have not been there before. The last 2 times I indicated we would try to make it and then did not and felt badly. I too would not be interested in a gift exchange- I think the original purpose of meeting fellow passengers should continue. Arranging tours, etc. can be done on the roll call. Barbara

[LindaM]

11:00 is the best time on the first sea day. People who sleep late can get there after breakfast, and the rest can go directly to lunch following.

 

I agree the gift exchange could have been the turn off. People most likely put off purchasing something until it was too late.

 

I still have a Red Wings luggage tag I purchased for this purpose---then the organizer of the M&G dropped the idea! (The idea was to exchange something to represent where you were from.)

[RuthC]

The last Meet & Greet that we attended had about 70 people there. But no co-ordinator and not one officer.

Sounds perfect.

[peug]

I have made it to only 3 meet and greets out of 6 I signed up for. The reason - I forgot about them in the excitement of exploring the ship on the first sea day. 2 of the ones I got to I was left a reminder the first evening of the cruise. The co-ordinator had asked us for our cabin number. The last one did not ask and I totally forgot until the next day. Had a gift exchange been mentioned I would have nicely posted that I could not attend. I have enought to worry about remenbering to pack and enough stuff around the house I have no idea what to do with.

[madera1]

I've arranged 2 M&Gs. The first, January 2010 out of San Diego. Ship just out of drydock, stormy weather (some crew, entertainers and pax missed the boat). Many pax sea sick for the first couple days because of storm & rough seas. I and one couple showed up for M&G - figured all the officers + many pax were busy with other things.

 

Second, March 2012 out of Fort Luderdale. Everything smooth. About 8 officers showed up and addressed the goup of about 15+ for a few minutes.

 

Obvious reasons for the differences, but, absent rough seas etc., I think the Events Manager sets the tone.

 

 

This was my second meet and greet and I must say that we had a bigger presence of the Statendam ship's officers at the March 2012 that you arranged. The June 2011 event on the Eurodam was well attended by CCr's but we had only 2 ship officers who dropped by for a few minutes.

[maysdot]

I have been involved in organizing 4 M&G's on various HAL ships. The best ones were definitely on the Maasdam...Beverage Manager even printed up and delivered the invitations. Lots of staff (chef, CD, customer service mgr, wine manager) and all CCers signed up attended. Actually, at the request of the ship, we were asked to attend a second get together to give the staff feed back on our 2 week cruise! Last Dec on NA we spent money and time on making up invitations, nametags, together with many emails and organizing cabin crawls. We had good a great turnout of CC members, however, noone from the ship showed up at all.

 

Now I will compare HAL's M&G's to Celebrity's. In January I sailed on the Silhouette. The only thing required of the CC member is to register for a "connections" party. Once they have around 20 members signed up they confirm that a party will be held. Once onboard you receive an invitation from the event coordinator. A few staff attended...mostly from the entertainment department. You certainly can chat with other cc members online before the cruise, but they aren't expected to do the organizing. Just a thought!!

 

I know that I won't offer to organize any more M&G's on HAL. I certainly enjoy attending them and meeting others, but it is a great deal of work...especially all that walking the ship to deliver the invitations!! I hope that the next meeting you attend you will show your appreciation to the organizers!! I know that I greatly appreciated the wine I was given:):)

[bob brown]

I may be wrong, but I think if you have done a few M&G's, you can get a pretty good feel based on the activity of the roll call of how good a turnout you will get. There are some roll calls that exceed 10,000 posts, with all kinds of pre, during, and post cruise activities planned, as well as logo merchandise to wear, etc.

Some of the other cruiselines like Celebrity, and RCI, as mentioned, take a more active roll in planning and conducting the roll calls then HAL does.

And NCL is paricularly good at providing a good representation of the ships top officers's, who will each give a short spiel on their respective area of responsibility, as well as field some questions, and even give out their phone number if assistance is needed in their area...sometimes they will even offer attendee's a complimentary bridge tour...

Meet and Greets that include a 'cabin crawl' afterward, seem to be popular and well attended....

[shuttlebuggy]

I certainly appreciate all your opinions, ideas & input - thank you one & all.

 

If there is a next time for me - NO gifts.

(The idea for gifts was suggested by a CC'er trying to be helpful in organizing the M& M)

Live and learn...*sigh*

 

The TIME....Ahhhh now that was actually recommended by both Tia (the online EC for the Eurodam AND Blair whom she supposedly checked with)

THEIR thinking (not mine mind you), was that on Easter, those that went to religious services would be done and that Easter brunch in the MDR would be ended, so folks could be free to meander to the M&M afterwards. (10 or 11 am would not have been possible due to morning services & the holiday bruncheon)

 

Also, wondering - besides written reminders/invites the night, do any of you who organize these ever have it announced over the PA in the morning when they get on to announce special happenings round the ship that day???

 

Some of you have very large turnouts - amazing!

 

Whoa!

[Jemima]

OP, I also looked at your roll call. It wasn't what I'd consider a real active roll call and I didn't see much enthusiasm for the Meet & Greet other than you and one or two other posters.

I was on cruise this winter where early planning for an M&G was done by someone who had to cancel. This person was a very frequent poster here and had previously successfully organized several M&Gs. The roll call was sluggish. One or two people belatedly asked if someone was going to take over the M&G. I enjoy M&Gs and could have taken over, but didn't because it was obvious there just wouldn't have been much turnout. We'd have been lucky to have a handful of people. There just was not interest on the roll call.

[Okie1946]

The M&M organizors on two of our cruises had gift exchanges - HOWEVER, instead of doing them at the official M & M - those who chose to participate in the exchange - gathered together at the Lido Bar - after the safety drill and celebrated the Sail Away. It gave us an opportunity to meet some of our fellow cc'rs early and become a little more familiar with each other. We all had fun explaining the reasoning behind the specific gifts.

 

Then, when we had our official M & M meetings the following day - and it was really nice to walk into a gathering and know a few of the people.

 

Just another approach to the idea.

 

"Smile - it makes everyone around you wonder what you know that they don't"

 

Previous Cruises:

Alaska - Westerdam - September 2009

Alaska- Rotterdam - September 2010

Mexican Riveria - Oosterdam - April 2011

[kazu]

I certainly appreciate all your opinions, ideas & input - thank you one & all.

 

If there is a next time for me - NO gifts.

(The idea for gifts was suggested by a CC'er trying to be helpful in organizing the M& M)

Live and learn...*sigh*

 

The TIME....Ahhhh now that was actually recommended by both Tia (the online EC for the Eurodam AND Blair whom she supposedly checked with)

THEIR thinking (not mine mind you), was that on Easter, those that went to religious services would be done and that Easter brunch in the MDR would be ended, so folks could be free to meander to the M&M afterwards. (10 or 11 am would not have been possible due to morning services & the holiday bruncheon)

 

Also, wondering - besides written reminders/invites the night, do any of you who organize these ever have it announced over the PA in the morning when they get on to announce special happenings round the ship that day???

 

Some of you have very large turnouts - amazing!

 

Whoa!

 

asking the meeting to be announced can be deadly. Some people hear the word cruise critic and mistake the reason for the meeting and come to complain (yes, seriously). Traditionally, it is not announced on the PA system just as other meetings are not.

 

I've only had one announcement on one ship - the captain did it (and chose to) as he was a huge cruise critic fan. (he even knew my cc name and had been following our roll call). It was for the 2nd M & G on our cruise. (yes, he and all the officers came to the M & G). Not at all necessary with the invites:D

[sapper1]

I have always attended a M&G as promised except for one on a four day segment between San Diego and Vancouver when the sea was so rough that I could not lift my head off the pillow until evening. I felt bad about it as there were several people I wanted to meet.

As well as the suggestion of a gift exchange on a meet and greet, I find a cabin crawl a big turn off. You feel like a party pooper if you don't agree but the idea makes me uncomfortable.

 

I am currently in Fort Lauderdale to board the Zuiderdam on Friday and we have an amazing roll call going---I lost count at 120 participants. There are several people I have been emailing privately and we have arranged to get together prior to the M&G.

 

One of the private excursions this group has planned is a public service excursion and even those who are not participating in the excursion are bringing loads of goodies for the children involved. The lady doing the organizing is holding a packing party in her cabin to get hundreds of goodie bags packed. That idea met with much more enthusiasm than any gift exchange suggestion I have seen. Things like soap, toothbrushes, band-aids, crayons, pencils, paper-----from the sound of the responses I don't know where the organizer is going to put all the stuff in her cabin.:eek:

[kazu]

I have always attended a M&G as promised except for one on a four day segment between San Diego and Vancouver when the sea was so rough that I could not lift my head off the pillow until evening. I felt bad about it as there were several people I wanted to meet.

As well as the suggestion of a gift exchange on a meet and greet, I find a cabin crawl a big turn off. You feel like a party pooper if you don't agree but the idea makes me uncomfortable.

 

I am currently in Fort Lauderdale to board the Zuiderdam on Friday and we have an amazing roll call going---I lost count at 120 participants. There are several people I have been emailing privately and we have arranged to get together prior to the M&G.

 

One of the private excursions this group has planned is a public service excursion and even those who are not participating in the excursion are bringing loads of goodies for the children involved. The lady doing the organizing is holding a packing party in her cabin to get hundreds of goodie bags packed. That idea met with much more enthusiasm than any gift exchange suggestion I have seen. Things like soap, toothbrushes, band-aids, crayons, pencils, paper-----from the sound of the responses I don't know where the organizer is going to put all the stuff in her cabin.:eek:

 

Sapper - what a really nice idea:) Now those are nice gifts to bring indeed:)

[Krazy Kruizers]

I have always attended a M&G as promised except for one on a four day segment between San Diego and Vancouver when the sea was so rough that I could not lift my head off the pillow until evening. I felt bad about it as there were several people I wanted to meet.

As well as the suggestion of a gift exchange on a meet and greet, I find a cabin crawl a big turn off. You feel like a party pooper if you don't agree but the idea makes me uncomfortable.

 

I am currently in Fort Lauderdale to board the Zuiderdam on Friday and we have an amazing roll call going---I lost count at 120 participants. There are several people I have been emailing privately and we have arranged to get together prior to the M&G.

 

One of the private excursions this group has planned is a public service excursion and even those who are not participating in the excursion are bringing loads of goodies for the children involved. The lady doing the organizing is holding a packing party in her cabin to get hundreds of goodie bags packed. That idea met with much more enthusiasm than any gift exchange suggestion I have seen. Things like soap, toothbrushes, band-aids, crayons, pencils, paper-----from the sound of the responses I don't know where the organizer is going to put all the stuff in her cabin.:eek:

 

This is way better than a gift exchange!! Are you all doing it for the port of Corinto?

A long time ago when I joined a Roll Call -- they also organized a Cabin Crawl. That is not for me. Fortunately when we got to the Meet & Greet there was an activity that we wanted to attend about 1/2 through the M&G -- so just excused ourselves.

[RuthC]

The TIME....Ahhhh now that was actually recommended by both Tia (the online EC for the Eurodam AND Blair whom she supposedly checked with)

Did you ask the CC members of the roll-call if that time was when they wanted? Or even if they wanted to meet?

 

I don't mean to single you out, as this is only an example of the direction that M&G have turned toward.

They were formerly an opportunity for CC members to get together. Now, more often than not, they seem to have turned into a cocktail party. Sometimes I think the organizers are all trying to outdo each other.

 

I find that a real turn-off. I much prefer a gathering of CC members, at their convenience, making an opportunity to enjoy each other's company.

[readytogo2]

Did you ask the CC members of the roll-call if that time was when they wanted? Or even if they wanted to meet?

 

I don't mean to single you out, as this is only an example of the direction that M&G have turned toward.

They were formerly an opportunity for CC members to get together. Now, more often than not, they seem to have turned into a cocktail party. Sometimes I think the organizers are all trying to outdo each other.

 

I find that a real turn-off. I much prefer a gathering of CC members, at their convenience, making an opportunity to enjoy each other's company.

I know what you mean, we had more fun at our informal CC sail away at an outside bar, than we had at the M&G (stuffy cocktail party) ..... it seemed everyone felt a bit awkward.

[sapper1]

This is way better than a gift exchange!! Are you all doing it for the port of Corinto?

 

A long time ago when I joined a Roll Call -- they also organized a Cabin Crawl. That is not for me. Fortunately when we got to the Meet & Greet there was an activity that we wanted to attend about 1/2 through the M&G -- so just excused ourselves.

Yes--Corinto---the fire department is meeting the participants with a fire truck and will take them (for a fee) to help feed the children who live in the dump. Then they will visit the community centre that looks out for the children. The firemen look after the children on a daily basis and all fees go toward feeding them.

[Cruisergal1208]

I have planned several M&G 's and have good attendance. Invitations were sent to those who have sent cabin #'s to me either on the thread or in personal emails. Only those from CC that wanted to participate were included in the invitations. Once on board, I met with the Events Planner, Bev. Mgr. and Hotel Mgr. to confirm location and what would be served. Have had lots of staff drop in or stay for the entire time. Last one on Noordam was well attended by staff and the Hotel Mgr. spoke to the group and welcomed any comments. Only a few wanted to participate in the gift exchange, arranged by another CC but we stayed after the M&G to exchange gifts and not impose on the M&G time. Lots of tours were shared on the thread before sailing and those got together after the officers/staff spoke but there was still a lot of visiting with one another . I also took a few minutes to thank all for coming and for the staff helping to make is so special for us. The next cruise we are not going to send out invitations but we are asking for a count of those wishing to attend both from CC and Facebook Roll Calls. I have enjoyed all the M&G's attended but one. It was on Royal Caribbean and most of the group was made up of a high school reunion group that did not want to socialize with the others. Don't take it personally if not many show up but the staff has set up for an expected amount so we always try to at least show up if for only a few minutes.

 

I too like the idea of a service related gift if appropriate for your ports of call.