Shame on royal princess officers

[WendyG]

50 very disappointed cruise critic members showed up for a meet and greet that no one besides the Maitre'D bothered to show up for. At least Fabio had the decency to stop by for a few minutes but no one else showed up.

 

Public relations? Terrible. Royal Caribbean has you beat, I'm sorry to say, they actually CARE about their past passengers and are happy to attend such wonderful gatherings. I know you're all busy but you can't take 5-10 minutes out of your schedule to stop by and say hello?

 

Shame on all of you that were invited. Personal hand written invites ignored. Never in my 17 Princess cruises that no one bothered to make an appearance.

 

I'm glad our cc group was wonderful, we had fun regardless and had a great cabin crawl afterwards, but the opinion of you guys on this Royal ship has dropped drastically.

 

Just sayin' :(

[Hlitner]

Hmmm. Although it is a shame nobody showed-up there is sometimes a very good explanation. Many of the Meet and Greets are scheduled for mid-morning during the first day at sea. That is also prime time for internal staff meetings (which sometimes require all senior officers to be in attendance) so it is possible that you were simply the victim of a scheduling conflict. We have met one very senior officer (a different ship) who told us he loves to go to the M and Gs when he can....but work obligations trump social obligations. We sometimes forget that the Marine department's primary responsibility is to operate the ship.

 

Hank

[nna]

officers have a job to do. it may not be possible to show up for every gathering on a ship...if every 50 people had one...they would be running all over the place. I have been to many meet and greet without officers...and I have fun meeting people from the online group...

 

I think you have unrealistic expectations. I would rather have them at their jobs...

[paul929207]

50 people is also a very small percent of the passengers. As stated the officers have a job to do.

[whitecap]

Having attended and also been responsible for arranging a Cruise Critic Meet and Greet, I sympathize with WendyG and the other CC members who showed up hoping to meet and speak with the Ship's Officers or Staff to be disappointed. Our Meet and Greet aboard the Emerald Princess on Nov 10th was attended by 7 or 8 Officers/Staff who spent a little bit of time with us. Although it is understandable that the Captain or Doctor may not be able to make it, sending a representative sure does let everyone know that they care.

[sunsetbeachgal]

I have rarely seen officers attend a M&G....matter if fact I have had the captain be a no show at a couple of Captains Circle parties' one of which was for Elite and Platinum members, as he was doing his job at the bridge of the ship safely guiding us out of a port.

 

while I understand disappointment, I think the title of this thread is a bit over the top..IMHO, "shame on officers" would be reserved for putting passengers or crew in harms way.

Edited November 26, 2013 by sunsetbeachgal

[tothemall&beyond]

I have been to several M&G's where numerous officers, including CD, Customer Relations Mgr, Captain and Staff Captain, have all attended. But those M&G's had 200- 250 attendees and were on long (15-17 days) transatlantic cruises, not 50 attendees on a short Caribbean cruise.

[Cruiserkenn]

Yes, true, they are busy. Safety first. But it does seem that one officer could have responded to the invitations, for the group, and apologized for being busy with their duties. The head of HR and the hotel manager are officers, with uniforms, and perhaps one of them could have done it, if they had been asked to do so.

 

Who was the Captain on this cruise? I just know in my heart that Captain Dino Sagani would have responded in some way, if he was aware of the situation.

 

Thanks, WendyG, for your posting, and thanks to all, for your thoughts.

 

Peace to you all during this holiday season:)

[CI66774]

OP - while I can understand your disappointment, I think the "shame on" part of your post was a little over the top. Sure, it would have been nice, but maybe they had a scheduling conflict, etc. You don't know, and to assume they didn't care, etc., is not reasonable, IMHO. Go and enjoy your cruise.

[aquilegia]

I don't really understand why you are making this comparison with Royal Caribbean whose officers you say are 'happy to attend', implying that this is in contrast to Princess, when further down your post you say that this is the first time in 17 Princess cruises that no-one has bothered to make an appearance. I think your understandable disappointment on this occasion has led you to overreact slightly.

[tartanexile81]

I think a lot depends on the CD who lets the officers know (or nor) about it. We were on a UK-based line in the Caribbean in January and despite the ebst efforts of the organiser, the CD did not respond to any of her emails and even refused to meet her once she got onboard. The result was that our M&G was hugely disappointing. The room she eventually got allocated was inadequate, the bar was not open despite being told it would be and no officers showed up. The captain on that ship was amazing and very accessible to passengers and he said he would have been delighted to come along and chat to us. He sees this as an important part of his role.

 

On the other hand, on a recent cruise on the same line, the CD liaised with our roll call organiser and he organised for a couple of Ents officer, the Exec Purser, the Chief Engineer and the Captain to come along. Some of them stayed no longer than ten minutes but they were very friendly and welcoming and as far as we were concerned this was great PR for that line.

Edited November 26, 2013 by tartanexile81

[caribill]

I think a lot depends on the CD who lets the officers know (or nor) about it.

 

Most of the time the organizers of the M&Gs on the roll calls will prepare individual invitation letters for all the invitees and leave them at the Purser's desk to be delivered. The CD is just one of the invitees and is not expected to let anyone else know about the M&G unless it is one of his/her own staff who might attend if the CD is unavailable.

[littlesteelo]

I don't get this at all. They aren't circus performers, they are ships officers. I am sure they have better things to be doing with their time, doing their jobs and making sure everything is running smoothly.

 

To say shame on them for not coming to your m&m is pretty offensive in my opinion, considering the hard work these people put in behind the scenes to make sure you have a good time.

[sammiedawg]

The title of this thread seems a little dramatic to me. I don't see meet and greets as that important, just saying.

Edited November 26, 2013 by sammiedawg

[paul929207]

Most of the time the organizers of the M&Gs on the roll calls will prepare individual invitation letters for all the invitees and leave them at the Purser's desk to be delivered. The CD is just one of the invitees and is not expected to let anyone else know about the M&G unless it is one of his/her own staff who might attend if the CD is unavailable.

I have run several M&G's.

 

The room for the get together is arranged in advance thru the person at headquarters who handles that ship.

I buy a little package of party invites and fill them with the info for it in advance. I add the officer's names when I get on board and drop the invites at the front desk.

[Happy2cruise]

I don't get this at all. They aren't circus performers, they are ships officers. I am sure they have better things to be doing with their time, doing their jobs and making sure everything is running smoothly.

 

To say shame on them for not coming to your m&m is pretty offensive in my opinion, considering the hard work these people put in behind the scenes to make sure you have a good time.

Agree;)

[81Zoomie]

We had a great M&G on the HAL Noordam in Dec 2011. We had over 100 CC members attend. HAL provided nice light snacks and veggie trays as well as FREE Mimosas and Bloody Mary's! The Hotel Director, Cruise Director, and Chief Engineer were in attendance. It was a first class M&G that set a high standard! We look forward to our M&G on the Crown next week.

[bdjam]

The title of this thread seems a little dramatic to me. I don't see meet and greets as that important, just saying.

 

I agree - shame the officers for not showing up? How about shame on the passengers for expecting the people who are responsible for the safety and wellbeing of the ship to show up for a little flesh-pressing. You don't know what was going on at the same time as your gathering that might have kept officers away.

 

Or maybe the fact that only one person showed up means that all the other invites went astray...and the officers didn't even know about the gathering. Who should we shame for that?

[Cruisin' Chick]

I was surprised at the actual first post of this thread too. On my last cruise, the captain left the captain circle's party after a brief wave and the CD explained there was something for him to attend to.

 

Even though CC has a large number of members, you have to remember that the active membership is much lower (I can think of several who haven't posted in a few years) and that on many of the roll calls, some people don't show up to the meet and greets. The first cruise I went on after joining the site, I was one of the organizers of the meet and greets. I had contacted the CD but really more to see if we can get a part of a lounge reserved for us, as well as a mention in the Patters. The CD didn't show up, but someone on his staff did with a bottle of champagne for the group. I didn't even consider inviting the officers as I figured they were busy with their duties. And not everyone in our group showed up...one roll caller I happen to meet (based on her photo she had posted) said that she and her husband fell asleep and missed it.

[ChuckinSC]

We were on our first and only meet and greet when the organizer became incensed that no officers showed up. As she wailed away I thought to myself how arrogant she was, especially as she waved her Elite card around for all to admire. If that's a typical M&G we want no part of it. BTW, the Captain did show before the meeting ended.

[pablo222]

Public relations? Terrible. Royal Caribbean has you beat, I'm sorry to say, they actually CARE about their past passengers and are happy to attend such wonderful gatherings.

 

I have read on these forums that Cruise Critic has a business

arrangement with Royal Carribbean. Organize meet'n'greets

in exchange for advertising.

 

So, while the RCCL officers might have been wildly excited to

see each of the cruise critics personally, attending was job

required.

[paul929207]

We were on our first and only meet and greet when the organizer became incensed that no officers showed up. As she wailed away I thought to myself how arrogant she was, especially as she waved her Elite card around for all to admire. If that's a typical M&G we want no part of it. BTW, the Captain did show before the meeting ended.

Unfortunately there are jerks everywhere.

 

Never had that type behavior at a M&G I have attended

[Clutterlady]

Sorry...don't like the title of this thread! You have no idea that they didn't have more important things to attend to. I have been to these functions where many showed up or no one showed up...big deal:D Please stop comparing what happened on this cruise to others!

[Kenswing]

I don't get this at all. They aren't circus performers, they are ships officers. I am sure they have better things to be doing with their time, doing their jobs and making sure everything is running smoothly.

 

To say shame on them for not coming to your m&m is pretty offensive in my opinion, considering the hard work these people put in behind the scenes to make sure you have a good time.

 

I totally agree.. I see threads where people are trying to get contact info for even the show performers so they can be invited too..

 

I thought the reason for the meets was to meet the people in your roll call.. Didn't realize people had such high expectations for the officer staff to show up..

[DrivesLikeMario]

Maybe I'm crazy, but what's the big deal about meeting the captain and/or the officers? I guess I'm just not that impressed with them simply because of the job they have and don't have a desire to quiz them. I just don't get this fascination with meeting them. I've done it (been invited to the bridge) and met officers many times, sometimes even at M&Gs, but frankly, it's not important to me at all. I don't get it. :confused: