What are your expectations when you attend a Meet and Mingle?

[4cats,1dog]

Booked Alaska CruiseTour a year in advance. I was very active on the roll call.

I helped put together the pre meet at the hotel bar the night before. We met a few wonderful people. Then our stateroom attendant forgot to give me the invite to the meet and mingle. 10am the first sea day. We were attending the Captains/officers Breakfast for Suite guests. So we missed the whole thing. I missed meeting people that I have been corresponding with for a year!

I complained and the AM sent a bottle of wine and some RCI memo pads& key chains with their apology. I'm still angry they didn't invite me to a M&M that I helped set up. :(

[Colorado Babe]

The best M&M I attended was on the Brillance in October (2014). Chloe (From Ireland) was the cruise director and she was awesome. She spent a good hour or so telling us all about the ship and she gave out some really nice raffle gifts. I won a huge one filled with everything You could imagine. I still have it and never unwrapped it. Whenever my husband and I saw her on the ship, she would greet us by our names. She is incredible.

[Desertbelle]

The best M&M I attended was on the Brillance in October (2014). Chloe (From Ireland) was the cruise director and she was awesome. She spent a good hour or so telling us all about the ship and she gave out some really nice raffle gifts. I won a huge one filled with everything You could imagine. I still have it and never unwrapped it. Whenever my husband and I saw her on the ship, she would greet us by our names. She is incredible.

I agree, Clo O'Connor is the best CD and she did a wonderful M&M for us in May on the Brilliance! I would love to meet up with her again some day.

Edited February 4, 2015 by Desertbelle

[ehfl]

I go to meet and mingle. I don't necessarily want the staff to take up a lot of time. Sometimes they raffle off prizes, which is OK if it doesn't take long, but otherwise, they should just let people meet and mingle which is the whole point.

[alfaeric]

Had a few active events, had some quiet ones. Always like to meet everyone after the event, too.

 

But the two times that I was more active on the roll call than normal, the day of the M&M was rough. So we didn't make it. :o Felt so bad- both in reality and guilty that I couldn't go.

 

On another cruise- the CD who attended told us who were there that we were going to stay in port on the evening of the 4th of July. It was a surprise to most everyone on the cruise- but we knew. That rocked.

[Cowcrazy65]

Thank you for starting this thread, I really am enjoying it. We are going on our first cruise in 16 days. Hopefully we have a Meet and Mingle, it is not scheduled yet. :eek: Our roll call is not very big, but there are several people I would love to meet!!:D

[Paulette3028]

Thank you for starting this thread, I really am enjoying it. We are going on our first cruise in 16 days. Hopefully we have a Meet and Mingle, it is not scheduled yet. :eek: Our roll call is not very big, but there are several people I would love to meet!!:D

 

Royal schedules the Meet N Mingle on board, but there are several things (I believe) that are required for it to get done: (1) it needs to be a cruise of 7 or more days, and (2) more than 25 people have to sign up through cruise critic for the Meet N Mingle.

 

Can anyone else add more to what I have written, or correct me if I am wrong?

[reallyitsmema]

Thank you for starting this thread, I really am enjoying it. We are going on our first cruise in 16 days. Hopefully we have a Meet and Mingle, it is not scheduled yet. :eek: Our roll call is not very big, but there are several people I would love to meet!!:D

 

As you have already seen, your meet and mingle is on the confirmed list but not scheduled. Some cruise directors are really slow about scheduling so just keep checking the list. Just understand that when they do assign a date and time, it is just tentative and can change. Our last cruise had the meeting change 4 times and it ended up being scheduled during sailaway since our first sea day was day 5. Needless to say, we missed it.

[BillOh]

your comment about 'big' personality reminded me of our roll call thread leader...

online he had a HUGE personality. Very funny, outgoing, talkative person.

In person, he was soooooooooooooooooooo quiet and shy.

Still very funny and nice as nice can be. But sooooooooooooooooo quiet.

At the M&M i wasn't sure who he was until it came out.

It was so interesting how he was in writing vs in person.

But even though he's so quiet, he still LOVED to participate - in the sense of being with others.

So he made sure we all signed up for a few things together.

Though he didn't actively participate, he loved to be there with us.

I'm making him sound creepy, but he wasn't.

He was there with his very sweet and beautiful wife.

The two of them would participate together. Both so sweet and quiet.

A really really really really BIG LOUD personality online, but not in person. it's so interesting.

 

 

Darn, your cruise history isn't in your signature, I wanted to see if you were talking about me ;). But seriously, I may have been that way initially, but After several meet and mingles, I'm not looking forward to meeting everyone after a year of talking.

[BillOh]

Darn, your cruise history isn't in your signature, I wanted to see if you were talking about me ;). But seriously, I may have been that way initially, but After several meet and mingles, I'm not looking forward to meeting everyone after a year of talking.

 

I am looking forward. The not must have been a Freudian slip. :p

[spookwife]

Was that a long cruise such as a re-positioning? Where there a lot of Diamond and above cruisers? I've never seen a Captain or CD show up, but have heard many reports of that.

 

the captain showed up for our NAV one 2 weeks ago, as did many of the officers.. long enough for a quick intro and that was about it. the Captain stayed and spoke for a few minuets but the it was the AD who handled all the rest.

 

my ideal one would probably be a combo of that one( with the officers showing up) and the first one I attended on EN. instead of a straight up raffle, the AD did trivia and 'trick questions' in order to give away the swag. it also had far fewer attended.. maybe 20? while the NAV one had closer to 75. I think we would have hung around longer but the space was booked for the Santa group immediately after our MnM.

[PEB]

I have been to meet and mingles on quite a few different cruises and cruise lines. The truth is I have no expectations. I have met some nice people and glad I went but I do not go expecting anything. If I meet some people that we keep in touch with great, if we do not meet anyone we hit it off with we are still on a cruise and will have a good time.

[BillOh]

the captain showed up for our NAV one 2 weeks ago, as did many of the officers.. long enough for a quick intro and that was about it. the Captain stayed and spoke for a few minuets but the it was the AD who handled all the rest.

 

my ideal one would probably be a combo of that one( with the officers showing up) and the first one I attended on EN. instead of a straight up raffle, the AD did trivia and 'trick questions' in order to give away the swag. it also had far fewer attended.. maybe 20? while the NAV one had closer to 75. I think we would have hung around longer but the space was booked for the Santa group immediately after our MnM.

 

Interesting. My next one is on Freedom this May. For my first time ever on a 7 day cruise we struggled to get to the 25 min. I think we got as high as 34, but there has a been a lot of cancelations including the couple that was going with us, they booked last year then found out their oldest graduates college that week.

[alaska_planner]

Darn, your cruise history isn't in your signature, I wanted to see if you were talking about me ;). But seriously, I may have been that way initially, but After several meet and mingles, I'm not looking forward to meeting everyone after a year of talking.

 

I am looking forward. The not must have been a Freudian slip. :p

 

:D i figured it was a typo!

 

as for my cruise history -

 

i've only been on royal once, so far, which is why i've only been to one meet & mingle...(on the allure)

i've been on several disney cruises, but Disney doesn't have official meets - they're entirely guest driven.....

some good, some not so good as with everything...

and i've been on Cunard twice, but not cruising - crossing the atlantic there and back (with 3 months in between the two sailings)...

but that was in prehistoric times, when i was 7 years old and there were locked gates between the classes....

it was on the original queen mary (the one that sits out in long beach now)...

this was way back in 1963. Long time ago.

the most magnificent ocean liner you can imagine. stunning stunning stunning.

Even after how many years? hmmm....52 years ago. yikes! even after all that time, i can still remember how beautiful she was, inside and out. memories :)

 

but i digress from the topic!!

Edited February 5, 2015 by alaska_planner

[Folk Singer]

I like when they have you introduce yourself by screen name, as sometimes I'm looking for someone I'm doing a tour with. I like that Royal does the prizes ( Celebrity doesn't usually do that).

 

Yes you can then recognize someone from the Message board that much easier.

[Folk Singer]

I have been to meet and mingles on quite a few different cruises and cruise lines. The truth is I have no expectations. I have met some nice people and glad I went but I do not go expecting anything. If I meet some people that we keep in touch with great, if we do not meet anyone we hit it off with we are still on a cruise and will have a good time.

 

Right on.

[Paulette3028]

[quote name=alaska_planner;45508974.......i've been on several disney cruises' date=' but Disney doesn't have official meets - they're entirely guest driven.....

some good, some not so good as with everything.....

[/quote]

 

Just to share a piece of trivia I found out.....the Royal Meet N Greet idea came from a Hotel Director on a ship, named Robert Taggart. He is still with the company. I don't know how he then set about having these things arranged....but it was his idea to have the cruise line organize them, once the Meet N Mingle sign up reaches 25 cruisers on cruises of a week or longer.

[Folk Singer]

That was a good piece of Trivia.:):)

[sjb317]

I did not discover CC until after we reached D+ and I've only been to a handful of M&M since. I always sign us up to help the roll call reach 25 but don't always attend. My experience has been there is usually not much "meeting or mingling" and honestly, it is not a priority for husband and I to attend. So I guess my expectations are not to expect too much!:D

 

Sherri:)

[setsail]

None as far as rci is concerned

[American Bear]

The success or failure of a meet and mingle really comes down to the people there, and the people who led the roll call!

One of our best recently was on the MSC Divina, with our roll call leaders JW and Jerome!

They kept everyone smiling, laughing, and along with some really great roll call people, we really enjoyedour time with them all!:D

[BillOh]

That was a good piece of Trivia.:):)

 

Agreed, never heard that one. I didn't know about them for my first 7 day in 2006, but went to my first one on Freedom in 2008.

[cruiselvr04]

Part of the reason I sign up for the M and M or even post on the group for our sailings is to get an idea of what the cruise will feel like, get excursion ideas and a few times joined excursions planned by our group. We have joined some wonderful people on excursions that MADE the cruise. Other times we have not really "felt it". On a back to back last year we met and spent time with 2 great couples.

 

You do have to put yourself out there a bit at the M and M if you really want to meet others. Or just go for the hokey prizes they give out. My suggestion is to join the M and M, post on the boards for your cruise and then decide if you want to take your vacation time to go. No one takes roll call. I think it is a great thing that RCL does for us and I would hate to see it go away. It takes minimal time and cost for them.

[BillOh]

I did not discover CC until after we reached D+ and I've only been to a handful of M&M since. I always sign us up to help the roll call reach 25 but don't always attend. My experience has been there is usually not much "meeting or mingling" and honestly, it is not a priority for husband and I to attend. So I guess my expectations are not to expect too much!:D

 

Sherri:)

 

I certainly understand this sentiment. I've found you can pretty much tell how a M&M will go by the tone of the messages before sailaway. Not always, but its a good indicator.

[John&LaLa]

Just to share a piece of trivia I found out.....the Royal Meet N Greet idea came from a Hotel Director on a ship, named Robert Taggart. He is still with the company. I don't know how he then set about having these things arranged....but it was his idea to have the cruise line organize them, once the Meet N Mingle sign up reaches 25 cruisers on cruises of a week or longer.

 

Do you think Royal came up with the concept. I first heard of it in 2005 on Celebrity TA. But then, that is when I first stumbled onto CC. :o