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

[Little Buddy's Mom]

 

Whenever we do trivia, or sign up for a Meet and Mingle, I always remember that family.

 

Sorry for the hijack...carry on!

 

 

Bragging a bit, aren't you?:rolleyes:

 

Why didn't you just form a team of six and you could all have that coveted "ship on a stick.":D

[TBone2K]

One of the best M&M we went to wasn't even official since the cruise wasn't long enough.

 

After meeting in the Viking Crown, one of the CC members made name tags, which really helped. We chatted a little bit about our various experiences and why were on this cruise.

 

We did a cabin crawl, which was just going around and visiting various classes of stateroom that some of the M&M members volunteered to show. (Probably the only time I'll ever get to see a grand suite). We added a little fun to it for those who wanted to trow $5 in a pool. Each participant got a playing card at each room and whoever made the best poker hand won the pool.

 

Then we did a slot pull. Each person brought $9 and did three $3 pulls on the Wheel of Fortune slot machine. We played until each person had their turn and then split the remainder. Those who wanted to keep going did. It was quite fun and some other cruisers even joined in.

 

One other M&M we did a gift exchange, where everyone brought a $10 gift that reflected where they were from.

[spunks]

Our last one on the VOS was pretty special! All Ships officers were thereand they gave away pretty nice prizes.....but the best part was they gave away free drinks.:D

[CRUZBUDS]

We have been disappointed in the Meet and Mingles on Royal. Other lines have consistently been much better.

 

Our last one was in November on the Legend --- a member of activity staff was running it. He spent most of the time talking about himself.

 

There was no effort made to have people mingle or meet each other. Just plain boring

 

We've never seen an officer attend on on Royal (limited experience) Celebrity will usually have several officers and the CD is the MC

[CruiseMore1]

Sorry, off subject, but.............Did you read the news about you beloved Majesty? You must be totally excited!

[legaljen1969]

I can't say that.....I have no idea when they started....as you say, your first connection to CC was in 2005, mine was much later in 2013.

 

So let's just ASK EVERYONE -- When was your first encounter with a Meet N Mingle?

 

My first M&M was Freedom April 2015. BillOh organized the roll call and got things moving. I think it was a pretty decent M&M. We had fun talking and a few people did get together to do other things on the ship. I would say that Bill is correct in his assessment that the way the roll call and pre-cruise conversation goes can be a pretty good indication of the M&M will go. I think we had a pretty friendly roll call and the group at the M&M was wonderful. I miss you folks.

 

I am fairly social. My husband was skeptical. I think I could get him to go if I participated in another M&M.

[legaljen1969]

After my last Freedom cruise, I might add that I expect if Royal changes the time and location after people have boarded that they will tell everyone. They have messed me up twice now.

 

Well, the upgrade fairy did visit you, so maybe you can call it even. :)

[legaljen1969]

No one can say for certain what the mix will be like. On our recent Indy cruise, there were people at the M&M who were travelling with their adult (early 20's sons) children and others who had teenagers or pre-teen children as well as newlyweds. Yes, there were those who were also empty nesters.

 

Just like anything else, it will attract a broad base of people.

 

You are so right. We had everything from the people with the teddy bears (someone who apparently cruises a lot and is probably on this thread, but I didn't meet you so I am not sure who you are) and older couples to honeymooners and I think a couple who was planning the proposal on the cruise. I don't ask people their age. I just enjoy meeting people. Who cares their age? Fun people are fun. Boring people are boring.

[jules815]

Bragging a bit' date=' aren't you?:rolleyes:

 

Why didn't you just form a team of six and you could all have that coveted "ship on a stick.":D[/quote']

 

Not bragging at all. First time I'd witnessed people behaving that way during cruise ship trivia, on a team in front of their kids.

[cjdixon4]

I haven't got any expectations of a Meet n' Mingle anymore. They can be as unique as the people in the Roll Call. I've encountered some where the passengers were a lot of fun, outgoing, and friendly. Others I attended had people just holding up the wall staring at each other. My gathering on the Oasis was a complete bust; the location was changed without anyone being notified. So...when you have no expectations, you won't be disappointed. :rolleyes:

[bigque]

My first meet & mingle was on my 2010 Serenade Southern Caribbean Cruise. But I thought that the pre cruise meet & greet at Senior Frogs the night before the cruise was better than the Meet & Mingle on the ship. we had about 30 people there from the roll call and it was like a get together of old friends. We also did a Meet & Greet at the Sky Bar on Embarkation day with the rest of the folks in the roll call who did not come in a day early.

My 2013 Freedom roll call did the same. We had a pre cruise meet & greet at Rusty's in Port Canaveral with about 35 from the roll call and also met at the sky bar on embarkation day. At this Meet & Mingle there was a lot more people there than who actually participated in the roll call but it was still good.

On both of these roll calls we had very active participation and people that took the lead for doing different activities such as the slot pulls, etc and we did the gift exchange at both also.

My current roll call for Adventure in October has been slow only about 5 of us that participate regularly. We are not even close at this time to have the 25 minimum required to have the official meet & mingle!

[legaljen1969]

If people have eyes and use the Cruise Critic message boards, they'd know where I was from. Colorado is quite the progressive state. I know of some people in my family that scoff at Colorado and our laws.

 

Anyways, like I said before, we get along with everyone so it usually isn't an issue.

 

Well, I have eyes AND I have used the boards for quite awhile. Maybe we don't frequent the same boards, but I hadn't seen you before now. I don't see anything in your screen name that indicates you are from Colorado.

 

Your screen name indicates to me that you are Tom, and apparently you are some sort of superstar "ace esquire."

 

Anyhow, people are probably far less judgmental about where you are from than you might believe. Most people could not care less that you are from Colorado other than to have a conversation with you about whatever they know or want to know about Colorado. I met some really nice people from Colorado on our last cruise. Nothing even came up about your new recreational substances. Quite frankly, I don't think much about it as it is of no interest to me.

 

Just go and enjoy your cruise. Perhaps you could be a little less judgmental about people having eyes. Perhaps you could leave the chip on your shoulder at home too. It would certainly give you much more room to pack.

[mollyeilis]

M&M! Wouldn't know! The one time I tried to have my family go, there was a group of 2 people with a gift in front of them and NO ONE ELSE there. Not sure if anyone else had been there, but there was still time left in the M&M but everyone else had left. And the people at the table never even looked up, let alone invited the lost looking people over assuming they were just late for the M&M.

 

 

That's what I'm afraid of! We don't mind the older crowd, but being from Colorado, they tend to mind us. :cool:

 

You do understand that what's now legal in CO and WA isn't something 30-somethings invented, right? If my mom were still alive she would be 71 this year and she partook of what was then illegal from the moment and and my dad moved to SF (and likely before) in '63ish until '79, when I was 10 and she realized an asthmatic shouldn't be smoking anything.

 

Some people are OK with it, some people approve highly, some people are OVER it, some people grew up with it and are over it because it's what old fogy parents (or idiot ex-boyfriends, not that I'd know anything about that) do. It generally has nothing to do with age.

 

Our closest neighbor is 97, his now-late son was in his 70s. We live with lots of seniors, and very quickly my son realized that age means nothing. He talks about Star Wars and Legos with all of them, and understands that some of our neighbors are of the age of Spielberg and Lucas, some watched the originals with kids or grandkids even. They created computers, they created quite a lot of what we have now. And now-legal stuff in our states is just another thing that's been around for a long, long time.

 

 

Well, I have eyes AND I have used the boards for quite awhile. Maybe we don't frequent the same boards, but I hadn't seen you before now. I don't see anything in your screen name that indicates you are from Colorado.

 

I'm guessing you're on mobile. On a regular computer you can see:

 

Join Date: Dec 2014

Location: Denver, CO

Posts: 142

 

 

 

That said, living in WA, I know that most people don't really think all that much about it at all. Believe it or not, people don't really care what's going on in states other than their own.

[Newtoncruise]

I've been to all the Meet and Mingles for my cruises. Some were better than others; people actually mingled, ships staff that attended were engaging holding raffles, etc. My husband didn't really ever care to join me, but I would drag our youngest daughter who was in her early teens at the time, even though she thought the whole thing was a little creepy.

 

One summer we sailed as a family on what was the "new" Carnival Dream. It was a western itinerary sailing from PC with some different ports than RC has. Anyway, there was a pretty active roll call for this cruise, and a group that was staying at the Radisson had planned a get together poolside the night before the cruise. We were staying at the Residence Inn, and once again I dragged my daughter, who turned 16 on this cruise, with me and we walked over to the Radisson.

 

Only one family was there, friendly and all, and when we started talking about things we enjoyed on cruises, they mentioned trivia. Great! We also enjoy trivia as a family! They had sailed mostly with Carnival, and mentioned how they had always won the coveted "Ship on a Stick" and had them all proudly displayed on their mantle at home. They were excited to be sailing on a new Carnival ship, and were there to get a new trophy to add to their collection.

 

Sure enough, they were there on the first morning for trivia. I introduced my husband and other daughter, we had a nice conversation and then trivia started. Well, we beat them...and then the next day, we won again. By day 3 or so, we would pass them on board and smile or say hi, and they would look away! They wouldn't even talk to us! Really?? Anyway, we ended up taking home the Ship on a Stick. :p

 

Whenever we do trivia, or sign up for a Meet and Mingle, I always remember that family.

 

Sorry for the hijack...carry on!

 

That is hilarious......maybe you should havecletvthem win!!!

[Newtoncruise]

Bragging a bit' date=' aren't you?:rolleyes:

 

Why didn't you just form a team of six and you could all have that coveted "ship on a stick.":D[/quote']

 

It was "trivia"! She wasn't bragging just recalling a her strange story of how strange human nature is.....fascinating really......

 

Not many people would ignore someone just because they lost at trivia.......

 

We won the 70's pop quiz! Now that's bragging!

[legaljen1969]

 

 

 

 

I'm guessing you're on mobile. On a regular computer you can see:

 

Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 142

 

 

 

 

Ah yes, I did see that. I have to admit I have never really paid attention to the fact that information is there.