Meet & Greets?

[OBX Cruisers]

We're on the July 25, 2015 sailing Stockholm to Bergen and one of us contacted Cruise Critic re a Meet & Greet but there has been no response. We may have to organize our own and would really appreciate hearing from those Roll Calls who sail before us about the best venue - Explorer Lounge? and time. Any other tips? Thanks!

[roothy123]

Keep in mind there's a mandatory safety drill that all passengers have to attend. From what I've read on here, it's usually held around 5 PM on the first day. It's required to be done before sailing or "immediately after sailing."

 

I'm sure others will weigh in, but in the meantime my opinion: Sailaway is not a good time, unless you do it outside, as some people like to watch (and photograph) the sailaway, especially if you're right in the middle of a nice city (Lisbon, Venice, Istanbul, others). Right before sailaway could work, if it doesn't interfere with the emergency drill. If you're in a port where going back out to sightsee is feasible, not everyone will make it if you have it mid afternoon. Waiting until a sea day or part sea day rolls around isn't ideal unless it's early in the cruise. The longer people are on the ship, the more they disperse. Then again, for those coming in the same day, jetlag can be rough - some people might sleep until dinner!

 

As it gets closer to embarkation day, you may want to just throw out a couple days/times/places to those on your Roll Call to get a sense of what might work the best.

 

I don't think Cruise Critic organizes the Meet & Greets. Also, some cruise lines get involved and send out invitations once you provide them info, but I think most of them don't. Not sure what Viking does.

Edited June 11, 2015 by roothy123

[id4elizabeth]

Our Meet & Greet in Istanbul was the day after embarkation but a few hours after sailaway. Sailaway in our case was 2:00 and our M&G was at 4:00 and worked well. If I'm correct about your sailaway in Stockholm, it will be the day after embarkation at 2:00 also, so 4:00 or 4:30 should work fine. It's after sail away, but before dinner. The Safety Drill was the day before - embarkation day. In our case too, I threw out some suggestions and got little response, so contrary to Roothy' advice, just take the bull by the horns and pick a time that will work. I'd say we had close to 50 show up. Of course not everyone will make it, but if you ask for input, you will either get nothing or you'll get so many conflicting opinions you'll never get concensus.

 

As far as where, we had ours on the top (second) floor of the Explorer's Lounge and it was a great place as no one else was there. It was a bit warm there that first day, but it never was again. I think they just had not figured out the correct settings for the A/C yet. Just make sure everyone knows it's the Explorer's Lounge at the bow of the ship and not the Explorer's Desk on Deck 1. We had another event for someone's birthday and half the party went to the Explorer's Lounge and the other half to the Explorer's Desk.

 

Our event started here on CC as a "bring your own drink and snacks" sort of grassroots affair - not sponsored by anyone. But once we found out the editor and chief of CC was going to be on board, she got Viking to sponsor the event with champagne and canapes. The Captain showed up along with a big wig from Viking and gave a little speech. To my knowledge, that hasn't happened again.

 

So my advice is to get it organized as to date, time and place and then have someone in your group who is getting on early on embarkation day to ask Viking if they would sponsor it. I don't suggest the Explorer's Desk as they'll be too busy. I would find the head of Food and Beverage (Jean-Paul if he's still there) and see if they would do something for you. No use in talking to the LA office before hand as our experience is there's a total disconnect between LA and what actually goes on on the ship.

 

It's well worth the effort - we had a great time and it began a number of friendships that lasted the whole cruise, so I encourage you to get a M&G started. Worst case, you're the only one who shows up!

[Ontario/AZ]

Maybe we can get a cc rep on our trip? Guess that won't happen so John and I are up to anytime you suggest. I do agree that sailing time is not the best but just after that is fine. We are in cabin 3029 and will be transferring from the airport to the ship July 25th. We fly from Toronto to Paris to Stockholm so will be tired but that's OK. 43 days to go!!!!!!

[PopsA]

I arranged the Meet and Greet for the Barcelona to Bergen leg of the maiden voyage. We had a very active Roll Call leading up to our cruise date and wanted to jump start our social circle on the cruise with this fun tradition.

 

We had about 20 participants which included some of the 50 Day Crazies that we had also become friends with. Viking provided us with a wonderful service in the Explorers Lounge, Deck 7 Front of the Ship. Viking did and excellent job and in the end I'm still not sure if they provided it all or if Cruise a Critic sponsored some of it too. As it was my e-mail to Carolyn, the Editor here at CC that set the event up.

 

We did have our event on the sail away day at 3:30 I believe. This gave us time to settle in. I agree there is no reason to contact LA, they have no direct contact to the ships operations. Even if a few of you bring a bottle of wine or champagne from home and bring that to the Explorer's Lounge they will manage it nicely for you.

 

But the best option is to work with the ship management. Best of luck.

[OBX Cruisers]

Many, many thanks for the excellent info (as always)!