Is Royal Caribbean trying to kill the Meet and Mingle?

[JLvacation]

~ Morning All ~

 

We have done a few Meet & Mingles over our cruising history .

Have to admit we have signed up / yet missed them . ( Didn't attend )

 

We leave 2 weeks from now on the Rhapsody of the Seas/ And as soon as we hit our 25 person goal. We received an email confirming the get together . We are planning to attend this one , as we have set up a meet & greet for our children !

 

Hope everyone is having nice weekend

 

J.L.

[Cruise a holic]

We attend all M&M. However the activities depend on the crowd as well as the staff. I find on Celebrity the guests are more involved.

 

They organize grab bags, cabin crawls, slot pulls and some sail away activities. It varies by crowd. One guest, who was in a penthouse had a cocktail party for a group of active cc members. The MM should be a joint venture between posters and staff to be successful IMO.

[legaljen1969]

My daughter and I attended the Harmony m&m this past January, and there was a good crowd. I think the person leading it hadn't done many. When it came time to draw for prizes, he just wanted to get it over with. Several times he grouped several decent prizes together, and drew one winning ticket. Half a dozen "winners" received multiple prizes (like a bottle of wine AND a tote AND a t-shirt), when he could have made 15-20 guests happy to receive just one item.

 

Although it is discouraging, it is interesting to see that this seems to be more frequent than I previously thought. I really thought it was just the activities director on Allure last year (I think her name was Katie). I don't know why they group everything together.

 

Although, it may be that some of the events on the ship are scheduled too close together. Katie had to rush out of our M&M to get to a C&A event which was scheduled very close in time to the M&M. There were a lot of us who got up there a little later because we were still mingling. We just made it a progressive party,.

 

My husband, who is not a joiner or social person, always wonders how I "know" so many people throughout the week on our cruises.

[Deeliteful]

Had one on our VOS cruise on 20th March, notified by email and then card in cabin, though not everyone got one of these, plus they did leave a message on the stateroom phone but again not everyone picked up. But pretty well attended though it was a strange time (7.45 in the evening) and all given rum punch and prizes were pretty good, rucksacks, water bottles, champagne and everyone got a notebook and pen (not the iphone I thought it was ;-) ) CD and activities staff were there. Well done RCL I say.

[BillOh]

My issue is that it really should be run by the cc passengers, especially those who have arranged the activities.

 

 

I partially agree and disagree, but your point is understood. On our 2013 Allure cruise that roll call lasted 2 years, had over 10k posts and lot of participation. After the Royal portion of the event, they gave us the microphone and the room for a couple of hours and we took over. I've had the MC want someone to take over, but there was no leadership, just people there for the door prizes.

[Ready2SailAway]

We're on the 2Apr2017 Oasis of the Seas sailing this week.

 

For our M&M of 90+ signups, the when & where info was not posted on the website, but an invitation was waiting for us in our stateroom upon arrival, and was held at 09:30am on Tues 4Apr2017 (our first sea day) in Jazz on 4.

 

Our RCI host was brief, held a raffle for a few bottles of wine, then had to leave for another venue, and we were left to mingle with Coffee/Tea and pastries.

[BillOh]

We're on the 2Apr2017 Oasis of the Seas sailing this week.

 

For our M&M of 90+ signups, the when & where info was not posted on the website, but an invitation was waiting for us in our stateroom upon arrival, and was held at 09:30am on Tues 4Apr2017 (our first sea day) in Jazz on 4.

 

Our RCI host was brief, held a raffle for a few bottles of wine, then had to leave for another venue, and we were left to mingle with Coffee/Tea and pastries.

9:30am? Another indication they are trying to kill the M&M (my conspiracy theory) We had a lot of people who said 10am was too early on a Sea Day. My upcoming Adventure cruise will be the first where I had no real idea when the time and place is. I do remember seeing months ago the last time Adventure did this same itinerary and the M&M time was posted on the site. If I don't get an invite in my room, which has happened, I may walk by the area on Monday every 30 minutes from 9 to 11 ;)

[robyn206]

They had great prizes at the one two weeks ago on Liberty, but no invite. I had to ask for it. Look how many don't have a location that leave this weekend.

 

 

12:00 AM in my world means midnight! Is that not standard time reading? I'm assuming, though, that these mean noon?

[Becoming]

[quote=BecciBoo;52710971:D

 

we once had a duct tape contest that was really fun.

 

 

Hi BecciBoo,

 

I remember our duct tape contest. There were some creative folks there!

 

My best M&M was when an Activities Director divided us into teams and we played People Bingo.

 

People should treat the event as a "Meet & Mingle", not a "Sit & Stare".

 

It can be a good event when folks go in to meet others and enjoy the time.

 

Happy Sailing!

 

Patti

[Formerly known as Seabee]

How we get so worked up about a perceived perk which suddenly doesn't seem so perky. The M&Ms were so much better when they weren't M&Ms...just a group of people bound together by Cruise Critic. We would agree to meet on the fantail or in a pub, or even the night before sailing at a local saloon. No door prizes, no staff...just a group of great folks getting to know each other. Seems me that over the years it has been captured by the cruise lines, compacted into a short event held at an undesirable time at an undesirable location. If you want to really have a good event, quit depending on the cruise line to set it up...pick a spot and a time and meet and mingle. They were so much better before they had a name.

 

 

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[little britain]

I think social media is killing the meet & mingle.

There are many sites, that cannot be mentioned here, where people set up specific groups for a certain sailing, encouraging conversation etc.

Most, when asked to join the "proper" m&m have (a) never heard of cruise critic or (b) say the architecture of this site is cumbersome and old fashioned.

 

So RCI don't host as many, they interpret this as lack of interest. M&M dies a slow death. RCI saves money on a few Pads and pens.....

 

 

 

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[kicker]

Hi Kevin -how many were signed up for your M&M? Where & what time was it held? And was it on the first sea day?

 

We're leaving on the Oasis next weekend and we have 80+ signed up for our M&M so far...

 

Chiming in on an Oasis M&M. We cruised last October, had over 100 people signed up, and received our date/time/location about 2 weeks before sailing. Only about 30 people showed up; lots of prizes (3 bottles of wine, several RCCL caps). I think about half of us won something. We won (drum roll please!); A Royal Caribbean key chain! :')

[TiiiSailor]

M&M onboard Radiance,14 Mar sailing out of Sydney, occurred the first sea day. Saw some unofficial discussion of the date in the roll call before we boarded, but received the official notification in the arrival paperwork in our stateroom. The M&M started with the assistant cruise director giving a short talk and the handing out of a gift (RCL notebook and pen) to all in attendance. Iced tea,lemonade and a tray of fruit and cheese were in the room. People that knew each other talked in groups, but no passing of the microphone to let those on the roll call get to match faces to the names. Talking to others at the M&M, and during the cruise, M&M success is helped by the crew participation to break the ice, but really comes down to the attendees getting around to mingle.

 

Can't judge the success or failure of this one, as I don't have any thing to compare it too. I had a good time and met a few people. So that was a good start.

[Pipo]

Well, the attitute of some forum members in the M&M is really "deplorable". Many stand up and leave right after the last prize is given, without saying 'thank you', or 'excuse me', nothing. Complete lack of respect toward fellow forum members and crew that are in the activity, including the CD, high rank officers and the captain himself. I feel really bad because despite the prizes are small and humble, they are doing "something", and dedicating man-hours to cater us in this FREE and social activity.

[FireStation46]

Where do they usually hold it on the Oasis?

I am signed up for the M&M For our cruise in two weeks.

Thanks

[denamo]

Where do they usually hold it on the Oasis?

I am signed up for the M&M For our cruise in two weeks.

Thanks

 

On our mid January Oasis cruise, the M&M was held in the Jazz on 4 Club at 9:30 a.m. When prizes were being called, I asked that the assistant cruise person to ask for screen names. This was the only way we had any idea of who was who.

 

Best M&M of the cruise was the first day prior to muster at the Central Park bar. Got to meet more there and great place to meet prior to cruising. No loud music or wind to contend with like on top deck.

 

Also had a great cabin crawl later in the week.

[suzyluvs2cruise]

I think the timing of the M&M needs to be looked at in realation to other ship scheduled activities. On several recent cruises on the bigger ships the Top Tier party and M&M had overlapping times. If you wanted to go to the Top Tier party you had to leave early and run to the M&M or vice-versa.

Edited April 8, 2017 by suzyluvs2cruise

[BillOh]

Just today Royal updated the scheduled Meet and Mingle for many ships including Adventure and my upcoming cruise!

[mcatmcat]

In my opinion the problem with the meet and mingle is that it attracts baby boomers only. Every year Royal is acting like crazy attracting millennials to their ship which are a complete different generation. We don't have to wait until the meet and mingle to make new friends and talk about our kids ( well some of us don't even have kids). Scheduling a meet n mingle is a disaster since we all want to be active around the ship and sometimes most people won't show to the event.

 

Just go the the guest game late at night and you will be surprised how millennials fill the ice arena by hundreds and we already have groups of friends that we didn't meet before the cruise.

 

Chocolates by the pillow are gone now fleet wide affecting every single passengers, don't be surprised when they get rid of the meet and mingle which is only popular at cruise critics.

 

Good night !

 

 

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[nealstuber]

We had a lot of people who said 10am was too early on a Sea Day ;)

 

 

Early birds that we are, we'd probably say 10am was blowing a hole in our whole morning!

 

 

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[julesbeara]

Just off the Adventure of the Seas March 29th (10 Day) sailing. The Meet & Mingle was horrible. They raffled off Scrapbooking Kits and a few bottles of subpar wine. Total waste of time. We are lucky we got out invite. A lot of people got their invites after it happened. :(

[frank808]

I think the timing of the M&M needs to be looked at in realation to other ship scheduled activities. On several recent cruises on the bigger ships the Top Tier party and M&M had overlapping times. If you wanted to go to the Top Tier party you had to leave early and run to the M&M or vice-versa.

The 4 times on allure last year were meet n mingle about 30 to 45 minutes before the top tier party. Not bad as you just walked out of on aor and then head to the aqua theatre a short while away.

On grandeur last month the meet n mingle was also right before the top tier event. Will see how explorer runs it in june.

 

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[brillohead]

Didn't get my invite on my cruise last week. Someone had posted in our Roll Call that they spoke to the Loyalty Ambassador and it was going to be Day 6 at 10am, so I planned on that. Later they sent invites for Day 4 (a port day!) at 10am, never sent my invite, and I missed the whole thing!

 

I'm glad I had posted the Cabin Crawl info on our Roll Call in advance (I organized it), as we were doing the crawl after the M&M, and I wasn't even there!

[Cruzin-K]

Several of us didn't get our invites on the Liberty last week. I only knew about it because I'd met up with some of the roll call members at sail away, and later that night ran into them again and they'd received their invites so I knew that it would be the very next morning. Lots of people missed it :(

[internetwhiz]

Several of us didn't get our invites on the Liberty last week. I only knew about it because I'd met up with some of the roll call members at sail away, and later that night ran into them again and they'd received their invites so I knew that it would be the very next morning. Lots of people missed it :(

 

 

We didn't get ours on the 3/5 sailing either.