Why aren't more people active in HAL Roll Calls?

[packercruising]

On the plus side, we have met people on roll calls that we are still in contact with years later.

 

On the not so plus side, it seems that less than half of the people that sign up for a Meet and Greet actually show up. We had one time where only 6 showed up.

 

All gift exchanges do is take up space in your suit case. How do you buy for someone you never met?

[sail7seas]

Through our many years of loads of travel, we met a great many peoplel, we enjoyed tremendously. W sailed a number of times subseequent to meeting them on ships and air line clubs, hotels etc withoutneed or benefit of roll calls. If one wishes, it is very easy to met as many or more people than one wishes during their travels.

[Tinknock50]

 

I don't understand adults who join the roll call, participate in the conversation, agree to meet and then just don't show up. [emoji57]....

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Yeah that amazes me too. Sometimes the most enthusiastic posters are more than likely not going to show up.

[eaglegrey]

Probably, I never found it either. Only read about it being offered and was never able to connect either.

 

So HAL's roll call feature is available. Probably easiest to find on HAL's website. Scroll all the way down to the bottom and look under "For Booked Guests". Then click on "Facebook Roll Call". It will take you HAL's Facebook. You then choose the month and ship. A list will pop up. It then takes you to the public event for the cruise that HAL has set up.

 

Hope this helps:)

[draftxhorselover]

"cabin crawl" probably got it's name from the activity known as a "pub crawl." You go to different pubs/bars in one evening, stay for a couple of minutes ad have a drink. At the end of the night, you've seen all different types of bars and are thoroughly drunk... (not that I've ever done a pub crawl). Popular with college kids, vacations to ski towns, vacations to Ireland, vacations to Tokyo... anywhere where you've got kids just over the legal drinking age and lots of bars in a small geographic area ;)

 

That's what I thought as well.. alcohol was somehow involved I this form of 'crawling ' ;) I will not be participating in such stupid reindeer games.

[sapper1]

If one has no plan to go toa M & G, be the fill in person or couple to make enough guests sharing the cost for others to get a good price on theirroll call arranged tours or do a slot pull or cabin crawl, than why both er getting into thereoll call at all./? Makes no sense. Sure, nothing is ob ligatgor y but why get on the foll call itt if none of what they are p;lanning or talking about interests you?

On the Sailaway Gang roll call there was no pressure at all and people felt free to participate in just what interested them or to join in everything that was planned. It was really one of the best roll calls I have participated in. The same was true on our 33 day South Pacific cruise last year. There was always something to do on a sea day if one wished.

I find that the longer cruises have more involved roll calls.

[cruisemom42]

If one has no plan to go toa M & G, be the fill in person or couple to make enough guests sharing the cost for others to get a good price on theirroll call arranged tours or do a slot pull or cabin crawl, than why both er getting into thereoll call at all./? Makes no sense. Sure, nothing is ob ligatgor y but why get on the foll call itt if none of what they are p;lanning or talking about interests you?

 

If one has no interest in ANY of the things that might be associated with participation in a roll call, then of course you are right -- there is no reason to participate.

 

However, my interpretation of the posts made above is that if one had an interest in SOME but not ALL of the activities, they would be welcomed to participate in those things without pressure to participate in the rest.

[Tinknock50]

That's what I thought as well.. alcohol was somehow involved I this form of 'crawling ' ;) I will not be participating in such stupid reindeer games.

It doesn't have to be a drinking game. :) The one I participated in, they may have offered a drink when you came to a cabin, but it was mostly about seeing different types of cabins and we moved pretty quickly from cabin to cabin. No one hung out at one cabin. ( I don't drink myself).

[*Miss G*]

Probably the most intriguing Roll Calll tip was learning from one of the members that the Maasdam leaves from Boston the very same day we get back from the VOV. This led to several of us deciding the best way to get back home to the West Coast was to add 18 more days on the Maasdam via the Panama instead of cramming ourselves into a return flight. So we became the 38+18 cruisers.

That is awesome! I tried very hard to make a TA to GET to my TA work, but Cunard has failed me. lol

 

That's what I thought as well.. alcohol was somehow involved I this form of 'crawling ' ;) I will not be participating in such stupid reindeer games.

Yeah, I don't know of any cabin crawls that are anything like a pub crawl. All we're doing is looking at the various categories and locations. And meeting some nice people.

[kazu]

If one has no interest in ANY of the things that might be associated with participation in a roll call, then of course you are right -- there is no reason to participate.

 

However, my interpretation of the posts made above is that if one had an interest in SOME but not ALL of the activities, they would be welcomed to participate in those things without pressure to participate in the rest.

 

Exactly what I htought I said crusiemom.;)

[TheCalicoCat]

In my opinion, Roll Calls are a cultural thing. They are way more popular on RCCL (again IMHO).

 

For my upcoming HAL cruise, our Meet & greet organizer, keeps saying that they are a way to meet the people that you have been chatting with, but our roll call (with almost 100 people) has been fairly silent.

 

I've asked questions like, What are you planning to do in port? Have you booked already or do you plan to wing it when you get off the ship? (Silence, so I'm left feeling, "Why should I bother showing up to meet people that can't be bothered to chat online?)

 

Meanwhile on no other line (that I have used on CC) is there an interest in the port cameras like there is here.

 

Cabin Crawl - we participated & had fun on our last cruise. I saw that the suites are nearly as spacious as they sound & they saw how 2 adults and a child fit in an interior - AKA informative.

 

In addition to the other activities mentioned, on our roll call, people are expressing interest in bridge (the card game) & other semi-social events.

 

Above all, its you vacation do what you want - none of this stuff is obligatory.

[wander]

Please get RID pf the notion that "cabin crawls" involve alcohol. The poster was simply answering a question about the word "crawl". Pub crawls have been around for decades and do center on drinking. The work crawl simply refers to going around to different "pubs" or in our case "cabins". For 'pubs" you drink at each stop. For "cabins" you simply look.

 

I seldom participate in a "Cabin Crawl" as I have "been there, see that". However, a number of years ago I loved seeing what the different cabins look like to think about for future cruises

[sammiedawg]

Please get RID pf the notion that "cabin crawls" involve alcohol. The poster was simply answering a question about the word "crawl". Pub crawls have been around for decades and do center on drinking. The work crawl simply refers to going around to different "pubs" or in our case "cabins". For 'pubs" you drink at each stop. For "cabins" you simply look.

 

I seldom participate in a "Cabin Crawl" as I have "been there, see that". However, a number of years ago I loved seeing what the different cabins look like to think about for future cruises

 

I'm sure the drinking varies but from photos posted here I get the impression there is alcohol involved in many of these organized activities. I am not interested in fraternity type events. I learned about cabin crawls and slot pulls from reading the Holland America boards on CC. I

[packercruising]

Through our many years of loads of travel, we met a great many peoplel, we enjoyed tremendously. W sailed a number of times subseequent to meeting them on ships and air line clubs, hotels etc withoutneed or benefit of roll calls. If one wishes, it is very easy to met as many or more people than one wishes during their travels.

 

We have yet to cruise a second time with someone we met on a previous cruise. That would be neat, though!

[Lizzie68]

If one has no interest in ANY of the things that might be associated with participation in a roll call, then of course you are right -- there is no reason to participate.

 

However, my interpretation of the posts made above is that if one had an interest in SOME but not ALL of the activities, they would be welcomed to participate in those things without pressure to participate in the rest.

 

Exactly! If someone does not wish to, or does not see any benefit, it's not necessary to put the idea of a roll call down. The Roll Call section of Cruise Critic is very popular and successful, and HAL has tried to imitate it but it is a very sad imitation. I do not like slot pulls or gift exchanges so if they are part of a roll call I simply don't participate in that particular activity and I don't criticize those who do. You have to actually enjoy meeting new people and have a friendly attitude to attend a Meet & Greet and not be judgmental about activities you don't enjoy. I must admit I found the cabin crawl to be interesting (no alcohol involved!) as I got to see many different ones.

[OlsSalt]

I'm sure the drinking varies but from photos posted here I get the impression there is alcohol involved in many of these organized activities. I am not interested in fraternity type events. I learned about cabin crawls and slot pulls from reading the Holland America boards on CC. I

 

Still trying to figure out what a slot pull is since in all my Roll Call experience I have never even heard of it.

 

Does everyone go to the penny slots in the casino and pull them all at the same time and agree to share any winnings?

[sammiedawg]

Still trying to figure out what a slot pull is since in all my Roll Call experience I have never even heard of it.

 

Does everyone go to the penny slots in the casino and pull them all at the same time and agree to share any winnings?

 

Not sure what it is.

[Cruise_More_Often]

We have yet to cruise a second time with someone we met on a previous cruise. That would be neat, though!

It is neat! We met a couple through a 2011 Eurodam Cruise Critic Meet & Greet thread, and we ended up hanging out together and touring on that cruise. Since then we have cruised with them three more times. We have another cruise scheduled for 2018 and are talking about 2019.

 

We met another friend on a rollcall thread on our first NCL cruise back in 2004. He lives in Vancouver, so whenever we are in Vancouver, we meet for dinner or spend the day with him. If he is in San Francisco, we meet there.

 

Lifelong friends meet on Cruise Critic.

[TheCalicoCat]

Still trying to figure out what a slot pull is since in all my Roll Call experience I have never even heard of it.

 

Does everyone go to the penny slots in the casino and pull them all at the same time and agree to share any winnings?

 

I did not participate but from what I could tell, everyone who was participating gave $1 - 20 people = $20, one person put the $20 into the machine, they took turns pulling until the $20 was spent (or they took 20 pulls - I'm not 100% sure) they then split the winnings.

 

It was more social than anything.

 

A way to spend some time on a sea day.

 

At that moment in time, on that cruise line, if you spent X in the casino, then you got free beverages - so the organizer got to put his/her card in the machine. Now that there are so many beverage packages, I imagine that isn't as much of a draw as it was.

[cruisemom42]

Still trying to figure out what a slot pull is since in all my Roll Call experience I have never even heard of it.

 

Does everyone go to the penny slots in the casino and pull them all at the same time and agree to share any winnings?

 

How it works: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=26359079&postcount=9

 

Also, none of the cabin crawls I've ever participated in have involved alcohol.

[kazu]

Still trying to figure out what a slot pull is since in all my Roll Call experience I have never even heard of it.

 

Does everyone go to the penny slots in the casino and pull them all at the same time and agree to share any winnings?

I did my first slot pull in 2016 on the Westerdam.

 

We did it again this year on the Rotterdam and it was fun.

 

Here's how the one I was introduced to goes. Each person puts in $15. You "feed" the machine on the $1 machine and play for the max ($3).

 

 

Whatever is won is split among the people playing down to an even dollar and the person who has the best score gets the extra.

 

On the Westerdam we walked away with $10 except the winner who basically broke even.

 

Not so on the Rotterdam as we "broke" the rules unanimously and the group decided to go home or go broke. We lost our money.

 

We basically looked upon it as entertainment and had fun cheering different roll call members.

 

I think we did it too late in the cruise on the Rotterdam and would pick an earlier date next time ;)

 

there have been some big wins in the past and everyone knows the risks.

 

We had 8 straight days at sea so some roll call activities can really add to the experience for those that like to do it.

[TheCalicoCat]

Instead of describing the activities negatively - Fraternity, I think that they are more like Rotarian or like my Lady Lions would do - specifically a cabin crawl is a lot like a progressive dinner (without the food/drinks) & none of them are described like a Fraternity (not that all of them are like Animal House either.)

 

People are doing them to have fun. There is no coercion. Adults are making rational decisions on how to spend their time.

[Cruise_More_Often]

How it works: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=26359079&postcount=9

 

Also, none of the cabin crawls I've ever participated in have involved alcohol.

Me either, and I've done a few.

 

Cabin crawls are especially interesting on a cruise line where there are many different cabin levels, such as on NCL, where you might get to see a Garden Villa suite or a Haven penthouse suite, or maybe another type of penthouse suite in the bow that is different from those in the stern.

 

Seeing something in person is very different from viewing them online or through someone's pictures.

[OlsSalt]

How it works: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=26359079&postcount=9

 

Also, none of the cabin crawls I've ever participated in have involved alcohol.

 

Maybe in the days when one could bring unlimited wine on board, it was more readily available in the cabins for a cabin crawl. Not sure what the logistics would be today be offering any sort of drinks - besides lemonade from the Lido in paper cups. Unless a cabin host wanted to be very, very generous on their own tab.

[57redbird]

Only on our last 2 cruises did I join a Roll Call -- had a great member who had done the same 1st cruise that I joined --- organized some great private tours for some of us, another poster handled the M & G -- was nice to recognize familiar faces around the ship & yet another member offered the use of his Neptune Suite for an informal get-together - about 40 of us attended that. On the 2nd one, having had such a great experience previously, I took the reins & organized a private tour for 8 of us -- went off without a hitch & another member handled a less than well attended M & G for those of us on my tour.

 

We aren't interested in cabin crawls, trivia, etc. so my main focus is for ideas on private tours & haven't been disappointed.