MEET & MINGLES

[josephmz]

Just a general question. I sail primarily with NCL, and they do a great job with accommodating the meet & greets. Just wondering how many other lines offer these and to what extent?

[WVU_Neal]

I’ve organized several Meet & Mingles on HAL, and organized one for my January cruise. HAL has been good about accommodating us with space, coffee, tea, and cookies, as well as bar service. It’s easily done with a call to Ship Services. 

 

I attended an M&M on the Gem in January and found it excellent. A couple NCL staff were present, and the organizers had a souvenir raffle and a Slot Pull planned.

 

Most of what happens is up to the organizers.

 

Neal in Cincinnati

[dexddd]

MSC (ships sailing out of the US) have them and they are a big event with senior crew there, a CC logo cake, drinks including alcoholic drinks, snacks, and a group picture and copy sent to your cabin.  They stay and talk to the guests.  Best I've ever been to.

[bob brown]

Some of the cruise lines take it a step further, including Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, by actually maintaining the list of participants, and putting invitation's on the bed, the evening prior to the Meet and Mingle.   In addition, they raffle off several nice door prizes, and sometimes give all attendees a logo souvenir, such as a lanyard equipped with a pen and notepad...

However, they don't have more than a couple of cruise staff including the CD attending, not all the senior officer's that NCL usually does....

[FredZiffle]

Unlike Bob, I'm not a fan of the way Celebrity handles it.  While I've only been to two on Celebrity, both were very short affairs where the officers said hello and that was about it.  Unlike NCL, Celebrity handles everything - there is no coordinator from the roll call.  A good M&G coordinator makes it a fun event.  Also, I don't recall any kind of snacks or drinks at those Celebrity M&Gs.  They basically stuck us in a bar far too small for the group, introduced themselves, and we disbanded.

 

I do agree with Bob that the printed invitations in your cabin are a nice touch with Celebrity, but a really good M&G coordinator should be delivering invitations to the cabins as part of their role anyway.

[Arzeena]

9 hours ago, josephmz said:

Just a general question. I sail primarily with NCL, and they do a great job with accommodating the meet & greets. Just wondering how many other lines offer these and to what extent?

Best I have seen is MSC....unbeatable so far!

Royal Caribbean and Celebrity do an good job: invites, raffles, etc, depending upon the ship and staff coordinator/activities manager...hit or miss. Some of them have been great and some blah. Royal's were interesting when Captain Olaf and Rick made an appearance fora couple of minutes. Celebrity ones are great when Captain Kate attends and mingles.

And NCL Escape... excellent...I mentioned Escape only because they host one of the best by far of all NCL ships (IMO).

The ships do a fantastic job as hosts, but I believe a lot also depends upon those who attend and how willing they are to break the ice and not just sit there to warm the chairs.

Edited December 6, 2018 by Arzeena

[casofilia]

Princess just provide a room and a barman, pay for your own drinks.  But we had the Captain as well as lots of Officers last time.

[kskelley40]

I have organized and planned numerous Meet & Mingles on Carnival, Royal and NCL....our next one is coming up in January on the Star.

 NCL does a good job with providing light snacks and some of the crew members. 

 RCCL was a bust....no snacks, no crew members and they just raffled off a few Royal water bottles.

 Carnival was ok as far as the ship's participation. 

 

As an organizer I always have raffle prizes (donated by a cruising merchandise company - not the cruise line's swag), a slot pull organized and a cabin crawl/poker run organized.  For this one in January on the Star, I also have a trivia sheet planned to get the participants up and out of their chairs so they might actually mingle.

 

As an organizer, especially on NCL, it is hard to get people's information to pass out invitations when on the ship.  So, I organize a Sail Away party where I bring reminder sheets to pass out.  I also bring sheets to the Meet & Greet for the Cabin Crawl which is usually later in the cruise.  I do post on these message boards and we also have a FB group page where I post the info, so hopefully those who do want to participate get the info.  If they give me their cabin number, I do pass out reminders the first night.

 

There have been several threads, especially concerning NCL, about perks given to M&M organizers...I will say that when we cruise on NCL we are always in a suite so I do not do this for any perks.  I get them anyway.  I just like to plan things and since I work for myself, have the time and resources.  

 

My best advice for anyone thinking about organizing a M&M - don't do it for any perks the cruise line might bestow on you - do it because you like to and want to enhance your cruising experience.   Just my 2 cents worth.....

 

Happy Cruising!

[Dkjonesfl]

Would someone please provide me with instructions on signing up for Meet and Mingle on NCL for Bliss sailing on 2/23?

Edited December 11, 2018 by Dkjonesfl

[kskelley40]

With NCL, you need to find the Roll Call for that cruise.  Search under the "Roll Call" section and then Bliss.  you will see different dates after that.  Find you date and you should see the thread.  I am sure someone has started a thread since you are close to sailing.  Usually someone will volunteer to host the Meet and Mingle.  That basically involves starting a list and then getting with NCL to set up the day and time.

 

 

[esm54687]

1 hour ago, Dkjonesfl said:

Would someone please provide me with instructions on signing up for Meet and Mingle on NCL for Bliss sailing on 2/23?

 

Here you go..... 

 

 

[Dkjonesfl]

Thanks so much.  I was stuck because I was looking to logon like I had previously done with RCCL.  Your instruction were great.  In the meantime one of the folks created a Google spreadsheet to just add the names.

[bob brown]

I was just thinking about this topic, and I recalled a cruise on the Caribbean Princess a few years ago...

They were the only line I have sailed on, that I have seen a permanent sign made up on a stanchion, that was at the entrance to Skywalker's Lounge, for the Meet and Greet, that stated:  "Closed for Private Cruise Critic's Event"....