Meet and Mingle

[ClevelandKid]

I just came across the Meet and Mingle part of Cruise Critic and I am excited about the possibility of meeting my fellow passengers.  However, I don't see our sailings (Viking Sea - February 2022).  My question, pretty simple I hope, do board members add the cruise or does some site administrator?  Any experience of being on the meet and mingle site would also be welcome - positive or negative.

 

Thanks much!

[Clay Clayton]

I’m pretty sure an administrator has to set up the Meet & Mingle as it is pretty automated.  If you haven’t yet joined the rollcall for your ship be sure and do so. Compared to other lines, there won’t be nearly as many roll callers but we still have enjoyed meeting fellow cruise critics aboard. 
 

Viking typically holds a cocktail hour on the early evening of the first sea day. White , red and sparking wine and a cocktail or two are passed. Several types of hors d’ouvres are also brought around for your enjoyment.  A number of officers (sometimes the Captain) will be in attendance.  Sometimes the highest ranking one or the Cruise Director will do a group welcome and introduce themselves and the others.  Other times this doesn’t happen and everyone just meets and mingles. 

Edited September 9, 2020 by Clay Clayton

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, ClevelandKid said:

I just came across the Meet and Mingle part of Cruise Critic and I am excited about the possibility of meeting my fellow passengers.  However, I don't see our sailings (Viking Sea - February 2022).  My question, pretty simple I hope, do board members add the cruise or does some site administrator?  Any experience of being on the meet and mingle site would also be welcome - positive or negative.

 

Thanks much!

 

When you say " the Meet and Mingle part of Cruise Critic" are you referring to the roll calls or the receptions that a few of the cruise lines hold on board for members of Cruise Critic? Or both?

 

If you are talking about the roll calls, the individual threads  (done by sail date) are started by members. If you are curious about them,  read some of them. Right now things are very quiet on the roll calls but you can go back to prior years and look for other sailings of your itinerary. Sometimes you can find some very useful bits of information an old but active roll call.

 

If you want to start a roll call, read the instructions how to do it. If it does not get done right the the "Find Your Roll Call" tool will not pick it up and 1) people will not be directed to the roll call and 2) duplicate roll calls can be started, which makes it much harder to carry on a conversation. Learn How To Create a New Roll Call

 

If you are talking about the "Meet & Mingle" cocktails parties that Viking throws for CC members,  for now sign up is closed. When the time comes register here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/meet-mingle/main/

Registration for the M&Ms is up until 7 days prior to sailing. You cannot register on board.

 

 

 

[ClevelandKid]

21 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

When you say " the Meet and Mingle part of Cruise Critic" are you referring to the roll calls or the receptions that a few of the cruise lines hold on board for members of Cruise Critic? Or both?

 

 

Individual sailings - I will wait for a year out and if one hasn't been created I will create one.  Wish they could order it by date of sailing!

Edited September 10, 2020 by ClevelandKid
spelling

[Peregrina651]

27 minutes ago, ClevelandKid said:

Individual sailings - I will wait for a year out and if one hasn't been created I will create one.  Wish they could order it by date of sailing!

 

 

The  "Find Your Roll Call" tool used to do that for us but it looks like it is not functioning right now. The default for all forums is most recent activity first. Only the individual topics are a fixed oldest first order.

 

The problem with the tool was that if people don't use the correct syntax when they write out the date in the subject line, and enough people don't, the tool will not see the roll call and will not add it to the list. So really, the most fruitful way of finding the right roll call is to go right to list of roll calls for the ship you are sailing on. 

 

The correct syntax is: January 1, 2022 -- with a space before the date and a space after the date, no abbreviation for the month and using only the starting date of the cruise. Not: 01 Jan 22, Jan 1, 2022, 01/01/22, January 1- 8, 2022 etc. as these will not be recognized by the tool, when it is up and running again.

 

Another tip, is that you can FOLLOW the Viking Sea Roll Call forum.  You can then keep track of it under the Activity Tab/My Activity Streams.  The Viking Sea Roll Call Forum will pop up to the top of the pile any time there is new activity (not sure what this means when you follow a forum page; I have only done it for individual topics).   Just make sure that if you decide to follow the forum that you set the notification method you prefer --or you may end up with an instant notification each time some posts in a roll call. My personal preference is no notifications at all; I use an activity stream to see what is new since the last time I checked.

 

On a desktop:

 

 

On a mobile device, My Activity Streams is in one of the "hamburger" menus (that stack of horizontal lines that we all eventual figured out means click here to see a menu).

 

 

[ClevelandKid]

Thanks!  Must be an older date time function (I used to do IT), but I will follow all your advice!

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, ClevelandKid said:

Thanks!  Must be an older date time function (I used to do IT), but I will follow all your advice!

 

CC moved onto an entirely new platform a few years ago and we lost the ability to choose how we view certain things. On the other hand, we have gained a few things that are worthwhile and activity streams, once/if you get the hang of them, can be helpful. I resisted at first. I preferred the daily digests on the old platform -- one e-mail per thread and very readable. The new platform gave me one digest per day with all the threads and it was not easy to read. In the meantime, I learned how to use the activity streams and eventually turned off all notifications. My activity stream is open in a tab in my browser and I check it at least daily.

 

As to following ALL my advice, I say, "Choose what works for you!"  I'm just opening doors.