When will Celebrity Resume Hosting Cruise Critic Parties ?

[mcrcruiser]

 It was  much nicer when we could log  into the    Cruise Critic Party here on line & it was confirmed .

 

Does any one know if or when Celebrity will resume the  Cruise Critic on board parties ?😀

[riredsox]

35 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

 It was  much nicer when we could log  into the    Cruise Critic Party here on line & it was confirmed .

 

Does any one know if or when Celebrity will resume the  Cruise Critic on board parties ?😀

I have a CC party confirmation for my Oct cruise on Beyond.  

[cruisemom42]

51 minutes ago, riredsox said:

I have a CC party confirmation for my Oct cruise on Beyond.  

 

Odd -- I'm on BTB cruises in October on Constellation and we've been told "no CC party".

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, riredsox said:

I have a CC party confirmation for my Oct cruise on Beyond.  

I’m guessing that it is being planned by the roll call group rather than directly by CC?

[LGW59]

10 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Odd -- I'm on BTB cruises in October on Constellation and we've been told "no CC party".

I’m on a TA in October and there is no CC meet up.  Something similar is being planned but it’s being done by some on the roll call group.

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, riredsox said:

I have a CC party confirmation for my Oct cruise on Beyond.  

That's just a generic/auto confirmation. CC party's are still suspended.

[mcrcruiser]

We all should ask why the Cruise Critic party is still suspended when   most cruises are wide open  from the heaviest pandemic  days  ; which are now behind us  . Seems to me Celebrity is  not wanting to do these parties  any longer ,another cost cutting   move  ;but  not  customer  favorable 

 

We know that we can arrange  the connections Party (Meet & Mingle )  ourselves ;however ,it was really a nice touch to see the invitation  in your State room upon arrival that first day aboard  ship 

 

  

[cruisestitch]

Ships are still short staffed.  The CC party requires bar staff, coffee service set up and clean up, etc.  I would not look for the party to return the staff are 100%.

[Azulann]

39 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

We all should ask why the Cruise Critic party is still suspended when   most cruises are wide open  from the heaviest pandemic  days  ; which are now behind us  . Seems to me Celebrity is  not wanting to do these parties  any longer ,another cost cutting   move  ;but  not  customer  favorable 

 

We know that we can arrange  the connections Party (Meet & Mingle )  ourselves ;however ,it was really a nice touch to see the invitation  in your State room upon arrival that first day aboard  ship 

 

  

Yes, it  was a very nice feature of Cruise Critic . But looks like this site has changed too. No more organizing  with  cruise lines for a meet and greet. It also seems that they are short hosts for various forums . I think meet and greets helped  increase roll call postings too. 

[jelayne]

The Connection gathering used to be more interactive with things like gift exchange, or everyone introducing themselves, a Q& A with the Officers, tour organizers or those coordinating onboard  Roll Call activities updating info.  
We stopped going to the Connections gathering a few years ago for many reasons: including 

they room was frequently booked for another event 45 mins after the CC time and we were told we only had 30 mins so they could set up for the next scheduled event

 

the Officers made a brief appearance and left, rarely 1 or 2 would stay to chat

 

 very little interaction among those attending, due probably to time constraints 

many

 

were at 9:30 am - too early for us on a sea day

.

We have found the Sail Away gatherings organized on the Roll Call to be a be more fun and a relaxed way to connect with other Roll Call members. 

[mcrcruiser]

On 9/17/2022 at 1:39 PM, jelayne said:

The Connection gathering used to be more interactive with things like gift exchange, or everyone introducing themselves, a Q& A with the Officers, tour organizers or those coordinating onboard  Roll Call activities updating info.  
We stopped going to the Connections gathering a few years ago for many reasons: including 

they room was frequently booked for another event 45 mins after the CC time and we were told we only had 30 mins so they could set up for the next scheduled event

 

the Officers made a brief appearance and left, rarely 1 or 2 would stay to chat

 

 very little interaction among those attending, due probably to time constraints 

many

 

were at 9:30 am - too early for us on a sea day

.

We have found the Sail Away gatherings organized on the Roll Call to be a be more fun and a relaxed way to connect with other Roll Call members. 

The sail away gatherings are great for those who arrive early enough at the  embarkation pier  to get on board  early  . However ,that is not true for others who are then left out from the roll call .Seems to us that the Meet & Greets ,the first sea day  for a hour or so is the best alternative  

[the penguins]

6 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

The sail away gatherings are great for those who arrive early enough at the  embarkation pier  to get on board  early  . However ,that is not true for others who are then left out from the roll call .Seems to us that the Meet & Greets ,the first sea day  for a hour or so is the best alternative  

It was great for anyone organising an onboard event - slot pull, cabin crawl, crafts, book groups etc - very difficult otherwise.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

2 hours ago, the penguins said:

It was great for anyone organising an onboard event - slot pull, cabin crawl, crafts, book groups etc - very difficult otherwise.

 

It's not that difficult to organize an on board event, just get the names and cabin numbers of all those who want to participate.  It can be done on these roll calls.  I agree that the parties became less useful when the time was cut and people were not allowed to introduce themselves.

[mcrcruiser]

24 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

It's not that difficult to organize an on board event, just get the names and cabin numbers of all those who want to participate.  It can be done on these roll calls.  I agree that the parties became less useful when the time was cut and people were not allowed to introduce themselves.

If there are enough interested people on any toll call ,then a lead person  can make arrangements with the ships coordinator via e-mail .all one needs to do is get the name & e-mail from Celebrity on land yo set up a Meet & Greet on board .Seems to me that the cruise lines should like the publicity  & all they need do is set aside a area with coffee , tea ,water &  cookies  & perhaps a open  pay your own way bar   .

The lead person  contacts the   ships on line coordinator  gives the date ,time & how many in attendance &  then it should be a done event for  those on that  sailings  roll call 😄

       

 I have  personally organized  private tours ,Fun Craps rolls & Slot Pulls in the Casino , cruise critic luncheons with  prizes  ,cabin crawls & gift exchanges  . These are fun ,interesting & you meet some very nice people for long term friend relationships 

 

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

If there are enough interested people on any toll call ,then a lead person  can make arrangements with the ships coordinator via e-mail .all one needs to do is get the name & e-mail from Celebrity on land yo set up a Meet & Greet on board .Seems to me that the cruise lines should like the publicity  & all they need do is set aside a area with coffee , tea ,water &  cookies  & perhaps a open  pay your own way bar   .

The lead person  contacts the   ships on line coordinator  gives the date ,time & how many in attendance &  then it should be a done event for  those on that  sailings  roll call 😄

       

 I have  personally organized  private tours ,Fun Craps rolls & Slot Pulls in the Casino , cruise critic luncheons with  prizes  ,cabin crawls & gift exchanges  . These are fun ,interesting & you meet some very nice people for long term friend relationships 

 

Perhaps I should have put more difficult.

On our last TA precovid there were so many group activities that having the Meet and Mingle on the first sea day helped a lot. The Slot Pull had over 70 participants, the Godiva Chocolate group nearly 50, plus 2 book groups, cabin crawl, pocker run and others. Even though we were on the previous sector the Event coordinator, the wonderful Gabriella, was unable to confirm times and locations for some events on the TA until the day we sailed making the M and M even more useful.

Hopefully the M and M's will be back soon

[hcat]

Agree with many of the comments...but wish they would return when posible..with the CD, officers,  introductions, gift exchanges and kick off point for cabin crawls. It made the roll calls stronger and did lead to connectiins being made,

 

One part we disliked was when  individuals who organized pvt excursions,  used the event to collect funds etc   More business like, less of a  casual get together.

[islabahia]

We have never gone to a Celebrity sponsored Connections Party.  We have attended Roll Call sponsored events and enjoyed them tremendously!

[Lisah101]

Again, I know it was posted before but I thought the issue was bar and serving staff are in such short supply, they struggle with staffing the existing bars much less private parties.  I think you can organize anything but serving staff might not be available.

[the penguins]

4 hours ago, hcat said:

Agree with many of the comments...but wish they would return when posible..with the CD, officers,  introductions, gift exchanges and kick off point for cabin crawls. It made the roll calls stronger and did lead to connectiins being made,

 

One part we disliked was when  individuals who organized pvt excursions,  used the event to collect funds etc   More business like, less of a  casual get together.

Agreed and its actually against the rules. We always sort our tours out in the Cafe Al Bacio - if you ever see a Union Jack Flag in a jug on a table there it's probably us finalising our tours.

[the penguins]

3 hours ago, islabahia said:

We have never gone to a Celebrity sponsored Connections Party.  We have attended Roll Call sponsored events and enjoyed them tremendously!

The Meet and Mingle - usually on the first sea day was always done through CC but with the ship providing the venue (usually Cellar Masters or Sky Lounge depending on the numbers), the refreshments and usually at least one Senior Officer to start the proceedings (usually the Hotel Director). Royal has started doing them again so hopefully Celebrity will soon follow.

[GORDONCHICK]

1 hour ago, davekathy said:

We'd like to see Celebrity start the evening CC HH in the Sky Lounge start back up. 

Too many obligations or plans in the evenings for most, IMO. 

 

I know NCL did great Meet & Greets with refreshments and ALL the top officers would come, including the captain (though sometimes only for 5 minutes).  I remember one captain invited everyone for a bridge tour on the last sea day.  I don't know if they are doing them yet or not.  MSC did a pretty nice party with a huge cake and a group photo was taken and copies delivered to everyone who signed in and included their cabin number.

 

On my first X cruise, I didn't know what CC was.  On my second, the gathering was REALLY lame and not worth our time.  I'm hoping they return on X soon, and hoping they are better than what I experienced on X before.

[jelayne]

8 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

If there are enough interested people on any toll call ,then a lead person  can make arrangements with the ships coordinator via e-mail .all one needs to do is get the name & e-mail from Celebrity on land yo set up a Meet & Greet on board .Seems to me that the cruise lines should like the publicity  & all they need do is set aside a area with coffee , tea ,water &  cookies  & perhaps a open  pay your own way bar   .

The lead person  contacts the   ships on line coordinator  gives the date ,time & how many in attendance &  then it should be a done event for  those on that  sailings  roll call 😄

       

 I have  personally organized  private tours ,Fun Craps rolls & Slot Pulls in the Casino , cruise critic luncheons with  prizes  ,cabin crawls & gift exchanges  . These are fun ,interesting & you meet some very nice people for long term friend relationships 

 

I have organized some of those events and agree those and a Sail Away are fun and a good way to meet other.  The Connections parties have gotten shorten to the point that don't offer much opportunity for meeting and interacting with others from the Roll Call.

[margie1221]

On 9/18/2022 at 10:43 PM, mcrcruiser said:

The sail away gatherings are great for those who arrive early enough at the  embarkation pier  to get on board  early  . However ,that is not true for others who are then left out from the roll call .Seems to us that the Meet & Greets ,the first sea day  for a hour or so is the best alternative  

Sail Away gatherings are at sail away - no preference is given to those who arrive early!!  Everyone has to be onboard by then - Celebrity Cruise Critic boards tend to pick the outdoor Sunset Bar - in the aft of the ship.  However I do recall that we planned one for Craft Social once since it was late August and too hot to sit outside!!

[Host Anne]

I have a thread started about this subject here:  

 

 

I will post information  when I learn about when Celebrity will begin hosting them again.