We Are Now Doing Our Own Meet & Greet/Mingle

[mcrcruiser]

At one time pre pandemic  X set up the Meet & Greets  here on Cruise Critic . Now they do not  .So we are doing out own  .

 

  It is simple go to Cruise Ship Deck Plans on the internet  & pic  a location suitable   .On our Soltice cruises   ,we picked the Martini Bar ,deck 4  port side near the mid ship elevators  . We ark people  to wear Mardi Gras beads or a white sticker with their first name & cruise critic name for ID purposes only  . 

 

 You may find on Trans Atlantic Ocean cruises larger groups & all I would do then is to contact the ships coordinator via phone to Celebrity  & ask permission for the larger meeting areas  . You may ask for a mic ,serving of light refreshments like coffee  ,tea ,water & cookies  & a no host open bar . Generally speaking Meet & Greets should be done the first sea day & 10;30 to 11:30 AM seems to work the best  

 

 By contacting the ships coordinator they also can invite  senior officers who have tie to attend .We have found passing the mic from one person to the next for one question each works the best  to senior officer staffs . We even have had the ships captains in attendance from time to time 

 

 Also follow up with a personal invitation to senior staff  ,at the customer relations desk  upon  boarding  the ship  . Senior Staff  can be Ships Captain ,Staff Captain ,Chief Engineer , Hotel Director , Restaurant Manager  , Cruise Director  ie 

 

 Best of Luck 😃

[gerelmx]

Sail away meet and Greet at the Sunset Bar

[Stem to Stern]

Pre-Covid we found Cellar Masters was a great venue choice on Equinox.  Ours was scheduled before the venue opened for business.  It is nice that it isn’t so open to the atrium-like area of the ship like the martini bar is.  The Captain was gracious enough to make an appearance.  She was a welcome addition to our conversation.

[mahdnc]

52 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

At one time pre pandemic  X set up the Meet & Greets  here on Cruise Critic . Now they do not  .So we are doing out own  .

 

  It is simple go to Cruise Ship Deck Plans on the internet  & pic  a location suitable   .On our Soltice cruises   ,we picked the Martini Bar ,deck 4  port side near the mid ship elevators  . We ark people  to wear Mardi Gras beads or a white sticker with their first name & cruise critic name for ID purposes only  . 

 

 You may find on Trans Atlantic Ocean cruises larger groups & all I would do then is to contact the ships coordinator via phone to Celebrity  & ask permission for the larger meeting areas  . You may ask for a mic ,serving of light refreshments like coffee  ,tea ,water & cookies  & a no host open bar . Generally speaking Meet & Greets should be done the first sea day & 10;30 to 11:30 AM seems to work the best  

 

 By contacting the ships coordinator they also can invite  senior officers who have tie to attend .We have found passing the mic from one person to the next for one question each works the best  to senior officer staffs . We even have had the ships captains in attendance from time to time 

 

 Also follow up with a personal invitation to senior staff  ,at the customer relations desk  upon  boarding  the ship  . Senior Staff  can be Ships Captain ,Staff Captain ,Chief Engineer , Hotel Director , Restaurant Manager  , Cruise Director  ie 

 

 Best of Luck 😃

 

Hopefully the official Cruise Critic Connections party will be resumed sometime this year!

[Charles4515]

Before there were Cruise Critic Meet and Mingles we organized our own ad hoc. Many, not all were pretty good. The meet and mingles came out of what passengers started. So back to the past...

[C4HCG]

Given the amount of disagreements on here, are they a good idea 😉. I wouldn’t want throwing overboard 

Edited February 11, 2023 by C4HCG

[bookitdanno]

43 minutes ago, Stem to Stern said:

Pre-Covid we found Cellar Masters was a great venue choice on Equinox.  Ours was scheduled before the venue opened for business.  It is nice that it isn’t so open to the atrium-like area of the ship like the martini bar is.  The Captain was gracious enough to make an appearance.  She was a welcome addition to our conversation.

Much better location than the martini bar

[jelayne]

Our Roll Calls have always done a Sail  Away gathering and we prefer those to the ships meet & greet.  At Sail Away folks aren’t sitting listening to the routine CD and Captain speech.  They are walking around with a beverage of choice getting  to known others from the Roll Call.

 

When they put on  a 30 minute time limit for the venue that really seemed to put a damper on any time to mingle. 

[mcrcruiser]

38 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Hopefully the official Cruise Critic Connections party will be resumed sometime this year!

We can only hope  that X will do the right thing

[mcrcruiser]

1 minute ago, jelayne said:

Our Roll Calls have always done a Sail  Away gathering and we prefer those to the ships meet & greet.  At Sail Away folks aren’t sitting listening to the routine CD and Captain speech.  They are walking around with a beverage of choice getting  to known others from the Roll Call.

 

When they put on  a 30 minute time limit for the venue that really seemed to put a damper on any time to mingle. 

We try to keep our Meet & Greet to one  full hour not 20 minutes .The problem we found with meeting for sail aways is that  some people want to get settled into  their stateroom & place luggage contents into  draws & also the dreaded drill   . This then limits who will come  is what we found 

[Honolulu Blue]

16 minutes ago, C4HCG said:

Given the amount of disagreements on here, are they a good idea 😉. I wouldn’t want throwing overboard 

Of all the M&Gs I've attended pre pandemic (none on Celebrity, granted), the conversation has been civil and I didn't witness any confrontations.

[Alakegirl]

What is dreaded about the drill?  It takes less than a minute.

[Host Anne]

No word from Celebrity about brining back Cruise Critic Meet & Mingles.  My guess is that they don't have the staff to handle onboard arrangements at this time.  That's just my personal guess.  No idea if they will bring them back again, either.  

 

Wish I had better details to share.  If the parties come back, I will post an announcement on the main page.

[mcrcruiser]

1 hour ago, Stem to Stern said:

Pre-Covid we found Cellar Masters was a great venue choice on Equinox.  Ours was scheduled before the venue opened for business.  It is nice that it isn’t so open to the atrium-like area of the ship like the martini bar is.  The Captain was gracious enough to make an appearance.  She was a welcome addition to our conversation.

  We just changed from the Martini  Bar to Cellar   Masters   location . Thank you  that is a much netter place 

[mcrcruiser]

If you organize a well planned  Meet & Greet   & more than 25 people sign up ,I would encourage you to contact the ships coordinator who arranges all these meetings ,special events during any cruise . Call Celebrity & just ask for their name & e-mail address   . That way you can request a private location , a mic for senior officer questions & answers   ,light refreshments of coffee ,tea ,water & cookies  . Also you can ask that a no host bar be available   

What is very important is to have the ships coordinator advise   the available senior officers  that there is a Meet & Greet   with date & time  .when you board the ship go to the ships customer relations desk  & ask them to also invite the Captain ,Staff Captain , Hotel Director , Cruise director ,Restaurant Manager ie  .  Those senior officers if they can will arrive to answer questions .One question per  member  via the mic  hook up 

 

       In the  past we have had the Captain , Hotel Director & Cruise director available   & it was a very successful meeting  plus people did get together to chat