Meet & Mingle

[snaver]

Does anyone know if P&O cruises host Meet & Mingle events on their cruises for Cruise Critic members? I'm guessing not, but only ask as their name seems to be nowhere on the page, which is surprising as they are such a popular cruise line. Any help or advice greatly appreciated!

[pete14]

Not officially. However, if there is a reasonable number of you that you know in advance ( check if there is a roll call set up for your cruise), they will probably be able to find you a room to meet if you contact them well in advance.

[Selbourne]

If a Cruise Critic member wishes to organise one then P&O are happy to publicise it in Horizon. It won’t be Officer hosted, but a place can be allocated. We attended one years ago on Oriana in an area of the Crows Nest. It was very enjoyable.
 

On a subsequent cruise that we were on somebody organised another one, but decided to open it up to Facebook as well. IMHO that was a mistake as virtually everyone (except me 😂) is on Facebook, so when we went to Anderson’s on the morning that it was being held the venue was rammed. We just walked on past as it seemed pointless!

 

There was a funny moment at the one we attended on Oriana. A chap (who didn’t know what Cruise Critic was) turned up thinking that we were professional cruise critics. He had a long list of complaints about his cruise that he felt that we should know about. It was quickly explained to him what Cruise Critic actually was, but he wasn’t deterred and continued to heatedly outline his grievances to us 😂 

[Britboys]

I have seen entries in the Horizon sheet for 'Social Media' group meet ups but as @Selbourne has said, they are not hosted. They don't even host the Solo Passenger Coffee Meets any more...

[AlexMcSpot]

We have just returned from a cruise on Arcadia.There were a lot of solo passengers and they appeared to have a organised themselves. At the beginning of the cruise they started gathering in the Crows Nest each morning, but I don't think it was organised.

[davecttr]

22 minutes ago, AlexMcSpot said:

We have just returned from a cruise on Arcadia.There were a lot of solo passengers and they appeared to have a organised themselves. At the beginning of the cruise they started gathering in the Crows Nest each morning, but I don't think it was organised.

The meeting time and place was advertised in Horizon.

[snaver]

Thank you all. That's really interesting, if somewhat sad (especially for the solo travellers, who are treated so well on other lines).

 

Does anyone know what happens at the officially hosted Cruise Critic events on the line that are mentioned on the Meet & Mingle page please? Is it just a glass of cheap fizz, like at the loyalty club parties, or a more convivial affair?

[AlexMcSpot]

2 hours ago, davecttr said:

The meeting time and place was advertised in Horizon.

My apologies you are correct, the meeting was advertised in Horizon.

 

[laslomas]

1 hour ago, snaver said:

Thank you all. That's really interesting, if somewhat sad (especially for the solo travellers, who are treated so well on other lines).

 

Does anyone know what happens at the officially hosted Cruise Critic events on the line that are mentioned on the Meet & Mingle page please? Is it just a glass of cheap fizz, like at the loyalty club parties, or a more convivial affair?

 

I attended several Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle events on Celebrity cruises pre-Covid. Not on P&O though. There were always a good number of crew and officers present and they 'mingled'. A welcome drink, nibbles, pastries, and tea and coffee were provided. Sadly since covid I think many cruise lines are no longer hosting these events. I always found them interesting and it was good to meet some of the officers. 

[TigerB]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

If a Cruise Critic member wishes to organise one then P&O are happy to publicise it in Horizon. It won’t be Officer hosted, but a place can be allocated. 

 

Perhaps at a location more appropriate than this one!🙄...

[AlexMcSpot]

I am confused, easily done these days, does 'Meet & Mingle' mean a meeting for singles to get together, or does it mean meeting some members of the crew?

[laslomas]

4 hours ago, AlexMcSpot said:

I am confused, easily done these days, does 'Meet & Mingle' mean a meeting for singles to get together, or does it mean meeting some members of the crew?

 

The Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle (see the tab at the top of this page) was a way for CC Forum followers to meet with each other on their cruise, and with Officers and Staff. Was usually very informative, especially chatting with the Hotel Director and the Chef. You needed to register, and a minimum number was required, 25 I think. But I think Covid put an end to most of these meetings. 

Edited October 24, 2023 by laslomas

[daiB]

22 hours ago, laslomas said:

 

The Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle (see the tab at the top of this page) was a way for CC Forum followers to meet with each other on their cruise, and with Officers and Staff. Was usually very informative, especially chatting with the Hotel Director and the Chef. You needed to register, and a minimum number was required, 25 I think. But I think Covid put an end to most of these meetings. 

In my 60+ cruises I have never known a P&O meet and mingle. If you look at the Roll call pages you will see why.

[laslomas]

28 minutes ago, daiB said:

In my 60+ cruises I have never known a P&O meet and mingle. If you look at the Roll call pages you will see why.

 

In my post #9 I stated I had only attended them on my Celebrity cruises. I agree the P&O Roll Calls are also not very active. For my P&O cruise in April 2024, a Roll Call was started in April 2022 and there is only one post!! Maybe it is more a US thing. The ones on US cruise lines are certainly more active, and they do include many Brits too.

[terrierjohn]

7 hours ago, daiB said:

In my 60+ cruises I have never known a P&O meet and mingle. If you look at the Roll call pages you will see why.

We did have one on a Caribbean no fly cruise a few years back, but it also included the dark side social media forum as well, but the Captain and a few other senior officers were there along with the Ents manager.

[FangedRose]

Often these meetings are arranged informally through Cruise Critic messages or Facebook groups. It is just a group of people arranging to meet in a certain venue (usually a bar) at a certain time. There is no involvement with P&O.

[yorkshirephil]

We have only ever attended official meet and mingle on RC, which was a big thing back in the day where there could be several hundred members, the ones we went to had snack food and drinks and words from the attending officers, there was always a raffle afterwards where we won first prize twice. On both occasions it was a RC bag full of goodies from the onboard shops including wine, t shirts and sundry items, quite substantial. 

[FangedRose]

I've never known a "meet and mingle" event, by which I mean an event specifically for singles to meet each other. There are "solo get togethers" for those who are travelling alone to meet others to pal up for excursions and dinners etc. 

 

The two are often conflated. A number of solo passengers are not single but are travelling alone for a myriad of reasons. And a number of people come who are single but they are travelling with a friend or family member, sometimes in the same cabin. (Which is a pet bugbear of mine).

[zap99]

15 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

We have only ever attended official meet and mingle on RC, which was a big thing back in the day where there could be several hundred members, the ones we went to had snack food and drinks and words from the attending officers, there was always a raffle afterwards where we won first prize twice. On both occasions it was a RC bag full of goodies from the onboard shops including wine, t shirts and sundry items, quite substantial. 

We attended a couple of RC ones a few years ago. Still got the key rings.

[yorkshirephil]

6 minutes ago, zap99 said:

We attended a couple of RC ones a few years ago. Still got the key rings.

I gave those away as Christmas presents, not the wine though😁

[Ardennais]

1 hour ago, FangedRose said:

 

The two are often conflated. A number of solo passengers are not single but are travelling alone for a myriad of reasons. And a number of people come who are single but they are travelling with a friend or family member, sometimes in the same cabin. (Which is a pet bugbear of mine).

Why is it a bugbear of yours? 

[FangedRose]

1 minute ago, Ardennais said:

Why is it a bugbear of yours? 

Because it is a meeting specifically for those travelling alone. If you are not travelling alone you are not a solo traveller.

[Ardennais]

6 minutes ago, FangedRose said:

Because it is a meeting specifically for those travelling alone. If you are not travelling alone you are not a solo traveller.

Does that make a difference?! People are people. 

[zap99]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

I gave those away as Christmas presents, not the wine though😁

Ours go on the Christmas tree.🎅🤣

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

We attended a couple of RC ones a few years ago. Still got the key rings.

The Celebrity ones were always well attended and always had the Cruise Director and a couple of other senior hotel staff, and quite often the Captain would put in an appearance.

But of course the RC group do take customer service far more seriously than do P&O.