Most Traveled Passenger Lunch

[suzyed]

We got to be very friendly with the Hotel General Manager who was best friends with the Captain. DH and I and another friend were invited to the Cocktail Party by the HGM.  Once we go there we knew we really did not qualify to be there....heck DH and I were still Platinum!  But the Captain and the Hotel General Manager made us feel really welcome and kept encouraging us to get drinks.  I just tucked away my Platinum card and enjoyed the party!  
Names and ship have been omitted to protect the innocent!  LOL!

[CruisinCouple2010]

We prefer the luncheons. Food taste delicious and the presentation is exceptional. 

 

We do not care for the cocktail parties because when we are lucky enough to be invited we have found that many officers do not mingle at all or just stop and talk to one table. 
 

Everyone has different experiences. As others have stated just happy to be invited.
 

 

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

2 hours ago, CruisinCouple2010 said:

We prefer the luncheons. Food taste delicious and the presentation is exceptional. 

 

We do not care for the cocktail parties because when we are lucky enough to be invited we have found that many officers do not mingle at all or just stop and talk to one table. 
 

Everyone has different experiences. As others have stated just happy to be invited.
 

 

Ok!

[triple7tahoe]

Next time any of you get invited to one of these, keep an eye on the Captain. Most of the other officers will not leave before he does, It is always a challenge to try and keep the Captain talking and look around the room to see the others who just might be squirming to get away. 🙂

 

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

2 minutes ago, triple7tahoe said:

Next time any of you get invited to one of these, keep an eye on the Captain. Most of the other officers will not leave before he does, It is always a challenge to try and keep the Captain talking and look around the room to see the others who just might be squirming to get away. 🙂

 

Often, when we have sat with the captain, he will stay longer when no one is complaining about ridiculous things.  They are quick to leave once the nonsense complaining starts, as are we.  

[suzyed]

1 hour ago, AnyMajorCruiseDude said:

Often, when we have sat with the captain, he will stay longer when no one is complaining about ridiculous things.  They are quick to leave once the nonsense complaining starts, as are we.  

Do people actually complain to the Captain? Unbelievably rude!

[triple7tahoe]

Just now, suzyed said:

Do people actually complain to the Captain? Unbelievably rude!

We have found that no matter what table one gets assigned, there often is one person(couple) that think telling the officer they are sitting with all the things they have found wrong on the ship. Three or four of our last cruises we were fortunate enough to be sitting with the Captain and one those was a Captain we have known for 14+ years. He came by a couple of nights later to our dinner table (MDR) and we tried to apologize for one VERY loud couple that had been at the luncheon with us. He said that we would be surprised at the  number of folks that felt the luncheon was their opportunity to "vent". He told us he would see us in April on a Hawaii cruise; I will find out more then 🙂

 

[Cruise Raider]

8 hours ago, suzyed said:

Do people actually complain to the Captain? Unbelievably rude!

Yes, they do!  
Not at the luncheon but at a ‘Get to know the Captain’ event in the theater, one man just went on and on and on about the elevators, trying to prove he was the smartest man onboard.  Finally, the Captain said, ‘OK, you’ve made your point, let’s move on’.  Others in the audience clapped when the Captain said that.  
Some people aren’t happy unless they are complaining about something!  What a life they must live .. 

 

[555]

3 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

Yes, they do!  
Not at the luncheon but at a ‘Get to know the Captain’ event in the theater, one man just went on and on and on about the elevators, trying to prove he was the smartest man onboard.  Finally, the Captain said, ‘OK, you’ve made your point, let’s move on’.  Others in the audience clapped when the Captain said that.  
Some people aren’t happy unless they are complaining about something!  What a life they must live .. 

 

Well somebody must have listened to the complaints about the elevators as they corrected the problem somewhat on the new Sun Princess. At least you won't have the elevator stopping at different levels to drop people off, although they may get on, provided it hasn't exceeded the weight limit.

 

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

14 hours ago, suzyed said:

Do people actually complain to the Captain? Unbelievably rude!

For sure.  It is common for them to seat tables based on number of days, so we now ask to be seated at the lowest ranked table rather than where we might normally be seated.  It seems to us that the people at the lower days table complain much less and everyone has a better experience.  

[Hlitner]

We became quite friendly, with a now retired HAL Captain, and spent a significant amount of time sitting/socializing with him (and his DW when she was aboard).  It was really interesting to hear the kind of questions/comments that came his way.  The reality is, just like with other friends, our usual topics were about family, home life, etc.  

 

My favorite Captain story goes back to one dark night when we were somewhere off the coast of Italy.  It was late (around midnight) and I saw the distant lights of an island.  Since I had no clue to that island, I asked the Captain, "what is that island?"  He thought a minute and then asked the bartender to hand him the house phone.  He called the bridge and said, "its me, what is that island off the port?"   After he hung up and gave me the answer I just laughed and said to him something along the lines of "surely you knew the answer to the question."  He quickly replied, "I just wanted to make sure they knew on the bridge."  We all had a good laugh!  

 

But over the years we learned a lot from him (and another Captain on Celebrity) about their working life.  A major part of their work involves training the officers/cadets under their command and helping them prepare for their future careers.  Both Captain/friends told us they viewed this as one of their most important tasks, the most rewarding, and sometimes the most frustrating.  

 

The other Captain memory goes back to a talk, given by the very popular Captain "Demitrius" when we were cruising on the Silhouette.  He was giving his usual "bridge talk" to a full house in the theater when a lady passenger asked him, "what happens if you get sick?"  He responded, "my staff Captain would take over and he is fully qualified to be Captain."  The passenger further asked, "what if he is sick?"  He responded, "my First Officer would take over and is also fully qualified as a Captain."  She than asked, what if all 3 of you are sick?  Without missing a beat Captain Demitrius answered, "then we are all having a very bad day."  And that is why his talks are usually to a SRO audience.

 

Hank

[LACruiser88]

6 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

Yes, they do!  
Not at the luncheon but at a ‘Get to know the Captain’ event in the theater, one man just went on and on and on about the elevators, trying to prove he was the smartest man onboard.  Finally, the Captain said, ‘OK, you’ve made your point, let’s move on’.  Others in the audience clapped when the Captain said that.  
Some people aren’t happy unless they are complaining about something!  What a life they must live .. 

 

We had similar experience at the last few M&G's we attended.  We were so embarrassed!  Needless to say we no longer attend M&G's.

[cr8tiv1]

2 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

We had similar experience at the last few M&G's we attended.  We were so embarrassed!  Needless to say we no longer attend M&G's.

 

On the last Meet and Greet that I organized, Jodi set it up so that the officers were there for a limited amount of time.  She did not allow any questions and answers time.  They did their spiel and left.  She did a little bit of housekeeping and sharing of common questions.  

 

I'm on another cruise and have chosen not to organize another Meet and Greet.  Doesn't seem to be one schedule.  Unusual for a longer cruise.  

 

I do enjoy the "new" Officer gathering for suite passengers on Grand/GEM class ships.  Very intimate and much more time to interact with the officers.  

[satxdiver]

It is military protocol that the underlings do not leave until the commanding officer leaves.  Therefore I am not surprised when the officers do not leave until the captain of the ship leaves.  

[suzyed]

4 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

On the last Meet and Greet that I organized, Jodi set it up so that the officers were there for a limited amount of time.  She did not allow any questions and answers time.  They did their spiel and left.  She did a little bit of housekeeping and sharing of common questions.  

 

I'm on another cruise and have chosen not to organize another Meet and Greet.  Doesn't seem to be one schedule.  Unusual for a longer cruise.  

 

I do enjoy the "new" Officer gathering for suite passengers on Grand/GEM class ships.  Very intimate and much more time to interact with the officers.  

I guess we miss that...we don't do suites..
I guess we will have to suffer through M&Gs....actually all that I have been to large and small have been informative and mostly fun!

 

Edited March 4 by suzyed

[Cruise-Crazzy]

We are on the Grand Princess sailing around New Zealand.   We have been invited to MTP luncheon on this cruise with 380 days.

[cr8tiv1]

I have organized many Meet and Greets, have "helped" in others, and have just attended some.  I always appreciate the person who has taken the time to really pull it together.  It is a lot of work.

 

Most passengers who attend have been active on the Roll Call so it is nice to put faces to names.  Most passengers are friendly and willing to share what they know.  There are always a few that insist on being negative and I applaud the organizer and/or staff member that keeps the meeting orderly. 

[Astro Flyer]

It’s one thing to ask about a policy but it’s rude to argue about it with a captain who does not set policy but must follow what might be an unpopular policy established by Princess’ management…IMHO a M&G & MTP event is not the proper time to argue about policies. The few times we’ve been invited, AnyMajorCruiseDude would see us at our lowly table. For our only lunch we had a nice chat with the Captain’s Circle hostess. 😊

 

 

[lahlah57]

22 hours ago, suzyed said:

Do people actually complain to the Captain? Unbelievably rude!

Rude and obnoxious behavior!!!

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

8 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

It’s one thing to ask about a policy but it’s rude to argue about it with a captain who does not set policy but must follow what might be an unpopular policy established by Princess’ management…IMHO a M&G & MTP event is not the proper time to argue about policies. The few times we’ve been invited, AnyMajorCruiseDude would see us at our lowly table. For our only lunch we had a nice chat with the Captain’s Circle hostess. 😊

 

 

Would much prefer sitting with you, Frank!

[lahlah57]

8 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

We had similar experience at the last few M&G's we attended.  We were so embarrassed!  Needless to say we no longer attend M&G's.

Too bad stupid dude didn't have a wife to grab him and make him sit down and shut up.

Not that I would do that 👹

[Astro Flyer]

3 minutes ago, AnyMajorCruiseDude said:

Would much prefer sitting with you, Frank!

Hopefully someday we’ll get to join you! 🤞😊😋

Edited March 4 by Astro Flyer

[cr8tiv1]

21 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

Hopefully someday we’ll get to join you! 🤞😊😋

 

First, I have to get on a cruise with you.  Someday.

[charliedalrymple]

On 3/1/2024 at 10:05 AM, Cruise Raider said:

I wasn’t going to go there but up when at a table, it seemed like a competition on who had more days, etc when we attended the luncheons.

 

I'm glad you mentioned that, because I've never really understood why the "most traveled passenger" status is such a big deal.  Mind you, I'm nowhere close to being invited to such an event, and perhaps I'll change my tune when I get there.

[charliedalrymple]

On 2/29/2024 at 9:14 AM, LACruiser88 said:

In addition, we have made long-term friendships with many Senior Staff members that were our table mates at the luncheon.  We have actually hosted several at our home.

 

We have made friends with several "non-senior" staff members and have invited some to dinner in restaurants when they are in port--generally entertainers, but also some of the bar and restaurant staff.  (We have lived in both the Philippines and India due to my career, so we are familiar with the home countries of many staff members.)  We also visited a bar server in Mumbai when I was traveling there on business. It was wonderful to see the city through his eyes and not as a typical tourist.