CC Meet and Greet

[RJBC]

I need some help. Have been to the meet and greet get togethers a few times, but don't know how they are organized. My DW and I will be on the Ryandam on Jan. 3 and have been following the roll call. I offered to set the get together up having seen references to them in other posts. But, couldn't find the details. Also surprised to read recently that departures from San Diego have a CC gathering on the bow for the web cam?? Looking forward to all the great help that CCers come up with. Thanks, Ron

[Flindy&Doc]

Don't remember where I found this, but had it saved for future reference. Maybe it will help.

 

Tips for a Successful Cruise Critic Roll Call (R/C)

 

Introduction

 

Cruise Critic Roll Calls serve a wonderful forum for participants to share and obtain information and to become "acquainted" with fellow cruisers before a cruise. Roll Call experience will vary from cruise to cruise and individual to individual. Normally longer cruises or more At Sea days will provide more on-board time to build camaraderie. Roll Calls can be successful with minimal orchestrated direction but sometimes "behind the scenes" efforts can provide a more enjoyable experience. The following are suggestions that might optimize that experience.

 

Pre-cruise

 

Getting Started -- Establish one or preferably two members who will be moderating the Roll Call (R/C). This is not necessarily going to be the member who originates the R/C. It is advantageous to have at least two people from different CC Logons sharing this job. This enables two viewpoints in the planning process. As the R/C grows, one of the moderators can post a summary of participants providing minimal information, i.e. CC Logon and City/State information if known (this later can be expanded to include first names). On the public forum (Cruisecritic.com) establish some sort of protocol to protect member's personal information, i.e., last names, stateroom numbers, e-mail addresses, etc. On the public forum, one or both moderators will need to provide e-mail contact information (this can be a temporary or disposable account). Participants can then privately provide the moderator(s) personal information (e-mail address, last name, stateroom number, mailing address). This personal information should not be made public.

 

Administrative Tips -- With advance approval participants can then, outside the public forum, contact each other for advanced cruise planning, i.e. trivia team participation, bridge partners, advice from someone who has been to a port before, private group tour planning, etc. One or both of the moderators should establish some method of keeping track of members as they join and when they last posted. Experience has shown that a spreadsheet is an effective method, as the data can be easily sorted, and easily printed. As a roll call e-mail list is developed, one of the moderators should take the responsibility of contacting members who have not posted in a while. Usually active members will post at least weekly, others may be content to just read the posts and not add that much to the roll call. Others may just leave the roll call due to personal reasons, and not post that they are dropping out. E-mail correspondence between members and moderator should be copied to the co-moderator. When the list of members reaches a substantial number, additional participant summary lists should be posted on the public R/C forum, limited again to CC Logon, First Names, and City/State of Residence. The co-moderators might monitor the postings providing some guidance as to its content. This might be as a "jump start" when the postings might be lagging, change of direction if postings possibly take a negative direction, compliments to someone who has posted a valuable trip planning contribution or a question trying to get feedback from multiple participants. .

 

Pre-Planning - First Meeting -- If the R/C seems to be moving in a positive direction, and members are bonding (this will be apparent with their postings to each other on the R/C), encourage and find out how many members would like to have one or more meetings once onboard the cruise. Twenty or more people are sufficient to start contacting the Guest Relations Coordinator for the ship. One of the co-moderators should establish a line of e-mail communication with the ship's Guest Relations Coordinator, requesting that they arrange a meeting date, time and location. Cruise lines are usually cooperative in this area and some have a form that can be used for this purpose. A meeting place reservation can usually be arranged 60-90 days before the departure date. A suggested time for a meeting is mid-morning of the first At Sea day. Try to avoid any ship-wide activity such as lifeboat drill. (Note: If a cruise contains multi-segments, a meeting per segment is encouraged to help integrate new members.) A placard made of a laminated 8 X 11 ½ sheet of paper with bold lettering is helpful in identifying a meeting place onboard. A suggested title could be "CC or CRUISE CRITIC ROLL CALL MEETING". This could also encourage passengers who have been "lurking" on the R/C board to join meetings onboard.

 

On-Board Ship

 

First Meeting -- Pre-printed name tags for the first meeting are helpful in getting acquainted. Have some blank name tags on hand. At the meeting, possibly have each participant introduce themselves and share a brief comment (why they choose this itinerary, how they derived their CC Logon name, etc.). One "ice breaker" idea is to have individuals or couples bring a gift (maximum $10 value) from their locality for a gift exchange.

 

Staying in Contact Onboard -- If the group is to continue to bond, they need a way to contact each other while on board. One way to accomplish this is to use the data collected prior to boarding and put it in a mini-directory which includes each members CC logon, full name, stateroom number, and home city. Prior to sailing, R/C members should give the moderator's permission to use their personal information in this directory. Make sure there are enough copies of this directory to hand out for each person attending the initial meeting.

 

Administrative Tips -- On especially long cruises it is helpful for one of the moderators to have a laptop onboard, and an external USB drive. This will facilitate printing memos to distribute to the group. Usually the department on board who assists with group functions will print up courtesy copies from the USB drive. The appropriate ship personnel should be copied (CC) on such communications. Co-moderators may also need to divide the directory list to make phone calls advising members of changes (meeting time, etc.).

 

Onboard Gatherings -- Additional camaraderie may be achieved by scheduling voluntary on-board get-togethers. The R/C co-moderators can meet with the appropriate ship personnel to set up date, time, meeting place. The day before entry into a new port works well, and gives everyone an opportunity to share information about that port, as well as experiences in the previous port. Ship personnel can also be invited to provide an overview of their position and answer questions. Additional get-togethers can be individuals pre-arranging lunch together with fellow CCers.

 

Sharing Contact Information -- Toward the end of the cruise, participants should be contacted and asked for permission to provide personal e-mail contact information to continue friendships established on the cruise. This information would be made available after the cruise. Participants may also wish to post information on the Cruise Critic R/C public forum to share reflections on the cruise.

 

 

This document was written by Ann Garson and Jack Cummings after their ms Amsterdam 64 day Asia, Australia, and Polynesia cruise in September 2007. If shared with others please give appropriate credit.

[Spinner2]

I arranged two Meet/Greets on our recent Maasdam cruise--it was a B2B for us so there were 2 separate events. It was fun and easy to plan them.

 

Send an e-mail to Karla Camp who is the Maasdam/Ryndam/Statendam Onboard Events Co-ordinator at KCamp@HollandAmerica.com. I did it about 3 weeks before the cruise but I'm sure you can do it sooner if you wish. She will send you a form to fill out via e-mail. It won't be exactly what fits our group (it's more for people who are travel agents arranging a group event or something like that) but it'll work. Just put something in the blanks; all they need is the date/time you want, how many, how to contact you, etc. (I know each ship has such a co-ordinator; it just happens that the one I needed for the Maasdam is also your Ryndam co-ordinator so I can offer specific information.)

 

She'll get a confirmation back to you really quickly. I took a copy with me to the ship but the ship knew about it; I stopped by Guest Relations and talked to somebody in Guest Relations Department and they called the Beverage Manager to confirm and he was already aware of both requests. He had the area in the Crow's Nest all set up for us; very nicely. Easy.

 

I took some preprinted pieces of paper with the Meet/Greet time/place written on them and some cheap blank envelopes. I put the cabin numbers on the envelopes, put a reminder sheet in each (with a name tag they could fill out) and set off on a nice walk through the corridors, dropping the envelopes off in the slots on the cabin number holders outside each cabin. We had 100% attendance at both meet and greets and I really think that's the reason. So much is going on, especially on a sea day, and it's easy to let the time get away from you. With a reminder slip and a name tag in your pocket, it's easier to remember to watch your time and get to the Meet/Greet.

[Krazy Kruizers]

For the last couple of years the Oosterdam has been having the wave from the ship at 3 PM Pacific time. That ship always leaves San Diego at 3 PM.

We have cruises quite a few times on the Ryndam and once on the Amsterdam out of San Diego and there was never a wave.

But on the Westerdam this past May, San Diego was a port stop (not embarkation day) and LAFFNVEGAS did make arrangments for about 5 of us to do the wave from the bow.

[serendipity1499]

I handled our Meet & Greet on the Veendam in August similar to the way Spinner handled their's ..We had ours just before lunch on our first sea day & I pre-printed stick-on Name tags for each participant which included their First Name, their Cruise Critic Sign in & their home town..

On the form you fill out, be sure to indicate that you would like either a NO-Host Bar,( so you are not charged for it) or coffee & cookies..

I had a note from the Beverage Mgr. in our stateroom, when we boarded & saw him the day before to reconfirm our group...Also had printed lists with everyone's name & cabin Number.. The Beverage Mgr. asked for a copy.. Later on in the cruise, our group was invited to attend a special Captain's Cocktail party..

It's also a nice to idea to extend an invitation to the Officers on the ship to join your meet & greet..

Enjoy your cruise..Betty

[RJBC]

Wow! Thanks for the thorough and specific responses. You have all given me lots to go with. Glad to see that I don't have to worry about TV. When we have a successful m&g, it will be due to you. Ron