How do you organize a meet and greet?

On almost every Regent cruise we've ever had, someone has organized a Cruise Critic meet and greet, either on sailing day or on the first sea day. For our 9/3/16 cruise on the Mariner from San Francisco to New York, no one has done that. When I (Joe) called Regent a few minutes ago, they didn't seem to know what I was talking about. After a discussion with a manager, the agent told me that she would contact "operations"; but that it may be too late to organize the party. We have a relatively small group of about 15 people on our roll call.

If anyone has organized a CC get together, I would appreciate thoughts on how to organize one.

Thanks.

Go to the Regent Roll call site on Cruise Critic and find your cruise.

Then see if someone has set one up or you can do it if not.

Go to the Regent Roll call site on Cruise Critic and find your cruise.

Then see if someone has set one up or you can do it if not.

Thanks. Actually, I'm trying to set it up on behalf of the roll call, but don't know how to do so. That's why I asked the question.

Many of the ones I've involved with just set a rendezvous time and place like the Pool Bar 30 minutes after sailing. Doesn't require any support from Regent.

Regent has a policy of not sponsoring CC Meet & Greet events. I am not certain why that is, despite the efforts of a number of CC posters to encourage Regent to do so. Frankly, it isn't really necessary to have any Regent participation, in view of the fact that such M&G amenities as appetizers and drinks are already freely available to us.

We have been to a number of successful M&G's, very simply organized by one or more members of a Roll Call. The members of the Roll Call agree on a good time and place for the event, making an attempt to not overlap with any other significant event such as Safety Muster, Sail Away, Captain's Reception, etc. It might be prudent to check with the CD by email a couple of weeks before boarding to ensure that your selected time and venue will not interfere with some other scheduled event. Otherwise, go for it!!!

I used them last November. I talked to Nathan Davidow. He helped me set one up for our cruise. Ndavidow@rssc.com

Hope this helps.

Diana

I used them last November. I talked to Nathan Davidow. He helped me set one up for our cruise. Ndavidow@rssc.com

 

Hope this helps.

 

Diana

Thanks, Diana. Who is Nathan Davidow?

JoanandJoe, have organized over a half dozen meet & greet's on Regent. Recommend first, if you can find out who your cruise director is (an his/her email) send them an email saying you would like to organize (w/their assist a m&g). Second, ask your roll call when they would like to attend the m&g (first sea day is generally a good day for a m&g). Finally, let your roll call know the time & place for the m&g (agreed on by the CD). Have found name tags with your fellow cruise critic name, hometown helpful (sometimes the CD would make these, other times I would do it). When Mark Conroy was the President of Regent (he ensured not only the CD attended the meet & mingles but the General Mgr attended).

Good luck. Have tried my best to get the Regent leadership/Frank Del Rio to agree to sponsor Regent and Cruise Critic meet & mingles, however FDR, And Randal Soy (a verified Regent poster)regent won't support an organized Regent & CC meet & mingle. I very, very strongly disagree with their decision considering they use the Regent board indirectly (via their posts and top Regent posters) to drum up biz/bookings for Regent. Have personally directly coordinated with Silversea leadership and the leadership of cruise critic and spurred their formal (contract) for meet & mingles. Most cruise lines (luxury or others) recognize CC and their cruise line meet & mingles are a win-win. Silversea, Crystal, Azamara, RCCL, Celebrity and other cruise lines have arranged formal meet & mingles with cruise critic. Sincerely, wish Regent would recognize formal meet & mingles are a win-win for Regent and cruise critic.

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On almost every Regent cruise we've ever had, someone has organized a Cruise Critic meet and greet, either on sailing day or on the first sea day. For our 9/3/16 cruise on the Mariner from San Francisco to New York, no one has done that. When I (Joe) called Regent a few minutes ago, they didn't seem to know what I was talking about. After a discussion with a manager, the agent told me that she would contact "operations"; but that it may be too late to organize the party. We have a relatively small group of about 15 people on our roll call.

 

If anyone has organized a CC get together, I would appreciate thoughts on how to organize one.

 

Thanks.

Hi Joan and Joe,

We have organized and/or attended many Meet and Greets. While Regent Corporate is clueless about these events, the G.M. and C.D. are quite familiar with them. While it is easy to organize your own Meet and Greet, sometimes the time does not work with scheduled Regent events (for instance, one M&G was scheduled at the same time as the "Block Party" - not a good idea.) For that reason, once onboard, we speak with the either the G.M. or C.D. and find out what time(s) work for them and what space they recommend.

While you can get Regent Corporate involved, I find it much easier to avoid contacting them at all. While I agree with Regent's decision not to fully support "Meet and Mingles (as they are officially called), there are some people at Corporate that can be bullied into helping while the onboard crew are more than happy to help (without prior notice). IMO, if they are nagged too much, they could stop any support (even from onboard staff) of these events. Sorry Wes, but this is one area where we could not disagree more. I definitely get the sense that if they are pushed, they will do away with them completely which is why I recommend what I do.

Our favorite M&G venue is the Observation Lounge (for obvious reasons). We do not schedule or attend M&G's that are on the first day or night as people are jetlagged, are unpacking, etc. Usually the first sea day works well. When we work with Regent, we can hold the M&G at 11:00 a.m. and they will make sure that there is a bartender in the Observation Lounge. Or, if you prefer an earlier time, Regent has set up a coffee station. If you are thinking of an evening event, try to avoid the 2nd night since, as you know, the Captain's Reception is that night.

On port intensive itineraries, you can certainly do a M&G in the early evening but people do have dining reservations starting at 6:30 p.m. Still, a 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. M&G works well (or even one starting at 6:00 p.m. allows time for everyone to meet - even for a short period of time.

Some people want Regent to send out invitations and they will do this. However, some passengers would prefer that their suite number not become public knowledge. For those people that are interested in attending, I would ask on Roll Call when a good time would be for them. Then see if this works with Regent's schedule.

While this sounds complicated, it really is not. IMO, doing a simple event is the best. After all, the purpose is to touch base with each other. You don't need an elaborate event to do that.

Hope you have a great cruise (also hope that you are booked on the Explorer for a future cruise as I think that you both would enjoy it tremendously).

Jackie

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. Jackie, I've been at at least one (maybe two) meet and greets organized by you, so I'm glad you responded.

Several people on our cruise will be on the cruise immediately before ours. One is even going all the way from Vancouver to San Francisco (before our cruise), then SF to NYC (Our cruise), then NYC to Montreal (after our cruise); and she has volunteered to look into this when she gets onboard on Wednesday. That might be the best plan. Hopefully, she can find out who the CD is.

We set up an informal M&G on our first sea day on our last cruise, we just met in Galileos lounge, had about 10-12 of us as I recall. Was nice to put names with faces.

We set up an informal M&G on our first sea day on our last cruise, we just met in Galileos lounge, had about 10-12 of us as I recall. Was nice to put names with faces.

Definitely the best way to go IMO. Bells and whistles are not necessary - the purpose is to meet people on Roll call and, as you said "put names with faces".

He is a group coordinator for Regent?

Thanks, Diana. Who is Nathan Davidow?

He is a group coordinator for Regent.

He is a group coordinator for Regent.

And Mr. Davidow has agreed to help us set up the meet and greet. Thanks, everyone, for your help.

Wow, J&J - That is quite a coup, to get official help from Regent HQ. Good job!

We have not needed either formal invitations or name tags (and would frankly prefer to have neither); but the coordination of a good place to have the event would be a most welcome service from Regent staff.

As has been noted, there are two pretty good times (in our experience) for the M&G, either about 11:00 am (allowing people to chat and then, if they wish, wander off to lunch together) or early cocktail hour (allowing people to chat and then, if they wish, wander off to dinner together).

Although we have experienced some M&G's that were not really productive, we've had the great pleasure of a couple of the events that allowed us to meet a number of delightful people with whom we enjoyed the rest of the cruise and with whom we've stayed in touch (included more travel together) since our initial meeting at the M&G's.

Therefore, our approach to M&G's is: What do you have to lose by attending, other than a short time of chatting with people whom you don't know? You may well have the good fortune to meet people who will become friends for life. We have done so.

Echo Freddie’s Kudos for JoanandJoe/Joe who significantly helped put a spotlight on the Regent Groups Office as the significant point of contact to help Regent cruise critics organize their meet & mingles. The Regent Groups office is task organized by Regent ship to facilitate organizing group events on board Regent Ship's. Please see below.

Robbie Castellanos is the Explorer and Voyager group coordinator.

Nathan Davidow is the Mariner group coordinator.

Jennifer Bartlett is the Navigator group coordinator.

Per phone conversation a few minutes ago with Robbie (Explorer & Voyager) Groups coordinator, if you are booked on a Regent voyage, and you would like to help organize a Regent cruise critic meet & mingle, Robbie tells me the best contact is the Regent Groups email and/or Regent Groups phone number listed below.

Robbie told me in nearly seven years working with the Groups Department of Regent, only in the last 2-3 months have they received requests to assist in arranging a cruise critic and regent meet & mingle.

Bravo/Kudos go to Robbie for his lightening quick turn around to help me organize a meet & mingle for our upcoming Voyager cruise. Yesterday afternoon, when I asked him via email yesterday to help us organize our February Singapore to Hong Kong meet & mingle (proposed time 11 a.m, proposed location: Observation Lounge). Robbie replied with an hour confirming our Singapore to Hong Kong meet & mingle on February 21st, 2017, for either the Observation Lounge or Voyager Lounge.

Passed a hearty hooah/kudo for Robbie along to Frank Del Rio (FDR), letting FDR know in over a decade of organizing meet & mingles (Silversea and Regent), Robbie coordinated/confirmed the requested date/time and possible location for a Regent cruise critic meet & mingle in the quickest time I have experienced.

Bravo Robbie Castellanos! (Explorer and Voyager Group Coordinator)

Regent Groups Office Contact Information:

Phone: +1 954.940.7430

RSSCGroups@rssc.com | http://www.rssc.com

Regent Seven Seas Cruises

7665 Corporate Center Drive | Miami, FL 33126

Thank you Wes for this very useful info

Could this be placed as a 'sticky' on the Regent Roll Call Boards?

Hi Sue & Davie/flossie009,

Your very welcome but most of the thanks should go to jctdlt/Diana & JoanandJoe/Joe for developing the step by step process to arrange a meet & mingle with Regent Groups and their respective groups coordinator per Regent ship (e.g. Voyager/Explorer, Mariner, Navigator)

Sue/David, would ask Host Dan to make a sticky, but bet procedures on how to coordinate a meet & mingle hosted by both Regent and cruise critic will be explained here on the Regent board.

I'm finding this a bit confusing because Regent "officially" chose not to be part of Cruise Critic's "Meet and Mingle", but has informally supported "Meet and Greets" for years.

I did wonder if, under the NCL umbrella, Regent and Oceania could be part of the program (without additional cost).

Perhaps one of the contact people could let us know if Regent has changed their position and are now officially sponsoring these events or if they are simply being nice to their customers by helping to organize a Meet and Greet. Obviously, if this is official, Cruise Critic would put up a sticky on the Regent board.

Does it really matter whether the offer of assistance is 'official' or 'informal' :confused:

We should just be happy that there is a conduit for those wishing to organise a 'Meet & Greet' to discuss their plans with Regent

Does it really matter whether the offer of assistance is 'official' or 'informal' :confused:

 

We should just be happy that there is a conduit for those wishing to organise a 'Meet & Greet' to discuss their plans with Regent

Yes - big difference. While I do not know the details, there is a cost involved in having Cruise Critic sponsor these events. Another poster was suggesting that Cruise Critic post a "sticky" about this (the poster has sailed Silversea in the past few years - they do have a sticky on their board and do it "officially"). My response was questioning whether or not Regent is officially having CC sponsor (sponsor may be the incorrect word - perhaps support is a better one). This was a big issue a few years ago - this is the first time I've seen it addressed in a long time.

I think it's good that Regent corporate is working with passengers and coordinating with the ship's officers to make these events happen. My hope is that the officers on the ship "get the message" as communication between corporate and the ships can be difficult. If corporate simply notifies the Cruise Director (or whomever is handling this on the ship) of the desire to have the event on a specific cruise and does not try to schedule it, it should be fine.

The reason I haven't even tried to involve Regent corporate in any of the M&G's that I've organized (many), is that I don't want to get involved in invitations which requires everyone to either post or privately email their suite number. And, it is just easier to handle it myself (or with another Roll Call member).

In any event, the name of the event doesn't matter - just trying to use the term that Regent has used for years.

Hopefully we will learn if this assistance is in cooperation with CC or not. As I said, it would be a change of position on the part of Regent and could be a package deal with NCL and Oceania.

P.S. This post from CC on the Silversea board sort of explains the way it works. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1844894 As you can tell, CC is definitely involved in the process rather than Silversea corporate.

TC2,

I'm sorry but now you have me totally confused

I don't think anyone, apart from your good self, raised the issue of CC 'sponsoring' the Meet & Greet/Mingle receptions on Regent ships

Wes kindly, and usefully, simply passed on contacts in Regent, who could help co-ordinate venue etc for any CC members who were organising a meeting of their roll call members

....................or have I missed something..............or lost the plot completely

TC2,

 

I'm sorry but now you have me totally confused

 

I don't think anyone, apart from your good self, raised the issue of CC 'sponsoring' the Meet & Greet/Mingle receptions on Regent ships

 

Wes kindly, and usefully, simply passed on contacts in Regent, who could help co-ordinate venue etc for any CC members who were organising a meeting of their roll call members

 

....................or have I missed something..............or lost the plot completely

Actually, Wes brought up the subject of having a "sticky" on the Regent board. I was responding to him and asking him whether Regent now has CC sponsorship (it not, no sticky). He was involved in this topic quite heavily in the past and definitely knows of what I speak. Anyway, the question still remains - hopefully Wes will respond.

Sorry if some of you were confused. This is pretty much a subject within a subject but definitely is relevant.

Well, the few M&Gs I've attended have all been informal and usually organized via Roll Calls. The last one was kind of a "Hey, we're all going to meet at xxx lounge at yyy time. Show up if y'all want, and bring friends."

That seemed to work well. Besides, if it gets too formal and too organized, it starts to become 'work' and not 'vacation'.

Just my opinion.