Anyone else asked to pay for a CC M&G?

[98Charlie]

Yes they do, but a lot of folks dont know how to go about scheduling it on Carnival. You can email socialnetworking@carnival.com Stephanie will setup a meeting room for you through the ships Group Event planner.

 

Another way is to contact the Bon Voyage dept at Carnival and ask to speak to the ship's Group Event's planner. They can schedule you a meeting room as long as it is not reserved by a paying group. This is the person to also speak to about setting up an One hour open bar. It takes a minimum of 20 people.

 

Or you can wait until you get onboard and leave a message for the Cruise Director with Guest Services to add the M&G to the Carnival Capers for the next day. You have to do this right away as the Capers are printed that afternoon.

 

On my last cruise on the Fantasy, I had them schedule a Veterans get together on the first seaday. They placed the invite in the Carnival Capers (similar to the Freestyle Daily) and they assigned us the Conference room. We had about 35 Vets get together for a hour BS session.

 

Right after that I had the Cruise Critic Open Bar in the Cat's Lounge. We had over 40 people attend that. Everyone definitely got their monies worth. I let them know to order two or three drinks at 55 minutes mark to carry them over for the next hour.

 

Dave

 

Thanks for the info, Dave. Will try that for our Jan. 17 cruise. Never had any luck with Carnival in the past but like you said, I didn't really know how to go about it the right way.

 

Dianne

[Latrobe]

I will be organizing a Meet and Greet for the JEWEL Feb. 7 sailing. Can someone tell me where to START? How did you get the email or contact information for the Group Events Coordinator or the Hotel Manager?

Yes, different cruise lines handle M&Gs differently. I have been on HAL where they had drinks and hors d'oeurves for the M&G. Similar on Azamara. Last year on JEWEL it was cookies, pastry, coffee, juice. But it was still a nice way to meet fellow cruisers who have been on the thread as well as several officers.

[salty dingo]

They did not ask you to pay for the M&G... they simply said that if you want it catered you need to pay for it.

 

Who needs to cater a CC M&G? How long are you planning to be there? Is there not enough food and drink elsewhere on the ship that you need it to be provided at a M&G?

 

Here's my experience on NCL Pearl August '08:

 

We scheduled a CC M&G and it was very well-attended. Not only did "someone from the ship" attend, we had the Hotel Director, the Food and Beverage Manager, and Assistant Cruise Director all present. Speeches were given, to the effect of "if there is anything wrong, I can make it right, and please do not wait until the last night to let me know."

 

It was a Fabulous service. Also, FWIW, I recently sailed on Carnival with a CC group cruise, and I was the one to organize the M&G. Carnival also does not provide complimentary catering.

 

I don't think anyone should include catered meetings in their expectations, and I particularly don't like how the OP titled the thread!

[northwest traveler]

Anyone know who to contact at Holland America to set up a Meet & Greet?

 

Thanks!

 

 

...I have been on HAL where they had drinks and hors d'oeurves for the M&G. Similar on Azamara. Last year on JEWEL it was cookies, pastry, coffee, juice. But it was still a nice way to meet fellow cruisers who have been on the thread as well as several officers.

[NMLady]

Anyone know who to contact at Holland America to set up a Meet & Greet? Thanks!

 

I suggest you ask your question on the HAL board. They'll know there since I know I"ve seen that asked and answered there. Someone has all the info. I think her CC nickname is something like Serendipity. I also think that irl_joanie has the info as well. Anyway, if you ask on the HAL board you'll get some really knowledgeable answers.

 

Or do a search on that board to bring up the info.

[bucsdave]

I must say, I have a hard time understanding how NCL could do anything to ruin a Meet N Greet. I set one up for our CC group on the Dawn and NCL provided the coffee, tea and pastries described by everyone else. I also received a BIG bonus when they offering my wife and I suite perks, concierege service and breakfast in Cagneys because I set it up. Please note that we were booked into a BA balcony cabin. This was totally unexpected but greatly appreciated and really made that particular cruise very memorable. Although I will add that I printed up name tags for all that had indicated they would attend and we all brought small gifts from where we resided to exchange with each other for the memories (we had one couple from Finland). The Captain, Asst. Captain(didn't know they had assistant captains), Hotel Manager, Concierege and three other crew members came to the M&G and I felt badly that about 1/3 of those that had earlier committed to attending did not show up. I guess that's to be expected, but NCL went over and above in their participation to make the M&G a very memorable experience. Needless to say, I'm planning on putting together our M&G on the Greek Islands cruise in September. Despite all the "little" inconveniences that sometimes pop up, we've been totally satisfied with our NCL experiences. I've always felt that they appreciate our patronage of their services and we've felt welcomed and, at times, even pampered by the crews of each ship we've been on. Can't wait for the next one!!

[gliles]

I agree with earlier posters who said to be grateful for the space and don't expect anything else.

 

Am I the only one who thinks it's the least they can do? If they are only going to provide a location, what's to stop some people from just deciding online to meet at a specific place at a specific time? We've done that before, organized on here and never contacted the ship because we didn't know to, it was long ago. You could meet near the buffet and get the coffee, etc free! I would think NCL and any cruiseline for that matter should be very appreciative of CC, just my 2¢.

[GSLMOM]

I didn't read through all the posts, but wanted to add that on our cruise on the Star in July, my family attended a meet and greet (that I did not set up), refreshments included, and there were more officers there than guests. :eek:

 

I honestly don't remember how we knew where to meet, but I don't believe we had name tags... :confused:

[CruisinMaterial]

I have organized several Meet & Greets through NCL and never had to pay. If you want to do name tags then you do them on your own as the event organizer. The last two sailings on the Norwegian Jewel this year I was the event organizer and NCL has always given us a little snack and some juice and coffee for the gathering. Both times I was lucky and we were blessed with a large number of attendees from the Cruise Critic roll call. Both times all the senior staff attended and on this last Jewel trip the Captain showed up too. I didn't have to give NCL anything for their setup but I do keep the numbers to who is actually RSVP'd to attend and post frequently the location of the M&G so people do show up.

 

It's a great gathering and NCL has NEVER charged me to put it together or for the space set aside for the gathering. :)

[newmexicoNita]

Am I the only one who thinks it's the least they can do? If they are only going to provide a location, what's to stop some people from just deciding online to meet at a specific place at a specific time? We've done that before, organized on here and never contacted the ship because we didn't know to, it was long ago. You could meet near the buffet and get the coffee, etc free! I would think NCL and any cruiseline for that matter should be very appreciative of CC, just my 2¢.

 

We do both, informal and formal M&G. Usually we do an informal one shortly after the muster drill, we choose a bar as a meeting place. The official M&G has always been a success. As for what they should or should not do, well not all cruise lines do go above and beyond. We were on one a few years ago that did set a spot up for us, but didn't have anything special and actually ended up asking us to leave because there was a wedding planned. I understand the wedding part, but thought the cruise line should have considered that when they offered us the spot for 1 hr and 1/2. I will add, it was offered in the form of an official letter.

 

Another time the cruise line provided us with a place and did serve coffee, that was all, no danish plus they scheduled it for next to the last day of the cruise and provided no one from management to visit with. Oh, I take that back, there was someone from activities there.

 

So, no they do not all do things for the guests, and yes, i agree it would be nice if they did.

 

Nita