Setting up a Meet and Greet - Any Tips?

[Sail Girl]

We are sailing on the Gem 11/20/10. One of the members on our Roll Call asked if any of us knew how to set up a Meet and Greet. Soooo I'm asking for tips on setting it up. Also, any fun activities you've done with your CC groups? Thanks :)

Agnes

[noreddye]

We are sailing on the Gem 11/20/10. One of the members on our Roll Call asked if any of us knew how to set up a Meet and Greet. Soooo I'm asking for tips on setting it up. Also, any fun activities you've done with your CC groups? Thanks :)

 

 

Agnes

 

You will need to send an email to groupeventgem@ncl.com about 2 - 3 weeks before your cruise. NCL will want to know the approximate amount of personnel attending. They will send you a time, date and place where you will meet. You will post the information on your Roll Call.

 

You will need to keep a roster on your roll call of who is attending the Meet & Greet (M&G). I update the roster when someone new wants to join.

 

You will receive a letter in your cabin reminding you of the M&G. My last M&G we did a gift exchange; no more than $10.00 and it had to represent your state. For example, I live in Kentucky so I brought Kentucky Bourbon chocolate.

 

I hope this helps.

[garycarla]

..

You will receive a letter in your cabin reminding you of the M&G. ..

 

I would not count on this.

 

Sure, it has happened, usually because somebody in the group gathered teh names and cabin numbers in advance. Do not count on NCL to do this for you.

[Got Tequila?]

I always make up or buy name tags, with screen names as well as real first names and bring to the meet and greet. :)

[Intrepid]

Be prepared for criticism from your Roll Call, no matter what you do! I offered to arrange our meeting, and a co-roll caller offered and provided great party favors.

 

NCL was great, and set us up in Le Bistro with coffee, tea, juice, water and pastries. I stood at the entry and passed out name tags (remember to bring several pens, and the kind of name tags that peel easily). NCL sent six officers that each spoke about their functions, answered questions and offered their help with anything we needed.

 

Came home to find people complaining on the Roll Call that they thought they'd have an opportunity to meet each other. Hmmmm...great meeting room? Name tags? Refreshments? Lovely party favors? Sounds like a party to me! It was, after all, a Meet and Greet! Beats me why they didn't, well, meet and greet each other!

 

Last bit of advice would be to remind people to make sure to attend! NCL puts on a great party, so make sure your group shows up in force!

 

Enjoy yourself on the beautiful Gem!

[Buford T Justiice]

I would add that for an approximate number of actual attendees take the total number of cruisers who say will attend... and divide by 1.5.

[noreddye]

I would not count on this.

 

Sure, it has happened, usually because somebody in the group gathered teh names and cabin numbers in advance. Do not count on NCL to do this for you.

 

What I was referring to was: If she sets up the M&G she will receive a letter in her cabin. I have set up a few and everytime I have received a letter in my cabin.

[mypleasure]

What I was referring to was: If she sets up the M&G she will receive a letter in her cabin. I have set up a few and everytime I have received a letter in my cabin.

 

I too got a letter to my cabin from the co-ordinator on the ship. I did email them my final numbers plus my full name and cabin number though so they could contact me if necessary once I boarded.

 

As for the meet and greet I thought ours went well. Lots of thanks from people when it ended. We got quite a few officers including the hotel director and the cruise director. I was told by the ship co-ordinator that they would want to just mingle and chat rather than stand in a line and give speeches as the officers preferred it that way. Sadly this did not suit one group of 3 on the roll call nor did the fact that I had not set up private excursions for them suit either. Everyone else seemed happy. I did let this get under my skin and it still rankles with me now. So my tip is don't let what others think you should or should not have done bother you and if, like me, you have the type of personality that does let other people get to you then let someone else set up the roll call and you just sit back and enjoy it.

[noreddye]

I was told by the ship co-ordinator that they would want to just mingle and chat rather than stand in a line and give speeches as the officers preferred it that way. Sadly this did not suit one group of 3 on the roll call nor did the fact that I had not set up private excursions for them suit either.

 

Am I reading this wrong? Three people actually thought you were going to set up private excursions for them?!?! :eek: :confused: I am blown away.

[Sooners]

Am I reading this wrong? Three people actually thought you were going to set up private excursions for them?!?! :eek: :confused: I am blown away.

 

I take it your not planning to set up a nice private excursion for our upcoming cruise? :D

[mypleasure]

I was stunned actually. These women came up to me and said are you the one who organised the meet and greet. I said yes I am and introduced myself. One of them then informed me that she had cruised many times and the officers always gave a speech and that on her last cruise in the Med the organiser had organised private tours for everyone and I hadn't organised any. She also told me that she only recently booked the cruise and had first visited the roll call on the day before the ship sailed. I was totally knocked for 6 by it all. They left after talking to a couple of folks and I then noticed that they had met Tony Lockett as they were leaving and having a long conversation with him. He never did make it into the session, and left with the women ( I think there were 3 of them), this annoyed me because I wanted to meet him as he is a fellow Brit and all that.

 

Truly you cannot make these things up can you. I think this woman thought she could drift into our meet and greet and I would have done all the work for her and all she needed to do was add her name to a list for a tour.

[mypleasure]

I take it your not planning to set up a nice private excursion for our upcoming cruise? :D

 

 

Not a chance of it!

[noreddye]

I take it your not planning to set up a nice private excursion for our upcoming cruise? :D

 

You are too Funny!!!!

[stubbornoldowl]

We just came off a Jade cruise of the Eastern Med. We had a great meet and greet - officers spoke and refreshments were provided in Le Bistro. We had the $10 gift exchange as well as several other fun activities. There was a cabin crawl organized where CC members in different types of cabins offered to let those signed up for the cabin crawl see the various rooms. We viewed an inside, outside, balcony, minisuite, romance suite and penthouse. It was great fun also because we were doing a poker run at the same time at a cost of $5 pp or per couple (optional from the cabin crawl). In 7 of the rooms we drew a card and the person with the best 5 poker cards at the end won the pot. We also had a casino run where $10 pp or per couple was put in the pot, took turns playing the machine and any winnings at the end were divided up. It was also an excellent opportunity for those who had organized themselves into private tours to identify each other and/or exchanged info etc. It was the first M&G that we had participated in and it was great.

[GrumpaTom]

I have organized a few M&Gs so far and one thing that I do is ask for the members of my Roll Call to give me their cabin numbers in a private, about half do, for those half I personally deliver an invitation to their cabin in a nice card from a local artist, in the card I include their preprinted name tags and tickets for the gift exchange and door prizes, that way only the ones who I could not deliver to early have to put their names on the nametags or get tickets, etc.

 

I use the gift exchange to let each group introduce themselves, then after we are done everyone starts the mingling.

 

This time I will be trying the Poker Run to see how that works out.

 

This also starts me on getting a little extra exercize since I get to move up and down the ship and up and down stairs a few times on that first afternoon. :)

[terrymtex01]

Be prepared for criticism from your Roll Call, no matter what you do! I offered to arrange our meeting, and a co-roll caller offered and provided great party favors.

 

NCL was great, and set us up in Le Bistro with coffee, tea, juice, water and pastries. I stood at the entry and passed out name tags (remember to bring several pens, and the kind of name tags that peel easily). NCL sent six officers that each spoke about their functions, answered questions and offered their help with anything we needed.

 

Came home to find people complaining on the Roll Call that they thought they'd have an opportunity to meet each other. Hmmmm...great meeting room? Name tags? Refreshments? Lovely party favors? Sounds like a party to me! It was, after all, a Meet and Greet! Beats me why they didn't, well, meet and greet each other!

 

Last bit of advice would be to remind people to make sure to attend! NCL puts on a great party, so make sure your group shows up in force!

 

Enjoy yourself on the beautiful Gem!

 

I too got a letter to my cabin from the co-ordinator on the ship. I did email them my final numbers plus my full name and cabin number though so they could contact me if necessary once I boarded.

 

As for the meet and greet I thought ours went well. Lots of thanks from people when it ended. We got quite a few officers including the hotel director and the cruise director. I was told by the ship co-ordinator that they would want to just mingle and chat rather than stand in a line and give speeches as the officers preferred it that way. Sadly this did not suit one group of 3 on the roll call nor did the fact that I had not set up private excursions for them suit either. Everyone else seemed happy. I did let this get under my skin and it still rankles with me now. So my tip is don't let what others think you should or should not have done bother you and if, like me, you have the type of personality that does let other people get to you then let someone else set up the roll call and you just sit back and enjoy it.

 

I am absolutely mortified that this happened to the two of you. I honestly do not even know what to post about this as I am such shock people would stoop that low. All I can say is I am so sorry it happened.

[noreddye]

I love the poker run idea. I am going to see if our group wants to participate.

[B4andAFT]

I would add that for an approximate number of actual attendees take the total number of cruisers who say will attend... and divide by 1.5.

 

Hey BT. How are you? I don't see any cruises planned for 2010????

We're going to give the Gem a try in November. Hopefully I can avoid the medical facilities this trip!! :D

 

~Mary~

[alwalaska]

We aren't planning much for my upcoming cruise since it is only 4 days and has 3 ports (no sea days), but on my last cruise we organized a bunch of things. It had 6 sea days, so lots of time to fill. We made sure everyone know these activities were all optional and not everyone would like everything.

 

We had a cabin tour where we asked for volunteers and got cabins from Interiors to one of the suites (but not the biggest category of suite). I then organized the cabins to make for the least walking. We started at the bottom of the ship and worked our way up. We had people who only wanted to host and not walk along, and we had people who only wanted to walk along. It worked out great. One of our people even managed to organize a whale to spout and show off for us while we were on their balcony. Not sure how they arranged that one. :D

 

We also organized a couple of evening get togethers and we met at the Rock wall on a particular day. One person made certificates that we handed out for fastest to the top, oldest climber, youngest climber, best style, etc. They also made certificates for the staff which was greatly appreciated by the staff. Someone organized a slot pull where everyone put in a couple of dollars. They each pulled the handle a couple of times based on the money, and then they split the winnings evenly.

 

We also met and had lunch in the main dining room on the last sea day. I tried to call ahead and warn the dining room we were coming with 30 plus people, but they said it wouldn't be a problem. Boy did they have fun when 35 of us showed up and wanted to sit close together. They took care of it though. It was great fun to see how everyone's cruise had gone.

 

Have fun.