Connections Party -worth it or not please?

[PartyAllDaTyme]

We are VERY NEW to CC. I am a young 60'ish And do not find it easy to navigate around some of these ROLL CALLS.

I am lost with the terminology and so I feel a little dumb!!

We went on line (CELEBRITY) last DEC and got onto the roll call. Did not do sail away etc as again did not know what they were talking about!

So my take on our first ever "CONNECTIONS" is pretty negative. WE did not know what was going to happen and felt somewhat uncomfortable.

We will try again this NOV on our CONNIE TA, but methinks it will be our last if it does'nt turn out better than our first! :(

 

My advice is to ask questions if there's something you don't know about, like sailaway or what to expect at the Connections party. Don't be shy-- answering questions and sharing knowledge is what Cruise Critic is all about. Most veterans are happy to take the time to explain things. Most remember what it was like when they were young and dumb, like us (I still consider myself a relative rookie), though some have to be reminded from time to time.

 

You might try using the search tools (look towards the top right of CC pages) to find more information, though if you don't know what you're looking for you might either find nothing or more than you can use.

[Slowboat2]

We are VERY NEW to CC. I am a young 60'ish And do not find it easy to navigate around some of these ROLL CALLS.

I am lost with the terminology and so I feel a little dumb!!

We went on line (CELEBRITY) last DEC and got onto the roll call. Did not do sail away etc as again did not know what they were talking about!

So my take on our first ever "CONNECTIONS" is pretty negative. WE did not know what was going to happen and felt somewhat uncomfortable.

We will try again this NOV on our CONNIE TA, but methinks it will be our last if it does'nt turn out better than our first! :(

 

Don't let terminoligy get you down, feel free to ask any questions you might have. Almost all CC members will help you out.

At the top of the page you will see

Sticky: Commonly Used Acronyms on Cruise Critic (1 2)

Just open that and you will find all the terminoligy you will need

[derf5585]

We are VERY NEW to CC. I am a young 60'ish And do not find it easy to navigate around some of these ROLL CALLS.

I am lost with the terminology and so I feel a little dumb!!

(

 

We were all newbies once.

[texkan]

I believe more will register for the gathering as the date draws near. At our Millennium party last month, we had a large turnout, with several ship's officers. I was not able to meet nearly as many cruisers as I would have liked.

 

In addition to the usual coffee/juice/pastry, they also served Bloody Marys and Mimosas. That was a nice touch!

 

Also, at this gathering, staff started a sign-up list for a bridge tour later in the cruise. If this activity is of interest to you, you might want to go to the Connections party - you never know what may be happening there.

 

We did not have a sign up for Bridge Tour at the CC party but I did ask at the Customer Service if we could be invited to tour bridge if tours are available. We received invite to the Bridge and an invite to tour the Engine Control Room. It never hurts to ask and inquire.

[Wookie01]

My advice is to ask questions if there's something you don't know about, like sailaway or what to expect at the Connections party.....

 

Okay, as a cruise virgin I will take you up on this :D

Please give me some detail of what a 'sailaway' is, I did a search for 'what is a sailaway' and was overwhelmed with 250 threads so thought I would ask as suggested ;)

Cheers, Graham

[texkan]

Okay, as a cruise virgin I will take you up on this :D

Please give me some detail of what a 'sailaway' is, I did a search for 'what is a sailaway' and was overwhelmed with 250 threads so thought I would ask as suggested ;)

Cheers, Graham

 

Sailaway is when the ship leaves a port. We have always enjoyed sailaway either from our balcony or from Sunset Bar on the Constellation.

 

Generally Sailaway is more of a celebration/party on the first day when the cruise begins.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

texcan pretty much summed it up, but I'll elaborate. Most Cruise Critic roll calls include an unofficial sailaway party on the day of departure. It's a chance to celebrate the beginning of the cruise as well as meet several of the people face-to-face that you've been conversing with online over the weeks and months leading up to the cruise. Everyone meets at a prearranged location (usually near a bar:rolleyes::cool: on one of the top decks) and pays for their own drinks. Not to be confused with the Connections party hosted by Celebrity.

 

In addition, some folks will host a party of their own in their cabin during sailaway from ports of call. Some hosts will provide liquor (either purchased from the cruise line or from their private, illicit stash;)), others may ask guests to BYOB. We usually contribute a bottle of wine, either the welcome aboard bottle from Celebrity or one from our TA, whether or not we were asked to bring anything. X will provide party food-- pizzas, cheese and crackers, fruit-- as part of complimentary room service (but don't forget to tip the steward for the extra service if you're hosting). These parties most often are held by someone in a suite or at least a cabin with a large balcony, though people could crowd into a standard cabin, too.

[true45]

Had mixed experience with Connections party. On recent Century, there was nice groiup gathered at one of the bars -- but even people active on the roll call didn't show up. On Eclipse, not many people showed at the Connections party -- which was coffee & pastries on the 1st sea day in morning. Only 1 or 2 Celebrity officers. We had about 70 (I thought) expected but only about 15 guests showed. I think I was marching to a different drummer than the other people on the roll call. I did, early in the roll call, suggest slot pull, disco party, etc. but did not get a good response. I did lurk on other little groups proposing "taking over" aqua class together -- we had a regular balcony cabin so couldn't participate. Alot of talk about "Elite" cocktail party, etc. -- we are only "Select" captains club members. But this can happen with any group -- just so happened we didn't seem to fit. We had early dinner so don't usually get to the sailaway parties. Jealous of those who found a welcoming group -- but I'm not giving up. Maybe we can connect with our next Connections party (we are one of those people waiting on reservations for a date closer to final payment since we live in Fla so have no airfare considerations). HAPPY SAILING.

[Bill-The-Cruiser]

Looks like I was able to finally find the message you referred me to in your email. I will have to get used to how this board actually works. It isn't very intuitive to me.

 

Bill

[KruzPrincess]

I had my best roll call ever on my last X cruise on the Equinox. Met some wonderful people on the roll call and they were great on the cruise. All ages and backgrounds came. Some roll calls are good and some not so good. It's all in the luck of the draw with who joins in. The more people who post and join in the discussions ahead of time make for a more fun time when you all meet. Join in. If you don't know something..ask. I always find that cruise people love to help. I have 2 upcoming cruises and one roll call which is 6 months out is dead and one that's a year away is totally lively. You never can tell. I would keep reminding people to sign up for the Connections party mainly because you won't get an invitation with the location if you don't sign up for it. It's hard to go if you don't know where it is. A lot of people do sign up at the end, so hang in there. It can be as much fun as people want to make it.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

Looks like I was able to finally find the message you referred me to in your email. I will have to get used to how this board actually works. It isn't very intuitive to me.

 

Bill

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic! Since this is your first post, I suspect you still don't quite have the "lay of the land." I'm not sure who you were attempting to communicate with, but I think you inadvertently posted this on an unrelated thread. Hopefully, you'll find your way back here to see this message.

[TommyTV]

On a RCI CC party, the Cruise Director, Captain and First officer all came in to chat. Got a lot of information and freebies. The cruise director was particularly good and answered loads of questions. I dont know if X do the same, but if you don't go, you'll never find out.

Cheers

Martin

[derf5585]

On a RCI CC party, the Cruise Director, Captain and First officer all came in to chat. Got a lot of information and freebies. The cruise director was particularly good and answered loads of questions. I dont know if X do the same, but if you don't go, you'll never find out.

Cheers

Martin

 

Repeat of my video of a cc party

[Pepperwood]

Celebrity doesn't do name tags, but someone on the Roll Call can volunteer to do name tags.

 

We recently did a back-to-back on Summit, and on both cruises, the cruise staff had "Hello, my name is..." name tags there. We were handed a marker and asked us to fill in our real first name and our CC handle. Seeing someone's handle was a real icebreaker--a lot of good conversations resulted.

[SusieV]

Our roll call for Hawaii in 2013 is already bustling! I'm really looking forward to it.

 

It's nice to meet the people you've been chatting with for a few months (or years!) and getting excited about the upcoming trip together. Plus you might find someone to share shore excursions or taxis with, or even tablemates (or to the 05/01/2012 Silhouette group- bridge players!).

 

We missed our first Connections Party in 2005, but it was our honeymoon so I guess we have a good excuse! We always go for at least a little bit now. On our recent Equinox cruise, we had our 14 month old son with us so our visit was brief but we did want to drop in and meet everyone.

[lilianani]

We recently did a back-to-back on Summit, and on both cruises, the cruise staff had "Hello, my name is..." name tags there. We were handed a marker and asked us to fill in our real first name and our CC handle. Seeing someone's handle was a real icebreaker--a lot of good conversations resulted.

 

Same here, we recently did a B2B on the Summit and experienced 2 Connections events. As this was our first cruise experience we have nothing to judge it against, but really enjoyed the experience.

 

Damian (Cruise Director) attended the events and got them underway. Celebrity also presented us with a label and marker to fill in our names and CC username. Non-alcoholic drinks and Mimosas were provided. Rose (Guest Relations Manager) attended and a couple of other officers from Food and Beverage and Hotel for the second event. The officers were lovely and spent time chatting with the guests and we all had a chance to get to know each other on the roll call.

 

I agree with another poster who commented then that, later during the cruise, we would bump into our fellow roll-callers at the bar etc and would have a chat with them.

 

On both weeks a Bridge Tour was provided for our Cruise Critics group - we had an invitation delivered to our stateroom on the 2nd day of the cruise.

[shipshape sam]

Looks like I was able to finally find the message you referred me to in your email. I will have to get used to how this board actually works. It isn't very intuitive to me.

 

Bill

 

Glad you are on! :)

[patterson3]

On our last Summit cruise we didn't attend because it was at 5:30 on one of the formal night and we had an early dinner and my wife was still getting ready.

[hancock]

Unless you actively participate in the roll call, the Connections Party will be a bust. The purpose of the party is so that you can meet the people you have been talking to here on the boards. People who register for the party but do not participate on the boards miss the point of the party. If the cruise line happens to provide some refreshments, it's nice. Until recently, they only provided juice, coffee and pastries.

[Germancruiser]

If I am active on a Roll Call I attend to the get together, with the only exception of my last Brilliance cruise- the time the choose did just no work for me. Anyway I had great get togethers- esp. when we exchanged gifts, that was really fun. There was just one sour participant once who always complained about the woman who was in charge and always wanted to be the one in charge... oh well.

And if it is just one person of the get together you one becomes friends with - it was worth going!

[John73]

I've had mixed experiences with Roll Calls and my participation in such. I've only done 3 cruises on Celebrity. On my first, the Roll Call seemed pretty quiet but I enjoyed the meeting onboard the ship and met some interesting people. One of them changed to my dining table due to her not be happy with her current table assignment. I had a great set of tablemates on that cruise and that just helped to solidify my interest in cruising. On my second cruise I didn't participate too much in the roll call due to my travelling companion not being interested in it. On my third cruise I was again back to the roll call and participated in a Slot Pull, but I think due to my being in Aqua Class I didn't have that many more opportunities to engage with others on board. For my future cruises I'm going to skip AQ and look for some activities in the Roll Call. On my first cruise I met some really fun people and I look forward to meeting more on my future cruises, with many of them coming from CC activities and events.

[High Seas Texan]

I would highly suggest attending the gathering. If you do not like it once there, you can excuse yourself for a spa appointment or such and not be rude. On my Infinity cruise, with an active roll call, the parties were a great way of meeting and connecting names to screen names, and several of us became quite chummy for the cruise. It is always nice to recognize a face and say hello throughout the cruise. For me, it is more about the gathering of people than the refreshments served. I travel to meet people as well as see the sights. Bottom line, go. Enjoy!

[Compass Rose Monica]

I recommend going. Have gone to all of the ones on my cruise. Only one was a dud but I still met up with fellow CCrs. For my transatlantic cruises, the group is typically HUGE with over 200 CCrs. Last year I asked the onboard coordinator to have three connections parties. Not everyone showed up but those that did appreciated having the chance to have these parties.

 

We also do sail-away get togethers, pre-cruise cocktails and/or dinner in the port of embarkation, cabin crawl, card/board games, etc. We set things up in advance and it's just a great way to really get to know your new friends.

 

Monica