Pros/ Cons of the Roll call...

[Hurricane Girl]

We have a paid M&G set up for the first sea day of our upcoming cruise. We had one last year and it turned out well. You only have to pay if you want the free drinks. Anyone can come into the bar, but you must have the wristband to get drinks.

[tncap]

I wasn't particularly enthralled about attending our meet & greet on our 9 day Spirit cruise earlier this year but I am so glad we went. We have several new friends and most of us went on an excursion together in Manzanillo. It was just nice to have people to say hey to around the ship.

[what to go here and there]

first cruise - great roll call, met someone on the shuttle from airport that was on roll call, met up with someone that was travelling single and from over seas the same cruise remain friends with both

 

second cruise - roll call not so good, one person took over roll call and made quite a few members very uncomfortable, .. not fun,

there ended up 2 seperate meet and greets with two very different groups. I would not participate in either meet and greet, roll call got nasty and i am on vacations and would not put up with those games. I was not involved in the nasty stuff but sure did feel very uncomfortable and stopped posting but was reading roll call

 

 

third cruise -- travelled with single person from over seas from first cruise , roll call was good but only one couple showed up for meet and greet.

 

forth roll call --- very active, enjoy it and having fun on it, and working with a great person to list all excursions etc on it .

 

things i have learned through roll calls and by reading other roll calls ... no face book or give giving out our room number, or email addy, will not post my picture. I will give you this information when on board ship if i want you to have it.

BUT

You can meet some wonderful people on your roll call, just play it smart.

 

I have remained good freinds with those two from first cruise.

[Lisah101]

Cool Idea!!! I think I may tackle this for our upcoming cruise! It may make the waiting pass by faster!

 

Check out the link in my signature.....still working on it, but I'm starting to gt organized

[LibratPDX]

On last year's roll call, I felt a frosty reception when I showed up for the meet & greet. Like I was imposing or something? Sometimes I feel like I stand out like a sore thumb as a solo, so maybe it's just a touch of paranoia. I just shrugged it off and went on with my day & cruise. I'm not invested in total strangers just because we've chatted and shared our plans online. Can't take it personal!

 

That said, I found my dive partner on roll call boards, so that worked out great :)

[golfadj]

We have had some awesome ones where we had lots of group stuff planned and was well attended and lots of fun and others where nobody showed up on lido for meet and greet.

 

Well worth while to do.

[CapeCodCruiser]

Our last roll call was awesome - met some really great folks who I still keep in touch with. We did several excursions together and were constantly running into each other all over the ship.

 

Our current roll call is REALLY coming together nicely. We are doing an informal M&G at sail away and a 2 hr cocktail party on the first sea day. We have a door decorating contest (Halloween) and slot pull planned. We are planning excursions together as well.

 

I am organizing the party and am collecting email addresses & cabin #'s but I do not post them on the roll call unless the person has posted it there themselves.

[PAPERBKWRITER]

I've been involved in lots of roll calls. I find them hit and miss. Some people will post like mad and not show up for the M+G. If a large group of friends (or a travel club) decide to be involved in the roll call you'll be an outsider and noblody will care that you're there. On the other hand if most everyone is a stranger and anxious to meet new freinds it is a blast. If your group does a cabin crawl, or a slot tournament, or something where you get together you'll have "friends" all over the ship. It is neat that you board ship knowing no one and after the M+G see people you know all over the ship. IMO I'd join the group and if it doesn't work out you're not in the Army, just leave.

[ibcnusoon]

For our Liberty cruise last year there was an informal meet and greet but I didn't attend because sailaway was delayed and wasn't sure if we were still meeting, or what the story was. Like I said, very informal so I never did meet up with them.

 

On our upcoming Victory cruise, there has been no mention of meeting anyone or doing anything together.

 

On my upcoming NCL Gem cruise in March, we have a roll call, running list of names and kids, someone is going to schedule a formal meet-and-greet and we have a slot pull scheduled after sailaway. I think this is going to be a very fun cruise!

[srlafleur]

Pros: You might meet some people with similar interests, you might find people to ride-share with to/from ports -this was a god-send for us cruising in and out of Rome, which is really very far from the actual port, you can get ideas and info about excursions and ports from people who've been there before, etc.

 

Cons: none that I can think of. There is no requirement to meet and greet if you dont want to. You can even just lurk on the roll-call for your particular cruise if you like. No problem.

[spideyfam]

We had a roll call on the Legend last september. It was almost 2000 posts. We really didn't talk about anything important. Just small talk. It was funny and a little dirty sometimes. We had a couple meet and greets. It was great meeting everyone. We hope to cross paths with them again on a ship.

[Simplertimes]

I joined the roll call last cruise. An informal meet and greet was planned (which I totally forgot about). Mostly on the roll call, people said where they were from and a lot of back and forth over the best hotels to stay in before/after the cruise.

 

I never gave out names, but I described my group and what hotel we were staying at. Another person on the roll call was staying at the same hotel and during the hotel's free drink/appetizer time, came over and asked if I was on the roll call as she recognized my group from my description. Very nice woman - she was there with her husband and another couple. At the hotel, each person got a few coupons for free drinks. Well, after a while, the woman came back over and gave me her & her husband's drink coupons for my group because they weren't drinkers.

 

Also saw them the next morning at hotel's breakfast and talked with other people who were cruising on different ships.

 

My roll call for next April seems to have died out. Maybe when the time gets closer, people will get more excited.

[Cyn7]

My first cruise last year on the Legend, the M&G was started by a TA who then decided to do a different cruise and backed out, so since I work night shift and have a lot of time on my hands, I decided to step up and organize it.

 

We ended up with 60 people including a few kids. Everyone had a great time, my dh and I have made some great friends from that cruise and are cruising with another couple this Sept. on the Liberty.

 

My 2nd cruise, I booked 30 days out and the roll call was fairly quiet, we had an informal M&G at sail away, meet some nice people and still stay in contact with a couple from that cruise.

 

M&G are a great way to see if you click with anyone who can be life long friends as well as having people you already sort of know that you end up running into once in a while one the cruise.

[reeree313]

My roll call for September 15 on the Valor is pretty active. We are trying to set up a M&G for sail away and a more formal one on the first sea day. The slot pull sounds interesting. How does that work, does anyone know?

[H82seaUgo]

Anyone ever had a great ( or awful ) experience with meeting members of their roll call?

 

I posted on my cruise's roll call board.. and everyone seems nice enough..

 

However, the "meeting" discussions are panning out to NOT be something I am interested in...

 

Not sure if this is a "part of cruising" I should experience ...

or if I would be better off on my own..

 

just never had any success with them. we must sail on off dates.

[golfadj]

I've been involved in lots of roll calls. I find them hit and miss. Some people will post like mad and not show up for the M+G. If a large group of friends (or a travel club) decide to be involved in the roll call you'll be an outsider and noblody will care that you're there. On the other hand if most everyone is a stranger and anxious to meet new freinds it is a blast. If your group does a cabin crawl, or a slot tournament, or something where you get together you'll have "friends" all over the ship. It is neat that you board ship knowing no one and after the M+G see people you know all over the ship. IMO I'd join the group and if it doesn't work out you're not in the Army, just leave.

 

Good points.

 

Funny how some people are extremely active posters than you get to the ship never see them.

 

A good roll call makes a good cruise tht much better.

[RWolver672]

For our last cruise, the roll call started out nice. Then all of a sudden they wanted to meet right after the muster. Right after the muster, I want to enjoy the sail away. Then they wanted to do a cabin crawl. No way am I letting strangers in my cabin or even want them to know where my cabin is. Next came a bar crawl on Sunday morning. I'm not about to start drinking in the morning. That's when I stopped going to the roll call board.

 

Lots of people enjoy that kind of stuff but not us. Out of the two that I did go to, only one was worth going to. Met on the first sea day in the afternoon at the atrium bar. Talked with a few of the couples, had our picture taken of the whole group, then we all left. Ran into one couple twice after that on the islands.

[crusinpsychRN]

My first cruise last year on the Legend, the M&G was started by a TA who then decided to do a different cruise and backed out, so since I work night shift and have a lot of time on my hands, I decided to step up and organize it.

 

We ended up with 60 people including a few kids. Everyone had a great time, my dh and I have made some great friends from that cruise and are cruising with another couple this Sept. on the Liberty.

 

My 2nd cruise, I booked 30 days out and the roll call was fairly quiet, we had an informal M&G at sail away, meet some nice people and still stay in contact with a couple from that cruise.

 

M&G are a great way to see if you click with anyone who can be life long friends as well as having people you already sort of know that you end up running into once in a while one the cruise.

 

 

Man! That was one heck of a party! What a fun time we all had! And you're still right (about you know what).

 

If you want a good organizer this poster is IT! She should be paid! Our Fun Farewell was awesome as well!

[crusinpsychRN]

Years ago I was on a great roll call. We were to meet by the pool before muster. No one there. I was wandering around calling out the name of the OP for the roll call--"Yo Boy!" "Yo Boy!" Boy, did I feel stupid. No where to be found. Got to muster. Said "Yo Boy!" and the guy next to me spins toward me "Who said that?" He was Yo Boy! He was from NY complete with the accent and very animated. Knew how to party!

 

Another guy who was a Marine and his wife were in that group also. He won the hairy chest contest although he had NO hair on his chest at all. It was the lewd dance he did on the pool handrail. He was funny about about it as it was a "family show".

[Sweetone30]

It seems as if I make friend for life off every roll call I have come across. The Roll Call for our upcoming Jan cruise doesn't seem to be very active yet, but I have hopes we'll meet some great people again.

My DH could care either way, but I am a social butterfly and have met some pretty cool people at M&G's. It's almost like a built up of anticipation after several months of just chatting with people on here.

 

To each their own!

Happy Sailing either way :)

[sarahleebones]

Check out the link in my signature.....still working on it, but I'm starting to gt organized

 

 

I made one!!!!!

 

http://www.itsa10daymiracle.blogspot.ca/

 

It took me a bit to get the hang of the blog thing (I'm used to html so I think the ease of it confused me a bit lol) I want to make actual pages but the page option is not the layout I'm looking for so it's a bit limiting. This totally gives me a project to work on while waiting the rest of the agonizing 217 days until our cruise. Thanks so much for the idea Lisah!!!

[CupKayke]

Roll calls are a hit or miss.

 

I am the girl that will talk on a roll call but I am not showing-up to a meet n' greet, giving you my cabin number, or my real name.. thanks but no thanks. I just want to share tour information and get tips/ideas about the ports, excursions, transportation, etc.

 

I was on a roll call for our Spirit Cruise last year and the information sharing was fabulous, everyone was nice, and I really learned a lot and got some good tour & train info. Loved it!

 

We are doing a Europe cruise next year and we are about to switch to a different date (again :o) and tonight I went and read the roll call and about fell over - 30 pages of people saying "Happy Thursday" and "It'll be so good to see you again old buddy" and absolutely off-the-wall stuff that has nothing to do with the ports, the cities, the cruise itself, etc. Everyone also seems to be at least 30 to 40 years older than my husband and I and the conversations are boring. I can do my own research so it really won't matter but my-o-my, what a way to ruin a roll call... this group has apparently all sailed together before and it would be nearly impossible to step in with some intelligent cruise-based conversation at this point -- and the cruise is nearly a year away!! I realize this is an open forum but sometimes I wish the moderators would stop the "Happy My Cat Licked His Butt Today" chatter on the roll calls...

[pcrum]

Roll calls are a hit or miss.

 

I am the girl that will talk on a roll call but I am not showing-up to a meet n' greet, giving you my cabin number, or my real name.. thanks but no thanks. I just want to share tour information and get tips/ideas about the ports, excursions, transportation, etc.

 

I was on a roll call for our Spirit Cruise last year and the information sharing was fabulous, everyone was nice, and I really learned a lot and got some good tour & train info. Loved it!

 

We are doing a Europe cruise next year and we are about to switch to a different date (again :o) and tonight I went and read the roll call and about fell over - 30 pages of people saying "Happy Thursday" and "It'll be so good to see you again old buddy" and absolutely off-the-wall stuff that has nothing to do with the ports, the cities, the cruise itself, etc. Everyone also seems to be at least 30 to 40 years older than my husband and I and the conversations are boring. I can do my own research so it really won't matter but my-o-my, what a way to ruin a roll call... this group has apparently all sailed together before and it would be nearly impossible to step in with some intelligent cruise-based conversation at this point -- and the cruise is nearly a year away!! I realize this is an open forum but sometimes I wish the moderators would stop the "Happy My Cat Licked His Butt Today" chatter on the roll calls...

 

This made me laugh so hard and I'm a cat lover!! I do agree that the silly posts are unnecessary. I've found a lot of roll calls are filled with retired people who have a lot of time on their hands and like to chat about sports, weather, etc. Me...I just want practical information on the cruise!! But, here's a tip...you can read roll calls for your itinerary on a sailing you never plan to attend to get ideas. Sometimes, amazingly enough, people DO post real cruise tips and I have learned a lot from reading others' posts.

[C&THollings]

I agree, some roll calls are great, some so so. I still have people I have meet that I keep in touch with from each of our cruises. It can seem hard to meet up, there never seem to be a convenient time. You just have to make the choice to be there at the arranged time. I do agree, the meet and greet right after sail away don't pan out well. The first sea day is usually better attended.

The pre-sail meets are also great when you are there the night before your cruise. We have meet up with other couples and made 'cruise friends' to hang out with the rest of the week.

[BTSEN5]

We always join a roll call. It is especially helpful for our son to have some "friends" before the cruise even starts. They all get together at the beginning, and as time goes by they meet new people, some hang together, some go off in other directions, but they always have people to be with right away.

 

We have had 2 excellent experiences on RCCL. Our first ever cruise on the Freedom (RCCL) was the best roll call, and we are still friends with most of the people. The others have not quite lived up to that, but that was amazingly great group of people that just clicked. It is hard to find that all the time.

 

We cruise next Tuesday on the Fantasy, and there isn't much happening on the roll call at all. I think it is just the luck of the draw.