Does anyone fear Meet & Mingle like I do?

[Beeeeeford]

I have this fear when it comes to the Meet and Mingle. I'm sure everyone is really nice and want to make "cruise friends". However, as in "real life" not everyone meshes with everyone else. Has anyone gone to a Meet and Mingle and had people from there just follow them around, even though you wished they wouldn't? Perhaps like, you're sitting at the Schooner Bar, they see and you sit for the evening even though you really don't have anything in common or (not to be mean) but you really don't want them there.

[Polarbear Pa]

I don't know I have never gone to a M&M when on I cruise we like to just relax and be by ourselves.

[Cigar King]

I haven't had that experience. We always go, and have a good time. It's nice to be able to put actual people with their online presence.

[Folk Singer]

I have this fear when it comes to the Meet and Mingle. I'm sure everyone is really nice and want to make "cruise friends". However, as in "real life" not everyone meshes with everyone else. Has anyone gone to a Meet and Mingle and had people from there just follow them around, even though you wished they wouldn't? Perhaps like, you're sitting at the Schooner Bar, they see and you sit for the evening even though you really don't have anything in common or (not to be mean) but you really don't want them there.

 

 

Never had any problem. find the M&M a nice way to enjoy a day at sea.

[WetToes]

We've gone to a few. Haven't had had problems either.

It's kind of nice to say hi to people, around the ship, you meet there, but really don't think we'll be going to them anymore.

Just not that big of a deal.

[cb at sea]

Just because you join the M&M, doesn't mean you have to hang around with everyone! It's simply a "Hi, nice to meet you" sort of thing.

 

If it stresses you, don't do it!

[cruiselife4me]

I've met some amazing people at meet & mingle threads online and then at the meet and mingle it's so nice to put a face to the name. I've made friends - true friends - from these. I love meet and mingle.

[fireofficer5]

If yuor feeling really awkward,

Don't go.

[Calker]

Never had the problem you describe. Our experience has been - we see someone from the M & M and they wave us over asking us to join them. Depending on the situation we either do or don't. We've also had the same in reverse - we've asked others to join us and they've joined us or said not this time.

 

Yes it is a closed atmosphere, but people are usually very friendly and all seem to enjoy meeting others.

 

We've found that the people who say not this time, were celebrating something, meeting with family for the activity, or in one instance the couple always appeared to want to be alone - we never saw them interacting with anyone.

 

We have met some fantastic people on board at past M & M's. We are still in touch with them today.

[kimmiecruises]

Yes, but only once. My husband is not as social as I am, so I usually go alone, and one time there was a couple that just wanted to spend every minute with us, to the point of following us to our cabin, the next morning guess who was knocking on our door! I try not to hurt people's feelings, and hoped they would find some other couple that was more their type and maybe a little warmer to them, but had to tell them we needed our space.

I still go to the M&Ms.

[Desert Cruizers]

As in any groups, clubs where you have a lot of people, there will always be someone you don't connect with, but you are cordial and move on. During our M&M's that we particated in, everyone has been really nice & enjoyed meeting them, yet it still settles down to where you seem to associate with the same group of people you have something in common with. We have met many new friends outside the M&M. We are an openly friendly couple and enjoy meeting our fellow passengers.

[Zigggypup]

It's a great venue if you are looking for your own personal stalker..........lol.

[TM38Rob]

I've been to two official M&Ms and two unofficial at sail away by the pool bar. It's a great way to meet the people you've been chatting with on these boards. At the official M&M, you might win a small prize from Royal Caribbean.

 

All the other activities related to the M&M (slot pull, cabin crawl, etc.) are organized by someone on your roll call and not by Royal Caribbean. You don't have to do these events if you do sign up for the M&M (if that's what you are worried about).

 

It's nice to say "Hi" or "Hello" as you pass each other around the ship or in port. Just politely tell someone you want some alone time if you were to have a problem with someone following you, but I don't think it will be an issue.

[alfaeric]

It's nice to say "Hi" or "Hello" as you pass each other around the ship or in port. Just politely tell someone you want some alone time if you were to have a problem with someone following you, but I don't think it will be an issue.

 

That reminds me of a "Law of meeting" theory we are working on. The theorum goes "if you meet someone early on a cruise- you will then see them all over the ship all the time"- and we almost have enough data to make that into a law. :D

 

So many times, we talk to someone early in a cruise, and then end up seeing them ALL THE TIME. In a good way, I mean. From a small ship like the Majesty (where we met someone on a DIFFERENT Majesty cruise) to the Oasis. It's really interesting to keep finding the same needle in the haystack.

[poncho1973]

We don't go to them anymore, as a general rule.

 

We have met 3 types of people:

 

1. a few cool couples that have become friends of ours

2. several people that we became cruise friends with and have never spoken to again

3. several people that scare the bejeezus out of you

 

We don't go on cruises to make friends. We have plenty of friends at home. However, the few couples we have remained friends with are WELCOME additions to that circle. We hope/believe they feel the same.

 

We have met a bunch of folks that we had a great night with here or there or went on an excursion with or shared a meal with or played games in the clubs with or had drinks at the bar with. Sometimes we share email addresses to swap a few photos. Two weeks after the cruise, after a handful of emails, you never hear from them again. We're great with that and they are great with that. Six months later they become "that guy with the funny hat" or "that sweet girl with the pretty eyes" or "that loud girl" or whatever.

 

We have also met some creepy people that latch onto you and assume you are their new bestest friend in the world. You are coming to their next child's birth. You will eat every meal with them. You should move cabins to be closer to them. You want to be them! You love them!

 

That group has led us to curb our M&M visits as a general rule. We might still go again, but be a little more selective in our eye contact! HAHAHAHA

[George C]

I really enjoyed the M&M on last couple of cruises, nice way to meet new people that we have talked to via roll call.

[blueblock]

I go to them because it's nice to exchange friendly greetings with the people I've met on Roll Calls; they tend to be fairly low key and not very exciting, but I don't find them anxiety-inducing. I have also never acquired a stalker from one. Perhaps some of you are just too attractive for your own good! ;)

[Donut23]

I have had a little of both.

 

Our very first Mingle I was charged and ready. One couple was friendly, saw them everywhere but others were a little too "Diamond" to have time for us.

 

No worries. Jim and I enjoy our time together, we have so little of it.

 

Another time I was on again and off again. I was caring for my 90 year old ailing mother and not sure, up to about 5 days out, we would actually make the cruise. Everyone was soooooo nice. I got High Fives and Hello Donuts the entire cruise. I felt like a celebrity.

 

 

We enjoy the Mingle with few expectations. It's nice to meet people and bump into them throughout the cruise.

[kimmiecruises]

"Perhaps some of you are just too attractive for your own good! ;)"

__________________

 

Actually I've been told I'm too nice. ;)

 

Poncho1973 nailed it, but that can also be true about table mates, we have always sat at a table for 8, we want to meet people that we can share experiences/suggestions with, and, most of them we'll never hear from again after a few months.

 

As others have said, if you are stressed don't go, but the chances of a stalker are small, and they are fun.

[Let'sGo!]

I've been to some really great Meet & Mingles and some really awkwards ones. And I've met some really great people and some that I forgot the minute I left the room.

 

Seriously, when you think about all the stressors in life -- if you fear the M&M, skip it!

 

Ann

[hannibal54]

I enjoy meeting new people, so we go to see who we have been talking with for the last few months. Nobody is going to stalk me, I am a very big man with a soft heart.

We did the final sailing on the Monarch of the Seas, that roll call is still very active after sailing in March. We met a lot of good people on that cruise. That is why we still talk back and forth.

I had a guy hang around with me on my last cruise, he was loud & rude. I would tell people on the side I am not with this guy. He would catch me at a bar and sit with me. Then would tell others to look at how big my hands were, hot big my feet and knees were, etc. It didn't matter to me, I just drank my beers. This was not a person I met at a meet & greet.

[Dave85]

I've only had positive experiences here as well! As others have said, if you're uncomfortable with the exercise then you shouldn't go. Not worth stressing about!

[bigque]

I have only been to one thus far and have one coming up on my next cruise.

The one I have been too was great, short sweet and simple. There was some nice peoploe from the roll call and then there were also people there who nevber participated in the roll call but they were lurking because they knew to bring gifts to the meet and mingle that was planned in the roll call. Our Roll Call also did a meet and greet the day before the cruise and a meet and greet at the sky bar on embarkation day. If their was any "Crazies" or stalkers I wouldn't know because I didn't experiance that. After the meet & Mingle there would be faces that I would recoginize on the ship that we would stop and talk to in passing and other would be just a wave. There were some that I didn't even remember their faces. The ones I remembered during the cruise was the ones that I talk to most during the Meet & Mingle. There was one couple who happened to be on the same excursion as us in one of the ports and we had a good time hanging out all day during the excursion but we were not hanging out together back on the ship after that. I did notice that there were others from the roll call who look like they hit it off and were hanging together the week of the cruise.

I guess I have a different definition of friends as most because my "Friends" I have been knowing a long time and they are people I have shared experiances with over the years. I also have "Aquaintances" who I know and some I have been also know for years, but they are not in my circle of friends. Folks I meet on the cruises are "casual aquaintances" some of whom I have spoken to on here in passing since we met. You would have to become a real "Special" Aquaintance in the span of a week long cruise for me to want to give out information such as my phone number and I'm just not around anyone long enough to do that.

[alfaeric]

We did the final sailing on the Monarch of the Seas, that roll call is still very active after sailing in March. We met a lot of good people on that cruise.

 

that was bigger than all of the m&m's we've ever been to. It was an amazing group of people all to see the ship off.

[mw_1970]

I have this fear when it comes to the Meet and Mingle. I'm sure everyone is really nice and want to make "cruise friends". However, as in "real life" not everyone meshes with everyone else. Has anyone gone to a Meet and Mingle and had people from there just follow them around, even though you wished they wouldn't? Perhaps like, you're sitting at the Schooner Bar, they see and you sit for the evening even though you really don't have anything in common or (not to be mean) but you really don't want them there.

 

Have only done one Meet & Mingle (NCL Epic Sept 2010). Was great.

 

They arranged a cabin crawl where we got to see all the different types of rooms and suites available on Epic. Well not all but most.

 

Also made friends with a couple from the States that we have remained in touch with.

 

Meant to do M&M on our last cruise but overslept !

 

Haven't even got round to join the roll call on this cruise we go on this coming Sunday.