Are Cunard roll calls typically just not very active?

[PunkiC]

We mostly sail on Princess and the Princess roll calls are always hopping and always result in a Meet and Greet and a Gift Exchange, with lots of stealing.

 

The roll call threads on the two Cunard cruises we have booked are pretty dead. Is that typical?

[3rdGenCunarder]

They vary a lot. I've seen posts before where people were asking if anyone was actually booked on their voyage. Maybe this thread will get some people to sign up.

 

I think special or unusual voyages get more attention. I remember the last QE2 crossings had lots of activity, as did QM2's 'Circumnavigation of Australia' a few years ago.

[Keith1010]

We just completed a Trans Atlantic crossing on the QM2 in New York last week and it was a very active roll call.

 

I suspect this varies by cruise.

 

Keith

[Underwatr]

You'll also find the Meet&Greet is nowhere as popular as on Princess. I recall we had close to 100 in attendance on the Princess Scandinavia cruise (I printed up the nametags) while 15 or so has been typical attendance on Cunard.

[Jimsgirl]

We mostly sail on Princess and the Princess roll calls are always hopping and always result in a Meet and Greet and a Gift Exchange, with lots of stealing.

 

The roll call threads on the two Cunard cruises we have booked are pretty dead. Is that typical?

 

I have been saying this for months, for particular cruises (B2B2B) starting July 6th , but so far only about 6 will be at a meet. Eastbound Trans/Hamburg/Stavanger/Westbound Trans

 

I realize that many cruisers do not do 22 days straight, but the "grand Voyage is in three sections, and I would have expected a response for those doing one or other of these sections.

 

Oh well those of us who do meet will I am sure enjoy our selves.

[DreamflightPat]

I have been saying this for months, for particular cruises (B2B2B) starting July 6th , but so far only about 6 will be at a meet. Eastbound Trans/Hamburg/Stavanger/Westbound Trans

 

I realize that many cruisers do not do 22 days straight, but the "grand Voyage is in three sections, and I would have expected a response for those doing one or other of these sections.

 

Oh well those of us who do meet will I am sure enjoy our selves.

We had a very active Roll Call on the World Cruise on QE this year and great Meet & Greets. Next years' world cruise is starting to get active.

[Cruachan]

We mostly sail on Princess and the Princess roll calls are always hopping and always result in a Meet and Greet and a Gift Exchange, with lots of stealing.

 

The roll call threads on the two Cunard cruises we have booked are pretty dead. Is that typical?

 

Any roll call that I join seems to die an instant and permanent death. But there may be a good reason for that...

 

J

[Fifer]

Any roll call that I join seems to die an instant and permanent death. But there may be a good reason for that...

 

J

 

You don't try to take group photographs do you?

[Cruachan]

You don't try to take group photographs do you?

 

What - you think I'm some sort of sicko serial killer!?

 

:eek:

 

J

[Fifer]

What - you think I'm some sort of sicko serial killer!?

 

:eek:

 

J

 

Err...

[PunkiC]

On our recent Panama Canal cruise on Princess, we had a huge turn out of passengers at our Meet and Greet and about 12 senior officers, including the captain, staff captain, cruise director and deputy cruise director.. It was a blast.

 

We also set up a super fun private wine tasting before we sailed.

 

I miss that.

[fantasy51]

On our last one (Cunard, QV, just over 2 weeks ago) we probably only had about 10 people - but we had Commodore Rynd! Now, does a commodore trump 12 senior officers?

[BlueRiband]

Cunard ships are filled with daytime activities. This is especially true on a QM2 transatlantic where the weather outside can get nasty. The ship and the programs are designed to keep passengers entertained inside. Other ships rarely have this many consecutive sea days and passengers often have to devise their own activities to pass the time.

 

The traditional CC Meet and Greet is 2PM the first sea day, port side of the Commodore Club. Some times it's been held at 11AM. Either way, one is forced to choose between that and an Insights lecture. On my last voyage an organizer set the time for 11AM - right up against a talk given by the ship's designer.

 

A Cunard M&G can be spontaneous where those interested just show up at 2PM in the Commodore Club. When a "superorganizer" takes control and wants to get Cunard officially involved - by listing the gathering in the daily program or sending invitations to senior officers - it then gets scheduled at the time and venue of Cunard's choosing. That's how some M&Gs end up down in Connexions or scheduled up against a lecture.

 

Because of all the ship sponsored activities things like "cabin crawls, slot pulls, gift exchanges" are rare. Door decorations tend to be frowned upon by Cunard passengers as elegance and home made folk art don't work well together. If these activities are important to you than a Cunard voyage may be a "downer" for your perspective.

 

Personally, I would not participate in a roll call that expected me to embrace this entire spectrum of CC activities. What I would love to do is join ONLY a Meet and Greet and connect some faces to the names that I read here. However there is not much overlap between Cunard forum regular posters and participation in roll calls. Maybe many more "lurk" rather than post.

Edited May 23, 2014 by BlueRiband

[Jimsgirl]

On our last one (Cunard, QV, just over 2 weeks ago) we probably only had about 10 people - but we had Commodore Rynd! Now, does a commodore trump 12 senior officers?

 

Only when the Commodore was named Warner. He was a REAL passenger orientated person, you could meet him around and about the ship every day. He knew the importance of seeing with his own eyes - and of being seen by both passengers and crew

 

If he came into a public spot such as Sir Samuels he would make a point of chatting to various passengers in there, (as did his wife Tina, when she came on board for a short trip). Both really friendly people.

[PunkiC]

We have heretofore only sailed Cunard once and that happened to be a rather port-intensive cruise so I can't speak of Cunard on board activities from personal sea-day experience. I do know,however, that Princess sea days are jam packed and that any independently scheduled activity will surely conflict with some ship activity. That's just the way it goes. You can never fit in everything that there is to do on a ship.

 

A other wonderful thing about active roll calls is setting up independent tours, which can be very cost-effective compared to ship tours.

[jimmybean]

My experience with a Cunard roll call in 2013 was significant activity, including discussions of setting up a number of private tours for every port….

[Austcruiser84]

We have heretofore only sailed Cunard once and that happened to be a rather port-intensive cruise so I can't speak of Cunard on board activities from personal sea-day experience. I do know,however, that Princess sea days are jam packed and that any independently scheduled activity will surely conflict with some ship activity. That's just the way it goes. You can never fit in everything that there is to do on a ship.

 

A other wonderful thing about active roll calls is setting up independent tours, which can be very cost-effective compared to ship tours.

 

It depends on your view of 'jam packed'. I found my recent Princess cruise lacking in sea day activities. Unless you wanted to strip clothes for votes, watch a movie on the open deck, or you wanted to gamble, there was hardly anything to do before 2pm!

 

On Cunard I had so much trouble picking what to do because there was so much great stuff happening - from lectures, to demonstrations, to gallery talks, to social gatherings. I was never bored.

 

Lots of people signed up for the meet and greet on the Princess cruise, but virtually nobody showed. I didn't stay. The Cunard meet and greet ended up attracting more than those who signed up beforehand on here. They were lovely people (not to say there weren't lovely people on my Princess cruise, but I found Cunard passengers to be more talkative, interesting, and educated than on Princess).

 

Consequently, I plan to stick with Cunard in the future. I just pray they keep their word to focus on quality rather than slip into mediocrity like Princess has done since I first sailed in 2006.

[Salacia]

On our recent Panama Canal cruise on Princess, we had a huge turn out of passengers at our Meet and Greet and about 12 senior officers, including the captain, staff captain, cruise director and deputy cruise director.. It was a blast.

 

We also set up a super fun private wine tasting before we sailed.

 

I miss that.[/quote]

 

Then go back and do it again (as the song goes).:)

[PunkiC]

It depends on your view of 'jam packed'. I found my recent Princess cruise lacking in sea day activities. Unless you wanted to strip clothes for votes, watch a movie on the open deck, or you wanted to gamble, there was hardly anything to do before 2pm!

 

On Cunard I had so much trouble picking what to do because there was so much great stuff happening - from lectures, to demonstrations, to gallery talks, to social gatherings. I was never bored.

 

Lots of people signed up for the meet and greet on the Princess cruise, but virtually nobody showed. I didn't stay. The Cunard meet and greet ended up attracting more than those who signed up beforehand on here. They were lovely people (not to say there weren't lovely people on my Princess cruise, but I found Cunard passengers to be more talkative, interesting, and educated than on Princess).

 

Consequently, I plan to stick with Cunard in the future. I just pray they keep their word to focus on quality rather than slip into mediocrity like Princess has done since I first sailed in 2006.

 

I don't know what ship you were on or your itinerary, but every Princess ship I have been on starts the day at 7:30 a.m. with a stretch class, followed by an abs class, and on sea days has morning Zumba, and line dancing classes and ballroom dance classes, not to mention lectures, bridge lessons and games, trivia, bingo and movies, plus all sorts of other planned activities. On our Hawaii cruise on Princess we took ukulele lessons, hula lessons and lei making classes. On our transatlantic crossing we took tap lessons and performed in a recital. It was a blast and very good exercise. I don't remember that many activities when we sailed on the QM2, but as I mentioned, it was a pretty port-intensive cruise as will be our Baltic and Med cruises on Cunard later this year.

 

It will be interesting to see how they compare.

 

Our biggest concern about Cunard is the fixed dining. Last time we switched tables twice and it was a short cruise. We love meeting new people, especially smart, funny people and the first two tables we had on Cunard were made up of seriously boring folks. Of course, we have also met some pretty boring people on Princess, which is why we now only book anytime dining when we can. I can't imagine having dinner with the same people every night for more than two weeks. Even when we travel with friends, we mix it up at dinner just to make it more interesting.

 

I must say, however, that everyone we met on our Panama Canal cruise on Princess was very interesting. Maybe not interesting enough to have as dinner mates for two weeks straight, but certainly interesting enough for one dinner. We had so much fun with our dinner mates that we were usually the last ones out of the dining room, which is always a good sign. Hopefully we will also be lucky on our Cunard cruises.

Edited May 24, 2014 by PunkiC

[Salacia]

I don't know what ship you were on or your itinerary, but every Princess ship I have been on starts the day at 7:30 a.m. with a stretch class, followed by an abs class, and on sea days has morning Zumba, and line dancing classes and ballroom dance classes, not to mention lectures, bridge lessons and games, trivia, bingo and movies, plus all sorts of other planned activities. On our Hawaii cruise on Princess we took ukulele lessons, hula lessons and lei making classes. On our transatlantic crossing we took tap lessons and performed in a recital. It was a blast and very good exercise. I don't remember that many activities when we sailed on the QM2, but as I mentioned, it was a pretty port-intensive cruise as will be our Baltic and Med cruises on Cunard later this year.

 

It will be interesting to see how they compare.

 

Our biggest concern about Cunard is the fixed dining. Last time we switched tables twice and it was a short cruise. We love meeting new people, especially smart, funny people and the first two tables we had on Cunard were made up of seriously boring folks. Of course, we have also met some pretty boring people on Princess, which is why we now only book anytime dining when we can. I can't imagine having dinner with the same people every night for more than two weeks. Even when we travel with friends, we mix it up at dinner just to make it more interesting.

 

I must say, however, that everyone we met on our Panama Canal cruise on Princess was very interesting. Maybe not interesting enough to have as dinner mates for two weeks straight, but certainly interesting enough for one dinner. We had so much fun with our dinner mates that we were usually the last ones out of the dining room, which is always a good sign. Hopefully we will also be lucky on our Cunard cruises.

 

Please, do not hesitate to book a table for two on your next Cunard voyage - that way you might avoid "seriously boring folks". You can "dine anytime" in various restaurants on Cunard ships if you choose. Ask for more details, if desired.

[Austcruiser84]

I don't know what ship you were on or your itinerary, but every Princess ship I have been on starts the day at 7:30 a.m. with a stretch class, followed by an abs class, and on sea days has morning Zumba, and line dancing classes and ballroom dance classes, not to mention lectures, bridge lessons and games, trivia, bingo and movies, plus all sorts of other planned activities. On our Hawaii cruise on Princess we took ukulele lessons, hula lessons and lei making classes. On our transatlantic crossing we took tap lessons and performed in a recital. It was a blast and very good exercise. I don't remember that many activities when we sailed on the QM2, but as I mentioned, it was a pretty port-intensive cruise as will be our Baltic and Med cruises on Cunard later this year.

 

It will be interesting to see how they compare.

 

Our biggest concern about Cunard is the fixed dining. Last time we switched tables twice and it was a short cruise. We love meeting new people, especially smart, funny people and the first two tables we had on Cunard were made up of seriously boring folks. Of course, we have also met some pretty boring people on Princess, which is why we now only book anytime dining when we can. I can't imagine having dinner with the same people every night for more than two weeks. Even when we travel with friends, we mix it up at dinner just to make it more interesting.

 

I must say, however, that everyone we met on our Panama Canal cruise on Princess was very interesting. Maybe not interesting enough to have as dinner mates for two weeks straight, but certainly interesting enough for one dinner. We had so much fun with our dinner mates that we were usually the last ones out of the dining room, which is always a good sign. Hopefully we will also be lucky on our Cunard cruises.

 

There was one lecture on Fjordlands National Park on my Diamond Princess cruise (12 nights - half of these sea days) last December. In 2006 lectures happened every sea day on the Diamond (Cunard has up to 3 different talks a day on sea days - all on a range of great topics).

 

I can't think of anything worse than line dancing...actually I can. It surely comes a close second to the 'Mr sexy legs' competition held on my Princess cruise. Being in a choir, Zumba, and faux horse racing is also not my thing - I find these activities tacky and akin to a cheap island cruise.

 

I get that such activities appeal to some, but it's not for me. Consequently, I found myself booking into the spa, organising personal training, and sleeping in. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate relaxing. But after a few days of the same it gets tiresome.

 

I spent 19 nights on QM2 (13 of which were sea days) and I found myself getting a good work out moving across the ship to get to the next thing. Princess had great afternoon and evening entertainment, but lacked anything for me before 2pm. Cunard offered me something round the clock (even at midnight I loved the vibe in the low key Commodore Club crossing the Atlantic. On the Diamond Princess the only place open that late was the disco).

 

At the end of the day that's why there's so many cruise lines. People can cruise according to their personal tastes. Cunard happens to cater to mine.

 

One thing I can say about both lines is that they need to rethink some of the comedians that appear after dinner. Gosh, there are some terrible comedians on cruise ships! I guess it's too expensive to get John Cleese or Billy Connoly on board too often :)

[brigittetom]

We did have John Cleese on board on one of our crossings.......I was too busy to go see him. I guess that proves your point. :)

[PunkiC]

Please, do not hesitate to book a table for two on your next Cunard voyage - that way you might avoid "seriously boring folks". You can "dine anytime" in various restaurants on Cunard ships if you choose. Ask for more details, if desired.

 

How on earth could sitting at a table for two help us meet lots more people? We have been together for 45 years and already know all of one another's stories. We like to hear lots of new stories. Yes, there are other dining venues, but we enjoy formal dining and in a specialty restaurant, it is not possible to book for two at a table for eight.

 

Austcruiser84 writes:

 

"I can't think of anything worse than line dancing...actually I can. It surely comes a close second to the 'Mr sexy legs' competition held on my Princess cruise."

 

Are you sure that the sexy legs contest was on a Princess Cruise? It sounds more like Carnival or Norwegian. We have sailed on Princess 29 times and have never seen or heard of such a thing.

 

Too bad you don't enjoy Zumba and line dancing. They are great exercise and lots of fun and being able to combine one's exercise with fun is a definite win/win. DH is a bit of a dance snob and he didn't think he would like them either, but once he tried them and found out how much fun and what great aerobic workouts they were, he now goes even if I am not in the mood for a class.

 

If you don't dance, we are unlikely to agree on much of anything. In our opinion, ballroom dancing is about as classy and elegant an activity as exists. At home we belong to two clubs which each host 5-6 black tie-dinner dances a year we love them. As a matter of fact being able to dance every night is the primary reason we cruise and the only reason that we sailed on the QM2. That ship does have a lovely dance floor. We are hoping that we will find the floors and the music just as nice on the Queen Victoria and the Queen Elizabeth.

 

While we are not particularly thrilled with the Cunard loyalty benefits, they do have very nice ships and destinations and we have been able to get some amazing deals lately, plus a lot of on board credit as veterans and stockholders, plus finding some great OBC offers. We will enjoy the dancing and remain open-minded about the fixed dining. Who knows? We might meet some really interesting people who actually have enough stories for two weeks as dinner companions. If so, I am sure we will become lifetime friends. If not, we can always just move. :p

[Austcruiser84]

Are you sure that the sexy legs contest was on a Princess Cruise? It sounds more like Carnival or Norwegian. We have sailed on Princess 29 times and have never seen or heard of such a thing.

 

Too bad you don't enjoy Zumba and line dancing. They are great exercise and lots of fun and being able to combine one's exercise with fun is a definite win/win. DH is a bit of a dance snob and he didn't think he would like them either, but once he tried them and found out how much fun and what great aerobic workouts they were, he now goes even if I am not in the mood for a class.

 

If you don't dance, we are unlikely to agree on much of anything. In our opinion, ballroom dancing is about as classy and elegant an activity as exists. At home we belong to two clubs which each host 5-6 black tie-dinner dances a year we love them. As a matter of fact being able to dance every night is the primary reason we cruise and the only reason that we sailed on the QM2. That ship does have a lovely dance floor. We are hoping that we will find the floors and the music just as nice on the Queen Victoria and the Queen Elizabeth.

 

While we are not particularly thrilled with the Cunard loyalty benefits, they do have very nice ships and destinations and we have been able to get some amazing deals lately, plus a lot of on board credit as veterans and stockholders, plus finding some great OBC offers. We will enjoy the dancing and remain open-minded about the fixed dining. Who knows? We might meet some really interesting people who actually have enough stories for two weeks as dinner companions. If so, I am sure we will become lifetime friends. If not, we can always just move. :p

 

Very sure about the 'Mr Sexy Legs' since I have the Princess Patter promoting it. And you are right - its something to expect from Carnival. My recent experience suggests Princess is headed down market, which is a shame.

 

Fortunately, Cunard seems to be focusing on improving the luxury experience and having things to do. As a cruise line that embraces sea days that's good news for passengers.

 

As for dancing: I don't generally dance, but like it. But it needs to be proper ballroom worthy moves. Line dancing isn't really dancing at all in my opinion.

[brigittetom]

We've had some very good luck with table mates on the QM2. We always ask for a larger table for the same reasons you mentioned. I don't need to be entertained at the dinner table but I love the tables where there is fun conversation and people are being genuinely nice. I also enjoy hearing about how people spent their day.....which some seem to find boring.....but I've gotten some very interesting information that way

 

I wouldn't worry about a lagging rollcall. It's what happens after that makes the trip. Since you enjoy ballroom dancing, you've picked the best line and I don't see how you wouldn't enjoy a beautiful Cunard sailing. Have a wonderful trip. :)