Do you still go to Meet and Mingle gatherings?

[Viv0828]

We went twice last year when we were on a B2B. Both times the CD took over and blah blah blahed the whole time so there was really no mingling. Kinda disappointing.

[DonnaK]

I generally do, but lately there doesn't seem to be much mingling going on. People keep to themselves and don't seem to be very social. In times past, the roll calls and the M&M seemed to be significantly more active and more fun.

[Dave85]

I go, but the timing of some of them lately has been inconvenient. I don't like to miss too much of the nice warm sun on Caribbean sea days, so I'm generally reluctant to engage in any extra activities after the M&M that keep me away from the sun and pools even longer. They've also been a mixed bag lately -- some excellent, some really disappointing, some in the middle. Overall though I've had very good experiences meeting other CC members, so that's what keeps me coming back.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Dave85

[blueblock]

I go. I won a baseball cap at the first one and have been hooked for life!

[trev71]

I also am very active on my roll call and only make it to the rollcall meeting about 50% of the time. It just depends on the time that its at

[jakenashleysmom]

I like to go. Bit of a laugh. Meet people off here. May win something.

For an hour or 2 of your time I don't understand some of the comments.

I can understand if you have a Spa booked, but normally you get the place and time before you sail.

I like to chill on vacation/holiday, what better way than chatting, making friends, real people instead of nicknames.

 

Worth a part of my time any day.

 

Kezz

 

An hour or two of my vacation is very precious to me, so if being indoors at a meeting isn't how I want to spend that hour I skip it. More prizes for you.

 

Sent from my KFTHWI using Forums mobile app

[TiggerTwo]

I try to go if the roll call has been active. If no wants to be vocal on CC then I figure that the M&M will be a bust. Met some of the nicest people in the world at M&M's.

[kandj05]

I try to go if the roll call has been active. If no wants to be vocal on CC then I figure that the M&M will be a bust. Met some of the nicest people in the world at M&M's.

 

I'm glad to hear this! My biggest concern is that the roll call is pretty subdued. It will be our first M&M. I don't want it to be a bust.

[tserface]

We like to go if it's possible. Sometimes they set it up against something else we'd really really rather do and then it's a tough decision. We typically go to the informal ones on the first day since that timing is really easy.

 

On some cruises when a sea day is not until towards the end it doesn't make as much sense.

 

When we go we enjoy them. Sometimes one of us will go if the other has something else to do. Then at least we can do introductions as the cruise commences.

 

Tom

[The Grumpus]

I've been to most of them however on the last three cruises I've taken, the M&M was scheduled at 9:30 am. I'm usually not functioning very well at that of the morning and therefore have missed my two of the last three M&M's.

Edited March 9, 2015 by The Grumpus

[George C]

We did not for a long time, but really like them now have meet some nice people

[cjdixon4]

My M & M experience was great until when I was on Oasis a few years ago. The gathering was scheduled for a particular venue but when a few of us arrived for it, a Tango class was scheduled in the same room. Even Guest Relations couldn't tell us where it had been moved to. It was unfortunate, 'cause I was looking forward to meeting some terrific people from the Roll Call.

The only other reason that I've declined to attend a M&M event is if there has been little if any exchange in the Roll Call thread. That's been rare, but I won't expend the energy if the roll call room was fairly inactive.

[skiiergirl]

We almost always attend. There have been a few exceptions though if we had a scheduling conflict. So our intentions are always "yes" even though we might not actually make it due to something scheduled by others that we don't have date/time for until after we are onboard.

[Zubsin]

I used to participate in all the RC and M & M but now it is really dependent on how lively the RC is before we sail. Some RC have planned Cabin Crawls so if the M & M is designed to facilitate the Cabin Crawl attendence is a must. The best M & M was on a NCL trip - captain came and invited all the attendees to the bridge... it was awesome!

Edited March 9, 2015 by Zubsin

[readytolose]

For our first cruise in 2007 I was very active in the roll call and met some wonderful people who had all cruised together before but were very welcoming to my husband and I. We still talk to them on facebook and would love to cruise with them again some day. We had a great time at the meet and mingle.

 

When we took the kids on their first cruise we only had about 10-15 people show up for the meet and mingle. (we were a family of 7, so that didn't leave too many others!) Nobody with kids around the same age, so that meet and mingle was a bust.

 

My most recent cruise we had planned on going to the meet and mingle but it was scheduled for 10am and we woke up about 5 minutes before 10 and decided to get breakfast instead. We tend to stay up pretty late when we are on a cruise so early morning (yes, 10 am is early to me!) activities usually don't happen. I guess if I had felt more of a connection with the roll call I probably would have set an alarm clock, but that just wasn't the case.

[Pam bam]

I'm new to all this, this is my first cruise, and signed up for my one, but there not that chatty in roll calls except one or 2 people will chat back , I even asked do we bring something small from our hometowns to the meet and mingle ,, coz iv read that on other pages on cruise critic, But no one answerd me, lol I don't have a clue what happens at these, or what there like,

[bigque]

My M & M experience was great until when I was on Oasis a few years ago. The gathering was scheduled for a particular venue but when a few of us arrived for it, a Tango class was scheduled in the same room. Even Guest Relations couldn't tell us where it had been moved to. It was unfortunate, 'cause I was looking forward to meeting some terrific people from the Roll Call.

The only other reason that I've declined to attend a M&M event is if there has been little if any exchange in the Roll Call thread. That's been rare, but I won't expend the energy if the roll call room was fairly inactive.

 

My current roll call for my Adventure cruise has been the slowest I have ever been on. Sometimes it will go days without any activity. I have been use to in the past of chatting it up practically everyday in roll calls!

[cjdixon4]

My current roll call for my Adventure cruise has been the slowest I have ever been on. Sometimes it will go days without any activity. I have been use to in the past of chatting it up practically everyday in roll calls!

 

Mike J-

Me too! I'm accustomed to lots of conversation on the roll call, especially NOW since we're 68 days away from sailing! At one point I started to wonder whether I was going to be sailing with a full ship or not...LOL! Of course I'm aware of the fact that every cruiser isn't enrolled on Cruise Critic, I just like the daily interaction. It helps get me hyped-up for the big day! ;)

[mcatmcat]

Once onboard I have so much to do that I never attend it

[OCruisers]

If they are scheduled at a convenient time for us, we attend. :)

[wolfganghowell]

Not anymore. We will try to make an informal pre or post sailaway get together but no more on the official ship one. The time is not convenient - the first morning on a sea day is when I am chilling in the solarium or by the pool. NOT inside. It seems many people who never bothered to post on a roll call show up and sit there staring at one another without bothering to even give a friendly smile. From my experience only, the friendly vibe is definitely missing. I try to be active on roll calls and encourage a quick hello on embarkation day because those are generally attended by the people that ARE happy and interested in talking to others.

[TBone2K]

WE have met up with some people at M&Ms and then seen them around pretty much every day. I like that.

 

Best one by far was on Indy. It was a six day so not even sponsored by RC. One person made up nametags so we could remember each other. After everyone showed up, we went on a stateroom tour and then met in the casino for a group slot pull. That was the most fun.

 

If someone is willing to organize it, and people are willing to keep their stateroom clean/wake their teens up and have a few people at a time come through, it is a great experience. Probably the only way I'll ever get to see a grand suite. Definitely convinced me that I need to try for an aft stateroom.

[reney313]

I go about 75% of the time. I'm the only one of the 2 of us active on CC, so DH won't attend. He can be very sociable, but is a bit of an introvert. If there is a conflicting activity, and I didn't make any real connection on the roll call, then I will skip. However, I have no problem going without him.

 

I'm sure for our upcoming European cruise we will attend as we booked 1 1/2 years in advance and have set up tours with others on the roll call.

 

I agree with the others though, sometimes many are there, but there is little socializing. I've had good ones and not so good ones in the past. They aren't a major focus or event for me but if the timing works, I'll do my best to be there.

 

I have never been to an informal gathering at sail away, mostly because we already have plans with others or have our own idea of what we want to do. I have been to a few "night before" for those that are in town and staying at a hotel and have probably enjoyed those much better than anything onboard.

[2chiefs]

We try to go but as some have said here, they can be hit or miss depending on the group. We missed a couple simply because RCCL forgot to give us an invitation and we didn't know it was going on till it was too late.

 

Our last cruise we attended an informal meeting on the first day and it was fun. We've attended two slot pulls and they are fun. We haven't tried a cabin crawl yet.

 

We once won a bottle of wine!! Woo Hoo.....

[TomAceEsq]

I'm pretty jealous of how active some Roll Calls are compared to mine. I'm organizing the Slot Pull and there's 30 people signed up. Problem is only about six of us that signed up still even post. Most of these people signed up months ago then fell off the face of the internet.

 

It's almost gotten to the point where my wife and I are planning to just skip it, but I really want to stick it out. I'm so curious about the average age of these things (and Cruise Critic in general), I just have to see one for myself before writing them off.

 

Hopefully we're surprised, but the wife and I aren't expecting much based off of most people's posts.

Edited March 9, 2015 by TomAceEsq