Are folks losing interest in Meet & Mingle Roll Calls?

[island lady]

I agree. I had heard people talk about roll call being cliquish. I think sometimes people see others referring to each other by first names and they assume they have all cruised before and are not welcoming.

 

On my current roll call there are 3 users I have been talking with for months and I'll occasionally call someone by their first name, but I'm also quick to acknowledge new visitors. One guy I always call by his user name, because I like calling him Grumpus. :D

 

LOL!! Yeah, I like that avatar name also. :)

[island lady]

My 2 cents just came off b2b serenade of the seas and the first one was well attended but very little participation from RCCL Staff.It has become very apparent that they are getting away from it more,very few snacks and getting a cocktail was next to impossible.

Second trip cards were in the room but were left blank.Yes I know where guest relations is located but the info should have been on the card.Its the little things like that will see this event removed from ship activities.

We have booked the 24 day Explorer South Pacific in October this year so will see what happens there.

 

Gerald

 

Hmmm...something must have changed. When we were on Serenade 10 night (2/5 cruise)

we had a huge turnout at the meet and mingle (over a hundred) and everyone had a great

time. Crew did a great job of making the event a lot of fun. Sorry to hear you did not have

the same experience. We had a lot of finger food and the drinks were flowing at ours.

Edited April 9, 2016 by island lady

[sjb317]

Hmmm...something must have changed. When we were on Serenade 10 night (2/5 cruise)

we had a huge turnout at the meet and mingle (over a hundred) and everyone had a great

time. Crew did a great job of making the event a lot of fun. Sorry to hear you did not have

the same experience. We had a lot of finger food and the drinks were flowing at ours.

 

Wow, I don't think I've ever been to a M&M where alcohol was served! Our last one on Vision was cookies, lemonade & water. :D The ship did give away some nice prizes!

 

There was a pretty good turnout, too, but it was held in the afternoon which I think helps. It seems like most of ours have been in the morning, usually around 1030.

 

Sherri:)

[Paulette3028]

You maybe right, but I don't see it. The few that I look at have virtually no activity and I definitely won't participate in a group that puts my name and so much information on the screen announcing when I will be away from home.

 

I participate in several FB pages regarding Royal, but none very specific about my sailings. I don't like when there is too much information on my own FB page about when I won't be home.....just too inviting for people who have bad intentions.

[PompeySailor]

I participate in several FB pages regarding Royal, but none very specific about my sailings. I don't like when there is too much information on my own FB page about when I won't be home.....just too inviting for people who have bad intentions.

 

 

But we all know you will be on a cruise 11/20/16 for a week;)

quite specific;) and clearly advertised for all to see

That would be a week away from home .

Could be inviting to those with bad intentions

 

And anyone can see posts on cc for when you won't be home

Just saying like:)

 

People like to advertise these days, so much info out there for all to see, you just have to be comfortable with what you are sharing with the general public.

 

Happy Days!

[Terre]

Are you sure you have that right? CC doesn't want you advertising Facebook groups on cruise critic, but why would they care if you link a cruise critic roll call on facebook? They don't want traffic driven away from CC. I think they would want you to drive traffic here and Facebook certainly doesn't care.

I was on a Carnival roll call a couple of years ago and someone posted the link to the fb page. It was later removed by CC and I think they mention it in their rules somewhere. The poster even said that they were told by CC they couldn't post the link. If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong and I apologize.

[Terre]

Here's CC's link regarding facebook: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/faq.php?faq=rollcalls#faq_fb

 

 

Cruise Critic's Policy Re: Facebook Roll Call Groups

Cruise Critic loves Facebook. in fact, we maintain FB pages for all of our sites (Cruise Critic, CruiseCritic.co.uk, our Australia site, etc.). We have many people who participate on both our FB page and our message boards. We have no issues with people linking their own, personal FB pages in their profiles, or on your signature on Cruise Critic forums. You understand that doing so allows our members to know your "real life" name.

 

ROLL CALLS created on FB are not anonymous. Most of them are open to the public. Even if they are private groups, once you are accepted into the group everyone will know your real name. In doing so you have pretty much told all those people -- strangers -- when you will be away on vacation. The fact of the matter is most people do not understand how much personal information they are sharing.

 

On Cruise Critic roll calls, everyone is anonymous. You have the ability to remain as anonymous as you'd like throughout the entire Roll Call timeframe and throughout your entire cruise if you so desire. You can be JoeCruise101 until the day you disembark. The choice is yours, you share as much or as little as YOU choose to; everyone starts out on a level playing field on Cruise Critic. Anonymous user names only.

Also, FB Roll Calls have already proven to divide Roll Calls. People, for whatever reason, who cannot seem to get along may open a FB group and then want more people to participate, so they harvest members from the original ROLL CALL. There have been actual disruptions encouraged on FB directed towards our ROLL CALLs.

We believe a ROLL CALL created on Cruise Critic should stay here. We've worked long and hard to create this community, and have provided a certain level of trust and privacy for our members. If they choose to participate in a FB Roll Call, they'll have to learn about it somewhere other than Cruise Critic.

 

We request that you not solicit people to your Facebook page on any of our ROLL CALLS.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Terre

[TravelinGert]

My experience:

 

My first cruise was the maiden voyage transatlantic of the Quantum of the Seas. Our roll call was active in the extreme. We eventually had so many posts they CC had to make us start a new thread. Twice. We had so much interest in the cabin crawl we had two groups and two full sets of rooms shown to accommodate everyone. The M&M was so big we packed the smaller venue where they hold the dance parties. I was trying to recall I think someone said it was the second biggest M&M CC had had on Royal or maybe ever? We also had a pre-cruise get together and some sort of roll call activity almost every day of the cruise. It got tough to fit it all in!

 

Then we did a 3 night Bahamas cruise on Majesty. A bunch of people who were on our Quantum transatlantic did that one as well, but by that time we were connected on other social media. We ended up all meeting up before the cruise and getting a table together at dinners via My Time dining but that wasn't arranged via CC. Meanwhile I think our CC roll call did a sparsely attended sail away and that was that.

 

Now we're doing a 7 day out of San Juan on the Adventure in September and one of the earlier sailings on MSC Seaside in 2018. Our MSC Seaside roll call had more posts than the Adventure roll call last I looked. Going over to check on those after posting here to see if maybe it has changed. Other, more experienced folk here have told me they think our Adventure roll call will get more active close to the date so we will see. Fully expect the Seaside roll call to keep growing as everyone is so excited for a new ship.

 

From this I gather it seems to just depend. It depends the time of year, the length of cruise, whether the ship is new or has just been redone, who's going, and probably the phases of the moon and whether the sky is blue that day. :p

 

Personally I like an active roll call better. Half the fun for me is anticipation and planning.

[wolfganghowell]

I always post on roll calls. I enjoy anticipating the cruise with fellow cruisers, giving and getting advice and trade all sorts of info. We stopped going to M&M's years ago. #1, the time has almost always been the first day around 11 am. Nope sorry, not giving up part of my first seaday. #2, it has been MY experience that the M&M's are comprised of a lot of people who didn't even post, have no interest in meeting anyone that posted and are not all that friendly. Which is weird.

 

We have met some great people through the roll calls - usually meeting up informally. But M&M's - nah. It's a great concept and I know many people still enjoy them, it just wasn't for us. I do agree that most of the younger cruisers seem to have stepped away from them.

 

Now....I need to go make sure I'm still a girl since I also tend to prefer bars and casinos. :eek: :eek:

[Sunny7961]

I recently got back from a Liberty of the seas cruise. We had a very lively roll call with a bunch of great people. The M&M was held in the Olive or Twist Lounge and was packed. Probably about 75 or more people attended. RCCL gave us each a covered logo notebook. Then they raffled a bottle of champagne and 8 bottles of wine. They also gave away logo backpacks and other very nice items. I think they raffled about 15 items total. They also had a question and answer session. We got a lot of valuable information. The people who attended were oa all age groups and both men and women. So any sterotypes peeps may have did not apply. I only wish we had more time to mingle, but it was still a very good turnout.

 

It probably depends on the ship as to what they give away.

[CanadaRob]

I know my upcoming MSC cruise has had a fair amount of activity from Royal cruisers trying to connect with other interested people. Last jewel cruise also ok not terrible as far as participation

 

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[Sunny7961]

I will continue to post on Roll Calls so I can talk about cruising to my hearts content and not bore or annoy non-cruisers who just don't get it. I am taking my niece on a cruise next February and she likes to talk about cruising as much as I do. I can't wait.

[Biker19]

My experience:

 

My first cruise was the maiden voyage transatlantic of the Quantum of the Seas. Our roll call was active in the extreme. We eventually had so many posts they CC had to make us start a new thread. Twice. We had so much interest in the cabin crawl we had two groups and two full sets of rooms shown to accommodate everyone. The M&M was so big we packed the smaller venue where they hold the dance parties. I was trying to recall I think someone said it was the second biggest M&M CC had had on Royal or maybe ever? We also had a pre-cruise get together and some sort of roll call activity almost every day of the cruise. It got tough to fit it all in!

 

I looked up the roll call threads but could only find 2 - between the two of them were about 13,000 posts. Yes it was a big M&M especially since the ship was nowhere near full of paying guests. Ah, the memories.....

[oraelo]

I was on the adventure two weeks ago and the roll call was like a ghost town the month before the sail date. Didn't go to the M&M cause there seemed to be no interest.

I am now on a roll call for a sailing in next April and there is more life here already than the other roll call. This is for a longer trip on a smaller ship so I am hoping for a more personal trip than the last. Already looks like it will be:)