Is this unusual?

[rumple]

I posted a roll call for my cruise some time ago...and no one has responded! I had the impression that Cruise Critic had a large number of members...and thus was probably well represented on every cruise.

 

I wonder how often a cc member finds themselves aboard a ship with not one other cc member?

 

Re: HAL Zaandam Nov 11 2005

 

Karen

[Pudgesmom]

I checked your original post and it appears that 3 separate members have responded to you. If you want to keep it going, I would suggest responding to each of the posters. This will also move your thread back to the first page of the roll calls.

 

Beth

[Pudgesmom]

For some reason, my original post did not appear here.

 

Maybe a second will cause it to pop up.

 

Beth

[Happy ks]

Not really unusual at all. I've posted roll calls that weren't answered for several months and have brought them to the front page myself.

 

If you read through the roll calls that are very active, you will actually see that there are only a few people participating, but they post a lot. Scroll through a few and you will see what I mean.

 

Last year we had a roll call that just a few participated in, many more registered for the onboard party (meet and mingle). I was a little surprised that some who posted frequently didn't show up and quite a few I've never heard of were there and knew my posts.

 

So, don't give up, especially if your cruise is a long way off into the future.

 

While CC has a large following, it is only about, maybe 1% of all the people who cruise. I don't know the stats, but there are millions who cruise every year and 156,800 members of Cruise Critic.

[Happy ks]

OK, I checked your thread, you have had 4 other couples respond, that's actually quite good! Respond to them and it will come to the front page and you may even get more people!

[Host Kat]

Karen,

 

Don't worry, sometimes it takes a while. I know it did for ours, and the last time I checked we were up to 77 registered members for our RCI Meet & Mingle party but only have about 15 or so posting regularly on the Roll Call. Also, we are having a pre-cruise dinner party the night before the cruise at Tortuga's on Galveston's Seawall where we have almost 50 reservations! For those of us that will not be in Galveston the night before, we plan another get-together on the ship at the Pool Bar (Champagne Bar if bad weather) after our 4:15 pm Muster Drill and before our 5:00 pm Sail-away. (Note to self: Okay Kat, that's enough of your Texas braggin'...)

 

One thing, everyone in your Roll Call should advertise your Roll Call in their signature and show a link. (See the bottom of my signature.) That way, every time any of you post on any forum or thread, it is "out there" for all to see. Hopefully, any Cruise Critic member that will be on your cruise will see the link in the signatures, click on it and then post on your Roll Call to join in on the fun of getting to know each other before your cruise. When they do, advise them to put the Roll Call in their Favorites or Bookmark it so they can find it easily to check for new posts and post again. Remind them that as the Roll Call adds pages, they will have to delete the old Favorite or Bookmark and set a new one on the last page. Also, check out all the Forums and look for other posters that mention their ship & date that is the same as yours. Post a reply to them welcoming them to join your Roll Call and give them the link. I "roped" in a couple that way myself from the First Time Cruisers Forum!

 

Sometimes, new Cruise Critic members/posters are not aware of what a Roll Call is all about and how much fun they can be chatting back and forth getting to know one another. Let the others know they will need to help keep the banter going back and forth with what all is going on in their lives while all of you are counting down the time until you cruise together. Our group has celebrated together for graduations, birthdays, anniversaries & such as well as comforted each other over chicken pox, Katrina, Rita, death of a pet, etc. If you know or find some info about your ship, ports, tours or excursions that the others might be interested in, post it on the Roll Call. Post a "Tip Of The Day" and ask the others to do the same. Ask each other what tours or excursions you are going on and see if you want to plan some together. Share info with each other about the different private tour companies. Sometimes you have first time cruisers join in on there that may need some info about some of the cruising traditions. Or someone going to one of your ports for the first time. Encourage the others to ask questions of each other. If possible, everyone needs to post something (except a Bump since it is frowned upon) often to keep your Roll Call on the first page so it can be found by others easily. Since you started the thread, you might want to post a welcome greeting each time someone new posts as mentioned by a previous poster. You could start a list on there showing Screen Name, Real First Name (if you want to post it), Stateroom #, Home town or State, Birthday & Anniversary (MM/DD), etc. It could be part of your welcome post and tell the new member they are welcome to copy and paste then post it on their next post adding their info. Have some one be in charge of posting the Happy Birthday or Anniversary greetings if the date rolls around during your wait time. Have someone else in charge of posting a Friday countdown each Friday on how many Fridays left before your cruise. Maybe you can make them feel important with a job that helps keep the Roll Call going!

 

Sorry this went on for so long, but us Texans can get a bit long winded some times! I kept remembering things we have done on ours or I have seen on others. I'm sure you get the picture by now and please pardon me if I have bored you.

 

"Get out there!" Get to chatting and "advertise"!

 

Wishing you lots of good luck and happy trails,

 

Kat

[CaptData]

We have 61 register but 10-15 that post. There are many lurkers on the board who never post or only once in a blue moon. Some people are registered through family or friends and do not have computer skills to speak of so they may read the post but not respond at all.

 

Talk about anything on your post to bring it up to the front page. We have talked about my first snowstorm here on 5 Oct. We have talked about what to do in Hawaii. We say hi to new members. We listed our rooms and hotels. We have asked questions of those who have been on the ship what the Sp Rest was like or where a good meeting place would be.

[serene56]

Cruise critics only represent about 3-4% of cruisers cruising. The rest of the people are cruising without a clue.

[rumple]

Thank you everyone! I guess I got discouraged after no one responded to the roll call for a while, and now they are showing up! I will go over there now and chat a bit with everyone, I always do like to meed fellow board members!! It's fun!!

 

Thanks again everyone for your heads-up and great suggestions!

 

Karen