Bad Roll Call?

[Cruisercl]

My thanks to everyone here for all of this good information. I had no idea about the shore excursions money making deal and have never experienced blatant hostility on a RC.....wow.

 

I have seen KIAs, some bossy, disparaging people and really controlling people but was never caught in the crossfire; those people are generally ignored IME.

 

I have been on several RCs, most were good, friendly and 'normal; have met some people who I am still friends with.

 

Thanks again, safe cruising all! :)

[bbappel]

As I read posts like these, I try to self-evaluate and see if I'm guilty of anything that upsets people. Much like "GottaKnowWhen" I arrange tours for my husband and myself on some cruises, he usually spends a great deal of time figuring out what we would enjoy seeing. Then we ask if anyone else wants to do that too. We are a little flexible but not a lot because he has really researched. I never ever make money on the deal or get a break, just the satisfaction of planning a fun tour. There have been times when the tour we've arranged is more expensive than some other tours. We aren't making money on that tour, but we are using a tour company that we have found satisfactory in the past. The first time I might have price-shopped and maybe wasn't able to get the cheapest tour, but after that, when a tour provider has been excellent, I quit price shopping and go with what I know. I usually explain that when I'm looking for others.

 

I feel like maybe there is a low level of paranoia going on here, because I know one of the guys on our cruise has arranged 3 vans for one trip because he kept being asked if he had room, well after his van was filled. He is just plain kind.

 

This happened to me for a tour in Slovenia. We filled the van but there were more people who really wanted to join us, so the provider suggested getting a second van. We did that. I didn't get anything from this but knowing I didn't leave someone out.

 

I do the Roll Call stuff partly because I'm an organizer who likes to plan things, and partly I'm someone who likes to bring people together. There is a personal benefit in the satisfaction of seeing people meeting together in something that I feel I facilitated. I don't want anything from them, not even recognition. For instance, if two couples who joined up on a tour are later having dinner together, I smile to myself. Seeing people connecting just makes me happy.

 

My guideline is this: Is the tour a price I'm willing to pay? Does it go where I want to go? Do I get a good vibe from the provider? I also check Trip Advisor reviews and Cruise Critic reviews. Then if someone else is doing the tour, I'm willing to commit and if they are getting a reduced cost for arranging it, well as long as what I'm paying is fair to me, I don't even think about it. Reliability is the key factor for me, rather than the cheapest one I can find.

 

Beth

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

As I read posts like these, I try to self-evaluate and see if I'm guilty of anything that upsets people. Much like "GottaKnowWhen" I arrange tours for my husband and myself on some cruises, he usually spends a great deal of time figuring out what we would enjoy seeing. Then we ask if anyone else wants to do that too. We are a little flexible but not a lot because he has really researched. I never ever make money on the deal or get a break, just the satisfaction of planning a fun tour. There have been times when the tour we've arranged is more expensive than some other tours. We aren't making money on that tour, but we are using a tour company that we have found satisfactory in the past. The first time I might have price-shopped and maybe wasn't able to get the cheapest tour, but after that, when a tour provider has been excellent, I quit price shopping and go with what I know. I usually explain that when I'm looking for others.

 

I feel like maybe there is a low level of paranoia going on here, because I know one of the guys on our cruise has arranged 3 vans for one trip because he kept being asked if he had room, well after his van was filled. He is just plain kind.

 

This happened to me for a tour in Slovenia. We filled the van but there were more people who really wanted to join us, so the provider suggested getting a second van. We did that. I didn't get anything from this but knowing I didn't leave someone out.

 

I do the Roll Call stuff partly because I'm an organizer who likes to plan things, and partly I'm someone who likes to bring people together. There is a personal benefit in the satisfaction of seeing people meeting together in something that I feel I facilitated. I don't want anything from them, not even recognition. For instance, if two couples who joined up on a tour are later having dinner together, I smile to myself. Seeing people connecting just makes me happy.

 

My guideline is this: Is the tour a price I'm willing to pay? Does it go where I want to go? Do I get a good vibe from the provider? I also check Trip Advisor reviews and Cruise Critic reviews. Then if someone else is doing the tour, I'm willing to commit and if they are getting a reduced cost for arranging it, well as long as what I'm paying is fair to me, I don't even think about it. Reliability is the key factor for me, rather than the cheapest one I can find.

 

Beth

 

I agree with your philosophy. I've never profited personally from any tour I've arranged anywhere in the world. My profit is getting to choose the provider and decide what will happen on the tour. And how many people can be on the tour. I don't care for large tours. Then I seek people who want the same thing.

 

Re extra vans, I've had the same experience, particularly for vans to Bruges. Last time I filled the original van immediately. People were still interested, so I organized more vans from the same company. This was simply for transport to and from Bruges.

 

I've also gone on tours organized by other people. One memorable one was in Malta. The tour organizer had somehow snagged a woman who normally doesn't do ship tours but takes groups out for several days. She was simply excellent and we had a wonderful tour.

 

So, I've found it to be a benefit from participating in roll calls and I intend to continue. Haven't had a bad experience yet in my 19 cruises and I have met some very delightful people.

 

[keithm]

What would you do when a Roll Call gets nasty?

 

We all know that, if a normal Cruise Critic thread gets unpleasant, you can report to the moderators and they will do something. They may even step in before anyone makes a report. But what can you do about a Roll Call?

 

Whatever the moderators do, they cannot influence what happens on board. If someone is removed from a Roll Call, they can still view everything that is said. They can still turn up at anything that has been arranged.

 

Has anyone found a solution to a problem like this?

 

I am not saying anything has got that bad, yet, but it has started me thinking ...

 

PS I appreciate that this is a general question on the Celebrity board but the person in question is not a Celebrity regular and, as far as I can tell, does not frequent this board. I would not want this thread to be moved to a more generic thread where it may be seen.

We had an issue some years back on Cunard. It seemed to start over the dresscodes. This guy was adamant about wearing his western wear. & kind of bullied those who thought it was inappropriate. I actually met the guy on board. He traveled with his handicapped wife(who spent most of her days in the casino)Yeah, he dressed in western style all right. He stood out like a sore thumb, but was actually a pretty nice guy. He wanted to try Cunard once. The dresscodes definitely got to him & he went back to HAL

[keithm]

Interesting & informative discussion!

 

I have found that each roll call takes on its own personality; some friendly with lots of onboard activities, some geared more to excursions, & some pretty dead. It's easy enough to paricipate as much or as little as you wish.

 

With regard to excursin organizers, i have found that the ones I have been involved in always post a link to the tour's site, which lists the possible itineraries available as well as the cost differential, depending on the number of people.

I found our first Celebrity roll call to be rather boring. Most of the participants were from the Calgary area & pretty much hung out with themselves. There was little interest from pax from other areas. We just decided to go on tours by ourselves & were quite surprised to see many of these pax along for the tour as well. They still pretty much stuck to their own group & we just had a great time by ourselves. Being a gay couple, we thought that might have been one of the reasons, but we really think they just liked being around other Canadians.

[Pavovsky]

I think there is a difference between organising a tour and getting the best value for you and the other participants and organising a tour which you receive consideration for. If someone goes the extra mile and organises a multiple of vans etc with no personal gain other than getting the best deal for the people on the roll call then I salute you. I did voluntary work for many years and there is a pleasure in both helping yourself and others that money cannot quantity. Sorry if I insulted any of the good souls.

Edited August 4, 2016 by Pavovsky

[CapeCodCruiser]

Have been on roll calls solely focused on getting tours organized..

Not much else was discussed, no group events were planned other than sailaway and the organizers wanted to take over the official connection get together to set up tables and collect tour money. Since we mainly do cruise ship tours the roll call lost our interest and we along with other non tour folks kind of dropped off...

 

Some roll calls click, some don,t...but nice to chat with folks who will be on your cruise..most are normal and nice enough,,,

 

I have organized roll calls and hosted the party you can do on Carnival and I have organized tour groups - never once did it occur to me to collect the money from others for the tour. We always give the tour contact info and tell folks to say they are joining the "Smith" group and let folks pay the tour operator themselves - but this way everyone gets the reduced rate for a larger group.

 

With Carnivals cocktail Party I collect the $$ in advance (paypal) to give the groups coordinator a total # of guests. Then I give those who have paid a bracelet or other identifying item to let bartenders know who can drink for free.

 

One time - like 6 months after the cruise I has paypal deduct somebody's money from my paypal account. Seems he was disputing the charge! I called paypal and told what it was for, that I had emails from the guy and photos of him at the party! The money was put back in my account while on the phone!

 

It is sometimes a thankless job but most folks really appreciate the hard work done by organizers.

Edited August 4, 2016 by CapeCodCruiser

[Durkman]

I have no problem if someone organizes a tour, promotes it on the Roll Call, and then receives some consideration for their efforts.

 

For the Baltics cruise we just completed someone on our Roll Call organized a third party (SPB) tour in St. Petersburg and mentioned it on the Roll Call, inviting others to join them. We liked the itinerary and price offered for the tour, so we signed up. Apparently SPB told her that if she filled the bus (16 passengers) they would refund the cost of the tour for one of the members of her family. The tour was indeed filled by members of our Roll Call. (Our tour group was great by the way; we ended up hanging out with a bunch of them at various times for the rest of the cruise.)

 

Not sure if she went back to SPB to get her refund but I hope so. I was OK with the price I was charged; why should I care whether her family got a better deal than mine? She was the first to book and she took the risk of not finding anyone to join her and having it canceled at the last minute and being stuck without anything.

 

I look at it like someone getting a discount after final payment that I didn't get the benefit of or someone booking a flight at just the right time when I didn't. As long as I'm happy with the price I paid why should I complain?

Edited August 4, 2016 by Durkman
Made the post more generic

[Wine-O]

I have no problem if someone organizes a tour, promotes it on the Roll Call, and then receives some consideration for their efforts.

 

For the Baltics cruise we just completed someone on our Roll Call organized a third party (SPB) tour in St. Petersburg and mentioned it on the Roll Call, inviting others to join them. We liked the itinerary and price offered for the tour, so we signed up. Apparently SPB told her that if she filled the bus (16 passengers) they would refund the cost of the tour for one of the members of her family. The tour was indeed filled by members of our Roll Call. (Our tour group was great by the way; we ended up hanging out with a bunch of them at various times for the rest of the cruise.)

 

Not sure if she went back to SPB to get her refund but I hope so. I was OK with the price I was charged; why should I care whether her family got a better deal than mine? She was the first to book and she took the risk of not finding anyone to join her and having it canceled at the last minute and being stuck without anything.

 

I look at it like someone getting a discount after final payment that I didn't get the benefit of or someone booking a flight at just the right time when I didn't. As long as I'm happy with the price I paid why should I complain?

 

I just dislike the "hawking" of tours on cruise critic for personal benefit. I've organized many tours in the past (not any more) and always split everything evenly amongst the group.

 

As long as the "hawker" is up front with all the details, I don't have a problem.

Edited August 5, 2016 by Wine-O

[varoo]

I have no problem if someone organizes a tour, promotes it on the Roll Call, and then receives some consideration for their efforts.

 

For the Baltics cruise we just completed someone on our Roll Call organized a third party (SPB) tour in St. Petersburg and mentioned it on the Roll Call, inviting others to join them. We liked the itinerary and price offered for the tour, so we signed up. Apparently SPB told her that if she filled the bus (16 passengers) they would refund the cost of the tour for one of the members of her family. The tour was indeed filled by members of our Roll Call. (Our tour group was great by the way; we ended up hanging out with a bunch of them at various times for the rest of the cruise.)

 

Not sure if she went back to SPB to get her refund but I hope so. I was OK with the price I was charged; why should I care whether her family got a better deal than mine? She was the first to book and she took the risk of not finding anyone to join her and having it canceled at the last minute and being stuck without anything.

:confused::confused: Sorry, but I don't understand this part.

 

If she did not find anyone to join her, I don't see how she would be taking any "risk" or how she could be "stuck without anything" as she could just pay the regular price to take the tour like anyone else.

 

We also went with SPB when we were in St. Petersburg.

They also offered us the option of filling a bus and getting a free tour, a method commonly used by tour operators to solicit additional customers.

Although we have no objection to others "hawking" tours, as Wine-O calls it, we have no desire to do that ourselves.

 

So we just paid the regular price (which looked reasonable to us) for the SPB tour we wanted, and were very pleased with it.