Why no "Meet and Greet" with Princess?!

[cruzzers]

I was just wondering why Princess does not promote or sponsor any kind of Meeting for the roll call groups sailing on Princess cruises, like some of the other cruise lines? We love posting on the boards before our trips and then meeting as a group when we get on board. It just makes the trip that much more memorable and fun. Hopefully this will change in the near future for all of us who sail Princess and love to share our experiences on this board.

[Coral]

From what I understand - this is only done with RCCL and Celebrity (which is owned by RCCL). The other lines do not have it either.

[spongerob]

It was a deal made between CC and RCL. Probably an advertising or good will thing.

[grandmaa]

Hi..we were on the Sapphire Nov. 26-Dec. 3 and we had made previous arrangements with the Cruise Director and he was most gracious and hosted a party for the Cruise Critic group. We did meet the after muster drill on our own as was posted on our board and from there we heard from the Cruise Director about our hosted party. Do not know why it is not promoted more by Princess, it is certainly good PR for them when they do host a party.

[poppy4kids]

grandmaa, how did you contac the Cruise Director befor the cruise? We go in 28 days and it would be nice to setup a party. thanks

[cruzzers]

We have quite a few people on our CC board for our cruise. I would love to know how to get in touch with the cruise director if there is a possibility he may set up some kind of activity for us.

[Times Prince]

I was just wondering why Princess does not promote or sponsor any kind of Meeting for the roll call groups sailing on Princess cruises, like some of the other cruise lines? We love posting on the boards before our trips and then meeting as a group when we get on board. It just makes the trip that much more memorable and fun. Hopefully this will change in the near future for all of us who sail Princess and love to share our experiences on this board.

When we sailed on the Island Princess in August there was a Meet and Greet party set up for Cruise Critic passengers at one of the lounges. Considering there were only 4 couples on the roll call and we were the only ones at the party, I have to assume this was set up by Princess. We didn't do it.

 

Take a careful look at those Patters during the cruise. There may be something already set up.

[llund]

On the Coral princess last year, we planned our own get together the 2nd day out. Since we had such a large group, one of our members took everyones name and cabin number and went to talk to the cruise director about setting up a party. The director was given my name and Bill's name (the other cruise critic member). He ignored the request and whem Bill talked to him a few days later, the cd told him he spoke to me and said he could not do it. He never talked to me and our group wasn't too happy with him, especially making up the story that he spoke to me. We were disappointed. I guess a lot depends on who the cruise director is at the time.

[Murphey]

Funny thing happened to us on our 11/5 sailing (Regal). We had a rather inactive Roll Call on these Boards, but we had been on the cruise prior and had an active CC meeting. So, later on in the second cruise, I noticed a "Cruise Critic" meeting posted in the Patter, so I had assumed, someone in our roll call group had decided they wanted to meet after all. So, I go at the printed time, and meet a few people. Well, they were there to critisize the cruise!!!! After a few moments, when I realized what was going on, (and after I had started defending Princess and the cruise) I excused myself!! I'm not sure what the intended purpose of the meeting was!!!

[sunprincess]

As I have noticed with Princess Meet & Greets vary ship to ship, and with certain cruise directors. Some CDs like John Lawrence host a Meet & Greet on the Baltic cruises.

If you have a Roll Call & are interested in doing this go for it & plan it. You can do this without the CD too.

 

To contact the CD you just need to email the ship.

name of the ship @ princesscruises.com

Subject line will be addressed to the CD.

 

When I did this for our Baltic cruise John emailed me back right away. Our group met in the Wheelhouse Bar. John & his wife provided us with mimosas & lots of info.

 

Good Luck.

[sherman931]

Do you remember the name of the CD who "helped" you?

[magnumcoog]

Here is a contact at Princess, we are planning on setting up a "meet & mingle" and was given this reply to an email that I sent. The person listed may not handle your cruise ship.

 

 

 

I have receive your request for a "function". Please note that I do not set up cocktail parties or meeting space until 45 days prior to departure. It that time I will contact you with this request.

 

Regards,

Bernadine Grayr,

Group Onboard Services

(661)284-4448

[llund]

Do you remember the name of the CD who "helped" you?

 

 

I will see if I can find his name. It was on the Coral Princess in Jan 2005. We were on the New Years Eve cruise. As soon as I find his name, I will let you know. He really wasn't the best cruise director.

[WAVTAM]

I agree that the CC party hosted by Princess is a very individual thing. (Highly dependent on the CD) The Diamond in Singapore by request to the CD just had a Princess hosted CC party. WAVTAM

[cruzzers]

We will probably make arrangements to meet on our own but if we can get Princess to throw in a freebie or 2, it is worth a try. It is a 14 day cruise we are talking about here. Princess should accomodate us since this is such an active board and read by alot of poeple. I would think it a good PR tool and since RCCL and Celebrity does it, Princess should follow the lead.

Thanks for everyones info and suggestions on this matter. I think I will send an email out to Princess to see what they say. Will report back if I find out anything.

[grandmaa]

grandmaa, how did you contac the Cruise Director befor the cruise? We go in 28 days and it would be nice to setup a party. thanks

Hi..I addressed the ship by name "sahcdir1@princesscruises.com" when we were on the Sapphire..I would imagine you would have to do the same with the name for the ship you will be on..and as you can see the "cdir1" directs it to the cruise director...Hope this helps..and happy cruising!!

[Hornet]

I wrote a note to the CD the first day onboard requesting a Princess hosted get together. I also said we'd all like to meet him and his staff. It was a 15 day cruise. About half way the CD left me a message saying when he arranged our party and that it would be posted in the Patter.

 

We met at Crooners and were served champagne and snack mix. If you wanted something else to drink, you just paid for it. Some of the staff were there to serve us and we had a great time.

 

There was one guy that showed up to hear the gripes about the cruise. He was not part of CC. He thought Cruise Critic was there to criticize. He didn't stay.

[cruzzers]

Hornet....I can see if they posted it in the patter, some would think it was to be used to critique the cruise. We wouln't want that....just some really light hearted fun to help us meet each other. I think we will plan some sort of sail away party on our own but anything Princess would help us with, would be appreciated for later in the cruise. It sounds like we have a pretty active group on our CC board and they take lots of cruises so this would be a good way for Princess to acknowledge this group.

 

Has anyone ever called Princess to ask for a CC meeting?

[Cruisin' Chick]

As Hornet stated and others who've been on the IP lately have reported, the current CD on the IP has been helpful in setting up a meet and putting it in the Patters. I emailed him on behalf of our roll call and he replied very quickly and said he'll set up a couple. We also decided on a couple of times to meet (after muster and on the first day at sea) on our own. Hopefully among all those times, we'll get to meet each other. We also took down cabin numbers (someone can list their email address for anyone who doesn't want to publicize their cabin number so that if there's last minute changes,etc., a note can be left).

[Splinter]

I was on the trip with Hornet, and we had a great time. In addition to the hosted trip we had a get together the first day at sea to meet everyone, then another day we had a Ladies Tea get-together (while the men met in a bar for drinks), then we had our hosted event. We all spent a lot of time together (lots of trivia teams made up from our group).

 

We got a big laugh about the guy who came to complain...it was posted in the Patter as "Cruise Critic Get Together: Champagne and snacks for members". I guess it is somewhat refreshing to think that a passenger would think that Princess would host a party with champagne for people who just wanted to complain about their trip!!!

[cruzzers]

I emailed Princess but still haven't heard anything back from them.......

 

I hope they respond to me like they did to you. It will be a 14 day cruise so I would assume they would want to help make our group feel welcome by hosting some small event for us.

 

Did most of you arrange this with the CD ahead of the cruise or after you were onboard?

[cruzzers]

duplicate post

[flamomo]

I am sailing on the Island Princess on 1/21/06, and after getting advice from other CC posters, I emailed the CD on the IP on Monday evening, When I opened my computer on Tuesday AM, there was a response from the CD, saying 2 gatherings are already scheduled.

 

I reached the CD by addressing the email to:

 

name of ship @Princesscruises.com, and entered "Cruise Director" on the subject line.

 

You might try this.

 

Also, on 2 past cruises, I saw notices in the Princess Patter re: CC gatherings. That was on the Coral and the Sun.

[TNTLAMB]

Since RCCL and Celebrity sponsor these boards do you suppose some short sighted CD's think they would be supporting the competition?