HOW WAS YOUR CRUISE CRITIC PARTY ON EDGE?

[hcat]

In Moderator Anne's splendid  EDGE review she described a fairly different Cruise Critic party than we have usually experienced..

 

From  Annes review

"Cruise Critic Party ~ We had a GREAT number sign up for the party (103 was the count I last saw before heading to the ship).  Got my invitation that the party was at 10:15 on Tuesday morning in Eden.  There was a nice sign welcoming Cruise Critic at the entrance to Eden and lots of people coming in and milling around.  At 10:15 the cruise director, Maarten, welcomed everyone to the “Cruise Connections” party and stated that now it was time to play officers versus passengers trivia. He turned it over to someone else who told everyone to get out their electronic devices and get ready to play.  When a Cruise Critic member asked about the Cruise Critic party he stated that we could go over in the cover if we wanted to talk or we could wait till trivia was over!  We were all kind of dumbfounded and it kind of defeated the entire purpose of the Cruise Critic gathering...."

 

 

Just wondering how the parties have been going, where they are held, who has shown up from ofcs and staff, what did they serve,  are they  insisting that guests  play cell phone trivia there?   

Edited January 16, 2019 by hcat

[Esprit]

Ours on the 16th December sailing was awful.

it should have been held in the meeting room on deck 4 next door to the Club.

Eden was too open with non CC  people roaming in and out.

I'll let someone else from our roll call explain the shambles that followed.

[kearney]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

In Moderator Anne's splendid  EDGE review she described a fairly different Cruise Critic party than we have usually experienced..

 

From  Annes review

"Cruise Critic Party ~ We had a GREAT number sign up for the party (103 was the count I last saw before heading to the ship).  Got my invitation that the party was at 10:15 on Tuesday morning in Eden.  There was a nice sign welcoming Cruise Critic at the entrance to Eden and lots of people coming in and milling around.  At 10:15 the cruise director, Maarten, welcomed everyone to the “Cruise Connections” party and stated that now it was time to play officers versus passengers trivia. He turned it over to someone else who told everyone to get out their electronic devices and get ready to play.  When a Cruise Critic member asked about the Cruise Critic party he stated that we could go over in the cover if we wanted to talk or we could wait till trivia was over!  We were all kind of dumbfounded and it kind of defeated the entire purpose of the Cruise Critic gathering...."

 

 

Just wondering how the parties have been going, where they are held, who has shown up from ofcs and staff, what did they serve,  are they  insisting that guests  play cell phone trivia there?   

As I recall Maarten did a half ass job on our connections gathering on Equinox last June... quickly introduced the crew and then basically it was over and he was outa there. We also were on Equinox in September... at this event the crew seemed to feel the group was important enough to hand around and talk with everyone... it was a nice gathering. Maarten seemed put out to be there. Alas I missed it on Dec 16 sailing... just forgot.. later I head it was terrible....  Someone should explain to the cruise director that his job is more than standing on stage. I had heard how great he was but I never saw him. When were were on Eclipse I saw Eddie Jenkins all over the ship and ran into him everywhere and he interacted with passengers.. he was great. I was generally disappointed in Maarten

[MisterBill99]

3 minutes ago, kearney said:

As I recall Maarten did a half ass job on our connections gathering on Equinox last June... quickly introduced the crew and then basically it was over and he was outa there. We also were on Equinox in September... at this event the crew seemed to feel the group was important enough to hand around and talk with everyone... it was a nice gathering. Maarten seemed put out to be there. Alas I missed it on Dec 16 sailing... just forgot.. later I head it was terrible....  Someone should explain to the cruise director that his job is more than standing on stage. I had heard how great he was but I never saw him. When were were on Eclipse I saw Eddie Jenkins all over the ship and ran into him everywhere and he interacted with passengers.. he was great. I was generally disappointed in Maarten

 

Well, I suppose the good news is that he is being replaced soon on Edge. I thought it was going to already be done, but then they sent Lewis elsewhere. Not sure when the new CD is starting.

 

Of course, it has to be better than Luigi did on Infinity in October. He didn't even show up and sent the activity manager.

Edited January 16, 2019 by MisterBill99

[hcat]

Hope Cruise Critic and X can chat about the parties, the purpose and program

 

  Over the years they have been fairly nice events with good attendance by cruise ship officers and staff who  make time to be there, seem genuinely interested in the passengers and making sure we had a great cruise!  Got to meet our roll call mates after  months of communicating on line,,which is the main purpose,  to put a face to the name! We have made lasting friends through Cruise Critic!

 

We judge all cruise Directors by the high standards set by DRU PAVLOV...We used to book our cruises by the sailings he would be on.  He was a gentleman, classy without being stuffy,  funny,  very involved and  visible without being obnoxious, loud, boorish,  intrusive,  or self involved.

 

Recently,  we have had some really awful CDs who have no clue.,We just ignore them as they add very little to the cruise experience except their  ego,  stupudity, and immaturity.    Not  all but quite a few and their sidekicks as well.

[Esprit]

Damien took over as CD from Maarten last weekend.

I agree with the above comments. In the kindest possible way Maarten was "Mr Invisible" to me on our 16th December cruise (other than closing the nightly theatre shows, apart from one evening when Valentina took over as Maarten had sustained a back injury!).

As MC for our CC gathering it's best I leave it there for my daughter's sake. 

 

[TMLAalum]

15 hours ago, Esprit said:

Ours on the 16th December sailing was awful.

it should have been held in the meeting room on deck 4 next door to the Club.

Eden was too open with non CC  people roaming in and out.

I'll let someone else from our roll call explain the shambles that followed.

 

3 hours ago, Esprit said:

Damien took over as CD from Maarten last weekend.

I agree with the above comments. In the kindest possible way Maarten was "Mr Invisible" to me on our 16th December cruise (other than closing the nightly theatre shows, apart from one evening when Valentina took over as Maarten had sustained a back injury!).

As MC for our CC gathering it's best I leave it there for my daughter's sake. 

 

 

I agree with your assessment, Esprit! 

When we arrived at Eden, where the 12/16 sailing Connections Party was held, it was not designated as closed for a private party so many chairs were already occupied. We finally found seats overlooking the Eden Restaurant. No name tags. Maarten did introduce the few officers present as they stood off to one end of Eden and he stood on the platform near the center of the venue. I don't recall that he gave credit to Cruise Critic and the roll call as is typical at these gatherings. When some roll call members started asking questions that were not to his liking, e.g. why no library, he made a quick exit. I don't recall that he had a mike, but I do recall that he did not invite any roll call member to the platform for any announcement that they might have made. Since I was the organizer of our cabin crawl I wouldn't have minded introducing myself. We did get to have a nice chat with other roll call members and a highlight for me was meeting Valentina!

 

The Club or Meeting Room are far more appropriate venues for the Connections Party than Eden!

[jelayne]

On our 1/13 sailing the CC party was at 10:15 a.m. in Eden.  There was a Private Function sign but folks continued to walk through.

 

CD Damien welcomed the group,  spiel about Cruise C itinerary being a valuable resource ......introduced about 6 -7 officers who were there (Captain was not there).  Then asked if anyone from the group wanted the mike to make any announcements, no one had anything.  Gathering ended.  A few officers stayed for a short time to chat.

 

This is not unlike the other CC gatherings we have attended on X in the past couple of years.  We rarely attend anymore.

 

 

[Diamond lover]

I'm going to OUR CC Party (I normally don't either) on Solstice (February 28th sailing) because I want to meet all the other people who have been chatting and posting.  I don't care if anybody from the ship pops by.  We are celebrating retirements, and many other things. Together!  Still going to be nice to put a face to a name, etc.

[Tall-Cruiser]

Granted I have not been on many cruises and all on all Cruise Lines but, of all the cruises I have been on and attended the Meet n Mingle, the one on the Edge, Dec 16th sailing was the worst. What others who were on that sailing noted above is spot on. The CD seemed like he didn't want to bother with this stuff. Esprit is right, they should have chosen a different venue and only allow CC members in for that time. 

When we cruised MSC Seaside, only very few CC members showed up. Still all the MSC Officers including the CD went around to chat with everyone. They offered us drinks, and also they prepared a big cake just for CC Meet n Mingle.

 

 

[jeno]

 

On 1/16/2019 at 3:58 PM, hcat said:

In Moderator Anne's splendid  EDGE review she described a fairly different Cruise Critic party than we have usually experienced..

 

From  Annes review

"Cruise Critic Party ~ We had a GREAT number sign up for the party (103 was the count I last saw before heading to the ship).  Got my invitation that the party was at 10:15 on Tuesday morning in Eden.  There was a nice sign welcoming Cruise Critic at the entrance to Eden and lots of people coming in and milling around.  At 10:15 the cruise director, Maarten, welcomed everyone to the “Cruise Connections” party and stated that now it was time to play officers versus passengers trivia. He turned it over to someone else who told everyone to get out their electronic devices and get ready to play.  When a Cruise Critic member asked about the Cruise Critic party he stated that we could go over in the cover if we wanted to talk or we could wait till trivia was over!  We were all kind of dumbfounded and it kind of defeated the entire purpose of the Cruise Critic gathering...."

 

 

Just wondering how the parties have been going, where they are held, who has shown up from ofcs and staff, what did they serve,  are they  insisting that guests  play cell phone trivia there?   

I am assuming everyone needed Internet service to use their cells to find the Trivia answers.  How did that work?

Edited January 18, 2019 by jeno

[villauk]

3 hours ago, Tall-Cruiser said:

 

When we cruised MSC Seaside, only very few CC members showed up. Still all the MSC Officers including the CD went around to chat with everyone. They offered us drinks, and also they prepared a big cake just for CC Meet n Mingle.

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, never experienced that before. Host Anne’s experience is more akin to what it’s been like on X: minimum time as another event has already been scheduled in the same venue.

[uktog]

Whilst no cake is made, Azamara always provides drinks (alcoholic and non alcoholic) canapés and there is always Officer attendance and they engage with attendees. Celebrity seemed to just be going through a tick box ok we set one up exercise in our last experiences so we stopped going. Probably what Celebrity wanted, dropping numbers discontinue....

 

ive sensed anyway all lines are more interested in other forms of social media engagement ahead of cruise critic which is a more traditional route now. 

Edited January 18, 2019 by uktog

[Caribbean Chris]

I was on board with Host Anne for the January 6 sailing. The Cruise Critic Party was non-existent, and I felt bad for rollcall organizers and other people who were expecting a private gathering to meet one another. Playing trivia with smartphones was fun but had nothing to do with our reason for being there - meeting & greeting each other.

 

(Later I looked at the daily program and saw that Trivia was Eden’s scheduled activity for the same time slot. So it was definitely Italy a double-booking error.)

 

Also poor planning was the Captain’s Club wine-tasting 45 minutes after the party’s start time. I think a lot of people walked out of the Cruise-Critic Non-event and headed for Normandy to get good seats for the wine event, which was packed.

[hcat]

That's really bad timing,  what time was the Wine tasting?

 

..our first roll call Cabin crawl is scheduled  right after the Connections event.  Guess we will miss the wine event if that is our schedule!

 

Celeb was not always this disinterested in the Party..but never had same snacks or giveaways as Royal C.  Guess it depends on the Activity Dept, CD or more lately perhaps Miami!

[suizas]

HCAT, I think I will pass on the meeting on our Edge sailing. Looking forward to meeting people at Sunset bar at Sailaway. Too many good things happening all at once to risk it! 

[hcat]

See you there at Sailaway..wear your beads! Mine are gold color...

[Silkroad]

These Edge CC parties sound dismal thus far. In contrast, our CC party on Silhouette last summer was held in Cellar Masters. There was a lovely spread laid on for us, and several officers and staff were there (at least at the start). There was a scheduling conflict with another popular activity, but at least we didn’t have two activities in one venue. It will be interesting to see what we have on our April Edge sailing.

[dateacher]

56 minutes ago, Silkroad said:

These Edge CC parties sound dismal thus far. In contrast, our CC party on Silhouette last summer was held in Cellar Masters. There was a lovely spread laid on for us, and several officers and staff were there (at least at the start). There was a scheduling conflict with another popular activity, but at least we didn’t have two activities in one venue. It will be interesting to see what we have on our April Edge sailing.

This was our experience on the Silhouette on the Jan. 2 sailing.  They provided coffee and assorted breads and we had a good size crew there.  I felt like they appreciated us.

[jelayne]

On 1/18/2019 at 4:37 AM, uktog said:

Whilst no cake is made, Azamara always provides drinks (alcoholic and non alcoholic) canapés and there is always Officer attendance and they engage with attendees. Celebrity seemed to just be going through a tick box ok we set one up exercise in our last experiences so we stopped going. Probably what Celebrity wanted, dropping numbers discontinue....

 

ive sensed anyway all lines are more interested in other forms of social media engagement ahead of cruise critic which is a more traditional route now. 

We found the Azamara CC gathering to be underwhelming.  Lots of folks there, all seated, we each introduced ourselves, officers were introduced and it fizzled from there.  

I personally think when you hold the gathering in a spot that it’s has lots of seating you lose the mingling.  The best CC gatherings we have been at were 10 yrs ago +/- when there wasn’t enough seating and people mingled.