NCL Meet and Greet: What happened to the Officers Q &A?

[dongordon]

As a loyal NCL Platinum Plus Cruiser, one thing I found so great in the Meet & Greet was the interaction and Q & A between the Officers and the CC Roll Call cruisers.

Perhaps I am mistaken, but for the last several years, this seems to be lacking.

 

I can't remember the last time at a Meet & Greet that we had any interchange with the officers.  It seems they introduce themselves, give their speeches and quickly depart.

Has anyone else noticed this?

 

IMHO this was a wonderful part of the Roll Call's Meet and Greet and sold me as a loyal NCL cruiser and I felt that NCL really wanted to hear our pluses and minuses of our cruise experiences to improve our cruise experience.   That being said, I never heard much criticism of NCL at these Q and A's so I can't understand why they do not do this anymore?   

 

Don   

 

  

[CruisingNole]

Welcome to NCL, 2019 style. 😉

[mianmike]

I'm with you.  I really enjoyed talking to the ship's officers.  I always have so many burning questions about the operation of a cruise ship.  I miss the interaction. 

[Minoushka]

Manycompanies stopped supporting meets and greets because the officers were bombarded with questions and complaints ...and it got uncomfortable for them .....borderline violent ......lHolland America and Princess no longer send anyone ....

[casofilia]

Because there were so many people with a "bee in their bonnet"!!  They asked a question that the officers on board had nothing to do with implementing.  Then when they were told that "they wouldn't let it go".  The present ones will be "Why have the alcohol prices risen?" and "Why are lobsters no longer available in the MDR?"  The officers have no say in either.

 

If you make 3 things clear to those at the M&G:-

No contentious questions

No follow up questions

Expect the officers to walk out if you break the other two rules.

 

Inform the CD or HD who is in charge that you have laid down those rules.

 

Ask the first yourself and make it a patsy question; "If you were allowed one day in port during this cruise which would it be and why?" or "If you were going to be perked a meal in a Specialty where would you go and why?"

 

Short questions that they can answer simply.

[bob brown]

In my experience, the officer’s introduce themselve’s, and the hotel director will tell us that if we have any issues that cannot be resolved with supervision, to call him or her directly to address it on board where they have the chance; rather than go home disappointed and complain about it on CC.

 

They hand out cards with the phone numbers of the officers.

 

There is a separate “Q&A” session for all of the passengers on board to attend, where they will handle questions about the running of the ship...

[casofilia]

 @Minoushka

 

Princess no longer send anyone ....

 

Totally untrue.  We had a full turn out of 8 Officers AND the Captain on the Princess "Round Australia" cruise at the end of last year.

They took non-contentious questions for about 10 minutes, it was excellent TILL someone "got a bee in his bonnet" and kept rewording his complaint.  The officers left!!

[Budget Queen]

Time,  comes into account as well.   Many of these people have to return to their work stations.   A recent cruise I was on,  had a Hotel Director,   at the M&G say,  he had time for a few questions.  I thought to myself  -  that's a mistake.    And sure enough it was.   It was embarrassing,  several complaints such and such wasn't available like it is on other cruises  etc.   A dissertation that another line,  included bottled water with their beverage package,  that went on and on.   

[casofilia]

On NCL the M&G is usually 11am till Noon but there is "always" something on at 11.30 that requires the HD, CD and F&BM to attend.  Work round that if you want questions.

[GUEST080219]

Actually that the officers on the ship have no influence and can't do anything is wrong. It might be that NCL nowadays just doesn't care anymore but for example on MSC the beverage manager was able to contact the shoreside to relay the complains of the guests and got part of the menu reincluded in an old package.

So confronting highly paid people on board with concerns about policies implement by their employer, who they represent at those meetings is completely in line and when you deal with a good customer oriented company would even be beneficial for everyone.

 

I see a similar thing going on at the Hotel and Captains Q&A were critical questions about sanitation, environmental efforts and similar get just PR blabla and evasive answers. 

[dongordon]

2 hours ago, micm said:

Actually that the officers on the ship have no influence and can't do anything is wrong. It might be that NCL nowadays just doesn't care anymore but for example on MSC the beverage manager was able to contact the shoreside to relay the complains of the guests and got part of the menu reincluded in an old package.

So confronting highly paid people on board with concerns about policies implement by their employer, who they represent at those meetings is completely in line and when you deal with a good customer oriented company would even be beneficial for everyone.

 

I see a similar thing going on at the Hotel and Captains Q&A were critical questions about sanitation, environmental efforts and similar get just PR blabla and evasive answers. 

This makes a lot of sense….listening and possibly correcting issues that bother cruisers.

Especially at the CC Meet & Greet where these people are usually the most vocal.

 

Don

[kochleffel]

At our recent M&G on the Epic, about ten officers (but not the captain) attended, and the hotel director answered questions, including one about the "cruise to nowhere" in the last sailing of the same itinerary. They did all leave by 11:30. The group events coordinator from the cruise director's staff stayed a little longer and could have been approached with individual concerns, but I don't think there were any.

[NLH Arizona]

They probably got tired of being ambushed by questions regarding policies that they don't set and decided it wasn't worth going.

[SeaShark]

I always thought that the purpose of the Meet & Greet was to allow the Cruise Critic members who had been participating/posting in the roll call a chance to "Meet" and "Greet" each other face-to-face. Allow people to put faces to the screen names.

 

When did the the Meet & Greet become a "confront the officers" event instead? Isn't that what the Guest Services Desk is for?

[jaja]

There have been officers at every M&G I have been to ...including my last cruise in December.  I agree with other posters that there are times officers are bombarded with complaints and it would not surprise me if their participation was  cut back or eliminated.  I do hope that is not the case, as I enjoy meeting them all very much and always appreciate their attendance. 

[newmexicoNita]

On 3/6/2019 at 10:37 PM, dongordon said:

As a loyal NCL Platinum Plus Cruiser, one thing I found so great in the Meet & Greet was the interaction and Q & A between the Officers and the CC Roll Call cruisers.

Perhaps I am mistaken, but for the last several years, this seems to be lacking.

 

I can't remember the last time at a Meet & Greet that we had any interchange with the officers.  It seems they introduce themselves, give their speeches and quickly depart.

Has anyone else noticed this?

 

IMHO this was a wonderful part of the Roll Call's Meet and Greet and sold me as a loyal NCL cruiser and I felt that NCL really wanted to hear our pluses and minuses of our cruise experiences to improve our cruise experience.   That being said, I never heard much criticism of NCL at these Q and A's so I can't understand why they do not do this anymore?   

 

Don   

 

  

I too miss those days, but still, as long as the hotel director is will to take questions I can live with that. I guess, the olden days are gone when it comes to the management mixing so much with the attendees. Life has its changes and this I guess we can say is a minor chance. At least the officers do show up, we have been to many M&Gs were they do not. I think one thing is very important for all of us to remember is: regardless whether you are addressing a question to a particular manager or to the hotel director, during the M&G is not the place to complain or ask questions that will put them on the spot.