Meet anbd Mingle

[CruiseVA]

We've been to a couple of M&M's, one was a whatever, and the other one was great (very active Roll Call). Best thing attended was an informal meetup in the Wine bar on embarkation day, a lot of folks showed up and we all had a great time - this was also a very active Roll Call for the Med with many of us arranging tours pre-cruise.

[caribill]

7 hours ago, MixerDave said:

I am hosting a M&G on a Princess ship - does anyone have advice on inviting offices and staff?  My contact gave me a list, but it is too many people.  Any suggestions for a invitation?

 

Thanks

 

6 hours ago, Daniel A said:

I would normally invite Captain, Staff Captain, Cruise Director, Hotel Operations Officer, Maître' d, Head Chef.  But ask on your roll call who they would like to hear from at the event.  That's your best source of information.  I would generally ask the Cruise Director to do all of the introductions and act as an MC.  They're used to it and are very good.  Good luck!

 

Attached is a Word Document that is an invitation I made a couple of years ago.  Feel Free to adapt it.

Cruise Critic Invite March 2018 v2.docx 61.68 kB · 5 downloads

 

If there is a guest lecturer on board, I usually invite him/her also. They usually appreciate meeting the roll call people .

[caribill]

14 hours ago, dickinson said:

I think the OP posted this because it seems to be not accurate for Princess.

 

Actually I posted it because it is the first time I have seen this type of information listed for Princess.

 

I wonder if this is preliminary to Princess having the same type of arrangement that Royal Caribbean and Celebrity have where you can sign up online with a link from a roll call and the meeting set up automatically once 25 people have signed up, as described by Bruin Steve in an earlier post.

[Expat Cruise]

Meet & Greets are a lot of work, e have set up a couple of them. If it is done right it can be lots of fun. The last one we did was a 18 day Sydney to Hong Kong Cruise. Our Meet & Greet had about 60 people at it. Many people met and made new friends and several smaller groups spent a lot of time together for the rest of the cruise. 

 

Here what was involved. First getting a couple list of people in the roll call with cabin numbers. Contract Princess and set up a time and place for the meet & greet. Send notice of the meet & greet to everyone by email.... But the location and time is not 100% confirmed until you are on the ship. Princess sends a letter to the point person from the group.  Get a list of the officers on the ship and do letters inviting them to the Meet & Greet. Also do notice that you hand place on all the cabins the day before the meet & greet.  Have a plan in place for the meet and greet, have  princess bring a PA system into the room. You also need to give guest services a list of all guests confirmed for the meet & greet.  Have name tags for all the guests, it is a good idea to put the  CC User name and then the real names. They will not place in the daily Platter.  The Officer come at the start and stay for a short period of time.  After the officers leave have introductions of the Roll Call members, talk about tours and other things plan for the cruise.  We like to have the Meet & Greet in the morning just before lunch that way guest can form smaller groups and go to lunch after.

 

When done this way attendance has been 95% plus for the meet & greets.  On longer  cruises smaller groups will form and meet during the cruise. Also some group members will still be looking for tours so food way to fill open slots they guests may have on private tours. 

 

 

[caribill]

2 minutes ago, Expat Cruise said:

 Contract Princess and set up a time and place for the meet & greet. Send notice of the meet & greet to everyone by email.... But the location and time is not 100% confirmed until you are on the ship.

 

 

All the M&Gs I have attended have been at the time and venue that was arranged for and posted on the roll call weeks before the cruise started.

[pablo222]

22 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

And I'd call it something else rather than "ignorance".

 

I'd call it 'change of plans'.

 

I'm on vacation ... if my deck chair nap lasts a little long, and I miss the meet and greet, ooops...

 

I have also followed roll calls which developed a few abusive, controlling people.

Even if I was initially interested, I would not seek thost meetings out...

 

[Daniel A]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

I wonder if this is preliminary to Princess having the same type of arrangement that Royal Caribbean and Celebrity have where you can sign up online with a link from a roll call and the meeting set up automatically once 25 people have signed up, as described by Bruin Steve in an earlier post.

I don't think so.  That link has been on CC for years.  The first time I set up a M&M I used that page as a resource and that's where I downloaded the templates for the name tags I've always used.

 

I don't know if some posters are mixing in the procedures for other cruise lines.  I have only done M&M's on Princess and the process has always been the same with one minor exception.  The first time I set one up I called the Princess M&M rep for the ship (I don't recall which ship.) and the rep asked if I wanted ships officers to attend.  She sent the invitations to the officers through their internal system.  That was the only time that happened, every time after that I had to direct written invites to particular officers.  Princess didn't need a list of attendees, they only wanted a headcount.  For the sake of privacy, I never wanted cabin numbers or e-mail addresses - I didn't need them and I didn't want to put a condition that people sign up by doing anything other than saying "Yes" on the roll call.  If people wanted to exchange e-mail addresses and cabin numbers on the roll call good for them but I didn't want or need that information for the M&M.

[Expat Cruise]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

All the M&Gs I have attended have been at the time and venue that was arranged for and posted on the roll call weeks before the cruise started.

Yes that is done but Princess clear tells the contact person that the final time and place is not confirmed until you board the ship. One time out of the last five times Princess has changed it.  It is always a risk if you just rely on what is posted in the roll call.

 

[MixerDave]

15 hours ago, oldjetdriver said:

I print invitations on 4x6 photo stock and print envelopes before the cruise.  Take extra envelopes for name changes. 

Meet and Greet Invitation sample.psd 2.86 MB · 6 downloads Invitation envelopes sample.docx 13.78 kB · 2 downloads

Where do you get current names??

[oldjetdriver]

25 minutes ago, MixerDave said:

Where do you get current names??

I go to rollcalls one to four weeks before my cruise and ask for someone to send me a copy of the embarkation Patter. 

[Ombud]

I've done a few M&Gs. I request Skywalkers if it's on ship & 1st morning at least 2 months ahead of time. (1) 90 signed up. 125+ showed up. Several non-Princess excursions arranged (2) 105 showed & took a dz extra name tags. All used. Wished I hadn't separated and organized in alpha order and organized in groups. Also non-ship excursions (3) again many non-ship excursions (seems to be a commonality for me) and 100+ (4) a bust. Group wanted a Sailaway instead. (5) Next Monday.

 

On #1-3 we had Cruise Director & Captain (or the rep). Usually a photographer which can be more divisive. Sometimes Head Chef. Rep from excursions never shows but we tend to do our own anyway 

 

Main thing is to have fun! 

[Daniel A]

10 hours ago, MixerDave said:

Where do you get current names??

I would usually address envelopes to the title or position and take the envelopes to Passenger Services and has always worked for me.

[Scotmay]

On our last cruise from LA to Sydney, Australia, I organized the M & M and it was a great success. I had quite a number of volunteers which included an MC who had a news broadcasters voice.  He was so good and so entertaining and could be heard, without a microphone, all over the large room that Princess provided for us. I consider the M & M was such a huge success because of this wonderful MC.