mcrcruiser Posted September 17, 2022 #1 Share Posted September 17, 2022 It was much nicer when we could log into the Cruise Critic Party here on line & it was confirmed . Does any one know if or when Celebrity will resume the Cruise Critic on board parties ?😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riredsox Posted September 17, 2022 #2 Share Posted September 17, 2022 35 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said: It was much nicer when we could log into the Cruise Critic Party here on line & it was confirmed . Does any one know if or when Celebrity will resume the Cruise Critic on board parties ?😀 I have a CC party confirmation for my Oct cruise on Beyond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruisemom42 Posted September 17, 2022 #3 Share Posted September 17, 2022 51 minutes ago, riredsox said: I have a CC party confirmation for my Oct cruise on Beyond. Odd -- I'm on BTB cruises in October on Constellation and we've been told "no CC party". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGW59 Posted September 17, 2022 #4 Share Posted September 17, 2022 1 hour ago, riredsox said: I have a CC party confirmation for my Oct cruise on Beyond. I’m guessing that it is being planned by the roll call group rather than directly by CC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGW59 Posted September 17, 2022 #5 Share Posted September 17, 2022 10 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said: Odd -- I'm on BTB cruises in October on Constellation and we've been told "no CC party". I’m on a TA in October and there is no CC meet up. Something similar is being planned but it’s being done by some on the roll call group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the penguins Posted September 17, 2022 #6 Share Posted September 17, 2022 1 hour ago, riredsox said: I have a CC party confirmation for my Oct cruise on Beyond. That's just a generic/auto confirmation. CC party's are still suspended. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcrcruiser Posted September 17, 2022 Author #7 Share Posted September 17, 2022 We all should ask why the Cruise Critic party is still suspended when most cruises are wide open from the heaviest pandemic days ; which are now behind us . Seems to me Celebrity is not wanting to do these parties any longer ,another cost cutting move ;but not customer favorable We know that we can arrange the connections Party (Meet & Mingle ) ourselves ;however ,it was really a nice touch to see the invitation in your State room upon arrival that first day aboard ship 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruisestitch Posted September 17, 2022 #8 Share Posted September 17, 2022 Ships are still short staffed. The CC party requires bar staff, coffee service set up and clean up, etc. I would not look for the party to return the staff are 100%. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Azulann Posted September 17, 2022 #9 Share Posted September 17, 2022 39 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said: We all should ask why the Cruise Critic party is still suspended when most cruises are wide open from the heaviest pandemic days ; which are now behind us . Seems to me Celebrity is not wanting to do these parties any longer ,another cost cutting move ;but not customer favorable We know that we can arrange the connections Party (Meet & Mingle ) ourselves ;however ,it was really a nice touch to see the invitation in your State room upon arrival that first day aboard ship Yes, it was a very nice feature of Cruise Critic . But looks like this site has changed too. No more organizing with cruise lines for a meet and greet. It also seems that they are short hosts for various forums . I think meet and greets helped increase roll call postings too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelayne Posted September 17, 2022 #10 Share Posted September 17, 2022 The Connection gathering used to be more interactive with things like gift exchange, or everyone introducing themselves, a Q& A with the Officers, tour organizers or those coordinating onboard Roll Call activities updating info. We stopped going to the Connections gathering a few years ago for many reasons: including they room was frequently booked for another event 45 mins after the CC time and we were told we only had 30 mins so they could set up for the next scheduled event the Officers made a brief appearance and left, rarely 1 or 2 would stay to chat very little interaction among those attending, due probably to time constraints many were at 9:30 am - too early for us on a sea day . We have found the Sail Away gatherings organized on the Roll Call to be a be more fun and a relaxed way to connect with other Roll Call members. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcrcruiser Posted September 19, 2022 Author #11 Share Posted September 19, 2022 On 9/17/2022 at 1:39 PM, jelayne said: The Connection gathering used to be more interactive with things like gift exchange, or everyone introducing themselves, a Q& A with the Officers, tour organizers or those coordinating onboard Roll Call activities updating info. We stopped going to the Connections gathering a few years ago for many reasons: including they room was frequently booked for another event 45 mins after the CC time and we were told we only had 30 mins so they could set up for the next scheduled event the Officers made a brief appearance and left, rarely 1 or 2 would stay to chat very little interaction among those attending, due probably to time constraints many were at 9:30 am - too early for us on a sea day . We have found the Sail Away gatherings organized on the Roll Call to be a be more fun and a relaxed way to connect with other Roll Call members. The sail away gatherings are great for those who arrive early enough at the embarkation pier to get on board early . However ,that is not true for others who are then left out from the roll call .Seems to us that the Meet & Greets ,the first sea day for a hour or so is the best alternative Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the penguins Posted September 19, 2022 #12 Share Posted September 19, 2022 6 hours ago, mcrcruiser said: The sail away gatherings are great for those who arrive early enough at the embarkation pier to get on board early . However ,that is not true for others who are then left out from the roll call .Seems to us that the Meet & Greets ,the first sea day for a hour or so is the best alternative It was great for anyone organising an onboard event - slot pull, cabin crawl, crafts, book groups etc - very difficult otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Cruiser 6143 Posted September 19, 2022 #13 Share Posted September 19, 2022 2 hours ago, the penguins said: It was great for anyone organising an onboard event - slot pull, cabin crawl, crafts, book groups etc - very difficult otherwise. It's not that difficult to organize an on board event, just get the names and cabin numbers of all those who want to participate. It can be done on these roll calls. I agree that the parties became less useful when the time was cut and people were not allowed to introduce themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcrcruiser Posted September 19, 2022 Author #14 Share Posted September 19, 2022 24 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said: It's not that difficult to organize an on board event, just get the names and cabin numbers of all those who want to participate. It can be done on these roll calls. I agree that the parties became less useful when the time was cut and people were not allowed to introduce themselves. If there are enough interested people on any toll call ,then a lead person can make arrangements with the ships coordinator via e-mail .all one needs to do is get the name & e-mail from Celebrity on land yo set up a Meet & Greet on board .Seems to me that the cruise lines should like the publicity & all they need do is set aside a area with coffee , tea ,water & cookies & perhaps a open pay your own way bar . The lead person contacts the ships on line coordinator gives the date ,time & how many in attendance & then it should be a done event for those on that sailings roll call 😄 I have personally organized private tours ,Fun Craps rolls & Slot Pulls in the Casino , cruise critic luncheons with prizes ,cabin crawls & gift exchanges . These are fun ,interesting & you meet some very nice people for long term friend relationships Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the penguins Posted September 19, 2022 #15 Share Posted September 19, 2022 1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said: If there are enough interested people on any toll call ,then a lead person can make arrangements with the ships coordinator via e-mail .all one needs to do is get the name & e-mail from Celebrity on land yo set up a Meet & Greet on board .Seems to me that the cruise lines should like the publicity & all they need do is set aside a area with coffee , tea ,water & cookies & perhaps a open pay your own way bar . The lead person contacts the ships on line coordinator gives the date ,time & how many in attendance & then it should be a done event for those on that sailings roll call 😄 I have personally organized private tours ,Fun Craps rolls & Slot Pulls in the Casino , cruise critic luncheons with prizes ,cabin crawls & gift exchanges . These are fun ,interesting & you meet some very nice people for long term friend relationships Perhaps I should have put more difficult. On our last TA precovid there were so many group activities that having the Meet and Mingle on the first sea day helped a lot. The Slot Pull had over 70 participants, the Godiva Chocolate group nearly 50, plus 2 book groups, cabin crawl, pocker run and others. Even though we were on the previous sector the Event coordinator, the wonderful Gabriella, was unable to confirm times and locations for some events on the TA until the day we sailed making the M and M even more useful. Hopefully the M and M's will be back soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hcat Posted September 19, 2022 #16 Share Posted September 19, 2022 Agree with many of the comments...but wish they would return when posible..with the CD, officers, introductions, gift exchanges and kick off point for cabin crawls. It made the roll calls stronger and did lead to connectiins being made, One part we disliked was when individuals who organized pvt excursions, used the event to collect funds etc More business like, less of a casual get together. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islabahia Posted September 19, 2022 #17 Share Posted September 19, 2022 We have never gone to a Celebrity sponsored Connections Party. We have attended Roll Call sponsored events and enjoyed them tremendously! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisah101 Posted September 19, 2022 #18 Share Posted September 19, 2022 Again, I know it was posted before but I thought the issue was bar and serving staff are in such short supply, they struggle with staffing the existing bars much less private parties. I think you can organize anything but serving staff might not be available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the penguins Posted September 19, 2022 #19 Share Posted September 19, 2022 4 hours ago, hcat said: Agree with many of the comments...but wish they would return when posible..with the CD, officers, introductions, gift exchanges and kick off point for cabin crawls. It made the roll calls stronger and did lead to connectiins being made, One part we disliked was when individuals who organized pvt excursions, used the event to collect funds etc More business like, less of a casual get together. Agreed and its actually against the rules. We always sort our tours out in the Cafe Al Bacio - if you ever see a Union Jack Flag in a jug on a table there it's probably us finalising our tours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the penguins Posted September 19, 2022 #20 Share Posted September 19, 2022 3 hours ago, islabahia said: We have never gone to a Celebrity sponsored Connections Party. We have attended Roll Call sponsored events and enjoyed them tremendously! The Meet and Mingle - usually on the first sea day was always done through CC but with the ship providing the venue (usually Cellar Masters or Sky Lounge depending on the numbers), the refreshments and usually at least one Senior Officer to start the proceedings (usually the Hotel Director). Royal has started doing them again so hopefully Celebrity will soon follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GORDONCHICK Posted September 19, 2022 #21 Share Posted September 19, 2022 1 hour ago, davekathy said: We'd like to see Celebrity start the evening CC HH in the Sky Lounge start back up. Too many obligations or plans in the evenings for most, IMO. I know NCL did great Meet & Greets with refreshments and ALL the top officers would come, including the captain (though sometimes only for 5 minutes). I remember one captain invited everyone for a bridge tour on the last sea day. I don't know if they are doing them yet or not. MSC did a pretty nice party with a huge cake and a group photo was taken and copies delivered to everyone who signed in and included their cabin number. On my first X cruise, I didn't know what CC was. On my second, the gathering was REALLY lame and not worth our time. I'm hoping they return on X soon, and hoping they are better than what I experienced on X before. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelayne Posted September 19, 2022 #22 Share Posted September 19, 2022 8 hours ago, mcrcruiser said: If there are enough interested people on any toll call ,then a lead person can make arrangements with the ships coordinator via e-mail .all one needs to do is get the name & e-mail from Celebrity on land yo set up a Meet & Greet on board .Seems to me that the cruise lines should like the publicity & all they need do is set aside a area with coffee , tea ,water & cookies & perhaps a open pay your own way bar . The lead person contacts the ships on line coordinator gives the date ,time & how many in attendance & then it should be a done event for those on that sailings roll call 😄 I have personally organized private tours ,Fun Craps rolls & Slot Pulls in the Casino , cruise critic luncheons with prizes ,cabin crawls & gift exchanges . These are fun ,interesting & you meet some very nice people for long term friend relationships I have organized some of those events and agree those and a Sail Away are fun and a good way to meet other. The Connections parties have gotten shorten to the point that don't offer much opportunity for meeting and interacting with others from the Roll Call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
margie1221 Posted September 24, 2022 #23 Share Posted September 24, 2022 On 9/18/2022 at 10:43 PM, mcrcruiser said: The sail away gatherings are great for those who arrive early enough at the embarkation pier to get on board early . However ,that is not true for others who are then left out from the roll call .Seems to us that the Meet & Greets ,the first sea day for a hour or so is the best alternative Sail Away gatherings are at sail away - no preference is given to those who arrive early!! Everyone has to be onboard by then - Celebrity Cruise Critic boards tend to pick the outdoor Sunset Bar - in the aft of the ship. However I do recall that we planned one for Craft Social once since it was late August and too hot to sit outside!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Host Anne Posted September 24, 2022 #24 Share Posted September 24, 2022 I have a thread started about this subject here: I will post information when I learn about when Celebrity will begin hosting them again. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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