Lower Meet & Greet participation

[Ombud]

Just got off a ship last Sunday. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

17 signed up for Sailaway, most showed up or floated by, it was just us

30 signed up for Meet & Greet, less than 1/3 showed up. Several dept heads came

 

Is this becoming common?? 

[sloopsailor]

Yes. These events have always been over hyped and gradually people have gotten tired of them. We went to our first two, were bored at both, and have never gone to another.

[iamaqt2]

I tried it a couple of times.  Rather than an opportunity to meet fellow cruisers, it felt more like a geriatric meeting to me.  I had nothing in common being at least 30 years younger than most of the other attendees.

It's a waste of time to do on a 7 day cruise IMO. 

Way better ways to spend an hour of valuable vacation time.

[dog]

I’ve organized a few pre pandemic. In 2019 about 25 participated in the roll call. 50+ showed up!

It really varies. I gave up when no one else would offer input but last minute wanted to change time & place. 

[cr8tiv1]

I’ve hosted a few and attended a few.  Correct, 7 days or less is a waste of energy.  But longer cruises can be very beneficial.  Who is hosting is important.  I do ice breakers, name tags, trivia and prizes.  I even bring cookies.  
 

I know of a couple great hosts. 

[Cruise Raider]

It seems as though it’s either feast or famine for roll calls.  Several officers have shown up to our last several sailings … sometimes to only 15-20 passengers.  If nothing else, we’ve gotten the opportunity to get to know some of the officers and they’ve been very kind through the trip, having recognized us from the initial meeting.  
 

Pre-pandemic, we had a roll call with over 500 passengers … it was spilling out of the meeting place into the hallway.  

[Ombud]

34 minutes ago, iamaqt2 said:

waste of time to do on a 7 day cruise IMO. 

Agree 100% but this was a 10 day cruise & held on day 2. My next cruise is 7 days (I probably won't go) the 2 after that are 15 & 22 days .... mulling over what to do

[EllieinNJ]

I just organized one for our 14 day Enchanted last month.  We had over 100 attend.  Our CD Jamie introduced the officers and was very entertaining.  We had a gift exchange where you stole someone else's gift if you didn't like what you got.  It was hysterical.  We had a luncheon the following day and many made new friends for the whe cruise.  We had a slot pull with 40 participants. We doubled our money so had another one later in the cruise.  There was a bar crawl which everyone who attended had a great time.  On sea days we had LRC games.  

 

For my next three cruises no one has mentioned a meet and greet and I don't feel like doing it again.  Maybe in the future.

 

[iamaqt2]

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

Agree 100% but this was a 10 day cruise & held on day 2. My next cruise is 7 days (I probably won't go) the 2 after that are 15 & 22 days .... mulling over what to do

I've found that the more informal sailaway meetups are more to my liking. Very little to arrange other than a meeting location and I get to put faces to names.  Much more enjoyable to me than the CC hosted one. 

[GOLDENBONNY]

I never understood why would someone go there in first place. Like why you want to talk to strange people what they ate for breakfast or how good it was 50 years agon on a cruise.

[teecee60]

ALL of the Meet and Greets I have attended  (about 30) have been thoroughly enjoyable and provided a perfect opportunity to make long time cruise friends that I still talk/cruise with 10 years later. 🙂

 

They DO seem to attract a mostly older crowd... instead of young pups (65) like me. 😁

 

Next up is the 16 night Diamond to Hawaii cruise and we have 100 people signed up. 😉

 

I have been on Celebrity transatlantic cruises with 600 and 800 people in attendance. 😵

 

Nobody is FORCED to attend... but I rather enjoy meeting new people.

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by teecee60

[iamaqt2]

24 minutes ago, teecee60 said:

ALL of the Meet and Greets I have attended  (about 30) have been thoroughly enjoyable and provided a perfect opportunity to make long time cruise friends that I still talk/cruise with 10 years later. 🙂

 

They DO seem to attract a mostly older crowd... instead of young pups (65) like me. 😁

 

Next up is the 16 night Diamond to Hawaii cruise and we have 100 people signed up. 😉

 

I have been on Celebrity transatlantic cruises with 600 and 800 people in attendance. 😵

 

Nobody is FORCED to attend... but I rather enjoy meeting new people.

 

I was in my 40s at the time.  See?  I was counting you in among us young folks. 😉

[Steelers36]

I attend a M&G to meet other CC members on the Roll Call who I have private tours with as it is nice to get to meet folks face to face ahead of the tours.  Otherwise, I don't find them of much interest.  It depends on which officers come and what they have to say.  We had a good M&G on Island in early Nov, but not many officers showed beyond the CD.  At least not ones I was interested in and none really spoke other than the CD.

[bluetardis]

Thanks. As a solo traveler, I usually go to meet and greets to meet other solo travelers. 

[startedwithamouse]

We attended one, Lots of sour faces, hands on hips, trying to one up another bragging about number of cruises they've been on. And complaining to cruise staff about previous cruises. We were outta there quickly. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

Current Panama Canal cruise had a M&G that was ill attended.  Again few private tours organized.

Pre covid had meetings where opportunity to discuss private tours and events on board - slot pull, cabin crawl, duck hunt etc were discussed.

On Princess have seen poor participation.   In the past Celebrity meetings had hundreds attending.   Again Celebrity gave big support.  Princess much less.

[dog]

1 hour ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Current Panama Canal cruise had a M&G that was ill attended.  Again few private tours organized.

Pre covid had meetings where opportunity to discuss private tours and events on board - slot pull, cabin crawl, duck hunt etc were discussed.

On Princess have seen poor participation.   In the past Celebrity meetings had hundreds attending.   Again Celebrity gave big support.  Princess much less.

Oh

I have found the opposite.

 

pre pandemic Celebrity had very low numbers participate in roll calls & M&G.

[dog]

5 hours ago, teecee60 said:

ALL of the Meet and Greets I have attended  (about 30) have been thoroughly enjoyable and provided a perfect opportunity to make long time cruise friends that I still talk/cruise with 10 years later. 🙂

 

They DO seem to attract a mostly older crowd... instead of young pups (65) like me. 😁

 

Next up is the 16 night Diamond to Hawaii cruise and we have 100 people signed up. 😉

 

I have been on Celebrity transatlantic cruises with 600 and 800 people in attendance. 😵

 

Nobody is FORCED to attend... but I rather enjoy meeting new people.

 

Lovely post.

 

My main objective in organizing M&G was to meet up with the members of private tours I arranged, saving each member hundreds of dollars.Tahiti, St Petersburg Russia, Falkland Islands. And I appreciated the response I got from Most members who attended.

 

Sadly, there are a few that let the organizers know “what a waste of time”!

So I am done with them now- off to cruise to enjoy myself.

[leck57]

5 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

I attend a M&G to meet other CC members on the Roll Call who I have private tours with as it is nice to get to meet folks face to face ahead of the tours.  Otherwise, I don't find them of much interest.  

 

Exactly why we attend them. Occasionally I might get some tips about upcoming ports but it's easy to leave if they aren't much fun. About an hour out of a sea day is no big deal to me on the chance I might get some useful info, as well as meet others on our private tours.

[Coral]

I am one that would prefer to go to Meet and Greets to meet those who are on the roll call. I would prefer if the senior officers were not invited.

 

I recently had a 16 night cruise. I wish we had planned a 2nd Meet and Greet later on the TA part of the cruise as I met several people from the roll calls on private tours and would have loved to run into them again.

 

We did have great attendance on our M and G.

Edited December 24, 2022 by Coral

[billco]

The only time we enjoy meeting others is after a few drinks. Otherwise, we don't go to Meet & Greets or Sailaways. We always request tables for two, even at the Most Traveled Luncheon.

[Senga]

COVID has stopped our desire to meet and greet fellow passengers.  Maybe others feel the same.

[nini]

I have organized two M&G's. They were enjoyable and fairly successful. We are on a current Roll Call and there appears to be very little to zero interest. It is strange and this is a 14 day cruise. Oh well.

[EllieinNJ]

My 14 day Island Caribbean originally was to be in November 2020 on the Sky.  On the roll call before COVID cancelled it no one ever mentioned a meet and greet.  Then it was changed to the Caribbean Princess for 2021 and still no mention.  That sailing was changed to the Enchanted Princess for 2022 and about 9 pages in someone finally asked about a meet and greet.  I volunteered to do it and wound up with 130 people wanting to come.  100 actually did show up .

[RetroSister]

We did a 21 day transpacific in October and had the opposite experience. The meet and mingle was brilliant, with games even, and we met several people who have since become friends. We just got a Christmas card from some new friends last week!