Reports on recent cruise critic meet & greets?

[DorothyB]

I am getting close to setting up a meet & greet for one of the three cruises I currently have booked.

 

It has been a few years since I set up or attended a meet & greet.

 

Do some of the staff still attend?  Do they still provide something like juice and cookies? or ???  

 

Anything else I might want to know?  Is there a minimum number of attendees to set this up?  Is it still typically the morning of the first sea day?

 

I am aware of the online form when I get ready to set it up.

 

Thanks!!

[JIMESOPUS]

18 minutes ago, DorothyB said:

I am getting close to setting up a meet & greet for one of the three cruises I currently have booked.

 

It has been a few years since I set up or attended a meet & greet.

 

Do some of the staff still attend?  Do they still provide something like juice and cookies? or ???  

 

Anything else I might want to know?  Is there a minimum number of attendees to set this up?  Is it still typically the morning of the first sea day?

 

I am aware of the online form when I get ready to set it up.

 

Thanks!!

I have stopped organizing the M&G due to the lack of attendance, the amount of no-shows is constantly growing. The last one that had my name on it only 25 out of 60 attended.

On our last cruise, only 15 showed up and I felt sorry for the organizer and the crew.

 

Back to your questions: it has always been the first sea day, the GM and senior hotel managers attended, and they cut back on the treats and drinks.

 

Good luck with yours

 

Jim

 

[julig22]

They've had cookies at the last couple of ones that I've gone to (at times when it was reported that cookies weren't available onboard anymore). Sr. crew has attended, getting a printed list of officers seems to be hit or miss.

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

I have arranged a number of M&Gs over the years but never again.   

 

I am in full agreement with Jim @JIMESOPUS that it is almost impossible these days to guarantee a decent attendance or even an accurate number.

 

Mike

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@DorothyB

 

I am getting close to setting up a meet & greet for one of the three cruises I currently have booked.   Good luck.  By "setting up" I hope you mean ARRANGING for all eventualities that might crop up and for activities at the M&G.   It is a hell of a job to do one properly and a shambles if you don't.   I hope you are not intending to be someone, I have seen some recently where the setter-up did just that to get the perks!!!!!

 

It has been a few years since I set up or attended a meet & greet.   Personally I suggest you attend one or two soon before trying to set one up; things have changed.

 

Do some of the staff still attend?  No change here but give individual invitations, try thy captain too.    Do they still provide something like juice and cookies? or ???   Generally yes but please make every attempt to give accurate numbers.

 

Anything else I might want to know?  Is there a minimum number of attendees to set this up?   I didn't approach NCL till I had 20 "confirmed" attendees.   That caused a problem twice when I was gazumped.   Is it still typically the morning of the first sea day?   More often than not, usually at 10 or 11; I always asked for 11 so we could go to a combined lunch I had set up.

 

I am aware of the online form when I get ready to set it up.   If you want something out of the normal I would also use the email method of old.

[DorothyB]

13 minutes ago, Anoynmous Phoenix said:

@DorothyB

 

  By "setting up" I hope you mean ARRANGING for all eventualities that might crop up and for activities at the M&G.   It is a hell of a job to do one properly and a shambles if you don't.   I hope you are not intending to be someone, I have seen some recently where the setter-up did just that to get the perks!!!!!

 

It has been a few years since I set up or attended a meet & greet.   Personally I suggest you attend one or two soon before trying to set one up; things have changed.

 

I always asked for 11 so we could go to a combined lunch I had set up.

 

Thanks!

I did arrange one back in 2014 for a repositioning cruise from California to Houston via the Panama Canal.  It was a LOT of work!! but we had mostly a good sized group.  I did a meet-up around sail away; the meet & greet with name tags and sign-ups for people interested in games, etc; organized a cabin crawl with a poker aspect (but was thinking this morning that I don't remember the prize? maybe those who wanted to participate in that part put in a couple of dollars?) that had so many attendees that they went out in groups; did a scavenger hunt (which was pretty much a fail); found a volunteer to do a pub crawl; etc.

 

So far we haven't had any volunteers to do one for my next cruise, so . . . 

I am curious about the "combined lunch" you set up??

 

Honestly I am not sure if there will be enough interest to do the meet & greet (so not enough interest to do the rest either).  I will ask probably next week.

Edited July 14 by DorothyB

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@DorothyB

 

I did arrange one back in 2014 for a repositioning cruise   I reiterate, attend some before arranging one now.   Cruising and the people have changed considerably in 10 years

 

So far we haven't had any volunteers to do one for my next cruise   Take this as an indication of what you will be up against

 

Now that I don't try to arrange a Meet & Greet I still try to get to meet other cruisers early in a cruise.    I will offer on the Roll Call to arrange a dinner on the second evening; for up to 16 in an MDR at 6pm.    I will also often offer to arrange a lunch after the M&G at Noon, also through the Roll Call.

To do it properly I need a commitment, with names, cc name, cabin #, cruise date and where you are from.

[julie3fan]

8 hours ago, JIMESOPUS said:

Back to your questions: it has always been the first sea day....

 

I'm organizing a M&G for a sailing later this month, where our first sea day isn't until the 5th day of the cruise.  Our first port's departure is at 4pm with an all aboard of 3:30, so I requested our M&G be held on that day from 4:30-5:30, giving everybody time to freshen up and watch sail away before the M&G.  The date and time were approved with no issue at all. 

[Va Girl]

3 hours ago, julie3fan said:

 

I'm organizing a M&G for a sailing later this month, where our first sea day isn't until the 5th day of the cruise.  Our first port's departure is at 4pm with an all aboard of 3:30, so I requested our M&G be held on that day from 4:30-5:30, giving everybody time to freshen up and watch sail away before the M&G.  The date and time were approved with no issue at all. 

Julie, We are on your sailing.  Did the first port departure time change again?  My last info from NCL says we depart at 3pm.  Just don't want to see any pier runners or worse yet, be one.

[mcmomny]

I have also noticed that Roll Calls are becoming a thing of the past, FaceBook seems to be the way to go but being one of the few who never drank the Kool Aid of Facebook I guess I have missed out on some get togethers on board!

 

Years ago I started to set up a CC get together only to have someone else on the roll call take over so I have never bothered again.

 

If there has been one for any of our sailings we have always attended, meetings, Slot Pull, bar crawl. They have all been fun!

 

I have a fabulous picture of my husband during the bar crawl on The POA!  They made him wear a purple stuffed Octopus on his head!

[mking8288]

1 hour ago, mcmomny said:

I have also noticed that Roll Calls are becoming a thing of the past, .... seems to be the way to go but being one of the few who never drank the Kool Aid of ... 

 

Years ago I started to set up a CC get together only to have someone else on the roll call take over so I have never bothered again.

 

If there has been one for any of our sailings we have always attended, meetings, Slot Pull, bar crawl. They have all been fun! ...

 

Well, some / many of the CC roll calls had (are) becming a thing of the past (and, I absolutely do not co-mingle & mix up the 2 separate platform and their private group(s) with self-appointed (co)administrators; and, known to some of us - watch some of the CC roll calls poached, hijacked and taken over by claims of "expert" organizers.  Sometimes, they post on CC but then promote on the other site - and, brag about hundreds of "members" signing up and coming to the M&G, yet "their members" have no clue about CC, let alone care & don't even have CC ID/handle or nickname - I attributed those elements to the resulting poor attendance & no-shows. 

 

And, been to a # of those officially recognized CC Meet & Greet, where the organizer was really from the other site and they're disasters - couldn't care less if anyone else show up or not, strictly for themselves and whatever "perks" they feel entitled to or expected to likely get.

 

As far as I know, going back 15+ years, there was never a formal minimal requirement of attendees before NCL would approve a CC meeting onboard with some of the senior officers from the ship attending briefly.  Some of the best ones were attended by 20, 25, 30 to 40+ people as expected with fun slot pulls & cabin crawls.  

 

CC admins / mods are often not acting decisively to stop the abuse and sadly I am not sure if the  new online submission form by NCL is going change or do anything.  I wish that CC find a way to incorporate the other platform and funnel or redirect the chats back here.

 

My message to the OP is, if committed and you do have an active & core group from the CC core circles, go ahead and just do it.  Good luck and have fun. 

Edited July 14 by mking8288

[All-ready2cruise]

As an example of where the M&Gs have gone, if they've gone; I've booked a B2B in November this yr. the first, a 5-day Caribbean cruise has a M&G started a few months ago now has 4 people booked, 1 couple, 2 solos (separate). The following 7 day, no M&G started.  

I enjoyed meeting everyone who attended these meet ups and am kind of sad they no longer seem to exist. 

Still, I enjoy the cruises though. 😉

[graphicguy]

Arranged one on the Epic for a Mediterranean Cruise last October.  It was well attended.

 

But, just got off the Joy about a month ago, and it wasn't well attended at all.

 

Personally, you kind of have to hype it up on different social platforms.  If you arrange it and just kind of let it "sit there", it's not going to be well attended.

 

They always have snacks, cookies, etc on the ones I've been to.  NCL does a nice job with M&Gs, solo meetups and Military recognition.

Edited July 14 by graphicguy

[julie3fan]

6 hours ago, Va Girl said:

Julie, We are on your sailing.  Did the first port departure time change again?  My last info from NCL says we depart at 3pm.  Just don't want to see any pier runners or worse yet, be one.

 

Nope, sorry!  I wrote this from memory, but the all aboard time is 2:30, sailing at 3...so no change!

[cruiseny4life]

Y'all are making me stress about my vacation and I'm not even planning a meet and greet! If I knew cruising was so dramatic, I don't think I'd ever start cruising. 😱

[Laszlo]

The last one I went to was two years ago. The person who set it up was pissed, really pissed. Less than half the people who said they would attend did. 

[fastpitchdad]

I have some few together that were well attended (I have one upcoming with quite a few signed up). I usually include an optional shot glass exchange which is fun and encourages people to attend. 

Edited July 16 by fastpitchdad

[Buford T Justiice]

40 - 60% attendance is about right for attendance for the last 7 - 8 yrs. The organizers telling NCL that 100% of the people signed up are showing up are the delusional ones.  But then again the organizers need to reach the number (25) for any of the perks.

[fastpitchdad]

19 minutes ago, Buford T Justiice said:

40 - 60% attendance is about right for attendance for the last 7 - 8 yrs. The organizers telling NCL that 100% of the people signed up are showing up are the delusional ones.  But then again the organizers need to reach the number (25) for any of the perks.

 

What perks?

[zqvol]

39 minutes ago, Buford T Justiice said:

40 - 60% attendance is about right for attendance for the last 7 - 8 yrs. The organizers telling NCL that 100% of the people signed up are showing up are the delusional ones.  But then again the organizers need to reach the number (25) for any of the perks.

I’m doing a B2B on Gem in late September and there aren’t 25 people in either roll call. Times have changed 

Edited July 16 by zqvol

[The Traveling Man]

15 minutes ago, fastpitchdad said:

 

What perks?

On some ships the GM may offer Suite privileges to the M&G coordinator regardless of the type of stateroom they have booked.  This would include breakfast and lunch in Cagney's or Moderno.  The GM also may provide an additional night to dine in a specialty restaurant over and above any FAS or Latitudes dining benefits they may have.  Butler services, priority embarkation and tendering, as well as other benefits also may be offered.  It doesn't happen on every ship or with every GM.  As some have suggested on this thread, the level of benefits may vary depending upon the number of CC members who attend the M&G.

 

I have served as M&G coordinator on several NCL cruises, most recently last October on the Dawn.  We sailed on a B2B in Europe.  We had almost 30 signed up for the M&G on the first cruise.  About 20 showed up.  I was a little disappointed since there were almost as many officers present as there were guests.  The things that kept up my spirits, though, were GM Vitor's very positive attitude and the fact that we had over 40 CC members signed up for the M&G on the second cruise.  Only ten attended, fewer than the number of officers.  I felt embarrassed.  I have been trying to drum up support for a M&G on a couple of roll calls on some future NCL cruises.  To say the response has been tepid might be an understatement.  Personally I enjoy M&Gs, but if so few others choose to attend, it makes no sense for me to put in the effort to organize them.  They may well go the way of the Dodo.

[fastpitchdad]

27 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

On some ships the GM may offer Suite privileges to the M&G coordinator regardless of the type of stateroom they have booked.  This would include breakfast and lunch in Cagney's or Moderno.  The GM also may provide an additional night to dine in a specialty restaurant over and above any FAS or Latitudes dining benefits they may have.  Butler services, priority embarkation and tendering, as well as other benefits also may be offered.  It doesn't happen on every ship or with every GM.  As some have suggested on this thread, the level of benefits may vary depending upon the number of CC members who attend the M&G.

 

I have served as M&G coordinator on several NCL cruises, most recently last October on the Dawn.  We sailed on a B2B in Europe.  We had almost 30 signed up for the M&G on the first cruise.  About 20 showed up.  I was a little disappointed since there were almost as many officers present as there were guests.  The things that kept up my spirits, though, were GM Vitor's very positive attitude and the fact that we had over 40 CC members signed up for the M&G on the second cruise.  Only ten attended, fewer than the number of officers.  I felt embarrassed.  I have been trying to drum up support for a M&G on a couple of roll calls on some future NCL cruises.  To say the response has been tepid might be an understatement.  Personally I enjoy M&Gs, but if so few others choose to attend, it makes no sense for me to put in the effort to organize them.  They may well go the way of the Dodo.

 

I have one upcoming on the dawn with a pretty good number signed up. As mentioned above, it includes a shot glass exchange for which almost everyone has also signed up. Since they already made the investment they usually attend (and it is fun 🙂 ). 

[julie3fan]

I have over 90 signed up for our M&G later this month, and I'm curious how well attended it will be as it's in the afternoon following a port day with an early departure.  I'll know soon enough, I suppose!

[The Traveling Man]

5 hours ago, fastpitchdad said:

 

I have one upcoming on the dawn with a pretty good number signed up. As mentioned above, it includes a shot glass exchange for which almost everyone has also signed up. Since they already made the investment they usually attend (and it is fun 🙂 ). 

If either Alain or Vitor are serving as GM on your cruise, you most likely will receive red carpet treatment.  I have sailed with each of them on the Dawn and have served as M&G coordinator several times each.  On each occasion, as soon as the check-in clerk at the cruise terminal looked up our information, we were escorted from the regular check-in line to the Haven lounge to complete our check-in.  The concierge then escorted us on board with the Haven guests and we enjoyed breakfast and lunch in Moderno or Cagney's throughout the cruise.  This was despite the fact that we were traveling in a Balcony stateroom, not the Haven.  When we had dinner with an officer on those cruises, we were paired with the GM in Le Bistro instead of a junior officer in the MDR.  The fact that we are Diamond Latitudes members may have influenced the perks we received, but I suspect it was mostly because of the M&G.  Let's hope that you get one of these two gentlemen as your GM and that they still are affording these courtesies to M&G coordinators when you cruise on the Dawn.

[julie3fan]

I cruised with Alain on the Dawn years ago, and a more hospitable person couldn't be found!  I wish he was sailing on the Star!