Disappointed, Princess not helpful to M&G organizers.

[yyjguy]

Through me work I speak to many officers, and these things are almost the most dreaded of all the events they must do.  Tank and bilge checks are more cherished.

[cr8tiv1]

@julia I respectfully disagree with you regarding M&Gs.  The ones I’ve been to have had lively interactions and fellowship.  The last one had 12 officers in attendance and the Captain was very informative,  The one hour allocated to us (formal time) was too short since the officers had to attend another event.  We stayed and conversed.  
 

Many passengers shared their wealth of information.  It is always fun to put a name and face together after reading about them on the Roll Call.  
 

We did have a very small sail away party on the aft Lido deck.

[TRLD]

Keep in mind that unlike group bookings who pay for use of facilities, any support the cruise line provides for a meet and greet is a courtesy. It is not a business negotiation for delivery of services. One can ask and they will give what they are willing to provide. 

 

In this case the OP pushed and they stopped responding.

[Arizona Wildcat]

Remember that unlike Celebrity, Princess provides only the venue (as of January) and no prizes or food/juice etc.

Have had active Cruise Critic boards of up to 400! and a M&G sign up of 120.  About 2/3 attended.  Cannot imagine how a M&G with 450 people would work.  How would people be able to introduce themselves?  Would take too long.

Sounds like the OP was coordinating a large group associated with a club or ??

[Abercrombie2019]

This is going to turn into a thread about large groups on board, isn’t it?  I hope there isn’t any PDA.  😆

[Louby-Lou]

I thought the M & G meetings arranged through CC were for CC members only.  Maybe the 'other' groups should organise their own separate events.  I didn't realise until reading this thread that the other groups are invited.

[Ombud]

11 hours ago, copper004 said:

A closed restaurant. All 3 main dining rooms are not open in the morning. 

That's what the ship did for us on April6-27, 2024. The grouponboardservices let them know what time then the onboard coordinator takes over. Once he heard our numbers we were redirected to Symphony Dining Room.  

 

On the previous one, November 2023 TA, our numbers were too large for Take 5 so the onboard person redirected us to Vista Lounge. They made up the signs & had someone at the old site to let everyone know. Plus I was given 24 hr internet to put out a blast.

 

Too bad you canceled as the ship will work with you 

 

I think the bigger issue is with how they are now combining the 2 groups (2 letter one) and us as we do events (cabin crawl, slot pull, wine share, private treks) that are only for Cruise Critic members

[EllieinNJ]

When I ran the meet and greet on the Enchanted in2022, I told everyone they can sign up on Cruise Critic.  Some who were just members of FB were upset but eventually did join cc and signed up.

[deultgen]

17 hours ago, copper004 said:

Very disappointed with Princess. We have a CC (and other social media platforms) group for the September 21 to October 28 cruise from Vancouver to Sydney on the Royal Princess with over 450 members. After 2 months of communication with Princess trying to set up a Meet & Greet, they reluctantly offered the Princess Live Studio. My co-host and I feel it is not a suitable location due to size of the group, the size of the venue and the fixed stadium seating. After repeated communications explaining our thoughts, Princess has stopped responding to our emails. It has resulted in us canceling the M&G. It is a shame! I always thought social media groups gatherings were good publicity for the cruise line and a way to make loyal customers feel appreciated. NCL would go out of their way to help organize these activities. I guess Princess doesn’t feel the need. 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

As someone who has coordinated multiple Cruise Critic Meet and Greet events with Princess and Celebrity, I am not surprised that Princess would not be enthusiastic about hosting an event for Cruise Critic members and multiple other social media platforms with as many as 450 people.  Actually I am surprised they did not simply say "no thank you" to a meet and greet of 450 people from Facebook.

 

I bet if you would have had the normal Meet and Greet with Cruise Critic members you would have had the regular cooperation, hosting site, and officers.  

Edited Friday at 04:22 PM by deultgen
added information

[TomBaker]

On Regal this summer the staff on board bent over backwards to acommodate our Facebook group, they moved our event from the Retreat Bar to the Vista Lounge so that everyone could attend, they provided giveaways and prizes, senior officers attended including the cruise Director and other senior staff. They did the welcome and mingled with all members. I cannot rate them highly enough once we got on board.

[cr8tiv1]

6 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Remember that unlike Celebrity, Princess provides only the venue (as of January) and no prizes or food/juice etc.

Have had active Cruise Critic boards of up to 400! and a M&G sign up of 120.  About 2/3 attended.  Cannot imagine how a M&G with 450 people would work.  How would people be able to introduce themselves?  Would take too long.

Sounds like the OP was coordinating a large group associated with a club or ??

First time Princess ever provided coffee/tea, danishes, and cookies for us.  It was a nice surprise besides the open bar.

 

On another cruise, I did hear that the officers attended a different other social media group M&G.  

[suzyed]

22 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

@julia I respectfully disagree with you regarding M&Gs.  The ones I’ve been to have had lively interactions and fellowship.  The last one had 12 officers in attendance and the Captain was very informative,  The one hour allocated to us (formal time) was too short since the officers had to attend another event.  We stayed and conversed.  
 

Many passengers shared their wealth of information.  It is always fun to put a name and face together after reading about them on the Roll Call.  
 

We did have a very small sail away party on the aft Lido deck.

Your experience is very much the same at the several M&Gs I have arranged and others that I have not arranged but helped at.

[Iamcruzin]

10 hours ago, TomBaker said:

On Regal this summer the staff on board bent over backwards to acommodate our Facebook group, they moved our event from the Retreat Bar to the Vista Lounge so that everyone could attend, they provided giveaways and prizes, senior officers attended including the cruise Director and other senior staff. They did the welcome and mingled with all members. I cannot rate them highly enough once we got on board.

How many in the group. Over the years I have joined CC roll calls as well as FB groups. I don't think there was more than 100 total for both groups combined. 450 people is more like an organization group that charters the ship and plans activities for that group all week. A 450 meet and greet is just absurd.

[cr8tiv1]

@copper004 you leave tomorrow.  Please keep us updated on your M&G.  You can always contact the Events Coordinator onboard (not Future Cruise department).  You will have many sea days to make this happen.  Let your Roll Call know that you will post TBD.  

[sunviking90]

On the Royal Princess this past April they moved our M&G from another venue to one of the dining rooms. Our group was average sized though. The 450 could be the issue here.

[Teechur]

Years ago, we attended some fun Meet and Greet parties. Slot pulls, cabin crawls, etc.

Since Covid they have all been deadly boring.

We quit going.