Chatting on Roll call and then not meeting me disappointment!

[sheilb4]

Just wondering if this only happens to me??? I was on the roll call for the Glory 12/2 sailing and we had a large amount of people on the board.

 

I had arranged to meet some at the Radisson the friday night, and ended up sitting alone at the bar for 2 hours! NO-ONE showed up! I thought that was very rude! I was very upset, especially that I had made the effort and sat at the bar on my own which felt most uncomfortable by the way!

The meet up on board was arranged and only 4 showed. Thank you to those that did.

 

What I would like to know is why bother to be on a roll call and arrange to meet up then not show? At least say so, if you have no intention.

Ok thats my whining done, but I am curious if this has happened to others?

Oh, and Bev and Randy...you 2 are the best, and I so enjoyed meeting you thoughout the cruise.

[DarkJedi]

Don't know, but a lot of people back out of meeting strangers from the internet face to face for a variety of reasons.

Always plan on people not showing and just intend to enjoy the time either way.

[I Luv Crusin]

I've been disappointed too. I think that once people get on the cruise they are so busy and meeting with "strangers" isn't a priority. Then there are those like you and me that like to meet our CC "buddies" and it's important to meet.

[iluvdoxies]

Most of the roll calls for us have been "busts" too.

 

Dont know why.

 

That's why it;s so much fun to go on a cc group cruise !

[suziehmkr]

It's hard to say... things happen. On the first cruise that I took after finding Cruise Critic - we did make it to the meeting and there were just three couples that showed up. We had fun, took pics and saw each other all week long and even pop in to threads and say hi to each other now.

 

On our most recent cruise, Cruisin' Chick made arrangements with Princess for our meeting and unfortunately we weren't able to make it that time. I don't remember what it was, but once you get onboard, you tend to loose track of time. It just happens - and don't take it personal. Patty & I still chat on threads and all is good. Our children met though! LOL

 

Try not to take it personal - things just happen.

[I&MsMom]

Wow! My experience has been somewhat the opposite. We've met great groups of people on board at the meetings pre-arranged through our roll calls. It's so nice to put faces to names, and wonderful to spontaneously share a pre-dinner drink, or conversation while waiting to reboard, with someone you "know".

 

One particularly memorable cruise out of NY, we arranged to wear Mardi Gras beads so we would know each other. I wasn't on board 20 minutes when someone walked by wearing the beads, and we chatted a few minutes. We then met up at sailaway on the funnel deck (open to all during sailaway ;) ), someone brought bubbles for the kids, and it was a magical moment made more so by sharing it with new friends. It was so nice to run into them throughout the cruise and on shore excursions, and have a bit of a connection.

 

On another occasion, we booked a last minute cruise literally 72 hours before sailaway. I popped right onto the roll call, was warmly welcomed, invited to join the get together, did so, and met some great people! I felt like we'd been planning it for months!

 

I've no experience with Cruise Critic group cruises, but will remedy that with a cruise on the Freedom in the eastern Med. in April. :D I'm very much looking forward to it, as we have been planning together since last March! (Still a couple of weeks to join us - to 12/22 - if anyone is interested! :p )

 

I'm sorry the group meeting has not worked out for some of you. I really hope you have better luck on future cruises. Don't give up!

 

Happy cruising!!

[2Ports]

On the Coral a couple months ago, we had a very active roll call; evryone was going to meet on board. Only about half ever showed up or identified themselves; we had 2 of our 3 resrved tables empty. However, we did meet one of the couples who didn't show later (and hit it off quite well) and it turned out they missed the little table signs and were sitting right next to us wondering where we all were!

[LHP]

Nope it doesn't just happen to you. On one cruise, I sat in the atrium bar for an hour and only 1 other person showed up. People get distracted. Things happen.

[GoinCruisin]

This is why most of us always stress scheduling several meeting times... this is everyone's vacation, and as easy as it is to say they will meet up on the boards, once they are on vacation, they do their own thing... I'm sure nobody meant to be rude, but perhaps other things came up... always plan a few meetings and hopefully some will show. We always plan something the night before, then sailaway, then the first morning... I agree it's easier with CC groups, we always have on our tshirts so we can spot one another, plus everyone becomes such great friends over the time on the boards... we have all sorts of buttons, shirts, signs, lanyards, etc... so you can't run :p LOL!

[clgcrusier]

This happened on our cruise last March too. NO ONE showed, and we had had a very active roll call. It was quite disappointing! I DO think that the first day, people are busy and somewhat overwhelmed, trying to gret to know the ship, and a lot of people are partying, and it just gets forgotten. With this trip coming up, some of us are wearing something identafiable the first day, and planning or meeting on the 2nd day. Hopefully that might work out better. . ..

[ladycaveat]

One of the things I loved about my Celebrity cruise was there was a cruise line Cruise Critics sanctioned "get together" where the cruise line provided free drinks and snacks. So many of us became friends before we even met . . . and four years later . . . many of us are still friends. Our "get together party" had over 50 people. My last couple cruises have been on Carnival which only sanctions their "group cruises" and those not on these particular cruises are more or less on their own to decide on a time and place to meet. On my first cruise with Carnival . . . I waited and wore the cap backwards so we'd know who each other when we met at our designated place. No no one showed up. I still had a fantastic time on that cruise but it wasn't with CC people that I had talked to on our Roll Call Board. Last September, I actually met four people from the Roll Call Board . . . but not where we had agreed to meet. Met them in the piano bar and spent a lot of time together during the curise and I had a ball. I really wish Carnival would allow those that meet on CC the same perks as Celebrity and one other cruise line which I can't remember right now. Planning to meet other CC Roll Call members on your own is a great idea but from past experience . . . it just doesn't work.

[jimbug]

I have to admit, I am one of the "guilty" ones who have gotten onboard and not made it to the meet-n-greet. Once, on Princess, we had a super-active roll call and a pre-arranged meeting time. I didn't make a note of when/where, because another CC member had offered to distribute flyers to all of our cabins...that didn't happen, and I had the day wrong, so there went that one. Last year, on HAL, we contacted HAL in advance, and they were so nice to arrange us a meeting place with complimentary drinks and snacks, etc. I was the "arranger" of all this, so the food & beverage manager of the ship contacted me once onboard to confirm. He told me it would be at a certain bar on this day at a certain time, which was contrary to what ship services arranged prior to the cruise. I didn't know what rooms everyone was staying in, so I couldn't pass along the message. I think one person showed up...

 

So, I've now made it a point to not "promise" to participate in the CC get-togethers because stuff does come up once onboard, especially when traveling with non-CC members who wouldn't remember to remind you! :-p

[salty dingo]

It happens, don't be upset. On my last Carnival cruise, I was at the appointed place at the appointed time, and we even posted pictures of each other, but I did not see anyone I recognized.

 

I did not feel comfortable trying to seek them out, and no one came up to me either, so we just enjoyed the sailaway and did not worry about it.

[Smiling Cruiser]

We also had the same problem in November. We agreed to meet at the Sky Bar at 3:00. Only no one was able to get on the ship before 3:00 due to a problem on the prior sailing. While we were standing in line we met a couple who was scheduled to "meet a group at the Sky Bar at 3:00". Introductions were made and we spent time together before we boarded the ship. Boarded at 4:00 and went directly to the Sky Bar. We couldn't go to our rooms until 4:30 anyway. (People were still boarding at 6:00.) I'm sure a lot of people went to the buffet as soon as they boarded-it was a very long wait. Can't really blame them for missing that get together-just wished we could have meet some more of the people we chatted with on line. The couple we did meet while waiting to board also showed up at the Sky Bar. We enjoyed their company and even ended up sharing a dinner table together each night. Okieguy and his wife were great. We also met another pair of CC'ers-Whdove88 and travel mate-at Sunset Beach. Had a good time with them as well. We will continue to join roll calls and meet any CC'er who shows up at a meet. If you are someone who has missed a meet try to make the next one. There are a lot of other nice CC'ers who would be happy to make your acquaintance. Please pick a group identifier to wear to the meet before you sail. Sometimes it's hard to walk up to a table and ask people if they are CC members. You could be sitting at adjoining tables at the Sky Bar and never meet.:)

[salty dingo]

A "marker" is a great idea. For example, have everyone agree to wear a rubber band on the right wrist. Or maybe have a piece of a certain color ribbon pinned to a shirt.

 

Or... a strip of duct tape on your elbow... you get the idea.

[jckvpa0]

Hey I'm sorry that happened to you.

 

Unfortunately you did not have a big roll call.

 

I wouldn't take it personally, maybe you might think of joining a CC group cruise. They seem to have more people & more organized meetings.

[DASA]

Our last cruise we arranged to meet in the piano bar and all but 1 couple showed up.We had a great time and still correspond but not all of us.

 

It's a hit or miss thing and sometimes you get lucky and others you don't. Have made some great friends on the roll call and will continue trying on every cruise i do.

[jw4jg1mg2eg1]

We had a fairly active roll call last April. We set a meet & greet day & time & even announced what we would wear......I was so excited on cruise day that I left my list of this info at home. We were also all gonna wear straw hats...LOL...umm...the Conquest sails out of Galveston, TEXAS....lots of hats being worn. Not to mention that STRAW hats seem to be a part of alot of vacationer's daily attire. But I did manage to meet a few of the people on our roll call. I met one couple in line at the port during embarkation. Another couple visited the library while I was signing the CC book(we have since became very good friends just emailing each other).Then I met another woman & her son as we were getting back onboard the ship in Jamaica. So, ya never know where you might meet those roll call friends.:)

[Ship Addict]

I have also always tried to exchange cabin numbers prior to sailing. There are many different reasons why someone doesn't make the prearranged meet-up but they might still want to meet up some other time. I missed some people one time on sail-away but slipped a note on their cabin door a couple of days later and we were able to hook up for drinks one evening.

 

Of course, giving out your cabin number can back fire on you too. I can just imagine meeting your "new best friends" who won't leave you alone to enjoy your vacation!

[bethaniesmom]

as others have said...sometimes the meetings work, sometimes they don't...but we have always enjoyed meeting the people we have talked to for weeks, sometimes months, online....

i have learned not to take anything that comes of these online chats personally, seems we all have a little different personality online, where we are anonymous, than we do in real life....

so I just enjoy the cruise and meet those that we were meant to meet...in fact one trip, our table mates, quite by random seat assignment, were people we had talked to for months online!

but i will say it is rather nice to meet a few people and then see them regularly around the ship...we had a five year old at our group meeting one time that was the hit of the meeting and then it seemed like we ran into her everywhere we went....

 

happy cruising!

 

Beverly

[katiecat]

I've never joined a roll call before, but I ask the group to do a tour together.I hope this works out we booked on line and have about 15 people surely I'll meet some of them then. Being new a a computer I left my room number I probably shouldn't have done this my children tell me.Oh well,it's done now I'm not travelling alone anyway my DH & son are with me.

[Doug&Suzy-Q]

I totally understand.....for one cruise I monitored the roll call. The folks "just were not my cup of tea" so I never joined in..however I saw them at their meet. It was probably my loss, they could have been very nice people in person.

The next cruise roll call started off just great...then one person was rather rude to some folks on the call board. I stopped joining in for a while, then thought, why should one person ruin it for me, and joined back in.....at the meeting on board,this person continued to be rude. My DH & I introduced ourselves, hung around a couple minutes and left...I noticed several other folks did the same. At the second arranged meet, I noticed only 3-4 people showed up.

It is a shame that one person can ruin it for all.... people are what they are take it or leave it.........as for me....what you read is what I am...

I realize sometimes I get overly friendly.....but that's me...:eek:

The next cruise....we will do it again....we love meeting up with new people and hearing of their adventures in life......in fact, I hope that someone reading this will be one of the new people:D

[Shipyard Cruiser]

Remember that this is just an Internet chat board.

 

Meeting strangers frorm the Internet is sort of dicy to begain with.

 

You can be anyone you want to be on a message board..

 

IMHO a good deal of caution should always be ued out here.

[GoinCruisin]

Remember that this is just an Internet chat board.

 

Meeting strangers frorm the Internet is sort of dicy to begain with.

 

You can be anyone you want to be on a message board..

 

IMHO a good deal of caution should always be ued out here.

 

Actually, it's not a chat board... it's a message board :D

 

Yes, everyone should exercise caution, but I have met HUNDREDS of people from CC and never met anyone that wasn't who they said they were on here... Many of us get together on land several times a year, cruise a few times a year, etc... always some new people, and they always turn out great... Just people that share the same love of cruising. I would suggest meeting these people on an actual cruise ship, or the hotel and not in some dark alley however :p :p

[Rok4u2]

LHP, are you planning a CC get together onboard? If you are I will bring the name tags that we used on the 9 Nov sailing.