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Whatever Happened to the Original Intent (I Think) of CC's Roll Calls?


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I've been a CC Member for some time and have participated in many Roll Calls. When I first joined CC, the purpose of the Roll Calls seemed to be to promote developing a connection with those on a specific cruise prior to sailing. Past experiences on such an itinerary were shared and suggestions offered to those who have not yet sailed on such a cruise. There were, for some of the Roll Calls, relationships that developed online prior to boarding. More than one CC Meeting was planned prior to boarding (and sometimes more were planned once on-board) to continue the information/experience sharing. For me, some of these relationships and friendships go as far back as 2002 as well as for more recent cruises!

 

Now, the Roll Calls seem to be more about what private tours offers the best value as compared to the comparable shore excursions offered by the cruise line. Surely, such information is informative and I have no doubt that it helps many who participate on the Roll Call for that cruise. But, is the Roll Call the proper place to do this? Ought CC start a different Message Board to accommodate this type of information? Many thanks for those who arrange and host the Meet & Greets now, as I have done in the past. They are appreciated by me. (There is work required to host these events that is not understood by the casual participant.) On a "short" cruise, I understand that arranging another CC Roll Call gathering is not practical. But, that brief meeting with others, very, very few whom I will recognize or who will recognize me during the succeeding days of the cruise, makes me wonder if registering for and attending the Roll Calls of today are worthwhile.

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I'm not a particularly sociable person so I don't have first-hand knowledge, but the impression I've gotten is that this site (and other travel forums like DISboards) tried too hard to control what information people could share with each other on roll calls, so it all mostly moved off to Facebook.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am glad the OP placed this thread here...where it's nice and quiet. Otherwise I think there would be a great deal of debate...and not necessarily to the advantage of the OP.

I have been at and involved with many M&M events. I only have positive things to say about the Meet and Mingle. Over the years I have made many lasting friendships and have had many great and memorable times. If, as Perditax has said, that most of the activity has gone to Facebook...then these posts oaf

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Sorry but the thread went dead.

...Then these posts that we see on CC would be nonexistent and all the topics would be empty. As a point of fact CC is thriving. So I say let the good times role and enjoy the vast amounts of information as well as the many friendships these posts provide. Cruise Critics has set up a very comprehensive set of rules and the results have been extremely successful.

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Doesn't seem all that different from other threads in other categories that completely digress from the issue to OP was posting/asking about. What I think needs greater control by moderators is when it ends up being a "pissin' contest" between just two posters who go on and on and on chastising and belittling each other and most often it digresses to nothing to do with the OP's post!

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marco and CGTNORMANDIE,

 

As OP, I appreciate you replying to my thread. Deciding to post this topic, I was hoping that there are other long time cruisers and CC members who shared my "sense of loss" as to what I "thought" the Roll Calls were about.

 

I, too, have been involved in organizing Meet and Greets. I, too, have made friends, visited, and sailed with again, some of those whom I first met on CC's Roll Calls. I value these relationships beyond any words that I can say!

 

On my most recent Alaskan cruise, I connected with a couple who has posted blogs and other posts whom I recognized. And, when I identified myself by my CC screen name, recognized me! Through their posts/blogs and my posts/reviews, CC provided a cruise experience for me that would not otherwise have happened.

 

As I stated in my original post for this thread, the Roll Call emphasis today does not seem to be a "get to know you before we sail" type of experience. And, a "what do you know about where we are sailing that we don't know" type of experience. It's more of "what can we see/do that is close to the same as the cruise line's shore excursions at the lowest possible price."

 

I have met many very pleasant cruisers on recent Roll Calls, including one who was very active for awhile posting sailaway information on the HAL Message Boards. (Most gratified to finally meet him.) But, we never connected again aboard ship, and on that cruise, I recognized (or was recognized) by very few others that were at the M & G.

 

Not having any interest in being involved in the "private tour arrangements" for those on that Roll Call's cruise, I have no idea if any other relationships developed from such interests.

 

I simply find that a one time get together with a Roll Call group, particularly if it numbers in dozens of members, is lacking in what I thought CC originally expected the Roll Call Message Boards to provide for us cruisers.

 

Will I still register for a Roll Call and attend whatever Meet & Greets that are scheduled? Yes, I will. Why? Because I like to meet people and share experiences.

 

But, in my opinion, the "sharing" and the "meeting" aspect of the M & G has taken a back seat to what I thought was the purpose of the Roll Call Message Boards.

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I'm not sure about the very early years of CC (I joined in 2005), but I wonder if perhaps CC added so many forums where people could ask specific questions and get information about the ship (e.g., the separate cruise line forums) and the ports of call, that the roll call threads didn't really need to serve that function anymore.

 

Plus, CC has also set the rule that you are not allowed to ask or talk about shared tours anywhere OTHER than the roll calls.

 

Personally, I don't mind the tour share info, as I almost always do private tours or "do my own thing" -- which I'm happy to share info about and frequently do.

 

I've been on a few chatty roll calls, but a lot of them also devolved into conversations where there was a lot of one-upmanship ("We're in a suite, we only go to specialty dining because we think the MDR is like Applebees" -- that sort of thing.)

 

Now the cruise line I cruise on most is so small that it doesn't even have a dedicated forum and rarely any roll calls. ;)

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I think talking and sharing private tour info is great, we did a 12 day Europe cruise last year, several of us arranged tours of 6 to 10 people, they were so much better and cheaper than cruise ship tours . I am very active on roll calls and also started a few, but normally do hot hang out with people from roll call ( Europe cruise was a exception) . Next cruise will be #62 started cruising in 1975 ( we also do suites but did more than my fare share of inside rooms)

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  • 1 month later...
I'm not sure about the very early years of CC (I joined in 2005), but I wonder if perhaps CC added so many forums where people could ask specific questions and get information about the ship (e.g., the separate cruise line forums) and the ports of call, that the roll call threads didn't really need to serve that function anymore.

 

Plus, CC has also set the rule that you are not allowed to ask or talk about shared tours anywhere OTHER than the roll calls.

 

Personally, I don't mind the tour share info, as I almost always do private tours or "do my own thing" -- which I'm happy to share info about and frequently do.

 

I've been on a few chatty roll calls, but a lot of them also devolved into conversations where there was a lot of one-upmanship ("We're in a suite, we only go to specialty dining because we think the MDR is like Applebees" -- that sort of thing.)

 

Now the cruise line I cruise on most is so small that it doesn't even have a dedicated forum and rarely any roll calls. ;)

 

I think this post is exatly right.

 

There have been so many other sub-fora created that the roll calls are poor places to discuss questions.

An example: Suppose I'm going on a Nordic Cruise and am wondering which gear to take to best try to capture the Northern Lights. People in the Photography Forum are more likely to have useful opinions than those random people on my Roll Call.

Similarly, if we're traveling to, oh, Dubrovnik, well, most of us haven't been there, but there's a useful Port-of-Call forum somewhere.

 

There is indeed no other place to try to organise shared tours.

 

The promotion of Facebook (etc.) type groups is disallowed, so once such a group becomes operational and people find out about it by e-mail, all chatter moves there because most people naturally want it all-in-one-place. Those other playforms make it muh easier to post pictures etc.

 

Also, this site's rules restrict a lot of what would be otherwise useful discusion, so all THAT moves offsite too.

 

This site is a business and is more than welcome to make its own rules. An unintended consequence is that the roll calls have morphed into something the OP likes less.

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  • 1 month later...

As a relevant newcomer to CC, I do consider the roll calls as offering good opportunities to get to know fellow cruisers prior to the cruise, then meet at the Meet and Mingle, which may progress to dining together, or just bumping into each other and spending time together. We do sometimes meet up with future cruise CCers if (rarely) they are from the same city, or even if we are in their overseas city on an earlier cruise. "Knowing" people from the roll call certainly does enhance our cruise experience.

 

However I do also think the roll calls are a great opportunity to arrange shared tours and transfers. Not just because a private tour is cheaper, but mainly because we will be a very small group, sometimes just 6, sometimes 14 if appropriate, but never a big bus of 40 people who are usually difficult to keep together.

 

Some new threads are really useful as previously mentioned (ports of call, photographers, etc). Others are repeated over and over and are just an avenue to gripe. One line quips serve no purpose on a roll call, or going off topic go talk about your dog or neighbourhood for instance. Or sniping at a fellow member because they have a different opinion.

 

So I think the possible original intent of roll calls still holds true.

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As a relevant newcomer to CC, I do consider the roll calls as offering good opportunities to get to know fellow cruisers prior to the cruise, then meet at the Meet and Mingle, which may progress to dining together, or just bumping into each other and spending time together. We do sometimes meet up with future cruise CCers if (rarely) they are from the same city, or even if we are in their overseas city on an earlier cruise. "Knowing" people from the roll call certainly does enhance our cruise experience.

 

However I do also think the roll calls are a great opportunity to arrange shared tours and transfers. Not just because a private tour is cheaper, but mainly because we will be a very small group, sometimes just 6, sometimes 14 if appropriate, but never a big bus of 40 people who are usually difficult to keep together.

 

Some new threads are really useful as previously mentioned (ports of call, photographers, etc). Others are repeated over and over and are just an avenue to gripe. One line quips serve no purpose on a roll call, or going off topic go talk about your dog or neighbourhood for instance. Or sniping at a fellow member because they have a different opinion.

 

So I think the possible original intent of roll calls still holds true.

 

I've been a host on Cruise Critic for over 20 years. The Roll Call feature was added and has been a very constructive opportunity for Cruise Critic members to get to learn about the upcoming cruise and get to chat with fellow cruisers. Participation varies from noone at all to very active.

 

 

My experience with roll calls for cruises I've been on is that the more active ones are very effective and create a great on board exoerience. Similarly the less active roll calls really accomplished little. It's all a matter on the personalities of the CC members who choose to participate.

 

In one example, a TA from Barcelona to Ft Lauderdale, the participants organized a pre-cruise get together on Las Ramblas at a popular hotel that many had booked reservations for. We (my wife and I) planned to join the group until a health problem required us to cancel he cruise but I stayed in touch withsome of thge group. Since that cruise we have done a few short cruises from LA and have actually met some of the people on the BCN/FLL cruise.

 

In other roll calls we had just a meet and greet and little more.

 

On reflection, we still had the opportunity to enjoy cruises with more than just me and my wife at a minimum and others with a very rich interpersonal experience.

 

In other words, the roll calls provide an opportunity to an enrichment of the cruise experience provided the participants choose to let it.

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  • 1 month later...

My experience and I have been on CC for along time is that each roll call has its own characteristics.

 

Some are very active with lots of participants and some have very little activity.

 

Some talk about how people are preparing for the cruise with lots of questions about pre and/or post cruise hotels, restaurants, clothing to bring, flight times and what they are doing in port. Some also include sharing tours and some include getting together on board.

 

Again it varies based on so many things including the cruise line, cruise ship, how many participants and just the characteristics of those sailing.

 

I do find that CC as a whole is a more active and diverse community then when I joined and I think overall this is very positive.

 

Happy Holidays.

 

Keith

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