Carnival now Sponosring Meet & Greets

On a positive note for the many many wonderful Cruise Critic people I have asked our Cruise Directors to include every cruise starting next week the following ' CRUISE CRITIC MEET AND GREET " and a location in the FT's. This will be on embarkation day at 2:30pm at various locations depending on the ship. Cheers

Facebook posting from Heald.

Ok, I'll bite...what is FT ??.......wait, DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..that's the Fun Times newsletter...guess I need to get some caffiene this morning....lol

Fun Times.

Not sure if they are sponsoring them or just giving us a room for an hour or so.

And you know for darn sure somebody will find something about this to complain about, like perhaps it's too early on embarkation day or some such rubbish.

If JH hasn't learned by now, no good deed goes unpunished.

They are simply providing a location... nothing else but it was great of John to arrange this. The folks on the Conquest have been doing this for months. The location is Blue's piano bar, time 2:30 PM on the first full day of the cruise, which in my opinion, is far better than embarkation day...

:)

I think it's a nice gesture, but unless it's outside on one of the decks, near a bar, I don't think it will be well attended. Time will tell...

I think this is great & will make it so much easier for folks to get together. Thanks JH!

Cool, will have to look for it:D I think we have a pretty good group for my next sailing

They are simply providing a location... nothing else but it was great of John to arrange this. The folks on the Conquest have been doing this for months. The location is Blue's piano bar, time 2:30 PM on the first full day of the cruise, which in my opinion, is far better than embarkation day...

 

:)

 

There was something about this on CC last week, I posted to my roll call for Nov 2012 conquest .. though the only reply was someone on the wrong roll call..but at least the info is out there.

good to know.

Let me know when they provide a DJ and free drinks:)

There was something about this on CC last week, I posted to my roll call for Nov 2012 conquest .. though the only reply was someone on the wrong roll call..but at least the info is out there.

 

good to know.

I posted this quite some time ago when I was told that they would start doing this. No one really seemed to care!

:)

It is very nice of them to do this and do not see why anyone would expect free drinks.

I wonder how well attended this will be as most meet and greets we have attended are after sailaway behind the pizza station on lido.

They are simply providing a location... nothing else but it was great of John to arrange this. The folks on the Conquest have been doing this for months. The location is Blue's piano bar, time 2:30 PM on the first full day of the cruise, which in my opinion, is far better than embarkation day...

:)

I agree Mach... Nice gesture, terrible time... All passengers aren't even on the ship yet, still looking around, unpacking, eating lunch etc.... First full day (which most times is at sea) is much better for timing...

Well I think it's great! We ususally met at tea of the first sea day, no one will probably stay long, too anxious to get to cabin, and see the ship, but it's nice to have an assigned place to meet. Thanks for the heads up.

I agree Mach... Nice gesture, terrible time... All passengers aren't even on the ship yet, still looking around, unpacking, eating lunch etc.... First full day (which most times is at sea) is much better for timing...

We had our meet and greet on June 3rd Magic sailing. The 2:30 time worked well for us as the itinerary was very port intensive. It was held in the Red Frog Pub and approx 100 attended. It was also announced in the Fun Times. It was great meeting everyone on the roll call.

That's good, even if it's just a matter of reserving a bar area for CC members for 1hr or something, it's a nice gesture.

I posted this quite some time ago when I was told that they would start doing this. No one really seemed to care!

 

:)

I cared.. posted it immediately elsewhere.. maybe other people were like me and just didnt comment when you posted it.

This was very nice of John to do, especially on the heels of all the negative comments about him lately.

I'm glad! My last cruise (1st on Carnival and 1st roll call on CC) didn't have a meet and great and I really wanted to meet everyone. For my next cruise so far the roll call is just me but it is still over 300 days away so there is still plenty of time

They are simply providing a location... nothing else but it was great of John to arrange this. The folks on the Conquest have been doing this for months. The location is Blue's piano bar, time 2:30 PM on the first full day of the cruise, which in my opinion, is far better than embarkation day...

 

:)

 

I agree about first full day. Embarkation day is way to busy and many people miss the M&G

Is it any wonder that some are already complaining here and on other sites (mostly on some other sites). It is a very nice move by John and Carnival and cost us nothing. If you don't want to go, simply don't, no big deal. In my experience it has been hard to get people to agree to where and when for a get together and very few or none at all have shown up. I applaud Carnival for this announcement.

On a positive note for the many many wonderful Cruise Critic people I have asked our Cruise Directors to include every cruise starting next week the following ' CRUISE CRITIC MEET AND GREET " and a location in the FT's. This will be on embarkation day at 2:30pm at various locations depending on the ship. Cheers

 

Facebook posting from Heald.

I'll be sure to look for it, even if it's just to stop in and say "Hey!":D

I seem to recall a lot of reviews after the fact about people meeting right after the muster drill at a specific spot so I don't know that embarkation day is terrible. I know that 2:30 isn't after the muster drill, but don't they occur at different times so setting one universal time could be difficult.

Just a guess, but this might be a way to reduce or hopefully eliminate the issue of multiple people from a sailing trying to request different times and locations and mucking things up. Having one universal time could be beneficial to both sides reducing the "who's in charge" or organizing things.

AND - don't forget about the $11.44 gathering that has been discussed before if finding a time is really important to your roll call.

Nobody has attacked Heald or Carnival for this gesture. But there are good reasons why some roll calls would choose not to participate. As some mentioned, 2:30 can be a tough time since some are just boarding around 2 and others are getting luggage delivered, eating a late lunch after boarding, etc. If day two is a sea day, then day two is a great day for a meet & greet. We had a very good meet & greet on our Ruby Princess Grand Med cruise last year. But we specifically asked Princess not to print it in the Patters (Princess' version of Fun Times) because we thought it might encourage some not on roll call to attend and possibly believe that the name "cruise critic" implies that it's session for airing gripes. Each roll call should decide among its members what is a good day and time to meet. But nobody here is saying that this isn't a nice gesture by Carnival.

Carnival could really learn a lesson from the way NCL handles CC get-togethers. Both a ship's officer and usually the hotel director attend each and every one, giving informative talks, answering questions, and even offering a free bridge tour to attendees! I found the whole thing very impressive!