Meet and Greet ?

[Luke gs Daddy]

What have some of you experienced M&G people have had luck in a meeting place. On the Destiny.

 

Do you need to do anything special or before hand ?

 

Our roll-call needs some advice.

 

 

Thanks.

[golfadj]

Have not been on the Destiny but we have met at the back of Lido by the pizza place during sailaway.

 

This generally works unless you are dealing with a roll call that falls apart.

 

Can be helpful if you agree on some beads or shirts or something to easlily identify each other.

[Tbay-eh]

I have done meet and greet a few times - the ones that have worked are the next day at 1:00 - 2:00 afternoon on the Lido (away from the load music). Sail away is for family, friends and yourselves and just getting settled - although we have met up with some from our rollcall but they know that family comes first. We all wore Mardi Gras beads so we were easily identified. I still keep in touch with everyone - it is awesome. Just make sure to keep at it on rollcall and get committments. Cindy

[Luke gs Daddy]

Thanks.

I will propose to meet the 2nd day.

[Pegs222]

We had a M&G on our cruise to Europe last year. We were on the Splendor and John Heald was our CD. I had asked him on his blog if he could help me with a M&G on the first sea day (which I recommend as it is too busy on the day you sail). He gave us a private room for free with ice/water and coffee. He even put the place and time in the Capers. We had a waiter that took our drink orders. Write to John on his blog and he will help you with your M&G and how to contact your CD. Just put JOHN REPLY PLEASE.

 

Have fun on your cruise

[Terre]

We've had great ones and we've had some where only a few people showed up. Most of the ones were just everyone meeting in or around one of the bars or lounges. Usually you get a modest turn out for those. It really depends on your roll call. If your roll call is an active one, you'll have a good turn out for the meet. If the roll call is slow and not many people, don't expect a good turn out.

 

Our three best ones were in this order:

Carnival Liberty this past June. Had a large, active roll call and someone took the initiative to book one of the lounges through the wedding planner. We all paid $22 pp for an hour and a half and had all the drinks and bar snacks we could drink and eat. It was packed because our roll call was so large. I have never drank so much! We had a great time and this roll call is still going. We all met informally at a bar on the Lido deck on embarkation day.

 

The second best was this past April on the Celebrity Summit. The roll call was active, but not too large. Again, someone arranged through the ship for us to have a time in Michael's Club. Drinks were provided and the CD and other officers were there to meet and mingle with us. We had a good turn out for that. We also had met informally on embarkation day. Roll call still going.

 

The third best was on the Golden Princess. Active roll call again and we met at one of the pool bars on embarkation day. We'd all been on the roll call for 6 months or more and felt like we were already friends. One of the guys arranged cabin crawls, bar crawls, etc. and another couple had a large suite and invited us all to join them one afternoon for drinks and hor 'dorves. This cruise was 5 years ago and this roll call is still going, too.

 

Others were good and we always enjoyed meeting everyone we'd been "talking" to for months.

[celticd1]

I have found that it works best to schedule 2 Meet and Greets. One on embarkation day, usually just after sail away and another for the first day at sea in the early afternoon. It really helps to talk it up on your roll call and remind everyone just before leaving for the cruise. Also, as golfadj (who it just so happens I met at our last roll call meet and greet :) ) mentioned, be sure to wear beads or leis or boas and tiaras ( :D ) to help identify yourselves.

 

My DH and I have had great success with our roll calls. We tend to plan a few activities besides the meet and greet, like cabin crawls, poker runs, door decorating. We always meet the greatest people and have a blast! We keep in touch with many of our former shipmates.

 

Hope you have a great turnout and cruise!

[*Mach*]

What have some of you experienced M&G people have had luck in a meeting place. On the Destiny.

 

Do you need to do anything special or before hand ?

 

Our roll-call needs some advice.

 

 

Thanks.

 

 

Check your roll call thread...

:)

[packard89]

Just went on the Fantasy, our M&G was set for sailaway....totally forgot about it, too busy having fun and dancing!!! I think day 2 is better as well. Good luck!!

[*Mach*]

Just went on the Fantasy, our M&G was set for sailaway....totally forgot about it, too busy having fun and dancing!!! I think day 2 is better as well. Good luck!!

 

 

Didn't y'all just love the Fantays??

What a great ship... great crew and a fantastic Master!!

:)

[slang1272]

I think the IDEA of meet and greet is a great one. Unfortunately the ones I've been to have been less than thrilling.

 

Carnival Fascination - December 2008. The M&G was planned immediately after sailaway on the aft lido. The weather in Jacksonville in Dec can be iffy and, while it wasn't raining, it was FREEZING cold. I wouldn't say it was unsuccessful, but had it been scheduled for inside, it would have been much more comfy.

 

Carnival Glory - June 2009. There were two scheduled: immediately after sailaway and another later in the week. We went to the spa tour and missed the sailaway meeting completely. As luck would have it, the people in the cabin next to ours were CC members and alerted us to the M&G later in the week. I expected a bigger turnout for this one, but it ended up being just me and our next door neighbors.

 

IMO, M&Gs should not be right after sailaway. People are having too much fun or taking the spa tour or exploring the ship. It's so easy to lose track of time, especially on day 1. I think planning it for day 2 gives folks a chance to get acquainted with the ship and lets everyone enjoy sailaway without watching the clock.

[serene56]

The first day of sailing is real hard fro people to get together. Many are travel weary, excited etc. Roll calls people are good to meet--but once onboard its a different story. We meet up for Tea time on sea days.

[LHP]

Some have been well attended, but most only draw a hand full.

 

Most we have been to have been on Embarkation Day from 3pm - until Muster Drill.

 

The best attended one was at 9AM the next morning (before the :morning talk:) ...

 

We have been to one that was arranged about halfway through the cruise in the Piano Bar. While we paid for our own drinks ala carte....we paid for the Piano Bar guy to entertain us for an hour...that was nice. It was $50.00 plus tip.

[CapeCodCruiser]

We scheduled an informal M & G for sailaway up on deck near the bar on my last cruise - the turnout was really good - there was about 16 - 20 who showed up. I think it has alot to do with the group - our board was very active before the cruise and subsequently the most active posters showed up for the M & G. It is probably a hit or miss thing -

 

Post a time & location on you roll call and pick some way to identify each other - we all wore leis.

 

Have fun!

[richfret]

You will find there is no good time to hold a Meet & Greet but you do it any way. Some times with success and other times not so successful. If you hold it from 1 pm to the life boat drill, the late arrivals will miss the meeting. If you hold it after the drill, the early dinner people will have timing problems. If you hold it the next day, several people will not be above to attend their ship activities (Bingo, shows, CD talks, etc).

 

Just go for it and hope for the best. As others have mentioned, it all depends on how the Roll Call is going. If it is active, you usually will fair better. I think the Meet & Greet through Carnival is your best bet. You pay a nominal amount and get a room designated just for the Meet & Greet. Some people are shy and this helps to get them all together.

 

It is strange that on some cruises I have done, I kept seeing people I met at the Meet & Greet all through the cruise. Other times, you meet them once and never see them again. I guess it all depends on how active a cruiser you are.

[ChefSusan]

For our Freedom 10/10 cruise, we're doing two M&G's:

 

The first one we're planning for sail-away on 10/10. My husband and I are going to be hanging out at the Lido aft (adult) pool, and have said that if anyone on our cruise wants to meet us back there, they're welcome to.

 

Our second M&G is going to be a cabin poker crawl:

 

If you have ever heard of a Poker Run, it's the same....just without motorcycles.

 

It's a hand of poker that takes about an hour or so and provides some of the most entertaining moments on a cruise.

 

- 7 people volunteer to have a stop at their cabin. It works best if you can get 7 different room catagories working from the bottom of the ship to the top. This way everyone gets to see all the different rooms on the ship.

 

- Everyone meets up at a bar (we usually do the crawl right after a meet & greet so everyone is already there).

 

- Everyone playing puts $ in a pot (we can decide how much it will be, usually $5-$10 each)

 

- We then, as a group, all go to the first room. The person the room belongs to gives everyone their first card. You get a chance to see the room...and if they are really nice, will have a drink to share with us. (usually not thought).

 

- We then all go to the next room and get another card. We repeat this for the first 5 rooms.

 

- The last 2 rooms are discard rooms. Here you can discard 1 card and pick up another in each room.

 

- We all then meet (usually at the aft pool bar) and show our hands. The top 2 hands split the pot.

 

It provides for some hilarious times, a great chance to meet other CC people and see the other room types.

 

Enjoy!

[salty dingo]

Some advice:

 

• Don't schedule a meet and greet the day of sailaway. No one will come.
  
• Get the cruise staff involved. Have them schedule a private meeting. They will usually have it in the morning and cater it with juice and cookies.
  
• I have beet to a meet and greet in the AM where the cruise director said that he can get us an evening party, with a band and officers present. So we got a second party that was more fun.
  
• On our last cruise, we had a Cruise Critic meet and greet which was attended by the Cruise Director, Hotel Director, Food and Beverage Director, and one other I can't recall. I got business cards from the three I am recalling here, and we got a free game of bowling for attending. I learned a lot, and above all, if you have a problem speak up and let someone in charge know, they will make it right.