Urging Oceania to sponsor CC M & G

[Imagineer]

...on our last cruise on Insignia in November I was the originator and organizer of the CC roll call for our cruise, we simply agreed upon a time and a place and anyone who was interested showed up. We had ours in Martini's after dinner on the night of our departure out of Venice, there were no problems, everyone who wanted a drink or a snack ordered one, David Shermett was our cruise director and knew who we were and why we were gathering there and made sure we were well taken care of...

...so I really don't think there's that much of a need to have an "official" meet and greet when its quite easy to organize one through the roll call...

 

cheers,

 

the Imagineer

[Mura]

How large was your group, Imagineer?

 

We had about 50 people on ours in October (on Marina) and the first get together was arranged as you just described, but it was at that time that the bartender strongly urged the organizer to go through the Concierge.

 

Which I did for a subsequent party.

 

I can see if you are a small group, it's very easy just to pick a time and place. The bartender's point -- as I recall -- was that with 50 people, notifying the ship of your plans permitted them to add some waiters to assist in serving.

 

Mura

[Imagineer]

Hi Mura,

 

...there were 65 people on our roll call, out of that I recall we had around 42 who chose to participate in our meet & greet...

...as I recall there was an additional bar waitress on hand for our gathering, and it all worked out very well - there was even a pianist playing while we were gathered, later on they started up the trivia game and many of our group joined in with that, everyone had a great time...!!

 

cheers,

 

the Imagineer

[Mura]

Then you outnumbered us! Interesting about the different reactions. Maybe it was because we were on Marina and you were on Insignia? Although i don't see why that should make a difference. And our first gathering was also later, not at cocktail hour, so that shouldn't have been a factor.

 

We have had several where we were spontaneous, as it were, like your group. And other times when I went through the Concierge, mainly because I wanted invitations sent to the participants.

 

Not that invitations are needed if you do your party the night you board!

 

Mura

[burm]

Ok, you have advised me that waiting to board and then organizing the M&G with the concierge is the way to go, but can you give me any other insight or advice?

 

There is some interest in a get-together at sailaway. On the Insignia, where would the best location be for this? Some have suggested the bar by the pool, but that would put us behind glass to sail out of Rio, surely one of the loveliest harbours in the world. Is there a fully open area suitable for a get-together?

 

Now, on to the more formal Meet and Greet. What are my obligations and responsibilities as organizer?

 

I have organized a spreadsheet of names and cabin numbers that is available for viewing on-line. Anyone on this list will be sent an invitation.

 

I suspect that many on the list will not be all that interested in attending. Some are travelling companions of CC members.

 

Beyond this list, I assume I should I request additional confirmation approx 2 or 3 weeks before so that I can give the concierge a more accurate number? Will the concierge send an invitation to a cabin when I do not have the full name of the passenger or will they address it simply to Bozo@Cruise Critic, Cabin OOOO? Some people are very reluctant to give out too much information and I do not wish to post my e-mail address online.

 

Anyway, I am humbly asking the Great Ones of Cruise Critic to give me detailed practical advice and tips on organizing a successful Meet and Greet.

 

Thank You.

[Mura]

In my experience organizing these things (which I've done maybe half a dozen times) and from what I've read here, many people don't want their information posted online so I've always given the roll call members my email address and they send the info directly to me. If you don't want to reveal your address even at the roll call, you can always use one at yahoo or hotmail, for example, that you create for the purpose -- there is no need to use your primary address.

 

Then when I board the ship I hunt up the concierge and give him the names and cabin numbers. Sometimes I arrange it alphabetically, sometimes by cabin number. It depends on m mood! I've always had full names to use for this purpose. Perhaps if people don't think the information is posted online they will be more willing to give you their names.

 

For the record, I've never had a problem doing it this way.

 

(Actually, I'm sure that the concierge can figure out the names if you have the cabin number but that is more time consuming for the staff. And what happens if there has been a last minute change in cabins? That HAS been known to happen! So you really should have the names.)

 

Mura

[hondorner]

Ok, you have advised me that waiting to board and then organizing the M&G with the concierge is the way to go, but can you give me any other insight or advice?

 

There is some interest in a get-together at sailaway. On the Insignia, where would the best location be for this? Some have suggested the bar by the pool, but that would put us behind glass to sail out of Rio, surely one of the loveliest harbours in the world. Is there a fully open area suitable for a get-together?

 

Now, on to the more formal Meet and Greet. What are my obligations and responsibilities as organizer?

 

I have organized a spreadsheet of names and cabin numbers that is available for viewing on-line. Anyone on this list will be sent an invitation.

 

I suspect that many on the list will not be all that interested in attending. Some are travelling companions of CC members.

 

Beyond this list, I assume I should I request additional confirmation approx 2 or 3 weeks before so that I can give the concierge a more accurate number? Will the concierge send an invitation to a cabin when I do not have the full name of the passenger or will they address it simply to Bozo@Cruise Critic, Cabin OOOO? Some people are very reluctant to give out too much information and I do not wish to post my e-mail address online.

 

Anyway, I am humbly asking the Great Ones of Cruise Critic to give me detailed practical advice and tips on organizing a successful Meet and Greet.

 

Thank You.

One thing you could try is to open a temporary email address such as Hotmail or Yahoo Mail, free and instantaneous, and have everyoine send their private information to that address. You could then close or abaondon the email address as soon as the cruise is underway and avoid any future problems.

[LHT28]

I do as Mura

Give people my email & have them contact me if interested

Usually with CC i.d., given name, Surname & cabin numbers

 

I never post any info online except CC i.D. & first names (if given)

 

The concierge will appreciate the surnames & cabin numbers on your list

 

As for viewing area there are not many open air areas other than the walking track & it may be full ;)

We usually agree to meet after muster drill in Horizons & I have name tags that people can put their CC I.D. & first names on

 

Good luck enjoy the cruise

 

Lyn

[burm]

One thing you could try is to open a temporary email address such as Hotmail or Yahoo Mail, free and instantaneous, and have everyoine send their private information to that address. You could then close or abaondon the email address as soon as the cruise is underway and avoid any future problems.

 

 

Yes, I believe that is the prudent thing to do. Also, if people are required to give their full name in an RSVP, this will help weed out those who are less likely to attend and thus give us as accurate a number as possible under the circumstances.

 

Now, can anyone tell me the best location for an informal sailaway gathering on the Insignia?

 

Any other tips?

[Mura]

I'd go up to the top deck myself, unless it's freezing! There is also Horizons, but it will most likely be very crowded and you probably won't see that much.

 

If one of your party has a Vista, maybe they'll invite you all up -- depending on the size of your group, of course.

 

Mura

[RetiredFL]

As the person who organized the initial informal get together when Mura and I sailed together, some advice.

DON'T OVERTHINK THIS.:D

It is your vacation, don't become a CEO or substitute cruise director.

I had no trouble having people e-mail me privately their CC name, real name and cabin number. Mura later used this list to set up a more formal get together later in the cruise. There will always be "lurkers" who don't want to give any info out. We merely posted on CC the location of the initial get together and suggested they were welcome if they showed up. There is always a core of passengers who are more active than others.

We met in Horizons which is really the only enclosed space that works. We have sailed out of Rio and it is unfortunately not as spectacular as we had hoped. There are a lot of high clouds and the ship sails out through the middle of the harbor which is quite large so you are not that near to shore. Maybe you will be very lucky but I notice I did not take a single picture from the sail away. Besides from Horizons it is not that difficult to run outside for a picture.

[hondorner]

If you do a get-together at sailaway, all these suggestions are valuable and realistic, especially RetiredFL -- don't stress out!

 

If you are working with the concierge for a more formal party, however, it is most likely to be on the second or third day of the cruise -- or the first sea day (if any) -- or whenver there is a period that is relatively frfee of conflicts. In most cases, they will sugesst Horizons, and they have to be certain there will be no interference with some other activity. When this is the case, that's when invitations from the concierge become really important -- there is no way to know ahead of time when or where the party mgith be held.

 

I also found it helpful to have the suggested text of an invitation prepared ahead of time. Something like,

 

CRUISE CRITIC MEET & MINGLE

 

Get together with your online acqauintances

and put a face to the name

 

Time, Date

Location

 

Give this outline to the Concierge so he can have it retyped on Oceania stationery, have it copied, and put it in envelopes to be delivered to the cabins. That saves him time in creating the invitation.

 

[burm]

I do appreciate all the practical advice (especially the "don't over-think" part). I did not expect to find myself in this role, but want to do the best I can with no major screw-ups. :o

 

Thank you for the invitation wording, Don, I have faithfully recorded it on my trusty Playbook. One less thing to think about.

[Mura]

Burm,

 

Take a deep breath, as Ed said. You can't possibly screw it up! It's just an informal get-together. All you need to have is names and cabin numbers and the concierge will do the rest.

 

I WILL warn you about a problem I had for the first two M&Gs I set up, but which hasn't happened recently. To wit: I had specified to the concierge that the party was a cash bar, but somehow he didn't tell the bartenders that part. For a while I was being a very generous host until DH told the head bartender that we weren't paying the whole tab!

 

So just make sure they know that this party will NOT be on YOUR tab. It wasn't necessary to do so the last two times I set up a party, so I doubt you'd have that problem. But it never hurts to be alert to a possible problem!

 

Mura

[burm]

I WILL warn you about a problem I had for the first two M&Gs I set up, but which hasn't happened recently. To wit: I had specified to the concierge that the party was a cash bar, but somehow he didn't tell the bartenders that part. For a while I was being a very generous host until DH told the head bartender that we weren't paying the whole tab!

 

So just make sure they know that this party will NOT be on YOUR tab. It wasn't necessary to do so the last two times I set up a party, so I doubt you'd have that problem. But it never hurts to be alert to a possible problem!

 

Mura

 

Ouch!!! I like this group, but not THAT much. :p