Meet and Mingle disappointment?

[DMH15]

Wow! I hosted my first M&G on the Sun and I honestly never considered that possibility. Thanks for the warning. If I host again I will speak up and get it back on track. If this had happened to me I probably would have been in shock.

 

Luckily our M&G was great. I am "type A" and overdid it. But ioved it.

[che5904]

Wow! I hosted my first M&G on the Sun and I honestly never considered that possibility. Thanks for the warning. If I host again I will speak up and get it back on track. If this had happened to me I probably would have been in shock.

 

Luckily our M&G was great. I am "type A" and overdid it. But ioved it.

 

I do have to say I was surprised to hear this has happened as well. Not overly shocked but surprised. Gosh you are on vacation, M&G is usually in the morning on the first sea day, what to heck do you have to complain about, you just got on the cruise.

 

I like to leave any negative vibes behind me and float away on an ocean of peace. Not saying if I had an issue while on board that I wouldn't take it whereever it needed to be taken to be resolved. But in the first place it would be done privately with whoever it needed to be with. And in the second it would have to be specifically about my issue on the cruise that was in any way going to mar my vacation. Otherwise nothing is perfect and you just have to go with the flow.

[halos]

I do have to say I was surprised to hear this has happened as well. Not overly shocked but surprised. Gosh you are on vacation, M&G is usually in the morning on the first sea day, what to heck do you have to complain about, you just got on the cruise.

 

.

 

I was shocked...totally, and for the exact reason you stated...We hadn't been on the water for 24 hours yet....

 

Like I said, it was a one time thing. I haven't experienced anything like that since and I hope to never again. It was total nonsense that this person was throwing a fit over.

 

The thing I had to tell myself afterwards is that people like that are the minority. The ship was full of pretty awesome people, it's always just a few that are totally unlikelable (thank goodness)

[willysgrandma]

If you think this is bad, you should see what happens with they do a Q & A with the staff and a bunch of travel agents who may be attending training classes on a ship or at a seminar. They complain about things the Captain has NO control over and it is very embarrassing. It happens very time, regardless of which cruise line we've been on.

 

The Captain isn't cooking the food or making up the cruise line menus, or deciding what t.v. stations are shown onboard. Or buying the sheets that may be too scratchy, or making up the prices at the alternate restaurants. Or designing the rooms and putting in the peepholes. (At one I recently went to, someone complained about the height of the peepholes in the door, saying short people can't see out of the peephole - and the Capt. nicely said he also thought the peepholes were too high but he didn't drill the doors to put them in).

 

That happened to me once...It was awful. because it was a couple CC members that turned what was supposed to be nice into a total embarassment, I will exclude details. But I felt the need to apologize to the HD after it was over.

Other M&M I attended were so drastically different, that it thankfully restored my faith.

[www3traveler]

If you think this is bad, you should see what happens with they do a Q & A with the staff and a bunch of travel agents who may be attending training classes on a ship or at a seminar. They complain about things the Captain has NO control over and it is very embarrassing. It happens very time, regardless of which cruise line we've been on.

 

The Captain isn't cooking the food or making up the cruise line menus, or deciding what t.v. stations are shown onboard. Or buying the sheets that may be too scratchy, or making up the prices at the alternate restaurants. Or designing the rooms and putting in the peepholes. (At one I recently went to, someone complained about the height of the peepholes in the door, saying short people can't see out of the peephole - and the Capt. nicely said he also thought the peepholes were too high but he didn't drill the doors to put them in).

I am surprised no one asked why the peep holes were in the door in the first place regardless of the height. The Captain's comment sounds like something captain Lars Bengtsson would say. The peep holes were required as part of the "Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act" passed by the United States Congress in June 2010.

[mypleasure]

Yes, it is. Yes, he is amazing. Depending on when you are sailing in May, he may be on. The current rotation is 10 weeks on board-10 weeks vacation subject to change. Your posting says that you have just been on The Spirit. Did you get to met Captain Vanja Litovic? Vanja is a very good friend of The Pearl's Staff Captain Zeljko Jurac. Vanja was just promoted to Captain a few months ago and The Spirit is his first ship.

 

I met Vanja a few times. Usually on the stairs as we were deck 10 forward and he would possible be coming and going from the bridge. Also saw him a few times grabbing snacks in the buffet. I though he was lovely and he was always saying hello, how are you today when we saw him.

 

We will be on the spirit May 22nd out of Barcelona. Will be happy to sail with either Captain but would love to renew my stalking of Captain Lars. This was a joke we shared as we kept meeting on the Pearl, stairs, corridors, restaurant etc. Very funny. Never did work out who was stalking who.

[dancindr]

Yes, it is. Yes, he is amazing. Depending on when you are sailing in May, he may be on. The current rotation is 10 weeks on board-10 weeks vacation subject to change. Your posting says that you have just been on The Spirit. Did you get to met Captain Vanja Litovic? Vanja is a very good friend of The Pearl's Staff Captain Zeljko Jurac. Vanja was just promoted to Captain a few months ago and The Spirit is his first ship.

 

Captain Lars sounds great, I hope to meet him at our meet and greet on the Spirit 1/1/12. It's my husband's first cruise and I think he will really enjoy meeting any officers that may be there.:)

[coka]

The key to any meet and greet is to know NCL will provide a room for cruisecritics to gather free of charge. Everything else is a bonus. On any particular sailing you could have two officers show up or twelve officers show up. It all varies on their schedules and what occurs on the first day at sea...both planned and uplanned. Know they will do their very best to make a showing, to introduce themselves, and to provide a question/answer session. Every week on every ship can be different and we are very fortunate when something more than just a room is provided. I think it is always great when the cruisecritics do something nice for the officers who show up. Often, they are surprised, and their day is made happier! One of the things about NCL meet and greets is that they are better than any other cruise line I have sailed. We just need to make sure whatever we read happens on one sailing does not mean it will happen on ours. No expectations no disappointments. The minimal is a room free of charge. Everything else a bonus...

 

coka

[flashdog_1]

I would think that they would not arrange for any behind the scenes tours, especially bridge tours, for a M&M group. Some of those are attended by 200+ people. Can you imagine trying to corral that many through a tour? There's no way the cruise line could agree in advance to do something like that. Of course, it's also possible that the M&M group could be 50 or less, but there's no way of guaranteeing how many people will show up. I bet more would if they knew behind the scenes tour(s) were "booked" for the group.

 

beachchick

 

Hi beachchick!

 

We (beachchick was also onboard) had a roll call on Dawn January '08 of over 100 people and maybe 25 showed for the party. We arranged the cabin crawl on our own ahead of time thru cruisecritic.com not the ship.

 

On that trip and my last NCL cruise, the turn out was amazingly small considering the # who'd been talking on line. Found out that the 10 a.m. slot they had given us coincided with a casino slot tournament or something of that nature, and people just could not leave in the middle. It was embarrassing to have half a dozen from cruise critic when they had 8 ship's officers! And not having met, it was impossible to know if you were seeing fellow cruise critics while roaming the ship!

 

So you don't know what to expect. My advice is to schedule the ship meeting for a private room, but also schedule several other events for those who possibly will miss the main meeting.

 

For instance, if you want to, the night before the cruise, meet in a restaurant or bar; once on board, meet at the ice cream bar right after lunch, before muster drill, or immediately after muster; talk to your roll call about going to a specialty restaurant for dinner the first night in order to avoid the mob in the buffet and dining room; pre-arrange another sea day meeting time on your own that is separate from what the ship's coordinator will assign you. You just have to pick a place that is public, so wear your name tag saying cruise critic, or we have used mardi gras beads.

 

And be sure on your roll calls to mention the excursions you'll be taking because you may run into some cruise critics there.

 

It's helpful to have seen at least some of the cruise critics BEFORE the cruise so you will recognize them on deck since you don't have their real names or cabin #s ordinarily, although you'd need them for a cabin crawl unless you just said "9th deck aft" so the person arranging it could figure out the best route.

[swedish weave]

The key to any meet and greet is to know NCL will provide a room for cruisecritics to gather free of charge. Everything else is a bonus. On any particular sailing you could have two officers show up or twelve officers show up. It all varies on their schedules and what occurs on the first day at sea...both planned and uplanned. Know they will do their very best to make a showing, to introduce themselves, and to provide a question/answer session. Every week on every ship can be different and we are very fortunate when something more than just a room is provided. I think it is always great when the cruisecritics do something nice for the officers who show up. Often, they are surprised, and their day is made happier! One of the things about NCL meet and greets is that they are better than any other cruise line I have sailed. We just need to make sure whatever we read happens on one sailing does not mean it will happen on ours. No expectations no disappointments. The minimal is a room free of charge. Everything else a bonus...

 

coka

 

Coka -- I like your comment about CC's doing something nice for the officers. It is a lot of fun to take something to give them, and you are right about them being surprised. They like it a lot !!

I gave them some little LED flashlights and laser combinations, and saw them playing with them all week !!!

[coka]

Coka -- I like your comment about CC's doing something nice for the officers. It is a lot of fun to take something to give them, and you are right about them being surprised. They like it a lot !!

I gave them some little LED flashlights and laser combinations, and saw them playing with them all week !!!

 

I brought chocolate fish one time...big ones for each of them and set them up on a table so it looked like their NCL logo. I know we are on vacation and I know we paid for it, but for me, when on a ship, I am a guest in someone else's house.

 

coka

[MNallan]

Captain Lars Bengtsson (formerly of The Pearl) becomes Master of The Spirit on December 18th. Captain Vanja Litovic is just finishing up his VERY FIRST rotation as Master of The Spirit. He has just been promoted to Captain about 3 months ago. I have sailed with both gentlemen and they are that: gentlemen. I am looking forward to being on The Spirit and sailing with Captain Lars one more time before The Spirit goes to Europe in April for the next several years.

 

 

Thanks for the clarification.... I must have read it wrong...:eek:

[fergusonvt]

Hi beachchick!

 

We (beachchick was also onboard) had a roll call on Dawn January '08 of over 100 people and maybe 25 showed for the party. We arranged the cabin crawl on our own ahead of time thru cruisecritic.com not the ship.

 

On that trip and my last NCL cruise, the turn out was amazingly small considering the # who'd been talking on line. Found out that the 10 a.m. slot they had given us coincided with a casino slot tournament or something of that nature, and people just could not leave in the middle. It was embarrassing to have half a dozen from cruise critic when they had 8 ship's officers! And not having met, it was impossible to know if you were seeing fellow cruise critics while roaming the ship!

 

So you don't know what to expect. My advice is to schedule the ship meeting for a private room, but also schedule several other events for those who possibly will miss the main meeting.

 

For instance, if you want to, the night before the cruise, meet in a restaurant or bar; once on board, meet at the ice cream bar right after lunch, before muster drill, or immediately after muster; talk to your roll call about going to a specialty restaurant for dinner the first night in order to avoid the mob in the buffet and dining room; pre-arrange another sea day meeting time on your own that is separate from what the ship's coordinator will assign you. You just have to pick a place that is public, so wear your name tag saying cruise critic, or we have used mardi gras beads.

 

And be sure on your roll calls to mention the excursions you'll be taking because you may run into some cruise critics there.

 

It's helpful to have seen at least some of the cruise critics BEFORE the cruise so you will recognize them on deck since you don't have their real names or cabin #s ordinarily, although you'd need them for a cabin crawl unless you just said "9th deck aft" so the person arranging it could figure out the best route.

 

Same thing happened in Jan. on my first cruise on the Sun. About 80 talking on the roll call but only about 12 showed up. For this next cruise we are trying to get a count of those who will commit to showing up at the M&G knowing that just participation in the roll call doesn't mean they want to attend.

[cruitenn]

The key to any meet and greet is to know NCL will provide a room for cruisecritics to gather free of charge. Everything else is a bonus. On any particular sailing you could have two officers show up or twelve officers show up. It all varies on their schedules and what occurs on the first day at sea...both planned and uplanned. Know they will do their very best to make a showing, to introduce themselves, and to provide a question/answer session. Every week on every ship can be different and we are very fortunate when something more than just a room is provided. I think it is always great when the cruisecritics do something nice for the officers who show up. Often, they are surprised, and their day is made happier! One of the things about NCL meet and greets is that they are better than any other cruise line I have sailed. We just need to make s"ure whatever we read happens on one sailing does not mean it will happen on ours. No expectations no disappointments. The minimal is a room free of charge. Everything else a bonus...

 

coka

 

I agree with you! I have not been to an M&G, where NCL did not provide refreshments and snacks. Nor have I been to one that was not attended by the officers and cruise staff. I have attended M&G's with a lot of CC'ers and one, where only 4 people showed up, the organizer, her DH, DD and myself. We were so embarassed that no showed up since the Captain, HD, officers and cruise staff were all there. Needless to say we enjoyed all the attention and we were invited to a dinner with the Captain and his officers.:D

[christiecruise]

Thank you all for your thoughts, they have been truly helpful. So, here is a recap of what I am taking from this thread:

 

1. NCL does a great job of providing a space for CCers to meet, and also makes available many officers for the function.

 

2. Only a fraction of those who respond for the meet and greet will actually attend.

 

3. The contact point in advance is a land based coordinator. The decisions about the event on the ship are separate and vary by the ship's staff.

 

4. Captain Lars Bengtsson is joining the Spirit on our sail date. He has commanded the Spirit in the past is is a favorite of many CCers, but will possibly have more on his mind than the CC M&M, so we will not expect him to join us!

 

5. And maybe most importantly, it sounds to me that the best Cruise Critic Meet and Mingles are those which have fun activities - organized by a CC member - so, I'll take all of your suggestions back to my roll call!

 

Thanks so much CC friends!

 

Christie

[che5904]

Thank you all for your thoughts, they have been truly helpful. So, here is a recap of what I am taking from this thread:

 

1. NCL does a great job of providing a space for CCers to meet, and also makes available many officers for the function.

 

2. Only a fraction of those who respond for the meet and greet will actually attend.

 

3. The contact point in advance is a land based coordinator. The decisions about the event on the ship are separate and vary by the ship's staff.

 

4. Captain Lars Bengtsson is joining the Spirit on our sail date. He has commanded the Spirit in the past is is a favorite of many CCers, but will possibly have more on his mind than the CC M&M, so we will not expect him to join us!

 

5. And maybe most importantly, it sounds to me that the best Cruise Critic Meet and Mingles are those which have fun activities - organized by a CC member - so, I'll take all of your suggestions back to my roll call!

 

Thanks so much CC friends!

 

Christie

 

Yup that pretty well sums it up. Oh except Have fun and Enjoy!!! :)

[christiecruise]

Thanks Che5904

 

Forgot that last bit - FUN and ENJOY! Thanks for the reminder, will do :) !!

[gonnacruise]

Cruitenn,

How funny! I was going to post about that meet and greet too! Only 4 people showing up WAS embarassing BUT I was not the organizer!!! Even she didn't show!! LOL

Hope all is well with you guys!!

 

Ann

 

(sorry to hijack the thread!!)

[cruitenn]

Cruitenn,

How funny! I was going to post about that meet and greet too! Only 4 people showing up WAS embarassing BUT I was not the organizer!!! Even she didn't show!! LOL

Hope all is well with you guys!!

 

Ann

 

(sorry to hijack the thread!!)

 

Their loss was our gain!:D We definitely had a lot of fun and attention. Hope you are doing well too!

 

Lita

[www3traveler]

Christie, Got a note yesterday from The Spirit. Captain Lars Bengtsson went aboard The Spirit YESTERDAY. For this week, The Spirit will have two Captains.