Roll Call Bummer

[Aussie Gal]

Ocean Princess is a small ship - I think you've done very well if you have 12 couples!:). We will be on the Ocean Princess in August to Ireland & Scotland, with just 3 people so far. In fact, I've actually been following the British Isles roll call for the Caribbean Princess leaving the day before us so that I can find out what they have planned.:D

 

.;)

 

 

We have cruised on the Ocean Princess 4 times before and every time we have had a good Roll Call. In fact on our last cruise on her in 2010, we had over 50 members on the Roll Call and we met quite a few times, had a farewell luncheon in the dining room and went on tours together. It was a great group.

 

Just because the ship is small doesn't mean that the Roll Call follows. The same when we went on Azamara's Quest and Oceania's Nautica. The Roll Call on both those ships was great, very active and we all did tours together. It is just disappointing that on this cruise there are only one or two people who post occasionally and the rest only once or twice.

 

Jennie

[msk1]

We are doing Venice to Barcelona in July and our Roll Call has very few responders. The Ruby carries 3000 passengers so we are hoping others will soon join us. Several other trips in the Med this summer are really low in representation also. We did the British Isles last year and by this time we had our entire itinerary/private excursions/meet and greet all in place. The chance to share excitement is a fun part of trip-planning!

 

msk1

[Aussie Gal]

The Mr. & I are on the Star headed to Alaska in July. Our Roll Call is fairly quiet. I think there are three of us that have been chatting here & there. I love meeting new people and making new friends. My Mr. on the other hand is not as 'outgoing' so if it was up to him, we probably wouldn't participate in any type of Roll Call gathering. I guess there are a lot of people out there like my Mr. :rolleyes:

 

I too am the one that loves to meet new people whereas my DH is quite happy with just the two of us though he is quite outgoing once he meets people. They say opposites attract and that is probably why we have been married for so long! Our 48th wedding anniversary will occur on this cruise.:)

 

Jennie

[windsor26]

We are sailing in 8 weeks time on the Ocean Princess and we have a very slow Roll Call in fact we only have 12 couples altogether. I posted a week ago on the Roll Call if anyone would like me to organize a Meet and Greet and only two responded. I waited a week and posted another notice and we now have 6 couples altogether who have replied. I am going ahead and organizing a meeting with the Princess co-ordinator but I feel at times as though I am up against a brick wall and it is quite frustrating.

 

I have never before had such a lack of response or even enthusiasm regarding a Roll Call. We have always had great ones where we have all discussed the coming cruise etc and this time it has been just so different.

 

We are on a Celebrity cruise from New Zealand in March 2013 and already we have over 30 couples on the Roll Call. The lack of response has nothing to do with the ship or the itinerary, I just think that sometimes more Cruise Critic members are booked on the ship than at other times.

 

Jennie

 

 

Jennie I found the same with our cruise on the Sun in March HOWEVER if you go into your personalizer and click on the link to the facebook meet and greet and post a message there you may get a few more I did. It is a shame Princess has decided that Facebook would be better for such things than to get on board cruise critic like RCI does.

[KruzPrincess]

I think it's just the luck of the draw. I've had awesome roll calls and very slow ones. It depends on who books the cruise and if there's a lot of Cruise Critic people on a specific sailing. I do think a cruise with a lot of people who've sailed a lot tends to be more active. Newer cruisers tend not to know about Cruise Critic. I love talking about my cruise in advance and am happy when there's others who want to do the same. As another person said, though, slow roll call doesn't mean you won't have a great cruise.

[Cruisin' Chick]

There are coordinators for the various ships who you can contact to make the arrangements. Princess doesn't offer too much in the line of refreshments--perhaps some bar snacks (pretzels' date=' nuts, etc.). They will work with you to provide a venue and set up a date and time that works for your group. You would have to pay for your own drinks.[/quote']

 

Sometimes you really don't get anything but perhaps a part of a lounge and maybe a notice in the Patters. So it's great if the cruise director will set something up, but if not, just go ahead and have the roll call decide on a place and time. People could be encourage to stop by the International Cafe (if there's on your ship) or the Horizon and make up a plate of goodies. There probably won't be any free drinks, so everyone could buy their own and bring to the meet and greet.

 

I have to agree with Bob, active roll calls are the best. But there is no guarantee that any particular cruise is going to have a fantastic roll call. Over the last few years, DH and I have been incredibly lucky to have had some terrific roll calls and through them, met some people whose friendships we will treasure for the rest of our lives (you know who you all are!!! - yes you!!). These roll calls and the subsequent activities together while cruising, not to mention pre and post cruise gatherings, create incredibly warm memories.

 

BUT.....a slow, boring, dull roll call does not mean a cruise won't be great. There have been some small, slow, non-cohesive roll calls over the years as well. Did we have a bunch of parties before the cruise and thereafter? No. Oh well. Did we enjoy our cruise - you bet!!! And did we make new friends - absolutely!! Just strike up conversations on board and find some people you enjoy, or consider it a "cruise for two" and enjoy some couple time alone.

 

You just have to have some patience, activity may increase a bit on the roll call prior to sailing. Alaska is a great adventure - I am sure you will love the Island Princess and the ports of call even without a large group of people to party with!

 

Ginger

 

I wouldn't worry if things aren't happening on your roll call. Many people on your cruise, believe it or not, will have never heard of cruise critic, or even if they have, not be inclined to make their presence known on the roll call. I had been on eight cruises before I found this board. And even on our last one, which we booked very close to the sailing date, I didn't post on the roll call, but did email one of the leaders of it.

 

that so many sign up for the roll call but do not show up at the meeting. On the Ruby last month, fewer than a third actually showed up. That is totally disrespecful to the person(s) who do all the work to get the event going. If you sign up, then show up!!!!

 

 

You have to remember,though, that often passengers get busy with one activity and just don't make it to a meeting. It happens. On our last cruise, I went to the gym with my hubby the morning of a meeting. I didn't see the notice in the Patters until after that (and I'm usually good about reading the newsletter thoroughly the night before). The cruise before, not too many on the roll call made the sailaway meeting. One person told me later on when we met that she and her hubby had taken a nap after boarding and just forgot. I didn't think it was disrespectful to me (as one of the co-planners).

[doublemm16]

I love to interact with the people that are going to be on my cruise through the roll call but I have put 2 different roll calls out there and only a couple of people have been on and they are not on much at all. I am about ready to go to a roll call that will be before or after my cruise in July, but then I am not connecting with the ones that I can meet on my own cruise. Just had to vent, sorry.

 

We did a cruise tour last June on the Coral Princess, and our roll all was very quiet. We had no meet and greet, and I never met anyone who posted. This was a first for me, but the entire Alaskan cruise experience was different than all of my other cruises. We still had a fantastic time! :D

[Aussie Gal]

Jennie I found the same with our cruise on the Sun in March HOWEVER if you go into your personalizer and click on the link to the facebook meet and greet and post a message there you may get a few more I did. It is a shame Princess has decided that Facebook would be better for such things than to get on board cruise critic like RCI does.

 

Believe it or not, I joined Facebook just so that I could see if there were any people on our cruise. There are a few and I have posted a couple of messages regarding Cruise Critic with the link to our Roll Call but no-one has bothered to get in touch, either on the Roll Call or to answer me on Facebook. :mad: I feel as though I am banging my head against a brickwall!

 

Jennie

[caribill]

You may want to check the Princess facebook page for your cruise. People may have signed up there and not on Cruise Critic.

 

If so, post a note leading them to the Cruise Critic roll call where, unlike facebook, real identification does not have to be posted and you are not advertising you will be out of town.

[gsmiles4u]

To be honest, our roll call is quiet because we are all over on Facebook. The person who started the group Facebook page has popped on the roll call off and on and invited people to that page. Facebook enables us to actually see each other, post photos, private message each other, set up threads for each port, and organize port activities. Some people mostly just follow the conversations, or ask an occasional question, but others have really gotten to know each other on a personal basis. We also enjoy joking and teasing in a very casual manner. Facebook is a daily part of our lives - it's natural that we would use it for cruise planning.

[harleysmama]

You may want to check the Princess facebook page for your cruise. People may have signed up there and not on Cruise Critic.

 

If so, post a note leading them to the Cruise Critic roll call where, unlike facebook, real identification does not have to be posted and you are not advertising you will be out of town.

 

I am on our Facebook roll call and I am the only one. On my last cruise we had a great Facebook group and still keep in touch that way.

[fathercop]

We are having a slow roll call for our Panama sailing in October. Some of the roll calls I've been on have been great, others have been so-so, some have been bad. I am not sure what the rhyme or reason is to it, but I can say this all of those cruises have been terrific.

 

Good luck to you and enjoy your cruise.

[cormike1]

We are sailing in 11 days and have an active roll call but not a huge one. We have been chatting for a long time with alot of people and are looking forward to meeting them. We have had 35 post on our roll call but only about 18 (+ spouse/partner) have responded to our Meet & Greet. I don't know why they aren't going to come but so be it. I try and go in every day and post so as to keep it near the top of the roll call list. There are a few of us that are very active like that. We are meeting at the sail away if we can and then have a M&G our 1st sea day. Some of our group have made alot of great suggestions for tours, taxi's etc and some are joining up for tours together which is neat. We are travelling with 3 other couples that are not members of CC and are not going to this M&G. I mention CC all the time but they don't seem too interested. I love getting tons of info ahead of time so maybe that is the difference. I also spend alot of time on my computer....retired so I can. If I wasn't doing up the name tags for our roll call and invitations to the Captain, etc. and involved with this M&G, my hubby probably wouldn't even know anything about CC or what a M&G is lol. He loves meeting new people but would not do it on his own. That is why I am doing it. Hang in there and hopefully your roll call will pick up closer to the date. Regardless you will still have a wonderful time!!!

[crusinpeg]

Someone on our roll call just mentioned that it was slow because more people were on Facebook than Cruise Critic.

[sunluva7]

I see just one person on the Facebook roll-call for my Ocean Princess cruise. While I love Facebook, and have been a big part of several social networking sites for some time, I prefer the roll call boards here because I can remain anonymous until I choose to share my real name and city I am from, which is not necessarily the case on Facebook. At this point, I don't trust Facebook to keep from sharing the dates that I will be away with the rest of the world.

[bjkTX]

I pretty much stayed away from the Facebook Roll Call feature since I was concerned that I'd be advertising I'd be away from home for two weeks. I can do that here since it's pretty hard to know who I am or where I live.

 

We are going on a cruise in less than a month and the Roll Call has and is dead. The only discussions going on now are two new additions who are comparing how many 4 years olds will be cruising with them :-)

 

I started a Roll Call for a Princess cruise that is now 13 months away - and I started it 5 months ago. So far I'm still only talking to myself - but someday..... :-)

[Palmist]

My sister and I are the Grand the week of Feb. 25. It is not very active on the roll call. Since it is week 2 of a btob I also went to the roll call for Feb. 18. That too was not very active. I like it when it is jumping with people all talking to each other. Hope it gets exciting soon. I already am.

Myrna