Suggestions on how to do a Meet & Greet

[rubysmom]

It was an awesome party and think we were two of the kickees. DW certainly was suffering no pain and couldnt quite walk a straight line.

 

They have just about doubled the price and now you are limited to I think two drinks and beer.

 

We got in before the price hike.......

[snedecor]

The other cruise lines treat this as an opportunity for positive public relations and publicity. They actively support meet and greets, provide free snacks, non-alcoholic drinks and sometimes limited amounts of alcoholic drinks (like onrange juice and vodka or something similar), and more importantly, sent staff to "glad-hand" with the guests. On Princess and NCL M&G's I've put together, I've been lucky enough to have the Cruise Director, Assistant CD, Hotel Director, Head Chef, and once the Captain come and just spend a few minutes welcoming us on board and answering a few questions. One of the lines (RCCL?) works through CruiseCritic directly.

 

Carnival could not be more different. They are in fact "indifferent". You sometimes get a good relationship going, like we had with Host Mach and Wee Jimmie on the Conquest out of Galveston, but by and large, they just looked at you at another group wanting to book a room and pay for drinks.

 

When people on cruise critic and now on FaceBook confronted John Heald about it ("Well, XYZ cruise line did this, and that, and got him and her to attend") John would get mad and blow them off. It didn't help that the relationship between a few loud cruise critic posters and John publicly and loudly soured and now cruise critic is on John's black list.

 

However, *grudgingly* John has now acquiesced to providing some trinkets (ship on stick, cheap champagne, choc strawberries) to meet and greet organizers if you ask nicely in enough time on his facebook page. However, don't ask for more, and don't ask for crew to attend, or you'll get (in John's words, "Bollocks".

 

All you'll get for free are these trinkets, a spot in a public space that is not being used, and if you're lucky, a line in the Fun Times. That's about it.

 

Is Carnival missing out on a great public relations bonanza! I think so, but obviously Carnival does not. The great masses that book Carnival cruises probably think that a Cruise Critic meeting is there for people to complain about stinky toilets!