The best organized roll call you have ever seen

[WLHyatt]

While reading through the roll call for the upcoming cruise I was wondering if there was a better way to organize things.

 

What is the best organized roll call you have ever seen, and why was it so organized? Who made it so organized, and what did they do to make it so good?

 

I think our roll call from May of last year was the best I have seen, but that's only talking about three roll calls and I did not even participate in the first.

[maldenmusic]

While reading through the roll call for the upcoming cruise I was wondering if there was a better way to organize things.

 

What is the best organized roll call you have ever seen, and why was it so organized? Who made it so organized, and what did they do to make it so good?

 

I think our roll call from May of last year was the best I have seen, but that's only talking about three roll calls and I did not even participate in the first.

A few years ago we had one on the ELation that someone kind of took charge of. We decided to have a mmet and greet and he directed us to an outside website where we could post pics of ourselves, a profile, etc and exchange info. It was nice to get to "talk" to people outside CC.

[MuffyKismet]

Our Roll call for our up coming cruise on the Breeze for Sept 13th, 2014 is awesome. One of our roll callers set up a Face Book page for our Roll Call, it is truly awesome, all of us communicate on there for excursion information, meet and greet information, and of course since it is Face Book, there is all the information on everyone and ALL their pictures!!! Really good idea, I love it we chat several times a week on it and we are still 6 months out!!! LOL

[cruizinisthebest]

Our Sunshine roll call totally rocks!!! We also use FB and it's been wonderful getting to know people on a more personal level and sharing ideas. Never thought I would be interested in knowing anyone during a cruise. Was happy thus far to remain anonymous amongst my fellow passengers. But this roll call changed my thinking. Nobody is really in charge, but we have relied on the experience of some that have done the itinerary before. And we're organizing our own meet n greet.

[cdamion]

A couple years ago, one of the people from the Roll Call created a google groups (I believe) page where there was a page posting information about the cruise itself, a page about the ports, a page for us to introduce ourselves, a page re discounts for shore excursions, etc.

 

It was pretty cool. My next cruise somebody has created a Facebook group, which is nice, but not as detailed as the google one was.

[mts315]

My current roll call is extremely well organized as it appears only 4 people are sailing on our July 27th Cruise out of Port Canaveral.

[Cruise life]

Our Miracle April 12th roll call is amazing; there is one leader that encourages everyone while summarizing the plans every so often and several people helping to keep things advancing. Maybe because it is a longer cruise (16 nights), we are planning a lot of activities -for both stretches of sea days-, but especially for the outgoing portion. Recognize that not everyone will want to do the same things or do them the same way. For me, understanding that I am in the minority sailing with children is especially important- a lot of people feel they are "done" with children and have long lost their patience with the under 21 set. I understand many of the activities, if not most, are adult-themed. Several of us have planned excursions together. Also, many of us booked WAY in advance so we have been chatting for months which allows us to get to know what is going on in each other's lives outside of sailing. I feel like I already "know" some of my fellow passengers; my next-door cabin mate is celebrating a birthday while another two doors down is healing an ankle fracture. The ability to communicate and not being afraid to share with each other allows those of us that want to really try to get to know one another that chance. A "good" roll call, like a good thread, is up to the members to create; don't discourage free telling of opinions, ie. tell people to stay on topic, etc. That is severely limiting and discourages new ideas and friendships.

 

 

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[taglovestocruise]

Google,, Oasis Homeward Bound, this is the best and most informative web page / roll call I have ever seen. If your looking for one to copy this is it. happy cruising

[paul929207]

For our cruise on the Grand Princess around South America a year ago, there were about 500 on the Roll Call. There were over 100 private tours. There were so many post, CC closed the thread and opened a Part 2. Wayne did a fabulous job organizing everything

[Tiffanyann3]

Hi where can I find the Facebook roll call page for this sept 13,2014 cruise?

[Theredofshaw]

Hi where can I find the Facebook roll call page for this sept 13,2014 cruise?

 

If someone has created one, go to this link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=34

 

You can narrow it down by cruise line, ship and then date.

[138east]

Definitely the Brilliance TA Aug 31, 2013 Harwich to Boston. A web site was set up for the cruise - itinerary, private excursions, pictures, sea day activities, etc etc. At the end certain things like pictures were available to download to tablets. The roll call was very chatty and had to be split into a Part 2. It was very nice to have all the important cruise details organized in one easily accessible place.

[Sue Do-Over]

A Carnival Platinum cruiser -- he goes by Scuba Mark here on CC -- set up a separate web site for our roll call. People posted their first names, ages, home towns and relationships or celebrations (parents with college kids, 50th anniversary)

 

Another page on his worksheet was for excursions. We filled up smaller private tours, shared transportation to the hotel, and saved a ton of money while making friends.

 

People posted tour recommendations and suggestions (like where to buy advance tickets in Rome) that saved us time and effort. We organized a meet & greet, a poker run/cabin crawl, and an on-board Uno tournament.

 

Our group included a spry senior, an adult with bad knees, two fairly-fit adults who are castle/fort buffs, and two teenager girls. Depending on the activity levels and interests, we could mix and match so that everyone had fun.

[franl24fan]

Same folks must have organized Carol's Brilliance TA, they had been doing the Jewel for several years until the Brilliance replaced it. There were several folks who took on the time consuming ( and expensive) set up of private tours etc. I know that I would not have been comfortable doing that complex a cruise as a solo without the support and input from the experienced folks. The cost savings on the private tours and transfers that they organized saved me well over a $1000. Our roll call also had to be split into 2 parts, and we had a website with all kinds of info. I can't imagine ever having a better experience and owe it to cruise critic for providing a forum for newbies to learn from veterans.

 

I've since met several of those cruisers on other ships and we all can now chuckle about the too small buses sent by the charter bus company and the left over baggage that had to be sent in a last minute cab from London to Harwich :-).

[138east]

Fran,

 

I echo your sentiments. I am also a solo traveler. Someone learned from your group's luggage experience and set up two buses and a luggage truck to get us all to Harwich. Someone else found the hotel on Hotwire, so a lot of folks were able to book at a discount. Tours were well organized and the participants were totally engaged - everyone showed up on time and didn't get "lost" at any of the stops.

 

I also learned a lot from the tour experiences. I took over one tour from someone who had to cancel and it went well. This gave me the confidence to organize other group tours on the Navigator TA.

 

There was a huge exchange of information about hotels, tickets, trains, etc. We found out that folks outside the EU can book the Eurostar from Paris to London two months before it opens for the EU. I was able to meet folks precruise to go to the Eiffel Tower, to ride to London, and to tour Parliament and Buckingham Palace. None of this would have been possible without the wonderful roll call.

[heatherandfred]

Best roll call was for our wedding. The folks bought us drinks and we had a ball. Friends to this day.

 

 

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[Arzeena]

Without any doubt it was the one on my ncl star repo cruise October 2012 NYC to new Orleans. Nothing can even come close.

[denmarks]

I maintain a roll call for cruises that I go on. It is up to the members to organize events but I keep track of everything.

Last cruise: http://hawaii.dmmarks.com

Next cruise: http://mexico.dmmarks.com

[Zubsin]

The best RC I've ever been involved with was for our trip to the Baltic on the Star Princess. We even organized our private STP trip via the RC and very trusting participants who sent passport information via email to the person on the RC who organized the whole thing and communicated to the tour operator in STP.

 

The second best RC was a trip to the Caribbean and we organized both our Meet and Greet and our cabin crawl.