Reluctance to join "Roll Call" Postings

[JimandStan]

"cabin crawls" ... First time I have heard of them. Wonder if these crawls originated on other cruise lines. Somehow I don't find the idea appealing.

 

Cabin layouts are fairly standardized now, but back in the day when ships were designed by men using slide rulers rather than computer programs, there could be five or six room variations within a single cabin category.

 

 

Cabin Crawls were created in that environment and are a Godsend today for those people who just didn't "get" the deck-plan reading gene...

 

I'm consistently surprised by the number of otherwise sophisticated people who cannot envision anything about a cabin unless they have actually stood in the room.

[Hambagahle]

These ancillary activities sound awful to me! I did enjoy a roll call cocktail on the Mariner in 2010 when I met some "friends" from the CC site. And again on a TA in 2012. But I cannot imagine trooping through suites or exchanging gifts etc. the thought really puts me off.

 

Anyway so far no one I "know" from CC is on the 2015 TA!! That might change - I hope.

[canuck.qc]

We just returned from FP. We had never done a 'tropical cruise' destination, preferring the longer cruises to Europe, Med, Asia. Our RC was very quiet, basically the serious planners were posting, nothing elaborate. I noticed, and it's hard to explain..a very different demographic of passengers onboard. I must say we met VERY nice folks on our excursions but the ship had booked several groups, conferences, and alumni giving the ship a very different atmosphere. I found the persons to be more familiar with one another, more casual, laid back, on the ship for a 'good old time'(nothing wrong with that) The pool & area was crowded (plenty of chair hogs) the bars & venues were full at times and generally larger groups around the ship & dinner.. On our previous O cruises we had very active RCalls with casual M&G and wonderful private tours. Our RC focused on excursions, tour recommendation etc..basically like minded independent travelers interested in the itinerary & a more refined on board experience. I sensed that persons on this trip were there to 'relax' & did not do extensive research & planning, did not join the RC or didn't know about CC. We have sailed on longer itineraries & this was a 10day.... do short, less costly cruises attract a certain type of booking/RollCall? Just my personal observations not a criticism:o and it will not deter me from RollCalls were we are free to remain anonymous. BruinS...used many of your recommendations for our last trip to London.

[fairbourne]

As I've said, I've seen these sorts of things done on various cruises--and I've declined to participate in many--with no adverse results...

 

Cabin crawls don't interest me...I don't want 30 or 40 people trouncing through my cabin...and I don't have an interest in following a herd through anyone else's...I have been invited for a drink, individually or in a very small group, to others' suites and have accepted those invitations...and when I had the Oceania Suite on the then-brand new Marina, I had invited a select few up to our Suite...But I just can't see wandering, as a herd, from cabin to cabin...If I want to take a peek at a particular class of cabins, perhaps for future booking purposes, I'll wait until the cruise is over and people have vacated and ask the cabin steward cleaning the cabin if I can take a look inside...

 

Slot pulls are of no interest to me...I don't gamble anyway...and am not showing up in a casino with a herd mentality either...

 

Gift exchanges, to me, are worse than needless...You'd have to pack whatever you got into your luggage to take home...a great waste of needed weight and space...for typically useless junk. I was on an Australia/New Zealand cruise over Christmas and New Year's a couple of years back...and Christmas Day was an "at sea" day...Someone from the Roll Call organized a group Christmas lunch in the Main Dining Room...arranged for the ship to give us four or five large tables in an otherwise unused (for lunch) wing of the dining room...We did participate and it was very nice...Someone else decided to organize a "gift exchange" to be held at the lunch...purely optional...About half the group opted out, the rest opted in...and it was agreed to do the thing very quietly and unobtrusively...and it was handled well--though it would have been just fine without it...I guess I could look the other way a bit as it was at least Christmas, so it didn't look entirely out of place...

 

But, for the most part, MOST cruises I have been on, the Roll Call members will organize nothing more than one Meet & Greet, perhaps an informal "meet for a drink at Sailaway"...and nothing more than that but individual small group port tours...the participation in all of which is voluntary...

 

I am guessing these other frivolities are found more often on, say, Carnival or NCL...

 

Actually if you had read my post properly, you would have read that The gift exchange certainly did not throw up "typically useless junk"! I took 3 small and I mean small, think one or two serve size, of lovely Local Scottish Whisky marmalade which I certainly would NOT describe as useless junk, and in fact, I am sure the recipient enjoyed their gift DURING their cruise!

 

When I first heard about "cabin crawls", my nose, like yours I imagine, wrinkled somewhat - but you know what, we had great fun, were in small groups, certainly NOT a "herd", and it gave us a lovely insight into staterooms that we may not have seen otherwise. The hosts at each stateroom made everyone welcome and ensured a smooth flow with no issues whatsoever.

 

Your post sounds hugely snobbish to me along with others following. Thank goodness we had lovely people who were anything but and knew how to enjoy themselves! Funnily enough, we discovered some of us has the same butler,and he took great pleasure in looking after us when we ended up in the Vista Suite.

 

So, each to his own, and I certainly do appreciate that, but don't knock it until you've tried it.

 

Jim and Stan - trying to figure out a stateroom from deck plans and sometimes from photos, does not always do it justice. There were lots of gasps and oohs and aahs when we arrived at the Vista Suite, and of course, lots of cries to the significant other "why are we not in one of these darling?" :). But that could of course, be deemed, in some quarters anyway, "unsophisticated" to actually SHOW excitement????

[Noxequifans]

Given the very limited number of Vista suites, it is highly probable that most "crawl" locations were just ordinary cabins. Hard to fathom the purpose of "crawls" other than some exercise.

 

Would hate to see an expansion of this and the gifting exchange on Oceania.

[Travelcat2]

We would not be interested in partaking in a "crawl". However, since we will be in a Vista suite in November, we would certainly invite a couple or two in for a drink if we have known them a few days and they are interested. We typically do not tell other people what category of cabin we are in nor do we ask them about their cabin.

[Paulchili]

However, since we will be in a Vista suite in November.....

We typically do not tell other people what category of cabin we are in .....

 

 

You just did :D

[JAKUEHNLE]

What other web sites beside this one has boards where people on the same cruise get together to trade information about the trip? I can't find anyone else on my Aug 4 Asian cruise on the PG boards. :(

[hypercafe]

OMG :eek:

I would disengage from any roll call like that on Oceania thankfully ours have been civilized so far

Sounds more like an NCL crowd :rolleyes:

 

We do enjoy the private tours as well as the ship's tours it just depends on the port

 

Lyn

 

I am one of those NCL crowd who had the chops to sail on Oceania. That is why I do not do roll calls or MG, I would not want to spoil your vacation by mingling with the upper class.

[LHT28]

I am one of those NCL crowd who had the chops to sail on Oceania. That is why I do not do roll calls or MG, I would not want to spoil your vacation by mingling with the upper class.

 

Well if you enjoy slot pulls & pub crawls have at it :rolleyes:

 

It is really not for everyone including me

 

I have not seen it on Oceania but apparently it happens

 

Enjoy

[Bruin Steve]

Your post sounds hugely snobbish to me along with others following. Thank goodness we had lovely people who were anything but and knew how to enjoy themselves!

 

Sorry if I came across as "snobbish"...

Anyone who knows me would likely tell you that I certainly am anything but...

I didn't say you couldn't have your fun...just that I choose not to participate...

 

My whole point is that any activity organized by anyone on a Roll Call is wholly voluntary...You might LOVE to do Cabin Crawls or Slot Pulls or Gift Exchanges...I choose not to...That doesn't make me a "snob", just someone who doesn't find such activities all that enticing...

OTOH, I attend "meet & greets" and drinks at sailaway and organized lunches or meet for dinners pre-cruise with folks I've met through the Roll Calls...hardly snobbish or standoffish...

We just all choose to do what we want to do...and abstain from doing what we don't want to do...That's part of what cruising is all about...

 

Personally, I would find showing off my suite in a "Cabin Crawl" to be a little more snobbish...I don't necessarily show off my lodgings...and prefer just a little privacy somewhere on the cruise--even though most of the experience, for me, is very social...

[Mura]

I have never participated in a "cabin crawl" on a cruise, although I have no objection to doing so.

 

We HAVE done similar "crawls" on occasion in our Coop building (only 35 apartments of various configurations) which were greatly enjoyed by the participants. Not in a number of years, however ...

 

To each his own ...

 

Mura

[fairbourne]

Sorry if I came across as "snobbish"...

Anyone who knows me would likely tell you that I certainly am anything but...

I didn't say you couldn't have your fun...just that I choose not to participate...

 

My whole point is that any activity organized by anyone on a Roll Call is wholly voluntary...You might LOVE to do Cabin Crawls or Slot Pulls or Gift Exchanges...I choose not to...That doesn't make me a "snob", just someone who doesn't find such activities all that enticing...

OTOH, I attend "meet & greets" and drinks at sailaway and organized lunches or meet for dinners pre-cruise with folks I've met through the Roll Calls...hardly snobbish or standoffish...

We just all choose to do what we want to do...and abstain from doing what we don't want to do...That's part of what cruising is all about...

 

Personally, I would find showing off my suite in a "Cabin Crawl" to be a little more snobbish...I don't necessarily show off my lodgings...and prefer just a little privacy somewhere on the cruise--even though most of the experience, for me, is very social...

 

No apologies nevessary, I think we do agree that everyone can do exactly what they wish. :). My response was perhaps rather strong but I was so exasperated that what we did and what we thoroughly enjoyed is being hailed as somewhat "downmarket"! I have no idea what a slot pull is! Never sailed on the so-called mass market lines, so have no idea what happens on board there. And that's not being snobbish, I just don't know! We didn't show our stateroom, but we got the chance to see an Oceania Suite (my favourite); an extended aft PH (the larger balcony sounds lovely and it was, but no way would I book it as you lose the benefit totally of the lovely walk-in closet as of course it is much narrower and although we were aware of that fact, we wouldn't have gauged it properly had we not seen it); the Vista Suite, lovely as it is, I would never be happy there due to the location high up and forward; and a Concierge, which for me would be a tad too small!

 

We had a lively roll call with lots of good banter pre-cruise and the small gift exchange came from one of those lively "conversations". Simple as that, and for what it's worth, I too like you, don't care for large group activities, and usually avoid like the plague, but we had a good pre-cruise email group going, (in addition to the CC roll call and not everyone on the CC roll call participated, again freedom of choice) so when we met it felt like we already "knew" one another. So you could say, there was also a smaller subset of the main roll call who I imagine were the main participants in the "cabin crawl" and gift. I remember overhearing one lady who did not participate in the gift exchange, saying to her companion, "oh I do wish I had taken something, it's looks such fun".

 

Should I mention the large, very loud and rude trivia groups here as it's going off on a slight tangent? Maybe not, but ho hum, here goes! We had the misfortune one evening, after having enjoyed an early dinner (for us anyway) and decided to head to Martinis for a post dinner cocktail. No chance. The whole place was commandeered by the evening trivia teams, so obviously nowhere to sit and when we dared stand at the bar and my DH ordered drinks, he was shushed! And interestingly enough, this group, who were being argumentative and rude to the host, not one of them had a drink in front of them. Just as we got our drinks and were heading off to the Grand bar lobby, thankfully they all fairly quickly made a mass exit, leaving tables and chairs sprawled in such a mess for the bar staff to straighten out. We never went to Martinis at that time again.

 

So, again, each to his own, but there will always be activities and groups who "annoy" or "irritate" or in our experience of The trivia in martinis, just of no interest, so we were unaware that that actually took place there at that time.

[Mura]

What other web sites beside this one has boards where people on the same cruise get together to trade information about the trip? I can't find anyone else on my Aug 4 Asian cruise on the PG boards. :(

 

Once upon a time there was a Renaissance board at Yahoo which later became an Oceania/Azamara board. It was much smaller than CC, but it was easy to find "fellow travelers" and arrange private tours and get-togethers. So perhaps you try to Google PG and see if anything comes up. And you could also do a search at Yahoo Groups. Maybe something will come up.

 

If no Roll Call has been set up for your cruise, you can set one up yourself and perhaps find others who are on your cruise.

 

And it may be that the particular itinerary doesn't lend itself to private touring, although I can't see why that should be for an Asian cruise. It may just be that the passenger list on that specific cruise doesn't have many computer-literate people. As has been said many times before, the vast majority of passengers on any cruise line are unaware of the existence of CC.

 

Mura

[JAKUEHNLE]

Thanks Mura,

I will try the two you suggested. Have a great time on Marina, my second favorite ship, number 1 is now Riviera and number 3 being Paul Gauguin. Maybe because the ship is small, and the distance to the port so long might be why only one other person is on the roll call. Also a 14 day cruise might keep the population on the ship at a low level. On the Tahiti to Fiji a few years ago there were only about 150 people on that 14 day cruise. But the passenger to crew ratio was nice!:D

[capecodder2]

Interesting conversation. I love to read the RC (guess I am a "lurker") for ideas in port, occasionally have joined. We aren't especially social on cruises, preferring to enjoy time with just each other. We usually do our own port excursions or use a ship's tour. I don't find them any more expensive than similar size ship excursions on other lines. We have done only 4 RC planned private tours, 2 were fine, 2 were terrible - we decided not to do them again. Everyone has their own choice on a cruise which is wonderful, chummy roll calls and groups are not for everyone.

[kimanjo]

Interesting conversation. I love to read the RC (guess I am a "lurker") for ideas in port, occasionally have joined. We aren't especially social on cruises, preferring to enjoy time with just each other. We usually do our own port excursions or use a ship's tour. I don't find them any more expensive than similar size ship excursions on other lines. We have done only 4 RC planned private tours, 2 were fine, 2 were terrible - we decided not to do them again. Everyone has their own choice on a cruise which is wonderful, chummy roll calls and groups are not for everyone.

 

You could be my DH and I... We like to spend our time together, not so much with others. Maybe once he retires, that will change! But while our alone time is limited, we enjoy it! We don't go to M& M's, or any other social get-together. We set up our own excursions.

 

I guess we are anti-social, now that I think about it.

[Travelcat2]

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You just did :D

 

Yes -- but once we are onboard, no one will know who we are;)

[Mura]

Besides, Travelcat, what are the odds that lots of people on this general list will be on your cruise????

 

Posting as you did on the Roll Call would be rather different. And even then, only a small percentage of passengers on your cruise will be familiar with CC.

 

Mura

[cathi]

Interesting thread!!

 

I love CC! It is what you make of it. We've made some great friends over the years and have even sailed more than once with several couples who we now consider friends even though they may be halfway around the world!!

 

Not a fan of cabin crawls or gift exchanges or even slot pulls. Love the M&G's. But the camaraderie of sharing new ports with new people works for us. Yes we do some ship's shore excursions but often opt to find our own.

 

The funny part is that everyone we meet onboard who has never heard of CC always have the impression that CC is critical of the cruise lines!! Maybe we should push to change the name?? Have no idea what it would be but I'm sure some of you would have a suggestion.

 

Cathi

[hondorner]

When in Rome...we've cruised on NCL, and the cabin crawls, slot pulls and such are fun -- in that context. The Meet & Greet groups are also better attended because they are organized by the ship, have officers, staff and entertainers attending, have open question and answer sessions with the top officers, and often invite the M&G participants to bridge tours later in the cruise. On our last NCL cruise the group entertainment director arranged a private luncheon, helped organize the slot pull (we each put in $5 and got $6.75 back in winnings), and provided prizes for the scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt itself was exceptional -- it was a photo hunt, in which participants took digital photos of hard-to-find objects around the ship, then had their photos checked by the organizers. It was a great way to explore and learn how to get around the ship! By the way, that wasn't in the Caribbean, but the North Atlantic out of Copenhagen, when school was in session and almost no children on board.

 

But, that was on NCL, where we have a completely different set of expectations compared to Oceania. Oceania passengers are much more sedate, perhaps sophisticated (at least in their own minds) and blase'. Obviously, I love Oceania or I wouldn't sail it so much. I don't expect to have the same sort of experience as I would on NCL.

 

I'm just glad we have the ability to adapt and fit in, regardless of the prevailing culture, and don't have the inclination to look down our noses at anyone.

[hondorner]

...The funny part is that everyone we meet onboard who has never heard of CC always have the impression that CC is critical of the cruise lines!!...

My answer to those folks is that even literary and film critics like SOME books and movies....not all criticism is negative.

Edited May 10, 2014 by hondorner

[gisnered]

My word! When I posted above my reasons for not joining roll calls (#14 above), I didn't mean to spawn discussions of the value of "crawls", gift exchanges, accusations of snobbery or classism, or of NCL / Carnival.

 

I wanted to answer the OP's question from my point of view, and did hope, if anyone had experienced the same process, that it might engender some discussion of the proprietary attitude some participants assume in a Roll Call, and hoped to see some discussion of ways to counter or defuse the attempt without creating WWIII among the participants.

 

So, let me ask clearly: have you ever witnessed an attempt to hijack a Roll Call and how did you react? Has it altered or affected your participation in other Roll Calls?

[cathi]

l

 

So, let me ask clearly: have you ever witnessed an attempt to hijack a Roll Call and how did you react? Has it altered or affected your participation in other Roll Calls?

 

Heck yes but I'm a big girl now and I can ignore things like that. There's always going to be someone who thinks that their way is better but I don't have to follow.

 

It has not affected or altered my participation on CC. There is way too much valuable info on these pages to make me back away from CC.

[Mura]

Okay, on occasion a thread may be hijacked. But in general I like don't think this is deliberate. Threads meander and always have.

 

This is especially when a thread gets very long, and is quite common.

 

I don't think you need to think poorly of others just because the thread takes a different direction. Now, if they attack your views or try to demean you ... that is something else entirely. (And when I say "you", I mean that in a general sense. Where the french would say "on" instead of "vous".)

 

Mura