FIND and Join Your Rollcall !!!

[DHADEN]

I met DHADEN and his wife on my solo Serenade cruise a few years ago. Howdy stranger!!!

 

Hi April !! I remember you! You were sailing with a friend and something happened - she couldn't go. You decided to try it anyway and we had a GREAT time! :p

It's great to hear from you again. We have 6 or 7 cruises booked over the next 2 years - we have to get together again!

Email me at dhaden@grandecom.net

 

 

I don't know, it seems roll calls digress into chit chat about local weather, family talk, etc.. not about the cruise. Then you have to wade through hoping to find something useful

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I agree somewhat. I don't mind it in small doses, but I prefer to learn as much as I can about the actual cruise/ship/excursions, since I've only been on one cruise, and I haven't been on RCCL yet.

 

That's call "Making Friends" and "Getting to Know Each Other".

And if you ask a question to "learn as much as you can", I'll bet those same people will come to your aid and give you all kinds of answers.

 

That's all fine and good if that's what you're after. But most people probably aren't looking to make friends on a cruise.

 

And I think if someone put actual numbers to it, you would find that YOU are in the MINORITY. ;)

 

Yeah, and if your Meet 'n' MINGLE ends up being like that, please let me know, because it doesn't sound like any which I have attended!

They are fine, but in my experience:

"Sometimes" hosted by the Activities Manager; sometimes just a random member of the CD's staff

"Never" lasts 45 minutes.

"Never" plays games

Almost never has food any more.

 

Carol...... I'm really surprised at your response. We can say that MOST of our Meet & Mingle parties have been Really Great!

 

The last one we had on the Freedom was closer to what you talk about, but that was by far, the exception to the rule.

They almost ALWAYS last at least 45 minutes - sometimes over an hour. We had the Boston Repo last October and the Meet & Mingle had to be in the Colony Club because there were ovewr 250 of us. The party lasted over 2 hours.

Games: We have usually included a "Gift Exchange" in the Meet & Mingle + the staff always have some kind of raffle.

I've never seen ANY M&M without some kind of snacks/food and drinks - even the bad ones.

[xpcdoojk]

I agree..I've quit posting on roll calls' date=' since I've gotten tired of reading the same things over and over. On some roll calls, there will be one person who posts constantly. They control the roll call and answer every post.

Very annoying.:rolleyes:

[/quote']

 

I am probably guilty of this point. When the roll-call is great like my first TA in 2007. I didn't need to reply to a post except when I had a specific bit of information that was requested, but on all of the 7 day cruises, if you don't respond every few days there is not a single post.

 

I don't doubt that people do dominate or try to dominate some roll calls. I have never really experienced it, and because in my personal experience I have always appreciated those that helped make roll calls great, and I always try to play it forward. So, I will continue to try to build my groups that I sail with, with always frustrating results on 7 day cruises.

 

Back to Merion Mom's view of meet and mingle parties. I am in whole hearted agreement.

 

The best things about roll call gatherings, in my experience, never occur at the meet and mingle.

 

jc

[Merion_Mom]

 

 

 

Carol...... I'm really surprised at your response. We can say that MOST of our Meet & Mingle parties have been Really Great!

 

The last one we had on the Freedom was closer to what you talk about, but that was by far, the exception to the rule.

They almost ALWAYS last at least 45 minutes - sometimes over an hour. We had the Boston Repo last October and the Meet & Mingle had to be in the Colony Club because there were ovewr 250 of us. The party lasted over 2 hours.

Games: We have usually included a "Gift Exchange" in the Meet & Mingle + the staff always have some kind of raffle.

I've never seen ANY M&M without some kind of snacks/food and drinks - even the bad ones.

 

The reality is:

 

There are bad Roll Calls.

 

There are good Roll Calls.

 

There are GREAT Roll calls.

 

It's a "roll of the dice". ;)

 

And there are good Meet and Mingles and not so good Meet and Mingles.

 

And as with so many other things, RC IS cutting back, providing just beverages.

 

 

You know who runs a BANGIN' AMAZEBALLS Meet & Mingle?

 

Katie. Katie Turner. Recently of the Freedom; currently on the Allure.

 

She even gives out a prize for the "best CC screen name".

 

:)

[looking4info]

When two or three people conversing back and forth make up well over half the posts, it's no longer a roll call. They should move it to the friends forum. Just sayin :o

 

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Bingo

 

I agree..I've quit posting on roll calls' date=' since I've gotten tired of reading the same things over and over. On some roll calls, there will be one person who posts constantly. They control the roll call and answer every post.

Very annoying.:rolleyes:

 

I sometimes lurk, just to see if there's any new info relating to the cruise [b']but it's hard to find between the personal stuff.[/b]

 

Bingo

Don't really care about the dog or cat. Don't really care about the new car. Don't really care about new shoes or the fact someone went clothes shopping. Roll Calls are not for everyone. For those that enjoy them, have at it. For those that don't, just don't go.

[BlackCat9Lives]

I'm new to cruising and Cruise Critic. I posted in my roll call weeks ago and not one person responded to my post, just skipped over, while other posts were talking back and forth.... doesn't feel very friendly to me...

[NolaFireLI]

I don't know but:

SOME people like to be friendly, and meet fellow cruisers and share in the wonderful vacation experience....

SOME people know how to hold a conversation of more than just the weather, where you from? etc...

SOME people have great knowledge about cruising/plans/excursions/the whole experience in and of itself that their information is regarded as priceless...

SOME People have meet fellow cruisers from previous roll calls and shared great memories that they still talk about YEARS later together.....

SOME people are planning their next cruise vacation with old Roll Call friends...

 

SOME People like Roll Calls and some people just don't understand...

[Cheryl H]

Eek! I might be guilty of chatting too much. I agree that it is just an effort to get to know others. We've met some of the nicest people through the rollcall threads.

 

Most of our meet & greet parties have been nice. I think they've all been hosted by the cruise director and once the Captain even came in to meet us all and chat.

 

Usually meet & greets we've been to include fun extras like cabin crawls, or gift exchanges arranged by the people that chatted on the rollcall. Once we even had a candy buffet (everyone brought some local candies from their area). One particular meet and greet we went to, the folks brought extra prizes for the prize drawing. So everyone ended up winning something. One of the nicest groups of people I ever met actually had a keepsake dated prize made for everyone to commemorate our cruise and magnets to decorate our cabin doors. As far as I remember all our meet and greets have included food, although sometimes it's better than others.

[John&LaLa]

The one we had on Jewel in July of 2013 was with Activities Director Elvis....and it was great. He helped break the ice for people with some name games and cruise trivia....and then let everyone just mingle around with the finger food/cookies and coffee, juice or wine at 10:30am

 

Wine at 10:30, there's the WOW.

 

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[Cheryl H]

I'm new to cruising and Cruise Critic. I posted in my roll call weeks ago and not one person responded to my post, just skipped over, while other posts were talking back and forth.... doesn't feel very friendly to me...

 

What a shame! I'm sorry that happened. If you were on our rollcall, I would have said hello and welcome!

[John&LaLa]

95% of the people attending have never posted at CC.

 

jc

 

:confused: Isn't the M&M a CC event? Was not aware you could sign up without going through CC.

 

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[beerman2]

Because of our roll call in 2009 , we meet a couple from Florida who we have become friends with.

 

At least once a year we get together somewhere ( cruise, AI, or at each other's house.)

 

Is it for everyone, obviously not by some of the previous post , but I am happy we did. We have become like family.

[BlackCat9Lives]

What a shame! I'm sorry that happened. If you were on our rollcall, I would have said hello and welcome!

 

Thank you and hello just the same :)

Edited September 10, 2014 by BlackCat9Lives

[dreamer976]

 

 

You know who runs a BANGIN' AMAZEBALLS Meet & Mingle?

 

Katie. Katie Turner. Recently of the Freedom; currently on the Allure.

 

She even gives out a prize for the "best CC screen name".

 

:)

 

I couldn't agree more - she is hysterically funny! Did a B2B with her as asst.CD, so I got to attend both M & M's, the best ever!

 

Ellen

[Paulette3028]

I'm new to cruising and Cruise Critic. I posted in my roll call weeks ago and not one person responded to my post, just skipped over, while other posts were talking back and forth.... doesn't feel very friendly to me...

 

Sorry you had that experience but go back and interject something into the discussions going on....or ASK a question.

 

We are cruising on Indy on the sail date of February 14, 2015.....so I posed a question wondering if others thought they would do something special for Valentines Day....if I don't get some replies, as it gets closer to the cruise I will do it again.

 

I don't take offense if no one answers....it is months away...I say 'welcome' if I see a newcomer to the Roll Call....but I keep it casual. There is always someone in the Roll Call thread that feels more like the moderator....generally a control freak....fine for them, that isn't me.

 

But I have met some wonderful folks there that did make our cruise enjoyable. I can take a little work on my part....so be it.

[BlackCat9Lives]

Sorry you had that experience but go back and interject something into the discussions going on....or ASK a question.

 

We are cruising on Indy on the sail date of February 14, 2015.....so I posed a question wondering if others thought they would do something special for Valentines Day....if I don't get some replies, as it gets closer to the cruise I will do it again.

 

I don't take offense if no one answers....it is months away...I say 'welcome' if I see a newcomer to the Roll Call....but I keep it casual. There is always someone in the Roll Call thread that feels more like the moderator....generally a control freak....fine for them, that isn't me.

 

But I have met some wonderful folks there that did make our cruise enjoyable. I can take a little work on my part....so be it.

 

Yes! I did ASK a question as well as introduced myself. I'm not taking offense that no one answered...Just replying to this thread as a different point of view or experience within the roll call threads.

Edited September 11, 2014 by BlackCat9Lives

[deedeetoo]

I'm not a very experienced cruiser having only been on three cruises but here is my impression of roll calls. My first for my Med cruise was very useful since there was a lot to learn about different ports of call, available tours, issues with sites being closed on different days, etc.

 

When I booked my two Caribbean cruises, I signed up for the roll calls right away because I was excited to be going. But I found very limited use for them. The Caribbean islands are small and relatively easy to tour. I did get tired of the non-cruise related chitchat. Like a pp, I am cruising mainly to be away from work and be with my family. If I make friends then that is great, but it isn't a goal, and I don't feel anything is missing if I don't. I probably will not sign up for a roll call again for a Caribbean cruise.

[Desert Cruizers]

Darrell, thank you for starting this, I am sure there are many new CC Members who never thought about joining their Roll Call to receive valuable information. I thank you again also for coordinating the OLL last April, we had a great time. :)

 

Gay

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Yes! I did ASK a question as well as introduced myself. I'm not taking offense that no one answered...Just replying to this thread as a different point of view or experience within the roll call threads.

 

I am sorry you were ignored. I always try to greet new posters. Sometimes I may miss one due o the nature of the boards, especially if I don't scroll back up. Please try posting again.

 

For those of you who say that the RC is dominated by one or tw posters, have you tried joining in he conversation? Or directing the conversation back to a cruise related topic? Sometimes the RC needs a rudder in addition to an oar.

 

Where we can find out all we need to know about the ship and ports on other parts of this website the Roll Call is more about the people. Yes, you can get some good information about the cruise itself, but for me at least, the people are what makes the RC special. Our M&M's are usually fun. It's true some are better than others. It depends on the people in the Roll Call. We often make our own fun, with gift exchanges and get-to-know-you games. Most people seem to enjoy them. Some just come, get a cookie and leave but others stay until the RCI staff kicks us out!

 

I do not believe that just a few people should talk about their plans that do not include the other people on the RC, though. When we post excursions, etc, on the main Roll Call it is usually for everyone. I have organized quite a few group excursions in the past and I have joined quite a few organized by others. When our group of Arizona Cruisers are trying to organize things specifically for our group (dining, hotels, size limited excursions, etc) we start our own thread under the Arizona Cruisers forum for that very purpose, just so we do not dominate the main Roll Call. That said, we have "adopted" several non-Arizonians from our main RC who have found their way over to our forum and have included them in our plans. We have made good friends that way.:)

[Cruzin-K]

I've always joined my roll call, ever since my very first RCI cruise in 2004. A friend of mine told me about Cruise Critic and explained the roll call, so I could chat with people going on my same cruise. I was cruising solo, so it was nice to meet people on board within the first couple days, and then I always had people to talk to when I saw them around the ship. It was a great re-introduction to cruising and that's the cruise that got me hooked.

 

My Serenade 2010 roll call wasn't too memorable, but I did meet another girl traveling solo on the roll call and we made arrangements to be seated at the same table for dinner. We're going to take our third cruise together next year.

 

My Allure roll call was huge, but the M&M on board was kind of a let down, since it was all about the AD talking and giving out prizes, and no time to actually mingle. Still, I managed to make a few new Facebook friends on that cruise.

 

The best roll call so far, was probably the one for the Monarch's final sailing. Even though the cruise was too short for an official M&M, we arranged for an unofficial one in the Schooner bar and had a great turn out. I made some good friends on that cruise. That roll call is still active, having been moved to the Friends of Cruise Critic section.

 

The roll call for my solo Princess cruise last year also ended up with me making new friends, and I'll be sailing with a few of them again next year.

 

My two roll calls for next year are quite different from one another. The first one is pretty quiet, the second is over the top crazy, but I'm already looking forward to meeting certain posters on board. :D

 

The over the top crazy roll call even has a spinoff in the Floataway Lounge for the posters who were a bit too chatty - in the opinion of the roll call police :p

Edited September 11, 2014 by Cruzin-K

[mon1jan1]

I love chit chatting in the roll calls. Our roll call for the Independence of the Seas June 14, 2015 is very quiet. Only five members so far, and I'm guilty of just trying to keep it alive by making the occasional post about whatever is going on, whether it be hot weather or something about cruising. I'm also guilty of check out other not to be named here sites and talking cruise there. I absolutely love making new friends.

If anyone is on the Independence of the Seas June 14, 2015 please check out the roll call and lets have some chit chat!!!

[karen s]

I love chit chatting in the roll calls. Our roll call for the Independence of the Seas June 14, 2015 is very quiet. Only five members so far, and I'm guilty of just trying to keep it alive by making the occasional post about whatever is going on, whether it be hot weather or something about cruising. I'm also guilty of check out other not to be named here sites and talking cruise there. I absolutely love making new friends.

If anyone is on the Independence of the Seas June 14, 2015 please check out the roll call and lets have some chit chat!!!

 

I too have always joined the roll call on my cruises, some are successful and lively, and alas, some are not. I love getting to know my fellow cruisers and make social engagements pre-cruise, on the cruise, etc. I hope my Christmas Cruise on Explorer livens up....it's pretty quiet right now, but it's early.

 

And I agree, so many Q's can be answered by those sailing with you. Particularly accommodations pre and post cruise, excursions, cabins, etc.

 

Join your roll call peeps!!

 

Karen

 

p.s. 23 Dec 14 Explorer passengers....hop on our Roll Call!!

[tidygirl]

Good idea, DHADEN.

 

The Roll Call for my next sailing (1/26/15 Legend OTS) is a total snoozefest! I've never seen one slow on an RCI cruise

 

I bet Sept 21,2014 Liberty's got it beat! There's hardly anyone and it's only 11 days!

[BillOh]

You'll get in trouble for bumping, I did once!

 

I'm betting most of us proliferate posters have our one or two naughty points on our official CC scorecard. :D I hope I don't get a point for mentioning it!

[dancinman66]

I always try get into my rollcall

It is a great way of meeting people

 

This one coming up on quantum is the busiest and

Most fun ever

So much of a fun group

Really looking forward to the cruise so much

 

 

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[BillOh]

I've always joined my roll call, ever since my very first RCI cruise in 2004.

 

 

I didn't get involved in the roll calls till my 2nd cruise. Our first cruise was our 25th anniversary and it was all about us. I got hooked on the roll calls for my Freedom 2008 cruise. Freedom was still a relatively new ship then and the value of the roll calls definitely showed itself. We have made many new friends and it has made cruising even more fun. I've never had a problem of people being to clingy or needy. Its nice to bump into people you know on the ship.

 

BTW, even on shorter cruises with no meet and mingle, like the 5 day I did on Jewel with you, they are fun and valuable. They also help pass those several hundred days of waiting!.

 

I've had big roll calls where the M&M is a dud (Allure 2011) and ones that became an Epic Party (Allure 2013). At the very least they are a great source of information like Jewel 2014 for me as I'd never sailed out of San Juan before.