Meet &Greet: Inviting the officers

[PotatoBug]

The person organizing the M&G for our cruise received the following from the Princess contact:

The ship receives a final report at 7 days prior to departure. This report will show that you requested staff members to attend. The Customer Relations Manager receives the report and advises the staff if they would like to attend.

 

Should we still send personalized invitations to the officers once we're on board? I know from researching M&Gs here that people have done that in the past, but is it still necessary? If not necessary, is it a good idea?

 

Thanks.

[paul929207]

I am not sure that it is necessary, but I always send invites.

 

I just buy a package of 8 or 10 party invites and drop them at the front desk shortly after boarding

[Pam in CA]

I think it's the polite thing to do to send an actual invite to the officers. I brought a package of really nice invitations onboard with me last March and the first day, I wrote out the invitations along with a personal note to each officer listed in the embarkation day Patter. Six came, almost all of them holding the invite. I think it made a difference.

[pablo222]

Six came, almost all of them holding the invite. I think it made a difference.

 

Maybe they thought there would be some sort of door prize drawing...

[Steviewonder1]

I hosted our M&G last October and I did engraved invitations for each officer of the ship. Gave them to the purser on embarkation day and 7 including the CD showed up in Skywalkers Lounge. Had a great time, didn't pay for a microphone and the CD bought my drink from the bar. I also had engraved invitations for all of the folks that organized the private tours and hosted a reception for them in our Penthouse Suite later that day. There is no end to the fun and parties you can have if organized and attended.

[PotatoBug]

I hosted our M&G last October and I did engraved invitations ...

 

Engraved? Wow! I assume you either do that professionally or had some printing business do them for you.

[san diego sue]

I always order a microphone and am charged $10.00.

Most of the time the CD takes it and uses it or hands it to the Captain etc. I decided why should I be charged for this so on the next two M&G I haven't ordered one. Both have under 50 people so shouldn't really need one. Princess shouldn't charge and really not fair to someone who takes the time to order, organize, do name tags etc and then have to pay.

[Loonbeam]

Compared to land prices its very reasonable, and they do have to send someone out to set it up, test it, etc.

 

As far as invites, I ALWAYS request a list of officers prior to the cruise, and I always do very nice, hand signed invitations. Attendance is usually pretty good, except when you schedule against the Captain's welcome party - necessary evil this past cruise and we still got 2 officers stopping by, one call to apologize, and a first, a personal letter from the captain apologizing as well. Everyone who has attended has said how nice the invites were, so they do notice!

 

That said, as you can see above, when you schedule the meet and greet will be more of a factor than the invite in many cases. When I did it on the island, it was a sea day and we got a good portion of the senior staff at one point or another, and a few who couldn't come sent representatives (the assistant CD and the F+B manager for the MD)

 

And of course, some staff are more social than others.

 

I always order a microphone and am charged $10.00.

Most of the time the CD takes it and uses it or hands it to the Captain etc. I decided why should I be charged for this so on the next two M&G I haven't ordered one. Both have under 50 people so shouldn't really need one. Princess shouldn't charge and really not fair to someone who takes the time to order, organize, do name tags etc and then have to pay.

[PotatoBug]

Stupid question: who are the officers that can be invited? Captain, First Officer, CD, Maitre d'Hotel, Chief Purser, Executive Chef, ...

[Pia1913]

Stupid question: who are the officers that can be invited? Captain, First Officer, CD, Maitre d'Hotel, Chief Purser, Executive Chef, ...

 

Cusstomer service and doctor.

[Fuzzyape]

I agree with many of the folks who have already thrown in their opinions. If you can hold it on a sea day you may get more folks. I would definitely send invites. If there is a theme to the gathering that's not a bad way to go.

 

On our Hawaiian cruise I sent invitations in the shape of Hawaiian shirts (they were available from a local party place [didn't want folks to think I was talented]). Several folks commented that they were impressed at the turnout (several officers, including the captain attended). While it may not always be true, I think the more effort you put in the better results.

 

Bottom line, Potato I think you should send invitations. At least make the effort. If you don't you'll never know if you should have. If you do, you can at least claim, to yourself, that you did everything you could to maximize the celebration of the M&G.

 

Counting down the days!

[New York Nana]

For our Alaska cruise on the Island P. this past summer, i received an email from Princess with a list of the officers/staff scheduled for our trip. I prepared personal invitations to each of them (I wrote the Captain's in Italian and the Maitre D' in Portugese). (hint-Google translate helped a LOT with the Portugese!)

I dropped them off at the Pax Svc desk when we boarded and the next day we had 9 of the ship's staff attend our M&G. It was unfortunate that I had over 50 pax pre-cruise saying they would attend, but only 17 showed up. But that didn't keep the Captain, Maitre D', CD, Hotel Mgr, Security Director, F&B Director, CC hostess, etc, from staying around and spending quite a bit of their valuable time speaking with us and answering questions.

I believe they really appreciated the personal invitations.

[Fuzzyape]

For our Alaska cruise on the Island P. this past summer, i received an email from Princess with a list of the officers/staff scheduled for our trip. I prepared personal invitations to each of them (I wrote the Captain's in Italian and the Maitre D' in Portugese). (hint-Google translate helped a LOT with the Portugese!)

I dropped them off at the Pax Svc desk when we boarded and the next day we had 9 of the ship's staff attend our M&G. It was unfortunate that I had over 50 pax pre-cruise saying they would attend, but only 17 showed up. But that didn't keep the Captain, Maitre D', CD, Hotel Mgr, Security Director, F&B Director, CC hostess, etc, from staying around and spending quite a bit of their valuable time speaking with us and answering questions.

I believe they really appreciated the personal invitations.

 

Great work Nana, I will say that was above and beyond, and I'm glad you got the return on your investment! Very impressive. I think it is unfortunate that so many say they will attend and then the number is far less. I do understand one can get carried away with the activities on the ship.

 

That is a great story though. I enjoyed reading it, and while I'm not the OP thanks so much for sharing!

[paul929207]

Stupid question: who are the officers that can be invited? Captain, First Officer, CD, Maitre d'Hotel, Chief Purser, Executive Chef, ...

You can invite any officer

[Loonbeam]

Correct,

 

I did about 14 invites for this last one, a bit less than normal knowing I was expecting low turnout. Typically I do 18-20. It also depends on how detailed the list I get in advance from Princess is.

 

You can invite any officer

[macusr]

I hand wrote invitations for these officers on Ruby Princess:

Commodore

Staff Captain

Chief Engineer

Hotel GM - Attended

Cruise Director

Senior Doctor

Food & Beverage Director - Attended

Customer Services Director - Attended

Executive Housekeeper - Attended

Executive Chef

Maitre d' Hotel

Captain's Circle Host

 

Several junior officers also attended. The Hotel GM conveyed greetings on behalf of the Commodore & the CD. The Executive Housekeeper seemed particularly happy to attend the M&G - I got the impression that maybe he doesn't get an invite very often!

 

We had a pretty large roll call, so we asked people to reconfirm for the Meet & Greet. We had 99 confirm their RSVP and we had about 80 in attendance.

[PotatoBug]

I hand wrote invitations for these officers on Ruby Princess:

 

Commodore

 

Staff Captain

 

Chief Engineer

 

Hotel GM - Attended

 

Cruise Director

 

Senior Doctor

 

Food & Beverage Director - Attended

 

Customer Services Director - Attended

 

Executive Housekeeper - Attended

 

Executive Chef

 

Maitre d' Hotel

 

Captain's Circle Host

 

 

 

Thank you for the extensive list!

 

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[caribill]

If there is a true guest lecturer (not "shopping consultant") on board, we usually invite him/her.

 

Although not an officer (or even a Princess employee), he/she usually really appreciates the invite and the chance to interact with roll call members.

[windsor26]

I too always do personaised invitations and give them to the pursers desk immediately I board.

 

The last cruise we had a roll call and about 45 promised to attend the M&G

Only 12 turned up and we actually had more members of the ships crew attend than we had cruisers. But it was fun./ After they had gone we then got another entertainment staff member who had been sent by the CD to join us as he said we were a fun group/.

[bl413]

This is the first time I'm hosting a M&G. What should I know !!! Any tips to get the party started? It will be at 10am!!!

 

All suggestions welcome.

[paul929207]

This is the first time I'm hosting a M&G. What should I know !!! Any tips to get the party started? It will be at 10am!!!

 

All suggestions welcome.

See the responses to your other post.

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Many folks pick the morning of the first sea day for a meet this can be the very time that the ship will have its own meetings, Captain could be doing weddings etc.

For our Ruby meet the other week l picked early afternoon as such all senior crew attended apart from Captain but staff captain came instead, but given weather conditions all were more than happy to have Captain on the bridge.

 

Yours Shogun

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Forums mobile app

[denmarks]

I hand wrote invitations for these officers on Ruby Princess:

Commodore

Staff Captain

Chief Engineer

Hotel GM - Attended

Cruise Director

Senior Doctor

Food & Beverage Director - Attended

Customer Services Director - Attended

Executive Housekeeper - Attended

Executive Chef

Maitre d' Hotel

Captain's Circle Host

 

Several junior officers also attended. The Hotel GM conveyed greetings on behalf of the Commodore & the CD. The Executive Housekeeper seemed particularly happy to attend the M&G - I got the impression that maybe he doesn't get an invite very often!

 

We had a pretty large roll call, so we asked people to reconfirm for the Meet & Greet. We had 99 confirm their RSVP and we had about 80 in attendance.

 

Since you may not know their actual names, how do you address them.

[caribill]

Since you may not know their actual names, how do you address them.

 

The actual names for many of these people are in the embarkation day Patter.

 

Just get the Patter and finishing the addressing on the invite and the envelope and hand them, in at the Purser's desk.

[Fuzzyape]

The actual names for many of these people are in the embarkation day Patter.

 

Just get the Patter and finishing the addressing on the invite and the envelope and hand them, in at the Purser's desk.

 

Well stated caribill. When I hosted I thought I'd be ahead of the game and have all the invites ready. There were some changes to the officers on board which I saw in the first day's patter. Thankfully, I had brought some extra invites and could personalize them for the people who changed.

 

That's a great suggestion. It doesn't take much and removes a lot of anxiety, if you have that.

 

Counting down the days!