Purpose of a Meet and Greet

[crusinpeg]

I've gone to a couple M&Gs and enjoyed actually being able to put the faces with the messages on CC board. Conversations can evolve to sharing a tour with another couple or two but I wouldn't go there to meet up with planned tours outside of the original CC roll call topics.

 

What usually puts me off from attending these M&G are the often added gift swaps that are included with the M&Gs. They take up valuable time since the meetings are generally only for one hour. I'd rather my time is spent meeting with people than playing a game.

 

I will attend a sail away if one has been planned but that can also be difficult for many who have early dining plans.

 

We've met a few really wonderful people who we've traveled with and kept in touch with in the meet and greets but they were also of the type of M&G that allowed us the time to meet and get to know rather than selling excursions or playing games.

 

Personally we've had some gift exchanges that were alot of fun.....they've always been optional and held at the end of the get together so if someone doesn't want to take the time to participate they can leave early....its nice exchanging gifts from ones hometown.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I had joined CC about 11 years ago right after booking our third Princess cruise. I hadn't heard about a forum on this site, was just looking for info about cruising to Hawaii (sea conditions,etc.). When I found the forum, I looked around and found the roll calls and started the one for our cruise. Since I did, I also helped organized the meet and greets, even contacting the cruise director who said he'll set up a couple to and from Hawaii.

 

It didn't occur to me to invite officers. Someone from the CD's staff showed up with a bottle of champagne for us. After the cruise was over, I saw a post on another roll call from one of the passengers who was on our cruise, who basically didn't contribute to the planning of any meetings (which is fine), but then was complaining there that he thought it was boring (which to me isn't fine if you didn't help).

 

I agree with those who join a roll call to "meet" your fellow cruisers ahead of time. But my family isn't interested in joining a group for an excursion. My hubby would prefer to have me tell him about interesting places to see in our port. If we do decide to book an excursion, it's through the ship. It's much easier to pay for it that way (especially the way Princess does it) and I haven't found that much of a difference between the price of a private operator and the Princess ones, at least for the ones we've done.

 

I certainly agree with the OP that the meet and greet isn't for finalizing private excursions, especially as Princess sells them too. To me, it would be like setting up a cash bar in your cabin (with smuggled in booze).

 

I'm also fine if I go to a meet and greet and there's no officers there. To me, if it's about meeting your fellow passengers from your roll call, wouldn't hearing a spiel from an officer taking away from this time?

[Steviewonder1]

i have organized two M&G's. One was held in our PH Suite for 35 folks. No private excursions were discussed. The other was for our Eastern Med cruise. We had two M&G's. One was for all on the Board (85 of 136 signed in) with 7 of the ship's officers and CD, the other was in one of the larger bars for folks to complete last minute details of the Private Excursions. As it turned out all of the Private Excursions were all sold out, so it was pay up if not already funded or get info on where and when to meet. Most of those Private Excursions were for groups of 9-12 people.

[diverward]

You can also get the names of the officers from the Princess Patter waiting in your cabin when you board

 

If you contact the On Board Services Agent at Princess, you can get all the names of the people that you would like to invite ahead of time and have them all printed out. Do this about one week before the cruise.

I helped organize our M&G on the Sapphire Grand Asia Adventure last November and sent out the invites as soon as I got on board. And 9 Officers and Crew should up at out M&G. There was coffee and tea laid out as well. and to top it off, the Maitre D' arranged for a welcome luncheon and a farewell luncheon as well. And both were well attended. The PSD Group Services Director was magnificent. She had all the invites for the luncheons printed and also delivered to the cabins of all members of the Roll Call.

[OCruisers]

I

I'm also fine if I go to a meet and greet and there's no officers there. To me' date=' if it's about meeting your fellow passengers from your roll call, wouldn't hearing a spiel from an officer taking away from this time?[/quote']

 

Rather like Patty .... I go to M&Gs to meet others from the Roll Call.

Once, we had a Captain show up who talked on forever... thought he'd never leave. :rolleyes:

 

LuLu

[Kinkacruiser]

Private excursions should be finalised up on the roll call thread for that cruise well before boarding. The M&G is purely for meeting those who were posting before boarding.

I think it's tacky to collect money and/or advertise vacancies for private tours at a M&G and definitely disrespectful toward Princess.

[rkacruiser]

Princess is not the only cruise line that experiences behavior at a M & G that is inappropriate. HAL has the problem as well.

 

My first M & G was in 2002; it was then, as it should be now, an opportunity to personally connect with those on the Roll Call with whom one has been communicating. At that time, no one EVEN thought about doing something other than that!

 

This not understanding of what the purpose of a M & G should be is one more sign of the changes that have taken place with the cruising experience.

[sandyss]

What a difference between cruise lines!!

 

We normally cruise with Celebrity and recently with Azamara.

 

Both of those cruise lines arrange the M&Gs for cruise critic members. Many officers attend and introduce themselves.

 

The biggest difference is that there is normally an announcement by one of the officers regarding whether anyone is looking for anyone else specifically, including Roll Call members wanting to meet the people who have signed up for their private tours. Those cruise lines have no problem with people arranging their own private tours. Nevertheless, I have never witnessed anyone abusing that opportunity by either trying to fill vacancies on their tours or collecting money at the M&Gs.

 

I have heard about the difference in attitude toward private tours on Princess ships. I see from the prior comments on this thread that Princess cruisers have no problem with the Princess attitude towards private tours. Personally, I much prefer the relaxed attitude about private tours on Celebrity and Azamara.

 

Our last cruise with Princess was in the 1980s. We have decided to try Princess again for our May Alaska cruise. I certainly hope that I am not threatened because of the one private group tour that I have arranged. I look very forward to meeting everyone on our Roll Call, and also hope to meet our travel mates on that private tour at the M&G.

 

When we book a cruise, we are paying for our cabin and the various included amenities on the ship. We have not agreed to take any of the ship-sponsored tours. If we either want to do something that the ship does not offer, or prefer to travel in a small group, that is our prerogative.

 

Flame away!

[Colo Cruiser]

If you contact the On Board Services Agent at Princess, you can get all the names of the people that you would like to invite ahead of time and have them all printed out. Do this about one week before the cruise.

 

 

Someone posted recently that this practice has stopped.

Its best to get the names from the patter on embarkation day anyway as we have found crew come and go and the planners don't always have up to date info. ;)

[Jules59]

My husband has organized several meet and greets. He has had the Captain, Cd and others attend. It is always a nice way to meet your friends from the roll call.

[Sillyjilly]

All of them were too much like a meeting at our work where a self appointed "know it all" loves to hear themselves talk. We are retired now and choose not to waste our precious time with an event that irritates us.

 

I tend to have no filter these days and just say things that need to be said. I always offend someone. :rolleyes:

 

Lin

 

I'm with you.

 

There was a time when you met your fellow cruisers and had a nice chat. Now it's all about meeting the captain and crew members. UGG.

 

I stick with the short sailaway get togethers now.

[Steviewonder1]

The fastest way to get the Ships Officers names is to Email the ship's contact at Princess, which can be found by calling Princess. Then email that person on the first day of the month of your cruise. You will get a soup to nuts all the way up to the Captain list of personnel. I did engraved invitations with the persons name and title printed on the outside of the envelope and gave them to the ship's Purser on embarkation with a request to please distribute. We got 7 of 15 invitations.

[Jules59]

I'm with you.

 

There was a time when you met your fellow cruisers and had a nice chat. Now it's all about meeting the captain and crew members. UGG.

 

I stick with the short sailaway get togethers now.

 

Sorry Sillyjilly. We had a nice time doing both.

[Mommypig]

 

 

Our last cruise with Princess was in the 1980s. We have decided to try Princess again for our May Alaska cruise. I certainly hope that I am not threatened because of the one private group tour that I have arranged. I look very forward to meeting everyone on our Roll Call, and also hope to meet our travel mates on that private tour at the M&G.

 

When we book a cruise, we are paying for our cabin and the various included amenities on the ship. We have not agreed to take any of the ship-sponsored tours. If we either want to do something that the ship does not offer, or prefer to travel in a small group, that is our prerogative.

 

Flame away!

 

 

 

I am not saying that Princess frowns on private tours or that anyone gets in trouble for arranging one. There is no way that Princess can accommodate all passengers on their tours, especially on larger ships. Tours get sold out, or aren't what passengers are physically able to do. Some of their tours are great, but some are not a good value for the money. So private tours will happen. And Princess has no right to control whether a passenger does a private tour or a Princess one.

 

Cruise Critic is an awesome forum for comparing tour possibilities and arranging private tour groups. If we keep the tour arrangements on the forum then they are simply not Princess's business. The same is true at a meet up set up by the tour organizer where Princess has not been involved in the arrangements for the meet up. As in meet me for lunch in the MDR or come to my suite, or meet us at the adults only pool.

 

Meet and Greets should be just that. Meeting and Greeting. Princess has provided a venue and a bar tender, and occasionally finger food. They have indicated that we should not use this time to sell or organize tours. So we should respect that and enjoy the time we have with each other. We have met several awesome couples at Meet and Greets when we had time to mingle and talk.

 

It was gratifying to read some of the responses where the M&G was a time to put faces to screen names and form friendships.

[Colo Cruiser]

The fastest way to get the Ships Officers names is to Email the ship's contact at Princess, which can be found by calling Princess. Then email that person on the first day of the month of your cruise. You will get a soup to nuts all the way up to the Captain list of personnel. I did engraved invitations with the persons name and title printed on the outside of the envelope and gave them to the ship's Purser on embarkation with a request to please distribute. We got 7 of 15 invitations.

 

 

New info here on CC says this is not true and Princess is not giving out this info anymore. The crew can change up to the last minute and shoreside may not have an up to date list.

 

Best to just fill them out once onboard from the current list provided in the patter on embarkation day.

[Sillyjilly]

Sorry Sillyjilly. We had a nice time doing both.

 

Good for you. :)

[Esprit]

On our cruise around South America on the Grand Princess in 2013, the Captain announced at the M&G that there would be no selling private excursions at the meeting. He said that if anyone persisted, they would be put off the ship at the next port. That put a stop to the sales.

 

Those promoting private tours in a M&G should know better. What an insult to Princess's kind hospitality

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

On board activities, such as cabin crawls, slot pulls, times to meet for coffee, setting up trivia teams, group lunches, etc. are allowed at M&G's.

 

Obviously other than the activities you listed, the arrangements for tours should be moved to another venue after the M&G. This can be prearranged on the group roll call prior to sailing and word of mouth but not during the actual M&G especially with officers present.

[Tyskie]

This thread is a great reminder for everyone ! I have organized several M&G's on NCL but this will be my first on Princess.

 

I would say the only positive Princess M&G's I have been to was on the CB repo cruises. We had great representation of officers & great conversations with them. They mingled more than they "talked" - just what you would want a M&G to be. We have made friends for life and regularly correspond with them. Occasionally meeting up on other cruises.

 

Never in ANY of our M&G's - on any cruiseline - were there sales or arrangements of excursions. If done, they were done discreetly after the M&G.

 

I do think that most excursion sharing is done on the European cruises. Our RC, everyone is responsible for their own payment, it's right there on our spreadsheet and those of us that are organizing the tour - will have everything done before we sail :D

 

As said before, Princess doesn't have to do this, let's be respectful :)

[elliair]

I agree. Thanks for opening a can of worms.:) It's about time for a hot topic other than gratuities and dining room dress. For myself, I seldom go to large meet and greets, largely for the issues you stated.

 

We didn't experience that at one of our Meet & Greets, but we did experience it on the roll call threads. We did go on a private tour with some from the roll call, and I must say, we'll never do that again. Also, the leaders of the M&G spent a lot of time and money on getting it all together. Only a handful of people showed up. Fifty people signed up for the lunch and only 12 people showed up. I don't particularly enjoy M&G and have decided not to participate in the actual M&G. I'll chat on the roll calls but that's about it. I'll only book Princess tours, the private one was a disaster.

Edited April 10, 2015 by elliair

[crusinpeg]

We didn't experience that at one of our Meet & Greets, but we did experience it on the roll call threads. We did go on a private tour with some from the roll call, and I must say, we'll never do that again. Also, the leaders of the M&G spent a lot of time and money on getting it all together. Only a handful of people showed up. Fifty people signed up for the lunch and only 12 people showed up. I don't particularly enjoy M&G and have decided not to participate in the actual M&G. I'll chat on the roll calls but that's about it. I'll only book Princess tours, the private one was a disaster.

 

We had the exact opposite experience..booked tours with those on our roll call and have become best of friends as well as cruising buddies!!

[caribill]

I'll only book Princess tours, the private one was a disaster.

In what way?

[paul929207]

In what way?

I am with you Caribill. I don't understand elliair's comment. We have probably taken over 150 private excursions and have not had a bad one yet.

[Thrak]

The meet and greets that we have experienced have been small and informal gatherings. No officers attended. I can't imagine using it as a time to organize tours. That should have been taken care of in advance or, if there are any last minute details, they should be attended to at another time and location that should have been determined in advance. A meet and greet that was used as a tour organization time is one we would simply leave.

[baconlover1]

I organized a M&G last summer. May I suggest that,if you haven't already done so, find out the names of your ships' officers and when you get on board, bring some personal 'invitations' to the PAX svc desk to be delivered to them.

I had done so and we had 9 ships' officers attend - from the CPT, CD, Directors of housekeeping, security, food and beverage, Maitre'd, etc.

They were all wonderful and spent quite a bit of time conversing with us and talking about their jobs on board.

Don't rely on Princess to notify them all. They appreciated the personal touch.

Oh, and that was my 1st M&G and I had no idea that 'sales' were frequently done during these get togethers. I would have assumed any coordinating of private tours would be handled in the same manner - privately.

 

I have organized the M&G for our May 17th trip and was told that I HAD to do a personal invite to the crew or they wouldn't show up.

 

Suggestions on who I should invite? My thoughts so far are to invite the Captain, Chief Engineer, Cruise Director and Customer Relations Manager. I would love your opinion.

 

I have not heard of private tours being discussed or such at my previous M&G.