Why are some roll calls less active than others?

[Baby_Bear]

Ok I have a question that's not strictly RCL related but I know people here have tons of experience cruising in general so you may know. I'm curious as to why roll calls can differ so much cruise to cruise and maybe even line to line. My previous Med cruise was in 2012 on the Carnival Breeze. She was a brand new ship at the time, ours was just her eighth voyage. I remember we had a super active roll call going and also a Facebook page. Between the two, we had 100+ participants and tons of people were organising small group tours at every port. Carnival threw a bash for us on the first full sea day and it was so crowded, they literally had to limit how many people could be in the venue at the same time. We loved our private small group tours, I could never do the big ship tours after that.

 

Now on our upcoming Rhapsody cruise, it's been much more limited participation and no discussion of any tours. I know its a 7 day cruise whereas the Breeze was a 12_dayer but still, I would have thought there may have been some interest in small group tours. Nothing really. We are more experienced cruisers now and I'm more comfortable booking private excursions everywhere but it definitely is more expensive. I was wondering if RCL cruisers just preferred ship tours or took the DIY route? Or is it just our roll call that's quiet? I have to admit I don't participate too actively in roll calls for Caribbean cruises as we just like to do our own thing, but I had assumed the Med (and maybe Asia, Middle East, etc) cruises would be different.

[Familygoboston]

I'll bet there is a greater percentage of repeat and frequent, savvy cruisers on a Caribbean itinerary than a Mediterranean cruise. I'll bet a greater proportion of people are first timers or ocassionally cruisers who may be less familiar with Crusie Critic. I cruised for nearly 2 decades before I discovered it, (well ok, it was only invented for one of those decades, but still...)

I help out quite a few newer to cruising friends and most have never heard of CC or if they have, the idea of a roll call isn't even on their radar. It's too bad.

[PCWalton1]

Just depends on the people in the roll call. When we took a Med cruise on Splendour in 2012 we had thousand of postings. The cruise immediate after ours have a few dozen. In fact several people from that second cruise posted questions on our roll call.

[Coralc]

It is just a random thing. There are a certain percentage of people that are on Cruise Critic, and then an even smaller percentage that might sign up for the roll call for a particular cruise.

 

The transatlantic cruises, and those for new ships, usually have huge and busy roll calls. The cruises that start and end at a foreign (non-US port)...not so much, sometimes. There are even fewer members in other countries.

 

And even some 7 day closed loop US origin cruises just seem to have slow roll calls.

 

And sometimes that is almost okay. We had a Hawaii to Ensenada one quite a few years ago that wasn't great to start with, and apparently became so contentious after we left to fly to Hawaii for the cruise, that most of it was deleted. :rolleyes: We knew absolutely no one at the Meet & Mingle...because no one had ever posted.

 

:)

[Paulxyz2004]

Not everybody knows CC. Actually the CC community is just a very very small fraction of the Overall cruise passengers worldwide.

From those on CC many might not even know about the RC concept and from those that know many are not the least bit interested in it.

Personally I´ve given up on RC´s quite a while ago already.

I´ve made some great friends while cruising and with those I communicate through other means than a RC. I´m just not interested in most of the RC stuff.

[LilBlackDress]

I am currently signed up in 2 different Roll Calls.

 

The one in 2016, on an older ship, Bahamas cruise, and the activity level has gone up and down. There are weeks with only 1 poster and then there are times when it is very active for a week and then dies down again.

 

The 2017 RC is on a new ship, there is a lot of anticipation, updates on the progress of the ship. A lot of the people in the RC are in suites so we now have the Star Class and Sky Class to talk and complain about.

 

My take on the meet & mingles/roll calls are, you will only get out of it what you put into it. If you are going to sit by and wait for someone else to ask about setting up a tour or talk about excursions, you may miss out. They might be waiting too and then you are all missing out on what could be

[beachnative]

Out of the 22 future cruises that we currently have booked there are 4 that do not even have a Roll Call.

[George C]

I am on 2 roll calls and neither has had any activity recently, been on roll calls on much smaller ships that had multiple post every day.

[reallyitsmema]

No two rollcall threads are the same. I have been on some that have been very active and others that have only had a handful of people even though the meet and mingle had almost 100 registered. I have had some that have been dominated by one or two posters talking about nothing relevant to the cruise and others where one person has taken possession of the rollcall and feels the need to be in charge of every list, gathering, excursion and discussion.

 

I use the rollcalls as a way to gather information that others have researched and I share the research I have done. Sometimes it isn't well received, but that is a different story.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

It is just a random thing. There are a certain percentage of people that are on Cruise Critic, and then an even smaller percentage that might sign up for the roll call for a particular cruise.

 

The transatlantic cruises, and those for new ships, usually have huge and busy roll calls. The cruises that start and end at a foreign (non-US port)...not so much, sometimes. There are even fewer members in other countries.

 

And even some 7 day closed loop US origin cruises just seem to have slow roll calls.

 

And sometimes that is almost okay. We had a Hawaii to Ensenada one quite a few years ago that wasn't great to start with, and apparently became so contentious after we left to fly to Hawaii for the cruise, that most of it was deleted. :rolleyes: We knew absolutely no one at the Meet & Mingle...because no one had ever posted.

 

:)

 

Well said.

 

I also want to add a little extra to your comment highlighted in red. It also depends on the ship. For example, new ships and big ships (currently Oasis, Allure, Quantum, Anthem, Harmony, and Ovation) will usually have larger roll calls because they are going to be popular. On the other hand, a sailing that is off season, on a smaller ship is usually less popular. And one-off itineraries such as repositioning cruise usually are very popular because the ports are unique.

[undercat]

I haven't joined the roll calls for my upcoming cruises. I may join them In the future or may not. I'm not interested in joining a private tour, and am not comfortable listing our names and location (even without surname) on a public spreadsheet. Of course, I would expect that those things would be optional even on a roll call. But I wouldn't mind saying hello to fellow CC'ers once I'm on board. I guess the participation depends on what the person hopes to get out of joining the roll call. Some of the cruise planning conversations can be fun, and on the roll call they could be tailored to the specific cruise - airport, hotel, and so forth.

Edited August 15, 2015 by undercat

[MCC retired]

I for one am often turned off of a Roll Call with too much one on one chatter about nonsense (IMO)

[Desert Cruizers]

Our 13 day NZ cruise last year was not very active, no organized activities, however we were very Port intensive, yet our upcoming SOS Quebec to Ft Lauderdale is extremely active with group activities and tours. Many choose to be involved in posting, organizing activities or participating, while many others who may sign up prefer to read and that is perfectly alright. My husband & I meet people regardless if on a Roll Call or not. We don't participate in everything.

Edited August 15, 2015 by Desert Cruizers

[CVU]

Some threads are informative and interesting and some are a few that only want to chat back and forth about their day and their activities, then if you look there are lots of posts but only from them as the rest of the posters have left.:rolleyes:

 

Some will get busier closer to sailing as people are cruising or busy and not interested yet.

[jules815]

The roll call for the 13-day Harmony transatlantic next October is so active, the admin had to start a second page. It seems like many on that cruise know one another and have cruised together before. They're planning lots of activities.

[bigque]

The roll call for the 13-day Harmony transatlantic next October is so active, the admin had to start a second page. It seems like many on that cruise know one another and have cruised together before. They're planning lots of activities.

 

Some people say they go into the roll call and see only a handful of people posting and some where one person may be doing all the talking. That is true of some roll calls but not for any bad reason. I am in a roll call for my upcoming October cruise and there has been only a hand full of us posting since the roll call started back in April of 2014. We have discussed everything from hotels in San Juan to flights to excursions to activities on board to pre cruise meet and greets and so on. We have around 660 post and over 6500 views. A lot of lurkers without posting. Some have come and posted once and twice and never came back. We have always welcomed new people who have come and tried to get converse. We were not a roll call where everybody knew each other. A lot of people just choose not to participate and then come here and blame it on the people in the roll call. The roll call is what the people in it make it.

[lah66]

Some threads are informative and interesting and some are a few that only want to chat back and forth about their day and their activities, then if you look there are lots of posts but only from them as the rest of the posters have left.:rolleyes:

 

Some will get busier closer to sailing as people are cruising or busy and not interested yet.

 

I can totally relate to this! My October cruise has a group that have sailed together in the past so there is a lot of personal banter back and forth. I have posted a few times but nobody ever responds to my comments or questions, so I have moved on! Not a very welcoming group! This will be my first cruise not going to a cruise critic function! It really is too bad. It is always fun to get to know new people.

Lauri

[Gordo]

We have had different experiences as well.

 

On our first Med cruise in September 2012, sailing on Liberty of the Seas, we had a lot of activity and arranged private tours for each port that quickly filled.

 

We sailed last year out of Venice on Splendour of the Seas, which was lovely, but the roll call did not have a lot of activity.

 

At the end of next month we are sailing the Med on Allure of the Seas, and there is minimal activity on our roll call. So we started watching the roll call for the first sailing in October. There has been a lot of activity on that roll call, which has been helpful.

 

For us, the down side of a less active roll call is the effect on cruise planning. We prefer booking private tours with smaller groups (usually eight people), and with little activity on the roll call it is hard to find others to join us (to help lower the overall costs).

[Baby_Bear]

Gordo, you echoed my thoughts completely! On my previous Med cruise there were so many options to join up with others on small group tours. Nothing on this one, so we just booked our own. For 2 people its a lot more expensive but I was unimpressed by the ship's tours being offered. It's just been such a different experience that I was surprised. I was looking at a couple of roll calls for cruises after ours and some have been very active. Guess it all comes down to individual participation.

[CaptData]

I have lots of cruises under my belt. I had one cruise where there were 5 people on the roll call. So I switched to a different Cruise Critic type thing. They had 90 people. We talked there almost every day. The one here ended up with the 5 of us meeting the first day, after Mustard Drill. I also met several of the others from the other group at the same time. We had a great time.

[hoffyhof]

I think a good many people are just plain intimidated by people that have done many many cruises. They may be the sweetest people. I think many people feel they cannot compete with these people financially and don't want to put themselves in that position of trying to compete. They just want to have a good time.

[bb99]

Sorry for this simple question, I am a new cruiser. How do you join a will call anyway?

Thanks!

[Coralc]

Welcome to Cruise Critic! :D Probably the easiest way to join is from the box, upper right on each Royal Caribbean page that says "Royal Caribbean ROLL CALLS".

 

Click on that, then choose your ship and find your sailing date, then post to your fellow cruisers. :)

Edited August 16, 2015 by Coralc

[Dave4120]

The original question was really asked?

[bb99]

Thanks