What made your M&M fun?

[kandj05]

For those who have truly enjoyed one or more Meet and Mingles, would you please share what occurred to make it fun? Did you play certain games...do certain activities...bring presents, etc? Let's pretend the RCCL staff was not part of it, what did or would you like to see happen at a M&M that you truly enjoyed?

 

I'll go first:

*Introduce ourselves by our screen names

*Bring a gift from your home state to give away as a present

*And my favorite, right after the M&M...play Cabin Crawl Poker!!

[Paulette3028]

For those who have truly enjoyed one or more Meet and Mingles, would you please share what occurred to make it fun? Did you play certain games...do certain activities...bring presents, etc? Let's pretend the RCCL staff was not part of it, what did or would you like to see happen at a M&M that you truly enjoyed?

 

I'll go first:

*Introduce ourselves by our screen names

*Bring a gift from your home state to give away as a present

*And my favorite, right after the M&M...play Cabin Crawl Poker!!

 

First, I don't mind a Royal Caribbean staff member being there....someone needs to 'get it started' and they can handle that. A few raffles become a nice gesture.

 

It is good to have everyone introduce themselves by their screen name and maybe the city/country they come from.

 

MOST importantly is a willingness of everyone who atttends to talk with other people around the room. It is a Meet N Mingle, so sitting in one area doesn't accomplish the 'mingle' part.

[legaljen1969]

As a pre-cursor to your M&M, try to get folks involved in your roll call and hopefully some may have already established some common interests. It may also help to have some familiarity with others so that you can pass along any changes that may occur.

 

Our M&M on the last cruise was not particularly well executed. The time was changed after everyone was onboard. Some folks who received last minute upgrades did not get their M&M notices.

 

I do agree with the small gifts from home state for exchange. Introduction by screen name is great. Someone took the initiative to do a "Facepage"- basically a printout with pictures of the various folks associated with their screen names. That was very helpful in knowing who was who.

 

Discuss some things on your roll call as to what others might like to do. I know our M&M discussed a cabin crawl. I don't know that it ever panned out though.

[Paulette3028]

As a pre-cursor to your M&M, try to get folks involved in your roll call and hopefully some may have already established some common interests. It may also help to have some familiarity with others so that you can pass along any changes that may occur.

 

Our M&M on the last cruise was not particularly well executed. The time was changed after everyone was onboard. Some folks who received last minute upgrades did not get their M&M notices.

 

I do agree with the small gifts from home state for exchange. Introduction by screen name is great. Someone took the initiative to do a "Facepage"- basically a printout with pictures of the various folks associated with their screen names. That was very helpful in knowing who was who.

 

Discuss some things on your roll call as to what others might like to do. I know our M&M discussed a cabin crawl. I don't know that it ever panned out though.

 

Roll calls tend to have one person who becomes more of a 'cheerleader' in the group than others. The more people who interact in the roll call the better, but that doesn't mean that the M&M will be as successful as it could be.

 

The best M&M to me happens when everyone in attendance is there to truly meet and mingle. Some people show up, almost feeling obligated, rather than actually wanting to be there. Others have a great time, meeting the people they interacted with on line.

 

Of course, the cruise line changing the time and not making sure that everyone knows the change doesn't help.

 

Sometimes an informal meeting time on embarkation day at a particular area on board (eg SkyBar overlooking pool at 3pm) works well also. Some people need a place to go that first afternoon to get into the cruising mood.

[BillOh]

For those who have truly enjoyed one or more Meet and Mingles, would you please share what occurred to make it fun? Did you play certain games...do certain activities...bring presents, etc? Let's pretend the RCCL staff was not part of it, what did or would you like to see happen at a M&M that you truly enjoyed?

 

I'll go first:

*Introduce ourselves by our screen names

*Bring a gift from your home state to give away as a present

*And my favorite, right after the M&M...play Cabin Crawl Poker!!

 

 

All, or some of the above. For the most part I can gauge how a M&M is going to go by the personality of the roll call up till and including embarkation day. On so many of them we have had precruise dinners or sailaway drinks at the bar so we know several people even before the M&M. I did say for the most part, I've had people who lurked the entire roll call, but came up and said hello and talked about the rolll call. They have been nice along with the people I knew from the roll call. Introducing yourself by screen name is good. I think the last few I have went to Royal has provided name tags for that purpose - We used to elect someone from the roll call to do so. (Thanks to Royal I tragically ;) missed the last Meet and Mingle, I assume they did that there too. I've only done the hometown gift exchange once, and it was a big success, but it has to fit the personality of the group as well as the participation level. I'm looking right now at a Arizona related gift from my 2013 Allure cruise. I don't know if another roll call will ever match that one!

 

I've never done cabin crawl poker. I've only done one cabin crawl, and if you ever only do one, it should be on the Oasis class. Some amazing rooms there and our roll call was big enough that we had all the classes. Good thread, I'll look forward to reading the rest.

[BillOh]

First, I don't mind a Royal Caribbean staff member being there....someone needs to 'get it started' and they can handle that. A few raffles become a nice gesture.

 

Agreed, On my 13 Allure M&M we took over after they did their official part. I think only our 14 Jewel Cruise did Elvis the activities director actively try to make people mingle and have a good time.

 

By the way I know we both keep popping up on M&M threads. I hope to have the pleasure of cruising with you someday.

[BillOh]

 

Our M&M on the last cruise was not particularly well executed. The time was changed after everyone was onboard. Some folks who received last minute upgrades did not get their M&M notices.

 

And you talked about those people the whole time right :D

[Daghis]

On one cruise I've had in the past, the Activities Director had an activity for the Meet & Mingle that actually got the people in the Pyramid Lounge to get up and... mingle!

 

It was a form of bingo where each square had some personal attribute ("From Canada", "Celebrating a birthday", "Name is John", etc.). You had to talk to other people in the lounge to find out who qualified for each square and get them to sign their name. Whoever had the most squares filled in got a bottle of wine.

 

It was a lot of fun!

[sredish]

*Bring a gift from your home state to give away as a present

 

This is a cute idea that believe it or not, I've never seen. How do you decide who gets whose present?

Edited September 3, 2015 by sredish

[bigque]

This is a cute idea that believe it or not, I've never seen. How do you decide who gets whose present?

 

We have done this on all our cruises that have had a meet and mingle. On our last cruise with one we pulled numbers and when your number was called you went to the table and pulled whatever gift bag or wrapped present you wanted. :cool:

Edited September 3, 2015 by bigque

[A Pisces]

This is a cute idea that believe it or not, I've never seen. How do you decide who gets whose present?

 

Everyone who brings a gift, gets a ticket or number, from who ever on your roll call initiated the gift exchange. When your number is called, you come up and pick a gift. That is how most of them work.

 

I would say the best way to have fun at the M & M, which has been mentioned above, is by really participating in your roll call. You get to feel like these are friends, that you really want to meet! So when the time comes, you want to mingle with these people, and put faces with the names.:D

[BillOh]

This is a cute idea that believe it or not, I've never seen. How do you decide who gets whose present?

 

I think that varies by the group and the people setting it up. on my one time everybody formed a circle and a story was read that contained the words LEFT and RIGHT. When you heard such a word you passed your gift in that direction. When it was over, what ever you had was yours. It was fun.

 

I've heard of people doing something I've heard of where you can "steal" someone else's gift, something done with White Elephant gifts on land parties. I would hate that, but I've never really done so.

 

One of the most successful things I did that helped the roll call and Meet and Mingle was a triva contest that started a year before the cruise. It was a huge success and it helped people come out of their shell and learn about the cruise. . It started with only one small prize, but I recruited some more prizes and it really took off. I would do it on my roll call now, but less than a year out there are only 3 of us on the roll call!

[BillOh]

I would say the best way to have fun at the M & M, which has been mentioned above, is by really participating in your roll call. You get to feel like these are friends, that you really want to meet! So when the time comes, you want to mingle with these people, and put faces with the names.:D

 

Well said. And to the naysayers who say X dominated the roll call. All they talked about was their recent surgeries, etc. That's just an excuse. If you don't like the course of the ship, steer it another direction. Pun intended.

 

PS, congrats on your 1000th post.

Edited September 3, 2015 by BillOh

[bluegirlum]

 

Sometimes an informal meeting time on embarkation day at a particular area on board (eg SkyBar overlooking pool at 3pm) works well also. Some people need a place to go that first afternoon to get into the cruising mood.

 

People from our Roll Call did this on one cruise where we didn't have enough for a M&M. We agreed to meet at the Sky Bar, told each other what we'd be wearing (I had a certain hat, someone else had a certain shirt, etc.) and just showed up as the day went along. It worked so well. I was traveling by myself and a couple from the roll call "adopted" me for the cruise. People showed up as they got on board and settled in. I liked that it was really casual, people got up and left as they wanted. We didn't do gifts or anything like that. We sort of did that the rest of the cruise as well. People knew we'd be at one bar after dinner and if they wanted to join us, great!

[TBone2K]

Best M&M we ever had was unofficial because our cruise was too short to qualify. Met in the Viking Crown, got nametags, chatted for a bit. Then off for a cabin crawl and the a group slot pull.

 

Tried a gift exchange once on our England cruise. Thought it would be fun to have a more international group. However never considered the fact that most CC members are American. However the people who got our gift enjoyed their maple syrup very much.

 

The boring M&M I found have been so because a lot of people just show up for the prizes. Also doesn't help that RC schedules them at the same time or right before something else, such as getting ice show tickets, or a C&A event. So people don't have much time to chat as everyone has to run off to do something else.

[Dreamworks941]

What is a cabin crawl?

[Clarea]

What is a cabin crawl?

Some folks in the roll call offer to show their staterooms to anyone who is interested.

[Paulette3028]

Some folks in the roll call offer to show their staterooms to anyone who is interested.

 

We participated in a cabin crawl once.....I personally would not do it again.

[kandj05]

I am participating in my 2nd one. Looking forward to seeing a Promenade and Virtual Balcony room on my next cruise

[Goodtime Cruizin]

Our cruise next month, there are 152 signed up sp far. That's quite a few more as compared to our previous cruises. The Roll Call is pretty active and at this point from several groups. There appear to be quite a few D & D+ with a lot of birthdays & anniversaries. I feel it will be a pretty good M&M.

[robin13]

The best meet and mingle was one in which we were drinking in the piano bar. The roll call was very active so there were at least 100 people there. For those that wanted to drink we each paid $20 ahead of time and then got wrist bands. It was unlimited drinks and boy did we have fun. This was on a Carnival ship and it was in the afternoon.

[rodenboy]

The best "Meet and Mingle" was my first western Caribbean sailing where Katie Turner misheard a users screen name and thought it was "inbedwithjoe" I can't remember the original username but some of the "minglers" were laughing about it for the rest of the week. That was a fun meet and mingle.

 

On other cruises, it was more the activities we organised outside of the M&M that was the fun bit!

[Paulette3028]

The best meet and mingle was one in which we were drinking in the piano bar. The roll call was very active so there were at least 100 people there. For those that wanted to drink we each paid $20 ahead of time and then got wrist bands. It was unlimited drinks and boy did we have fun. This was on a Carnival ship and it was in the afternoon.

 

This could be difficult to organize with Royal, but I am not saying it could not be done.....but give me some clues (if you know) of how it was organized?

[Viv0828]

Our best get m & m was at a sailaway on a ta. Four couples hit it off and we decided to have dinner together most nights.