Join a roll call!

[JPH814]

For anyone new to this great site, I hope you know about the Roll Calls. The are separate threads for each cruise where people can introduce themselves to fellow passengers on their upcoming cruise and share their plans for their vacation. I have had some wonderful experiences getting to know other cruisers in advance of the cruise.

 

Please check them out. If you need help finding yours, let me know your ship and departure date and I will direct you.

Edited October 7, 2015 by JPH814

[rafinmd]

Yes, but actually Cruise Critic has a tool making it (hopefully) easy to find your roll call. Click next to the gold star at the top of the page and enter your ship and month of sailing and Cruise Critic will do the searching. Also, the top of each roll call forum (the page of threads for each ship) Host Walt has posted standards for the thread title for the roll call. Host Walt explains in far more detail than I will, but the bottom line is your title should look something like this: "MS Eurodam 10-day Caribbean Seafarer February 17, 2016"

 

Roy

[Krazy Kruizers]

Years ago I used to join Roll Calls. Some only had 3 people join in, some had about 8.

We did have a couple with about 80 people.

But then the Roll Calls changed. People wanted to play games, do cabin crawls, exchange gifts, so slots, etc. We were not interested in those items. Haven't joined a Roll Call since 2009.

I never read Roll Calls for our cruise any more.

[DaveOKC]

Years ago I used to join Roll Calls. Some only had 3 people join in, some had about 8.

We did have a couple with about 80 people.

But then the Roll Calls changed. People wanted to play games, do cabin crawls, exchange gifts, so slots, etc. We were not interested in those items. Haven't joined a Roll Call since 2009.

I never read Roll Calls for our cruise any more.

 

You might want to give it another try. We have been active on 5 over the past 2 years and none of them involved game playing, cabin crawls, gift exchanges or slot pulls. All have been very informative and the resulting Meet & Greets have been well attended, cordial and over in about an hour. We have met some very nice people because of the roll calls.

Edited October 7, 2015 by DaveOKC

[Lizzie68]

I have been very happy with previous roll calls and made great friends. Unfortunately you get the odd one that is just not friendly except to one or two, or even open to any suggestions other than those by someone who thinks they own the roll call, so it pretty much dies. Fortunately, those are the exception, in my experience.

[rkorchid]

The Voyage of the Vikings 2015 roll call had over 150 passengers participating.

 

Topics included private excursions, travel tips, shipboard advice, etc.

 

It was incredibly active for a good 10 months.

 

The most successful part was the incredible spreadsheet compiled by Paul from Boston.

 

It kept track of participant's names, home location, cabin numbers in addition to port excursions and activities.

 

It was a tremendous asset to the cruise.

[kazu]

You might want to give it another try. We have been active on 5 over the past 2 years and none of them involved game playing, cabin crawls, gift exchanges or slot pulls. All have been very informative and the resulting Meet & Greets have been well attended, cordial and over in about an hour. We have met some very nice people because of the roll calls.

 

I will second Dave's recommendation.

 

I have met so many wonderful people thanks to our roll calls.

 

I do confess that with a lot of sea days, we have done cabin crawls and even this time , a slot pull. All this stuff is voluntary - no one has to do it all. It's whatever interests you.

 

I see nothing wrong with interspersing days at sea with this stuff (especially when you have 10 of them or so) and those that want to go can and those that don't care for it don't have to.

 

there is no pressure on any roll call I have been on.

 

and they have all been fun and quite congenial.

 

I recommend going back. There are lots of great people out there in the CC world :)

Edited October 8, 2015 by kazu

[madera1]

I am so happy to have found CC and later the Roll Calls. I have had the opportunity to join others on independent tours and felt that this enhanced my cruising experience. We have found it another means to get to meet others. I have encouraged our friends/family to join theirs as well.

[Scrapnana]

I, too, have been on some wonderful roll calls on Cruise Critic. As mentioned above, there is no reason to feel you HAVE to participate in any activities set up by your roll call. For example, the roll call for the cruise I leave on tomorrow has set up a slot pull. I chose not to join because I am traveling with four friends - if I was on my own I might have joined. I am going to the Meet and Greet, however. You can pick and choose any, all or none of the activities.

 

Roll calls are a great way to share ideas as well as to help each other out. Last year I did a cruise that needed visas for China and India. We exchanged ideas, suggestions and sometimes just commiserated with each other.

 

Since I usually travel solo, the roll call is a great way to get to know some of the people and have some friends before I even leave home.

 

I would encourage everyone to at least read your roll call even if you don't think you want to join. You might change your mind!

[sherilyn70]

I have had some great roll calls. On the last one with HAL it was just a simple informal get together around sail away time. We just named a spot to meet up at. Even though I never went through HAL to set it up the beverage manager showed up and have us all free drinks and appetizers. It was a nice surprise.

 

Several people were curious about my Neptune suite so I hosted a smaller second get together in my room on another day with bring your own drinks and had hot appetizers delivered to the room.

[Banditswife]

Years ago I used to join Roll Calls. Some only had 3 people join in, some had about 8.

We did have a couple with about 80 people.

But then the Roll Calls changed. People wanted to play games, do cabin crawls, exchange gifts, so slots, etc. We were not interested in those items. Haven't joined a Roll Call since 2009.

I never read Roll Calls for our cruise any more.

Even if the roll call has planned "games/activities" you do not have to join in those things. You can just enjoy the rest of the conversation. We've joined several group tours through roll calls & have been very satisfied doing that. The cabin crawls, slot pulls, & such are put out there for those who choose to be involved. I've never felt pressured to be involved if I chose not to.