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Meet and Greet


Carol From California
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We just got off the Star, Venice to Istanbul. All in all it was a great cruise. I would like to thank Viking for hosting the Cruise Critic "Meet and Greet". They provided servers with wine and snacks for us and it was very nice. I went on a Oceania cruise earlier this year and organized the Meet and Greet. Oceania provided nothing. So kudos to Viking for doing this, and we did enjoy the cruise very much!

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Really nice to hear Carol. Glad you had a great cruise and Viking showed their classy side!

 

We were also pretty impressed with what they did (including the printed invitations), as we're very used to Oceania doing nothing. I felt a little sorry that I and others mostly turned down the little snacks and wine - didn't want to ruin my appetite for dinner! Bill and Gale, who boarded in Barcelona, made the snacks and wine happen - thanks go to them as well as to Viking. As my husband says, Oceania may just have to step up to the plate, as Viking is looking like they'll be some serious competition! I DO love Oceania, though - and they go everywhere and have the best food.

 

Carol, I may email you, as I think you've done a cruise we're thinking about taking, and one we've already booked.

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We were also pretty impressed with what they did (including the printed invitations), as we're very used to Oceania doing nothing. I felt a little sorry that I and others mostly turned down the little snacks and wine - didn't want to ruin my appetite for dinner! Bill and Gale, who boarded in Barcelona, made the snacks and wine happen - thanks go to them as well as to Viking. As my husband says, Oceania may just have to step up to the plate, as Viking is looking like they'll be some serious competition! I DO love Oceania, though - and they go everywhere and have the best food.

 

Carol, I may email you, as I think you've done a cruise we're thinking about taking, and one we've already booked.

 

Sure, email me.

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  • 3 weeks later...
We just got off the Star, Venice to Istanbul. All in all it was a great cruise. I would like to thank Viking for hosting the Cruise Critic "Meet and Greet". They provided servers with wine and snacks for us and it was very nice. I went on a Oceania cruise earlier this year and organized the Meet and Greet. Oceania provided nothing. So kudos to Viking for doing this, and we did enjoy the cruise very much!

Are Meet and Greets standard on Viking Ocean? When do they usually happen? How would Viking know who is CC?

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Are Meet and Greets standard on Viking Ocean? When do they usually happen? How would Viking know who is CC?

 

I'm not Carol, but since I'm the one who originally proposed a Meet and Greet, I'll reply, and Carol can comment more as needed.

 

No, Viking (and other cruise lines) don't really host Meet and Greets. Before this, I had been on a cruise line that does (Celebrity) and one that doesn't (Oceania). What happened with us on Viking is this:

 

Early on, I started a Roll Call. Eventually it sounded like there were enough people interested in having a meet and greet on the ship. Since there had only been one (that I knew of) on Viking before ours (very first cruise, and attended by Carol S Brown, top CC person), I didn't plan to involve Viking. There were about 20 of us, and I just suggested a day, time and place and people expressed interest. About maybe 10 days pre-cruise, one of the people on the Roll Call posted, saying she was already on the ship (doing a back to back cruise) and if we wanted, she could ask Viking if they could host it. She asked them, and they suggested holding the event in Explorers Lounge Deck 8 area, and said they'd provide invitations if we could provide either last name or stateroom number for each person who was to attend. I'm not sure how far in advance she provided this info to Viking (and to whom) but we got an invitation the first night of the cruise for our Roll Call the next afternoon. They also provided servers with goodies (more than I could eat or drink, especially before dinner), as discussed above. Whether they would do this for everyone I don't know, but Viking Star staff definitely aims to please, so I would guess they would.

 

We've done 2 Celebrity cruises, and they DO officially host CC Meet and Mingle parties. I don't remember if they sent invitations or not (probably) but I do remember that they closed off one of the small bars for our event. They also sent a couple of the ship's top staff people and provided non-alcoholic drinks and snacks. While it was nice of them to do that, I didn't miss having cruise line bigwigs at the Viking party, as we were pretty busy and happy just chatting among ourselves. Also, the staff is pretty approachable anyway on Star, so if you really want to meet them, it's possible to do that. If you want free wine and beer, that's pretty free-flowing on Star, so to me there's no real advantage to having that, plus food is always available, too.

 

On Oceania, they don't sponsor a party, but we've always had one on our own, as Carol did. In my mind, there's no great advantage to having the cruise line host it, unless you really care about things like invitations and freebies. The only thing I perhaps didn't like on O and on Celebrity was that most people sat down, myself included. There wasn't all that much mingling going on, so it kind of defeated the purpose of a meet and mingle! Of course, I could have gotten up and moved around. Not sure if we just had a better venue for the Viking party, or more interested and energetic people, but there was actually a good deal of mingling going on at ours. You could sit if you wanted/needed, but lots of people stood. There was room around the chairs and sofas to stand and talk as well, so the people sitting down didn't feel left out.

 

The meet and mingles can be arranged on your own with or without hosting by the cruise line. My advice, based on attending somewhere between 5 and 10, and organizing a few of them, is as follows:

 

Pick a day close to embarkation day. Some people lose interest after a while, or have conflicts. Sea days are great as long as they're not too long after embarkation. (Of course, this is difficult on Viking Star, as the itineraries are port-intensive rather than sea-day intensive). Having one during the time people can be ashore is a little risky if you want maximum participation.

 

Explorers Lounge on 8 (not main area on 7) worked well for us. If people don't want to walk up the stairs, there's a door on 8 toward front of ship that leads into the area. Pick your day/time/location carefully. I once organized a casual one during sailaway - NOT a good idea if you're sailing away from a beautiful sailaway destination. (Mine was Lisbon. So many people were on deck to see the sailaway that only 2 people found me. Didn't help, of course, that I was moving around..) The first day or two are not great for early meet and mingles because of the time difference and the need for some to sleep or nap. Also, cruise lines are now required to hold their muster drills before or immediately after the ship departs, so stay clear of that time (usually right before in my experience, for Oceania as well as Viking Ocean).

 

You can go crazy asking people when they want to have a meet and greet. I'd just pick a day/time, ask if there are any known conflicts and (usually) roll with it. You'll likely have a few people unable to attend whatever you pick due to activities, spa dates, 6pm Chef's Table reservations, etc. - just do the best you can and perhaps adjust the time a bit to get in any people who already have things booked for that day. On another thread, I've posted the Dailies for our cruise. While each cruise will be different, at least you might be able to get an idea of what's going on at any given time. Enrichment activities are often before dinner, for example, although these ARE shown on TV later so that people don't have to attend in person.

 

If you're lucky enough to have a whole ton of people sign up on your Roll Call, you might want to notify Viking in advance that you'll be getting a big group together, even if you aren't asking for any type of involvement by them.

Edited by roothy123
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Roothy123, thanks so much for your reply. I welcome Carols comments too.

 

roothy123 you have seemed to put hours and days into documenting your journey. I can't tell you how much it means for those of us that are going to be going in the future. I'm from the schooling of be prepared and you'll have the best time possible in addition to heading off any unforeseen challenges. So thanks!

 

I have to ask. Are you a blogger or some type of writer? You have shared so many details both during and after the trip. How do you remember them? I've tried to keep a journal on my last trip to Europe and got about 3 days of 3 weeks.

 

Thanks again,

Janis

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Roothy123, thanks so much for your reply. I welcome Carols comments too.

 

roothy123 you have seemed to put hours and days into documenting your journey. I can't tell you how much it means for those of us that are going to be going in the future. I'm from the schooling of be prepared and you'll have the best time possible in addition to heading off any unforeseen challenges. So thanks!

 

I have to ask. Are you a blogger or some type of writer? You have shared so many details both during and after the trip. How do you remember them? I've tried to keep a journal on my last trip to Europe and got about 3 days of 3 weeks.

 

Thanks again,

Janis

Janis, you're very welcome. I'm in that same mindset of wanting to be prepared, and I'm a real planner, so I crave lots of details. I find that if I plan, I can make the most of what's usually kind of limited time in all these wonderful places that cruise ships go to. I usually end up with much more info and things to do than I can actually do, but it's OK. I love planning.

 

As for the writing, I'm not a blogger, but I did do a good deal of writing in my career (although not creative stuff, just basic writing) and I still do some volunteer writing for my husband's alumni magazine. I love to write, and edit.

 

As for the remembering, when I plan (and I had a full two years to plan this past cruise!) I prepare what my husband calls my "manuscript" - lots of notes from my research (and I love researching, too!) After I've planned so much, found good maps and info, and written it all in a city by city document, it's easier to remember place names and whatnot for the things I did and saw. It also helps me put captions on most (but not all) my photos, as long as I get those processed and on my photo site within a few weeks of my return. If the info isn't in my brain, it's usually in the notes - although I did take a few notes while I traveled - just wrote them on the pages of my manuscript that I carried with me in my camera bag. I usually also keep the daily papers from any cruise I take for a couple weeks after I return in case I need to refer to them.

 

I've gotten really carried away with posting on CC recently, but with a new cruise line and ship, there isn't as much info available as there is for Oceania and the other long-standing cruise lines, so people have a lot of questions. If I can help them, I will. I love Cruise Critic (especially the Ports of Call section, as I end up doing a lot of stuff independently rather than by taking excursions) and Cruise Critic brings together all the things I love -travel, researching, writing, etc.

 

Thanks for the kudos! Oh, and I'm retired, so I have time to post a lot on Cruise Critic! I'm also up to almost my 15th cruise (ocean and river), so I have lots of experience and anecdotes back there in my brain!

 

Enjoy your cruise! I certainly did!

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