Cruise Critic Party....Late Invitations?

[Susan-M]

After communicating with others for months and sometimes a year or more in advance of a cruise, many of us look forward to the CC party on board. However, I've read several posts about invitations being issued so late (3 hours in advance) that people didn't see them in time to attend the party.

 

On our Millennium cruise, invitations were sent out after 9 p.m. on the night before the party which was held at 10 the following morning, when we had lost an hour to a time change. It was on our first sea day after 4 port days. Also, the invitations had the wrong date and location for the party. (They had used invitations from a previous sailing, but did phone to leave messages with correct info.)

 

Just wondered if others are experiencing the same thing or are the late/inaccurate invitations a rare occurrence?

[geoherb]

We had plenty of notice on our Century cruise, but the problem was they scheduled the Cruise Critic party so late into it. I think it was on the 7th day of our 9-night cruise. It seemed really odd since our first two days were at sea, which seemed to be a perfect time to have the gathering.

[nu2sea]

Our invitations were in our cabin when we boarded, but the CC party wouldn't take place until our first sea day which was day four of a seven day cruise.:(

 

I think next time, if the roll call is a friendly one, I am going to suggest that those who want to should meet at one of the public spaces for an informal sail away party and not wait for the Celebrity Connections gathering. That one would then just be a bonus opportunity to meet again.

 

Susan

[DaisyL]

We missed the Cruise Critic party because the invitations were delivered during breakfast on the 1st day at sea with the party at 10:30 AM that same day. Needless to say, I happened to return to my cabin around noon and then realized we had missed it ...:(

 

I was really looking forward to meeting the others ... The invitation for the Captains Club party was in the cabin the 1st evening of the cruise and the party was 4 days later !!

 

I was really disappointed not attending .... The CC Connections party invite should be delivered the 1st night of the cruise ...

[dszrew]

We never saw an invitation and didn't know we had missed it until we walked by where it was being held and saw a sign.

 

They had a second meeting near the end of the 14-day cruise which we received an invitation for the night before (it was held about 3pm the following day). We know it was a second meeting and not the first official one because the invitation said "second meeting" right on it. We simply slept through that one.

[jebridan]

We were on the same sailing as DaisyL and yes the invitations were delivered early the first morning of our cruise but we also received a phone call around 8am. Possibly they didn't call everyone or she was already gone from her cabin then? It could have been better planned probably. It would have been better to get the invitations to everyone the night before. There were around 25 or so people that did show up though.

[DaisyL]

We were on the same sailing as DaisyL and yes the invitations were delivered early the first morning of our cruise but we also received a phone call around 8am. Possibly they didn't call everyone or she was already gone from her cabin then?

 

We left our cabin at 9 AM for breakfast so we were not called or called afterwards. I had thought of complaining but did not follow through ... I should have though; maybe to help future partygoers ...

[Susan-M]

I think next time, if the roll call is a friendly one, I am going to suggest that those who want to should meet at one of the public spaces for an informal sail away party and not wait for the Celebrity Connections gathering. That one would then just be a bonus opportunity to meet again.

 

Susan

 

One of our CC members organized a brief CC gathering between muster and dinner on embarkation day which was nice since the official CC party was 5 days later.

 

If you have an active roll call, with many members planning to attend the CC party, it would probably help to have one member who is aware of when the CC party will be held and ask Guest Relations to send invitations out as far in advance as possible. (It's not possible to do this ahead of the cruise, but could be looked after on embarkation day.)

[excitedofharpenden]

So far so good for us as we have had an invite waiting in our cabin when we arrive and it has always been held the following day as they happened to be sea days at the same time (11am from memory). I agree with Susan that if you have a particularly friendly roll call, make the suggestion to meet at sailway or some such time. We have done that the last couple of times anyway.

 

There was another thread here http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=215226 about the same thing and Laura Sterling posted and took it up with Celebrity. It would be interesting to know the outcome as it must be disappointing after so much chat. I've triangled one of the posts and perhaps Laura could answer here.

 

Phil

[CaptData]

In Aug 2003 on Navigator of the Seas, we only got a phone call 30 mins prior. My son and his GF got to go but I did not know about it until to late. My son told everyone that I used a scooter so I met several over the week because of my scooter.

[morriscats]

Just off Infinity and our invitations came the morning of the party and we missed it!! Were so disappointed as we have all chatted for over a year. Some of us did meet after we boarded for a brief time but it would have been nice to attend the party.

[grandsix]

Have cruised 2 times with RCL and once with Celebrity over the past 2 months and did not receive timely invitations. Now I will check with guest relations upon arrival to confirm day and time. Looks like there is a pattern here.

[Andym]

On this years August Millennium cruise, we got the invite the day after the party. We did complain but at could they do. It was really to try to make them get it right for others that we complained.

 

Nice pin badge though.

 

Last year, we arranged a meeting ourselves on the board , so most of us had met by the time the party was arranged.

[Susan-M]

Phil - thanks for the link to the previous thread re this topic....I hadn't seen it back in the summer. Looks like it's an ongoing problem and one that wouldn't take a lot of effort for Guest Relations staff to correct. They must get a lot of complaints on each cruise about the poor handling of invitations. Millennium has quite a track record!

[jukeboxy]

If this old mans memory serves him well the CC party is listed in the Daily activies sheet. So if you read that the night before you should have a clue when the gathering of the great minds is taking place.

It is not a very well kept secret and you could always ask any of the activies staff when and where it is taking place.

I know we get spoiled by the service but if it is important you should take some effort to CYA in case the ball gets dropped.

[Host Karen]

I don't understand why X doesn't do what Royal Caribbean does: post the date and time for the party on its website. Wouldn't that be the easiest way to let us know when the party will be held? Even if I didn't go to the website to check, I'm sure one of the roll call members would post it on the thread.

[Susan-M]

If this old mans memory serves him well the CC party is listed in the Daily activies sheet. So if you read that the night before you should have a clue when the gathering of the great minds is taking place.

 

I was looking for an invitation because Celebrity advised that I would receive one onboard. When one didn't arrive by day 4, I checked with Guest Activities to find out when the CC party was, but realized that many others wouldn't be aware of it as they too were under the impression that invitations would be delivered. Perhaps Celebrity shouldn't advise in the confirmation email that invitations will be issued on board, but rather, "look in the daily".

 

I agree with you that it is a "gathering of great minds" .... a lot of worthwhile info is shared beforehand and when doing a cruise where you wish to do ports on your own, the information is quite valuable.

[masterbaker]

If this old mans memory serves him well the CC party is listed in the Daily activies sheet. So if you read that the night before you should have a clue when the gathering of the great minds is taking place.

It is not a very well kept secret and you could always ask any of the activies staff when and where it is taking place.

I know we get spoiled by the service but if it is important you should take some effort to CYA in case the ball gets dropped.

 

Our party was listed on the daily activity sheet as well as invitations waiting in the cabin when we boarded. Delivering invitations falls under your room stewards duties, if they don't get delivered in a timely manner speak to your steward. Let your steward know at boarding when he or she greets you for the first time that you are expecting invitations to onboard events and expect them delivered on the day before. (there will be repeater parties, and captains club event invitations too)

 

It's sad that on a cruiseline that promotes it "famous" service that some stewards are making passengers have to ask for things that they should be getting without having to say a word. Those stewards should be noted in the post cruise questionaire, as well as those that did their jobs "famously".

[SS Cruise Lady]

Our party was listed on the daily activity sheet as well as invitations waiting in the cabin when we boarded. Delivering invitations falls under your room stewards duties, if they don't get delivered in a timely manner speak to your steward. Let your steward know at boarding when he or she greets you for the first time that you are expecting invitations to onboard events and expect them delivered on the day before. (there will be repeater parties, and captains club event invitations too)

 

It's sad that on a cruiseline that promotes it "famous" service that some stewards are making passengers have to ask for things that they should be getting without having to say a word. Those stewards should be noted in the post cruise questionaire, as well as those that did their jobs "famously".

 

If the cruise critic party is published in Celebrity's daily activity sheet, wouldn't that mean that anyone could go, not just people who registered for it on the cruise critic website?

[TechKnowBabble]

Can't speak for Celebrity, however on RCCL, our last cruise on Navigator of the Seas, they accidently sent the invitations to the rooms of the PREVIOUS cruise, so they had to get back all the invitations and send them to the correct rooms of the current CruiseCritic people.

[Andym]

Originally Posted by masterbaker

Our party was listed on the daily activity sheet as well as invitations waiting in the cabin when we boarded. Delivering invitations falls under your room stewards duties, if they don't get delivered in a timely manner speak to your steward. Let your steward know at boarding when he or she greets you for the first time that you are expecting invitations to onboard events and expect them delivered on the day before. (there will be repeater parties, and captains club event invitations too)

 

It's sad that on a cruiseline that promotes it "famous" service that some stewards are making passengers have to ask for things that they should be getting without having to say a word. Those stewards should be noted in the post cruise questionaire, as well as those that did their jobs "famously".

 

I have both the invite and the daily for the day of the party in front of me and I can confirm that the party is NOT listed in the daily !

[Susan-M]

It's sad that on a cruiseline that promotes it "famous" service that some stewards are making passengers have to ask for things that they should be getting without having to say a word. Those stewards should be noted in the post cruise questionaire, as well as those that did their jobs "famously".

 

The late invitations were the fault of Guest Relations not the cabin attendant....GR had not issued them until I pointed it out the night before the CC party was to be held.

[Susan-M]

If the cruise critic party is published in Celebrity's daily activity sheet, wouldn't that mean that anyone could go, not just people who registered for it on the cruise critic website?

 

There was a notice in one of our dailies for a second CC gathering (I presume because of the poor handling of the first one).... I missed the notice, but was told that a non CC member came, thinking that it was a gathering of disgruntled passengers who wanted to air their grievances:p I think his complaining was cut short and he was advised what the real purpose of the meeting was.

[Desertbelle]

Both on Celebrity and Royal Caribbean we have had problems with our CC members getting invitations in a timely manner. Never have the parties been listed in the daily.

[SS Cruise Lady]

Since CC parties tend to be held during the morning of the first day of a cruise, maybe we can just call guest relations that morning to check if we don't receive an invitation. This would accomplish two things. First of all it would prevent someone from missing it, and secondly it would probably make the system for distributing invitations more efficent to prevent such calls in the future.