Bad Roll Call?

[bbappel]

Please please don't let the experience of people who met a few bad apples make you quit participating in Roll Calls on Cruise Critic. There are some people in the world who aren't quite stable and that includes here but the vast majority are good people who are trying to connect before the cruise, whether to make friends, or to plan excursions and shipboard activities.

 

I've been involved in several "private roll calls" within the context of the CC Roll Call. I've encouraged people to share information because I'm a person who focuses on building community. It is a fine line, I want everyone who wishes to participate included, but I don't want anyone to feel pressured. And sadly, it is in the mind of the other person to feel welcomed or pushed. And I live in NY so sometimes it seems pushy even when I'm trying to channel my Midwestern inner self.

 

These private roll calls (ones where I've done the work) use files within Dropbox where we may share information that we might not wish to share in a public forum - such as cabin numbers and e-mail addresses. This reduces our vulnerability. I've never participated in one that has an open link posted here on Cruise Critic. That worries me. We are vulnerable to a small degree but the only way to access this Dropbox is via e-mail to me. There is some trust involved in that it isn't possible to see who has received this link from others. I do share my e-mail and so far, knock wood and all the other superstitions I can think of, it hasn't caused problems.

 

Although privacy is an illusion these days, we do have to use judgment in what we share with whom. At the same time, worrying about it is probably futile. I don't put my seriously private information out there. I don't list my town just an area, but unfortunately my Cruise Critic ID is too close to my name, and I'm reluctant to change it because in the past 6 years of cruising, I've met so many great people and if they end up on another cruise with me, I want them to know it so we can connect. Heck, I just realized I don't always share my full name with these people. Not trust, just unimportant.

 

The biggest issue to me is that since we can't see the other person when we are writing a post, we sometimes write something that is misconstrued and then another person takes offense and their post is misconstrued and you have personality issues that would never happen face-to-face. That hasn't stopped me from trying to be honest and straightforward in my posts, but I have sometimes been misunderstood. Ah well, it happens.

 

That said, I have in my "stickies" the CC name of a person with the caution -- "Do not go on cruise with XXXXX-obnoxious" since I perceived him to be pretty nasty. Maybe he thinks the same of me.:p The X list is mine, I didn't name him because maybe it is just my perception. I also have listed "try to go on cruise with lsimon" since he is very kind and helpful, but I haven't seen him lately. :( I hope he didn't have a bad experience that has reduced his posting. Maybe I'm reading less.

 

Beth

[seaztheday1]

You are right when you say if the police was involved why wasnt this person kicked off the cruise. I dont know maybe they have been but probably not. Si She cancelled the cruise, rather than have it be spoiled by this person and his supportive gang.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Please please don't let the experience of people who met a few bad apples make you quit participating in Roll Calls on Cruise Critic. There are some people in the world who aren't quite stable and that includes here but the vast majority are good people who are trying to connect before the cruise, whether to make friends, or to plan excursions and shipboard activities.

 

I've been involved in several "private roll calls" within the context of the CC Roll Call. I've encouraged people to share information because I'm a person who focuses on building community. It is a fine line, I want everyone who wishes to participate included, but I don't want anyone to feel pressured. And sadly, it is in the mind of the other person to feel welcomed or pushed. And I live in NY so sometimes it seems pushy even when I'm trying to channel my Midwestern inner self.

 

These private roll calls (ones where I've done the work) use files within Dropbox where we may share information that we might not wish to share in a public forum - such as cabin numbers and e-mail addresses. This reduces our vulnerability. I've never participated in one that has an open link posted here on Cruise Critic. That worries me. We are vulnerable to a small degree but the only way to access this Dropbox is via e-mail to me. There is some trust involved in that it isn't possible to see who has received this link from others. I do share my e-mail and so far, knock wood and all the other superstitions I can think of, it hasn't caused problems.

 

Although privacy is an illusion these days, we do have to use judgment in what we share with whom. At the same time, worrying about it is probably futile. I don't put my seriously private information out there. I don't list my town just an area, but unfortunately my Cruise Critic ID is too close to my name, and I'm reluctant to change it because in the past 6 years of cruising, I've met so many great people and if they end up on another cruise with me, I want them to know it so we can connect. Heck, I just realized I don't always share my full name with these people. Not trust, just unimportant.

 

The biggest issue to me is that since we can't see the other person when we are writing a post, we sometimes write something that is misconstrued and then another person takes offense and their post is misconstrued and you have personality issues that would never happen face-to-face. That hasn't stopped me from trying to be honest and straightforward in my posts, but I have sometimes been misunderstood. Ah well, it happens.

 

That said, I have in my "stickies" the CC name of a person with the caution -- "Do not go on cruise with XXXXX-obnoxious" since I perceived him to be pretty nasty. Maybe he thinks the same of me.:p The X list is mine, I didn't name him because maybe it is just my perception. I also have listed "try to go on cruise with lsimon" since he is very kind and helpful, but I haven't seen him lately. :( I hope he didn't have a bad experience that has reduced his posting. Maybe I'm reading less.

 

Beth

 

I'm going to be reasonably cautious, but I've met too many nice people and participated in too many great excursions organized by roll call to stop posting or participating in roll calls. I keep a roll call of my cruises, but I do not publish it on Cruise Critic. If people want to be included, they have to e-mail me with their information. Then, just before the cruise, I e-mail the list out to those who are interested.

 

Edited August 3, 2016 by Happy Cruiser 6143

[seaztheday1]

Thats a very good way to do it.

 

On one of my roll calls , someone said if people cant say where they are from and cant say their real names then he is removing himself from the roll call and he did. We dont miss him. LoL

[lovemylab]

I just wanted to respond one more time to people telling me to Google myself. Yes, I understand that with your last name and town, you can be found. I am talking about first name and town. Someone with access and time and desire and strong technical capability could conceivably figure out who I was through my first name and town alone. Those people would be FBI or the like, or someone part of a sophisticated crime ring, who could find that information about me whether I posted my name and town on Cruise Critic or not by hacking the Celebrity site, or my airline records, or my credit card files. That's all I'm saying. Most people are smart enough not to provide last names online to strangers, especially when talking about traveling. I see very, very, very little risk in posting my first name and town. That is all I am saying.

 

I agree. I see nothing wrong with posting first names and city in a roll call. I just googled my first name and city. Nothing came up.

 

It always amazes me how much personal information some people post on this board. I recall a thread where someone posted a link to their wedding photos. One of the very first pictures was the wedding stationary. The full names of the bride & groom along with the names and address of the brides parents was clearly visible.

 

I've been on a few roll calls that have had problems. Reporting the issue to the moderators is best. If I felt someone on the roll call was truly an a$$hole, then I would just avoid joining any tours they're on. The last few roll calls I've been on have had over 100 people so it would have been easy to avoid the troublemakers.

[fleckle]

I remember hearing (here and on the news) a few years ago about a theft ring, which involved cruise company (RCCL??) shore-side employees. I think it was someone who worked in the terminal, and knew exactly when the local (South Florida) passengers checked in. They then alerted their co-conspirators, who cased and broke into the houses. So, yeah -- things can happen, even when you carefully guard your personal information. :eek:

 

Was it this one?

 

 

Royal Caribbean employee accused of burglarizing customers' homes while they were on cruises - tribunedigital-sunsentinel

 

 

Her name looked familiar at the time it was in the news, and I realized that was because I had received email messages from her, but fortunately I never used her for anything.

 

I never do business with any of those people I don't know from the various cruise lines who keep sending messages periodically soliciting business by claiming to be my cruise vacation planner or agent (or whatever they call it).

 

[wwcruisers]

Thats a very good way to do it.

 

On one of my roll calls , someone said if people cant say where they are from and cant say their real names then he is removing himself from the roll call and he did. We dont miss him. LoL

 

Luckily, I haven't encountered that particular situation yet. But, I would probably have directed that poster to the Cruise Critic guidelines, that discourage the posting of too much personal information. Even though you can't post on an r/c thread unless your are a logged-in CC member -- you CAN read that info, if you know what you're looking for! :eek:

 

OK, so this thread is making me a little paranoid. I'm going to put on my aluminum foil hat, and go watch the nightly news! (But, yes, I'm still going to participate in my roll calls!) ;)

[seaztheday1]

Oh no , not the nightly news, that will give you nightmares for sure :)

[warmwinds]

I've never understood roll calls. Unless you've met the people in person before, it's like a huge weird blind date.

 

We did it once and the people were NOTHING like how we thought from the roll call.

 

On the other hand, we have met wonderful people on all our cruises, many whom we have communicated with after the cruise, but we met them "organically" (not sure what term to use, we met them on board because we were interested in the same things, etc.).

 

But this thread, to think there might be people who are belligerent or threatening, makes me NEVER want to try a roll call again.

[Can'tstopcruising]

I've never understood roll calls. Unless you've met the people in person before, it's like a huge weird blind date.

 

We did it once and the people were NOTHING like how we thought from the roll call.

 

On the other hand, we have met wonderful people on all our cruises, many whom we have communicated with after the cruise, but we met them "organically" (not sure what term to use, we met them on board because we were interested in the same things, etc.).

 

But this thread, to think there might be people who are belligerent or threatening, makes me NEVER want to try a roll call again.

 

We have been on so many rollcalls, and I can't recall anyone being belligerent or threatening.

 

On the other hand there have been some wonderful organizers with whom we shared transfers, tours, etc.

[labatsman]

This is a big eye opener for us,We have met friends for life thru roll calls and have cruised with one couple for the last 5 years in a row. We have always joined roll calls and participated in discussion.

We have seen a few overbearing people who want to control roll calls, but sometimes some roll calls offer no enthusiasm and sometimes we just dont go to the meet and greets because of this.

[GottaKnowWhen]

This is truly a question of curiosity and not argumentative - how can someone find you by knowing only your name and city, particularly if you have a common name and live in a large city?

 

 

There is a digital photography section here on cc. Someone posted there some information about his cameras. An interesting mix, I mentioned it on a small photography discussion group I am part of. Within 10-15 minutes someone replied that the person who was talking about his cameras a) lived in such and such city, b) worked in the banking industry, owned a blue corvette, and was a member of such and such club. And was very foolish to use the same user name in multiple groups; even though all were anonymous groups, the collection of breadcrumbs he left behind made him easy to find. No need for paranoia, but caution is a good thing.

[Von & John]

Oh no , not the nightly news, that will give you nightmares for sure :)

 

Seaztheday - I think we met on the Connie this past Spring. Hope you & your husband are enjoying your plans for your next cruises :)

[suec12]

Sorry, I meant to name this roll call hanky panky :)

 

I've seen some roll call hijinks that really make me shake my head - posters with multiple screen names, constantly promoting their private tours, filling up not just one van for a few, but lining up a fleet of vans and attempting to have the tour operators in a port only provide services to them and the folks they are nudging onto their tours. I began to suspect ulterior motives.........do you think it would do any good to report this to the cruise line or roll call folks......maybe I am just being mean spirited and suspicious?

Edited August 4, 2016 by suec12
tried to correct name of thread

[Pavovsky]

I was shocked that some people arrange tours on roll calls for personal gain.

[CruisingChick]

I was shocked that some people arrange tours on roll calls for personal gain.

 

Really? I didn't know that either.

[seaztheday1]

Seaztheday - I think we met on the Connie this past Spring. Hope you & your husband are enjoying your plans for your next cruises :)

 

I dont think so, but maybe some other.

[Wine-O]

I was shocked that some people arrange tours on roll calls for personal gain.

 

Spain Day Tours is notorious for getting folks on Roll Calls to hawk their tours and giving them their tour free for their efforts. I won't have anything to do with that company.

[GottaKnowWhen]

I was shocked that some people arrange tours on roll calls for personal gain.

 

There is always some personal gain to the person organizing tours. I say that as one who has organized tours and have gone on tours arranged by others. As the organizer, I get to negotiate/decide the itinerary I would like to do. Example: So maybe it would cost us $300 to do a certain day-long city tour as a couple. But if I can find two more couples, price per couple drops to $200. So I have saved $100, am still doing the itinerary I prefer, and have facilitated a good day for two other couples. I think my "personal gain" is fair return for the time and energy I put into researching the options, finding, negotiating with, and making arrangements with a tour operator.

 

In the example above, if I got a special price break as the organizer, but the others had to pay full fare, then that I think would be sleezy. Unless it were fully disclosed ahead of time to the others who were thinking about joining the tour.

 

It used to be, maybe still is, with airlines and cruise lines if a person organized a group of 12 or more then the organizer got a free or reduced-fare ticket. Basically equivalent to a 8-10% commission. I saw that in our church on mission trips to Central America, trips to Israel, etc. I have mixed feelings about this practice, but in the church context it meant that the underpaid pastor and the overburdened mission budget were given some relief.

 

So, in brief, the whole business of non-professional "travel agents" getting mixed into travel agent business is complex.

[Gracie115]

Spain Day Tours is notorious for getting folks on Roll Calls to hawk their tours and giving them their tour free for their efforts. I won't have anything to do with that company.

 

We used Spain Day Tours for 4 different tours on our last cruise. We were "participants" in 3 of them and actually organized one. YES, they do offer incentive in price reductions for the one organizing the tour, BUT they do a wonderful job, better than the "BIG BUS" tours offered by the cruiselines. They, like Rome In Limo....who does NOT offer those incentives added greatly to our last trip.

 

I hate to see any roll call with members that cause others problems. We have participated in many and gained friends and great advice thru them We've organized and joined many tours in many different countries and without our roll call would not have been able to do so and would have had to use the big bus tours that all the cruiselines offer since for the most part private tours for 2 are cost prohibitive.

[hcat]

Have been on roll calls solely focused on getting tours organized..

Not much else was discussed, no group events were planned other than sailaway and the organizers wanted to take over the official connection get together to set up tables and collect tour money. Since we mainly do cruise ship tours the roll call lost our interest and we along with other non tour folks kind of dropped off...

 

Some roll calls click, some don,t...but nice to chat with folks who will be on your cruise..most are normal and nice enough,,,

[chicotam]

I was shocked that some people arrange tours on roll calls for personal gain.

 

I know for a fact that a person on our cruise inflated the cost of the tours she was touting. She has since dropped out of the cruise...maybe didn't make her quota.

 

Lesson learned...do your homework. Find out how much tours are going for before you sign up. Find out who the tour operator is, and if that information is not forthcoming, don't go on that tour.

[GottaKnowWhen]

I know for a fact that a person on our cruise inflated the cost of the tours she was touting. She has since dropped out of the cruise...maybe didn't make her quota.

 

Lesson learned...do your homework. Find out how much tours are going for before you sign up. Find out who the tour operator is, and if that information is not forthcoming, don't go on that tour.

 

Just out of idle (morbid?) curiosity I followed your personal link back to your Roll Call. I didn't dig deeply enough to figure out who you might have been referring to , but I did note a series of blatantly commercial tours offered by an operator in Sicily, not a passenger acting as a hidden "agent." I am surprised that nobody flagged those - I thought such posts are verboten, but it is more honest than the other approach...

[suec12]

Well I don't mind if a tour company trolls for clients but maybe that is not in accordance with CC policy. What is not OK is when a "friendly" poster and her minions join a roll call very early and then over-promote their tours - again, not just finding a few fellow passengers to go with them (and maybe the organizer gets a bit of a discount) but the folks on our roll call were trying to fill multiple vans. I've heard that it's possible if the cruise line becomes aware of the practice, the passengers can be banned. Of course they would have to track down these passengers and all the different names they have posted under.

[richsea]

Interesting & informative discussion!

 

I have found that each roll call takes on its own personality; some friendly with lots of onboard activities, some geared more to excursions, & some pretty dead. It's easy enough to paricipate as much or as little as you wish.

 

With regard to excursin organizers, i have found that the ones I have been involved in always post a link to the tour's site, which lists the possible itineraries available as well as the cost differential, depending on the number of people.