Roll Calls

[awhfy]

19 hours ago, HelenREMfan said:

I think this site revamp has really damaged the roll call part. The roll call for my next Celebrity cruise has been virtually as dead as a dodo. I feel the roll call is harder to find and on having to open 3 pages a pain to get to! This is such  a shame as I have organised quite a few now with sail-aways and on my last cruise a cabin crawl which those taking part in loved and a poker run. As I always made name badges it means people get to meet up at the sail away and most then go to the meet and mingle. In fact contact on here has helped fill the ship's Meet and Mingle for those who didn't make the sail away that has helped them meet up. 

Can this site get a better roll call site please..... 

 

 My feeling exactly. We had a fairly active Roll Call on our 3 upcoming cruises until the conversion to this new system. I, for one, really miss the ease of my app; this takes WAY too long. 

[4774Papa]

21 hours ago, PROCRUISE said:

I think roll calls and meet and mingle get-togethers depend entirely upon those on the particular cruise.

 

Last Sept/Oct NE/Canada cruise on the Summit, the roll call was very active particularly for sharing excursion ideas and looking for others to join private tours.The slot pull, organized through the roll call had the largest number of participants I've ever taken part in. This is the aspect of roll calls that I like the best: private tours and activities planned. The meet and mingle had a very large turn out but after several officers spoke, the whole gathering just broke up.

 

On the other hand, the roll call for the Viking Sea cruise last January had minimal input but the ship crew went out of their way to make the meet and mingle successful. Everyone attending was greeted at the door by the captain and other officers, a large spread of snacks was present and the CD invited everyone to introduce themselves. I've never seen this type of crew involvement on the seven Celebrity cruises I've taken so far.

 

The Reflection roll call for my upcoming February cruise is fairly active with a sharing of tour ideas but no activities (cabin crawl, slot pull) have been even suggested. Perhaps after many cruises, most fellow cruise mates are just not interested anymore - "been there, done that."

 

Agree, it depends on the cruise.  We find that for TransAtlantics and TransPacifics that Roll Calls have a high participation.

 

Also, shorter cruises have shorter participation.  We did one on NCL on a 7 day cruise from Boston to Quebec City and the roll call was sad.

[bboop51]

10 hours ago, DrKoob said:

We are currently active in two major roll calls (Ireland Iceland 6/19 and Mardi Gras 2/20--both on Reflection) and have just finished another on Summit to New England in October at  that had more than 140 active participants. The two current roll calls have more than 110 people for Iceland and 26 for Mardi Gras. 

 

We have done almost 20 cruises on X and all of them that weren't going to Alaska (6 of them) have had great roll calls. In fact I can state that we have met just about every great friend we have on one of our Cruise Critic roll calls. I think participation is just a matter of who is taking that cruise. We have never had a big participation on any of our Alaska roll calls. I truly believe that this is because there are so many new cruisers going to Alaska. They have no idea that there is even a Cruise Critic. 

 

Hope yours improves.

 

Jim

 

PS: Just checked out your roll call for your May 5th cruise. Half the problem is that the title doesn't say where you are going. Is this a Caribbean cruise? Then I'm not surprised that there is so little participation. They rank just above Alaska cruises when it comes to roll call participation. My experience is that the longer and more exotic the cruise (British Isles, Iceland, Mardi Gras, SE Asia, etc.) the more people are looking to share shore excursions and that promotes roll call participation.

The cruise is to Bermuda. I didn't start it, so I can't alter it.  All of our  cruises for the past few years have been the same cruise, same length and same destination and had lots of participation.   We can agree to disagree, but I'm sure adding the destination would not do much. People know the date and ship they are cruising. A few may be lazy and need the destination for convenience.  I would have added it,  I hope after the New Year people wake up and jump on, but I'm counting on it.

[bboop51]

36 minutes ago, 4774Papa said:

Agree, it depends on the cruise.  We find that for TransAtlantics and TransPacifics that Roll Calls have a high participation.

 

Also, shorter cruises have shorter participation.  We did one on NCL on a 7 day cruise from Boston to Quebec City and the roll call was sad.

 

We have never cruised for longer than seven days and there has always been a lot of participation. Last year's cruise (same cruise, ship, time of year etc)  we had a sail away with over 70 cruisers. It made for a wonderful cruise, all around.

[4774Papa]

1 minute ago, bboop51 said:

 

We have never cruised for longer than seven days and there has always been a lot of participation. Last year's cruise (same cruise, ship, time of year etc)  we had a sail away with over 70 cruisers. It made for a wonderful cruise, all around.

On one TransAtlantic cruise we had a roll call of about 200 persons.  Longer cruises are better than the short week long cruises. The cruisers are generally very well traveled and less focused on partying.  

[bboop51]

34 minutes ago, 4774Papa said:

On one TransAtlantic cruise we had a roll call of about 200 persons.  Longer cruises are better than the short week long cruises. The cruisers are generally very well traveled and less focused on partying.  

The people  have met on our seven day cruises have been quite well traveled (we have as well.)  We take a seven day cruise for personal and professional reasons.  The crowd on the Summit are hardly party animals.  The only seven day cruise (a mistake) we took  that follows your logic was our cruise on the NCL Breakaway to Florida and the Bahamas. 

[4774Papa]

51 minutes ago, bboop51 said:

The people  have met on our seven day cruises have been quite well traveled (we have as well.)  We take a seven day cruise for personal and professional reasons.  The crowd on the Summit are hardly party animals.  The only seven day cruise (a mistake) we took  that follows your logic was our cruise on the NCL Breakaway to Florida and the Bahamas. 

The 7 day cruises we have taken didn't include a lot of party people, but I sense that Alaska and NE/Canada don't draw that type. However, based on conversations with other cruisers that do Caribbean cruises, there tends to be more party types, especially during holidays.  As always, generalizations don't always fit individuals.

[dkjretired]

Also have to be cautious of cruises with charters who may have their own way of communicating with the people cruising.  I am on a roll call in June that only has five people, I've been searching around to see if there is some type of partial charter.   Don't want any surprises.  

[keesar]

1 hour ago, dkjretired said:

Also have to be cautious of cruises with charters who may have their own way of communicating with the people cruising.  I am on a roll call in June that only has five people, I've been searching around to see if there is some type of partial charter.   Don't want any surprises.  

 

On our last cruise, there were two good sized groups  ( partial charters). which each  had their own website to communicate.  They even had excursions dedicated to them. One night, all the Specialty Restaurants were reserved for one group.  Needless to say, the  Roll Call was dead and there was no Meet and Mingle.  

[bboop51]

On 12/29/2018 at 11:44 AM, dkjretired said:

Also have to be cautious of cruises with charters who may have their own way of communicating with the people cruising.  I am on a roll call in June that only has five people, I've been searching around to see if there is some type of partial charter.   Don't want any surprises.  

 

I'm a pretty good researcher and if there is a charter on our cruise is must be  top secret .  I hear you, though, we've been on a cruise with a  mahjong charter  (that was fine) but anything really weird I'd like to know in advance. 

[abbydancer2003]

I've been on a lot of roll calls, mostly Princess.  I've noticed that often very short cruises have a quiet roll call, as do Alaska cruises.  That said, in recent memory I've had an exception in both cases.

 

I also think the new format hasn't helped.  I manage a google doc for one of my roll calls, and so many people, when joining, mention how difficult it is to post in the roll call now.

[Alushar]

Our current Roll Call for our Millie Hong Kong to Singapore in Feb has been the most active I've been on with lots of private tours being arranged and we are just starting talking about cabin/pub crawl/slot pull/gift exchange etc. A regular list is produced of who is on and from where.

 

Previous 3 Celebs have done the M & M and enjoyed them and they seem to have got better with higher ranking staff being more engaged. I know after last M & M the Hotel Director reglarly stopped us for a chat throughtout the cruise 

[patty1955]

Our roll call wasn't very active but we did get enough people signed up for a meet and greet. Very few people got the invite/info for the meet and greet. I saw the sign for it at customer relations after it was held so we missed it.

[DrKoob]

4 hours ago, patty1955 said:

Our roll call wasn't very active but we did get enough people signed up for a meet and greet. Very few people got the invite/info for the meet and greet. I saw the sign for it at customer relations after it was held so we missed it.

 

You should always stress on your roll call that if people don't find an invite to the Meet and Mingle in their stateroom when they arrive in their cabin the first time, they should call or visit Guest Relations and ask when and where it is.

 

 

[keesar]

9 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

 

You should always stress on your roll call that if people don't find an invite to the Meet and Mingle in their stateroom when they arrive in their cabin the first time, they should call or visit Guest Relations and ask when and where it is.

 

 

But what do you do when the ship is not notified that the minimum number has been reached?  It seems that the flaws in the website do not keep an accurate number and the needed 25 is not reached.

[abbydancer2003]

1 minute ago, keesar said:

But what do you do when the ship is not notified that the minimum number has been reached?  It seems that the flaws in the website do not keep an accurate number and the needed 25 is not reached.

I seem to remember that because they knew the website was flawed that they'd hold it regardless of how many signed up before.

[DrKoob]

2 minutes ago, keesar said:

But what do you do when the ship is not notified that the minimum number has been reached?  It seems that the flaws in the website do not keep an accurate number and the needed 25 is not reached.

 

If you are over the number a week or more before you sail and you don't see it as a verified group on the website, then call Captain's Club. 

 

But let's be honest—any good roll call will have a sail-away meet up where people can talk about when the Meet and Mingle is. On all of our roll calls, I made a point of checking with the folks at guest relations and then being able to tell everyone at the sail-away when the Meet and Mingle was going to be held.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I see participation in a roll call and the meet and greet or connections party as two separate things.  I agree, Celebrity does not do a good job with the meet and greet events.  MSC does a far better job.  We actually had two events:  one shipwide and one in the Yacht Club.  Drinks and refreshments were served, a group photo was taken and provided to everyone, and the captain made a point of talking to everyone in the Yacht Club.

 

A lively roll call can produce its own sailaway party and other activities.  I used to look forward to participating in roll calls.  They were very active and many interesting independent tours were organized.  I have definitely noticed a lack of participation lately.  Don't know why that is, but it is definitely noticeable.

[Lineaway]

Just saw this post and I too have seen a drop off in Roll Calls.  Noticed it about 5-6 years ago after a very large and active Roll Call on a Carnival Spring Break cruise.  Last well attended one I have been too.  I think a lot has to do with FB and more partial charters with their own agendas.  I don't like the way CC does the auto post in the roll calls but besides being annoying its not the reason I stopped participating.  I watch the roll call but unless someone posts something regarding a special Tour that we would be interested in, I really just stay off them.  We have a NCL 7 day coming up here in March.  There are 30 posts among maybe 4 or 5 posters.  Very similar to our Star Alaska cruise last August or our Equinox cruise last April. 

 

I think its a permanent trend.

[kpark895]

Hi Bette.  Our roll call for Bermuda was great, wasn't it!  I still remember the good times with everyone.  Unfortunately, I am not sailing Celebrity this year, but am heading back to Bermuda with my daughter around the same time as last year, end of April, on NCL.  So far, there isn't even a roll call started for that cruise.  I'll probably have to start one.  I also noticed that there are two other NCL Bermuda cruises in April, prior to mine, and there is very little action on the roll calls for those two, so I don't think it is only a Celebrity problem.

[Vagabond Knight]

Took a 14-night Caribbean in March 2018 and had a very active roll call... many participants and lots of ideas exchanged regarding on-shore excursions, info about hobbies, etc.  Had a very well attended Meet & Greet, both in the way of guests and officers attending.  The pastries looked fine, but we'd just eaten breakfast and so we didn't indulge.  🙂   Met up with a couple who had a matching hobby (we'd noted this in the CC conversation) and we ended up spending a lot of time with them throughout the week, even meeting up for dinner every evening, going on a few excursions together, and keeping in touch since the cruise.

 

We're taking a similar cruise (12-night Caribbean) in April 2019 and the number of participants in this roll call is very low, as well as the ongoing interaction.  I myself find the lack of  the "Go to first unread" option to be extremely painful and so I've had to go out of my way to convince myself that it's worth it to participate.  I pretty much have to navigate to the last page of the thread and then work my way up until a post sounds familiar enough that I think I've already read it.  This is not how online forums should work.  I'm not sure that would cause the lack of initial participation though... it's not hard to find the roll call to do an initial post.  However, monitoring the ongoing conversation is much more challenging and I believe that could be affecting ongoing participation.  Maybe the low participation is simply due to most of the people on this cruise being repeat Caribbean cruisers who already know what they need to know and know what they want to do, but CC really needs to take a long look at getting the forums straightened out in case the extra effort required to participate is actually the reason for the decline.

[abbydancer2003]

2 hours ago, SunsetPoint said:

 

 

We're taking a similar cruise (12-night Caribbean) in April 2019 and the number of participants in this roll call is very low, as well as the ongoing interaction.  I myself find the lack of  the "Go to first unread" option to be extremely painful and so I've had to go out of my way to convince myself that it's worth it to participate.  I pretty much have to navigate to the last page of the thread and then work my way up until a post sounds familiar enough that I think I've already read it.  This is not how online forums should work.  I'm not sure that would cause the lack of initial participation though... it's not hard to find the roll call to do an initial post.  However, monitoring the ongoing conversation is much more challenging and I believe that could be affecting ongoing participation.  Maybe the low participation is simply due to most of the people on this cruise being repeat Caribbean cruisers who already know what they need to know and know what they want to do, but CC really needs to take a long look at getting the forums straightened out in case the extra effort required to participate is actually the reason for the decline.

Actually, it's there, but not obvious.  If you click the dot next to the title of the thread (in the thread list) it will take you to your last unread.

 

The old one never worked for me - it always just took me to the most recent post and I had to scroll back to figure out where my reading had stopped, much like you do now.  The dot seems to work well.

[Vagabond Knight]

52 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

Actually, it's there, but not obvious.  If you click the dot next to the title of the thread (in the thread list) it will take you to your last unread.

 

Thank you so much!  That will be very helpful.  Kind of bizarre that such a useful tool is hidden, masquerading as a mere list bullet.  Once you hover over the dot it tells you what it does, but it never occurred to me to hover over it.  I guess I need to hover over every item on the CC pages to see if I can find other surprises. 

[bboop51]

7 hours ago, kpark895 said:

Hi Bette.  Our roll call for Bermuda was great, wasn't it!  I still remember the good times with everyone.  Unfortunately, I am not sailing Celebrity this year, but am heading back to Bermuda with my daughter around the same time as last year, end of April, on NCL.  So far, there isn't even a roll call started for that cruise.  I'll probably have to start one.  I also noticed that there are two other NCL Bermuda cruises in April, prior to mine, and there is very little action on the roll calls for those two, so I don't think it is only a Celebrity problem.

Hi Kathy, We had a wonderful group. Load of nice people and lots of fun.  We'll miss in Bermuda. We are back in Celebrity, May 5th. Have an awesome time. I hope we meet up again on another cruise ! Wish you and your daughter a healthy & happy New Year !

[bboop51]

2 hours ago, abbydancer said:

Actually, it's there, but not obvious.  If you click the dot next to the title of the thread (in the thread list) it will take you to your last unread.

 

The old one never worked for me - it always just took me to the most recent post and I had to scroll back to figure out where my reading had stopped, much like you do now.  The dot seems to work well.

WOW !!!! So helpful. I'll try it. Thanks !