Differences in Roll Calls

[RNCheryl]

I have cruised many times with many lines.  On Princess and Celebrity, have had exceptional luck in Roll Calls.  On Princess Alaska, booked 2 excursions with fellow travelers. On Princess Baltic, a group of about 10 of us did EVERYTHING together and had a great time.  On Celebrity, our cruise group from the Summit was so successful, that we are still in touch, and sailing together, 10 years later.

 

Booked on the Bliss in July.  Our first NCL experience.  There are 4 people on the roll call, one an auto bot.  No posts for months.

 

Is there a rhyme or reason, or is it just Norwegian?

[K_e_short]

I"m only on my second cruise but found the roll call to be useless. My first cruise was on Carnival and this July is Norwegian.

 

I would love it to be more active but it's not.

[NLH Arizona]

I've been on some great roll calls and some not so good one, it just depends of the passengers.

 

 

[chefnene]

I can’t even find a Roll Call for our cruise; The Dawn 6/22-6/29/19.  It will not let me create one.   I am disappointed as this is our 6th cruise and we’ve always had meet and greets and pub crawls.   Not sure if roll call is working properly.

 

 

 

 

[rmurray847]

1 hour ago, NLH Arizona said:

I've been on some great roll calls and some not so good one, it just depends of the passengers.

 

 

Yes.  Last year, our RC for the transatlantic on the Breakaway was very, VERY busy.  Lots of experienced cruisers planning lots of fun things to do onboard.  GREAT.  Then, a little later, we sailed at Thanksgiving on the Allure of the Seas.  The RC was blah.  Mostly first timers asking questions, and very little actual discussion of things to do on the cruise.  It just varies.

[casofilia]

I have what I think some people will consider a warped idea of what a Cruise Critic MEET and GREET is all about.

 

Cruise Critic and the cruise line, for me NCL, have an arrangement whereby NCL will provide certain things so that Cruise Critic members are able to have a Meet & Greet; a venue; food; soft/hot drinks; an Officers' card and where the Officers are in attendance.

 

I "work" the Roll Call so that people who want to attend the M&G have to, at least, have a CC name or be family of or in a party with someone who does.   If a "VisageTome" group wish to get together then I believe it is up to them to make arrangements with the cruise line as I have to.

 

I also believe that a Meet & Greet or a Meet & Mingle, as some people prefer, is just that.  You get out of your chair to talk to as many people as possible and are only seated when there is the interaction with the Officers.   There is a way of doing that, provided the numbers are not too large, that works very well provided that people know about it before the M&G.

 

I also believe that it is totally disrespectful for private shorex to be discussed at a M&G where the hosts are the cruise line.  I have nothing against private shorex just when they are discussed.   That is why I like to organise a lunch after the M&G where such can be discussed.

 

I like to see something else at a M&G but I offer suggestions and then hope that someone else will take up one or other idea.  This is usually good when the M&G is a little larger so there are more people who take part.  My favourite is a Fridge Magnet exchange.  I do not like a Gift Exchange as they can become very bitchy and hard to control.

 

Only 1 thing really upsets me about a M&G, when someone is gazumped especially when the gazumper does virtually nothing to prepare for the M&G.   If you agree to arrange a M&G then be active in making the arrangements.

 

I'm ready for flaming!!!  I have a very thick hide!!! 

 

If you don't like my way of arranging the M&G please don't come.

 

Mike

 

 

 

[zactak]

I don't think it's an NCL thing. I think it can be really dependent on location, time of year, and the demographic of the passengers who are going on that specific cruise. Whenever I am considering cruises, I will check the roll call to see how active it is (the roll call doesn't effect my decision). There have been RCCL, Celebrity, and NCL cruises with less active roll calls, then I've had very active roll calls too. 

 

I'm going on an Alaskan cruise on the Bliss at the end of May, and my roll call is a bit slow too. 

[AlexandNessa]

5 hours ago, casofilia said:

I have what I think some people will consider a warped idea of what a Cruise Critic MEET and GREET is all about.

 

Cruise Critic and the cruise line, for me NCL, have an arrangement whereby NCL will provide certain things so that Cruise Critic members are able to have a Meet & Greet; a venue; food; soft/hot drinks; an Officers' card and where the Officers are in attendance.

 

I "work" the Roll Call so that people who want to attend the M&G have to, at least, have a CC name or be family of or in a party with someone who does.   If a "VisageTome" group wish to get together then I believe it is up to them to make arrangements with the cruise line as I have to.

 

I also believe that a Meet & Greet or a Meet & Mingle, as some people prefer, is just that.  You get out of your chair to talk to as many people as possible and are only seated when there is the interaction with the Officers.   There is a way of doing that, provided the numbers are not too large, that works very well provided that people know about it before the M&G.

 

I also believe that it is totally disrespectful for private shorex to be discussed at a M&G where the hosts are the cruise line.  I have nothing against private shorex just when they are discussed.   That is why I like to organise a lunch after the M&G where such can be discussed.

 

I like to see something else at a M&G but I offer suggestions and then hope that someone else will take up one or other idea.  This is usually good when the M&G is a little larger so there are more people who take part.  My favourite is a Fridge Magnet exchange.  I do not like a Gift Exchange as they can become very bitchy and hard to control.

 

Only 1 thing really upsets me about a M&G, when someone is gazumped especially when the gazumper does virtually nothing to prepare for the M&G.   If you agree to arrange a M&G then be active in making the arrangements.

 

I'm ready for flaming!!!  I have a very thick hide!!! 

 

If you don't like my way of arranging the M&G please don't come.

 

Mike

 

 

 

No flames from me, but you seem to be equating roll calls with Meet & Greets. 

 

I always sign up for roll calls, but have never signed up or attended a M&G. No interest.

 

The roll call is there for me to read and chat about cruise planning and learn or report news for my sailing. Sometimes you click with someone beforehand and you meet a person or group from the RC on the ship, sometimes you don't. 

 

I don't need a platform to meet with officers or listen to people to whine to them; I don't need extra snacks; I don't need a trinket from someone's hometown; I don't need to leave what I'm happily doing to get dressed and attend at 10 or 11am on the first sea day. Just some reasons why I never sign up for the M&G. 

[erdoran]

We have a great roll call going for the April 28 Jade TA, over 100 people and more signing up daily.  We have a number of sea day activities planned, a M&G, and a bunch of private/shared tours.

 

Casofilia, your point about it being disrespectful to discuss non-NCL tours at the M&G is well taken.  I'm going to post that to the roll call.

 

I did find at the beginning people would drop in and say hello and that was all.  The thing that got us going was NCL moving our port from NYC to Brooklyn, of all things.  From there the tour planning started.  

[fabnfortysomething]

11 hours ago, chefnene said:

I can’t even find a Roll Call for our cruise; The Dawn 6/22-6/29/19.  It will not let me create one.   I am disappointed as this is our 6th cruise and we’ve always had meet and greets and pub crawls.   Not sure if roll call is working properly.

 

 

 

 

no the roll call forum is having technical difficulties

at the very top right hand side of this forum is a note explaining ths and that new roll calls aren't being created

its been there for a couple of weeks 

[TSUmom]

I have found that it really depends on the itinerary....The most active roll calls I have been involved with have been on Mediterranean cruises.  My thoughts about this are  because it is new to so many and we share thoughts, ideas and questions not to mention the fact that tour sharing is the way to go (less expensive) when in Italy and Greece.  With the Caribbean itineraries it really takes much less planning and most people just do their own thing.  

[newmexicoNita]

14 hours ago, RNCheryl said:

I have cruised many times with many lines.  On Princess and Celebrity, have had exceptional luck in Roll Calls.  On Princess Alaska, booked 2 excursions with fellow travelers. On Princess Baltic, a group of about 10 of us did EVERYTHING together and had a great time.  On Celebrity, our cruise group from the Summit was so successful, that we are still in touch, and sailing together, 10 years later.

 

Booked on the Bliss in July.  Our first NCL experience.  There are 4 people on the roll call, one an auto bot.  No posts for months.

 

Is there a rhyme or reason, or is it just Norwegian?

I has absolutely nothing to do with the cruise line or anything else. A lot of people are startin to use face book as well We just got off the Dawn 2 days ago. Our group was so successful we ad 65 do the slot pull, about 35 the cabin crawl and a lot of excursions together. We even had a farewell dinner the last night. I will say it started out slow but the last couple of moths prior to sailing it picked up. The best M&G groups we have been part of have been with NCL and Princess second. A lot has to do with someone leading the group and lining up the N&G Just like any thing else, publicity and leadership determines the success.  Let me also add, July is a long was from now and if there isn't a leader of the group why don't you volunteer?

[newmexicoNita]

12 hours ago, chefnene said:

I can’t even find a Roll Call for our cruise; The Dawn 6/22-6/29/19.  It will not let me create one.   I am disappointed as this is our 6th cruise and we’ve always had meet and greets and pub crawls.   Not sure if roll call is working properly.

 

Probably a glitch in the system. We had that on our May cruise to Bermuda. Eventually CC got it cleared up. Of course June isn't all the far away if the M&G isn't showing up yet.

 

[kochleffel]

My experience is that roll calls are also most active for Mediterranean cruises, plus with Barcelona-Rome interporting there can be three overlapping roll calls for each departure. One consideration is that at Mediterranean ports there are many opportunities for private excursions. The very most active that I've seen was for a Barcelona sailing that followed a transatlantic sailing of the same ship, with many passengers traveling B2B.

 

A roll call that I'm participating in for a sailing later this month on the Caribbean has been moderately active relative to the size of the ship, but there are 90 or so people signed up for the Meet & Greet. We're having a slot pull but haven't planned a pub crawl or a cabin crawl. Private excursions are available at some of the ports we're visiting but not really necessary to organize in advance, so people tend to post what they plan to do but aren't trying to recruit others.

 

FWIW, posts on the Holland America board are proud of the fact that Holland America roll calls have little activity. "We are experienced passengers, we don't want to be hounded about other people's excursions, and we don't need to connect with  strangers" is the attitude.

[RedwingHockeyFan]

Getaway, 13-20 January was the first Roll Call I ever did and it was really good.

[Turtles06]

48 minutes ago, kochleffel said:

FWIW, posts on the Holland America board are proud of the fact that Holland America roll calls have little activity. "We are experienced passengers, we don't want to be hounded about other people's excursions, and we don't need to connect with  strangers" is the attitude.

 

My experience on the HAL board has been very different, I haven't felt that at all.  In fact, we had a great Roll Call last year for our Viking Passage cruise on the HAL Zuiderdam.  Lots of discussions about the ports, and great planning of -- and participation in -- private shore excursions.

 

In terms of the OP's question --- I don't think lack of activity on a particular Roll Call is cruise-line specific.  I've participated in some very active NCL Roll Calls.  I think it depends a great deal on the itinerary, and the "luck of the draw," so to speak, as to who happens to be booked on the cruise and whether they even know about Cruise Critic.

[Turtles06]

18 hours ago, chefnene said:

I can’t even find a Roll Call for our cruise; The Dawn 6/22-6/29/19.  It will not let me create one.   I am disappointed as this is our 6th cruise and we’ve always had meet and greets and pub crawls.   Not sure if roll call is working properly.

 

 

 

 

 

But you did successfully create a Roll Call for your cruise (back on Feb. 3).  🙂 Here's the link:

 

The Roll Call forum is working properly in terms of starting new Roll Calls and posting on them.  What's not working at the moment is that new Roll Calls are not being picked up by the Roll Call "finder" tool (as explained in the announcement).  So to find a specific Roll Call (if one exists), you just need to scroll down the list of Roll Calls for your ship (which is how I just found your Roll Call ).

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Edited February 19, 2019 by Turtles06

[OCruisers]

Sometimes  roll calls are just shower than others on all cruise lines   .... not only  NCL.  

[chefnene]

1 hour ago, Turtles06 said:

 

But you did successfully create a Roll Call for your cruise (back on Feb. 3).  🙂 Here's the link:

 

The Roll Call forum is working properly in terms of starting new Roll Calls and posting on them.  What's not working at the moment is that new Roll Calls are not being picked up by the Roll Call "finder" tool (as explained in the announcement).  So to find a specific Roll Call (if one exists), you just need to scroll down the list of Roll Calls for your ship (which is how I just found your Roll Call ).

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[chefnene]

Thank you Turtles06. Sadly, still no one else saying they are going on that cruise.  We Have been on five other cruises and met so many wonderful people through cruise critic. I’m sure will meet people on the ship but it was nice talking with some people prior to sailing.

[Son of a son of a ...]

2 minutes ago, chefnene said:

Thank you Turtles06. Sadly, still no one else saying they are going on that cruise.  We Have been on five other cruises and met so many wonderful people through cruise critic. I’m sure will meet people on the ship but it was nice talking with some people prior to sailing.

 

Don’t be sad.  There are other forums much more active than roll calls.

[studygirl]

On 2/18/2019 at 5:11 PM, RNCheryl said:

I have cruised many times with many lines.  On Princess and Celebrity, have had exceptional luck in Roll Calls.  On Princess Alaska, booked 2 excursions with fellow travelers. On Princess Baltic, a group of about 10 of us did EVERYTHING together and had a great time.  On Celebrity, our cruise group from the Summit was so successful, that we are still in touch, and sailing together, 10 years later.

 

Booked on the Bliss in July.  Our first NCL experience.  There are 4 people on the roll call, one an auto bot.  No posts for months.

 

Is there a rhyme or reason, or is it just Norwegian?

I have had very good experience with NCL Roll Calls and the Meet & Greet/Meet & Mingle group gatherings. However, our current May roll call seems to be a bit quieter than what I am accustomed to. It is picking up steam now that we are getting closer to the sail date. Hopefully yours will too.

[RedwingHockeyFan]

I'm on the Breakaway 1-8 FEB 2020.  I went through pages and pages and could not find the roll call.  I did find 3 other sailings for the same month though 15, 22, 29 FEB.

[ClarkBHM]

Do people feel that roll call activity is generally slowing down? We don't cruise often, but I've noticed a marked decline in participation from our first cruise to the one we have scheduled in June.

 

Maybe it's because a lot of people have already "been there done that" so they get the basic idea of how this whole cruising thing works?

[HOSKI]

So does NCL have somewhere to register for a meet & mingle like RCI?  My 2nd NCL cruise I had posted her about what we were doing at one port and we ended up putting a huge group together onboard.  Then 18 of us ended up on the tour I booked for my hubby and I.  I like talking about excursions so that we can join others.  We are still lifelong friends with one of those couples we met on the Dawn.