Need info about how to schedule CC party

[midgecruiser]

We have a nice size Roll Call group cruising on the Westerdam in Feb. and we are wanting to schedule a CC party through HAL. Can anyone give me information on how this is done? Thanks, Wendy

[localady]

Wendy-

I am not sure if the Westerdam has started, but many of the HAL ships are now sponsoring CC get-togethers during the cruise. The day you get aboard, I would inquire at the front desk or with the Concierge in the Neptune if you have a Suite. You could also send a note the first day to the Hotel Manager to inquire about it if you receive no answer at the front desk.

As a back-up, or in addition to, the participants on the roll call board could also set up an informal get together the first day or so. We've done this a few times with fabulous results!:D

Good luck and Bon Voyage!:)

[lougee1043]

in the past we would schedule a roll call on sailaway day up by the pool-- would end it about 30 min before lifeboat drill so we could all get to our cabins for the jackets and get to the station while the elevators were still running

[RuthC]

The size of your group could make a difference in your planning.

Three years ago I arranged the CC get-together for about 22 people. We just made plans among ourselves re: time/place and were able to take over an area in the Explorers Lounge. I knew that area would not be used for public activities, or greatly used by passengers, at the time we picked.

Two years ago was a much different story! There was going to be almost 50 of us, so I knew we had to reserve a room in advance. I contacted Ships Services at 1-800-541-2576 to book a room.

I did the same thing for the parties I arranged this last summer.

I've learned to bring all the paperwork with me, and after boarding I confirm the arrangements with the Food and Beverage Manager. Plans do get messed up, so it's good to check in.

It's also good to have the cabin numbers of everyone who has shown interest in the get-togethers. I've had to shift rooms on short notice and I was able to let everyone know.

If there's anything in particular you have a question/thought about this please ask. I'm kind of experienced at this now, and I'd be happy to share what I've learned.

[calm_seas]

The size of your group could make a difference in your planning.

Three years ago I arranged the CC get-together for about 22 people. We just made plans among ourselves re: time/place and were able to take over an area in the Explorers Lounge. I knew that area would not be used for public activities, or greatly used by passengers, at the time we picked.

Two years ago was a much different story! There was going to be almost 50 of us, so I knew we had to reserve a room in advance. I contacted Ships Services at 1-800-541-2576 to book a room.

I did the same thing for the parties I arranged this last summer.

I've learned to bring all the paperwork with me, and after boarding I confirm the arrangements with the Food and Beverage Manager. Plans do get messed up, so it's good to check in.

It's also good to have the cabin numbers of everyone who has shown interest in the get-togethers. I've had to shift rooms on short notice and I was able to let everyone know.

If there's anything in particular you have a question/thought about this please ask. I'm kind of experienced at this now, and I'd be happy to share what I've learned.

 

Thanks, Ruth.... You answered almost all of my questions with one post. Are you planning to do this for us on the Zaandam "Voyage of the Spammed" ;) ?

[RuthC]

Are you planning to do this for us on the Zaandam "Voyage of the Spammed" ;) ?

"Planning"? Well, to tell the truth I hadn't thought about it, but if Greg wants me to help out I'll be happy to.

Frankly, I'm focusing more on my July Alaska cruise right now. My tired little brain can only juggle so many things at a time, doncha know. :rolleyes:

[midgecruiser]

Hi all. Thanks for the information. It looks like we are going to plan an informal get-together on the second day of the cruise. A couple in our Roll Call suggested the time and place. Thanks for all the great ideas. Wendy

[wgeddings]

Just so you know, on the Zuiderdam recently, the Hotel Manager told us that HAL is not allowed to officially recognize Cruise Critics get togethers due to some contract agreement that RCCL (and I think Norweigian) have with Cruise Critic, probably about advertising. Before I was told that, I had no idea that there was an arrangement with a couple of cruise lines because Cruise Critic does not appear to show any favoritism so don't take my comment the wrong way. So, HAL and others have to quietly recognize CCers and that means just putting something in the onboard newsletter announcing a meeting and such. Other lines, like RCCL can advertise cruise line sponsored meet & greets but HAL has to have them quieter.

 

Apparently though HAL does like CCer people on the ships and wants to accomodate them and meet with them. Mr. Deering, the Hotel Manager, said that following the CC board and meeting with CC Cruisers was a great free source of feedback (positive and negative). Bottom line, cruise lines appear to like it when we have a CC meet and greet and I encourage you, even on HAL or other lines, to do what we did and have an invitation ready to give to the purser's desk for the Hotel Manager, Cruise Director and Captain notifying them of the place and time of your meet and greet.

 

As for time, we discussed that a lot. First day is usually busy with lifeboat drill, finding cabins, etc. Sea days are already very active and days in port are hard to manage. We met in the Crows Nest Lounge 30 minutes after the muster drill but it was sparsely attended (though the Crows Nest is an awesome place to watch the boat get underway!). The meeting Mr. Deering set up with the CCers was on the 2nd sea day and it was VERY sparsely attended but those of us who went enjoyed a couple of hours of great questions and answers.

[blue whale]

Thanks, Ruth, for your ideas and the telephone number to call at HAL. I will check that out asap. We have a nice group of CCers sailing on the Mar 15, Noordam out of NYC, and a nice group sailing on the world cruise in Jan of 07. One question: How did you collect the cabin numbers? Did you ask the others in the thread to email to you? With the warning about giving out cabin numbers posted at the beginning of the board, I am concerned about asking people in our group for their cabin numbers. What do you think?

[wgeddings]

When we did one in November for a Zuiderdam cruise, I made a list of the CCers who replied in the roll call, included where they were from (if not listed, I asked if they would provide it) along with how many adults/children. Then I had the list available at the meet and greet and people could put their cabin numbers on it if they wanted. Out of 50 people who were expected, maybe 14-18 showed up. The others were well aware of it (from posting on the roll call list) and the daily events even listed another CC get together which was only attended by about 7 people. Many apparently like to see who else is going on the cruise but then just do not attend. Some people may be lying about going. On our Zuiderdam cruise though, we met some CCers as we were checking in but then never saw them again on the ship (came to neither meeting). Don't stress yourself about it.

 

One big tip that I wish I had done though was make a sign for the meet and greet so those who come into the area know that the group of people are the Cruise Critic meet and greet people.

[blue whale]

Thanks, again. To me it seems strange to spend time posting and then not show up to meet and greet. And to indicate one is on a cruise if one is not, is a bit strange, too. But life is strange, too, from time to time. For me, the purpose is to get to know people, especially if one is on a longer cruise. One does not want to live in a vacuum. We have met some wonderful people on our cruises and still communicate with some of them.

[RuthC]

blue whale, because the first time I did this there was no separate roll-call board, and because I didn't want to fill up the regular HAL board with extraneous threads, I learned to do a lot of this by e-mail, and simply never changed my practice.

I posted to the Roll-Call thread and invited people to e-mail me re: time/place, etc. I promised that I wouldn't give out their e-mail addy without permission, and kept that promise. When I sent e-mails out I used the "blind copy" feature, noted by board name who was included, and posted to the thread that an e-mail had gone out and the substance of it. That way any one who didn't get it was still in the loop. I tallied all the info and sent that back out---again by blind copy, and posted to the thread.

By the time everything was set up I guess people trusted me when I asked for cabin #'s. They sent them by e-mail. I kept them to myself, but did need them.

 

HAL placed a "reserved" sign at the place for our get-togethers. Last summer we had one in the Piano Bar---the sign was outside. The next two were in a reserved section of the Crow's Nest. An area was roped-off, and the sign was at the extrance. Very tastefully done.

[blue whale]

Thanks, Ruth. I got through to Special Services and they sent me an email address as well as a form that can be used to schedule space. I just posted a note on our cruise's thread (Noordam, Mar 15) to ascertain whether there is enough interest to warrant a get together.

 

Your ideas have been most helpful. Too bad that you are going to the Noordam event in Boston and not in NYC. We are doing the one in NYC; otherwise we could have met there. How are you going about recognizing CCers at the Boston event?

 

Next year we are taking a longer cruise and we have already a group of about 12 who have signed on to our thread. That will be an important time to have a meet and greet, because the more people one knows on a long cruise, the nicer the cruise experience. Thanks muchly.

[blue whale]

The web address for the ship service coordinator for Noordam is Arica Hawley is ahawley@hollandamerica.com I have sent our request for space for a meet and greet. The telephone number turned out to be 1-1800-541-1576 I will keep you posted as to what else I discover. Our group for the March 15th Noordam is growing. We just added 6 more cruisers.

[blue whale]

I see my typo for the tel number 1-800 -541-1576

[Alexborngal]

I've been reading your information and it's very informative. We're going to the Mexican Riviera on Oct. 22 on the Zaandam. How do I ask if anyone else is going on that sailing and if we can become a CC group? Thanks.

[wgeddings]

There is a forum called Roll Call - Holland America. Go there and look for the ship. Then when in that forum for your ship, look to see if someone already has a roll call thread started (VERY important since you do not want several roll call threads going). Here is the link for the Zaandam http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=324 Since others read these, in case they had another ship, I wanted to explain how to find it. Once you are there, if you find a thread for your trip, or if you end up starting one, people will respond. Once again though, try to be sure to check for an existing thread before you start a new one. Once you have the roll call going, you are a CC group, as much as you can be on HAL, and there is nothing more to do. You can talk about it and arrange a meet and greet if you want. The special cruises you see referenced in other threads are a special type of CC group who organize the cruise from the start. There is information on how to do that in the forum on special CC cruises but unless you have a lot of people who are going, it is not what you want to do try to do. Good sailing!

[RuthC]

Joan, another thought for you: check Ziggy 7's threads of who's cruising when; she had one on the first page here within the last couple of days. Ziggy lists them in chronological order. You may find someone else listed there who has not posted to a roll-call.

[annebill]

Remember that such things can be extremely annoying and irritating to your fellow passengers, particularly if a popular spot is "reserved" or "roped off" during pre or post dinner cocktail times. Some of you may remember a thread on this subject some time ago.

[wgeddings]

I have never heard or seen anyone complain, on the boards or on the ship. Of course, some people will find things to complain about (and are not happy unless they have found something) but the meet and greets I have attended or organized have all been after the muster drill or on a sea day. Since there are at least 2 dinner times (and sometimes 4), a pre or post dinner is likely to be inconvenient for many. That is something the roll call group can decide as they see how the group leans.

[blue whale]

Our meet and greet is all set for the March sailing of Noordam. The confirmation letter came yesterday giving time, place, and services to be provided. For Noordam, I used ahawley@hollandamerica.com Phone is 1-800-541-1576 as noted in my previous post. But HAL handled this with efficiency. It was so easy to do following suggestions given earlier by RuthC. I just printed out the confirmation letter to take along on the ship.

[shonuf]

Just returned from the Oosterdam 1/28 sailing. We had a small (less than 20) but very enthusiastic group which came from all over the country. Most of us flew into San Diego on Friday and about 10 of us met for drinks and/or dinner on Friday night. We had Mardi Gras type beads in red and green which another CCer and I had brought. We met quite by accident in the lobby of our hotel that afternoon so we had our beads on for Friday night. It made it easy for others to find us.

 

On Sat. aft we had all planned to meet at sailaway by the aft pool bar. We were pretty easy to spot with our beads on. I had also made up name tags with Cruise Critic, the screen name and person's actual name. Also, I did cards (from a spread sheet) with screen name, real name, companion's name, home port and cabin number on it. Every one got a copy.

 

One night, another CCer and I hosted a joint cocktail party in our suites (across the hall from each other) and last formal night most of us met in the Crow's Nest for drinks and group photos.

 

Being part of the roll call group really made the cruise SO much more fun for us.

[blue whale]

Shonuf: How did you get all the info necessary to mke up the name tags? Or did you do the tags as people appeared at the meet/greet? I posted my email address on our thread and asked others to email me so that I could email them back with my name and cabin number so that they could contact me to verify our meet/greet was still on, once we were aboard. Very few of our group responded even though I did not ask for any info about them. Today people are very careful because of the thread warning people about posting personal info. I just decided then to makename tags when we got together, that is, if people wanted them.

[Alexborngal]

Joan, another thought for you: check Ziggy 7's threads of who's cruising when; she had one on the first page here within the last couple of days. Ziggy lists them in chronological order. You may find someone else listed there who has not posted to a roll-call.

 

Thanks Ruth. I have been checking Ziggy's page but as of just a few minutes ago she's only listing about 3 people. I sent her messages on at least three different occasions to list us but no luck. Penny made up a list and we're on it - yeah!