This is why you join Roll Calls!

[GottaKnowWhen]

A few years ago I somehow found Cruise Critic, somehow found out about Roll Calls. I had just booked my first Celebrity cruise, 7 weeks before embarkation. Started reading the roll call discussion, "learned" that the excursion options in Ushuaia and Port Stanley were extremely limited. "Learned" that any interesting excursion must be booked at least a year ahead. Fortunately a fellow passenger ignored the common wisdom, found a great excursion to Walk with the Penguins in Ushuaia, and we joined that group. And then I found a good tour for more penguins in the Falklands, it just wasn't with the already booked up "highly recommended" company.

 

So, lesson 1: Roll Calls are great as an information resource when excursion planning and for finding others to share excursions, but in fact there are other options, beyond the frequently endorsed companies for whale watching off Juneau or penguin watching in the Falklands or whatever. 

 

Lesson 2: Roll Calls can be great, particularly for cruises with many sea days, like Transatlantics, because many fellow passengers share interests like playing bridge and other games, and the Roll Call provides a virtual meeting place for planning get-togethers.

 

Lesson 3: And this is the biggie, when there is a price drop or a 20% Sale on beverage packages or whatever, somebody on the roll call is going to see that and alert others. I was reminded of this when reading a recent post on this forum from a disgruntled passenger who had paid megabucks for her cruise and never knew that there had been a significant price drop from her early booking date to the time of her sailing. Not everybody can benefit from every sale or price drop, there are too many variables depending on where you live and what you originally signed up for. But it is worth checking on, and I greatly appreciate seeing price-drop alerts!

 

Some Roll Calls can get a bit tedious, e.g. when 4-5 members start comparing notes about college football teams or whatever and go on and on and on and on. But it is well worth it to periodically read the recent postings, to skim past what are basically private conversations.

 

Stan

 

 

[OCruisers]

Stan ... So agree with you!  People who  don't go to their Roll Call miss out on lots of helpful information.

[jpsykes]

doing a Transatlantic - England to Boston.

 

On cruise critic roll call group chartered bus from London to port and we realized midway we had left our passports in the hotel.

 

Fellow roll call members 2 seats away heard our problems and said another couple in their party was still in London and would be taking the train to the port in a few hours, We called hotel and they went to room and found the passports (a bed pillow had been placed on top of them so we missed them) and said they would give to person for me, Other couple called their friend - he stopped by and picked up the passports and brought them to us at the port. This was before all the beverage packages --- I did buy our new best friends several drinks

 

It sure pays to join the roll calls.

 

We are certainly more careful with the passports now as we both remember this and remind each other of it every time.

[4774Papa]

13 minutes ago, jpsykes said:

doing a Transatlantic - England to Boston.

 

On cruise critic roll call group chartered bus from London to port and we realized midway we had left our passports in the hotel.

 

Fellow roll call members 2 seats away heard our problems and said another couple in their party was still in London and would be taking the train to the port in a few hours, We called hotel and they went to room and found the passports (a bed pillow had been placed on top of them so we missed them) and said they would give to person for me, Other couple called their friend - he stopped by and picked up the passports and brought them to us at the port. This was before all the beverage packages --- I did buy our new best friends several drinks

 

It sure pays to join the roll calls.

 

We are certainly more careful with the passports now as we both remember this and remind each other of it every time.

Great story about the passports!

I have organized several roll calls because I frequently book as soon as the cruise is announced.  I have met many great cruise friends on the roll call, many have cruised with us on more cruises, after the one we met from the roll call.

 

Also, I have organized many tours that saved much $$$$.   As someone mentioned, when the price drops, someone on the roll call usually mentions it and you get the lower price.

[mahdnc]

I found out in the past couple of years that roll calls are excellent when trip planning disaster strikes. 

 

In my most recent case, our Jan 31 2020 Silhouette cruise got cancelled abruptly with 9 months to go because Celebrity had to re-schedule her drydock in response to a shipyard accident.  Our roll call served as an excellent crisis information center.  Most of us learned of the cancellation from the roll call first before our TAs knew about it.  The fast information allowed some to quickly make alternative bookings before the choice cabins disappeared. Exchanging information on the roll call was vital to help us find out what compensation Celebrity was providing and to verify if our information was correct.  We were all very supportive of each other--it was awesome.

 

In Dec 2017, we were very close to missing our connecting flight out of LAX to SYD for our Solstice cruise because our plane out of Chicago was delayed for several hours because of weather.  When we finally arrived at LAX, our plane sat around a long time on the tarmac waiting for a gate.  @travelling8 (Kim) had already boarded the SYD bound flight at LAX, didn't see me on board, and so she texted me as to my whereabouts: 

 

Well, we barely made our flight--they had to re-open the doors on our plane to let us board--and I am sure that Kim was instrumental in helping us make our flight.  It sure made me feel better that I had someone on that plane watching out for us.

[Mr. Click]

Yes indeed. Cruise Critic and the Roll Calls are a great sources of information.  Like others we have found great tours, met great people  and sometimes saved a lot of money.  or gotten some nice post final payment upgrades.  All in all it is a great community and now with 15 or so cruises behind us I also enjoy sharing what I have learned.

[chrismakris]

Roll calls are also a great place for solo travellers to meet people. 
 

I went on a couple of cruises to the Mediterranean a couple of years back. With the help of the roll calls I was able to join people that had similar tastes in excursions as I did. 
 

I think because I was a solo they made sure I never felt like I was a solo cruiser. 
 

These two cruises were amazing. I met so many wonderful people and it wouldn’t have been possible without the roll calls. 

[Denny01]

We love our roll calls. Some are very active and useful, others especially on small ships, not much going on. Completely agree about the TransAtlantic itineraries. Roll Call groups go well beyond the ‘meet and greets and a few getting together for a private tour. Our last TA had cards; doing crafting together: Cabin crawls; book club; chocolate sharing (very popular!) and so on. 

 

So on our next TA, we are running a chocolate sharing!

 

One caution: If you set up a private tour and roll call members want to join in, great. BUT (big ‘but’ on purpose) make sure you find a way of getting them to pay early. More than a few have signed up but then back out after getting onboard when it’s too late and you could be stuck. 

 

we also get some great ideas from locals who may know the departure port region and give you ideas of what to do. We spent a week in Cornwall prior to our departure out of Southampton and got some very helpful info. 

 

So join in and see what’s going on. You never know.

 

Den

[Muffinz]

yes - roll calls are invaluable

we did our first cruise 2018 and managed to get onto a private excursion that someone onboard had organised and we've done the same for our April 2020 cruise - taking 2 excursions that have been organised by fellow passengers.

can't wait!

[travelling8]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

I found out in the past couple of years that roll calls are excellent when trip planning disaster strikes. 

 

In my most recent case, our Jan 31 2020 Silhouette cruise got cancelled abruptly with 9 months to go because Celebrity had to re-schedule her drydock in response to a shipyard accident.  Our roll call served as an excellent crisis information center.  Most of us learned of the cancellation from the roll call first before our TAs knew about it.  The fast information allowed some to quickly make alternative bookings before the choice cabins disappeared. Exchanging information on the roll call was vital to help us find out what compensation Celebrity was providing and to verify if our information was correct.  We were all very supportive of each other--it was awesome.

 

In Dec 2017, we were very close to missing our connecting flight out of LAX to SYD for our Solstice cruise because our plane out of Chicago was delayed for several hours because of weather.  When we finally arrived at LAX, our plane sat around a long time on the tarmac waiting for a gate.  @travelling8 (Kim) had already boarded the SYD bound flight at LAX, didn't see me on board, and so she texted me as to my whereabouts: 

 

Well, we barely made our flight--they had to re-open the doors on our plane to let us board--and I am sure that Kim was instrumental in helping us make our flight.  It sure made me feel better that I had someone on that plane watching out for us.

I remember that! Happy to have helped and so glad we met!

Kim

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Have made wonderful friends, gone on awesome tours, snapped up great cabin upgrades, and seen all the kinds of cabins on the ship because of roll calls.  A good roll call always makes for a good cruise.

[mahdnc]

2 hours ago, travelling8 said:

I remember that! Happy to have helped and so glad we met!

Kim

 

We flew back to Sydney this past month to do a NZ cruise on Solstice.  This time we had a 12 hr layover in San Francisco in case anything went wrong (since you weren't around to bail us out).  Fortunately our flights were on time and so we got to spend our 12 hrs in touring San Francisco.

[George C]

totally agree roll calls are fun , enjoyed meeting others like Happy cruiser,  loved our group on Europe cruise we all researched shore excursions and had great excursions with a average of 8 people rather than huge groups on expensive ships excursions.  

[PROCRUISE]

Also agree that the roll calls are very helpful, especially in terms of organizing or joining private tours. Several years ago I organized two private tours on our S.E. Asia cruise with X out of Singapore. Another wonderful lady had organized three other private tours which we joined. Unfortunately this dear woman lost her husband only three weeks before the cruise. She asked me if I would take over her three tours, which I did. Because and through the roll call, I was able to keep my sanity overseeing all five private tours and keeping 46 other fellow passengers on the tours up to date. We all further met up at the Meet & Mingle and exact time and meeting places for all five tours was made clear and it went off like clock work at each port. Roll calls are great!!

[NMTraveller]

We just found out in one or our roll calls that the itinerary changed and that the ship does not leave until 10 PM.  All good information to know way before boarding.  Plus the talk about excursions and what to do in port is very informative.

[TeaBag]

I love the roll calls too and all the chatting and help.  I was on one in 2007 (cruise on Mercury to Australia) for 18 months before I met a lovely woman I had been "talking" to and we still keep in touch with her.  It really was special to see the face I had been chatting with all along.

 

I often ask people on a ship if they know about the roll calls.  The looks I get are so funny.  They have no idea what they are.

 

We are on 8 private tours on our next cruise all organized by people on the roll call.

[Dunmore2]

We’ve become great friends with a few people that we’ve met on roll calls, visiting at their homes.

Second best benefit is the small excursions that allowed us to avoid crowds and see far more in a day ( at a lower cost) than ship tours.

[music]

4 hours ago, Denny01 said:

We love our roll calls. Some are very active and useful, others especially on small ships, not much going on. Completely agree about the TransAtlantic itineraries. Roll Call groups go well beyond the ‘meet and greets and a few getting together for a private tour. Our last TA had cards; doing crafting together: Cabin crawls; book club; chocolate sharing (very popular!) and so on. 

 

So on our next TA, we are running a chocolate sharing!

 

One caution: If you set up a private tour and roll call members want to join in, great. BUT (big ‘but’ on purpose) make sure you find a way of getting them to pay early. More than a few have signed up but then back out after getting onboard when it’s too late and you could be stuck. 

 

we also get some great ideas from locals who may know the departure port region and give you ideas of what to do. We spent a week in Cornwall prior to our departure out of Southampton and got some very helpful info. 

 

So join in and see what’s going on. You never know.

 

Den

Please tell me what chocolate sharing is? 
Thanks!

[scrapcreator]

I agree! They are a great source of information and a great way to get to know your fellow cruisers. We’ve gone on some wonderful pre-cruise excursions and attended fun pre-cruise get-togethers. We’ve enjoyed Sail Aways at the Sunset Bar with our Roll Call cruisers. We’ve learned a lot about cabins, ports, excursions, hotels, and even road trips from our Roll Calls. We’ve also met some wonderful people that we look forward to cruising with again.

 

Join your Roll Call!

 

PS Now I want to do a chocolate sharing, too.

Edited January 16, 2020 by scrapcreator

[Denny01]

1 hour ago, music said:

Please tell me what chocolate sharing is? 
Thanks!

We ask those that would like to join to bring chocolate From their home area or from where they are traveling through prior to the cruise.

 

They post their names and SR# and cruisecritic tag name. We keep it all and when we got on board, we ask for a room to use such as part of a dining area and we all meet, usually an at sea day, and out it all out. We can make up categories to vote on which is tops, give prizes.
 

Then give all a small bag to take samples. We also give a good deal if it for the crew. 

 

on the roll call, if there are other functions on going someone usually starts a spreadsheet of participants and this list can be added 

 

den
 

 

[music]

Thanks!

[awhfy]

I’ve made several lifelong friends on roll calls 

[terrydtx]

We always join the roll calls for our cruises, we have even started a couple. However it seems like fewer CC members bother to join lately. On our HAL Noordam cruise last July to Alaska we only had 19 CC members join and the cruise was at capacity, and this was not a very active roll call at all.

Edited January 16, 2020 by terrydtx

[GottaKnowWhen]

7 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We always join the roll calls for our cruises, we have even started a couple. However it seems like fewer CC members bother to join lately. On our HAL Noordam cruise last July to Alaska we only had 19 CC members join and the cruise was at capacity, and this was not a very active roll call at all.

From my own limited experience and from other’s comments, I think Alaska is different. For several reasons including more novice cruisers, less difference between ships’ offerings and what is available independently, fairly intense itineraries, etc., the Roll Calls just don’t get the same attention. The Alaska board is super! Good up to date information, a good alternative to specific roll calls.

[Denny01]

If you think an Alaska roll call is limited, try one of the ‘luxury’ cruise line roll calls! Not only do the ships have fewer passengers, most are experienced cruisers and don’t seem to look to a roll call for connections of any type. Fully understand. I started a Silverseas cruise that leaves this April and there are 3 posts - 2 are mine!!

 

But with that said, do enjoy them and have get a good deal out of them, especially the Celebrity Roll Calls.

 

One Big difference is, instead of the snarky putdown posts you get on more than a few general threads, everyone is nice and assisting......going to meet face-face so those who enjoy the putdowns only do it when they can stay  anonymous. Very telling isn’t that.

 

Den

Edited January 16, 2020 by Denny01