Going on a cruise? Do you join a roll call thread?

[Lizzielady65]

Haven't been successful with Hal cruises, but on a 14 day Celebrity cruise we had about 14 ccers. It was nice to meet others. We even enjoyed a shared taxi excursion. Had several meetings on sea days. It was fun to see familiar faces around and about the ship.

[Aussie Gal]

I started the Roll Call for our Antarctic Cruise on the Regal this January and we had a great time. It wasn't a huge roll call like some, but it was very productive and I am glad that I organized it in the beginning. We met a couple of times whilst on the cruise and many of us chose to sit with each other for dinner.

 

I have also started the Roll Call for our September cruise. Again we do not have a huge number on it but I am sure we are all going to have a great time.

 

Ruth organized our Roll Call for last July on the Maasdam and also organized our get together in the Piano Bar which was great.

 

When we sailed on the Tahitian Princess we had a huge Roll Call and used to meet regularly around 5pm up by the Pool Bar which was an ideal place with that lovely warm climate.

 

I think Roll Calls are great. You don't have to be a big mixer, but it is nice to know other people when on board, especially if you are travelling either on your own or just as a couple.

 

Jennie

[Krazy Kruizers]

I have started several roll threads for some of our previous cruises. The Hawaiian one I got a few responses but only 6 of us showed up. Other roll call threads - people talked and that was it - couldn't get anyone to settle on a date or time.

[dsawyer]

If one starts a roll call thread, it helps to post EVERDAY in order to keep it close to the top and easy to find for newbies.

 

Engage every single person in conversation by asking them questions and almost always they will respond. One definitely need to put time into having successful thread. Post when you don't even have anything really useful to say. JUST TALK!!!

 

Usually sailaway is not the best time to schedule a get-together as people have their own way of celebrating this event.

 

If possible the first at-sea day works best and in the afternoon.

 

The above are tried and true methods.

[Randyk47]

We've met several people here on the roll calls including the infamous Lougee1043. Luckily his charming wife cruises with him. :D I've noticed that HAL cruisers generally aren't as gung-ho about roll calls as Celebrity cruisers. I met Lou on a 2004 roll call for the Oosterdam....I believe he was the OP....and had a great time preparing for the cruise and getting a lot of information from Lou and the other CC'ers. We had a small group for the sail away and Lou, his wife, my wife and I became good friends on that cruise. In 2005 we crossed over to the "dark side" and took a Celebrity cruise....and talked Lou and his DW into joining us. By the time we sailed we had over 1,000 postings on the roll call and 46 people showed up for the sail away. Celebrity hosted a get together for nearly 100 CC'ers on that cruise!!! Back to HAL and the Volendam for 2006 and I joined the roll call for that cruise. Never got more than 8-10 folks joining and posting and nobody had any real interest in a sail away. Go figure???

[bepsf]

With the exception of my first - my cruises have always been enriched by meeting folks from the Roll Call's. Its so much nicer having a connection with folks before you even board the ship!

 

KK - I hope that you'll have more success w/ your future roll-calls - it's only fairly recently that HAL has been responsive to us CC'ers aboard their ships by providing space and coffee, tea and cookies for us. I know that it sometimes may feel silly to natter on about our pre-cruise packing 'woes', etc. on the roll-call, but it really helps for connecting w/ the others who are "in the same boat" w/ you.

;)