Have Cruise Critic roll calls died?

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, casofilia said:

@LGW59

 

Then by your reasoning there should be no private shore excursions if they are in direct opposition cruise line ......,.

 

I don't know where you get that.   I am happy for people to make whatever arrangements they want to make regarding shore excursions.   I just do not think a M&G where you are a guest of the cruise line is NOT the place to do it.

 

If you are having dinner at A&B's place with half a dozen others do you openly compare, during that dinner,  that dinner with one you had at C&D's a few night's earlier?

 

Mike

If you are having dinner at A&B's place with half a dozen others do you openly compare, during that dinner,  that dinner with one you had at C&D's a few night's earlier?  Yes of course I do.

[geegee1]

4 minutes ago, casofilia said:

 

 

If you are having dinner at A&B's place with half a dozen others do you openly compare, during that dinner,  that dinner with one you had at C&D's a few night's earlier?

 

Mike

Definitely.  Who doesn't?

[casofilia]

@LGW59

 

I don't know if you have ever seen the following.

 

 

The following came from the Terms and Conditions from one of the cruise lines but I believe all cruise lines work on the same principle.

 

11. RESPONSIBILITY TO COMPLY WITH LAW AND REGULATIONS, RULES OF SHIP; NO SOLICITATION.
You shall be responsible for complying with the requirements of all immigration, port, health, customs, and police authorities, and all other laws and regulations of each country or state from or to which You will travel, as well as this Passage Contract. You must at all times obey all the rules, regulations and orders of the ship, Carrier and the Captain. You shall not solicit other Guests for commercial purposes or advertise goods or services without Carrier's prior written permission. You may be disembarked without liability for refund, payment, compensation or credit of any kind if You or any Guest for whom You are responsible violate any of these requirements, and You agree to assume and/or reimburse Carrier for any expenses or fines that may be incurred as a result of such noncompliance.

 

 

A while ago Cruise Critic ran one of its 10 point features on the following topic:-

On things NOT to do on board OR “How to get Kicked off”:-

9. Organise your own tours in public.

One of the things we love most about Cruise Critic's Roll Calls is meeting other travellers and teaming up to book independent excursions. While a cruise line doesn't mind if you book a private tour with a few friends, they do frown upon passengers booking a 30-person bus and advertising onboard for other cruisers to join them in shunning ship excursions. If you don't want to get forcibly debarked for soliciting, please be discreet in your tour arranging, and also do not exchange money at Cruise Critic Meet and Mingles in front of senior officers.

Edited July 26, 2022 by casofilia

[LGW59]

18 minutes ago, casofilia said:

@LGW59

 

I don't know if you have ever seen the following.

 

 

The following came from the Terms and Conditions from one of the cruise lines but I believe all cruise lines work on the same principle.

 

11. RESPONSIBILITY TO COMPLY WITH LAW AND REGULATIONS, RULES OF SHIP; NO SOLICITATION.
You shall be responsible for complying with the requirements of all immigration, port, health, customs, and police authorities, and all other laws and regulations of each country or state from or to which You will travel, as well as this Passage Contract. You must at all times obey all the rules, regulations and orders of the ship, Carrier and the Captain. You shall not solicit other Guests for commercial purposes or advertise goods or services without Carrier's prior written permission. You may be disembarked without liability for refund, payment, compensation or credit of any kind if You or any Guest for whom You are responsible violate any of these requirements, and You agree to assume and/or reimburse Carrier for any expenses or fines that may be incurred as a result of such noncompliance.

 

 

A while ago Cruise Critic ran one of its 10 point features on the following topic:-

On things NOT to do on board OR “How to get Kicked off”:-

9. Organise your own tours in public.

One of the things we love most about Cruise Critic's Roll Calls is meeting other travellers and teaming up to book independent excursions. While a cruise line doesn't mind if you book a private tour with a few friends, they do frown upon passengers booking a 30-person bus and advertising onboard for other cruisers to join them in shunning ship excursions. If you don't want to get forcibly debarked for soliciting, please be discreet in your tour arranging, and also do not exchange money at Cruise Critic Meet and Mingles in front of senior officers.

I think this is far different than casually talking about a shore excursion one has been on or plans to do.  

[weltek]

16 minutes ago, casofilia said:

@LGW59

 

I don't know if you have ever seen the following.

 

 

The following came from the Terms and Conditions from one of the cruise lines but I believe all cruise lines work on the same principle.

 

11. RESPONSIBILITY TO COMPLY WITH LAW AND REGULATIONS, RULES OF SHIP; NO SOLICITATION.
You shall be responsible for complying with the requirements of all immigration, port, health, customs, and police authorities, and all other laws and regulations of each country or state from or to which You will travel, as well as this Passage Contract. You must at all times obey all the rules, regulations and orders of the ship, Carrier and the Captain. You shall not solicit other Guests for commercial purposes or advertise goods or services without Carrier's prior written permission. You may be disembarked without liability for refund, payment, compensation or credit of any kind if You or any Guest for whom You are responsible violate any of these requirements, and You agree to assume and/or reimburse Carrier for any expenses or fines that may be incurred as a result of such noncompliance.

 

 

A while ago Cruise Critic ran one of its 10 point features on the following topic:-

On things NOT to do on board OR “How to get Kicked off”:-

9. Organise your own tours in public.

One of the things we love most about Cruise Critic's Roll Calls is meeting other travellers and teaming up to book independent excursions. While a cruise line doesn't mind if you book a private tour with a few friends, they do frown upon passengers booking a 30-person bus and advertising onboard for other cruisers to join them in shunning ship excursions. If you don't want to get forcibly debarked for soliciting, please be discreet in your tour arranging, and also do not exchange money at Cruise Critic Meet and Mingles in front of senior officers.

I think the instance you are referring to is someone who goes around, unprompted, seeing if anyone wants to join them on a private excursion  in order to reduce costs/fill a vehicle. I'm sure that's happened, but is not the norm at all during a Meet & Greet in my experience. That is far, far different from the normal private excursion chatter that happens, and the normal chatter would never meet the legal (or even informally understood definition) of solicitation.

 

[SeaShark]

43 minutes ago, GA Dave said:

I have been on CC for quite a while.  Met some really nice people from here on cruises prior to the pandemic.  Noticed the changes happening during the shutdown and started researching chat pages about cruising on That Other Site.  Once I starting cruising after the restart, I noticed significantly more activity on That Other Site vs CC for specific sailings.  I actually have held a few M&G's from both CC roll calls and specific pages on That Other Site the last few cruises.  98% of the people who attended were from That Other Site.  Most I spoke with had never heard of CC.  The last M&G I held was a rousing success, with 70-80 people participating and lasting well past sail away.  Another I did not host but attended that was only advertised on That Other Site had a great M&G, slot pull, and cabin crawl.  I will continue to promote anything I host on both sites, but just expect the majority of people to come from That Other Site.

 

There is nothing wrong with what you are doing...UNLESS...you are using CC and/or CC's connections to set up your M&G and then inviting people outside CC to attend. However, if you contact NCL and tell them you want to set up a Facebook (yes, you can say the name on CC...you just can't provide links to, or direct people to join your group there) M&G and they agree to do so, there is nothing wrong with doing that.

[casofilia]

@SeaShark

 

I am in full agreement with you.

 

I arrange a CRUISE CRITIC Meet & Greet for Cruise Critic members.   If people on FB want an FB Meet & Greet then they are free to approach NCL as I do and have it set up.

 

[GA Dave]

12 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

There is nothing wrong with what you are doing...UNLESS...you are using CC and/or CC's connections to set up your M&G and then inviting people outside CC to attend. However, if you contact NCL and tell them you want to set up a Facebook (yes, you can say the name on CC...you just can't provide links to, or direct people to join your group there) M&G and they agree to do so, there is nothing wrong with doing that.

My M&G's have all been completely independent of the ship and CC.  We just pick a nice spot with a bar and tell everyone to meet at a specific time.  It's worked out great.

[genealogyfan]

21 hours ago, marktwothousand said:

If people participate in the roll calls and then Specifically choose not to do the meet and greet.. that is a bit snooty and disrespectful. I understand if they’re too early or there’s some other conflicting event going on, etc etc but to deliberately choose not to participate… it makes it sound like the person feels they’re above it

People have alot of reason for not attending a meet and greet, doesn't mean they are snooty and disrespectful. Especially nowadays with Covid being an issue. In addition people may have other plans, etc.. There isn't a requirement to attend a meet and greet (if there is one), just because you read cruise critic.

[051654]

In past had great results with CC meeting other travelers that wanted to share excursions. It’s just the 2 of us my husband and I. I have posted several times with no results for upcoming cruise in December through the Panama Canal. Is there another way to share excursions with other travelers? We had so much fun in the past meeting folks from other places. 

[casofilia]

I arrange a Cruise Critic Meet & Greet so that people can meet others from the Roll Call if they want to.   I ask people to inform me privately if they want to attend the Meet & Greet.

That is so I can prepare materials to. hopefully, make the Meet & Greet informative and enjoyable.

All I ask is that if people indicate to me their interest they actually attend of let me know if they don't intend to.

Then I can be accurate in my indication to the ship of an accurate number.

[CruisinMaterial]

I think COVID was the death blow to Cruise Critic. Before COVID a lot of people were setting up ones on other social media sites. I have always enjoyed a lively roll call but it seems social media has killed this site quite well. It still has it's regulars (me being one of them) but not as many new people or it's a question answered and to never be seen again. Sad because this used to be a fun place to check daily...

[GA Dave]

12 hours ago, CruisinMaterial said:

I think COVID was the death blow to Cruise Critic. Before COVID a lot of people were setting up ones on other social media sites. I have always enjoyed a lively roll call but it seems social media has killed this site quite well. It still has it's regulars (me being one of them) but not as many new people or it's a question answered and to never be seen again. Sad because this used to be a fun place to check daily...

100% agree.  For several years I virtually lived here on CC and never joined any cruise related groups on That Other Site.  But, due to too many people being openly hostile to people expressing their opinions, and never having anything done about it when reporting it to the Site Administrators, I dropped off of here right before the pandemic hit.  I am slowing starting to come back to CC, but the bulk of my cruise discussions are now on That Other Site.

[SeaShark]

15 hours ago, genealogyfan said:

 There isn't a requirement to attend a meet and greet (if there is one), just because you read cruise critic.

 

I don't think that is really the issue most people have. If you want to join a roll call, fine. If you don't, that is fine as well. The problem comes where people in a Roll Call agree to attend the M&G and then they blow it off once onboard. An organizer gives NCL a head count of X and then only Y show up. It's disrespectful plain and simple, and that is where people have a problem.

[Red-Sol]

CC needs to answer one question that will then lead to many others. Are they satisfied with the numbers of people still using it? If the answer is yes then they don't need to do anything different than to sit back and continue to watch the spiral down. If the answer is no (which it should be) then they then need to ask themselves what changes do they need to make in order to generate more interest in having a thriving and growing online community. They can get all the information they need from those that are left here currently. Things such as the ability to message other members is just one small example of something people have wanted and complained about for years. There are many many more in terms of forum functionality, policies, etc. that can make a huge difference. They need to start listening to their users. They currently don't.

[Markanddonna]

I lament that the CC roll calls are a fraction of the numbers and vigor of the past. COVID onboard has a lot to do with the demise. We sailed on a TA in May and I didn't join up with the CC game players. Seems that the closeness during games caused a mini outbreak amongst the participants. I decided to make no effort to deliberately socialize with typical events on my next 12 day cruise. No meetups, game playing, etc.  Sad, but these are different times and I hope things can return to the way they were but so many people seem to want to be left alone if I'm reading these boards correctly.

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, SeaShark said:

 

I don't think that is really the issue most people have. If you want to join a roll call, fine. If you don't, that is fine as well. The problem comes where people in a Roll Call agree to attend the M&G and then they blow it off once onboard. An organizer gives NCL a head count of X and then only Y show up. It's disrespectful plain and simple, and that is where people have a problem.

Yes, I believe I posted earlier about a large roll call in which only 2 tables worth of us showed up. Not even the person who organized the meet & greet showed up. I'm sure the 2 NCL officers who attended wondered why they were assigned to go to such a small group.

[ontheweb]

20 hours ago, casofilia said:

@LGW59

 

Why should private shorex discussion not happen at a M&G?

 

Because PRIVATE shore excursions  are set up in direct opposition to the ship shore excursions and you are a guest at a function hosted by the cruise line.   

It is only polite to not discuss them in that situation.   

Arrange to do it elsewhere is OK which is why I arrange a lunch to follow the M&G.

I think your post is overly broad. Yes, you should not be soliciting others to join your private excursion while in a Meet and Greet as that is against the rules. However, I see nothing wrong with passengers who have only met through the roll call getting together at a Meet and Greet to discuss where they will meet to get to their private excursion.

[SeaShark]

4 hours ago, Red-Sol said:

Things such as the ability to message other members is just one small example of something people have wanted and complained about for years. 

 

CC is not going to make the change to allow that...it would only make the situation worse. Read through this thread and you see repeated mentions of the fact that people don't mingle...instead they sit with and only interact in small groups. If CC were to allow private messaging, then people would use it to ask/answer questions and seek advice...privately...where it only benefits one person instead of the whole community. Then the cliquish behavior at the M&Gs would migrate to the forums making the current situation were discussing worse.

 

[Z0nker]

Roll calls seem to be alive and well for Princess. Took a Carnival cruise in May: CC Roll Call existed but was dead. Found over 100 fellow passengers on a FB group. As someone else suggested, this might be rooted in the demographic. 

[Z0nker]

19 minutes ago, Z0nker said:

Roll calls seem to be alive and well for Princess. Took a Carnival cruise in May: CC Roll Call existed but was dead. Found over 100 fellow passengers on a FB group. As someone else suggested, this might be rooted in the demographic. 

Just for fun I checked fb to see if there was a group for our fall Princess cruise. There isn’t. But the CC Roll Call for that cruise has been fairly lively. 

Edited July 27, 2022 by Z0nker

[psac]

The roll calls and the FB groups are great sources of information. Back last October dealing with the Bermuda testing requirements, we would’ve been lost without them. But when it comes to the M&Gs, that’s just not our thing. It never has been.   Then to add in covid, not only do we want to avoid gatherings even more, but then to also be a traced gathering, where if one person gets it they can identify a whole room of close contacts… that’s not where we want to be. 
 

But certainly we wouldn’t say we’ll be there and then no-show for no reason. That would be very rude!!

[travelhound]

On 7/25/2022 at 12:10 PM, LGW59 said:

I also believe as the cruising demographics are starting to trend younger (FYI I am 62 and still like the roll calls) FB et al, are their go to media choices.  Just a tad more freedom there... 

Yup, no moderation on FB.

[travelhound]

On 7/25/2022 at 10:26 AM, Shellbelle28 said:

For all the past cruises I've been on, I've participated in a roll call. Most have been lively, or at least had three or four active discussion participants and a lot of lurkers. For the last several, I've been the organizer of an on-board meetup. The last cruise, in October of 2021, for the Bliss's first sailing after shutdown, we had a pretty big meet and mingle. 

I'm on a sailing on the Sun in Alaska next month and there are only about 5 posts in our roll call and half are probably mine! Is it just the sailing I'm on, or are roll calls just not active any more? I know a lot of people are on other social media platforms, has that killed the Cruise Critic roll call?

We have been to many well organized Cruise Critic meetups on ships in the past.  Unfortunately I think the demographics have changed significantly and many people don't want to socialize in that way anymore.

[mking8288]

 

@psac - Spot on, hitting or nailing some of the issues ... had conversations and discussions with a # of veteran CC'ers onboard and off this forum (in person, over lunch as we live in the same hometown & neighborhood)   Demographics of "some" of the long time CC'er fall into the high risk/at-risk Covid categories, even while returning to cruising, and, some aren't comfortable in the M&G gathering, despite best efforts for social distancing (venue, seating & spacing of tables and chairs, etc.)   Slot Pulls are lots of fun but a crowd of folks, shoulder-to-shoulder shouting & cheering in close proximity to everyone else ... aren't exactly the cup of tea for a few, since the virus/sub-variants are highly contagious & airborne (per "most" medical-scientific experts & studies).  And, personally speaking, I'm not in favor of organizing cabin crawl either, for fairly obvious reasons.  

 

It's often easier to put together and run a good & successful M&G on longer cruises or itineraries, dependent at times on the # of sea days.  I still see some very organized & successful roll calls with M&G being organized, too easy and simplistic to generalize, and declare categorically, that demise is pending.  

 

As a matter of fact, scroll to the bottom of the page, almost all pages here on CC, guess what - CC itself has a presence on several social media platform including ...  One of the many challenges, is, for CC, to figure out the pathway to channel and synergize the chats back here to this platform, or migrate over, or, perhaps make it a trifactor matrix.