Star officers refuse to attend CC Meet and Greet

[The Shrike]

6 hours ago, Yesimapirate said:

I don't get the cruisers need to interact with officers like they're celebrities.  I've spent over 2,000 nights in hotels and I've never seen anyone complain they didn't get a picture with the housekeeping or food and beverage manager. 

This.  This x 100.

[StarAFire]

1 hour ago, hrmkr said:

I have never been to a Meet & Greet.  Going to my first on our Getaway cruise in November.

 

Can someone please explain to me what is the big deal about the Officers attending other than to say you have seen them.  It would be cool though to meet the captain but everyone else?

 

Do they give you anything or they just show their face and say hello and answer a few questions and leave.

 

No, normally in the NCL ones I have attended, you don't get anything, although years ago, our meet and greet leader managed to get us a bridge tour, but we were on one of the smallest ships, I think NCL Crown if I recall.  But I know that they told us this was not the norm.  This meeting isn't to meet the officers of the ship.  It is more for cruisecritic folks that are in the roll call to meet each other after talking with each other online and making friends for awhile before the sailing.  Sometimes a cc member may organize something like small gift exchange or something.  It all depends on how active your roll call is.   If officers come, they say hi and maybe answer a few questions, and some will leave like business cards or something, so if you have an issue/complaint, you have a way to provide feedback while on the ship so they can try and address while you are still sailing. RCCL ones are similar, although sometimes they may do small drawing for little knic knack or something, as those are organized by RCCL.

Edited August 29, 2022 by StarAFire

[complawyer]

ive been blasted for comments about someone changing signatures, the color and style of the ncl logos, but i'll stand my ground. who really cares if officers join a meet and great or not. same as having dinner with ships officers, i am not the least bit interested in either, and after almost 20 ncl cruises, ive never attended a meet and greet. of course, im a grumpy of man which explains a major part of it

[poohdreaming]

It vary ship to ship with how the meet & greet work.

It also depends on the person who host the meet & greet.

 

With the pandemic, of course staffs does not need to show/attend the event.

What they can do is leave a card / note (name of all officers and their telephone #) delivering to all cruisers that attended the meet & greet.

 

The event should still be successful and fun if there are cruisers that showed up even without any officers. The main purpose is to get to know other cruisers and to hang out/make plans throughout the cruise. There are still other meetings listed on the daily everyday like the solo travelers meet up. Some cruisers do show up for that one on the first day and some attend throughout the cruise.

 

[Markanddonna]

To be candid, Cruise Critic is not the only game in town anymore. Over the past several years (before COVID), I noted that the officers often added a request to the CC group: please bring your concerns and problems to us first so we can resolve them instead of just writing a scathing review. 

 

We were constantly told that CC members were important to the cruise lines but perhaps now they are spending more attention on their loyalty members.

[billco]

10 hours ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

On the 8/14 sailing last week our fearless leader had arranged for a  CC meet n greet.  The room was set up in the usual fashion with beverages and pastries, but the group coordinator seemed surprised when we asked how many officers would be attending and she left.  A few minutes later two officers, I could not tell who they were from where I was standing, but they told our leader that they don’t attend the meetings any longer.  She invited them to just come in and say hello, and they again declined.  They never set foot inside the room.  We were all stunned.  I’ve n ever been to a meet ngreet without at least a few officers.  I realize they are busy people but I must say, this was a first for me on NCL.  

I don't attend meet & greets either. Nobody seems to mind

[phillygwm]

8 hours ago, Yesimapirate said:

I don't get the cruisers need to interact with officers like they're celebrities.  I've spent over 2,000 nights in hotels and I've never seen anyone complain they didn't get a picture with the housekeeping or food and beverage manager. 

This.  I'll be Sapphire after my next cruise.  There are two incremental benefits at this level:  Dinner with the Officers and Priority Reservations.  I can't imagine wanting to make small talk with officers for a couple hours over dinner.  I'm sure they're lovely people but just not my thing.

[Markanddonna]

16 minutes ago, phillygwm said:

This.  I'll be Sapphire after my next cruise.  There are two incremental benefits at this level:  Dinner with the Officers and Priority Reservations.  I can't imagine wanting to make small talk with officers for a couple hours over dinner.  I'm sure they're lovely people but just not my thing.

I sure wouldn't be looking forward to that dinner if I was an officer. You see the top officers in the specialty dining restaurants eating together or with their family. They would have to be a real extrovert to enjoy the job of eating with passengers.

[JustAllie]

2 hours ago, hrmkr said:

I have never been to a Meet & Greet.  Going to my first on our Getaway cruise in November.

 

Can someone please explain to me what is the big deal about the Officers attending other than to say you have seen them.  It would be cool though to meet the captain but everyone else?

 

Do they give you anything or they just show their face and say hello and answer a few questions and leave.

It's just a cool opportunity to learn about how the ship operates.  Not the engineering part, but the hotel services (restaurants, bars, laundry, guest services, etc.).  You can ask questions. 

 

I've been to a few Meet & Greets where people ask all the wrong questions. The officers who show up are not the right people to ask about how they will handle an emergency like hitting an iceberg. For that, watch the movie "Titanic"!! Generally the captain and the engineering crew will not show up.  It's the hotel & guest services staff who show up. 

 

Ask about how many people it takes to put on dinner for all those guests, or how many pounds of bananas are needed each day of a cruise, or or how many years on board it takes to go from cabin steward to head of hotel services, or who you should contact if there's a loud party in the cabin next door to yours. 

[Yesimapirate]

At our last meet and greet in Dec on the Epic, I asked thr Captain about the ship jail.  He offered to have the head of security personally show me.

[Goldconnection]

I have never attended a meet & greet and could care less about meeting the officers. I am sure they could care less about meeting me as well and that just peachy with me.

[SeaShark]

18 minutes ago, Goldconnection said:

I have never attended a meet & greet and could care less about meeting the officers. I am sure they could care less about meeting me as well and that just peachy with me.

 

Given your position, it does seem a bit odd that you would click on, read, and then post in a thread about this very topic. 🙄

 

However, if you really have "never", then just how do you know that you're not missing out?

[complawyer]

i'm with gold connection, i'll take my chance that im missing out

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, phillygwm said:

This.  I'll be Sapphire after my next cruise.  There are two incremental benefits at this level:  Dinner with the Officers and Priority Reservations.  I can't imagine wanting to make small talk with officers for a couple hours over dinner.  I'm sure they're lovely people but just not my thing.

Yeah,,, it really depends on if you get an officer. We have had the photo shop manager, the Tradewinds manager (who isn't even an NCL employee), training officer (who could enlighten you on the types of compliance training the crew has to go through). The dinner is not being offered on every ship yet. There was a dinner on the Encore in April, but not on the Breakaway last week. 

 

The Senior Officers showed up at the Captain's Cocktail Party in the Haven last week on the Breakaway and stayed and talked with folks. And some of the senior officers showed up to the Latitudes party (although they only stayed a few minutes and escaped before having to interact with passengers). 

[complawyer]

sorry, i feel no loss whatsover if i dont meet any of the ship's officers.

[bianks]

If I was an officer, I’d do the same thing! You’d hate me 😂 

[TrumpyNor]

Now that we are getting  a bit more "post-covid" when it comes to the restrictions, the attendance of officers from NCL at the Meet & Greet is depending on the view at M&Gs and CruiseCritic from the management on board. Some of them just don't care that much as others do...

 

At the M&G on the Gem end of last month, just a couple of "assistant" officers attended. On the Escape beginning of this month pretty much ALL senior officers attended (with the exception of "el capitano" himself). And the general manager (aka "hotel director") expressed on several occasions that he found CruiseCritic and M&G's to be "important".

Edited August 30, 2022 by TrumpyNor

[PATRLR]

I'm another one that has no desire to meet the officers. 

Another one I don't get is the people who invariably ask during a live review "Can you post who the officers are?".  Does it really matter?  (I guess it does to these people, I just don't get it)

[TrumpyNor]

2 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

I'm another one that has no desire to meet the officers. 

Another one I don't get is the people who invariably ask during a live review "Can you post who the officers are?".  Does it really matter?  (I guess it does to these people, I just don't get it)

For some of us who cruise often, it is actually nice to meet again people you have met on previous cruises - INCLUDING the officers. It is always nice to be "recognized" and remembered... 

 

What I actually don't get - is why you felt the need to post your comment here in the first place, since you obviously don't care.... 😉 

[Laszlo]

11 hours ago, JustAllie said:

It's just a cool opportunity to learn about how the ship operates.  Not the engineering part, but the hotel services (restaurants, bars, laundry, guest services, etc.).  You can ask questions.

A great time to do that is during a Behind The Scenes Tour. 

[PTC DAWG]

I have attended meet and greets, they usually go well..most of the time it’s at a sail away party. 
 

I have also attended Q&A sessions in the theater with different crew,  I find those interesting as well.

 

As to the OP, I could how these things could vary greatly from ship to ship.  I wouldn’t have let it concern me at all. 

[graphicguy]

Usually the officers do show up for the “latitudes party”.  THey’ve always showed up for the CC M&G.  Always accommodating.

 

But, the only one I really care about interfacing with is the GM.  He (have yet to see a female GM) always talks and gets any issue/request taken care of for me immediately.  And, seems to always throw a bottle of wine into the deal if he knows my cabin number.

[DCGuy64]

11 hours ago, Goldconnection said:

I have never attended a meet & greet and could care less about meeting the officers. I am sure they could care less about meeting me as well and that just peachy with me.

You said you could care less, so you do care, then? 😉

[Oxo]

1 hour ago, DCGuy64 said:

You said you could care less, so you do care, then? 😉

Add some cream to the peaches!

[SeaShark]

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

Usually the officers do show up for the “latitudes party”.  THey’ve always showed up for the CC M&G.  Always accommodating.

 

But, the only one I really care about interfacing with is the GM.  He (have yet to see a female GM) always talks and gets any issue/request taken care of for me immediately.  And, seems to always throw a bottle of wine into the deal if he knows my cabin number.

 

NCL has had a few female GMs. Rosita Shandy and Jenny Lim immediately come to mind.