this is for the birds

[lougee1043]

contacted ship services to set up a meet and greet for our 1/6 saililng -- asked for a time and place on the 7th ---sea day--just received an answer that has advised me that we can have a space at 4:30 to 5:30 on either the 11th or 12th------------doesnt that ruin the idea of a meet and greet -----any suggestions

[bepsf]

contacted ship services to set up a meet and greet for our 1/6 saililng -- asked for a time and place on the 7th ---sea day--just received an answer that has advised me that we can have a space at 4:30 to 5:30 on either the 11th or 12th------------doesnt that ruin the idea of a meet and greet -----any suggestions

 

Yeah, it sorta does.

I'll send an e-mail to LadyBird who is aboard now and see if she can get something worked out w/ Henk...

Please drop me an e-mail when you get the chance.

bep_sf@yahoo.com

[kryos]

contacted ship services to set up a meet and greet for our 1/6 saililng -- asked for a time and place on the 7th ---sea day--just received an answer that has advised me that we can have a space at 4:30 to 5:30 on either the 11th or 12th------------doesnt that ruin the idea of a meet and greet -----any suggestions

Don't feel bad. We had our meet and greet on the last day of the cruise ... hosted by the cruise director ... and with absolutely no refreshments provided whatsoever ... not so much as an urn of coffee.

 

Suggestion? Plan you own get-together in a public area ... a bar or a lounge ... and everyone just buy their own drinks. We actually all met at sailaway out of New York ... up in the Crow's Nest. People who wanted a drink just bought one.

 

Another idea is to have an informal group get-together for breakfast or lunch ... on sea days. Plan on meeting up at a certain time ... set it up at the sailaway get-together. Then, everyone who can make it each sea day shows up at the appointed time and place, and those who can't make it don't. That's what we did on my Hawaii Cruise with Princess back in 2005. Met for breakfast every sea day. Was a nice way to stay in touch with the roll call group without infringing on anyone's rest or family time. After all, everyone's gotta eat, right? :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[michmike]

I think I'd call back and ask to speak w/ a supervisor. That response makes absolutely no sense.

 

Failing an accommodation at that point then you're left with simply choosing a public venue at which to get together, depending on the number in your group. The crow's nest is a good option or the ocean bar or the explorer's lounge. If you miss out on the coffee, tea and cookies that HAL provides, you haven't missed much.

 

I'm mystified as to why HAL doesn't put more stock in these things as these are some of their most loyal customers and advocates. We had a get together on Westerdam in October (about 25 of us) but the ship's staff didn't see fit to have anyone at the mgmt level stop by and say hello. Seems like public relations 101 to me... but what do I know??

[bepsf]

Part of the issue is that there are now 80 of us on our CC Roll-Call.

Pre-determining a public space to meet before stepping aboard ship isn't practical without knowing what's available and getting the word to folks before we all start heading to NYC - we could end up having a group taking over the Crow's Nest again like on Navy Chief's cruise...

:(

[lougee1043]

thanks one and all ---great minds think alike--- i posted a message on the roll call board suggesting that we meet at the explorers lounge at a particular time on the first sea day (sunday) and forget about the milk and cookies ------------if we do that we attempt to contact mr. deering on saturday and ask if he could stop by the following day

[bepsf]

thanks one and all ---great minds think alike--- i posted a message on the roll call board suggesting that we meet at the explorers lounge at a particular time on the first sea day (sunday) and forget about the milk and cookies ------------if we do that we attempt to contact mr. deering on saturday and ask if he could stop by the following day

 

Oh!

I forgot that you're sailing on Oosterdam that day - not Noordam!

Nevermind...

:o

[kryos]

Part of the issue is that there are now 80 of us on our CC Roll-Call.

Pre-determining a public space to meet before stepping aboard ship isn't practical without knowing what's available and getting the word to folks before we all start heading to NYC - we could end up having a group taking over the Crow's Nest again like on Navy Chief's cruise...

:(

Most of my cruises, we just gathered at the Lido Bar area. I doubt a group is gonna be able to take over the entire Lido deck at Sailaway. I would imagine there would be a mutiny if HAL allowed that.

 

The only reason we used the Crow's Nest on my last cruise was because it was out of New York in October. We were concerned that the Lido deck would be too chilly. Have people wear something unique ... at least some of them ... so that it's easy for people to spot the Cruise Critics. I generally offer to wear a Cruise Critic tee-shirt ... others often pipe in that they will be wearing something unique as well. Our groups have never been hard to spot.

 

For some reason, it seems that HAL seems reluctant as of late to host Cruise Critic get-togethers. At least I know the cruise director, Jill, on my recent Amsterdam cruise was very reluctant to even list the get-together in the daily program.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[constructiondude]

That's too bad.

 

I'm on this cruise and I'd be up for an informal gathering in the Oak Room (which always seems to be empty and the Crows Nest bar is nearby) or some other place. I'd even spring for a plate of h'ordeurves (sp?). I agree that meeting on one of the sea days on our way back to San Diego sort of defeats the whole purpose of a meet n greet; more like a goodbye party.

 

To be honest I really didn't expect HAL to roll out the red carpet since there are no prominent pax among our group that I know of. I know that comment might seem a bit callous but that's been my impression after reading the recent threads of the past few cruises that have had cocktail parties for cc members.

[fcorey]

thanks one and all ---great minds think alike--- i posted a message on the roll call board suggesting that we meet at the explorers lounge at a particular time on the first sea day (sunday) and forget about the milk and cookies ------------if we do that we attempt to contact mr. deering on saturday and ask if he could stop by the following day

 

send me an email at fcorey@cadence.com and I will send you a copy of the form and who I spoke to, also have other contact info

[Copper10-8]

Lou, Mr. Deering is known to be a fan favorite of CC group meetings and has hosted them in the past - My suggestion is for you to contact him when you get onboard Oosterdam and see what he can arrange for you;)

[obriendan]

This space is available for 40, double occupancy, through the end of February.:D

[hammybee]

This space is available for 40, double occupancy, through the end of February.:D

 

Way off topic here. I have seen pix like this on eBay. What is the purpose of those Linco like pods hanging off the house? Is this the low rent area of bird land? :)

[obriendan]

Those are plastic gourds. All purple martins east of the Rockies depend upon human supplied housing. Regular hollowed-out gourds and the synthetic variety are really favored by martins.

[Copper10-8]

Way off topic here. I have seen pix like this on eBay. What is the purpose of those Linco like pods hanging off the house? Is this the low rent area of bird land? :)

 

Those are the restrooms facilities; This particular complex has detached bathrooms built after complaints from the other homeowners (too much bird caca):)

[Copper10-8]

Those are plastic gourds. All purple martins east of the Rockies depend upon human supplied housing. Regular hollowed-out gourds and the synthetic variety are really favored by martins.

 

Oops, I stand corrected!:o Sorry Dan

[obriendan]

John,

 

Let me assure you, when the martins leave for South America in July, they never get their deposit back!!:eek:

[newmexicoNita]

contacted ship services to set up a meet and greet for our 1/6 saililng -- asked for a time and place on the 7th ---sea day--just received an answer that has advised me that we can have a space at 4:30 to 5:30 on either the 11th or 12th------------doesnt that ruin the idea of a meet and greet -----any suggestions

celebrity did the same to us a few years ago. WHo needs to meet and greet a couple of days before the cruise ends? What we like to do is just set up your own, best is one of the bars on sailing night. NMNita

[hammybee]

Those are plastic gourds. All purple martins east of the Rockies depend upon human supplied housing. Regular hollowed-out gourds and the synthetic variety are really favored by martins.

 

Does this then mean that the neat looking housing complex on top of traditional purple martin poles is like a club house, but they prefer to sleep in the Linco pods ?

 

And I am sorry to the OP for hijacking this to the birds.

[obriendan]

Does this then mean that the neat looking housing complex on top of traditional purple martin poles is like a club house, but they prefer to sleep in the Linco pods ?

 

And I am sorry to the OP for hijacking this to the birds.

 

No, No! It is hoped that there will be four pairs in the four gourds and twelve pairs in the house above. However, house sparrows are always competing for space and are the bane of a martin landlord.

 

Now back to the topic.:)

[lougee1043]

Lou, Mr. Deering is known to be a fan favorite of CC group meetings and has hosted them in the past - My suggestion is for you to contact him when you get onboard Oosterdam and see what he can arrange for you;)

 

always a possibility-----------but then its really tough getting the time and place around to 50 pax---so much easier to have it set up ahead of time ---------------i guess this thread has been hijacked

[lougee1043]

Lou, Mr. Deering is known to be a fan favorite of CC group meetings and has hosted them in the past - My suggestion is for you to contact him when you get onboard Oosterdam and see what he can arrange for you;)

 

john --i lost your email address --- could you please contact me at

lougee1043@comcast.net

[Copper10-8]

john --i lost your email address --- could you please contact me at

lougee1043@comcast.net

 

On the way

[Grumpy1]

I'm mystified as to why HAL doesn't put more stock in these things as these are some of their most loyal customers and advocates. We had a get together on Westerdam in October (about 25 of us) but the ship's staff didn't see fit to have anyone at the mgmt level stop by and say hello. Seems like public relations 101 to me... but what do I know??

Ziggy7 put together our CC get together on the Westerdam last month. She had invitations delivered to the Captain, the Hotel Manager and the CD as soon as she got onboard. They all showed up and it was a good get together. We had the Half Moon Room, as I recall.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Wondering how many you are, Lou. We had a relatively small group (and very casually assembled because that's just my style) on the Prinsendam last week.

 

We all arranged to meet at 12:00 noon the first sea day (which was also our first day) outside the main dining room. We were only 16 so got 2 tables for 8 and it worked wonderfully.

 

Of course, you'd still like a party of sorts, but if you want a quick get together early on, the dining room worked great for us.