Why do NCL Roll Calls seem less busy then other Lines?

[Lisa&Neb]

Just wondering your thoughts.... is it there do not get Meet and Greets automatically, or NCL people don't use them... what do you think?

[jannandjohn]

We have had some great Ncl meet n greets..courtesy of NCL .

As far as being an active roll call, it depends how interesting your group makes it.

We had 95 rollcallers on our last NCL cruise..the Pearl, and they all turned up to the meet n greet put on by NCL Co-ordinators....which was requested by me thru them.(as I was chosen as the spokesperson for our group)...

it's what you make it become....

[zqvol]

None of the options are really accurate. If you look at the boards overall there are a lot fewer posts on a day to day basis on NCL than on Carnival or RCL. Why? I don't know for sure but I would venture to guess that it is a pure numbers thing. RCL and CCL offer more cruises per week than NCL. More cruises = more passengers. More passengers = more activity. I believe that based on the number of passengers carried the NCL roll calls are as active as any.

 

If you want to see really active roll calls based on # of people carried go look through the Sea Dream boards. Those ships carry less than 10,000 people per year TOTAL, yet there is lots of activity there. NCL carries more than 10,000 people per week.

 

So what I am saying is that IMO NCL is as active as any line on a per passenger basis.

[AFT_LOVER]

CC promotes Meet & Greet with RCCL, so parties are posted when & where, gifts are brought for a ticket pull by RCCL personnel. I have done gift exchanges on cruises I am on.

 

But now on NCL, I see folks signing up & posting to Roll Call. But they always ask who wants to be the party voice and many just say to meet at the bar after lunch at embarkation. I looked for the party list for NCL and there isn't any. So CC needs to get involved with NCL for cruisers so we get the same as RCCL cruisers.

[GORDONCHICK]

We are booked on our first NCL cruise (a year away), but have had no activity on our roll call, which is very disappointing.

[ktpc2005]

We had an active roll call for our October Gem Med Sea Cruise. It did not get rolling really until like 2-3 months before the cruise. We had a large group and one person took on the responsibility of talking to NCL about a CC party. The party was set up for the first morning during our day at sea in LEBistro. We had a nice breakfast spread and the captain, CD Clint, Klaus, and the officers came for a Q&A. It was my first Meet and Greet and it went over really well.

[big green]

I have participated in several active Norweigen roll calls this last year-- what are u talking about --in fact I am in one now for the Spirit sailing for

march 30.

 

Big green

[grumpycajun]

I don't know... our roll call might have started slow, but it's rolling along pretty well now. Leaving on the Spirit on Sunday!!! :D So much for sleeping the next few nights.;)

[mpk218]

Maybe people that cruise NCL dont have as much free time . you know what I mean????:eek: Just kidding. :p :p

[newmexicoNita]

How busy the roll call is changes from week to week and cruise to cruise. Our last NCL cruise in Sept had a wonderful and very active roll call. We had 2 meetings, one an informal get together, the other an Official Meet and Greet. This was true, as well on our last Princess cruise. Other cruises we have taken end up being duds as for roll call.

 

I think someone else hit the nail on the head as well, NCL ships are not as big and NCL doesn't have as many as some lines, so of course even our regular boards may not be as busy.

 

Nita

[silkhair1]

I am waiting for people to jump into my roll call too. It takes a while to get it started though. I am about 1 year out, so I won't get excited for about another 5 months. Then it should get going! I wish more people would find out about CC as that would help everything!!!!!

[spirit rev]

My experience with the NCL boards has been great and active for the two cruises taken at non holiday time. The cruise I took at holiday time was really dead.

 

Yes, with NCL someone needs to contact the ship's coordinator and request a time. It is usually the morning of the first sea day - at least out of NYC. I think I've heard that it isn't announced or organized officially by NCL because of some sort of contractual arrangements between CC and other cruise lines.

 

As others have said, NCL has always been accomodating and helpful in organizing a get together, providing refreshments and officers. We juat have to ask.

 

We are getting ready to take a HAL cruise and find that the roll calls over there are not nearly as active as the ones I've been involved with a NCL cruise.

[SailAwayGal]

I always look at the role call and actually join if there is one but I have never been involved in a meet and greet. I think it depends on the people involved how successful they are. I guess I just have been on sailings that the meet and greet doesn't appeal too.

[newmexicoNita]

My experience with the NCL boards has been great and active for the two cruises taken at non holiday time. The cruise I took at holiday time was really dead.

 

Yes, with NCL someone needs to contact the ship's coordinator and request a time. It is usually the morning of the first sea day - at least out of NYC. I think I've heard that it isn't announced or organized officially by NCL because of some sort of contractual arrangements between CC and other cruise lines.

 

As others have said, NCL has always been accomodating and helpful in organizing a get together, providing refreshments and officers. We juat have to ask.

 

We are getting ready to take a HAL cruise and find that the roll calls over there are not nearly as active as the ones I've been involved with a NCL cruise.

We had the same experience with Hal and then onlly a few showed up for our informal meet and greet. I was surprised at the Princess official Meet and Greet which they set up, no officers and no refreshments, they simply set a time for us.

 

Nita

[Philly Steve]

After our last four cruises aboard RCI ships we're cruising NCL since the line still uses the Philadelphia cruise ship terminal. I've already made a couple of posts in the NCL Roll Call thread for a September sailing. Maybe it's quality instead of quantity? :D

[bakerintn]

Our NCL Dawn Roll Call - March 2 - has over 300 posts and 56 members so far. Not exactly "dead" in my view.

[Preds]

I've organized 2 Meet & Greet's on NCL. We had about 30 show up for our April '07 Pride of Hawaii cruise, and NCL put out a spectacular spread of hot hors d’oeuvres and shockingly a full open bar! We were stunned!

 

I have my 2nd M&G setup for 11 days from now on the Spirit, with 70 people stating they intend to attend (50 adults and 20 kids). I've already made arrangements with the Ship Coordinator for 10am on the 1st day at sea. I wanted a bit later, but it seems NCL schedules them on the Spirit at 10am from most of the roll calls I've seen. I have no idea what officers or crew will be there, and doubt we'll get the incredible spread that the POH gave us, but still expect a fun time.

 

What I do know is that we have a divergent and fun group in our roll call, and we've scheduled 2 M&Gs, an informal one at sail away on Sunday at the Bier Garten (where 69 stated they will be attending), and our formal one on Monday with some crew (currently scheduled at Henry's Pub, though I've already emailed back since our group has grown and I'm not certain Henry's can accommodate 70). BTW, we've also scheduled a cabin crawl for our last day at sea. So as a group we've done pretty well!

 

Also, contrary to an earlier poster, it's been my experience that the holiday sailings are busier on the roll calls. Both cruises during peak holidays (Easter last year, President's week this year) have been very active for us, whereas, the 2 non-holiday cruises we took (Bahamas in August 06 and Alaska in August 07) were pretty quiet in the roll calls and nothing official ever got organized.

 

We are also sailing on the Gem in late June, and our roll call has been VERY quiet. I’m guessing that’s because it’s a Mediterranean cruise. It’s all hit or miss, but in my experience, holiday cruises seem to have more families and as such are pretty active.

[LOWTYD]

My Roll call for te GEM 4/12 was so dead for the longest time I thougt I was the only passanger. I did start it right after I booked it on the Spirit last April so it took a while before I got some company but it's still pretty weak. We are starting to see some activity and I am hoping for more in the next month. Yet the 4/19 transatlantic cruise is bustling compared to ours. I'm jelous:rolleyes: !

[DMRick]

Our roll call was slow in starting, but 46 posted they would be at the Meet and Greet. Last week 46 showed up (I made personalized magnets, and and name tags, and every one was picked up). NCL gave us a room (Star Bar) and coffee, juice and pastries. We also had several officers come to talk to us, even thought they were in the middle of Noro (so they weren't able to stay long). They answered questions and welcomed us.

[CanadianTwosome]

We had a great roll call for our last cruise - albeit small. On our cruise last year, our roll call had even fewer people on it, but we ended up meeting the family (with a daughter the same age as ours) that we spent most of the cruise with. We are still in contact. :)

 

That being said, while it is what you make it, you can't make more people materialize. I think I read on a post once that other cruiselines (or maybe just one other... can't remember) have a link to CC on their website. I made a post a while back just asking if people knew about the roll calls. Before our cruise last year, I was visiting the NCL board for months before I saw someone reference the roll calls and went and found them. I think it was about two weeks before we sailed!!

 

In response to that thread, there were some replies from people who just weren't interested in the roll calls, but I think the biggest reason for a roll call not being busy is simply lack of awareness. With the exception of the people from my roll call, not a single person on the Star knew what CC was. Hopefully thanks to me they'll be able to check it out before their next cruise. :)

[dr.d]

I'm looking forward to our cruise to find relief from curious minds spawning my neurotic compulsion to apply scientific methods in order to present the findings and respond to your question.

 

So, in pre-cruise mode, I must answer - I don't know. We've enjoyed the interest and responses in our roll call. We're looking forward to every and any cruise and hope you enjoy any you're on as well.

 

I'm practicing my stress management techniques ...... but I am really interested in what you've learned from your question. I'll check back often.

 

Is there a correlation between roll call activity and cruise line customer satisfaction? We've only been on 5 cruises and 3 different lines. We're fairly new to cruise critic so feedback is so helpful.

 

Thanks!

 

Donna

[GORDONCHICK]

We had the same experience with Hal and then onlly a few showed up for our informal meet and greet. I was surprised at the Princess official Meet and Greet which they set up, no officers and no refreshments, they simply set a time for us.

 

Nita

 

Nita-

I think with Princess, it depends entirely on the CD. When we were on the Grand Princess with Neil Chandler as the CD, he attended the party along with the ACD. He had ben supplying refreshements on the cruises right before ours, but he was reprimanded for doing so. But he sat and listened to all our comments - good and bad. Then he asked questions about things we hadn't discussed yet, and took notes. He also had a CC notebook for all of us to sign (along with our screennames), with names of all those who had come before us. We had a great time with them, and they were even in one of our group shots.

 

On Mercury in September (and they sponsor the parties), they scheduled a time, sent out invitations, provided cookies, coffee and tea and someone to serve, but no staff. I don't know if it was because our group was small (28 or so) or not. but one of our members was a guest lecturer on the cruise, so that was interesting.

 

I would much rather staff show up and at the very least, appear to seem interested, than the other alternative.

[LOWTYD]

How does one go about getting a meet and greet setup on a ship? Our roll call doesn't have a lot of people right now but several have inquired about it and I don't know who to talk to about it. Is there minium # of passanger that need to attend in order for the ship to set up someting like a continental breakfast or have staff available to ask questions? Since I stated the Roll call, I guess I am in charge. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[cruise4kicks]

How does one go about getting a meet and greet setup on a ship? Our roll call doesn't have a lot of people right now but several have inquired about it and I don't know who to talk to about it. Is there minium # of passanger that need to attend in order for the ship to set up someting like a continental breakfast or have staff available to ask questions? Since I stated the Roll call, I guess I am in charge. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

To set up a get-together, e-mail shipcoordinatorxxxx@ncl.com, replacing xxxx with your ship name (e.g., Gem). When I did it on the Gem I e-mailed about 6 weeks out with a projected number, then again about a week out with a final number. The ship was very good to us, providing not only space (Le Bistro) but also coffee, tea and pastries, as well as a visit from a number of the ship's officers (Captain, Hotel Director, Food & Beverage Director, Group Coordinator and Cruise Director).

 

There was one roll call I did, however, where participation just wasn't where I would like it to be in order for me to ask the ship to host us (only about 15 people committed to a get-together). We ended up arranging a get-together at Spinnaker for sail-away.

[sun~]

I agree with what mpk218 said about not having as much free time! Bottom line is some cruise lines have lots and lots of retired people who cruise with them and have more time to post (some post thousands and tens of thousands of times!!! yikes!!!)

 

I just think we are busy people who come to CC when we can.

 

I do hope we get a good turn out for our CC group on the March 8th Gem cruise!