Where were you fellow "Meet & Mingle" guests??

[jordanaire]

My wife and I attended the "Meet & Mingle" party aboard the "Adventure of the Seas"" last week, only to find that only 3 out of the 29 that signed up actually showed up!

 

We were really looking forward to meeting ALL of you! We enjoyed meeting "CareBear" and her husband, along with "PunderRick". Three people, however, don't make a party!!!

 

Maybe next time!

 

Bill

 

3/28 "Adventure of the Seas" Cruise

[texannie]

We had that happen on our March 7-14 sailing of the Rhapsody.

[Family of 14]

I was not on your sailing, but I have to admit missing the party on my last cruise. I think that the parties need to be held at an off time, maybe after the late seating or in the early morning hours of the first full day. For this reason, I am not signing up for the M & M on my next two cruises. I don't think it is fair to RCCL when they plan for more people and only a hand full show up.

 

Are you sailing on the Mariner 7/18/04?...Click here!

or HERE!

 

Disney Wonder 3/2000 ~ Disney Magic 9/2000 ~ RCI Vision 2/2001 ~ Carnival Victory 12/2001 ~ Celebrity Millennium 3/2003 ~ RCI Adventure OTS 9/2003 ~ RCI Mariner OTS 7/18/2004 ~ RCI Serenade OTS 9/26/2004

[Folgy]

On our January 17th sailing on the Grandeur of the Seas, we had at least 25 pax show up. For my Serenade of the Seas sailing for August 8th to Alaska it is dismal. I don't think it will even happen this time.

 

 

 

 

[imosoreal]

That sounds very disappointing. I'm trying to figure out now what I can do to get the ones that I have been chatting with daily who are scheduled to be at our meeting to actually show up. Not because we have an interest in hearing a sales pitch, but to actually see those we've been spending so much e-time with.

 

Til our Adventure of the Seas 10/03/04

 

 

Triumph -- November 2003

Fantasy -- July 2001

Imagination -- Nov 2000

Fantasy -- Nov 1999

[checkard]

We're thinking about doing some kind of trivia game or something at our M & M to identify the people who we have been chatting to.

 

On our one Explorer cruise we did a Christmas ornament exchange since we cruised in December. Everyone we had been chatting to showed up, brought an ornament to exchange and we had a great time.

 

I think the party staff were happy that we provided our own entertainment. We didn't have any kind of sales pitch but they did have snacks and door prizes.

 

----------------------------

Explorer 11/2001

Explorer 12/14/02

Serenade 10/13/03

----------------------------

 

Until Grandeur 5/21/04

 

Until Voyager 10/8/04

[vacation elaine]

I agree.. we were disappointed about the no-shows on Voyager first week of March. I do think it had to do with the time ... lunch time first day at sea... my hubby didn't come since pool time is sacred to him..guess he could have come all greased up

Sea day is good..I like the idea of later afternoon before early dinner seating.. also, good idea to do a contest to see who belongs to what screen name... I will suggest that on the thread we have going for the July cruise. thanks

 

 

Norway, 2000

Adventure of the Seas, Augst, 2003

Voyager of the Seas, February 29,2004

Brilliance of the Seas, July 25, 2004 !

 

<img src=http://img22.photobucket.com/albums/v65/Elaine1150/Tropical_island.gif>

[CruiseLovingPikle]

Sorry to have missed the party. I realized after we finished with one activity we were 30 minutes late. We find with the 5 of us there is always 2 or 3 places that we want to be at the same time almost daily during cruising. My daughter really wanted to go since she was keeping up with this board, but she was on the other side of the ship when I realized the time.

 

Allyson & Kaylyn

 

 3/28/04 Adventure of the Seas

 

Carnival Triumph 3/03

Voyager of the Seas 6/02

Disney Magic 5/98

[texannie]

Ours WAS a sea day at 5 pm.

[izzyvet]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> That sounds very disappointing. I'm trying to figure out now what I can do to get the ones that I have been chatting with daily who are scheduled to be at our meeting to actually show up. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Threaten them! Just kidding.

 

On that note though, I seriously consider the people I'm chatting with to be my friends. I care about them and we are now involved in each other's lives, if only via the message boards. (we also do a live AOL chat every week). So standing a friend up just isn't something I would do and I hope no one else would do either.

 

We have about 10 people regularly posting to the chat and those are the only people I'm expecting to show up (along with some spouses), but that's all I care about. I truly believe the secret to a successful M&M party is a good healthy roll call thread before you go, not anything RCL does for the "party". If you start to care about these people you are going to want to meet them in "real life" and that's the real fun of it. IMHO at least.

 

Izzy

 

 

Until Carnival Pride:

 

Roll Call Explorer 5-23

Roll Call Pride 10/17

[superjerryw]

The problem with the Meet & Mingles is that many of them are scheduled at inconvenient times. On our last cruise the Meet & Mingle was scheduled at 5:30 PM on a day the ship was in port. We came back to the ship at 5:00PM and had to be at dinner at 6:00PM. By the time we showered and changed there was no time to go to the party. On another cruise the party was scheduled for that small gap in time between the two dinner seatings. I have continually suggested that the party be at 4:00 PM on a sea day so no one istill in bed, no one is off the ship and no one is rushing to get ready for dinner.

 

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Donuts, is there anything they can't do....

[Sailfish]

I just completed a Royal Caribbean survey (it was emailed to me after I registered for our CC party aboard the Mariner next year) about the Meet & Mingle parties. I must say, by the nature of the questions it seemed they wanted to know if it was worth continuing with them.

 

Many of the questions asked for suggestions on when to host them, how we were notified, what activities (if any) were planned, and how to make them better.

 

I for one have never truly had what I could say, was a great time. I enjoy meeting everyone, but must admit, those get togethers we put together on our own on the first day/evening seem more enjoyable. As someone else also stated, communicating beforehand here at Cruise Critic is a must as is some structure. The parties I attended had no prizes (I know some ships do), no officers or cruise director, and people just sat around chatting.

 

None of the three parties I went to were well attended either, unfortunately. I'm guessing some of it might have been due to a lack of communication (no invitation reminder on the ship has been a complaint I have read about). In each instance, the parties were also scheduled at a time making it very hard for people to attend. For example, one time the party was held an hour after the ship set sail from Key West, a half hour before 1st seating. I went, but my husband could not (don't remember why). Very few people showed up - maybe 10; I would not have gone had we had 1st seating, as I would be getting ready for dinner!

 

Anyway, it's obvious by the survey I just completed, that Royal Caribbean is looking at these Meet & Mingle parties more closely to assess their value.

 

Suzi

 

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05 July 2004 Cruise Aboard Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas

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21 November 2004 Cruise Aboard Carnival's Pride

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20 February 2005 Cruise Critic Group Cruise Aboard Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas

 

 

 

[SunLover05]

We were on the Explorer of the Seas last week and our M&M party was scheduled for 11 am on Monday. The 5 main posters and their families showed up. It was so nice to see them in person, and it was like we had known each other for ages, not just by posting for 3 months!

 

Our's was held in Dizzy's lounge, complete with enough beverages for an army, and beautiful appetizers. Two people from the Cruise Director's Staff, Simon and Alexis(?), got the party started, then James Andrews, the Cruise Director, came and welcomed us. He stayed and answered any questions we had for about 30 minutes. It was so nice to get to know him and some of his crew. (He would also stop to chat with us when he saw us during the rest of the cruise. Talk about feeling special!!)

 

They also raffled off Dinner for Two at Portifinos and a RCI Aqua Mouse. Not everyone who registered made it to the M&M, obviously, but the adults that did had a good time. (Some of the ones in my group never received an invitation in their cabin.)

 

I think the teens that attended could have used an "ice breaker" activity, so they would talk to each other. They were pretty shy, especially in front of the "dreaded" parents. However, some did meet up later in the cruise and talk/hang out, but not all did. Would have been better to have some fun interaction at the M&M, as they weren't too interested in the adult's questions to the Cruise Director.

 

On future cruises I will encourage all in my group to attend.

 

Denise

 

4/3/04 Explorer of the Seas