Meet and Greet

[44summertime]

I have been emailing the Princess rep for the Crown - Colleen Reyes, trying to set up a meet and greet for our group of 30, and our roll call. She only seems to be offering a 'place' to meet with a bartender, no snacks, and pay for your own drinks. Doesn't Princess offer group meeting packages? With an hourly rate to include drinks and snacks for a per person fee?

[paul929207]

The M&G's we have had have all been each pays for their own drinks. Snacks were the bottles of little saly stuff. Sometimes, we have had a host from the Cruise Staff.

[Toto2Kansas]

I have been emailing the Princess rep for the Crown - Colleen Reyes, trying to set up a meet and greet for our group of 30, and our roll call. She only seems to be offering a 'place' to meet with a bartender, no snacks, and pay for your own drinks. Doesn't Princess offer group meeting packages? With an hourly rate to include drinks and snacks for a per person fee?

 

This is the way Princess does M&G's, not a lot you can do about them 'hosting' it. They will give you the space, but that is about it. Sorry!

[bubbadog]

Adagios is a great place for meet and greets,has a bar,and plenty of room for 30-40 guests,we got to use the microphone for our introductions,(people say who they are online,and from where,works great),hope this helps you,have a great time:):D

[james j feller]

PRINCESS is very cheap when it comes to a meet and greet party, if you want a good one you have to sail on HAL.

 

JIM

[LauraS]

PRINCESS is very cheap when it comes to a meet and greet party, if you want a good one you have to sail on HAL.

 

JIM

 

That's a bit unfair; ok, maybe more than a bit unfair. There is no official sponsorship for these parties in place on Princess, although we'd very much like to work with them.

 

Cruise Critic appreciates any cruise line that goes out of their way to provide a meeting place for our members to meet one another. Believe it or not, space is a commodity on board cruise ships -- there are MANY MANY paid group bookings that are vying for the same space. Also, since there is no registration process in place, how many should the ship plan for? Should you tell them 30 people, and only 15 show up? While it may seem simple to do, it really isn't.

 

It would seem that providing a location, along with an open bar, suits the purpose just fine -- a place for those who enjoy cruising and Cruise Critic to meet each other on board. Anything else offered is just icing on the cake; and we should be appreciative not critical.

 

Laura

[james j feller]

I stand by what i said.

 

JIM

[Minoushka]

I agree .i organized a M&G on Grand for later this week,.requested snacks etc .was refused .We are 50 + participants and many stockholders of CCL corp yet thet did not make a difference

RCCL is WAy more generous .Snacks and CD show up give prizes and presents

LEARN PRINCESS PLEASE ..Taking care of us is GOOD BUSINESS PRACTICE!!!

 

Michele

[coiran]

When you contact Princess to set up a M & G make sure you tell them it is a cruise critic dot com M & G, otherwise they will not do much. I found this out on our last cruise. The gentleman that set it up did it under our "tag" name and not CC. They had nothing set up. I went to see the Captains Circle girl. When they found out it was a CC meeting they had a private room with cash bar and snax setup every week at the same time. Usually one of the staff was there also.

 

Ron

[cruz chic]

I stand by what i said.

 

JIM

I find this interesting...what exactly do they supply? I've been to meet and greets on HAL and all I've seen is water, coffee and cookies. What are you so impressed with?

[james j feller]

LORE,

 

First let me say that i have cruised with almost all the major cruise lines out there so i am not pushing HAL.

 

On our last cruise with HAL on the EURODAM, we had a CC party and they had any drink you wanted, hot and cold snacks, waiter service etc. for an hour. Also the CAPTAIN and HOTEL MANAGER came up to great us and they stayed for about half an hour.

 

I guess that is why i was impressed with HAL.

 

JIM

[Coral]

LORE,

 

First let me say that i have cruised with almost all the major cruise lines out there so i am not pushing HAL.

 

On our last cruise with HAL on the EURODAM, we had a CC party and they had any drink you wanted, hot and cold snacks, waiter service etc. for an hour. Also the CAPTAIN and HOTEL MANAGER came up to great us and they stayed for about half an hour.

 

I guess that is why i was impressed with HAL.

 

JIM

 

That is far more then I received at our M&G on HAL. We did have a very gracious Hotel Manager who did show up and was a very good host.

[james j feller]

CORAL,

 

Maybe they are just doing it on the EURODAM.

 

JIM

[cruz chic]

CORAL,

 

Maybe they are just doing it on the EURODAM.

 

JIM

Yes I think this treatment is highly unusual. At our last meet and greet we had no one from the ship show up. I have sailed with HAL many times but I haven't gone to a lot of M & G. I think they do on occassion offer up drinks etc. but it's really not the norm from my understanding.

[Coral]

CORAL,

 

Maybe they are just doing it on the EURODAM.

 

JIM

 

I think it probably depends on the Hotel Manager. We had rolls - the same ones from the buffet and OJ I believe. The Hotel Manager was very kind and stayed the entire time and was quite sociable. I don't want to downgrade the experience because it was quite nice but we didn't receive everything that you did.

 

I do know the CCs gatherings on Princess depends a lot on the ship and the crew. I have seen the CD arrive at some and provide food. But in the end - the food provided doesn't really make or break the gathering. It is the people that really count. On my Princess gatherings - I really haven't heard anyone complain - most of the time we meet near a bar (WheelHouse or the aft bar near the pool) and everyone has a great time.

[Bruin Steve]

Sounds like the experience on HAL is a variable...

 

We've done a lot of cruises on Royal Caribbean and on Celebrity...and both lines are great to CruiseCritics...There is an on-line sign-up, linked to this site...They send out e-mail invites followed by hard copy invites to your cabin when you board...They provide snacks/appetizers/pastries and coffee/tea/juice...On RCCL, they give out "party favors" (like a pad of paper/pen/ID card holder folder on a neck rope and have a door prize drawing...The event is hosted by either the CD or or the loyalty program hostess or one of the CD staff...

 

I will be at our self-organized meet and greet on the Sapphire Princess in just about 8 hours now...We organized it ourselves online, but one of our members contacted Princess--found the appropriate person through a thread on this board--and they've reserved "Skywalker's" for us from 4:30-5:30 this afternoon...They wanted a count of how many people...So, I'm expecting they are providing something other than just the space...We'll see in about 8 hours!

[cruz chic]

I will be at our self-organized meet and greet on the Sapphire Princess in just about 8 hours now...We organized it ourselves online, but one of our members contacted Princess--found the appropriate person through a thread on this board--and they've reserved "Skywalker's" for us from 4:30-5:30 this afternoon...They wanted a count of how many people...So, I'm expecting they are providing something other than just the space...We'll see in about 8 hours!

Have an excellent cruise! I wish it was me:D.

[macmax]

The Passenger Services Director attended our informal sail away meet & greet on the Crown a year ago and stated that Princess would love to hold an "official" CC Meet & Mingle but that RCCL & Celebrity have an "arrangement" with Cruise Critic that prohibits other lines from doing so.

[Tralynn]

We were on the Ruby for Thanksgiving week and Princess provided us with the Adagio, dry snacks, a hostess, and a bartender. It was very nice, and even the Captain and the Cruise Director came to take pictures with us and meet us.

 

They did offer us a few packages where you pay per person, but be aware that it must be paid in advance of your cruise. If you think 20 are coming, believe me, only 10 will show up, and you will not get a refund for the difference (per Princess). It is much easier, and better to just book the room and let each person pay for what they want to drink.

 

Good luck

[dbdave]

Sounds like 'CruiseCritic' needs to get with the program and let the Princess pax have official M&M's too!!:cool:

[Shogun]

Hi There,

 

what you are getting is the offical Princess line,

 

take it and then speak to CD and PSD, once you are on board

 

The most I have had was coverage on The Ships TV, a bit in the Patter, a few free bottles from the Ship and some snacks.

 

Each ship is different.

 

yours Shogun

[sbwhite2]

We just had a fantastic M&G on the last Emerald sailing. Meet and Greets are what you make them. We had a wonderful, friendly outgoing group of people. I had talked to Princess several times before hand and arranged to have some cold finger foods available, a bar tender and Adagio's for an hour. Then, with the help again of Princess on board the ship, many of us had a few tables reserved for us for breakfast one of our last sea days. Again, we had a great time. It was very little work to put it together. Princess was very easy to work with both before sailing and during.

[Tigger B]

We sailed the Emerald last January and I was in charge of setting up the M&G. I arranged through email for an area and was given the Skywalkers Lounge with the dry snacks and a no host bar. We all knew this going in and like some of you have said...It's not what is given you, it's what you make of it. Although it would be nice to get a bunch of freebies, it wasn't necessary as the whole purpose was to just have a place where we could all meet and get to know each other.

 

I had pre-written about 12 invitations for the Emerald Staff to attend our M&G. As soon as I got on board I gave them to the Pursor's desk and asked if he would get them delivered...I was knocked out of my sandals the next day at our M&G, everyone showed up. The Captain, Staff Captain, Cruise Director, Maitre'd, Head Chef, Personal Services Director, and several others...Wow! This made our M&G a tremendous success...

 

I threw in a few games to break the ice and a gift exchange of something representing the area you came from ($10.00 max.) and everyone walked away very happy and with a lot of new friends.

 

Everytime you would see one of the staff on the rest of the cruise, they would always recognize you and say hello to you by name. I like that...

 

Personnaly, I don't need the free drinks and finger foods...I just appreciate the space that is provided to us and the opportunity to meet new friends. The staff on board really appreciates the Cruise Critic groups as we are a sizeable group.

 

Smooth sailing everyone and Happy New Year.

 

Brian.

[serene56]

Like Carnival, Princess does offer packages but you have to pay for them per person.

 

Not everyone drinks so the 12.00 per hour charge seems to be a bit steep for some people.

 

I have worked with Colleen for our upcoming get together- She arranged an open bar in skywalkers for 3pm our first sea day

[Cruisin' Chick]

It seems to depend on the CD for your ship. A few years ago, right before our Island Princess cruise, another roll call had reported that the CD set something up for them. So I asked for the CD's email, and he replied that he would set something up for us on the way to Hawaii and on the way back.

 

I never did see something in the Patters on the way to Hawaii (we had set up two M&G's on our own) so I left a message for the CD. A short time later, I found a note from him under my door with the date and time for a M&G with no explanation of the missed one. I wrote up notes for each person on our roll call, except for the one that I didn't have the cabin # of. There was a notice in the Patters for a Cruise Critic meet for "registered members" of CC. A member of the CD's staff brought a bottle of champagne for us.

 

I would suggest coming up with your own arrangements for a meet, afternoon on a sea day seems the best (avoid meal times). People can bring their own drinks and snacks (you can always go to the Horizon and make a plate of goodies to take with for the group). See if you can collect cabin numbers (you can email one member of the group) so if you set up another meeting, you can contact those who missed the first one.

 

See if the CD will help you. If not, you can set something up as I detailed above. Or do both.