Cruise Critic Connections Party like Celebrity on HAL?

[sondrad]

I've sailed with HAL and Celebrity (each once). The one thing I really liked about Celebrity was that they hosted a Cruise Critic Connections Party the first or second day on the ship. It was a simple meet-and-greet to connect with everyone on roll call. Does HAL do anything like this? If not, they should (hint, hint).

[cle1]

Yes HAL does this and on some cruises on some ships does it much better than Celebrity. On our last Prinsendam cruise we were served Bloody Mary's, and Mimosas, along with the usual pastries, Juices, coffee, and Tea. Also, 2 of the ship's officers came to talk and welcome us.

What someone on the roll call board for your particular cruise needs to do, is contact HAL's

Coordinator, Onboard Event Services....1-877-885-4259, and let them know what you want to do. But first, find out from the roll call how many are interested in getting together. IMHO, if it is less than 12, you can make arrangements to meet on our own.

Carol

[Krazy Kruizers]

On some of the Roll Calls I have read where HAL neeeds to know all the information at least 1 month in advance. I don't know if that is true for all sailings.

[gizmo]

You can never tell what Hal is going to do. Sometimes it is coffee and cookies and other times they do it right with adult beverages.

 

I have never figured this out. It should be consistent.

[kryos]

I've sailed with HAL and Celebrity (each once). The one thing I really liked about Celebrity was that they hosted a Cruise Critic Connections Party the first or second day on the ship. It was a simple meet-and-greet to connect with everyone on roll call. Does HAL do anything like this? If not, they should (hint, hint).

Not formally, but if you have a large roll call group you can contact Seattle and they will generally help you set up a meet and greet. Also, HAL monitors these boards and I think that if they see you've got a nice-sized group, they will be sure to send some staff members to your Meet & Greet to say hello.

 

At least that's been my general experience. On my last cruise (35-days) we actually had two get-togethers ... both attended by HAL staff ... and both very, very nice.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

You can never tell what Hal is going to do. Sometimes it is coffee and cookies and other times they do it right with adult beverages.

 

I have never figured this out. It should be consistent.

I think it depends on the size of the group. If it's very small, HAL generally will not provide much more than coffee or tea. But, if you have a nice sized group sailing, they will provide more.

 

I've been on some meet & greets where champagne and wine was provided by HAL. I was on one sailing where we had a very basic meet and greet, with just coffee and tea, but then had a wine and cheese party later on. HAL provided the appetizers, including these wonderful fried cheese balls, and each roll call person brought a bottle of wine from their cabin. HAL also provided personnel to pour the wine and serve the appetizers, and we all antied up for their tip. On my last cruise, we had a couple of meet and greet get-togethers -- one at the beginning of the cruise and one toward the end. HAL provided appetizers, as well as coffee and tea for both. They also had plenty of staff drop by to say hello. I remember on the second meet & greet, we must have had about six staff members there ... including the internet manager, guest relations manager and onboard florist. My lord ... he was certainly nice on the eyes! Man, I would have loved to have him watering my flowers all cruise long. :)

 

Yet, I've been to other Meet & Greets where absolutely nothing was provided other than the CD showing up to answer questions.

 

So, I guess it all depends on the size of the group. There really is no standard.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[sail7seas]

HAL does not run the party, the Roll Call does but HAL usually provides coffee, tea and cookies. A very nice display the way they set it out.

 

Sometimes they go so far as to have hot hors d'ouerves and wine/champagne.

 

Whoever is leader of your Roll Call needs to contact HAL and set up a time and place they can provide and discuss whatever other arrangements.

 

We've been to Meet and Greet where Captain, Hotel Manager, CD, GRM etc all came and other times there were no Officers at all. It depends upon their schedules and demands on their time etc

 

[mafig]

We've only been on two HAL cruises. Both times the Cruise Critic party was excellent.....much better than Celebrity.

 

On Volendam, we had an open bar with appetizers with the Hotel Manager and Cruise Director present. On Eurodam, there was champagne, wine, bloody mary's, appetizers and a chocolate fountain. Much better than coffee/tea and danish that you could get at the buffet (Celebrity).

[ranles]

Will be on HAL/Amsterdam to SA/AA starting 1/24. How do I know if there is a "roll call"?

[richwmn]

Will be on HAL/Amsterdam to SA/AA starting 1/24. How do I know if there is a "roll call"?

 

Looks like this http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=824711 might be your roll call - have fun

 

Rich

[innlady1]

I've sailed with HAL and Celebrity (each once). The one thing I really liked about Celebrity was that they hosted a Cruise Critic Connections Party the first or second day on the ship. It was a simple meet-and-greet to connect with everyone on roll call. Does HAL do anything like this? If not, they should (hint, hint).

 

I see you're sailing on the Eurodam, 02/09. Has someone from your roll (assuming you have one) call contacted Ship Services yet? If not, I would suggest that you give it a try but I've been told it needs to be done "as far in advance as possible." And, they like an update a month before sailing.

 

I believe that Arica Hawley is the coordinator for the Eurodam, having moved over from the Noordam. She's very helpful.

 

If it's too late for HAL to do something, you can just do an informal M & G, choosing a time and a location to meet.

[happy cruzer]

I believe RCI has a some kind of agreement with Cruise Critic so that they have the Official Cruise Critic functions. Other functions are arranged by the individual cruises with the cruise service people on the lines that they are cruising on.

 

That's just my understanding.

[Canuck-Ottawa]

On our 1/21 Zaandam sailing to Hawaii, we have only 26 CC members (small according to HAL), so we get coffee, soft drinks and cookies.

Hey, better than nothing...right? And since HAL is arranging it, maybe some crew will show up.

 

I'll post a reply from the ship on Jan.22 (we decided that the 1st sea day would be better than after the muster drill). We even have the 2nd sea day as backup, as it could be rough the first day out of San Diego.

[ViolaSwamp]

HAL did nothing for our CC M&G on our Maasdam cruise. Nothing. I was slightly disappointed, I thought they would kick in something, anything...

[HALFans]

On our 1/21 Zaandam sailing to Hawaii, we have only 26 CC members (small according to HAL), so we get coffee, soft drinks and cookies.

Hey, better than nothing...right? And since HAL is arranging it, maybe some crew will show up.

 

I'll post a reply from the ship on Jan.22 (we decided that the 1st sea day would be better than after the muster drill). We even have the 2nd sea day as backup, as it could be rough the first day out of San Diego.

 

From our experience we agree, the 2nd sea day might be the right choice.

 

We had fewer people show up for our Oosterdam CC Meet & Greet, and HAL provided wine & select coctails along with cookies, and I think - 4 ship's officers including the HM. - and that was just for a 7 day Mexican Riviera.

 

I would think that the Zaandam could do better than coffee for 26 people on a 15 day cruise!

 

Is your group doing a 'Wave'??? I don't know if CC has a Zaandam banner. The Oosterdam has a nice one.

 

Wish we were sailing with you on this one!!! :D

[RuthC]

HAL did nothing for our CC M&G on our Maasdam cruise. Nothing. I was slightly disappointed, I thought they would kick in something, anything...

Was something requested, and the request denied? Or forgotten? Or was nothing requested?

 

I see the meet & greet as an opportunity for CC folks from the Roll-Call to meet each other in person after getting to know each other from the board. Anything more than that is a delightful extra, but not the focus.

My disappointment would come if I were to miss meeting someone I had been looking forward to meeting.

[djhsolara]

I've sailed with HAL and Celebrity (each once). The one thing I really liked about Celebrity was that they hosted a Cruise Critic Connections Party the first or second day on the ship. It was a simple meet-and-greet to connect with everyone on roll call. Does HAL do anything like this? If not, they should (hint, hint).

 

 

On which February sailing of Eurodam will you be sailing? If it is February 7, there is a Meet & Greet planned (I am the coordinator). Please see the Roll Call for details and then you can email me.

 

We attended our M&G on Westerdam last year and had hors d’oeuvres, champagne and pretty much an open bar served and available. As well, we were all placed on a VIP list and were invited to a cocktail party with the captain and a few other events. All I know is that I've never had so much free champagne in my life ;).

 

While coordinating our M&G for our upcoming sailing I have come to find that HAL will provide complimentary coffee, tea, water and cookies. Anything else is at the discretion of the ship. I asked Arica (and BTW she has been a pleasure to work with) if I could contact someone on the ship to talk about their "discretionary" items. She said that if I contact them, I would be charged for the items...but if they just provide it then it is free...so I'm opting for allowing them to provide the complimentary items that they have committed to and if they choose to provide anything else we will just be very grateful.

 

I'm glad for anything...because they really do not need to provide anything...however, if you really think about it, when they are providing the coffee, tea, water and cookies they are really only providing the additional service. All of these items are always available for free for anyone in the Lido anyhow.

 

I'll report back after our sailing to let you know what they did provide...keep your fingers crossed for us and hopefully we will be lucky.

[Canuck-Ottawa]

From our experience we agree, the 2nd sea day might be the right choice.

 

We had fewer people show up for our Oosterdam CC Meet & Greet, and HAL provided wine & select coctails along with cookies, and I think - 4 ship's officers including the HM. - and that was just for a 7 day Mexican Riviera.

 

I would think that the Zaandam could do better than coffee for 26 people on a 15 day cruise!

 

Is your group doing a 'Wave'??? I don't know if CC has a Zaandam banner. The Oosterdam has a nice one.

 

Wish we were sailing with you on this one!!! :D

 

We're getting together at 11:30AM, so none of us really want to get into drinking anything that early in the day. If it was later, we'd probably push for more. We may get ship's officers, etc to show up, but I can't blame them for not commiting in advance. I'd rather they take care of the ship FIRST!

We're not sure if the "Wave" is possible, as many of the CC'ers are arriving the day of sailing, and may not even be onboard at 3PM (could be tight making the muster drill for some of them!). I'll be onboard by Noon, so maybe the webcam can catch one lonely soul waving (and my wife if she'll come).

[JudeeJim]

I think a Meet and Greet would be great and I have agreed to get the information needed from HAL. When I get this I will post the information at the Role Call boards for the Zaandam sailing on March 7 to Hawaii. If you are on this cruise go to the boards and see what information I have from HAL and let me know if you are interested.

 

Judee

[Canuck-Ottawa]

I think a Meet and Greet would be great and I have agreed to get the information needed from HAL. When I get this I will post the information at the Role Call boards for the Zaandam sailing on March 7 to Hawaii. If you are on this cruise go to the boards and see what information I have from HAL and let me know if you are interested.

 

Judee

 

Judee:

The contact at HAL for M&Gs is Jennifer Smith (jsmith3@hollandamerica.com).