Has Carnival ever had anything like "Meet and Mingle?"

[Mr.Clean]

On our RCCL cruises, the ship sponsored a Cruise Critic "Meeting and Mingle" party for those on the Cruise Critic Roll Call. It is normally held on the afternoon of the first at sea day, and attended by the cruise director. It's usually in one of the clubs and lasts about 30 min or so. On the Voyager cruise, we even won a drawing for a drink card for 10 free drinks! Unfortunately, on later cruises, the prizes were downgraded to mere trinkets, but that was not the point. Having a preplanned, organized party for the roll call members has always been one of the highlights of our cruises. Everyone is given a name tag to put his or her CC Board board name on, so it's like a reunion of sorts. Has Carnival ever done anything like this in the past? How can we get them to start?

[LHP]

On our RCCL cruises, the ship sponsored a Cruise Critic "Meeting and Mingle" party for those on the Cruise Critic Roll Call. It is normally held on the afternoon of the first at sea day, and attended by the cruise director. It's usually in one of the clubs and lasts about 30 min or so. On the Voyager cruise, we even won a drawing for a drink card for 10 free drinks! Unfortunately, on later cruises, the prizes were downgraded to mere trinkets, but that was not the point. Having a preplanned, organized party for the roll call members has always been one of the highlights of our cruises. Everyone is given a name tag to put his or her CC Board board name on, so it's like a reunion of sorts. Has Carnival ever done anything like this in the past? How can we get them to start?

 

RCCL And Cruise Critic have a business arrangement to do this.

 

We have them on every cruise on Carnival....we simply arrange them ourselves.

 

It is very easy. You just go to your ROLL CALL (for your particular cruise) and "pick a time and place".

 

For example:

 

3:00pm at the Piano Bar

[buddyjo143]

On our NCL cruise last year a meet and greet was arranged by one of the roll call members. We had a private dining room on Saturday morning with coffee and danish. The cruise director and other staff came in and answered questions. It was fun.

[sixgun8]

if you get in on an OFFICIAL cc cruise then you will more than likely have an official meet n mingle on your cruise.

[luckycruzer]

there werr 36 CCers.. seemd RCL dropped the ball.. for the "official" M&G.. took 3 ppl at the pursers desk to get one to check on it. DUUUH..no one sent the proper fax, or made a call..etc..so here are 36 ppl with 36 small Xmas gifts ..Was told.."just give them to anybody"..this was even b4 we left port..neve had any satisfaction, or heard another word, after a fax was sent..oh, according to purser, once set sail..no fax transmission is possibe to Miami!..bigger DUUUH. I still have 36 gifts!

[dixieva]

We've always had a M & M on RCCL if we have at least 25 people. Did you guys all go to the official site to register for a M & M on your cruise? That's all we've ever had to do and once we reach 25 registered we all get an e-mail that we will have a party. They also have a site that you can go and check to see if the party is scheduled. Once on board the time and place is in the daily paper plus we all get invitations in our room.

 

Very strange that your party did not happen.

[WendyVF]

Somebody from our roll call is organizing one (Glory April 11th). I don't know how to do it but I'm sure someone can chime in. You get a lounge for an hour or two with dry snacks and open bar. I think you need a minimum of 20 and it's $20 pp.

[CruzVinnieCruz]

We did a meet and greet on our last Freedom cruise. It did not cost us anything but Carnival let us use one of the bars for it and provided a bar tender. Of course we bought our own drinks. I don't know if there is a minimum number of passengers, we had around fifty there.

 

Here is an e-mail address for Carnival to request a M&G:

 

meetandgreet@carnival.com

[Cathy p]

We have events planned on our Dream catcher cruise. It is normally set up by one or two people that are fantastic. Here is a list of stuff we will be doing:

 

 

1. sail away party! Directly after Muster Drill

2. meet and greet First Sea Day 10 am

3. PJ/Robe party!

4. Slot Pull Last Sea Day 10 am Be sure to sign up

5. scavenger hunt (week long) get the list at the meet and greet!

6. cabin crawl (limited participation only) Last Sea Day 1pm be sure to sign up. host room or viewer

7. Door decorating contest judging directly after meet and greet first sea day

8. Pub crawl/poker run First Sea day 2 pm be sure to sign up

9. Roatan. Fins and flippers, be sure and sign up

10. SUPRISE EVENT!!!! (week long) starts at the meet and greet!! takes all week!

11. Supper Club last Sea Day 6:00 pm Be sure to sign up

12. Friendship Celebration, Last night of the cruise Last event in the week long surprise event!! Prizes Prizes and more Prizes!!

__________________

 

We have a super group and can't wait for this one. Enjoy your cruise whatever you all do.

[MyImagination]

We did a meet and greet on our last Freedom cruise. It did not cost us anything but Carnival let us use one of the bars for it and provided a bar tender. Of course we bought our own drinks. I don't know if there is a minimum number of passengers, we had around fifty there.

 

Here is an e-mail address for Carnival to request a M&G:

 

meetandgreet@carnival.com

 

Did they pick the day/time for the M&G or were you allowed to make suggestions for the time your group wanted?

[LHP]

Did they pick the day/time for the M&G or were you allowed to make suggestions for the time your group wanted?

 

We did this on the Splendor as well. I was not involved in the planning, but I do know that it will have to take place during the day when these areas are not in public use.

 

Since ours was in the Piano Bar, we also hired the piano bar player to play for an hour. It was $50.00.

 

You can make them as simple or as complicated as you want....depending on how much work someone wants to put into it.

 

We have had everything from meeting by the pizza at 3pm to the Piano Bar party with entertainment.

 

The sky is the limit...if someone is willing to organize it!!

[CruzVinnieCruz]

Did they pick the day/time for the M&G or were you allowed to make suggestions for the time your group wanted?

 

We included the date and time we wanted in the e-mail. Carnival came back with what times were available for that day and the locations. I think the time we picked was 30 minutes earlier then what we requested.

[momofzeke]

I've gone to both ~ M&G arranged by Carnival and M&G arranged by ourselves on our Roll Call.

 

Arranged by Carnival:

 

We each paid about $12 ($11.44 I think) to have unlimited drinks and dry snacks for one hour in a lounge. This was March 2008 on the Valor. Carnival set up the day and time. They brought drinks around on trays, like at the Captain's Party, or we could order from the bar. There were about 50 of us.

 

Arranged by Roll Call:

 

The Aft pool bar is a good place for a M&G. We've always had two set up.....one on embarkation day after Muster Drill, and another on the first sea day at the main pool at a certain time.

 

It's a good idea to have 2 set up in case someone can't make it to one or the other.

[astropilot]

For our upcoming Carnival Miracle cruise we have organized a Meet and Greet that will be held on the first sea day, at pool/bar on Lido deck AFT. This was set up by members of our roll call.

 

To help recognize each other as members of the roll call we have designed name tags for each member. These were upload so that each member could download and print them.

 

To date we have about 70 CC members and their families that are planning to attend. If everyone shows up, we will be quite a group :).

[lettienets]

I've gone to both ~ M&G arranged by Carnival and M&G arranged by ourselves on our Roll Call.

Arranged by Carnival:

We each paid about $12 ($11.44 I think) to have unlimited drinks and dry snacks for one hour in a lounge. This was March 2008 on the Valor. Carnival set up the day and time. They brought drinks around on trays, like at the Captain's Party, or we could order from the bar. There were about 50 of us.....

When did you pay the $12 and how did you go about working this out the meet and greet with carnival? (On Holland America the meet and greets are free with drinks and canapes and are attended by the cruise director or ship officer/s)

[momofzeke]

When did you pay the $12 and how did you go about working this out the meet and greet with carnival? (On Holland America the meet and greets are free with drinks and canapes and are attended by the cruise director or ship officer/s)

 

One of the ladies on our Roll Call took it upon herself to set this up. I believe she contacted the wedding department at Carnival to arrange it.

 

SHE had to pay the money to Carnival before we sailed. We were to pay her at the party. I would advise that it would be better to have people send the money to the organizer ahead of time. Some of the people who said they would be at the party (and that she had paid for out of her own money) did not show up. A bunch of us gave her extra so she wouldn't have to suffer the loss alone. But she spent the whole party going around collecting money and did not get to enjoy herself.

 

Personally, I think the M&G that you set up yourself on your Roll Call is just as fun. We had 3 on the Valor ~ 2 we set up on our own and the 1 we did through Carnival. The problem with the one through Carnival is that they kick you out of the lounge on the dot of one hour......we were having such fun we didn't want to leave! Some of us did move the party to another location, but we lost quite a few in transition.

 

The food you get is just dry snacks, like pretzels and snack mix. No Cruise Director or officers attended our party.

[lettienets]

[quote name=momofzeke;18170348...

SHE had to pay the money to Carnival before we sailed. We were to pay her at the party. I would advise that it would be better to have people send the money to the organizer ahead of time. Some of the people who said they would be at the party (and that she had paid for out of her own money) did not show up. A bunch of us gave her extra so she wouldn't have to suffer the loss alone. But she spent the whole party going around collecting money and did not get to enjoy herself.

 

Personally' date=' I think the M&G that you set up yourself on your Roll Call is just as fun. We had 3 on the Valor ~ 2 we set up on our own and the 1 we did through Carnival. The problem with the one through Carnival is that they kick you out of the lounge on the dot of one hour......we were having such fun we didn't want to leave! Some of us did move the party to another location, but we lost quite a few in transition.

 

The food you get is just dry snacks, like pretzels and snack mix. No Cruise Director or officers attended our party.[/quote]

If that is the case, I think we will just give a time and a place and people can pay for their own drinks. On Holland America it is so wonderful of the ship to provide the meet and greet snacks and drinks. It gives everybody a nice feeling for the company. In Jan we had 58 at one and another 98 on the second 10 day segment.

[lettienets]

Oops, my message didn't come out right. I think we will do are own meet and greet. I think it was wonderful on my Jan cruise, Holland America provides drinks and canapes. It makes you think well of the company. We had 58 at the first party and 78 in the second 10 day segment.

[mom2girls]

We did this on last year's sailing on the Legend. It was even listed in the capers. I just posted the info on John Heald's blog. They contacted me to get all the information, and it was set up.

[13point1]

Oops, my message didn't come out right. I think we will do are own meet and greet. I think it was wonderful on my Jan cruise, Holland America provides drinks and canapes. It makes you think well of the company. We had 58 at the first party and 78 in the second 10 day segment.

 

Those perks are nice, but in the end everyone has to pay for them in higher fares. Carnival does a great job of giving people a great product at reasonable price.

[lettienets]

Those perks are nice, but in the end everyone has to pay for them in higher fares. Carnival does a great job of giving people a great product at reasonable price.

Actually, you are right, it has to come from somewhere. I think I will try what the previous person suggested and go through John Heald,s blog for info.