What is "roll call" on Cruise Critic?
 

Can somebody please explain what is it?

I am not registered, I do read reviews, but is roll call only for meeting on the ship (one or more?) and it will be meeting a bunch of people I don't know, same as reception for return guests?

What is it I'm missing here?

Yes, the roll call kind of operates like a GTG - people meet up and make plans with others who will be on the cruise.

Depending on the cruise line, if there are enough people on the roll call, the ship will sponsor some kind of reception sometime in the first few days of the cruise and sometimes there will also be something special, like a bridge tour.

The roll call also can get people together for booking private tours in port.

The roll calls usually start way in advance of the sailing and by the time of the cruise, the regulars on the roll call have been chatting with each other for some time. Sounds like a good way to "meet" people in advance of your cruise if you're interested in doing so.

It is a chance to meet people on the exact same cruise that you are going to be on and exchange ideas... and with a bit of luck hook up for private tours. On our last cruise there were well over 4000 posts which is considered quite a bit and met some really nice people.As a matter of fact we got together in Barcelona for a light supper. We had such a large group that NCL put on a special dinner for us and when 84 of us decided to go to the Italian restaurant one night they closed it and offered us a special menu.. On the other hand. on a Princess cruise in april I met some of the most obnoxious cruisers and refused to have anything to do with them. Im hoping that I can find an active roll call for our Holyland tour on Celebrity next October..

Dayenu - Roll call is more or less to exchange ideas, talk about tours etc etc. You can be a member and participate in roll call without having to get together once on board. We use it all the time for getting a group to share shore excursions. It is really invaluable and you don't have to get involved socially if you don't want to. Basically we have saved so much money on tours by joining up with others. You can ask any question and someone will have the answer. I wouldn't cruise again without checking in on roll call.

Dayenu - I have to add that we have also met some great people through the roll call forum at CC. If you enjoy private tours it's one of the best ways to get people to share the cost with you. Love CC!

Oh, so it's something like one of the large GTGs here on Fodor's - people meet before or after dinner, go places together. Now I understand, thank you, all!

Dayenu - do register @ CC & sign up on the rollcall thread before your next cruise...it is invaluable for us to-it-yourselfers re port excursions. Many cruisers have been to the ports before & not only have valuable advice but you save moeny by sharing cabs ashore.

Our best Roll Call meet & greet was on NCL' old, tiny Majesty.(It was sold to Louis Cruises last month.) It was a 14 day repositioning cruise starting in Philidelphia and ending in Charleston, SC. NCL gave us a lounge to meet in the 1st day at sea at 10:30AM. They had coffee & tea and two ship's officers came and spoke to us. We had about 25 couples.
From this meet & greet: 12 of us booked our own private sunset snorkeling cruise in Aruba, on night another 13 of us all ate together in the dining room, 6 of us got a cab to tour Nassau and every night before dinner a bunch of us met for a drink. All this plus just spending time togehter on the ship. And, a lot of us are still in contact! Thru other meet & greets we've gotten together for tours in ports,etc.
But have also has meet & greets we could never find or just about no one showed up!
Signing up for the Roll Call is VERY safe, you address is not sold or turned over to anyone.

"Signing up for the Roll Call is VERY safe, you address is not sold or turned over to anyone."

Does this mean, I have to give my home address to sign up for a roll call?

Or you mean the cabin number?

No its just like this forum. You give them an email address and a user name. YOu don't have to give them any other info if you don't want to.

We've cruised with some very nice people through C.C. roll calls, arranged to be table mates, and went on private excursions together.

Since then, we have planned further cruises together.

Woody

I signed up w/CC, and was able to open the "meet & greet" thread - there are 91 attendees already! Will report back after January 18.

A funny thought: is it like a temporary union? :))

Well, for my cruise 01/10 Norwegian Jewel there is a small cozy group of only 107 people. Yes, one hundred and seven. Hmmm... only to shake everyone's hand will take the whole lunch hour :-p

Faina, I am in a roll call group for my Crown Princess cruise to the British Isles next August. It is very friendly and active. We have transfers to our ship, and private tours booked at almost every port, grabbing the best guides early. We even helped each other by buying tickets to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. (We will be there during the Edinburgh festival. A couple participants have created a wonderful excel spreadsheet with all the information. My last cruise to Mexico we had a nice group from Roll Call of about 12 that got together several times during the cruise. I find roll call informative, enjoyable and safe. I am glad you joined :)

On a 21 day repositioning last year the CC Roll Call was very helpful. We took part in prearranged kitchen tour, book club and a movie night in the Pinnacle Suite about the book, dinner group meet up, a cabin crawl (not like a pub crawl) rather organized visit to every category of room - helps if you plan a future booking, and more.. Fabulous ... my next cruise leaving in 62 days has little to no activity - 3 members only. Not nearly as exciting ...

We joined a roll call for a Celebrity cruise in 2011. We made friends with a whole group of diverse people. We ate together, did some excursions together, and stayed in touch.

November 2015, a group of about 14 of the original cruisers sailed together again in a reunion cruise. Complete with the Tee shirt!

Next up, November of this year, about 20 scheduled to sail together. It is so much fun to find someone you know during bar stops, bingo games, etc. We are not together 24/7, but it is a really fun experience.

We have our own Facebook group now, and talk about all kinds of things not related to cruising.

It is a fabulous way to meet others on your cruise.
Someone usually starts a Meet & Greet on board where
the senior officers come to the meeting with the cruise
director introducing them & the captain speaks.
Ship has coffee/tea and pastries for the meeting.

And those that want to share cabs for the ports
rather than the ships excursions can finalize the
details here.

We have often participated in Roll Calls and pretty much everything said above seems typical. On our most recent cruise which was a trans-Atlantic on the "Anthem" someone organized a slot pull as well as a "cabin crawl" which participants enjoyed a great deal. Lots of fun and I just enrolled in the NCL call for the "Getaway" cruise out of Miami this coming September.

An old post, but the comments are still true.

Like Dukey, our Roll Call group organized a “slot pull” and “cabin crawl”. They also organized a galley tour – and on one ship, the head chef led us through the galley, and all the highways and byways and made it a fantastic tour.

One advantage of attending the Roll Call is that many of the ships officers show up to say hello. On one, we had been having a small problem with something in the room and called for assistance. We were told it was reported to maintenance and they will get to it “soon.” So when the head of hotels (or whatever his title was) asked if there were any problems, we briefly mentioned that we were just waiting for maintenance. Within an hour, our problem was fixed.