FE Exchange organization - Help!

[jeni37]

How does one go about organizing an FE Exchange for their cruise? There is some interest in doing one on our Aug. 17 Med. cruise, but I don't know how to organize one. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

How does one go about organizing an FE Exchange for their cruise? There is some interest in doing one on our Aug. 17 Med. cruise, but I don't know how to organize one. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!

Generally someone will volunteer to be the person who organizes the list (names/room #s/number & ages of people) and maintain it. You also should select a cutoff date that you will accept participants to sign up by (giving everyone time to get their gifts together).

Then, usually the group will have some sort of DISmeet immediately once onboard the ship to get the room numbers for those people who either didn't get their numbers in time to get it to the list or who upgraded at the port to different rooms. Sometimes the organizer will have a write on/wipe off board posted at their room for any corrections for others to see.

 

[Mackie Mouse]

A good suggestion for how to keep all the information organized is to use Google Docs - you can create a form there that directly puts information into a spreadsheet. Once complete, the spreadsheet can be privately shared with members of the exchange.

As organizer of our group in a few weeks, some other things to keep in mind are when you might want to cut off the group or split it into two groups numbers-wise - we cut off joining at 25 cabins and also had a cut-off date. Once we reached that date, I contacted everyone signed up and confirmed that they still wanted in, as some people join but won't be active in discussion.

I agree that having a meet-up during the first day on board is important in terms of making changes and confirming everything.

Best of luck - it's a fun time!

 

[wcw57]

the hardest thing, I believe (based on my experience), is to get people over to the cruise meet thread.....

there will be those who participate actively on the planning and those who don't

set a firm cut-off date...try to ask for input but go with what u think is best...remember, you need time to organize the correct amount of gifts

is it just kids or, as some do, adults too?

is there an age cut-off?

when people jump in last minute (post cut-off date) consider opening a second list....who needs to go to 50 cabins while on vacation?

and make sure you get the right cabin numbers....we had one person give a non-existent cabin number! Don't know if it was a hoax or they were just stupid

as your cruise approaches, feel free to alert shipmates via the main cruise threads that the deadline for the FE exchange is approaching. Don't clog up the board...I used just 2 notices...after that, oh well.......

anyhow, that's my two cents and, since I just came back from the sweaty gym, my two scents as well!

btw, a cruise meet is interesting but hardly necessary. Chances are you will never see these people again and they won't be your lifelong buddies, even if you share things on Facebook and "like" each other. Use your precious time wisely and spend it with the family.......

 

[Mackie Mouse]

btw, a cruise meet is interesting but hardly necessary. Chances are you will never see these people again and they won't be your lifelong buddies, even if you share things on Facebook and "like" each other. Use your precious time wisely and spend it with the family.......

I think this advice really depends on the individual group/cruise. On our last cruise, I could take or leave most of our group; no one really saw or hung out with each other much. On this cruise, we've all gotten along fabulously well and have a very active group going on Facebook. A number of us have linked up our dining, and a few families have children the same age who have been e-mailing/writing back and forth as pen pals for a year. Our cruise meet this time is probably going to be just wonderful - a meeting of friends who can finally get together in person for the first time. It's helpful to just have the stuff organized and see how the group gels together.