OT: Does anyone know of good discussion boards for other cruise lines?

[saladdays]

Obviously this is off-topic, but I was wondering what other discussion boards are good for other cruise lines besides DCL and RCCL? Planning to do a different line this year because both of those don't fit in our schedule.

I apologize if this is inappropriate in some way, but I didn't know where I could ask this on these boards.

 

[starvenger]

CruiseCritic is pretty informative. I would start there.

 

[saladdays]

Okay. I will start there. Thanks!

 

[starvenger]

Not a problem.

Word of warning: some people on the board can be hard on newbies. Ignore them - most people there seem to be good folk, and I'm pretty sure that more than a few of us lurk/post on there (I stick mostly to the Royal area).

 

[saladdays]

Thanks for the heads up.

As you can tell from the amount of posts I have on here and the time that I've been a member, I do a lot of lurking myself.

 

[Canadian Disney Mom]

Another vote for Cruise Critic! But ignore the cranky folks!

 

[perditax]

You should register if you join cruise critic, but mostly so you can start an ignore list right away.

Also keep in mind they have a lot of byzantine rules designed to prevent anyone from booking a cruise without using that website's portals/links. You're not even allowed to say "Costco", and you're not allowed to send private messages to other members, because they're so terrified people will share the names of travel agents or travel sites with each other.

They also regularly delete or lock threads that are too critical of the cruise industry.

ALL THIS SAID ...

Sadly, they got there first, so they are still the most active cruise discussion site out there.

 

[KashasMom]

The upside of Cruise Critic is that there is so much great information and a lot of reviews are more balanced than what you find here about DCL. The Roll Calls are also great - meeting fellow cruisers before your cruise and the opportunity to join private excursions. I use it for information - and avoid the threads about smoking, what people are wearing in the dining room, etc.

 

[NewYorkcruiser]

Agreed! Cruise Critic, but ignore the cranky pants. You'll have regular posters who get easily annoyed by newbies asking the same questions over and over. Nobody is going to look back through 565,248 prior posts to see if their question was already answered. If they don't like it, maybe they should get off the boards for little while instead of watching every new post that comes by.

 

[bumbershoot]

They also regularly delete or lock threads that are too critical of the cruise industry.

I have been on cc since 2001ish and have never seen that.

Nobody is going to look back through 565,248 prior posts to see if their question was already answered.

Many people could, however, look on the first page of questions to see that their question had been asked three times that day.

I personally am a fan of googling the basic words of what I'm figuring out plus the term cruisecritic and I generally get the answer quickly. Same with dis questions.

 

[perditax]

I have been on cc since 2001ish and have never seen that.

Seriously? I've only been on there a couple of years and I've seen it happen countless times, particularly on the NCL forums. They will either be deleted outright, or locked so they sink to the bottom. Trust and believe. They'll let people snipe at each other about smoking and dress codes ad nauseum, though.

 

[perditax]

Agreed! Cruise Critic, but ignore the cranky pants. You'll have regular posters who get easily annoyed by newbies asking the same questions over and over. Nobody is going to look back through 565,248 prior posts to see if their question was already answered. If they don't like it, maybe they should get off the boards for little while instead of watching every new post that comes by.

I insta-ignore anyone who whines about frequently asked questions, or who posts the all-too-common response:

"Why on earth are you even posting this here? Why don't you call the cruise line?"

(A lot of people on CC don't understand that people post questions on forums like this one to learn about people's real-world experiences, as opposed to a scripted call-center answer.)

 

[cleophus12]

CruiseCritic is not only great for getting information about ships and cruise lines, but their ports of call threads are also very informative. i use them religiously.

 

[msjprincess]

I have been on cc since 2001ish and have never seen that.



Many people could, however, look on the first page of questions to see that their question had been asked three times that day.

I personally am a fan of googling the basic words of what I'm figuring out plus the term cruisecritic and I generally get the answer quickly. Same with dis questions.

Me neither, maybe it varies by board. I've hardly seen any locked or deleted posts on the RCI boar. Except for the last few days because the same guy keeps starting threads about the same thing over and over. If it happened on some other boards he would have been banned by now.

 

[angelinaxox]

Me neither, maybe it varies by board. I've hardly seen any locked or deleted posts on the RCI boar. Except for the last few days because the same guy keeps starting threads about the same thing over and over. If it happened on some other boards he would have been banned by now.

I have seen his threads too, but it doesn't bother me as he really wants more channel selections on the television which I would be okay with. I don't spend much time in the room, but when I am in the room it would be nice not to come back to the exact same things over and over.

I prefer to just read on CC and rarely post because it seems no matter what someone posts, someone at some point will come along with a snarky reply. So I just try to garner as much info by reading the threads.

 

[msjprincess]

I have seen his threads too, but it doesn't bother me as he really wants more channel selections on the television which I would be okay with. I don't spend much time in the room, but when I am in the room it would be nice not to come back to the exact same things over and over.

I prefer to just read on CC and rarely post because it seems no matter what someone posts, someone at some point will come along with a snarky reply. So I just try to garner as much info by reading the threads.

I don't care either, but when the same topic keeps getting closed it's time to move on.

 

[nkereina]

Check Facebook for groups too. I recently joined a FB group for Oasis of the Seas specifically and it has nearly 7,000 members. I get answers to my questions within minutes!

 

[cruiser21]

I''ve been on cc for years. The port of call section is priceless. If it hadn't been for the port of call forum I would have wasted thousands over the years on ship excursions. People can be a little snarky over there, but on the plus side people don't get offended over ever little thing like they do over here. I found that out after just a few posts on these boards.