Jump to content

Have a Minute To Help Us Out? We're Redesigning Our Ship Review Page!


LauraS

Recommended Posts

Excellent and very helpful! Definitely, more pictures of various places features of the ship would be good. And, if possible, when you click on a picture to see a larger view there should be a larger picture if available.

 

I personally do not care what fonts you use (as long as they are easy to read) or if the latest whiz-bang web design features are used. I do not expect to be entertained by the web design like a bored, jaded teenager. What is important to me is being able to find useful information about an unfamiliar ship easily and in one place. I feel you have done that well.

 

Overall, great work. Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with most posts here, bigger pics. Also, I would like to see the demographics of the ship under ship name....such as date of entry to service, last dry dock, passenger size, crew ratio and have it to the left of the screen not as links to another page. I notice things on the left before links and info that are in a column to the right. Most of us read left to right and it's just natural for the eyes to go to that area first.

 

Put the ads at the end. Very distracting in their present locations.

 

Other than that I like it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } I agree with many of the other comments. Some of these could be satisfied by being more specific than “Read more about Celebrity Millenium.” There should be a link on the Review page to Member Reviews.

 

I would like to see both your rating of each category AND member rating, in two different colors.

 

Perhaps there could be links to such things as floor plans, sample menus, etc.

 

It would be to include what has changed for those who have sailed the ship before.

 

Under entertainment, it would be nice to include the other entertainment around the ship, such as the string group, a capella quartet, etc. (I have not sailed on the Millie, but have enjoyed these on the Summit and Equinox.)

 

 

Thanks for asking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Laura.. In ALL honesty, I search the boards for reviews WITH pictures. I will read the Ship Review page every once in awhile to see the different opinions... but its current photos of a ship combined with information that gets most of my time. I really dont even look in the pictures section... I tried, but I didnt find it to be very user friendly for me.. Otherwise....I LOVE THIS BOARD!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Laura, On serveral pages you have a link for the Meet & Mingle. I was under the impression that for RCL ships it was called Royal Caribbean Meet and Mingle and on Celebrity ships the party is called the Celebrity Connections Party. Am I correct or am I miss informed?

 

Thanks for asking for our opinions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the new look and design and have one suggestion. When I clicked on "Family and Children" it brought me to that link but I did notice a few paragraphs down information on "fellow passengers", "dress codes" and "gratitudes." These are the topics that I am interested in reading about. It would be nice if you can also include a link, to this information, on the cover page.

 

As for the advertisements, I don't care for them either (just like the commericals on TV) but I do realize that with out these sponsors we wouldn't have this great "free" chat room so I am more than willing to put up with them.

 

Thanks and keep up the good work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Details about the cruise lines current policies should be on the ship page or at least on the cruise line page.

 

For example what beverages are offered for no extra charge.

What drink packages are available.

What restaurants are no extra charge.

Details about hours of operation for room service, buffets, any extra charges.

 

What is the carry one policy. Any limits to alcohol, wine, fans, etc....

 

Clear indications of costs for spa and gym services such as saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs....

 

Notes on public area restrictions such as "private" cabanas, reserved lounge chair areas, reserved seating in showrooms....

 

The more info the better for Cruise Critic. The boards can discuss the details but the site itself will have alot of value of taking all the info and putting it in a standard format for the users.

 

Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would like to have the member reviews subdivided so that if I click on "Family and Children", I will see the chunks of member reviews that address this subheading. Often, it's very difficult to even find a review by someone who travelled with children on a particular vessel. Other parts of reviews, such as entertainment, could be similarly chunked. Reading about the cruisecritic review often gives a sterile opinion of what is available on a certain ship. The member reviews tell how well executed the amenities are. It's the execution that I'm interested in when I read the reviews.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree that the page is blah to look at and the review should start much closer to the top of the page. I would like specific information to the width of the doors and the height of threshholds and bath entries. I travel with a mobility scooter and really appreciate accessibility information.

I would love for cruise critic to publish menus with their reviews.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As with all of the other responses I could not agree more, pictures ! The old saying, " a picture is worth a thousand words" is applicable. The tiny thumbnail 'stock' photos and links don't do justice. Post more cabin and panoramic photos of the public areas to emphasize the theme and offerings of each ship. Having this directly on the site rather than linked would complete CC as the undisputed, one and only, site for cruise info.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The biggest complaint I have is the reviews, both members and CC review didn't have any dates attached to them!

 

iwhm9v.jpg

 

The second thing is the lack of pictures in the review. The content of the review is not in question but because of the 1990's style and colors most people will just scroll right past a lot of the valuable content.

 

"It's an amazing experience..."



The use of various styles and colors also draws people's interest into reading the article as well. The home page of CC is more interesting than the review page.

 

Overall I would say (super critical)

  1. More pictures


  2. Less white space


  3. More use of colors


 

See how the white space next to the picture is boring - wrap around text works better

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You asked: If you were sailing on Celebrity Millennium, do we have everything you need to make a decision about the ship?

Answer: I think it is difficult to design something that will make everyone happy, but it looks as if you have done a good general outline. I usually rely on individual reviews to see if there is a pattern of complaints about things that are important to me, for example, are there many complaints about lax enforcement of "no smoking" areas on board?

 

Question: What other information would you like to see on the page?

Answer: I would not expect this review to answer everyone's questions, but having links to pages where I can get answers to questions like "Where is my room in relation to other areas of the ship?" is very good.

 

Questions: Is there too much of something on the page? Too little?

What about the colors? Do you like them? Any suggestions?

If there were one single thing you could change on the page, what would it be?

Answer: I'm looking at this page on my old MacBook using Safari as a browser and it looks fine. Thanks for asking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Laura,

 

Thank you for asking for our comments.

 

My comments are on presentation not content. To me the page seems ordinary and I find nothing that immediately catches my eye.

 

Overall I would like to see a little more color and a larger difference in the size of the fonts. As an example could the "Overall Rating" and "Member Rating" title text be a slightly larger font and a different color than the "Blue Ribbon" icons which are themselves "blue".

 

I also would prefer seeing the ratings up next to the ship photo.

 

Thank you Cruise Critic for making this information available.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just a couple of suggestions as you have provided a lot of subjective comments and specific information.

 

Knowing the size of the staterooms is a plus.

 

Knowing how many electrical outlets in a cabin are available for my use would be very helpful to me (I'm now packing an outlet extender because of those ships that only have one available electrical outlet in their staterooms).

 

Knowing the size of the safe would be helpful ... or knowing if there is no safe.

 

Info on laundry services - self service or otherwise - does have an impact on us choosing a ship for a long cruise.

 

Info on loyalty programs would be appreciated, but just a link to them would probably be just as good.

 

Subjective comments in a review are hard to evaluate as what is "pretty" to the reviewer may not be "pretty" at all to me. Probably a lot of people will disagree with me but I would try to leave out subjective comments and only make objective or factual comments.

 

Doug

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly, the CC review means little to me. I don't pay much attention to it. I learn far more about the "real" experiences on a ship by reading the member reviews.

 

This! :)

 

To be honest I don't even read the CC ship reviews/infomercials any more because they contain very little objective information on which to base my choice of cruise. Sorry, but you did ask!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Basically I think you cover the needed information very well :)with one VERY important exception.

It's 2010 and still no way to see what the ship's smoking regulations are.

The wonderful list you put out several years ago for most of the lines is now outdated. It is very difficult to see which lines are suitable for those who don't want smoke in their faces or on their balconies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello. Thanks for the opportunity to give input to your site. I actually use the ship review pages quite a bit when I am comparing cruise options. So, I use them for several weeks at a time, and then, after I book something, I don't use them again for a while. The biggest problem I have is that I have trouble finding the link labeled "Read Celebrity Millennium Review" that is located right above the yellow bar. I think I have trouble finding it because there is too much clutter right underneath it. And, because my browser window tends to end right where the second yellow line is, I often don't realize that I can scroll down beyond that second line and find the other link to the reviews. So, I often get trapped on this page wanting to view the reviews but not able to find the link to do so (until I remember how). Also, I'm not sure I even need any of the links in the second grouping (the one with the deck plans). I'm primarily looking for the info in the third section. I want to know the ribbon rating and see the reviews. Thanks for considering these thoughts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I too have an issue with the placement of the ads. When I first look at the page, I can't tell that it is for a review since most of what I see is ad. I have to scroll to get to the actual review portion...and like some others said, the ads seem to scattered all over too...it seems distracting....just off to one side would be better...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...