Expanded River Cruise Forum Needed

[captainmcd]

It seems like each river cruise line should have their own forum, just like the ocean cruise lines. Further, the roll calls need expanded, if not by boat at least by company. I posted a new thread on the river roll call for my next cruise, and it fell off page one in only five days. On an ocean cruise it takes months for your thread to fall off the front page.

[Cary Cruiser]

I am fairly new to this forum. Can someone explain to me what the intended purpose of the Roll Call thread is.

 

Thanks in advance.

[webfoot]

The separate forum for each cruise company was tried and there were more complaints than approvals. We each may have our own favorite company but many of the questions asked are often relevant to all cruisers. You may notice on the Roll Call forum topics cover many cruise lines.

 

Pat

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[cruiseryyc]

It seems like each river cruise line should have their own forum, just like the ocean cruise lines. Further, the roll calls need expanded, if not by boat at least by company. I posted a new thread on the river roll call for my next cruise, and it fell off page one in only five days. On an ocean cruise it takes months for your thread to fall off the front page.

 

I agree, it's too time consuming to search through all the posts looking for the cruise line you want (and the search engine doesn't really work that well).

[captainmcd]

I am fairly new to this forum. Can someone explain to me what the intended purpose of the Roll Call thread is.

 

Thanks in advance.

Hello and welcome to the forums. If you want general information about a particular company you will find it on the general forums, and for river cruising it is not divided into separate companies, all of them are on the same page.

 

Roll calls are joined after you book a particular ship on a particular voyage. On the roll calls you can learn about other passengers you will be sailing with, and often begin a friendship before the cruise. I have found the roll calls useful in booking shore excursions and tours at various ports of call, and get a group of 4 to 8 people who can travel together and save money and have a better experience than if you would book the trip through the cruise company.

[franski]

Hello and welcome to the forums. If you want general information about a particular company you will find it on the general forums, and for river cruising it is not divided into separate companies, all of them are on the same page.

 

Roll calls are joined after you book a particular ship on a particular voyage. On the roll calls you can learn about other passengers you will be sailing with, and often begin a friendship before the cruise. I have found the roll calls useful in booking shore excursions and tours at various ports of call, and get a group of 4 to 8 people who can travel together and save money and have a better experience than if you would book the trip through the cruise company.

 

However, it is very rare on river cruises to find other passengers on your sailing. Have actually found one other couple on our cruise next June in France.... But this is very unusual.

 

The most traffic on the roll call forum is for generic roll calls such as " All Russian River Cruises" or "All Christmas Markets 2013".

 

Fran

[ingo_e]

I actually vote for the other way around: Delete the "Ports - Europe" Subsection. There is no logical distinction between the main forum and its subsection: General questions on Cruiselines / Europe in both forums. Or maintain it better and move topics actively :)

[tassietravellers]

I actually vote for the other way around: Delete the "Ports - Europe" Subsection. There is no logical distinction between the main forum and its subsection: General questions on Cruiselines / Europe in both forums. Or maintain it better and move topics actively :)

 

 

I agree, I think there should be just the main River Cruising Section and Roll Calls, from postings on there its obvious that alot of people are confused about what the Ports - Europe section is for.

 

With Roll Calls I think there should be just a separate forum for each cruise line...or for each River, because it isnt often that you find other passengers on a particular sailing.

[steamboats]

As said before, there were sub forums for various river cruise lines and we didn´t like it. I agree that maybe sub forums for the river cruise lines in the roll call section may make sense.

 

The main reason we opted against different sub forums was because many questions are not cruise line specific like on ocean cruise. Most of the questions are general like "which cruise line..." or destination specific like "where do ships dock in...".

 

steamboats

[H2Otstr]

I agree, I think there should be just the main River Cruising Section and Roll Calls, from postings on there its obvious that alot of people are confused about what the Ports - Europe section is for.

 

I agree. There are general questions that are on the Ports thread which should be on the general River Cruise thread.

 

Also, I think some people think the the River Cruise Thread is a heading and that Roll Calls is under that heading. :rolleyes:.

[captainmcd]

As said before, there were sub forums for various river cruise lines and we didn´t like it. I agree that maybe sub forums for the river cruise lines in the roll call section may make sense.

 

The main reason we opted against different sub forums was because many questions are not cruise line specific like on ocean cruise. Most of the questions are general like "which cruise line..." or destination specific like "where do ships dock in...".

 

steamboats

 

Yes, I see the logic. I still think that the River Cruising forum and the River Cruising Roll Calls are confusing. I can see the logic in keeping all threads together for the general forum, or possibly sub-dividing it into various destinations. As for roll calls, now that many river boats are larger and have more passengers, the likelyhood of finding another person or people on your sailing increases. I think that on the roll calls a division by cruise line would be helpful. Few people go back very many pages to find someone on their cruise or even their itinerary.

[ingo_e]

As for roll calls, now that many river boats are larger and have more passengers, the likelyhood of finding another person or people on your sailing increases.

 

Umm, not really: The "old" ships range around 120-160 PAX, some of the "new" are around 180-190 PAX.

[Nan-L]

Not all cruise lines are the same as also with river cruise lines. So have wine/beer at no cost others do not, the ships are different so you may be trying to find out about a specific ship..and as others have said the search tools is sometimes useless!!

I agree there should be specific forums for each line so you can find info about that specific line instead of going through pages of stuff to find something about the line you need the info for.

That being said I also feel there should be a non-specific forum for traveling on the rivers, so people can get general info.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I agree ...

[ingo_e]

I agree there should be specific forums for each line so you can find info about that specific line instead of going through pages of stuff to find something about the line you need the info for.

 

CC split up the board last year, guess what happened: No one was happy with it, as it will get harder to find the information they are looking for.

 

For example, someone will post a topics like "Should I travel with Cruiseline X or Z" in the Subsection for "X". Someone will provide a very interesting detail on Cruiseline Z. Now you are just interested in Cruiseline Z, therefore ignore the Subsection of X and never get the info. Or let's say Cruiseline Z sells one of its ships, X buys. X and Z share their ships over the season and you are looking for ship reviews.. You can easily generate a lot of cases like this.

 

Furthermore we had issues with the selected criteria: Some cruise lines had their boards, others did not. Where do you draw the line? Do you really want to see 20+ categories, or just for those who have their own ships? Which still means 15+ sub boards. Just for those who have more than 5 ships, 10 itineraries? How about those cruiselines who just charter on demand, but have no own fleet? Hard to draw the line, and there will be always some fan boy complaining.

 

If the forum should be rearranged, I would rather like to see it like this:

- Main River Cruise Forum

- - Roll Calls as a sub section (To be honest, I did not even knew about it's existence as I navigate to the 191 subforum right away..)

- - River Cruises outside of Europe

 

but please, no more experiments with cruise line categories..

 

Just keep in mind, a forum is a great piece of software for rolling communication, but was never designed for static information and research.

 

my 2 cents,

Ingo

[Host Jazzbeau]

I like the combined River Cruising approach, for the reasons given by several posters.

 

The Roll Calls are problematic -- not so much because the various cruise lines are combined, but because there is no uniformity to the titles.

 

I wish CC would use drop-down menus for Roll Call titles, so that all would clearly indicate the Cruise Line, Ship, and Date, in the same format and same order.

 

This would also make searching easier.

[cruisingmad]

I wish CC would use drop-down menus for Roll Call titles, so that all would clearly indicate the Cruise Line, Ship, and Date, in the same format and same order.

 

This would also make searching easier.

 

I second the motion! Not only for "river cruises", but also "ocean cruises". Great idea!

 

 

Sergio

[captainmcd]

I like the combined River Cruising approach, for the reasons given by several posters.

 

The Roll Calls are problematic -- not so much because the various cruise lines are combined, but because there is no uniformity to the titles.

 

I wish CC would use drop-down menus for Roll Call titles, so that all would clearly indicate the Cruise Line, Ship, and Date, in the same format and same order.

 

This would also make searching easier.

 

The River Cruise Roll Calls are nearly useless in the present format, where a posting gets pushed off page one in a few days. I agree that for roll calls, both rivers and oceans, having a form and format for a new thread would be a big help. I know there is a sticky at the top recommending a format, but few people follow it. I am aware that there are many who do not want change, and if it is not broke, don't fix it. The river cruising roll call IMHO is broken and needs fixing. It is true that you probably will not find many peope on your particular river cruise, but as boats are getting larger, and cruise critic members more numerous, the odds are increasing. In the all other lines roll call I found fellow cruisers on the Aranui 3 which carries only 120 passengers to the Marquesas.

[cruisingmad]

I know there is a sticky at the top recommending a format, but few people follow it.

 

Do people really read the "stickys"? :D Rare birds, I bet.... :eek:

 

 

Sergio

[cole]

Yes, I see the logic. I still think that the River Cruising forum and the River Cruising Roll Calls are confusing. I can see the logic in keeping all threads together for the general forum, or possibly sub-dividing it into various destinations. As for roll calls, now that many river boats are larger and have more passengers, the likelyhood of finding another person or people on your sailing increases. I think that on the roll calls a division by cruise line would be helpful. Few people go back very many pages to find someone on their cruise or even their itinerary.

 

Another vote for the change, especially the Roll Call. But I would even go so far as divide the general discussion board by cruise line like the big ships. If I want to know something about the other big ship cruise lines, it is easy to pop over to that heading and do a search. River cruising has become so popular and there are so many new ships that it might be worthwhile to try a new approach.

B. Cole

[abredt]

I prefer the current format for the River Cruising Forum.

 

I like to see all of the lines postings for a river. I get information on ports and activities.

cb

[captainmcd]

I prefer the current format for the River Cruising Forum.

 

I like to see all of the lines postings for a river. I get information on ports and activities.

cb

I think that this forum is OK, but the roll call forum is not OK. Postings fall off of page 1 in less than one week. Since most roll calls have low activity, it should take a month or more of no activity to fall off page one. I can see no reason that the river roll call forum should not be divided into cruise lines.