CC article in Palm Beach Post

[sunshine72]

there's a fantastic article in today's Palm Beach Post about the CC roll call threads

 

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/travel/epaper/2005/08/21/a1h_sy2cruise_0821.html

[trubey]

That's a wonderful article! Anyone else care to identify him(her)self? susana.

[csg99]

Excellent article!:D

[sail7seas]

Fun to read. Sounds like they all had a great time.

[Oceanwench]

Thanks for posting the link, Sunshine! :)

Do you live in Palm Beach County or in the South Florida area?

 

Just curious as to how you came across this!

[sunshine72]

Thanks for posting the link, Sunshine! :)

Do you live in Palm Beach County or in the South Florida area?

 

Just curious as to how you came across this!

 

A friend who lives in that area emailed the link to me--she knows I'm a CC'er and thought I would enjoy it--and I sure did!:D I knew my fellow CC'ers would also enjoy it!

[dakrewser]

there's a fantastic article in today's Palm Beach Post about the CC roll call threads

 

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/travel/epaper/2005/08/21/a1h_sy2cruise_0821.html

 

Hey, I got a mention in the Post this week, also - in an editorial!

 

-dave

[trubey]

Dave, you've got a lot of stuff on Network World. susana.

[dakrewser]

Dave, you've got a lot of stuff on Network World. susana.

 

I hope so - that's what pays for the cruises! :rolleyes:

[RevNeal]

What an excellent article!!!!!! :)

CC should be happy for the advertisement.

HAL should be happy too. :)

[cindiedee]

And with this great article, we can expect many new CC's to join us! :D

[midgecruiser]

Great article. Thanks for posting.

[HeatherInFlorida]

HAL has been sent the article by little gremlins;) ... so has CC:)

[Host Walt]

What an excellent article!!!!!! :)

CC should be happy for the advertisement.

HAL should be happy too. :)

 

The article has whipped around all the Hosts already. They are jealous. Doug and I have the honor of hosting the HAL boards and dealing with all you great folks and all the other Hosts can do is hope and dream that someday....,

somehow.....

 

It also answers a frequently asked question...do HAL exec's read Cruise Critic. Here's the answer:

...

One person at the sail-away party needed no introduction. James Deering, hotel manager of the Zuiderdam, arrived in uniform...

 

Deering's reputation as the go-to guy had prompted Morrison to call Holland America headquarters in Seattle to extend an invitation to the party. But the hotel manager said he had known about the festivities and planned to attend long before Morrison's call. Turns out he's an avid reader of CruiseCritic.

 

"There's good feedback," he explained. "Every time the ship gets a good review, I send it to the department heads."

 

Holland America Lines President and Chief Executive Officer Stein Kruse also reads the message boards daily, Deering said.

 

"It's the busiest cruise-related site on the Internet," Deering said. "You just have to sort out the crazy (posts) from the sane."

 

As he spoke to the guests at the sail-away party, Deering jotted notes on a small pad, recording names, comments and cabin numbers. Later in the week, the Roll Call members received personalized invitations to join Capt. John Scott and Deering at a private cocktail party.

 

....

We had no awareness that this article was being written but we are thrilled at both the article and the great folks we have as members who participated in the Zuiderdam events. It made for a great day today...in fact a great week!

[LauraS]

Everyone at Cruise Critic.....is excited about the article. We're so pleased our HAL forum folks enjoyed themselves on their Zuiderdam cruise, on our ROLL CALL forum and most of all in our community as a whole.

 

Laura & the entire Cruise Critic staff

[Cruising Jake]

"There's good feedback," he explained. "Every time the ship gets a good review, I send it to the department heads."

It isn a great article. But wouldn't you think that Deering would also send the poor reviews to the department heads for improvement?

[TidePrideGA]

"There's good feedback," he explained. "Every time the ship gets a good review, I send it to the department heads."

It isn a great article. But wouldn't you think that Deering would also send the poor reviews to the department heads for improvement?

I thought the same thing, Jake. As a business owner, I know I find negative feedback much more helpful than positive (although I LOVE the positive!).

[Oceanwench]

1. Mr. Deering was not the focus of the story; CC and a specific roll call were.

2. Mr. Deering said there was good feedback. This could include positive and negative comments about the ships.

3. Mr. Deering sends the positive reviews to department heads. Perhaps the negative reviews are looked at a little more closely to determine if the complaints are valid or just someone who is a little too over the top ... remember the "horrific food" thread?

4. Mr. Deering was attending a party hosted by a group of CC'ers. He was gracious and positive in his assessment of CC.

 

If this were a news story on the cruising industry, I am sure there would have been a much more in-depth discussion of feedback from cruisers and how it's handled.

 

But this was a travel feature with a light-hearted look at a bunch of people from all over the country -- and a couple from New Zealand -- who bonded over the Internet via CC and had a wonderful time on their cruise because of it!

[Ziggy7]

I totally agree Oceanwench! The article was about cc'ers meeting and having a good time!

 

I'm sorry everyone but I think we too many times on these boards make to much controversy when it’s really not necessary.

 

Instead of criticizing Mr. Deering, we should be thanking the author for writing a great article and getting it published for many to read and enjoy.

 

So, from me, from my heart, Thank you Author for doing this and caring enough (about this site we all know and love) to get it printed!

[Ziggy7]

Hey, I got a mention in the Post this week, also - in an editorial!

 

-dave

Thats awesome Dave! Congratulations!!!!!

[TidePrideGA]

Instead of criticizing Mr. Deering, we should be thanking the author for writing a great article and getting it published for many to read and enjoy.

 

Did I miss something here?? I've read this thread over several times looking for this criticism of Mr. Deering and I can't find it ANYWHERE! The only reference to Mr. Deering I found was Cruising Jake commented that it is a great article, and went on to suppose that Mr. Deering also uses the poor reviews. I then agreed that a business owner finds as much or more value in "negative" comments as positive ones.

 

Nowhere in that was there a real or implied criticism of Mr. Deering!! In fact, the intent was to compliment him for paying attention to what we, the consumers, are saying and using it to improve the overall quality of HAL!

 

Again, did I miss something??

[Ziggy7]

Did I miss something here?? I've read this thread over several times looking for this criticism of Mr. Deering and I can't find it ANYWHERE! The only reference to Mr. Deering I found was Cruising Jake commented that it is a great article, and went on to suppose that Mr. Deering also uses the poor reviews. I then agreed that a business owner finds as much or more value in "negative" comments as positive ones.

 

Nowhere in that was there a real or implied criticism of Mr. Deering!! In fact, the intent was to compliment him for paying attention to what we, the consumers, are saying and using it to improve the overall quality of HAL!

 

Again, did I miss something??

Tide, I was not speaking of you or Jake, I was just trying to head off the Mr Deering dislikers :) Sorry, I was just being general as to not draw attention :)

[sunshine72]

I am so glad my friend emailed me the link to this story yesterday! I've been "lurking" for some time on CC, mainly because I don't have much to offer on the threads. My husband and I are looking at a HAL cruise for Nov or Dec '06 so I've been trying to learn as much as I can....CC has been SO helpful, and this article just confirmed what I'd been reading on the roll call threads--that people really do get to know each other and enjoy meeting in real life onboard the ship!

[HeatherInFlorida]

Did I miss something here??

 

Actually, I think maybe you did, Tide. In Post #18 the suggestion was that Mr. Deering should pay attention to the negatives as well as the positives and the poster wondered why he said he only sent the positive feedback along. So while it's not a nasty criticism, I certainly would view it as critiquing Mr. Deering. In Post #19, I believe you lent your support to that point. Often, things take off from there and the whole thread would become a discussion of how HAL does business.

 

I believe we go off focus to dwell on that. This thread was about the fun of having CC on the front page of the Travel section of a large newspaper. The piece wasn't an advertisement for CC ... it was an article about how much fun it can be to "meet" before a cruise and enjoy each other's company during the cruise.

 

Sometimes we get a little off kilter on here and can stray away into much controversy and it's my personal believe that's not what this thread should be about.

 

It does surprise me, and I agree with TidePride and Csg, that someone would decide to investigate to see who the author of the article was when I specifically said they wished to remain anonymous. However, I will also say that there were several members of CC on that cruise so I would not presume anything.

[TidePrideGA]

Actually, I think maybe you did, Tide. In Post #18 the suggestion was that Mr. Deering should pay attention to the negatives as well as the positives and th poster wondered why he said he only sent the positive feedback along. So while it's not a nasty criticism, I certainly would view it as critiquing Mr. Deering. In Post #19, I believe you lent your support to that point.

 

Not at all, Heather. I did not take Jake's point to be that Mr. Deering ignores negative feedback, so I didn't agree with *that* point, I agreed with what I perceived as Jake's supposition that Mr. Deering also uses the negative feedback. While I can't state for certain Jake's intent, I can state for certain my own - and, again, there was no real or implied criticism for Mr. Deering. I have been very suprised at where this thread has gone.

It would seem to me that this thread turned negative through the reactions to Jake's and my comment - not through the comments themselves.

 

I also find it interesting that these comments were perceived as Jake and I not enjoying the article or finding it wonderful. While Jake specifically stated that it was a great article and I did not, I certainly thoroughly enjoyed reading it and greatly appreciate the author's perspective!