What has happened to Cruise Critic?

[HokiePoq]

On 1/29/2019 at 2:29 PM, VTcruisenut said:

Many things, IMHO

1) Cruisecritic website is no longer easy to navigate, those members who aren't as computer savvy find it challenging.

2) There are other websites with cruise info/pages i.e. Facebook and they are active

3) New members to the site don't even know what a Roll Call is!

4) Too many snarky remarks/replies to innocent questions from new members.  So they just stop asking.  Stop reading and eventually stop logging in to CruiseCritic.  I know I have referred people here and get the response:  "I went on there once and asked a question and someone snapped at me and treated me like I was an idiot"

5) Too much information all in one place!  if you are cruising Holland America, you want that info, Princess, you want that info, etc.  

6) Cruisecritic comes across as a stuffy, "lets show each other up"  website.............not friendly. 

You are so right.  Not CC but I went today to TA to find hotel info for Sydney.   I searched first and found a current thread that was helpful.   Sure enough a very nasty person had posted the why don't you search first comment.   i was glad to find a recent posting of the same question I was going to ask.   The nasty one pretty much put an end to the thread and the OP and I never got much of an answer.

[kazu]

18 minutes ago, CancunKris said:

 

We couldn't find a roll call for our cruise leaving in 59 days either.  When is your cruise? We are leaving March 31st for Spring Break on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

  

I checked and don’t see one on a quick look so here’s my tip....

 

Someone needs to START the roll call to get things rolling.  Just go to the roll calls on the main board to roll calls, choose Holland America and then N Amsterdam and start a new thread.

 

There’s probably people waiting for someone to start it.

[Jareds_mommytoo]

4 hours ago, CancunKris said:

 

We couldn't find a roll call for our cruise leaving in 59 days either.  When is your cruise? We are leaving March 31st for Spring Break on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

We are leaving March 24

i did start a roll call, but only one other family has joined. 

[SFO Peter]

Niew Amsterdam March 31 Roll Call is there...   

use the graphic below as a guide.

 

[Fouremco]

10 hours ago, SFO PETER said:

Niew Amsterdam March 31 Roll Call is there...   

use the graphic below as a guide.

According to the website, there's no current roll call for the March 24 or March 31 sailings:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/rollcalls/?cruise_line_id=21&ship_id=541

[SFO Peter]

32 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

According to the website, there's no current roll call for the March 24 or March 31 sailings:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/rollcalls/?cruise_line_id=21&ship_id=541

 

March 24 Roll Call.   I do not use find.   I could have sworn I saw March 31 but 31 doesn't seem to be there now.  Why don't I put the link here?  practice, practice.   I believe in self empowerment.

 

Edited February 1, 2019 by SFO PETER

[Stakeout]

as with most great sites.. someone comes up with a terrible idea... "let's do an update on the Cruise Critic site"... bammm.. kaboom.. end of that great site.. 'change for the sake of change' is NEVER any good... 'if it ain't broken leave it the heck alone'... just like the 'new' HAL site.. horrendous with excessive graphics which slows down the site to a snail's crawl.. almost worthless from what it used to be..what is with these IT people... always ruining a good thing..

Edited February 1, 2019 by Stakeout

[Turtles06]

5 hours ago, Fouremco said:

According to the website, there's no current roll call for the March 24 or March 31 sailings:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/rollcalls/?cruise_line_id=21&ship_id=541

 March 24 is there (linked below),  but it’s missing the year; it’s right on the first screen of the NA Roll Call forum.  I don’t see one for March 31, but that forum is really cluttered up with non-Roll Call threads.  Hey folks, please just post Roll Calls in the Roll Call forums.  

 

 

[Jareds_mommytoo]

10 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 March 24 is there (linked below),  but it’s missing the year; it’s right on the first screen of the NA Roll Call forum.  I don’t see one for March 31, but that forum is really cluttered up with non-Roll Call threads.  Hey folks, please just post Roll Calls in the Roll Call forums.  

 

 

Yup, that’s the one I said I started and there is only me and one other person lol

So all the ice cream is still mine 😂

Edited February 1, 2019 by Jareds_mommytoo

[ChinaShrek]

If cruisecritic wants to stay relevant and popular then it needs to stay open-minded and welcoming to the opinions of others.   All opinions need to be respected even if you find them repulsive.  No one should be told that they are wrong when it is simply an idea or opinion.  Many new posters are attacked by the "veteran" posters when they are not saying or believing what the "veterans" thinks they should say.  This turns people off.  I will list the following opinions that are vehemently attacked or mocked by "veteran" posters on this forum:

 

1.  Tipping is bad (but what about the poor, downtrodden workers a veteran will quickly post)

2.  Smoking is good (I'll get cancer someone will post)

3.  The food isn't good on HAL (so sail another cruise line many post)

4  My cruise itinerary was changed (why didn't you read your contract?)

5.  HAL has old ships (again, sail another line).

 

The negative, ridiculing comments that permeate the HAL forum is simply awful and unwelcoming.  You can say you disagree with someone or offer an alternate version of reality, but to tell them to sail another cruise line?  To make people feel bad because you find them cheap or they didn't read the contract or whatever the issue is, is not welcoming.  I suggest the veteran posters consider this because they quickly attack others.

 

[CruznFam704]

8 hours ago, Fouremco said:

According to the website, there's no current roll call for the March 24 or March 31 sailings:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/rollcalls/?cruise_line_id=21&ship_id=541

 

Yup. Couldn’t find anything. I also noticed so few people respond to other Holland America roll calls, I didn’t even bother to start one. 

 

The last few cruises we’ve been on had so few people going to the CC gatherings compared to 10-15 years ago. The NCL cruises seem the most busy but still a lot less than before. Our MSC Cruise last October was really sad. The captain n officers were there n the set up was really nice but sadly no one showed up. 

[qoap24]

4 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

If cruisecritic wants to stay relevant and popular then it needs to stay open-minded and welcoming to the opinions of others.   All opinions need to be respected even if you find them repulsive.  No one should be told that they are wrong when it is simply an idea or opinion.  Many new posters are attacked by the "veteran" posters when they are not saying or believing what the "veterans" thinks they should say.  This turns people off.  I will list the following opinions that are vehemently attacked or mocked by "veteran" posters on this forum:

 

I agree with you completely. But I would also like to add the rude responses when someone ask a question, "did you do a search". I know I search all the time, but most of the time everything I find is over 5 years old or has millions of pages to go through. I do not have time for that. 

 

Also, not sure if anyone else has posted this on this thread, but today when on HAL site under my booking, I noticed that there was a link to join my roll call. Guess what. Thank link did not bring me here. But instead to FB. 

 

 

[DaveOKC]

I stumbled on something yesterday and perhaps it explains the roll call poor performance (at least in part).

 

I was not logged into CC and the site would not let me enter my roll call board.  I was able to enter the main HAL board however.  So, I logged into CC and then was able to get to the roll call board.  Has anyone else experienced this?  It might explain the weak roll call attendance..

[HokiePoq]

1 hour ago, DaveOKC said:

I stumbled on something yesterday and perhaps it explains the roll call poor performance (at least in part).

 

I was not logged into CC and the site would not let me enter my roll call board.  I was able to enter the main HAL board however.  So, I logged into CC and then was able to get to the roll call board.  Has anyone else experienced this?  It might explain the weak roll call attendance..

Yes.   I don't know if the new CC site is not allowing cookies or whatever my browser used to use to get automatically onto the roll call part of the site.   I am finding a "not allowed" message almost every time I go there and have to log in repeatedly.

[Cruise Suzy]

3 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

I stumbled on something yesterday and perhaps it explains the roll call poor performance (at least in part).

 

I was not logged into CC and the site would not let me enter my roll call board.  I was able to enter the main HAL board however.  So, I logged into CC and then was able to get to the roll call board.  Has anyone else experienced this?  It might explain the weak roll call attendance..

 

It was that way for me before the new CC. However, since the new CC I have not had to login - the CC Website remembers I was logged in. I am using a computer rather than a tablet or phone.

 

For those who access CC via a phone, I can see how not having an app would lead to fewer views/posts here. That may account for the decline as well as the emergence of social media sites.

 

[Cruise Suzy]

10 hours ago, qoap24 said:

Also, not sure if anyone else has posted this on this thread, but today when on HAL site under my booking, I noticed that there was a link to join my roll call. Guess what. Thank link did not bring me here. But instead to FB. 

 

 

Ergo a decline in CC usage, especially by new cruisers.

[RuthC]

5 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

I stumbled on something yesterday and perhaps it explains the roll call poor performance (at least in part).

 

I was not logged into CC and the site would not let me enter my roll call board.  I was able to enter the main HAL board however.  So, I logged into CC and then was able to get to the roll call board.  Has anyone else experienced this?  It might explain the weak roll call attendance..

CC has been that way since I joined long ago. That was three versions of the site ago! I have never been able to so much as read only in the Roll Call forums unless I was logged in.
Under the old versions I was able to read most forums (with the site keeping track of what I read) when I was not signed in. The new version does not do that.

[MarKandi]

We are on a 28 day S.Pacific jaunt on the Eurodam on Mar9 and have over 96PAGES with over 100 on the roll call. 

The last M&G we had over 100 Cc’ers was somewhat of a cluster.

Our last 28day from San Diego to Lima only had approx 10-15 CC’ers at the M&G.

Quite the difference.

Edited February 2, 2019 by MarKandi

[DaveOKC]

1 hour ago, RuthC said:

CC has been that way since I joined long ago. That was three versions of the site ago! I have never been able to so much as read only in the Roll Call forums unless I was logged in.
Under the old versions I was able to read most forums (with the site keeping track of what I read) when I was not signed in. The new version does not do that.

Just to be clear, if I was not logged into CC, I could not enter the roll call forums, not even to read only.

[Cruising-along]

For the last couple days I have to log in every time I want to post or read roll calls.  I never had to before, and we used to have an option to "stay logged in".  I can't find that now that I need it.  

[canadianbear]

21 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

Just to be clear, if I was not logged into CC, I could not enter the roll call forums, not even to read only.

Maybe that encourages people to log in if they even want to read the roll call forums-keeps looky-loos away?! 

[canadianbear]

6 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

For the last couple days I have to log in every time I want to post or read roll calls.  I never had to before, and we used to have an option to "stay logged in".  I can't find that now that I need it.  

I have been frustrated the last few days always getting logged off too-annoying.   For awhile it would keep me logged in but not the past several days.  

 

 

[POA1]

6 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

For the last couple days I have to log in every time I want to post or read roll calls.  I never had to before, and we used to have an option to "stay logged in".  I can't find that now that I need it.  

You're supposed to stay logged in without checking any box. However, it does not work and you get logged out often. If you have a complex password, it's a pain in the butt. Especially on a phone keyboard. 

[canadianbear]

13 minutes ago, POA1 said:

You're supposed to stay logged in without checking any box. However, it does not work and you get logged out often. If you have a complex password, it's a pain in the butt. Especially on a phone keyboard. 

Exactly!  I emailed CC help asking about this.  Hope it gets fixed.  

[POA1]

1 minute ago, canadianbear said:

Exactly!  I emailed CC help asking about this.  Hope it gets fixed.  

 

The same thing happens with CC on Tapatalk. Every other forum for which I use Tapatalk works normally. CC is just "special." 🤯