Can we get a single new forum for parking, transfers, and flights?

[tallnthensome]

Is it possible to get one forum dedicated to questions regarding port parking, flights, and transfers? I'm not talking about the individual port of call forums, but one big one that people might read and help people with? It seems to me that the specific cruise line forums are being bombarded every day with people posting questions about flights, parking at ports, car rentals, transfers, etc that have nothing to do  with NCL, Carnival, Royal ........ These posts push people's threads and questions that are placed properly down the page or even to the next page. The moderators don't seem to move these types of off forum posts to the proper forum. The cruise line forums are being filled with random questions and turning them into a hodgepodge of various crap ....... If I want to read about NCL questions I have to sort through all the posts that have nothing to do with NCL to do so ...... Can we get a new forum or at least have the mods start moving these off topic posts where they belong please? 

[Essiesmom]

Have you visited the North American Homeports board?  Divided into East Coast Departures, Florida Departures, Gulf Coast...West Coast...  The main purpose of these boards is helping people with hotels, transfers, etc.  These boards can handle air too, although there is also a cruise air board.  Questions about  ports outside of North America would belong in the Ports of Call boards.  If you see a post that is too generic for the board you are reading, just report it by using the Report Post option in the upper right of the original thread.  Your cursor has to be in the box to see it.  Mods can't read every thread every day, we have to bring some things to their attention.  EM

Edited May 12, 2019 by Essiesmom

[tallnthensome]

1 minute ago, Essiesmom said:

Have you visited the North American Homeports board?  Divided into East Coast Departures, Florida Departures, Gulf Coast...West Coast...  The main purpose of these boards is helping people with hotels, transfers, etc.  These boards can handle air too, although there is also a cruise air board.  If you see a post that is too generic for the board you are reading, just report it by using the Report Post option in the upper right of the original thread.  Your cursor has to be in the box to see it.  Mods can't read every thread every day, we have to bring some things to their attention.  EM

Yes, like I said ..... a forum that is not divided into individual ports of call as I mentioned in my first post. Seems like nobody wants to navigate all the way through the tabs to get there or there isn't enough activity when these types of questions are broken up into individual ports ....... One big board would create more activity and participation and clean up the forums. Just my opinion ...... 

[Essiesmom]

Seems to me what you are asking for is what North American Homeports was before they divided it up.  Seems like that would create even more chaos and frustration than you currently are experiencing.  The frustrations within the cruise line forums is created by people who finally make it further down the page from Ask a Cruise Question to their cruise line forum, but never explore further down to find all the great resources available here.  EM

[thinfool]

14 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

Yes, like I said ..... a forum that is not divided into individual ports of call as I mentioned in my first post. Seems like nobody wants to navigate all the way through the tabs to get there or there isn't enough activity when these types of questions are broken up into individual ports ....... One big board would create more activity and participation and clean up the forums. Just my opinion ...... 

After the last update the mods actually did move many OT comments to the correct forum...and they still do.  It is a daunting task and the mods are volunteers.

What I am saying is that the proposal that you are making already exists...tho not exactly as you describe it...still it is there.

Your way might work, but I still cannot see what would keep people from making OT posts and others picking it up and commenting on it.  Seems like an endless circle.

[Turtles06]

1 hour ago, tallnthensome said:

It seems to me that the specific cruise line forums are being bombarded every day with people posting questions about flights, parking at ports, car rentals, transfers, etc that have nothing to do  with NCL, Carnival, Royal ........ These posts push people's threads and questions that are placed properly down the page or even to the next page. The moderators don't seem to move these types of off forum posts to the proper forum. The cruise line forums are being filled with random questions and turning them into a hodgepodge of various crap .

 

I agree that there are far too many OT posts in the cruise line forums.  When I see those, I report them to the mods and suggest the appropriate forum to which they should be moved.   As others have said, the mods are volunteers, so we should help them out when we can by reporting the OT posts.   

 

Given how many people have very little idea of how to use these message boards and pay no attention to where they are posting, I doubt that the creation of yet another forum would be free of those problems.  And I think it would become too unwieldy for people who need info about parking, flights, etc. in, say, New York/NJ, to be mixed in with folks seeking the same info, for example, about Southampton, UK.  I think it's most useful for those questions to be posted in the specific Ports of Call forums, where they will get the attention of those most familiar with those ports.

 

I really wish there were some way that Cruise Critic could effectively educate its members about how to use the message boards.   A quick tutorial sent to every new member (and, right now, existing members) asking them to browse through the various forums to see what is where before they start posting, to be careful about posting in the correct forums, explaining that the cruise line forums are only for posts related to the cruise line itself (and not ports, etc. just because one happens to be sailing there on that cruise line), etc. etc.   Maybe I'll suggest that in an email.  

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, tallnthensome said:

Yes, like I said ..... a forum that is not divided into individual ports of call as I mentioned in my first post. Seems like nobody wants to navigate all the way through the tabs to get there or there isn't enough activity when these types of questions are broken up into individual ports ....... One big board would create more activity and participation and clean up the forums. Just my opinion ...... 

 

It won’t clean up the forums because the same people will continue to post off topic in the wrong forum even with one big board. There is a percentage here of users who just won’t bother to learn the right place or don’t care. Some even say they know it is the wrong board but claim they tried on the correct board and did not get an answer. But if you go to that board they are fibbing. They did not ask there. 

Edited May 12, 2019 by Charles4515

[Essiesmom]

I think most new members are in too much of a hurry to read the Welcome email, or the guidelines...and some very longtime members with few posts have forgot everything the once knew.  EM

[tallnthensome]

Everyone has made good points. Maybe we have too many forums. I do agree that many posters are In a hurry and don’t bother to read the posting rules or suggestions. 

[LauraS]

Stopping by to let you know that I've read through the suggestions.  No doubt that "off topic" posts should be moved; sometimes you see them before they ARE moved 🙂

 

Our Homeports area is divided into *what we believe* are logical forums to assist you in finding what you are looking for.  We also have to think about those members who spend a great deal of time answering questions -- increasing the number of forums isn't always the answer for those folks.   I would suggest that many "newbies" don't have any idea how varied our community is -- and don't realize we have specific areas for topics such as parking, arrivals, etc.  We do try to educate in our welcome email -- but maybe we can spotlight a few areas from time to time to better highlight the depth of information you all share!

 

I'll look a bit closer into the Homeports area.

 

Laura