Are there perks to doing Lives?

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

Just curious…Is Virgin offering anything to the people posting Live content? What’s the benefit to spending your whole cruise posting on here? Seems excessive…

Edited February 12 by WatermelonSugarHigh

[Jamesv281117]

I had thought the same actually as I can see they're increasing in numbers!

[WanderingBrit]

You get a little decoration on your CC avatar, and that’s the extent of the perks 😁

 

There’s no obligation to read anything you don’t find interesting.

[CruisingWalter]

Nope, no perks. People have been posting "Live From" across every cruise line since I joined CC. 

[jon81uk]

2 hours ago, WanderingBrit said:

You get a little decoration on your CC avatar, and that’s the extent of the perks 😁

 

There’s no obligation to read anything you don’t find interesting.

Also some get featured on this page https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/ourpicks/

 

I think some people just like the sense of community on these forums.

[AlyssaJames]

9 hours ago, WatermelonSugarHigh said:

Just curious…Is Virgin offering anything to the people posting Live content? What’s the benefit to spending your whole cruise posting on here? Seems excessive…

 

Some people come here to post a liveblog of their trip, some people come to argue. One person's 'excessive' is another's relaxing hobby, I guess.

 

PS, people have been posting 'live' trip reports on Cruise Critic for decades. Virgin Voyages has only been sailing since October 2021. 

Edited February 12 by AlyssaJames

[scubagal44]

Lol no, no perks. Personally I learn so much about a ship/line from reading other people's lives, so I wanted to pay it back on my recent sailing for what was a new itinerary from a new embarkation port as I knew people had questions about it (as I did before sailing). Not everything in life has to have a benefit to myself for me to want to do it...

[Sherry84]

No perks, just thought it would be fun 😊

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

4 hours ago, WanderingBrit said:

You get a little decoration on your CC avatar, and that’s the extent of the perks 😁

There’s no obligation to read anything you don’t find interesting.

 

There is no need to read into this and feel obligated to make it snarky.  

 

Blogging every minute of a trip, editing photos of drinks and food, and uploading is very time consuming and takes a lot of time away from the actual activity being done.  I was just curious if there’s any perks or benefit for the blogger. TikTok influencers get a lot of money for doing it. Disney sends influencers on lavish trips. Do Cruise lines do anything? 

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

4 hours ago, Jamesv281117 said:

I had thought the same actually as I can see they're increasing in numbers!

I have a few pics from my 10 day trip and ate and drank a lot of the same food in the same places but the photos look nothing like the ones on here 😂  

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

19 minutes ago, scubagal44 said:

Lol no, no perks. Personally I learn so much about a ship/line from reading other people's lives, so I wanted to pay it back on my recent sailing for what was a new itinerary from a new embarkation port as I knew people had questions about it (as I did before sailing). Not everything in life has to have a benefit to myself for me to want to do it...

I wasn’t referring to yours.  I enjoyed reading it 😉

[Megan_Strick]

10 hours ago, WatermelonSugarHigh said:

Just curious…Is Virgin offering anything to the people posting Live content? What’s the benefit to spending your whole cruise posting on here? Seems excessive…

No benefit except for the fact that they enjoy doing them and we enjoy reading them.

[CineGraphic]

Everyone clearly has different opinions, and I appreciate it when people take the time to share their experiences. Keep those lives coming!

[scubagal44]

22 minutes ago, WatermelonSugarHigh said:

 

There is no need to read into this and feel obligated to make it snarky.  

 

Blogging every minute of a trip, editing photos of drinks and food, and uploading is very time consuming and takes a lot of time away from the actual activity being done.  I was just curious if there’s any perks or benefit for the blogger. TikTok influencers get a lot of money for doing it. Disney sends influencers on lavish trips. Do Cruise lines do anything? 

 

Surprisingly (to me, too), it wasn't as much of a time suck as I expected it to be 😂 and in actuality, it's just easier to do it a la minute  rather than a bigger catch up summary at the end of the day. The extent of my photo editing was to crop out background noise if needed or when I remembered to, which took at most 5 seconds, come to CC that was already open on my phone which took another 5 seconds, add a narrative and insert photo(s) which took maybe 20 seconds, and hit submit reply. I'm not counting the time of actually taking the photos because I would have done that anyway, live blog or no. So, for the most part, usually only 30-40 seconds taken away from the actual activity being done. 

 

For posts that were longer or more of a summary/recap of an event or whatever, I would work on the actual post in a notes app on my phone during dead time like waiting in line for a show, sitting and waiting for the show to start, waiting for a drink, waiting for hubby, etc, so after a few of those dead spaces where nothing was happening anyway, the post was done and I just had to copy & paste. Easy! 

 

I do know that some cruise lines will comp actual influencers their cruise in exchange for their "work," and I've actually seen this in one case with VV, but I'd say the vast majority of us on CC are just regular people who pay for our sailings and just share for fun. 

Edited February 12 by scubagal44

[AlyssaJames]

22 minutes ago, WatermelonSugarHigh said:

Blogging every minute of a trip, editing photos of drinks and food, and uploading is very time consuming and takes a lot of time away from the actual activity being done.  I was just curious if there’s any perks or benefit for the blogger.

 

Yes, everyone understands that you're asking if people are being paid to pretend to like Virgin Voyages. 

Again, 'live cruise blogs' have been happening since before social media and influencers. People have spent WAY more time in the past, considering that they would take the time to process photos and upload them over what used to be extremely bad onboard wifi. So yes, people do it without any material benefit to themselves.
 

Do 'influencer' perks exists? Sure. But trip reports are their own thing, and the people who really enjoy writing them tend to really enjoy cruises and travel anyway. 

[jon81uk]

57 minutes ago, WatermelonSugarHigh said:

Disney sends influencers on lavish trips. Do Cruise lines do anything? 

Yes many influencers do get free cruises and similar, but they are usually on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube, not CruiseCritic forum.

[1025cruise]

When I do a Live, it's because I want to share my experiences with everyone so that someone else reading it can form their own opinion. If I don't do it "Live", I'll forget to include something. But, I'm not doing pictures or anything. Just a quick statement about my day.

I specifically chose to do a Live on my Virgin cruise because it was the first time I was on VV, and because they do things very differently. I wanted to be able to let people do their own comparisons.

[Steelers0854]

On 2/12/2024 at 10:55 AM, WatermelonSugarHigh said:

 

There is no need to read into this and feel obligated to make it snarky.  

 

Blogging every minute of a trip, editing photos of drinks and food, and uploading is very time consuming and takes a lot of time away from the actual activity being done.  I was just curious if there’s any perks or benefit for the blogger. TikTok influencers get a lot of money for doing it. Disney sends influencers on lavish trips. Do Cruise lines do anything? 

I think it’s actually a totally legitimate question and perspective. As one who does Live froms on my trips I’ll offer my perspective. 
 

whether I posted them online or not I would still do what I do. Essentially journaling each day. I do it for a reference for when we come back to a ship, port, excursion etc. I have a place to go to see what we liked and what we didn’t. What we would do again or would avoid. What would eat again or avoid. What I’ve already eaten so I can try something different. Or if it was the best thing I’ve ever eaten get it again. 
 

the posting part takes me all of 5 minutes, so it doesn’t take up a lot of my day. But I take a different approach. I’m not posting everything as it happens. Generally I hop on a couple of times in a day and post what I’ve already written. Sometimes it’s just once a day. 
 

I also do it because my wife has pretty significant food allergies. So I post her experience to help others that may have a similar issue or concern and give them some comfort as most cruiselines are exceptional at handling them, but some better than others. 
 

plus you learn a lot of what you want to do and avoid reading these and I hope my stuff helps others with those decisions. It’s like doing research for an upcoming trip. Plus I just honestly enjoy it. If I didn’t I wouldn’t do it. 
 

in fact I’m posting this from the Valiant Lady sitting in a comfy chair listening to great music with an umbrella drink in my hand and I couldn’t be happier. 😎
 

forgot to mention, I don’t get a single thing except paying it forward for those that also have chosen to do this on their vacation and I have used as a learning tool for planning my next trip. 

Edited February 13 by Steelers0854

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

On 2/12/2024 at 10:16 AM, scubagal44 said:

 

Surprisingly (to me, too), it wasn't as much of a time suck as I expected it to be 😂 and in actuality, it's just easier to do it a la minute  rather than a bigger catch up summary at the end of the day. The extent of my photo editing was to crop out background noise if needed or when I remembered to, which took at most 5 seconds, come to CC that was already open on my phone which took another 5 seconds, add a narrative and insert photo(s) which took maybe 20 seconds, and hit submit reply. I'm not counting the time of actually taking the photos because I would have done that anyway, live blog or no. So, for the most part, usually only 30-40 seconds taken away from the actual activity being done. 

 

For posts that were longer or more of a summary/recap of an event or whatever, I would work on the actual post in a notes app on my phone during dead time like waiting in line for a show, sitting and waiting for the show to start, waiting for a drink, waiting for hubby, etc, so after a few of those dead spaces where nothing was happening anyway, the post was done and I just had to copy & paste. Easy! 

 

I do know that some cruise lines will comp actual influencers their cruise in exchange for their "work," and I've actually seen this in one case with VV, but I'd say the vast majority of us on CC are just regular people who pay for our sailings and just share for fun. 

Your Live was great.  I loved the detail and you really did a lot of fun things I had no idea were available! 😊

[LouChamp]

Aloha. Most people I find enjoy sharing their experiences and photos with fellow CCs. Have been blessed to sail worldwide since the 1970s and that said still learn and love reading experiences and looking at food pictures. I have noticed however that their are paid influencers on several boards which try to hide the fact that they are sailing for free or at reduced rates. Some also are travel agents who fail to disclose such. Unfortunately I find lack of transparency to provide false information such as found on hotel sites and food sites. It is what it is so I ignore the posts and move on. All the best!