Are you more loyal because of CruiseCritic??

[Pettifogger]

I pretty much limit my cruises and my cruise research to HAL and the CC respectively, but I wouldn't call it exactly "loyalty" to either of them. In both cases it's admiration for the way they do business. If either of them suddenly or gradually changed their way of doing business to that of producers of inferior products, I'd start looking for alternatives. My "loyalty" would be limited to giving them the benefit of the doubt as long as possible in recognition of the fact that I have benefited so much from their services.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I agree this is an excellent question and one that I have never seen asked.

To answer you question for me a HUGH YES!!!

I found CC after our first cruise on RCCL in 2002 and was researching to do a 2nd cruise when we chose the Zuiderdam for Spring 2003. In all honesty had I not found Cruise Critic forum and both Tom and I got hooked on posting (Tom lurking and reading) and getting to know so many people I seriously doubt we would be as devoted to HAL or cruising in general.

Cruise Critic has basically kept the fire burning. I feel as much a loyality to HAL as I do to the HAL CC board. I guess that is why I do the "Where's the Fleet' and all the Web Cam Waves. I enjoy the enthusiasm it brings to other posters here.

 

I have found it hard to not bring up CC when I have been going to job interviews :D In interviews they always ask about your personal life and what do you like to do when not working. It is rather hard to explain that you are hooked on a Cruise Chat Forum:o especailly when you do not want them to know that you could be using work time to be posting on a chat board ;) So I am very careful in what I have been saying.

But YES without a doubt I give Cruise Critic a lot of credit for us being so dedicated to HAL and cruising.

[DFD1]

We don't cruise with HAL exclusively. Usually take a cruise on another carrier once a year or so. When we do it is likely because of price or itinerary.

 

We always seem to come back to HAL, not because of Cruise Critic, but because we feel they do a better job of providing the cruise we want, with a great staff and crew, on a ship we like at a price we're happy to pay.

 

As for cruise critic and this particular message board, I keep coming back here because of the tone set here and the civility of the participants (at least, usually).

 

I also find the Cunard board interesting because of the high opinion the experienced Cunard cruisers generally have of themselves. I find their attitudes of superiority fun to watch and read. They take their high-flown positions with just enough humor as to keep it interesting. Perhaps it's a British thing, but whatever, most of the time it is entertaining.

[cruisinjudy]

I started cruising in 1986. I was first on the old AOL Cruise Boards sometime in the nineties. Gave up my AOL and went without until I discovered Cruise critic here in 2001. We took our first HAL cruise in 2002. I think it was because it went out of San Diego. Since then we have gone back and forth between HAL and Celebrity.

 

I like the HAL boards better, but I know more cruisers on Celebrity. That is where I am more likely to find someone I have sailed with before. I don't know why that is. Maybe we just happened to have chosen cruises without many CCers or without many return cruisers.

 

So I don't think I am more loyal to one line because of CC, but I do look for people I have met before on other cruises.

[Charliesmom]

I don't think that Cruise Critic necessarily makes me more loyal to one line or another. In fact, I first learned about Cruise Critic through Celebrity Cruises when I booked a cruise with them. That was our first and last Celebrity cruise. It's not that it was a bad cruise. At the time, I just liked Princess better. And then I ran into a fantastic bargain for a HAL cruise. The great service on that cruise made me more loyal. Also that fantastic bargain introduced me to suites and of course, now I am hooked.

 

What has tied me to HAL more than anything else is a combination of the size of the ships, the service and the fact that my DH LOVES to sit on his aft balcony and watch the wake of the ship.

 

I really do enjoy getting to know folks before the cruise. I have made many wonderful friends on cruises. I hope to continue doing so.

[pipedreams62]

Has A great gang of people.

 

[hammybee]

 

I was first on the old AOL Cruise Boards sometime in the nineties.

 

Me too. It was all about RCL, for the most part, back then. AOL had, at the time, some wild message baords and chat rooms.

[mountainmare]

Actually cruise critic has made me more willing to try different lines--and avoid lines that I don't think would suit me.

Case in point is last Feb we cruised Costa to Egypt. HAL is our favorite line--have tried the some others, but there is the tradition on HAL ships that I always miss.

We would never have tried Costa if it was not for cruise critic. On every board there are always lively compare this cruise line to that discussions where you can ask specific questions and get varied opinions. Bottom line, Costa was the only line going where we wanted to go when we wanted to go--we went with eyes wide open and had a fabulous time.

Now I am loyal to the HAL board and always check in even when we don't have a HAL cruise booked. Now I am counting the days (31) until we board the lovely Oosterdam.

[Sundagger]

I took my first cruise in 2000, on Carnival, to the S. Caribbean. I discovered that I really like cruising, but I was looking for a different atmosphere than on Carnival. I began looking through the various cruising boards online and gradually settled on CruiseCritic as the most active and well-rounded.

 

I used the boards to determine the cruiseline that I wanted next and chose HAL for its more sedate atmosphere and slightly more upscale ships.

 

What I know now from reading a variety of boards on CruiseCritic is that I want to continue with HAL (as long as it meets certain criteria) because what people rave about on other lines' boards is unappetizing to me. I like formal nights, I like attentive dining service, good food, reasonable single supplements.

 

If HAL changes to the point of cruisers saying "You're gonna have a BLAST on HAL", I'll change cruiselines.:D

[wander]

CC has not influenced my "loyalty" to a cruise line, BUT it does help sustain me between cruises. It provides an almost daily "near cruise fix". It also makes for a happy husband as I fill my cruise conversation needs online. He likes cruising but is not that much of a talker.

[kryos]

While I loved cruising prior to finding cruisecritic, I feel that the site did make me a more devoted cruiser and to my cruiseline.

Anyone else????

Honestly, I don't think CC has anything to do with my loyalty to HAL or to any other cruise line for that matter. I've sailed Princess, Celebrity, Carnival and Cunard while a member of Cruise Critic, and I don't think CC made me any more or less loyal to them either.

 

I base my loyalty to a cruise line on the experience I have onboard. While I've always had good onboard experiences on every single one of my cruises, HAL just seems to give me more of what I am looking for, and that's why I keep coming back to HAL and not those other lines. I think it's that way for each one of us, to be honest. Some people swear by RCI ... while I probably would never sail one of their ships. It's not that I think RCI is a bad cruise line ... far from it ... it's just that the big ship experience doesn't ring my bells. For others, it's a whole different story.

 

For now my loyalty is with HAL. If and when I ever find another cruise line that meets my needs more than HAL, then my loyalty will probably switch to them. It's just a matter of value for my money ... and a cruise line meeting my needs and thus giving me the best value. CC, at least for me, has very little to do with it.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Seago2]

Oh well! So much for my post about looking for a HAL repo next fall! Found an excellent cruise on the Dream. Still love HAL, tho!

[TCF]

Cruise Critic has not made me a more "loyal" cruiser, but it has made me a "better" cruiser.

I learn something new and/or interesting almost every time I log on here. Sometimes it is about the possibilities of cruise lines other than HAL....sometimes it is about opportunities for exciting excursions...all the time it is "meeting" and enjoying good conversation and debate with like minded people.

We have cruised NCL, Carnival, Princess and HAL. My very first cruise was in 1980 on the Statendam....an no it is not the Statendam of today. We seem to keep coming back to HAL, but that loyalty is based on price, itinerary, quality and crews.

Face it...we are tribal mammals... we like being with others who think and act the way we do....cruising is the nation....HAL, or whichever line, is just the tribe!

And no, I will not paint my face for formal nights!

[RetiredMustang]

My reaction is much like others -- this is something to ponder. In my case, I took my first HAL cruise in 1996, and joined CC in 2007; at that time, I and my wife had taken 10 cruises, seven of them with HAL and one each with NCL, Costa and Cunard. So, we were pretty much HAL pals before I found CC.

 

We also look at itinerary and price, but have found that HAL goes pretty much where and when we want to go; when they don't, like a short transatlantic from Southampton to NYC in the spring/summer, we find a line that does (Cunard in that case). And, while some lines may be a bit cheaper than HAL on a comparable sailing, we find that we generally are willing to pay the little bit extra for HAL.

 

Why? The smaller ships, the larger staterooms, the classy traditonal decor, the relaxed atmosphere, and, clearly topping them all, the incredible service. We had taken a short 3-day NCL cruise in 1995 to see if we would like cruising, and did. We then found a jewel of a TA who took the time to ask questions about our preferences and lifestyles and recommended HAL as a line she thought we would like for our second cruise. She was right! We booked on Noordam III, and fell in love with that classy ship and with the HAL experience. We are now bronze medallion mariners, and working as quickly as we can toward silver.

 

I truly enjoy CC, and have visited the other lines' boards to see if we would like those lines. I think, if HAL was not doing an itinerary at the time we wanted, we would be happy with Celebrity, Princess, or RCCL of the lines we have not sailed, and we could have a good time on pretty much any line. I enjoy getting the great info and feeback about ships and ports, and enjoy reading the threads -- as RevNeal said, it helps pass the time between cruises!

 

But, my DW is not a member of CC, and does not read the threads, although she is interested in some of the things I tell her I learned. But, she is definitely of the position that if HAL is going where and when we want, then we are going with HAL. Hard to argue with that position (and after 35 years of marriage, I've acquired enough wisdom not to try -- especially since I pretty much share the opinion. :D)

 

Fascinating thread. Thanks to the OP for being so clever with a topic!

 

Dave

[aliaschief]

Are we loyal to Holland America? After just booking what will be our fifth Holland America Cruise in two years! Are we loyal? Maybe----but definitely addicted:eek:!

 

What goes up must come down?......Taking the MS Maasdam repositioning cruise in May from FL to Montreal:D! Yesterday booked the Oct repositioning of the MS Maasdam returning to FL from Montreal.:rolleyes: Kind of a back to back with a long lay over in between:)!

 

A very blessed couple.

[ViolaSwamp]

I'm not a HAL loyalist, but this board greatly prepared me with what to expect when we boarded the Maasdam last month. I really like it here and yes I check in most every day. :p

 

I have booked another HAL cruise but that was based on itinerary and timing - in addition to the fact that I enjoyed my prior HAL cruise. BUT if another cruiseline's October 2010 schedule shows a more desirable cruise for us out of NYC, we may opt to move our booking accordingly. I doubt it though - particularly with the recent drop in 3rd/4th passenger price to $199/pp! :)

[HeatherInFlorida]

I agree this is an excellent question and In 2007 I partially addressed it in a poll without specifying CC being the reason for the loyalty. The thread was met with mixed reviews. Most people found it really interesting, others questioned my reason for posing the question.

 

CC definitely creates a loyalty to a particular forum, but I'm not sure it creates a loyalty to that cruise line over the long term because once you board that ship your own personal experience takes over and you form your own opinion.

 

Over the course of time you meet so many people here, come to enjoy certain ones and look forward to meeting them on a cruise. In a very short time period, many HAL CC'ers have met here and then on cruises and become friends. Just a few years ago few of us had ever met yet now dozens join together as a group and plan a cruise. That gives high marks to Cruise Critic in my opinion.

 

As long as we had cruised (going back to the early 80's) I had wanted to cruise HAL. When I first found CC I was about to cruise on HAL's Maasdam for the very first time. I received so much valuable information here on this forum that I couldn't find anywhere else.

 

But over the years my once strong loyalty to HAL has changed. Part of the reason for that is a sense that HAL isn't what it once was (for me) and part of the reason is CC.

 

By reading so much here about HAL, every tiny fault and every big one, every rave and every pan, the picking apart of every tradition that has disappeared or every change that appears, I found that cruising seemed to lose a lot of its magic. For me, and of course I speak only for myself, I was better off when I boarded my ship, eyes glazed over with awe and excitement, and knowing a whole lot less about what goes on behind the scenes. It became (in my case) just a little too much information and for that reason we will go on our next cruise on a cruise line we've never cruised on without once visiting that cruise line's forum. And we'll see if it makes a difference.

[iancal]

Absolutely not. We are not married to any cruise line. There are a number of good ones out there, including HAL. Our selection is based on our percieved value of a particular itinerary. Cruise critic serves, at times, to influence these perceptions. Ultimately, do we care if we are on a Hal cruise or a Princess cruise...no, we care that we are having a good time and that the weather is as anticipated. The label on the jar does not matter to us-only the contents.

[Pettifogger]

HeatherinFlorida: I agree to a large extent with what you said, although I might not be able to word it as well. I would just say that knowing about and anticipating variances from the ideal makes me more likely to notice them and maybe resent them. But most of the time on a cruise I'm in a little capsule with just my wife and the waiter or the cabin steward and I've found them on HAL to be of a more dependable high quality than on other cruise lines I've tried (which were limited to mass market and premium lines, no luxury ones.) They weren't necessarily better; just more dependably good. My occupation did not allow me to be careless or indifferent and, perhaps as a result, I'm probably less tolerant of carelessness or indifference than I should be when I encounter it on cruises.

[MrsMuir]

Hmmmm. I have to echo what Wander (my long-lost twin?) said. I love having a place to talk about ships and cruising with like-minded, intelligent and classy people. I think that CC's HAL board may have burnished my love for HAL because of the unforgettable characters that frequent these pages, and most of them seem to appreciate HAL's tradition and style to other lines. Even without the CC board, though, I'd be a HAL-first cruiser because of the value and service we've received on our five cruises. If my Princess-Platinum sister invited us on one of "her" ships, however, I'd be ready in five minutes.

 

Overall, this board fills a need to share a love of ships and the sea that my Daddy instilled in me and that now lives on through me. I'm so glad to have found all of you!

 

Linda

[world~citizen]

I was at work yesterday talking about cruising and this website. I always tell anyone who's thinking about or booked a cruise to head over here.

Someone asked me a very valid question. Did cruisecritic make me more loyal (a.k.a cheerleader) for my favorite cruiselines? If I would never came across this website, would I have as much devotion on Holland America?

It did get me thinking. While I loved cruising prior to finding cruisecritic, I feel that the site did make me a more devoted cruiser and to my cruiseline.

Anyone else????

 

The short answer is no.

[CowPrincess]

No, I don't think I'm more loyal because of Cruise Critic. I'm more informed, though. It amazes me the VAST amount of information the posters here can (and do) provide!

[Seago2]

The short answer is no.

 

But we all love rambling long answers. At least I do ;).

[airlink diva]

I'm just getting a chance to really get online for longer than 10 or 20 minutes (very busy at work and glad of it!!). The answers on this mainly reflect my thoughts on cruising,Holland America and the website.

I guess like so many,this website has made me a better cruiser. If I compare myself on my cruise in October 2008 to my cruise in September 2001, I see totally different person and wish I knew about this website then. On my first cruise, I had no idea that you could really had some imput on where to pick a cabin,or there was a choice of dining time. I took the shopping guides on the ship word as gospel on where to shop and only booked tours with the cruiseline. I didn't know about other cruiselines at all (I never heard of HAL at the time) and only knew about two cruiselines (Carnival from Kathy Lee's commericals and Princess from the "Love Boat" ). When I got online and came across this website, I was curious about islands,other cruiselines and what's offered on the various ships. I found close a perfect fit with Holland America and between the sailings and learning about the line from other long timers, I grew to love sailing on Holland America and feel like I'm returning to a old friend on each sailing.

Happy sailing!!

[Bramcruiser]

I think Heather said it best.

 

Short answer is no! I like a line for what it offers me.

 

The boards are a nice resource but too fraught with personal opinions to make it the holy grail of cruising. I made lots of great friends over the years from the boards and my trips but my loyalty to a line is not depedendent on any message board.

 

David