Wouldn't it be great if....

[SWLinPHX]

I wonder why more ships don't have kiosks set up around the ship with a social intranet (LAN) that lists all passengers who wish to be listed with their photo(s), where they're from, interests, what they're looking for, such as romance, shore excursion pals, new friends, etc. (think a "Facebook at sea", but for that ship and sailing only). Then you could send private messages to all of interest and eventually arrange a place to meet on board (or even exchange cabin numbers). If they don't respond so be it. It is much easier than blindly approaching people cold turkey, especially if shy or feel awkward breaking the ice.

[ibizasue]

what a great idea, I am off on tuesday on a 11 day cruise round the med and searched for weeks for just this on roll calls etc to no avail. Just hoping I can find someone to go ashore with.

[wwinfl91]

Most cruise lines have a survey that they ask you to fill out the last day or so of your cruise and usually there is an area for suggestions. Maybe if all of us on CC started adding that to our comments the cruise lines would get the idea and put up something like that on their web sites. I also think it is a great idea.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[ibizasue]

I will definately put it on my comment card next week xx

[SWLinPHX]

Yeah, I think we all should suggest it. What surprises me is that with the popularity and ubiquity of Facebook more cruise lines haven't caught on by now. This shouldn't be such a remote idea that it never crossed their minds, or would be too difficult to implement for that matter. At least Carnival is testing something like this now.

[zoncom]

Never will happen. First of all, cost to impliment and lines do not give free internet service. Second, liability. It could be construed as cruiseline approved liason situation by public. Any problems could result in lawsuits.

[SWLinPHX]

Never will happen. First of all, cost to impliment and lines do not give free internet service. Second, liability. It could be construed as cruiseline approved liason situation by public. Any problems could result in lawsuits.

 

Sorry, but not true. Carnival already has something like this slowly rolling out. Also, this is not "free Internet" it is a LAN (intranet). Thirdly, a cruise line is not accountable for passengers meeting fellow passengers. These aren't remote strangers off the street at an undisclosed location. They are no more liable then they would be if guests met at one of their bars or dance parties, or singles meeting for that matter. There are plenty of disclaimers regarding any of this. There have been murders onboard. Guests are at no more or less risk if they correspond on their local LAN or in person the first time.

[ibizasue]

Just a simple notice board for solo cruisers to connect , say in the library would be a step forward. xx:D

[wwinfl91]

It wouldn't need to be any more difficult or high tech than CC's roll calls. All it would require would be an area on the online check-in form where you could check to add you to the ship's roll call for the cruise or not. You would have to give them an email address which they request anyway and you would get an email with a link to go to the board for your cruise and set a password for your account and then be able to post to a board similar to this one. But because every person on the cruise would have had a chance to join the numbers would be much higher I would suspect than the CC roll calls. Since all cruise lines have web sites they are maintaining already and since most of the actions would be programmed there would need to minimum additional cruise line personnel interaction except for occasionally monitoring the boards to make sure people aren't posting inappropriate material.

 

It could and should be done but whether anyone in the cruise industry is sharp enough to pick up on the idea is the question. After all if people are happy on a cruise then they are more likely to cruise again and knowing and meeting others on a cruise is a big part of having fun on a cruise.

 

Anyway that is my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[SWLinPHX]

Just a simple notice board for solo cruisers to connect , say in the library would be a step forward. xx:D

 

No more hi-tech than Facebook (which half the world does) or these message boards for that matter. Meetings don't work well because it is at a certain time only and those who don't know or can't make it have just one shot and that's it for the whole cruise. That's no different than us planning to meet on Cruise Critic in advance. That is the whole point of my suggestion.

 

 

It wouldn't need to be any more difficult or high tech than CC's roll calls. All it would require would be an area on the online check-in form where you could check to add you to the ship's roll call for the cruise or not. You would have to give them an email address which they request anyway and you would get an email with a link to go to the board for your cruise and set a password for your account and then be able to post to a board similar to this one. But because every person on the cruise would have had a chance to join the numbers would be much higher I would suspect than the CC roll calls. Since all cruise lines have web sites they are maintaining already and since most of the actions would be programmed there would need to minimum additional cruise line personnel interaction except for occasionally monitoring the boards to make sure people aren't posting inappropriate material.

 

What I am suggesting is basically like "Facebook-meets-Match.com" with brief profiles & photos. There is not enough time on a cruise to figure out who you're talking to and play "pen pals". You want to see who it is, whether it be for a romantic interest or even so you can spot them when you meet. Everyone should have (or be allowed to add) a profile pic of choice as with all sites and it would operate in real time on the cruise line's own website/intranet. It would be so easy yet such a huge bonus, in my opinion. We'll see...

[zgwortz]

That's a *very* interesting idea. All the ships seem to have a "free" area you can connect to - generally the company website, so connecting to the local intranet seems possible without incurring a bill. A social networking site like you describe wouldn't be difficult to write -- I could almost do it out of the box using a CMS like Drupal or something, but your big problem would be figuring out a way for people to A) know it's there, and B) connect to it.

 

What I think would make it a truly compelling tool would be if whoever developed it would also create iPhone/iPad, Android, and Windows Mobile apps to connect to it. (A more difficult task, but not *too* difficult...)

 

What you then have is not just a social networking site, but also a means for people all over the ship to connect with each other without incurring phone or internet charges. Parents could message their kids to find out where they are (no more walkie talkies...), groups/families could set up meeting spots with each other, you could have the cruise schedule online and set up a schedule with reminders, etc. And yes, singles could put up profiles with interests and set up meets, but honestly, that's a very small part of what this could be used for. I could imagine so many uses for this that would be very cool.

 

The downsides and hurdles, however, are also numerous. It might be very difficult for the ship's network bridge and billing system to separate connections which are local from those going out over the net - and thus make it expensive to use. You'd probably need a fairly major update to the network bridge to the internet and the billing system to compensate.

 

Then, possibly a much bigger problem, most ships have a fairly low-volume, low-speed wifi network, often using some *very* old equipment, and not a lot of hotspots. Honestly, for what they do right now, they don't need anything better, but if they wanted to implement something like this, they'd need a fairly major overhaul of that networking infrastructure. Without it, an app like this would almost certainly swamp the network. Higher speed hubs and more of them would likely be needed throughout the ship.

 

Finally, all that hardware, the networking bridge, the billing changes, the social network server (and it's backups), will need more IT support on board - quite possibly a dedicated IT manager - and crew space is at a premium.

 

I really do like the idea, though. If I weren't swamped with contract work right now, I'd be very tempted to shop it around to the cruise lines and see what they say.

[cruisegurl23]

So how was your cruise? I'm thinking of going solo in May to Alaska. Did you find it awkward sailing solo? I'm afraid people will feel sorry for me. Don't need sympathy; just a good time.

[SWLinPHX]

Zgwortz, do you know how Carnival is doing it? I know they're using kiosks scattered about the ship, but I can't imagine local intranet access being more difficult than the satellite WiFi Internet access they offer is, and definitely not as slow or expensive! I agree, the possibilities and uses are endless: It could replace the need for walkie talkies, post-it notes, bulletin boards, etc. and be invaluable for people traveling together to locate each other around the ship or for solos, singles or anyone looking to share a shore excursion or taxi, a teammate for trivia or volleyball, friends with similar interests, etc., in addition of course to romantic prospects.

 

I'm not too sure I understand how it would be so difficult to simply have their local intranet LAN handle this, as a ship shouldn't be any harder to wire than a hotel or office building. And Celebrity Solstice Class ships already have WiFi everywhere on the ship (including cabins) and Carnival, as I mentioned, is already implementing something along the lines of what I suggest. After all, it wouldn't rely on satellites, which is why regular Internet access onboard is so expensive (and slow).

 

If you have any connections to people at the cruise lines to propose this (or at least find out if they have plans for something like this already) I'd love to know what you are able to accomplish or find out! :)

[SWLinPHX]

So how was your cruise? I'm thinking of going solo in May to Alaska. Did you find it awkward sailing solo? I'm afraid people will feel sorry for me. Don't need sympathy; just a good time.

 

Cruisegurl, who are you directing your question to?

[arpie05]

The Dream had the stations scattered around. HUBS. What would be nice is if you could set up your profile before you get on because who wants to sit on the computer all day onboard. Also the schedule on the Hub stations would be different than the dailytimes. It would be nice if you could set up your profile then if you were interested in different activities, the computer could help you find othrs onboard with similar interests. The Person working the internet connection area could be a better asset to the social scene.

[regjr13]

Great idea. I like the idea of meeting other singles on board especially.