Do Reviews Influence you?

[SteveH2508]

Just type "YouTube Crown Princess" (or any ship's name) into your search engine.

 

If you've not used YouTube before:

 

- If you have poor broadband speed the vid may not work or may stick ("stick" isn't technical enough for internet-nerds, they call it "buffering" :rolleyes:)

 

- mainly the service is paid for by advertising, but most vids give the option to click on "skip ad"

 

- they're (all?) from amateur contributors, same as Cruise Critic. So there's good, there's poor, & there's a few trolls.

 

- you can adjust or mute the sound, zip the vid along or freeze it using a slider under the vid, much the same as when playing music on your computer. The mute button comes in handy when the vid comes with the contributor's idea of "good music". :rolleyes:

 

- you can click on an icon which gives you a full-screen vid.

 

- you'll see a selection of other related vids displayed on your screen.

Beware - YouTube is addictive :D

You'll start with cruise ship vids, then be attracted by cruise disaster vids listed on the page, they lead to other disasters, and you'll end up watching Russian truck crashes.

Next time you look at the clock it'll be 3am :D

 

I've never had any computer issues such as viruses with YouTube.

But I have tried to get live "streaming" from other vid websites - in my case soccer matches, and they DO create problems. Changing your home page, even Norton warnings of attempts to hack my computer. I no longer trust such sites, but like I said, no problem with YouTube.

JB :)

 

Health warning - videos of pier runners are addictive as well!:D

[Velvetwater]

Not to hijack but I've seen youtube mentioned before. What's the best way to find ship videos?

 

Also, I get a little concerned about poor reviews but like others have said try to disregard the ones who seem overly critical.

 

In addition to what John said here are some helpful search hints

 

1) To get an up to date video if desired put the year on the end 'Carnival Legend 2014' etc

 

2) To get a view of the ship in general put something like 'Carnival legend walkthrough' or 'Carnival Legend walk around'

 

3) If you want something specific then shove that in as well 'Carnival legend buffet' etc

 

Also, watch for the videos down the side of the one you are watching. They are often linked or more of the same you are currently watching.

 

I also search other lines and ships to get a taste of the itinerary I am on so as my sailing is a Panama Canal with the Legend I might put instead 'Panama Canal cruise 2013' to get a feel of the Journey.

 

Sounds obvious but thats my routine. :)

[SparkleBee]

certainly! the reviews are worth gold to me. see if there are recurring themes. you'll be able to tell if the person's complaints matter to you or not.

[marco]

Yes, if I read many regarding the same ship/line. No, if I read a bad review. Case in point.....I posted a review of a cruise we took a while back. We enjoyed every aspect of it and I was rather complementary. Someone else wrote a review who was on the SAME CRUISE and thought just about everything was awful, awful, awful!!!!!!!

[GORDONCHICK]

I don't even read the reviews. The only way they'd be of use to me is if I know the reviewer and know that we have similar standards, likes and dislikes, and expectations.

 

When my friends ask me about cruising, cruise lines, or ships, I don't tell them they will love _______________ just because I did. They may not have the same expectations or standards that we do. I would consider the ones we've been on and what would appeal to them. I'd rather them go on a cruise that is better suited to what they want than to try to get them to agree with me.

[Athravan]

Mixed reviews don't bother me, because I know from experience that I'm a "glass half full" type of person and I'm much more likely to look on the positive side of things.. so as long as there are some good positive reviews coming through, I figure I'll be okay. Most negative things are entirely subjective; like food. I've never not enjoyed the food on a cruise ship because I have very simple food tastes and it's all luxury compared to what I eat at home.

 

If something important to me has consistently bad reviews and no one is saying much positive at all then it would definitely influence me.

 

Even if they didn't influence me, I find reviews super helpful, regardless of negative or positive, I always enjoy reading them.

[SeagoingMom]

Yes, if I read many regarding the same ship/line. No, if I read a bad review. Case in point.....I posted a review of a cruise we took a while back. We enjoyed every aspect of it and I was rather complementary. Someone else wrote a review who was on the SAME CRUISE and thought just about everything was awful, awful, awful!!!!!!!

This seems to happen so often -- it is very strange. I think it most clearly demonstrates that it is not really the ship, the cruise, the crew, anything like that, that is being "reviewed." It is really the expectations and attitude of the passenger that are being revealed!

 

Again, is the cup half full or half empty?

[Krazy Kruizers]

I do read reviews. Do they influence me?

Well -- if I keep reading about a certain ship having A/C problems and plumbing problems over and over from different people on different cruises -- then I do get a little concerned.

[KBS1607]

I just saw my first 'pier runner' today. I'll be looking for Coral Princess tomorrow.

 

Kim

[luvscruising2007]

One of the things I do like about reviews is the ports. Especially if the reviewer includes pictures of the things they have seen. One review of a NE/Canada cruise made me decide that that would be our next cruise destination.

 

Food, entertainment and even service are subjective and definitely different criteria for different people. Reviews of these items are not important to me unless someone explains in detail why the did or did not like something.

I hate when a reviewer says the food was horrible, inedible with no explanation of why they feel that way.

[Wattle]

Two of the cruises we went on had really bad reviews. We had a fantastic time on both trips, and one was P & O. A cruise is what you make of it yourself. You can't possibly make everyone happy all of the time. I wrote reviews on both these cruises and they were very positive, yet there were other people from the same cruise writing terrible reviews. I say read them, they might give you some tips and advice, put it wouldn't stop me from going on a cruise. I hope that helps.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[aussielozzie18]

I enjoy reading the reviews. If someone has experienced a problem that may impact on me - such a noisy stateroom or a bad port visit, it is good to know. But overall, I take negative reviews with a grain of salt. So few cruisers write a review on CC, that even if a cruise gets a really bad review, I figure there would be plenty more cruisers on board that same cruise who had a great time but didnt write about it.

[momofmeg]

Looking at a cruise with P&O,who we've never sailed with before, but reviews are very mixed. Do reviews make a difference to you?

 

The tone of the review. If the person is very negative in his/her wording I usually dismiss it. I just can't believe that absolutely everything was bad. However, if a person does mention a few things that were good, but a lot more bad, then I am more apt to listen to their opinion.

 

Then are the things they may like that I personally dislike and vise versa. So even a positive review can tell me that ship is not my "cup of tea."

[sparks1093]

I do read reviews and usually try to separate fact from opinion as I read them. I also tend to focus on those items that are important to me. For instance if a review said "we didn't like it that there was no live band at the pool deck" I wouldn't mind at all. If someone had a problem then I would figure out how I would deal with it if I had the same problem.

[iancal]

We read the reviews. We do not pay much attention to comments on food or entertainment because they often reflect personal preferences.

 

We pay limited attention to service complaints because crews change.

 

We pay close attention to ship maintenance issues-most especially A/C and plumbing issues on older ships. If we read a negative post, we keep checking to see if a certain ship or cruise line has an ongoing issue with these. This has the potential to ruin a cruise for us. As a result, we have passed on a number of ship/cruises after reading about consistent, ongoing issues with specific ships.

 

Generally, we do no pay much attention to people who complain after they get off the ship. The time to deal with an issue is when it occurs-that is when it can be addressed. So, when we read reviews with issues on A/C and plumbing we look for how the crew dealt with it. On one ship that we had selected we found, through reviews, that on cruise after cruise the crew implied to those complaining that this had not happened before. We quickly eliminate this type of ship, sometimes class of ship, and sometimes the cruise line itself. Any ship can have a problem, but how the problem is resolved can be very telling.

[navybankerteacher]

Well written reviews which cover specific aspects, either positive or negative - particularly those with similar points as others tend to catch my attention. Rants about one or two small details - especially those stating that compensation of some sort is expected, are best ignored.

[momofmeg]

We read the reviews. We do not pay much attention to comments on food or entertainment because they often reflect personal preferences.

 

We pay limited attention to service complaints because crews change.

 

We pay close attention to ship maintenance issues-most especially A/C and plumbing issues on older ships. If we read a negative post, we keep checking to see if a certain ship or cruise line has an ongoing issue with these. This has the potential to ruin a cruise for us. As a result, we have passed on a number of ship/cruises after reading about consistent, ongoing issues with specific ships.

 

Generally, we do no pay much attention to people who complain after they get off the ship. The time to deal with an issue is when it occurs-that is when it can be addressed. So, when we read reviews with issues on A/C and plumbing we look for how the crew dealt with it. On one ship that we had selected we found, through reviews, that on cruise after cruise the crew implied to those complaining that this had not happened before. We quickly eliminate this type of ship, sometimes class of ship, and sometimes the cruise line itself. Any ship can have a problem, but how the problem is resolved can be very telling.

 

good point we canceled a cruise because the ship had been having plumbing issues. (Radiance of the Seas) the ship we switched to, had different problems, (NCL SUN) not as bad as plumbing. It was a bad flow problem in the buffet restaurant. So I wished I had picked another ship-lol! the following year, and almost the same exact days and ports, we took Jewel of the Seas. We enjoyed her much better than NCL Sun. So I know we would have enjoyed Radiance of the Seas if she had not had the plumbing problems.

[Beachdude]

I find that folks who aren't influenced by reviews generally are repeating previous cruises, ships or cruise lines like those posters who show their last 20 cruises on the same line. I have hard time imagining that someone shopping for something new or different doesn't read reviews. If you aren't reading reviews to learn, you probably need to expand your horizon.

 

Burt

[iancal]

There are many great ships out there to choose from. If you read the reviews in detail you can substantially decrease your chances of booking a dud ship.

 

I cannot imagine limiting ourselves to one cruise line when there are so many other great products out there to experience. Especially today, when there are so many cutbacks in service. We are big believers in voting with our feet if we are not satisfied with the product.

 

After reading the reviews for so long, we actually have a short list of ships that we simply would not consider. The list started when we were about to book and we cancelled at the last minute because of reports of serious mechanical issues. Like the OP, we actually saw subsequent reviews for that sailing with the same issue and were glad that we cancelled. I have no doubt that less than ten percent of the cabins were impacted but we were not about to take a needless chance with our vacation dollars and our vacation time. And we had a wonderful cruise on the 'replacement' ship. Nor did we feel like 'rewarding' a vendor with our business when they were clearly knowingly offering up a substandard product.

Edited May 1, 2014 by iancal

[SeagoingMom]

We read the reviews. We do not pay much attention to comments on food or entertainment because they often reflect personal preferences.

 

We pay limited attention to service complaints because crews change.

 

We pay close attention to ship maintenance issues-most especially A/C and plumbing issues on older ships. If we read a negative post, we keep checking to see if a certain ship or cruise line has an ongoing issue with these. This has the potential to ruin a cruise for us. As a result, we have passed on a number of ship/cruises after reading about consistent, ongoing issues with specific ships.

 

Generally, we do no pay much attention to people who complain after they get off the ship. The time to deal with an issue is when it occurs-that is when it can be addressed. So, when we read reviews with issues on A/C and plumbing we look for how the crew dealt with it. On one ship that we had selected we found, through reviews, that on cruise after cruise the crew implied to those complaining that this had not happened before. We quickly eliminate this type of ship, sometimes class of ship, and sometimes the cruise line itself. Any ship can have a problem, but how the problem is resolved can be very telling.

I am interested in your perspective, as I believe it represents that of many others, including myself. What I wonder about is this: since CC is believed to represent only a very tiny fraction of all cruisers, should we look at CC-reported issues such as plumbing problems as isolated or endemic? Even if more than a few on CC report problems, should we assume the problem was widespread, and more importantly, that we are likely to experience it ourselves? I am not challenging your perspective at all -- but your post got me to thinking about this.

 

We experienced a non-functioning toilet on Caribbean Princess last March. My husband called in the problem to the front desk, and they said someone would come up to look at it. No one came. Within an hour or so, the toilet started working again. There had been no communication from the maintenance department: no one came to repair, no one called to say the repair visit would be delayed -- and there was no further communication from the front desk: no one called to ask if the toilet had been fixed -- nothing. Though I was glad the toilet healed itself, I wondered about the customer service. If toilets malfunctioning is a common problem, and toilets fixing themselves is a common outcome, I would have expected customer sevice to tell us that on the phone, so we would not expect anyone to come. If the problem was fixed somewhere in the bowels of the ship (not requiring a visit to our cabin) I would have expected a call from maintenance or the front desk informing us that the problem had been fixed, and checking to make sure our toilet worked. None of this happened. So would my reporting this incident represent that such a thing (either the mechanical problem or the communication lapse or both) had probably happened to numerous other passengers as well? Even I, a "victim" of both a plumbing issue and what I felt was a communication failure, am not sure how to look at this.

 

Unless a news outlet or the cruise line itself reports that there is a widespread problem (like, say, when a ship is on fire, or adrift with no electricity!), I wonder how far I should go in assuming that a few (even a few dozen) posts on Cruise Critic represent a problem serious enough for me to eliminate a possible cruise from my plans or especially to cancel an already booked cruise.

 

This dilemma is doubly mystifying because of the many times we all read totally opposite reports of cruises, and how often someone posts that there was a particular issue on board and so many others report that they experienced nothing of the kind, nor heard of anyone who did!

 

Do we bestow upon ourselves on CC an unjustifiable authority, even omnisicience, and give too much weight to others', and even our own, opinions? It is a puzzlement!

[srlafleur]

I might read some reviews - usually after already having booked, to kind of get a feel for what to expect.

 

Since I usually book with itinerary, timing and price as top priority, reviews of the individual ships don't really interest me all that much.

The hubs and I are pretty laid back cruisers and don't sweat the small stuff at all. In all our cruises we've never gone hungry because of inedible food (there's always something else to eat if we find something not to our liking), nor have we ever experienced what we would consider bad service. Maybe lackluster, but certainly not horrible.

The pool could be empty, the climbing walls, water slides, basketball courts, etc. dismantled and we probably wouldn't even notice.

Now, since we've never been on the higher end lines or on a river cruise, I am more likely to read reviews of those, but really, more to know what to expect than anything.

And yeah, I throw out the top cheerleader-type reviews and the bottom Debbie Downer/Grumpy Gus reviews and look at "just the facts, ma'am."

[Beachdude]

We experienced a non-functioning toilet on Caribbean Princess last March. My husband called in the problem to the front desk, and they said someone would come up to look at it. No one came. Within an hour or so, the toilet started working again. There had been no communication from the maintenance department: no one came to repair, no one called to say the repair visit would be delayed -- and there was no further communication from the front desk: no one called to ask if the toilet had been fixed -- nothing. Though I was glad the toilet healed itself, I wondered about the customer service. [/quote

 

Plumbing in ships is complicated and the few times we've requested the tolet or shower drains get fixed or unclogged, the work was done outside of the room down the hall. And yes you are right, nobody came and told us it was fixed, but I'm not sure that is a problem.

 

Burt

[iancal]

We are not concerned if our toilet or AC malfunctions and is repaired quickly.

 

What we want to avoid is being without plumbing or A/C for days on end.

 

I know of one ship where the crew actually refers to one cabin area as the 'flood zone' because toilets backup and flood on a regular basis throughout the cruise. And have done for months on end. This is the type of ship that we hope to avoid. Another routinely has dozens of fans-to deal with perennially failing A/C.

 

We typically avoid ships or areas in ships where modifications have been made to add cabins to the original design. Typically the AC and plumbing systems in those areas are stretched beyond their original specifications.

 

I think that some cruise lines are cutting back on standard maintenance-preventative and otherwise. I call that 'cheating' the customer because that is who will eventually suffer.

Edited May 1, 2014 by iancal

[Beachdude]

We are not concerned if our toilet or AC malfunctions and is repaired quickly.

 

What we want to avoid is being without plumbing or A/C for days on end.

 

I know of one ship where the crew actually refers to one cabin area as the 'flood zone' because toilets backup and flood on a regular basis throughout the cruise. And have done for months on end. This is the type of ship that we hope to avoid.

 

I think that some cruise lines are cutting back on standard maintenance-preventative and otherwise. I call that 'cheating' the customer because that is who will eventually suffer.

 

Well I can understand where a review of the ship would help here, but I wouldn't go so far as to blame it on cruise lines cutting back, you only need to see the plumbing design to understand why some ships have standard issues.

 

Burt

[SeagoingMom]

We experienced a non-functioning toilet on Caribbean Princess last March. My husband called in the problem to the front desk, and they said someone would come up to look at it. No one came. Within an hour or so, the toilet started working again. There had been no communication from the maintenance department: no one came to repair, no one called to say the repair visit would be delayed -- and there was no further communication from the front desk: no one called to ask if the toilet had been fixed -- nothing. Though I was glad the toilet healed itself, I wondered about the customer service. [/quote

 

Plumbing in ships is complicated and the few times we've requested the tolet or shower drains get fixed or unclogged, the work was done outside of the room down the hall. And yes you are right, nobody came and told us it was fixed, but I'm not sure that is a problem.

 

Burt

 

It may not be classified as a "problem" so much as poor communication. If customer service says someone will come to your cabin to fix something, and no one ever comes, it is easy to think that you have been ignored or forgotten, even if the mechanical problem goes away. It would have been a simple matter for customer service to tell us, "I will have someone in maintenance look into the problem, and it may be able to be fixed without the necessity of anyone coming to your cabin" (as may have been the case, in the end.) If this had been communicated, we would have known what to expect.

 

I appreciate that we were on a ship with over 3000 passengers, and that keeping up communication even with those with mechanical problems may be beyond possible, but I don't see why giving a complete and accurate response to the initial phone call should be....