Do the cruise lines watch cruise critic closely for passenger reactions and for input into their products?

[cruisemom42]

3 hours ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

Not sure I would agree that there are lots of nationalities. This forum is primarily English speakers so that would exclude a huge chunk of cruisers especially in Asia and Europe🤔.

 

According to 2019 data from CLIA (the cruise line trade association), the overwhelming majority of cruisers are still from the US, as shown below. Add in the English-speaking UK, Canada and Australia (and I do see more than a sprinkling of them on these boards) and you could say CC covers a fair spectrum of cruisers.

 

[navybankerteacher]

6 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

According to 2019 data from CLIA (the cruise line trade association), the overwhelming majority of cruisers are still from the US, as shown below. Add in the English-speaking UK, Canada and Australia (and I do see more than a sprinkling of them on these boards) and you could say CC covers a fair spectrum of cruisers.

 

Thanks - it helps to have graphics to get a point across.

[Hlitner]

On 2/23/2021 at 10:19 AM, richstowe said:

Are you asking for vaccination to be mandatory in order to cruise ?

I sure am.  No ifs, an's or buts.  This issue has been discussed on numerous threads (here on CC and elsewhere) and we have joined with those who say they will NOT cruise unless there is a 100% vaccination policy.  I should add that several cruise lines (that are operating or will soon resume operations) have already implemented such a policy.   While folks can certainly debate the issue of vaccines (not on some social media that has banned any discussion) we do not see vaccines, per se, as the issue.  For us the issue is what happens on a cruise if 1 or more folks develop COVID symptoms (or test positive)?  The cruise would likely need to end, skip all ports, possibly go into quarantine for days (or weeks), etc.  Everyone on that cruise would be penalized because of the one or more who got COVID.  So we see a 100% vaccination policy as the best guarantee that any cruise will be able to complete its voyage.

 

Hank

[clo]

20 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

we have joined with those who say they will NOT cruise unless there is a 100% vaccination policy. 

We've discussed this for ages now and are in complete agreement with you. We can have a wonderful time traveling without ever again stepping foot on a cruise ship.

[Hlitner]

9 minutes ago, clo said:

We've discussed this for ages now and are in complete agreement with you. We can have a wonderful time traveling without ever again stepping foot on a cruise ship.

We are actually having a wonderful time traveling now :).  Puerto Vallarta has been the perfect place for us this winter although the slightly cooler weather (70s) was a surprise after all we keep reading about global warming.

 

Hank

[clo]

12 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

global warming.

If you think of it as "climate change" it will be easier to wrap that big, beautiful brain around.

[Hlitner]

16 minutes ago, clo said:

If you think of it as "climate change" it will be easier to wrap that big, beautiful brain around.

LOL you have a point.  On the other hand I have always understood that the earth's climate has always changed from the beginning of the earth so it is easy to accept that it will always be changing in the future.  I will leave the rest of the discussion to others.  But today we will again be on the beach enjoying the near-perfect temperature (about 80) and beautiful blue sky.

 

Hank

[richstowe]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

we have joined with those who say they will NOT cruise unless there is a 100% vaccination policy. 

 

42 minutes ago, clo said:

We've discussed this for ages now and are in complete agreement with you. We can have a wonderful time traveling without ever again stepping foot on a cruise ship.

Us too . Perhaps the industry will split into two streams , mandatory and non-mandatory . I'm fine with that . I'll go with the first.

On 2/23/2021 at 1:00 PM, Essiesmom said:

Totally missed the point.  Which is whether the cruise lines will read the thread/ poll and consider it when making policy.

Have a nice day .

[ilikeanswers]

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We are actually having a wonderful time traveling now :).  Puerto Vallarta has been the perfect place for us this winter although the slightly cooler weather (70s) was a surprise after all we keep reading about global warming.

 

The big chill occurred because of "sudden stratospheric warming" , just as the name suggests it is the rapid heating of the stratosphere which causes the polar vortexs to weaken. The polar vortexs are like a wind wall that keeps the cold air at the higher latitudes. When they weaken the wall breaks allowing the cold air to go further south until it runs out of steam. In this case it reached Texas. On the flip side thud phenomenon also means that warm air in the south will started pushing north so things should warm up pretty quick. In some places they might even get a little heat wave. Hope this explains things 🤗. 

[ilikeanswers]

7 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

According to 2019 data from CLIA (the cruise line trade association), the overwhelming majority of cruisers are still from the US, as shown below. Add in the English-speaking UK, Canada and Australia (and I do see more than a sprinkling of them on these boards) and you could say CC covers a fair spectrum of cruisers.

 

 

That is a good point but I remember reading people saying that certain cruise lines had more Italians, Chinese, Germans etc. I can't help think since this is a English speaking forum surely the sub forums for those lines are not properly represented by their nationality demographics🤔. 

[SteveH2508]

7 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

According to 2019 data from CLIA (the cruise line trade association), the overwhelming majority of cruisers are still from the US, as shown below. Add in the English-speaking UK, Canada and Australia (and I do see more than a sprinkling of them on these boards) and you could say CC covers a fair spectrum of cruisers.

 

I can't help thinking that the graphic's numbers are rather skewed by the number of mega ships that were doing the 7 day Caribbean run from the US.

[cruisemom42]

59 minutes ago, SteveH2508 said:

I can't help thinking that the graphic's numbers are rather skewed by the number of mega ships that were doing the 7 day Caribbean run from the US.

 

True, but that's the reality of cruising -- it's skewed. 😉

[iancal]

I would think that cruise lines would get much better feedback from their TA's and from their on board staff than they ever would from a CC forum.  

[SelectSys]

On 2/24/2021 at 4:36 PM, cruisemom42 said:

True, but that's the reality of cruising -- it's skewed. 😉

 

Skewed to people with disposable income for travel?  Lines home port cruise ships in locations for the same reason people rob banks!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton's_law

 

The good news is that like with everything else it's only going to shift to Asia over time.   

[sparks1093]

1 hour ago, iancal said:

I would think that cruise lines would get much better feedback from their TA's and from their on board staff than they ever would from a CC forum.  

The more feedback the merrier I would think. It's obvious from the posts that some lines do pay attention to what is going on here, the question remains to what extent they take it seriously.

[SteveH2508]

On 2/25/2021 at 12:36 AM, cruisemom42 said:

 

True, but that's the reality of cruising -- it's skewed. 😉

Actually - at the moment, cruising is screwed😉.

[iancal]

They can get fairly immediate info through customer surveys.  Seems to me that if these would be very reliable inasmuch as they are from those who have paid money to sail on that specific cruise line/ship.  

 

If they wanted to get serious about it, they could hire a third party firm to actually call a random sample of recent cruisers and survey with  a very directed set of questions. 

 

On a Celebrity cruise that we took  a chef, complete with a big hat, and an assistant came out.  He went to four or five tables.  We were one.  He asked lots of questions about our meal that night, service, food quality, and questions about any other dining experience on the ship that voyage.  The assistant took copious notes.   We saw this twice on our 14 day trip but he could very well have been doing more during the times we were not in the MDR or optional venues.   We found out later in the voyage that he was the head chef.

Edited February 27, 2021 by iancal

[Essiesmom]

One example I can think of:  A number of years ago Princess renovated Island Princess, removing the aft (universe) lounge and aft viewing areas, adding more cabins and suites.  And did not add the International Cafe, a favorite for Princess cruisers.  The outrage on CC was huge.  Perhaps on FB too, but I didn’t go there then.  Hardly do now.  Within a few weeks, Mickey Alison cruised Alaska on her sister, Coral Princess, who was scheduled for the same butcher job.  Well, that never happened.  Don’t know if that can be attributed to social media, but perhaps it was enough for Arison to take notice and compare...  EM

[sparks1093]

11 hours ago, iancal said:

They can get fairly immediate info through customer surveys.  Seems to me that if these would be very reliable inasmuch as they are from those who have paid money to sail on that specific cruise line/ship.  

 

If they wanted to get serious about it, they could hire a third party firm to actually call a random sample of recent cruisers and survey with  a very directed set of questions. 

 

On a Celebrity cruise that we took  a chef, complete with a big hat, and an assistant came out.  He went to four or five tables.  We were one.  He asked lots of questions about our meal that night, service, food quality, and questions about any other dining experience on the ship that voyage.  The assistant took copious notes.   We saw this twice on our 14 day trip but he could very well have been doing more during the times we were not in the MDR or optional venues.   We found out later in the voyage that he was the head chef.

Yes, companies need to do those types of things, but any company today that doesn't keep an eye and ear on social media is potentially missing a lot. Good company's use multiple sources to gauge customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction surveys are great, but they aren't a good indicator of how the public perceives the company.

[SelectSys]

12 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

but any company today that doesn't keep an eye and ear on social media is potentially missing a lot

Agreed.  It's really mandatory for any organization with a large customer base.

[iancal]

Social media may be a bit of a stretch for some cruise lines like HAL.   They can hardly keep their web site operating, let alone designed in a user friendly manner.

Edited February 28, 2021 by iancal

[sparks1093]

3 hours ago, iancal said:

Social media may be a bit of a stretch for some cruise lines like HAL.   They can hardly keep their web site operating, let alone designed in a user friendly manner.

Good thing none of the cruise lines have to set Cruise Critic up. There have been times when I've wondered if they had. I've seen similar complaints about RCI, CCL, AND NCLs websites.