Have you ever read member reviews?

[above sea level cruiser]

The boards were down for awhile this evening so I thought I would meander around the different member reviews. WOW! HOLY CRAP! I have never seen so many "one out of ten" thumbs down, reviews in my life. Every ship....Every cruiseline. I don't think that they are posted here on cruise critic.. or are they? Some were absolutely brutal. My oh my. And the statements - they ranged from: can't get far enough away from the ship on port days (the cruise started out exactly how he thought, absolutely terrible) to - even the water tasted bland! WOW! Here I thought that the odd person had a not so good time, but check out the one flag out of ten responses on cruise review......absolutely wild!!!!!! If I had such a crappy time, I don't think I would even bother to post.:eek:

[Barbee524]

Yes I read the reviews and take them with a grain of salt. If my cruise vacation was so horrible I certainly wouldn't take another one and for sure not on the same cruise line.

[luv2cruz64]

I noticed the same thing, especially on NCL reviews. It wouldnt sway my decision if I really wanted to go on a cruise. I thought I was the only one who noticed the boards were down for a while.

[Langley Cruisers]

Indeed - before we left on Explorer we read absolutely every single member review, and scanned the boards here, too. We also take them with a grain of salt. You can usually tell who has had a good time, who hasn't, who complains about "little things" (if you know what I mean), and who should be taken seriously. I mean no offense to anyone... but you can tell in the first few sentences or paragraphs how the review is going to go, and often the personality and demeanor of the reviewer.

 

But all in all, yes, we read them. Most are VERY helpful and interesting.

[karisma99]

I love the reviews, good and bad. I read each one before I go. Never has one kept me from changing my plans. Three people will post about the same exact cruising week, and each one have a totally different experience.

 

I take their remarks into consideration, but until I hear something unanimous, I just go with the flow and form my own opinions when I get there. I have never experienced anything bad, uncomfortable or distasteful on an RCCL cruise and I hope to keep up with that track record!

[PirateGal]

I like reading reviews good or bad as well...I like learning tips to better cruising. But like others have said, I read the reviews with a grain of salt. Everyone has different travel standards so experience will vary. I know what my travel standards are and how high my tolerence is for certain things. But I do like reading about people's experiences before hand so keep the reviews coming!

[above sea level cruiser]

I don't mean the reviews posted here. I mean the ones on the front page of the forum where everything is given a sort of check mark as to how many stars the service was etc. I was going through the low scoring ones and man oh man.....hate to be a receptionist at any one of the cruise lines.;)

[hstrybuf]

I know the ones you mean. I even wrote one and got review of the month for it. Got a nice CC t-shirt too.;) I read everything on the Navigator I could find before our cruise two years ago, but forgot to check there for our upcoming cruise. Time to go take a peek! And yes, I take every review with a grain of salt.

[Karshrimp]

I don't mean the reviews posted here. I mean the ones on the front page of the forum where everything is given a sort of check mark as to how many stars the service was etc. I was going through the low scoring ones and man oh man.....hate to be a receptionist at any one of the cruise lines.;)

 

Are you talking about the reviews you can look for on the opening page of Cruise Critic (and are rated by the number of blue ribbons), or are you talking about some other website? :confused:

[hstrybuf]

Here? http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/index.cfm

[Lightsluvr]

At first I gave a lot of credence to the member's reviews. After a few cruises, it was clear that our experience was often diametrically opposed to the review...Now we just go and enjoy. We have seldom been disappointed.

 

LL

[xpcdoojk]

I think most people with the 1 out of 10 reviews are just grinding their axes. I would not bother to read any of them because anyone who can go on any modern cruise ship and truly rate it 1 out of 10 is not someone I care to know what they think. JMHO:rolleyes:

 

jc

[map1961]

I too have read a few of the reviews but like most people have already said I take them with a grain of salt. I don't expect everything to go perfectly on my cruise but then again I dont expect a lot either. By that I mean I dont go into a cruise expecting 5 star food, having the most outgoing wait staff and super meticulous cabin steward. If the food is good and served with a smile and timely and my cabin is picked up...I will be happy. You have to make your own fun, I dont count on any cruise line to do that for me!

 

A bad day on a cruise is still better then a good day at work!!!;)

[sanditoes4]

I do read them just to get an idea of what goes on and what to expect!! I am NOT high maintenance, I do not require sparkling mineral water....tap water works awesome, I do not need to be waited on hand and foot....a friendly hello and doing their job is perfectly fine for me....and the food......well I am not grocery shopping-preparing or cleaning the kitchen.....the food rocks....it's good, fresh and actually hot when I eat it!!!! I don't get why these high maintenance people keep cruising, if it pisses them off so badly then stop putting yourself in the line of fire!!!! Would you keep going to the same resturant that kept giving terrible service??? NO, you'd do something different!!!!

A grain of salt is the only way to take the reviews....take the pieces of info you need, and leave all the cry baby stuff there!!!

[AmyinGA]

I read them when I am getting ready to book a cruise. Once I have booked I will go back and read the reviews for that ship/itenerary. I will also read the reviews for other ships on the same itenerary to get some port info. I love the reviews. When I see a negative review I always look at the background info given and what the cruisers expectations were.

 

For example, I had a friend that went on an Alaska cruise. When her family came back they were complaining about the food. When I asked why, it was because they didn't have crab legs on the menu every night and they thought that since they were cruising in Alaska that there would be crab legs every night. I had to giggle to myself. They had unrealistic expectations and didn't do their research before they went on the cruise. They let that effect their view of the cruise. If they had posted a review it would have been negative--so I always keep that in mind when I read a bad review.

[minnie00]

I have to say that all the scary reviews of Norwegian really scared me away from them. there were so many...thats what I was surprised at.

I also take them with a grain of salt but then it means something when 80% of the reviews say the same thing.

[Pisti]

I have to say that all the scary reviews of Norwegian really scared me away from them. there were so many...thats what I was surprised at.

 

I also take them with a grain of salt but then it means something when 80% of the reviews say the same thing.

 

I always read the reviews and like you the NCL reviews put me off. When my family wanted to try freestyle, the bonus being we wouldn't have to fly but could drive to NY, I REALLY paid attention to the reviews . I came to the conclusion that the people who really bomb NCL are the people who hate the freestyle experience. Now I read them with this in mind.;)

[burners]

I find as a genral rule that if someone isnt happy with something they will complain to anyone who will listen, but those who are happy dont spend as much time bragging about their cruise. That is why you will have more negative reviews then positive.You cant please everyone and if there is 2500 people on a ship someone is going to have an awful time and you are going to hear about it.They also tend to exagerate how awful everything was.Once one thing goes wrong they seem to look for more bad things to prove their point.It is up to you to have a good or bad cruise.

Last year before our Costa cruise I couldn't find a good review about our ship and was quite nervous about going.As it turned out it was a great ship and everything was perfect.I would sail Costa again no problem yet all the reviews would say NEVER AGAIN.You are on holidays , Relax and have fun

[critterchick]

I read them and I write them. I did see one review where the overall rating was a 1, but the writer raved about everything - I think he had gotten the scoring backwards!

 

I just like to see what others have to say, before and after I go. I also like to see others' impressions of cruises that I have been on. It's a fun way to pass the time!

[above sea level cruiser]

Are you talking about the reviews you can look for on the opening page of Cruise Critic (and are rated by the number of blue ribbons), or are you talking about some other website? :confused:

 

Yes, the ones on the opening page of CC

[above sea level cruiser]

I think most people with the 1 out of 10 reviews are just grinding their axes. I would not bother to read any of them because anyone who can go on any modern cruise ship and truly rate it 1 out of 10 is not someone I care to know what they think. JMHO:rolleyes:

 

jc

 

You are soooooo true. But the ones that give 1 star out of ten? No pleasing these people is what I say!!!

[ronandannette]

Perhaps people are posting those reviews on the Member Review section for these reasons:

 

1. That IS the place for thorough, detailed review - whether good or bad.

2. It is a "safe" place to make negative observations of your own personal experiences without getting flamed to a crisp and starting a thread-wide free for all that inevitably ends up getting ugly and quite often is censored.

 

I posted my own lengthy review to the Members Section after having brought some of it up on this main board. (And rough as it can get on here, I wouldn't dare to even have TRIED it on the NCL or Carinval boards). The reason I bothered writing it at all (besides catharsis:p) was to try and inform future cruisers that there HAVE been issues, MAY continue to be in the future and that thay NEED to be prepared. It's those of us who have only absorbed all the "perfect, wonderful, couldn't have been better" information that end up the most disappointed.

 

Happy Sails,

 

Annette