How many cruisers utilize message boards before their cruise?

[fig414]

1: 0-10%

2: 10-25%

3: 25-50%

4: 50-75%

5: Over 75%

 

This is obviously very subjective, but I'm curious to know what everyone thinks.

[sue d. miller]

I would guess #2. We have 100,000+ members here on all the boards. There are other boards out there, but I think CC is the most well known and most utilized. When you think of all the ships out there every week, and most of them sailing full, that leaves a lot of cruisers, basically sailing blind. :eek:

[Desertbelle]

I would bet it's more like 2%...maybe less.

 

Just look at the roll calls, it's a great roll call if you can find 20 people...and that's out of 2000+ on a ship.

[TexEm]

I voted for 0-10%, but I sure would like to see it be over 75%. I just found cruisecritic a couple of months before our 4th cruise, and it sure made a world of difference! At first DH thought I was crazy, spending time on these boards, then we'd talk about different questions about the cruise, and he'd say, "Ask your friends on cruisecritic" and he was serious. I spread the word to my SIL and BIL and they loved cruisecritic--everyone found out so much that was so helpful. At one point I thought maybe I had too much information, but when we got on board I realized you can never have too much information! So, spread the word--TAs should tell their clients about these boards.

[BJS]

It's hard to believe but many people do not even know what ship they will be cruising on or what cruise line. Forget asking most people what the cruise itinerary is because you'll only get answers like Caribbean, etc. I met a woman today going Sept. 2, 2004 on a Panama Canal cruise and when I asked her what ship her reply was "I don't know we have not got our papers yet". This is a woman who has cruised at least 4 or 5 times. :eek:

 

When ever I mention CC to those I meet on the ships or those that cruise but are off the ships they have no idea what CC even is.

 

That is why you often see posted here that something is a "big deal" here on the boards but when you get on the ship it is not really that important.

[isujim]

I agree with Desertbelle..........I think it is a very small percentage that actually utilize the cruise critic boards before they sail. I would say around 5% or so.....

 

Just a guess

 

Jim

[jocountry]

I would have to agree, I picked #2 because it is really incredible how few people reply to the posts. I thought it was just me...lol

 

I am a Royal Caribbean cruiser, going on Carnival for the first time Sept 28th, 04 on the Legend. Really looking forward to a new adventure...

 

Anyone with any comments or suggestions welcome :)

 

Joanne.

[jemingway]

I guessed less than 10%.:(

[cnmiranda]

I'd guess around 25-35%. I was surprised on my most recent cruise that a fair number already knew about cruisecritic, but the majority of them had no idea, and they also didn't use the internet for research. many went by their trael agent's WOM. :)

[relevart]

My guess is < 1%. I looked at a British website and they said that 1 million Brits cruise every year. So add the rest of the world to that and it is a very small percentage

[gracekelley]

I absoulutely love this board and feel like I have found new friends. I do agree that not many cruisers use this handy reference. I mentioned it to my travel agent and she didn't even know it existed. I told her that she should recommend it to future clients as there is more info here than any one person could ever share in a booking appointment. Grace

[curly4dana]

i'm with you grace! i would never, ever cruise again without hitting this board again! i found it last year about 6 months before our rci cruise and it has been such a source of information, friendship and an all around wonderful experience, that i tell everyone i know all about it!!!

 

i sailed with isujim on the brilliance last april and we had a group of almost 70 adults on our cc board! what a great time we had on the cruise because we were traveling with "family".

 

it's a shame that the percentage isn't closer to 75%.

[maggiew]

100% of Cruise Critic members :)

[JimandLouise]

I'm with the people in the 0 - 10% area...probably 1 - 2 %.Although this is a great resource that everyone should use, there are millions of people who cruise each year - I think that we're in a minority here - but a minority I'm glad to be a part of.

[JanetMarie]

My vote is for #1. I had read a survey somewhere stating the actual percentage of passengers who peruse these boards....and I believe it was under 10%. There are millions of people who cruise and I can't imagine it would be higher than that.

[sunluva7]

I go with #1. Two years ago we met about 20 people on CC before our Grand Princess sailing. Last year, we met NO ONE before sailing Carnival Imagination. So I guess it depends. I can't imagine what my first cruise would have been like if I had not read these boards beforehand. :D

[Angiem]

I am surprised at the low percent that use these boards. I have learned so many useful things here that I wouldn't dream of cruising without coming here to see everyone's opinion. It is most helpful when choosing excursions.

 

Angie M

[jnwfla]

I would guess it's about 1% - 2%. While these types of boards can be very helpful, I would suspect that most people believe they can handle taking a vacation without requiring a lot of research. However, if more people knew about these boards, i would think you could get that number up to 2% - 4%.

[spongerob]

It has to be a very small number who actually "use" the boards. Many might be aware of the info that is out there, but (like me) probably just look for ship reviews prior to their first cruise. We do seem to get those who post their complaints after they cruise - in many cases, had they been a little better informed beforehand, they would not have been so disappointed when things like missed ports interrupt a cruise.

[isujim]

Hi dana:

 

Saw your post...........we did have a great group on the Brilliance. One thing that I think helps on RC cruises is the fact the cruise line really gets behind cruise critic........in some capacity........and I haven't ever figured this out (although it must be financial help I'm guessing)........

 

As dana mentioned we had over 70 at our cruise critic party and on our cruise on the Splendour we had 118.........still, that is a very small % when you consider the number of people on the ship.

 

Jim

[Estelle]

I also guessed #1.

 

I discovered CruiseCritic the summer before our cruise on the Infinity and have used it constantly since then to plan our next 2 cruises and a gift cruise we gave to my parents.

 

We had a very active roll call for our Mariner cruise - probably about 60-70 people - much higher than usual - and it made the experience even greater. The ship was sold out so that means about 2% of the ship had used this board before sailing. Whenever I mentioned it to anyone we met on board that hadn't been part of our roll call they had never heard of it and some of them had cruised quite a few times already.

 

I think if you are talking about regular repeat cruisers the number would probably go up to about 25%.

[PeabodyNVL]

It has to be a very small number who actually "use" the boards. Many might be aware of the info that is out there, but (like me) probably just look for ship reviews prior to their first cruise. We do seem to get those who post their complaints after they cruise - in many cases, had they been a little better informed beforehand, they would not have been so disappointed when things like missed ports interrupt a cruise.

Let's see some numbers...if you have a ship with 2500 passengers, 1% would be 25 passengers (not posters), 10% would be 250. Some of our gatherings have garnered responses where 75 people said they would show for our meeting...so that's 3% right there. That's just this one board...and only people who want to mingle (many people lurk on the boards)...there are probably others onboard that use other boards. Hmmm.

 

I'd say probably around 5% have actually checked out some sort of cruise message board.

[Northender]

I sort of disagree with the low numbers. Now you all may very well be correct, but there are many lurkers out there - I really don't like the word lurker, should change it to perusers. I for one was a peruser on many cruise boards before I just got the guts to put my toe in the water. Of course, now you can't shut me up :eek: So I am going for the higher side of the margin and say #3, 25 - 50% :) We are certainly not the only cruise forum out there, but darn it, we are the best. Could not have had as much fun on our first cruise without all the info I was armed with from here. :) :)

[WillB]

The total cruise ship capacity is 225,000. Factoring in how full the ships might be and how many of the 100,000 cruise critic members are actually cruising in a year, I'd say the figure is 5% at most.

[AmyinGA]

Based on the number of clueless cruise people that I have met on cruises it has to be less then 10%. Luckily the great CC people that I have met make up for the people that don't know what a cruise is about.