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Porttime.com replacement??

Darkwolfe

By Darkwolfe,
in Ask a Cruise Question

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Darkwolfe

Darkwolfe

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Well, with porttime.com now gone the way of the dodo (darn it), I'm having about zero luck finding anything comparable to use in place of it.

 

Cruiseclues is not what you would call user-friendly and the other sites I've looked at so far either insist that you pay or take a download to see their info. (Hmm.. nope, not doing that.)

 

Wish we could talk CC into picking up the site and adding it to the tools already here. It would be a wonderful addition to the resources.

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Keith1010 "Live from...." Rare

Keith1010

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As you can imagine it is a very labor intensive web site to maintain. Unfortunately I would not expect CC to provide these types of capabilities given how time consuming it would be.

 

While it was interesting to know which cruise ships would be in a particular port for me this is something we can live without. Some cruise ports home pasges do show what ships will be in port on a particular day. For example one can get this information for the one in San Perdo, CA.

 

Keith

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LauraS Holiday Sharing Rare

LauraS

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Wish we could talk CC into picking up the site and adding it to the tools already here. It would be a wonderful addition to the resources.

 

As folks have mentioned, the way cruisecal and porttime were collecting the info is the downfall. It is collected and inputted manually. We're looking into this, and we know there are "feeds" out there with this type of info; we'd LOVE to offer this to our readers/members. Maybe one day....

 

However, we have so much on our plates lately that it wouldn't be "soon", even if we could talk someone into sharing feeds.

 

Laura

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6502programmer

6502programmer

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We're looking into this, and we know there are "feeds" out there with this type of info; we'd LOVE to offer this to our readers/members. Maybe one day....

 

What are the feeds? The best I was able to come up with (and I already did the thought exercise regarding what it would take to make the site work) was scraping each line's site, or scraping a TA site. Is there something readily available that could be imported? The site itself is simple, and could be banged out in less than 40 hours, even with full-on integration with something like Joomla or OpenCMS for the non-dynamic elements like port information, links to tour operators in the sites, etc. As you've already stated, the problem is updating the information on the site.

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Darkwolfe

Darkwolfe

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LauraS- I think you just found a volunteer! ;) 6502programmer sounds like a poster with the basics already covered!

 

I won't argue that it's something that we can "live without", but porttime did a very good job of giving a good clue as to how much traffic to expect when you reached a certain port. When you know how bad the crowds will be (or not) that will tell you several things.

 

You can determine how hard it may be to get a specific tour and which port is going to be your best for bargaining in the stores. That's just a couple of examples.

 

I know (from looking before porttime closed) that St Lucia has only our ship in port on the day we stop there. QM2 is the only ship in port with us at St Thomas for another. You get the idea.

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  • 3 months later...
TropicalPorts

TropicalPorts

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I have just finished writing a 2009 cruise ship tracking program. Please be advised this program is a beta and do not use it for booking purposes, it is purely an entertainment/fun sort of thing, I hope you all enjoy it.

 

It includes actual maps with ship paths (kinda like you see on board the cruise ships) and interactive maps where you can add different sights and places.

 

Cruise Ship Tracking

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eh2zed

eh2zed

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While I use the sites listed, if I am really concerned I google "Location" Port Authority. Usually the port authority has a websbsite with a vessel calendar on it. This is probably the most accurate and up to date. Often it will also list berthing location which can be a factor in some locations. eg. www.viport.com for St. Thomas. It gives dates, ships and berthing info.

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California Native

California Native

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Hi Everyone..

Port Time shut down because he wasn't making money off his ads and it was way too time consuming otherwise...I bet in retrospect there's alot of us who would have happily paid a small fee!

I use a combination of websites, because not ONE website has every ship

I also google the port authority...

If you want you can check my list on our personal website

I will continue to update as I find more resources!

http://ourpassportstamps.com/Karen_s_Cruise_Corner.html

Bon Voyage!

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