Organization of River Cruising Forums

The present arrangement of River Cruising forums is as follows:

• River Cruising is the general forum for all cruise lines and itineraries; it includes 243 pages of threads; 13 threads have been updated in the last 24 hours

• River Cruising Roll Calls includes roll calls for all cruise lines; it has 48 pages of threads; 13 threads have been updated in the last 24 hours

• River Cruise Ports – Asia [“includes (but not limited to) all ports along the Yangtze & Mekong rivers”] has a total of 8 threads; the last update was 2 days ago

• River Cruise Ports – Europe, Including Russia [“including (but not limited to) ports on the Danube, Rhine, Rhone, Seine, Elbe Rivers as well as Volga & Svir Rivers”] has 10 pages of threads; 5 threads have been updated in the last 24 hours

• River Cruise Ports – North America [“including (but not limited to) ports on the Mississippi & Hudson Rivers”] has a total of 5 threads; the last update was 11 days ago

• River Cruise Ports – All Other [“including (but not limited to) ports on the Amazon, Nile and other Rivers”] has a total of 1 thread; it was last updated 6 days ago

I compiled these statistics to show the small size and frequency of all the River Cruise forums. With this little activity, I don’t think we need to subdivide any further.

It could be argued that there is so little activity that everything could be combined into one forum, but I think there is a logic to the above division that is helpful when figuring out where to look for a particular type of discussion.

It also seems to me that the general River Cruising forum and the River Cruising Roll Calls forum are working well. Their mission is clear to most posters, and the level of activity makes them easy to monitor.

The problem, as I see it, lies in the River Cruise Ports forums. The topics of the postings in these forums include particular ports, particular rivers, particular upcoming cruises; reviews of particular cruises; particular ships; and entire cruise lines. Many posters suggest that a thread would be better placed in the general River Cruising Forum, and some threads are double posted in both areas.

Here is my initial idea to clear up this confusion:

• the descriptions of the River Cruise Ports forums should be changed to: “limited to discussions of excursion or embarkation points in [this geographic area]”

• posts regarding cruise lines, ships, and completed cruises should be moved to the general River Cruising forum

• posts regarding particular upcoming cruises should be moved to the River Cruising Roll Calls forum

There are two questions that I would like to get feedback on:

(1) Does this seem like a good idea?

(2) Should discussions of itineraries [e.g. Rhine River Cruises] go in the general River Cruising forum or in the appropriate River Cruise Ports forum [e.g. Europe]?

My opinion is that of a veteran message board user and a newbie to the River Cruising forum (best to get the biases out of the way upfront ;-)

1. I like the suggested change for the description of the different forums. I will probably not ever use the ports of call, preferring other options if I have questions about a port. As for the Roll Calls, I also like the "lumping" that occurs because it's so rare a chance that you'd find another CC poster on your exact cruise. For instance, I am an active participant in the Christmas Market 2014 thread - I think there is one other person who will be on my boat and I'm not sure that poster has made a post in months. But the rest of us are sharing flight info, travel info, packing info etc.

2)I would prefer that itinerary questions go into the "main" forum, esp because it seems that itinerary questions are inextricably linked to "which cruiseline" questions.

(quite honestly, I'm one who thinks we could make do with two forum only - Main and Roll Calls, so.....I can be a bit of a minimalist ;-)

People do not post in the river cruise roll calls because they are such a mess

Everything is lumped together & people give up looking

Many have asked for them to at least be sectioned off by cruise line/ship as in the Ocean going roll calls

They may or may not be others on the same cruise but it is too frustrating to search in the existing mess :eek:

Welcome aboard

Lyn

...

• River Cruising Roll Calls includes roll calls for all cruise lines; it has 48 pages of threads; 13 threads have been updated in the last 24 hours

...

Where do I find River Cruising Roll Calls?

I kind of like leaving as is. I feel too many sub categories causes confusion and cross posting. I am on another board that is MUCH more active and it is structured like it is currently here.

Where do I find River Cruising Roll Calls?

There's a link at the top of the screen.

"River Cruising Find Others on Your River Cruise! River Cruising Roll Calls"

I think there is some confusion in the "Roll Call" area as questions keep getting asked there that are more general and could be put separately---leaving the Roll Call for just that "roll calls". It is hard to find others on similar trips thru all the threads.

It is also helpful when folks use a more detailed description in their thread titles.

Is it possible to move like threads together?

I think there is some confusion in the "Roll Call" area as questions keep getting asked there that are more general and could be put separately---leaving the Roll Call for just that "roll calls". It is hard to find others on similar trips thru all the threads.

It is also helpful when folks use a more detailed description in their thread titles.

Is it possible to move like threads together? Perhaps the different companies could have their own section… Scenic/AMA/Viking/Vantage/GCT, etc. as the cruise lines have their own?

Since the search feature hasn't been functional it has been difficult to locate specific threads (i.e. I've been looking for Paris information)

Jazzbeau, I like your idea of condensing all the port sub-boards into one. For questions about itineraries, if it's really about the ports or suggestions for which one to take, it can go in ports, but often times, people are really asking about which cruise line to try. I don't think it's a huge issue though and people usually get their questions answered.

I disagree that this board is such a "mess" that people are prevented from posting. Rather, it's just such a niche category for cruising that not as many people have done a river cruise and thus, do not post here.

I don't think separate river cruise companies should be given individual sub-boards because most posts are asking to compare cruise lines and there aren't enough cruise line-specific posts to populate separate sub-boards.

I agree with your suggestions regarding the 'Ports' sub boards. Ports does not mean rivers. Rivers should be in general.

People do not post in the river cruise roll calls because they are such a mess

Everything is lumped together & people give up looking

 

Many have asked for them to at least be sectioned off by cruise line/ship as in the Ocean going roll calls

They may or may not be others on the same cruise but it is too frustrating to search in the existing mess :eek:

 

Welcome aboard

 

Lyn

I would like sub boards for the various cruise lines. Admittedly some will get very little traffic but at least you could have a bit of a chance of finding what you were looking for.

I think that all that is needed is a general River Cruising Forum and one on Roll Calls.

With the Roll Calls Forum, I feel that the generic river or area roll calls get alot more interest than the individual cruises, eg All French Waterways Cruises or Paris/Normady All ships.

All the forums have been quite a mess lately, so it'd be really good to have some order returned to them. JMHO

Deb

When I brought this same subject up in another thread my purpose there was to have the vast majority of threads in the "Ports of call" board moved into the main RC Board. At this point in time if you look at the first eight threads on the Ports board six of them have nothing to do with a Port activity and are all general questions that should be on this main board. It will be a little time consuming to do this but then all relevant topics will be in their correct place. It is almost impossible to know where to look for information under this present scheme irrespective of whether the search function works or not.

We are an active little community but IMO we need less places to look and more diligence in moving threads that are in the wrong area. Jazzbeau I would support your initial thoughts on this matter.

Rod

I'm one of those who do NOT want individual subcategories for cruise lines. Most of the cruise lines do the same itineraries and it's useful to hear what others are considering doing and reviews and feedback on the trip regardless of the specific line. I really like the Christmas Markets - All Lines, and the Russia River Cruises - All Lines - 2013, and All French Waterways for example. Two threads I found most helpful were the Viking China threads, even though we didn't sail with Viking, and I think there are others like me who got good info even though they weren't going with Viking, at least based on posts I've read on those threads. So I think sub dividing by cruise lines would be a huge distraction. As far as the Roll Calls, I think specific roll calls for specific sailings are not very helpful. You're really lucky if you find anyone else on your sailing. The more general Roll Calls seem to get much more traffic. My two cents anyway.

I agree with your suggestions regarding the 'Ports' sub boards. Ports does not mean rivers. Rivers should be in general.

 

 

 

I would like sub boards for the various cruise lines. Admittedly some will get very little traffic but at least you could have a bit of a chance of finding what you were looking for.

I have just reread what I wrote - i should have said that I would like sub boards for the various cruise lines IN THE ROLLS CALLS SECTION

A thread called All Scenic River Cruises is not very helpful, but a sub heading All Scenic River Cruises would be great.

I agree that the general River Cruising section should not be broken down into cruise lines.

Jazzbeau,

I totally agree with you. River threads should be in the general river cruise forum like the "all Christmas market cruises" threads.

You may consider Sticky Threads for certain cruise lines like "all Viking" for cruise line specific questions.

You may also consider subforums in the roll call section for cruise lines, especially Viking and maybe others depending on how many roll calls are currently for a certain line.

steamboats

 

 

(quite honestly, I'm one who thinks we could make do with two forum only - Main and Roll Calls, so.....I can be a bit of a minimalist ;-)

I agree with Hoyaheel--two main forums only, please. There isn't enough traffic in river cruises to warrant breaking up the discussion into such finite areas.

River cruises are a different animal than ocean cruises, which carry 10 times more passengers per sailing and therefore have 10 times the number of people participating. River cruise forums and roll calls will never be as busy in terms of the sheer number of posts generated.

I also think that long lived threads by itinerary (like the Viking China thread) are the way to go for river cruises and that they should be in the river cruise section, not the roll call section. Roll calls should be the place to meet people and chat about your upcoming cruise while the threads in the river section should be the place to gather information and ask questions of those who have already taken the cruise (if they would be so kind as to continue to follow the thread after they have returned and share their knowledge with future passengers).

.

I think that all that is needed is a general River Cruising Forum and one on Roll Calls.

 

With the Roll Calls Forum, I feel that the generic river or area roll calls get alot more interest than the individual cruises, eg All French Waterways Cruises or Paris/Normady All ships.

 

 

All the forums have been quite a mess lately, so it'd be really good to have some order returned to them. JMHO

 

 

Deb

Very valid points.

I concur on having two forums - one for general river cruises and another for roll calls.

I also think catchall topics like "Christmas markets 2014" should be in the general river cruise forum, as they are only visible for those who are CC members.

Methinks that there are more readers of the CC forums who do not register than there are for those who take the time to register and post. These readers have no idea that a general discussion about a particular topic even exists.

I would opt for the general River Cruise Forum and just a second for Roll Calls. Perhaps at some point some sub-categories are created (maybe by cruise line), but we are not there yet in terms of traffic. Thanks.

I have completed my first pass at moving threads from the several "Ports" forums to this main one.

About half of the "Europe" threads ended up here. ALL the threads from the other sub-forums ended up here (but each of those only had a handful of threads).

So I'm thinking that "-Asia", "-North America", and "-All Other" do not serve a purpose.

"-Europe" did have quite a few threads about specific ports. Take a look at it now and give me feedback on whether it should continue as a sub-forum.

Thanks.

Looks much better. Thanks. However I'd get rid of Ports section all together so folks would be able to read/answer all threads in 1 place. Or maybe create a general threads for europe ports etc.. and keep those threads on top if it is doable...

I have completed my first pass at moving threads from the several "Ports" forums to this main one.

 

About half of the "Europe" threads ended up here. ALL the threads from the other sub-forums ended up here (but each of those only had a handful of threads).

 

So I'm thinking that "-Asia", "-North America", and "-All Other" do not serve a purpose.

 

"-Europe" did have quite a few threads about specific ports. Take a look at it now and give me feedback on whether it should continue as a sub-forum.

 

Thanks.

I think simpler is better. It could be confusing to leave a Europe ports of call forum and have no others as people could see the Europe ports of call forum and wonder where the others are. :confused: I would suggest that if you leave the Europe ports of call forum that you then have an "All Other" ports of call forum or else move the Europe ports of call into the general river cruise forum too.

I have completed my first pass at moving threads from the several "Ports" forums to this main one.

 

About half of the "Europe" threads ended up here. ALL the threads from the other sub-forums ended up here (but each of those only had a handful of threads).

 

So I'm thinking that "-Asia", "-North America", and "-All Other" do not serve a purpose.

 

"-Europe" did have quite a few threads about specific ports. Take a look at it now and give me feedback on whether it should continue as a sub-forum.

 

Thanks.

Thank you for your work on this! Was wondering if there could be a post under RollCall that could list ALL trips for all cruise lines. Perhaps by month and then cruise line? Folks would probably need to copy it to add their trip.

e.g.

2014

March

Viking…Russia…. so&so 3/5

Vantage…Tulips so&so 3/16

Scenic….Budapest so & so 3/21

MAY

AMA… Danube marytim 5/15

Vantage…French Waterways sam&julie 5/20

RE: Ports of Call - I understand that the ports are different, but why can't River Cruisers join Ocean Cruisers in the already-existing Ports of Call board section? That is segmented regionally and somewhat more heavily trafficked than the river cruise section.....Many people who love to travel will have visited Prague or Vienna or Paris and can give general touring recommendations without having knowledge of river cruising.....

RE: Ports of Call - I understand that the ports are different, but why can't River Cruisers join Ocean Cruisers in the already-existing Ports of Call board section? That is segmented regionally and somewhat more heavily trafficked than the river cruise section.....Many people who love to travel will have visited Prague or Vienna or Paris and can give general touring recommendations without having knowledge of river cruising.....

Excellent idea…

RE: Ports of Call - I understand that the ports are different, but why can't River Cruisers join Ocean Cruisers in the already-existing Ports of Call board section? That is segmented regionally and somewhat more heavily trafficked than the river cruise section.....Many people who love to travel will have visited Prague or Vienna or Paris and can give general touring recommendations without having knowledge of river cruising.....

Great Idea! There is already lots of good info and duplication on ports of call over in the ocean cruising ports of call forum. :)