No Links To Websites Allowed....

[Host Caroline]

Just a friendly reminder that lately there have been some links in new threads to websites selling cruises. As you know from the guidelines this isn't permitted. The cruises can certainly be discussed etc but links to agencies promoting them are not allowed.

Thanks in advance for your cooperation..

[Cruise Cat]

Hey Caro,
I haven't done it in awhile, but I have posted such links in this forum before. One of the problems in this section has been that rarely, if ever, do the cruiselines themselves offer any "Theme" cruising. It's indepenent travel agencies that offer the themes, usually by having you sign up on a group cruise. So, posters here have always 'bent' the travel agency link posting rule here just a bit.

Maybe something has happened and it has gotten out of hand, I don't know. Just offering some feedback.....

[ncsufan]

Hi Caroline,
I noticed links on the threads for harley cruises, Star Trek, dance cruises, & Kenny Chesney. Are those allowed??

[brendaisbored]

I think I may have caused this to be posted. I swear I posted a reply to a comment last night but this morning it was gone. Although *shrug* I dunno. Someone had asked for a link and I gave it. If someone requests one, is there a different way we should handle it?

[beckysoap]

this will be the first annual soap cruise. it will feature 10 soap stars from several different soaps. anybody else going besides me on this cruise

[dr.evil]

Caroline,

I'm not sure if you are refering to my Barenaked Ladies post. I did include one link that might fit your parameters. If it does, please feel free to delete the one link. If anyone wants more information they can email me and I will send them the link.

Thanks for providing this great board.

Dr. Evil

(Chris)

[malachy]

from CC guidelines:

"There shall be no third-party recommendation of travel agencies on any forums within Cruise Critic. General discussions regarding the TYPE of AGENCY to be used to purchase a cruise will be allowed, as long as no recommendations for any source of purchase are posted."

How would one share info about booking a charter cruise, bookable through one TA exclusively, without violating this guideline?

[Host Mick]

Originally Posted by malachy

from CC guidelines:

"There shall be no third-party recommendation of travel agencies on any forums within Cruise Critic. General discussions regarding the TYPE of AGENCY to be used to purchase a cruise will be allowed, as long as no recommendations for any source of purchase are posted."

How would one share info about booking a charter cruise, bookable through one TA exclusively, without violating this guideline?

Therein lies the rub.
Clever members will find a way to talk about specific cruises without discussing the name of the travel agent. Say for example: "I heard about that Eddie Munster Fan Club Carnival cruise leaving Miami on Aug 10th. I'm going to book it." With that, all of the other Eddie Munster fans can do a Yahoo search and find the TA on their own without violating the Cruisecrtic.com guidelines.
It could be easier to just bend the rules a bit but that rule isn't bending.

[Smokeyham]

I understand the desire not to have the boards turn into a giant advertising area, but as other posters have noted, not being able to post a website for a themed cruise really makes it difficult to have a discussion about it!

The websites are often the very information which other cruisers are looking for, so perhaps just changing the rule to prohibit outright advertising would be helpful. I suspect users would self-police this, and report any violations of such a rule very quickly, while appreciating the greater flexibility than is currently offered with an outright ban.

[CruzeGal58]

I am a producer of a theme cruise and I agree that staying in the boundries of the site are very important. It is very easy to do an engine search for whatever you might have an interest. There is also a web site that only lists theme cruises and can be found at theme cruise finders web site. They list over 500 theme cruises (who would have thought).

[lindaship]

It's a good idea to not allow links, this would quickly turn into pure advertising board if TA's were allowed to post links, so agreed!

[sbglobal2012]

If you take the time and look at how websites are structured, you would notice that there are many websites that lack corporate information and ones that dive just right into their products.