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Tips & Tricks for preparing a cruise review - Carnival Pride March 12th


LaMchop31
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Hello Fellow Cruisers

 

My BF and I are very excited and looking forward to our upcoming cruise on the Carnival Pride March 12th. In preparing for our cruise I have devoured some of the really great reviews posted by others. I want to be able to pay it forward and write a review about our cruise and post it and share with others here. Posting the review is for us also - what a great way to relive those memories over again.

 

 

For the review readers - what makes a good review. Is there anything missing from below?

I like ...

* pics of the room

* the food - food porn is always welcome. Especially if its something amazing or if its something that disappointed

* I could take or leave the daily - Fun Times ??

* I love the process pics - MikeyA53 posted the port parking process for Baltimore - I'm going to be studying these prior to driving to the port.

* and i never get tired of the pics around the boat. I'm hoping it gives us clues to hopefully not get losted while out exploring.

* Excursions - details - which one to take and what to skip

 

For the review writers - There are some folks that put in a great deal of effort into these and its very appreciated by me. As a first time cruiser, its a lot of new processes and different location all at once. So those reviews have helped to give the new kid a head start on what to do and expect potentially :)

 

For the review writers - how do you write a good review.

What do you do??

* journal or notes - I saw MikeyA53 taking note in one pic on a cruise review - do you do this daily?

* do you bring a pad and pen with you?

* how do you organize your pics, what tools, process do you use for this - ie make daily folders, or just upload them all, keep the date thingy on all your pics?

* Save every scrap of paper and stuff handed out? - do you write notes in the margins, do you get a duplicate Fun times and jot down details?

* do you write out you review day by day - do you write them all out and then post. or do you write a day and then post. And then repeat until the end? Do you prep them in MS Word and then copy and paste?

* do you edit after you post - fix grammar, etc or do you just let it go.

 

BTW - ** I have requested a name change so I will be LaMChop31 in the future - so this post writer could change names in the future.

 

 

Thanks in advance for your feedback and advise

LaMChop31 (AKA Murphlaa@gmail.com)

Edited by murphlaa@gmail.com
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I don't know the answers, but I am so glad you posted these questions! I, too, am interested in writing a review of our upcoming May Pride cruise with little ones. I have many of the same questions that you posted...looking forward to hearing from some of the "greats" of the review world!

 

Thanks again!

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Review readers may like to read about the following:

Details about the stage shows, comedy club and fun activities etc.

Details about the gift shop "sales" (good for first time cruises)

Details about getting off the ship in each port

Discussion about lines waiting for food, shows, tenders (not on your cruise) etc.

Discussion on the ship cleanliness

 

Enjoy your cruise and have fun!!!!

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Remember, this is your VACATION! Don't spend ALL your time trying to memorialize it for others! Give a broad overview...folks will ask specific questions that you can answer! I mean...it's TIME OFF...so don't make it a JOB!

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As someone whose reviews have gotten larger as I gain more cruising (and reviewing) experience, one thing I can tell you is that these things are not "one size fits all". Some may like your review and/or style, others might not. I take TONS of pictures and they help me remember relevant things. If I really, really don't want to forget something I take a picture and make a note of it either on the phone or when I get back to the ship in a piece of paper. Just be yourself, write about YOUR experience and (sometimes the hardest part) try to keep a balance between showing people what you saw, while leaving enough unsaid so that you don't spoil too much for someone who's not taken that cruise you did.

 

I'm writing this on the CC app so my signature will probably not show but I have three reviews up and you can see how they've grown from a few pages and pics to a huge thing with a whole bunch a pics.

 

All in all, don't forget to have fun and enjoy your cruise. You're on vacation and that comes first!!

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Forums mobile app

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  • 4 weeks later...
Remember, this is your VACATION! Don't spend ALL your time trying to memorialize it for others! Give a broad overview...folks will ask specific questions that you can answer! I mean...it's TIME OFF...so don't make it a JOB!

 

I liked your response...so true.

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To the OP, or any others who are considering doing a review. BE YOURSELF. There is no template for doing a review, because if there were they all would be the same and be boring. Develop your own style, and most of all, HAVE FUN.

I spend very little time while on a cruise working on the review. I spend a few minutes a couple times a day making notes in a journal. My last cruise was the first time that I took my laptop with me, so every other day or so I would download the photos from the cameras and reject the poor ones, and prepare the rest for upload. That's it. The real work happens when you get home. It is a ton of work, but It should be a labor of love, or you shouldn't do it

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I do reviews of lots of places in clouding cruise ships. Each one is different. I would say tell us what you liked and did not like and why. I also include observations of things I see in other people's reviews. For example, lots of people complain about cheers or FTTF. I got both last time and confirmed or denied all those complaints based on my experience.

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Forums mobile app

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To the OP, or any others who are considering doing a review. BE YOURSELF. There is no template for doing a review, because if there were they all would be the same and be boring. Develop your own style, and most of all, HAVE FUN.

I spend very little time while on a cruise working on the review. I spend a few minutes a couple times a day making notes in a journal. My last cruise was the first time that I took my laptop with me, so every other day or so I would download the photos from the cameras and reject the poor ones, and prepare the rest for upload. That's it. The real work happens when you get home. It is a ton of work, but It should be a labor of love, or you shouldn't do it

Jamman, you are the KING of reviews!!! OP, hope you decide to write a review. We have been in dry dock since last March and are not going on another cruise until September and I have SERIOUS WITHDRAWL and live vicariously thru others! :o Especially Pride and Sunshine, the 2 ships we have booked! :cool:

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I generally do mine on my iPad (with a Bluetooth keyboard) using Pages, each night when we get back to the room before turning in. I enjoy doing it as I re-live the day and find it a great way to unwind.

 

I wish I was as eloquent or entertaining as some posters on this site but I try and share my experiences, menus, service and entertainment type of stuff.

 

I take a good amount of photos but generally pick the tops photos and use the tapatalk app to post them to the forum.

 

At the end I agree with the other posters thus far, do you, write how and what you want and use it for something beneficial to you. Most importantly enjoy the cruise!

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Hello Fellow Cruisers

 

My BF and I are very excited and looking forward to our upcoming cruise on the Carnival Pride March 12th. In preparing for our cruise I have devoured some of the really great reviews posted by others. I want to be able to pay it forward and write a review about our cruise and post it and share with others here. Posting the review is for us also - what a great way to relive those memories over again.

 

 

For the review readers - what makes a good review. Is there anything missing from below?

I like ...

* pics of the room

* the food - food porn is always welcome. Especially if its something amazing or if its something that disappointed

* I could take or leave the daily - Fun Times ??

* I love the process pics - MikeyA53 posted the port parking process for Baltimore - I'm going to be studying these prior to driving to the port.

* and i never get tired of the pics around the boat. I'm hoping it gives us clues to hopefully not get losted while out exploring.

* Excursions - details - which one to take and what to skip

 

For the review writers - There are some folks that put in a great deal of effort into these and its very appreciated by me. As a first time cruiser, its a lot of new processes and different location all at once. So those reviews have helped to give the new kid a head start on what to do and expect potentially :)

 

For the review writers - how do you write a good review.

What do you do??

* journal or notes - I saw MikeyA53 taking note in one pic on a cruise review - do you do this daily? No, don't do this with the exception of what we had for dinner. After dinner, I'll jot down what we had for dinner and in the review, I include our opinions on it. I'll also write down names (wait staff; cabin steward/assistants; bartenders; etc.) to remember them. Fellow passengers we get to know...I will not post names in reviews out of respect for privacy. I can pretty much remember what we did, but the date/time stamps on pictures are also a big help.

 

 

* do you bring a pad and pen with you? No. We haven't cruised since September 2015, so I don't know if Carnival still does this, but a nice pen and a small note pad were in the cabin when we boarded, so bringing them wasn't necessary.

 

 

* how do you organize your pics, what tools, process do you use for this - ie make daily folders, or just upload them all, keep the date thingy on all your pics? When we get home, I save them onto the computer all at once in one folder. Once that is done, I'll make folders for each day of the cruise and label them by date then name of the port so that they are in order. From there, I'll check the "date" of the pictures and cut and past them to the appropriate folder. Once that is done, I edit some. We only have the photo editing that came with our computer, nothing fancy. I don't do a lot of editing other than straightening pictures that are crooked or some cropping on some. Once that's done, then I upload to the host site so I can add them to CC. I had a little fiasco a few years ago where one of my cameras didn't have the correct date and all pictures were out of order. So I make sure that I go into the menu of each camera I'm taking and make sure dates/times are all correct and the same on every one. I can sort in order of time taken, so that is a big help, especially when writing the review and I can just follow the pictures along for what we did instead of doing a journal or taking notes while on the cruise.

 

 

* Save every scrap of paper and stuff handed out? - do you write notes in the margins, do you get a duplicate Fun times and jot down details? We do tend to keep the handouts, including the Fun Times, in the folder we bring our Fun Pass and other needed documentation in for the cruise, including confirmation for private tours. But no, I haven't written on them. As mentioned above, I follow the pictures' date/time stamps instead of taking notes.

 

 

* do you write out you review day by day - do you write them all out and then post. or do you write a day and then post. And then repeat until the end? Do you prep them in MS Word and then copy and paste? I write them once we are home and pictures uploaded to follow along with. I do it all in MS Word and copy and past. The last time I did a review, that didn't quite work out since the spacing between paragraphs was all off (double, triple spaced) and looked kind of sloppy.

 

 

* do you edit after you post - fix grammar, etc or do you just let it go. IF I notice something misspelled/grammar and there is still time afterward. You only have a certain amount of time to edit.

 

BTW - ** I have requested a name change so I will be LaMChop31 in the future - so this post writer could change names in the future.

 

 

Thanks in advance for your feedback and advise

LaMChop31 (AKA Murphlaa@gmail.com)

 

I've done three reviews, but I'm no expert and FAR from it. I have read many reviews and got some great information and ideas of what to do in ports. I honestly did get to the point where I felt a little guilty each time I'd read a review by someone else. Guilty for using valuable information they provide so we could get the most out of our cruises. So I finally decided to make a contribution to rid myself of the guilt trip.

 

 

Just being honest here...reviews can take a lot of time. I still don't know how some of the others can start getting these great reviews with lots of pictures up within days of returning from a cruise. With me, there is always something, so it takes me at least a month to prepare (getting pictures uploaded/sorted, then writing it out in MS Word to copy/past) to even start a review. I have seen many comments in reviews done by others were the person commenting seems a little impatient waiting for the next updates. That will happen, so expect that, but life can get in the way. There will be some that will critique, not many, but they do exist, so you can expect that. There will be many who comment words of encouragement and it's those comments that always make it seem worth putting in the effort. There will be many questions where someone may want more details, so you do want to try to answer those. There are many great, and long time reviewers here on CC and those reviews are the "go to reviews" for a lot of CC members, so if you are a new review writer, don't get discouraged if it seems that not many are reading and/or commenting. I was getting a little discouraged on my last review and honestly, I almost gave up on it, but it was the words of encouragement by a few that kept me going. I've done three now and have made my contributions, so I probably won't do another one but I can always change my mind.

 

 

There are also some pluses for doing a review: reliving a cruise while going through "post cruise withdrawal"; having it all posted in writing with pictures is a great way to go back to jog your memory later; getting to "know" others on CC.

 

 

I do hope you do a review of your upcoming cruise and if so, I'm looking forward to following along.

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