Roll call for river cruises

[editor@cruisecritic]

Would you be interested in participating in a "roll call" for river cruises (if you haven't already)? Would you like to see something happen onboard (i.e. a special cocktail reception) for Cruise Critic members? Would a special river roll call forum be useful? Or not...

Inquiring minds want to know what you think...

Carolyn

Carolyn Spencer Brown
Editor in Chief
Cruise Critic

[nana541]

Great idea but I think the River Board while wonderful and full of great people with good info.... I'm thinking at this point it's just too small a market. I don't know if I've seen more than one or two going on the same sailing and that would be an extremely rare occurrence. JMHO

[IrishKathy]

I think it would be a great thing to happen but as the previous poster said, with only 150-200 people at most on river cruises it would be hard to get a roll call going.

I'm just not sure how you would go about it.

We'll be on the Viking Sun next October (Rhine River) before joining the Norwegian Epic for its transatlantic on Oct. 16. There is already a very active roll call for the Epic but I haven't seen anything for the Sun. Maybe I'll start one but I have a feeling it will be VERY small and slow going.

Good idea though and good luck.

Kathy

[sk8teacher]

I have tried posting a roll call for all of my five cruises, and have had one or two responses on most. The hard part is trying to meet them once onboard. It would be nice if the lines would do something special for us, but will they for only a handful of people? I think not.

Cheers,

[aldukenew]

Originally Posted by editor@cruisecritic

Would you be interested in participating in a "roll call" for river cruises (if you haven't already)? Would you like to see something happen onboard (i.e. a special cocktail reception) for Cruise Critic members? Would a special river roll call forum be useful? Or not...

Inquiring minds want to know what you think...

Carolyn

Carolyn Spencer Brown
Editor in Chief
Cruise Critic

I am going on my first river cruise 4/14/13 (Tulip Time) on AMACerto. I would find it very helpful to see what other passengers are doing, just like I do for ocean cruises.

[YoungDubFan]

I posted a roll call for my Avalon river cruise in May of this year and did not get any responses at all. As others have mentioned, there just doesn't seem to be enough cruise critic active members on a specific cruise. Avalon did have a special reception for its Journey's club members, which I was able to attend.

[bocatraveler09]

Roll calls are invaluable for conventional cruises. However, for the 6 months or so I've been following river cruises, they don't seem to be meaningful. As others have said, the boats are small. And, since land tours seem to be included on most lines, there is no need to form private groups.

It might be useful to have "roll calls" for various rivers, rather than specific ships/dates, so people can compare experiences and ask itinerary-related questions.

[alexandra cruiser]

keep updating and still NO ONE.Maybe for areas,rivers,etc. Going on Vietnam cruise in 4 days and was reading other riverboats posts for Mekong for ideas,etc.Asked a question on Asia port thread re: same and NADA>

[franski]

Originally Posted by bocatraveler09

It might be useful to have "roll calls" for various rivers, rather than specific ships/dates, so people can compare experiences and ask itinerary-related questions.

This is why I started generic roll calls (ie: for Russia 2012 - all lines, all dates) in the hope that we might get some "like minded" travellers posting in.

I started one for a specific itinerary (Passage to Eastern Europe with Viking) with limited response... no one on our sailing yet - but a couple of posters doing the itinerary on different dates.

The numbers are just too small.

Fran

[Tom47]

Originally Posted by editor@cruisecritic

Would you be interested in participating in a "roll call" for river cruises (if you haven't already)? Would you like to see something happen onboard (i.e. a special cocktail reception) for Cruise Critic members? Would a special river roll call forum be useful? Or not...

Inquiring minds want to know what you think...

Carolyn

Carolyn Spencer Brown
Editor in Chief
Cruise Critic

Hi Carolyn
I like the idea, but not sure if it would work.
Tom

[CasaM]

I agree that the numbers are too small. I like Fran's idea of a generic posting. For instance, we are doing Viking Rhine Getaway in Oct. I know posting my specific date will probably not get much of a response, but a generic "Viking Rhine Getaway 2013" might. And with all the specific posts with only two or three responses, it's hard to check in on others who are doing the same itinerary but at a different time.

[Peregrina651]

Originally Posted by franski

This is why I started generic roll calls (ie: for Russia 2012 - all lines, all dates) in the hope that we might get some "like minded" travellers posting in.

I started one for a specific itinerary (Passage to Eastern Europe with Viking) with limited response... no one on our sailing yet - but a couple of posters doing the itinerary on different dates.

The numbers are just too small.

Fran

I agree with Fran--the numbers are too small for a roll call for each individual sail date. And, I like the idea of generic but, my idea of generic is by itinerary and not just by destination since there are always questions about the ship and other provider specific information. The 'Viking China' thread (ongoing since 2005 and so big that the first thread had to be closed and a new one begun) is a fine example. Of course it helps that the China itineraries are very popular, rather exotic and that there are so many sailings each year from March to November.

The big question is not so much what but where, in which forum should we be looking for these cruise/itinerary-specific threads. River cruising? Ports of call? IMHO, I would rather see them under river cruising. Roll call forum is not the place for them and ports of call should be more about the destinations than about the cruise itself.

But even harder, once you start an itinerary-centric thread, you have to work at keeping it going. People just don't automatically find you and you have to have something to offer once they do. Perhaps a starting point for this project should take place in-house with the CC staff working to combine existing threads dedicated to a specific itinerary into one thread--not all the threads on a specific itinerary but a couple that would give the thread a running start.

Fran, I'm going to check out your "Passage to Eastern Europe" thread because it is the next cruise on my list when I eventually do book a cruise.

[franski]

Originally Posted by Peregrina651

Fran, I'm going to check out your "Passage to Eastern Europe" thread because it is the next cruise on my list when I eventually do book a cruise.

Thanks - found your post.

Doing this brings the Roll Call forward. I have been posting just to bump up occasionally, so that the thread doesn't get lost. Your post helped with that as well.

Fran

[FotoPeg]

Sadly I agree that a Roll Call for each specific cruise (like the big ships) probably wouldn't work because of the smaller number of passengers. That was really about the only negative I found on our first river cruise this past October - I missed the RC interaction! But Viking Cruise line wasn't to blame and neither was CC!! I started a thread, "met" some nice people who had taken previous cruise, but no one from "my" cruise responded!! During our cruise I met one fellow passenger who said she was new to CC and didn't even realize what RCs were!

However, I do like the idea of River or destination threads! Thinking of maybe someday doing a Christmas Market trip I do often read that thread someone began. While each cruise & cruise line are different, most seem to go to just about the same ports & places in certain areas. So for those of us who enjoy pre-trip planning it'd be interesting to read about the places we may visit even from those who've been there from different cruise lines. I'd be happy to share my experiences of the Rhone River and would look forward to reading about the Rhine - haven't booked yet but may after Christmas - if anything's left!!

[we're sailing away....]

Yes please ..

[jeckstein]

We're going on our first river cruise in May and I've been looking for a roll call. I would be happy with one organized either by river or ship line.

[Wingtips56]

Originally Posted by editor@cruisecritic

Would you be interested in participating in a "roll call" for river cruises (if you haven't already)? Would you like to see something happen onboard (i.e. a special cocktail reception) for Cruise Critic members? Would a special river roll call forum be useful? Or not...

Inquiring minds want to know what you think...

Carolyn

Carolyn Spencer Brown
Editor in Chief
Cruise Critic

There are already lots of River Cruising Roll Calls, tied to the River Cruising category. They are not separated by line and ship, as are the ocean cruises, but that's fine. Are you thinking of eliminating them?

I started a roll call for my AmaLegro cruise last fall and we had a pretty good response. Perhaps the loads aren't great enough for CC meet & greets, but we were able to exchange port, tour, flight and other information, and sort of meet each other in advance. It was very useful. I had also started a roll-call for an AmaLotus Vietnam-Cambodia trip for the spring, but have now put that trip off until 2014. I'll be starting a roll-call for that one soon, if someone didn't beat me to it.

[RichardandMark]

Yes, we would like to see a Roll Call for River Cruises,,while there isnt a large number of travelers, it still would be nice to meet fellow cruisers ahead of time.

[kruising karol]

I am all for roll calls for river cruising. It often takes time to launch anything and with the success of the larger ship roll calls, I think eventually people will catch on that they are also available re river cruising. The format might need to be slightly different. With all the creative minds out there, some one will come along with the best idea.

Carol