Cruise Critic Undergoing Major Upgrade - Changeover Downtime Starting Tues. Oct. 9

New Community Forums Coming in October - These Forums Will Be Read Only Beginning Tues Oct. 9th

Hello Everyone!

We're very excited to share this news with you! Soon we'll be launching a new version of our Community Forums.

Here’s a snapshot of what you’ll see and enjoy:

• Photo Gallery – with photo and video sharing capabilities where you’ll be able to create and share your own albums

• Activity Streams – Personal to you, you’ll be able to easily follow your favorite topics and forums!

• Easy embedding of videos and other content from a wide range of sites, from YouTube and Vimeo to other social media sites. Paste a link to an image, and it'll instantly appear in the topic or post reply editor

• Easy to use mobile version

• And – TaDa! – “Like” a post functionality. Yes, we can hear you now: “It’s about time!”

• Plus much much more!

What’s Not Changing

• Your post count will remain the same, all your posts will be accessible

• Avatars, signatures and profile pictures

• Member names and passwords

• Existing subscriptions to threads (topics), forums, etc.

• Legacy join dates will remain unchanged

• All the forums and discussion areas that you know and love , including our Roll Call forums

What Will You Need to Do?

• Upon your first visit, simply log in with your existing Cruise Critic member name and password

What is Changing

• The Cruise Critic App will no longer be accessible

• Lots of new features and tools

When will this happen?

Our existing forums will become read-only on Tuesday, October 9th at 7:30am ET. We're hoping to re-open for new posts shortly thereafter, with minimal downtime to our members of only a few days.  But we also want to get it right.  So, stay tuned to this announcement for future updates and specifics.

If you have any questions, please write to: community@cruisecritic.com

Laura

Senior Manager Community

community@cruisecritic.com

The announcement: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/announcement.php?f=191&a=518

No app support???

Sent from my SM-G935V using Forums mobile app

No app support???

 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Forums mobile app

The new website is designed to work well on mobile devices, so no app is necessary.

The new website is designed to work well on mobile devices, so no app is necessary.

That's a new one. I guess all those other apps I have are just a result of poorly designed websites. Will it be able to send me alerts when a thread references me (answer: no)? Will Tapatalk still work? I'm guessing not.

Can hardly wait to have to explain to my wife how to use it. She is a computer neophyte uses the app on her Kindle and rarely goes to websites.

So no app which means you need to log in thru chrome to the website? Makes no sense In the world where everything has an app, CC does away with the app?

So no app which means you need to log in thru chrome to the website? Makes no sense In the world where everything has an app, CC does away with the app?

So, the new "Like" feature would be great for posts like this.

BTW almost as bad is that there is no main thread to be discussing this.

So no app which means you need to log in thru chrome to the website? Makes no sense In the world where everything has an app, CC does away with the app?

I’m so with you about this, seems like 2 steps forward 1 step back in this regard.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I am so not looking forward to this upgrade. The last "upgrade" was a friggin' disaster and it wasn't that long ago. Took them months to get everything working correctly and even now things are glitchy. I expect we are going to go through the same disaster all over again and deal with the same unresponsive tech department. :eek::loudcry::(

Great- i leave Oct 9 for a cruise. Was going to post a day by day trip report. Now I will be doing this on a new website using ship’s wifi. Wonderful

Will you add a sarcasm font?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

So, the new "Like" feature would be great for posts like this.

 

BTW almost as bad is that there is no main thread to be discussing this.

Kudos to Host Jazz. Oh the sheet is going to hit the fan when the changeover happens. Get the popcorn. 🤣

I suppose I'm the rare exception to be rejoicing no app. Apps clutter my screen and are in reality only an additional overlay of the true underlying program. But I share concerns for a poor transition. They seem to be under-staffed and under-tested, so glitches abound and continue too long.

Great- i leave Oct 9 for a cruise. Was going to post a day by day trip report. Now I will be doing this on a new website using ship’s wifi. Wonderful

Will you add a sarcasm font?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I'm in the same boat with you! Cruising a few days later than you.

Uh, figuratively, not literally.

The CC App was one of few apps I liked.

And I thought apps were the main way forward

Sent from my LG-H850 using Forums mobile app

And I thought apps were the main way forward

 

Sent from my LG-H850 using Forums mobile app

CC wants to attract younger participants yet they do away with the app. Makes no sense.

And I thought apps were the main way forward

 

Sent from my LG-H850 using Forums mobile app

The trend is starting to reverse. Companies are finding it too expensive to have to re-test apps every time Android and iOS are updated, as well as having to re-test their web sites each time Chrome, Firefox, and maybe IE and Edge are updated. With near-ubiquitous high speed wireless, the vast majority of users no longer need an app to trickle down the information. I'm not saying I like it, but that's the new trend.

Kudos to Host Jazz. Oh the sheet is going to hit the fan when the changeover happens. Get the popcorn. 🤣

Well, there are posts like this on the other boards as well. However, the other threads I found are all closed so no comments are allowed. So kudos to him but I think he made a mistake posting it like this. :D

No app? That is the direction all mainstream sites are headed and CC eliminates the app? Makes no sense. Especially since their owner Trip Advisor practically forces you to use the app instead of Mobile.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Personally I'm glad to see the old app go, because it didn't show the same information as the website and that caused confusion when some people saw information that others didn't.

The higher ups said the developer *may* create an App in the future, if feedback shows it's needed. [Note: I'm pretty sure they mean feedback about the new website after it is released, not predictions of disaster in advance ;)]

I guess I’m the only one living in 2018. I use a smart phone. Hubs uses a tablet. I’ve been on Cc since AOL. I don’t buy the blah blah blah about the app. The app is easy peasy and posting pics no problem. I’m sure it comes down to ad revenue. Luckily for me there are plenty of other options out there since 20 years ago.

I am so not looking forward to this upgrade. The last "upgrade" was a friggin' disaster and it wasn't that long ago. Took them months to get everything working correctly and even now things are glitchy. I expect we are going to go through the same disaster all over again and deal with the same unresponsive tech department. :eek::loudcry::(

We are thinking about China river cruise Undiscovered with Hong Kong post for 2020. The CC website is not like it used to be when I found everything easily. Can you direct me to China reviews before the new disaster awaits ? Also if you have a review, I know you were there before this itinerary, I would love to read it. Any other sites to look at ? Best time of year to go ? Visa nightmares ? Anything you think would be useful. We just returned from Egypt on the first Ra sailing. I know this will be different than Rhine and Danube standards after being in Egypt - even though it was a brand new ship- the requirement for 95% Egyptian crew makes the standards completely different. Is it true Viking still leases ships in Asia rather than builds for the river ? Any info will be greatly appreciated. Gotta get a couple more big trips on the bucket list completed before more body parts fail !!

I think we should be afraid, very afraid.

The last time Cruise Critic "improved" this site things were a mess (actually still are in some instances).

Even the announcement for this change over is flawed. It says it will begins Tuesday Oct 10th., Yeah, well Tuesday is the 9th.

We are thinking about China river cruise Undiscovered with Hong Kong post for 2020. The CC website is not like it used to be when I found everything easily. Can you direct me to China reviews before the new disaster awaits ? Also if you have a review, I know you were there before this itinerary, I would love to read it. Any other sites to look at ? Best time of year to go ? Visa nightmares ? Anything you think would be useful. We just returned from Egypt on the first Ra sailing. I know this will be different than Rhine and Danube standards after being in Egypt - even though it was a brand new ship- the requirement for 95% Egyptian crew makes the standards completely different. Is it true Viking still leases ships in Asia rather than builds for the river ? Any info will be greatly appreciated. Gotta get a couple more big trips on the bucket list completed before more body parts fail !!

Did China with Viking in 2010. Loved it but they no longer offer the itinerary we sailed. Check out the roll calls for the China cruises -- all of them since all of the itineraries share the 5 day cruise portion. Also look for an older thread in this forum called Viking China Part 2 (yes there is a part one as well but it got to be so big that it was behaving properly; it is interesting to read from the beginning of part one through to the end of Part 2 just to see how things have evolved).

As for the visas, we just used the service suggested by Viking and had no problems.

I think we should be afraid, very afraid.

 

The last time Cruise Critic "improved" this site things were a mess (actually still are in some instances).

 

Even the announcement for this change over is flawed. It says it will begins Tuesday Oct 10th., Yeah, well Tuesday is the 9th.

Definitely agree!!!

CC has an extremely poor track record when it comes to these changes. I only hope that this is the last one for a while.

Date in headline and title corrected. Text of message was always correct.