Internet research....is too much a bad thing?

Good Day!

Its a week until we board Independence of the Seas for our second cruise. As I am sure most people do, I have scoured port reviews, trip advisor reports and googled the hell out of every place we are to visit.

Now I think to myself, is the anticipation of visiting these far flung places slightly tarnished by all the available videos on You Tube etc? Does it take away the pleasure of exploration when you have just watched some other folk doing what you plan to do?

In days of old, before modern technology, it was at best a book from the library, a brochure with a few photos or if lucky a TV travel programme to whet the appetite, with so much still unknown.

So, do you think its possible to "know" too much about your planned excursions?

Phil in Northampton

Hi Phil. :)

I think it depends largely on who you are. I am an organisation freak so I feel much happier if I have investigated every tiny aspect to death before I go.

DH, on the other hand, is more than happy to do no advance research whatsoever and just take things as they come on the day.

So, I guess there's no right or wrong way to do it, just whatever makes you happiest.

Hope you have a great cruise.

Fiona.

yes

Some ports I feel like I have been there already & it sort of takes the shine off

Education and knowledge is a good thing.

I prefer to have as much information as possible before I arrive at a new destination. Ignorance is not bliss if you have no idea where to go, what to see, how to get there or how to pay for it. How many times have we seen threads on CC bemoaning something that happened that "ruined" their day (or entire cruise); and the replies are nearly unanimous in saying that the ruination would not have happened if they had bothered to do their due diligence? OTOH, I don't recall too many threads bemoaning that they knew too much when visiting a new place.

But I don't do YouTube. I stick with still photos. They're just enough to whet the appetite .

Good Day!

 

Its a week until we board Independence of the Seas for our second cruise. As I am sure most people do, I have scoured port reviews, trip advisor reports and googled the hell out of every place we are to visit.

 

Now I think to myself, is the anticipation of visiting these far flung places slightly tarnished by all the available videos on You Tube etc? Does it take away the pleasure of exploration when you have just watched some other folk doing what you plan to do?

 

In days of old, before modern technology, it was at best a book from the library, a brochure with a few photos or if lucky a TV travel programme to whet the appetite, with so much still unknown.

 

So, do you think its possible to "know" too much about your planned excursions?

 

Phil in Northampton

I never stop doing research . Many years ago I had a part time job working for a well known periodical .My job was to research articles prior to being published to insure that everything was accurate.

When booking a cruise ,normally a year in advance I tend to research everything over and over.

Education and knowledge is a good thing.

I totally agree. There are certain things I want to know about certain locations on a vacation, but other things that really don't matter. To each their own.

Conversely, there are some that don't want to research at all. They just want all the info to magically appear.

Sitting in a 5 star hotel in Salzburg right now. Wouldn't have known anything about this hotel, and how really great it is...and how moderately inexpensive it is, if I hadn't done some internet research.

yes

Some ports I feel like I have been there already & it sort of takes the shine off

Totally agree although for me it was a trip to London that did this to me and it was total book research, before the internet.

So now I research for no major surprises, like what areas not to walk in at night.

And what is special about an area, like perhaps something about the local food (love food tours!).

I don't watch any videos.

I study my ship's excursions to know the high points. Then I'll get on the forum to find out if anything I want to do can be DIY and then I'll research how to get there, tickets, guides, etc.

And sometimes I'll turn it totally over to our guide. In Rome, we toured by golf cart. Told our guide ahead of time that we would be doing the Coliseum and Forum on our own but had no special requests for our day with him. He took us to churches we never heard about (in one we walked in excavations, on floors from 50 AD, and had a fantastic lunch at a family owned restaurant with no menu ... just what Nona was cooking that day.

I think as I travel more, I'm simply willing to find a quality guide and turn it all over to him/her.

I always do a good amount of research before I go. I don't want to show up somewhere, and waste the limited time trying to figure out what to do. I did that once in Cozumel. It was actually very fun exploring the island. I do wish I was more prepared though.

With that said, I think there is a point when anything becomes excessive. I take reviews a lot less seriously than I used to. Two people could have been on the exact same cruise. One person will tell you the food was inedible, room was dirty, and there were lines everywhere. The next person will tell you the food was fantastic, room was tip-top shape, and the flow was perfect. Who do you believe?

There's countless things to do at any port. Again, how do you really know which ones are the best? Start with what is important to you. Instead of stressing out over what to do, I make a choice, and make the best of it. Any runners up will be for "next time!"

I have done no research, a ton of research and just a little bit of research for cruises so IMO it depends on where we are going.

A good example is we have had our Med cruise booked for 2 years. I have researched everything multiple times over and over again! DH has never been to Europe and my last trip was 24 years ago in northern Europe. Without all the research I have done I would have never found some really neat things that I now just have to go see! I mean I would have never known about the oldest Pharmacy in the world in Florence which I have to go to and bring all my coworkers things from now (I work in Pharmacy so..... its neat!!) I also would have never know about the used book store in Venice that has books stacked to the ceiling and outside and a gondola full of books, I read continuously so I have to go there! Sure DH looks at me like I am crazy... but hey, after 20+ years he can cope.

Our Bermuda cruise I planned things out tentatively, and then threw it all to the wind (literally!) as 2 out of 3 days we were being hit by the tail end of a tropical storm.

Bahamas I don't plan anything because well... eh don't care enough to! The one time I didn't plan anything I ended up what I thought was spraining my ankle but alas just found out 2 years later I had pretty severely chip fractured it when I sprained it again. Good thing I didn't have plans because they wouldn't have worked anyways.

That being said, if I am planning I have plans and at least 2 backup plans for anything that isn't set in stone so nothing bothers me! I am always happy when things go right, because I never expect them to anyways.

With all that I couldn't see myself sitting here watching videos about things. That sounds horribly boring to me anyways so other than still pictures, I never know what I am really walking into.

My husband will even go on Google street, to work out routes...he knew where to turn off the road to the funicular in Bergen weeks before we sailed, and had the exact walk from St Mark's in Venice to the ship.

I need to know roughly where the object of my desire is, and take a taxi!

Due to an extremely hectic life over the last 12 months, I did not do as much research for our last vacation as I've traditionally done, and my experience/enjoyment of it suffered as a result. I say do the research, but YMMV.

Good Day!

 

Its a week until we board Independence of the Seas for our second cruise. As I am sure most people do, I have scoured port reviews, trip advisor reports and googled the hell out of every place we are to visit.

 

Now I think to myself, is the anticipation of visiting these far flung places slightly tarnished by all the available videos on You Tube etc? Does it take away the pleasure of exploration when you have just watched some other folk doing what you plan to do?

 

In days of old, before modern technology, it was at best a book from the library, a brochure with a few photos or if lucky a TV travel programme to whet the appetite, with so much still unknown.

 

So, do you think its possible to "know" too much about your planned excursions?

 

Phil in Northampton

I guess it depends on what you want.....some people don't like change and find surprises stressful, so for them it could be a good thing. Other people don't plan at all, especially for excursions, and then there are people in the middle who research the things that they need to know (language, transportation, money, internet/phone) but don't do a lot of research thoroughly about their sites or tours.

I'm a mix of the second and third type. I almost never do excursions (though there are places where I wouldn't go without one), but I always research practicalities like transportation information and language. I research sites a little, but only as a way to give myself a lot of options and ideas, then I make my actual plan when I'm there....I like flexibility and want to feel free to change my mind if I decide I don't like something I thought I would or if something else grabs my interest. I'm almost 18 months away from a trip to Italy, and I'm already looking at train and bus routes to various places.

We do not overplan as we find too much planning is quite stressful.

Travel for us is some basic planning and a lot of serendipity, adventure and the gifts of the unknown. We don't want too many details, photos, long reviews, etc. as that takes away from our surprise and anticipation.

We have a different point of view. As long time (over forty years) extensive world travelers and cruisers we seldom to ever book a cruise line excursion. We simply prefer to do our own thing or sometimes share a private tour. When doing our own thing (on 6 continents) we spend a lot of time gathering information on our many options. In some cases we might not decide what we are going to do until the day we arrive in a port. Our final decision might be based on our mood at the time, whether we are tired or full of energy, and most importantly on the weather. So if its an awful rainy day, what might have been a long walking tour could become a visit to a museum. or...we might decide to have a very long lunch at a fine restaurant rather then spending time getting soaked.

So to answer your issue we do not think one can do too much pre-trip homework (or research).

Hank

I thoroughly research to ensure I find the best tour excursions and it helps heighten the expectation. DW does none and totally trusts my decisions on where to go and what to see. She always has a blast and part of my thrill is seeing her have a great time.

Hi Again!

Thanks for your responses!

As I could have guessed it's each to their own, whatever fits your personal requirements.

Personally I think if travelling as a group, it's a good idea for one person to do the homework. If nothing else it can save a lot of time. I enjoy the research beforehand and as said previously, my pleasure is to see the delight of others who have trusted themselves to my judgement.

This can also go the other way if a plan fails!

I do struggle if I leave all the planning to others though, as I think I would have done this, or gone there, it must be nice to have a mindset not to worry about it and just go with the flow!

Nearly there now, two more work days and three more sleeps before we head off to Southampton to board "Indy"

Phil in Northampton

Hi Phil

Watching someone doing something doesn't increase your "experience" at all. If you do something, then you can speak from experience.

There is no way that I would ever feel that watching something on TV, or internet would be anything close to actually doing it. The big thing is that while watching I would be able to make an assessment whether it was something I would be willing to do as well, or not.

hope this helps

Education and knowledge is a good thing.

Yes, UNTILL you let the spewer of this 'so-called education and truth' convince you that their manta bleedings, repeating it over and over, that THEIR written word (in this case) IS the only truth. How many times here have you seen a post by a member start out..' I'm not sure about this cruise on line XYZ because I've read SOOO many negative reviews about...:rolleyes:. It's a wonder we have ANY 1st time cruisers at all, IF they visit here before a cruise.:eek:

Mac

You know, I keep hitting the reply button when I shouldn't.

Sorry about that and just for the record I agree with whatever everyone was saying -- Haha