Organization of River Cruising Forums

[CaroleSS]

I suggest we leave the River Cruise ports of call here. Case in point....we are doing a river cruise in July through Germany. There isn't a thread on the Ocean cruise ports of call since no ocean vessels go to the inside of Germany.

 

Where might I go for information concerning those ports if we get rid of the ports here?

[Bruin Steve]

After three dozen or so "ocean" cruises, we're doing our first river cruise--Viking China--this June...

 

Of course, I've long participated in the cruise critic forums and roll calls, so, naturally, I immediately went into my "cuise critic mode" on this one.

 

First thing I did was to search for...and start...a Roll Call.

In the many months it's been posted, the only response I've gotten was from someone directing me to the Viking China thread on the main River Cruises board...

 

I've also not bothered much with the river ports boards.

I do visit the Viking China thread regularly.

 

Here is what I've decided regarding the River Cruise boards:

 

1) Roll Calls are hard to find, BUT, they are likely not searched for often either. Whereas there are a limited number of ocean lines and ships, each one carries from 700-6,000 passengers every cruise. Whenever we are on a Roll Call for one of these cruises, there seem to be anywhere from 25 to 100 others joining. If you think about it, though it seems like a lot of people, it's actually a small percentage of the passenger list. River cruises have maybe only 100-200 passengers on each sailing...The same percentages may be only your own party...Rare to find others on the same sailing.

 

2) Adding to the hard to find, they are often hard to describe. On the big ships, it's pretty much certain that if you write "Allure of the Seas, January 5, 2014 sailing", everyone will know immediately that this is the ship and sailing they are on. But, with river cruising, it seems things are a little less clear. They aren't really marketed the same way. Viking, for example, doesn't seem to stress the name of the ship...after all, the ship is only five nights out of a 17 night trip. More important is the title of the package..."Imperial Jewels of China" or "roof of the World", for example. And, the exact sail date is somewhat nebulous...since the packages are sold, often, with flights included, with "forced overnights" and with extra city extensions (Hong Kong, Prague, etc.), many people on the same basic tour will have different start dates (Is my Imperial Jewels of China trip starting on June 15 or 16 or 17? I don't really know myself, so, just what am I searching for in a Roll Call?).

 

3) The many reasons we read and participate in roll calls and port boards for ocean cruises just don't exist for the river cruises. Almost every ocean cruise, we buy based on "cruise only"--so, we are the ones planning pre- and post-cruise stays and port activities in every port. We visit the port boards to help decide what to do and to get tour recommendations. We visit the roll calls to try to find others interested in sharing a private tour or so in each specific port. But, for the most part, on river cruises, the excursions seem to be included (certainly, for Viking China, we are almost never on our own). I know there are some people who arrange their own independent pre- or post-cruise stays before a river tour...and there may be some with a particular desire that may want to arrange something in a particular river port other than what is provided by the river cruise company, but, my guess is, compounded by the already small numbers on each of these cruises, that these numbers are infinitessimally small.

 

For all of the above, one would expect that participation in the River Cruises section of Cruise Critic would be extremely small compared to other sections.

 

I am an obsessive planner type, so, frankly, this upcoming river cruise has left me frustrated. I have had absolutely nothing to do in preparation other than sign up, pay and wait. There are a few minor tasks I need to worry about--purchasing visas, possibly reserving a restaurant for the one night in Beijing we'll eat on our own. I also have the assorted questions as to luggage allowances, tipping customs, the few optional activities, logistics, etc. But I have found those are best adressed and answered in one pace...and, to be more exact, in one thread...

 

The more one would differentiate these river cruising matters or split them up to several boards, it would only make them harder to locate and lessen the chance of receiving a reply...

 

JMHO...

[Hoyaheel]

I suggest we leave the River Cruise ports of call here. Case in point....we are doing a river cruise in July through Germany. There isn't a thread on the Ocean cruise ports of call since no ocean vessels go to the inside of Germany.

 

Where might I go for information concerning those ports if we get rid of the ports here?

 

Ports of Call/Europe/British Isles/Western Europe.

 

Not every country has its own forum. Not every country NEEDS its own forum. It's all about traffic. Despite increases in passenger load, river cruising is still a TINY part of "Cruising" in general and Cruise Critic specifically.

 

If the board does move in this direction, perhaps Germany could be added to the fine print describing that forum as an exemplar, since it's not there now....

Edited February 25, 2014 by Hoyaheel

[franski]

Just going to post my 2 cents worth here... (did warn you, Jazzbeau...:D )

 

Under Roll Calls, I do not think that having sub-groups/line would be very helpful. The chance of finding someone on your cruise is remote. The only success I have had is in generic itinerary-focused roll calls (ie: Christmas Markets, Russia and France). Although we are not travelling with most people on these boards, it give us an opportunity to talk about flights, pre/post hotels, airport transport etc. If you are one of the earlier travellers, you can post about experiences that may assist others who follow.

 

Am happy with having only one other thread - the Roll Call thread. I didn't even really notice the "Ports of Call" thread after it started... and when I did find it, realized that many of the threads shouldn't be there.

 

I find it most helpful when the "title" is a good reflection of the thread. For example, someone posted on Scenic River Cruises.... meaning a river cruise and the "scenic" views it provided. I took that to mean river cruising with Scenic (the company...). Don't know that the OP ever found what he/she was looking for... Perhaps having an opportunity to amend the title (or, if *someone* could amend the title....) might assist with this.

 

Fran

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thanks all for your input so far. I'm not sure that Roll Calls are part of my purview, and in any case I am not going to take that up at this time.

 

To clear up a point about Cruise Critic rules: while hosts do have the power to change the title of threads, the handbook strongly advises against doing so without the permission of the original poster. I assume that this is to avoid any hint of censorship on Cruise Critic. [We do delete posts and even threads, but only for flagrant violations of posted Cruise Critic rules. The most common offense is mentioning Travel Agents by name, which has led to my sole deletion so far.]

[Got2Cruise]

You are doing a great job. Thank you. My only concern is that River Cruising is becoming more and more popular. And there are many new ships as well as cruise lines. But that is the job of Cruise Critic paid management to figure out.

[Host Jazzbeau]

You are doing a great job. Thank you. My only concern is that River Cruising is becoming more and more popular. And there are many new ships as well as cruise lines. But that is the job of Cruise Critic paid management to figure out.

 

Thanks. So far the volume of River Cruising activity on Cruise Critic doesn't seem to be a problem at all. [Crowding on the rivers themselves, on the other hand, may be …]

[CaroleSS]

Ports of Call/Europe/British Isles/Western Europe.

 

Not every country has its own forum. Not every country NEEDS its own forum. It's all about traffic. Despite increases in passenger load, river cruising is still a TINY part of "Cruising" in general and Cruise Critic specifically.

 

If the board does move in this direction, perhaps Germany could be added to the fine print describing that forum as an exemplar, since it's not there now....

 

Thanks for the info, but most of the posts are for England....and with the search feature disabled.............:(

[Familygoboston]

Jazzbeau,

As a newbie river cruiser, I want to A) thank you for clarifying and B) share my thoughts...

 

I do agree that "which itinerary" and "which line" questions should go on the general RC boards, because the questions early on are related to which one is best for the poster and you need as many opinions as possible, and a person my be considering itineraries that might fall under different "ports". I think once a person has questions about an itinerary "booked" or specific to a region, it could go on the port boards. I agree that the port boards should be destination specific, but not line specific, since there is so little activity and what someone does in Budapest is of interest whether they stepped off a Viking ship or an AMA ship. I think the Roll Calls will probably work better if clumped by itinerary and line rather than sail dates, since there is so little activity there. I like the ideas of reviews being double posted (is that a problem for CC??:confused:) and if that's not possible, i think they should go on the general board because they are of assistance with the folks who have "which line, which itinerary" queries.

 

Again, thanks for the clarification and for working to help us get the most out of this board:D

[Peregrina651]

 

2) Adding to the hard to find, they are often hard to describe. On the big ships, it's pretty much certain that if you write "Allure of the Seas, January 5, 2014 sailing", everyone will know immediately that this is the ship and sailing they are on. But, with river cruising, it seems things are a little less clear. They aren't really marketed the same way. Viking, for example, doesn't seem to stress the name of the ship...after all, the ship is only five nights out of a 17 night trip. More important is the title of the package..."Imperial Jewels of China" or "roof of the World", for example. And, the exact sail date is somewhat nebulous...since the packages are sold, often, with flights included, with "forced overnights" and with extra city extensions (Hong Kong, Prague, etc.), many people on the same basic tour will have different start dates (Is my Imperial Jewels of China trip starting on June 15 or 16 or 17? I don't really know myself, so, just what am I searching for in a Roll Call?).

 

 

Great post, Steve.

 

When searching for or choosing a date for a Viking roll call, you should choose the date given in the brochure as the 'sail date' -- just like you would use the 'sail date' for dating an ocean cruise roll call. It does not matter when you leave home, which itinerary you are doing or if you are doing a pre-cruise of any sort because you are trying to connect with the other people who will be traveling with you and the one bit of data that you all have in common is the 'sail date' given by Viking.

 

(Yes, I know that 'sail date' is kind of a strange term to use when referring to Viking's China itineraries because the actual sail part doesn't start for a few days into the tour).