I DON'T plan to do what most other cruise blogs do here. This blog - admittedly a bit self-centered - aims at my own cruising experiences and thoughts, and things that might logically follow from those thoughts (maybe even some illogically 😆). There is a possibility that readers might get a nugget or two of useful information, as well as finding it interesting and/or amusing. Most of all, I want it to be fun!
MANY CRUISERS, whether first time cruisers, or "seasoned," do some research on cruising these days. If it is your first cruise, you may want to peruse some of the generic sites out there. If you are experienced, you may already know some of the sites I will mention here. They are designed to give you "intel" for your upcoming cruise, in the form of "on-the-ground" information and observations, as well as insights and Q&A for your cruise. Traditionally, they have also served the important role of getting people together (at least digitally), pre-cruise. The best starting point will probably be two places: Cruise Critic, and Facebook.
AS WE completed a few cruises, we learned that there are a lot of really good private excursion opportunities in ports. Usually, we feel that they are superior to those operated by the cruise lines; offering smaller groups and more "tailored" tours. A little-known secret is that these private, small group tours are often not significantly more expensive than ship tours (which can have as many as 50-60 participants). We have found that our personal "sweet spot" is about 8 participants. But if you aren't cruising/traveling with 6 other people, how do you arrange 8-person tours with complete strangers? That is where the "intel" sites are helpful, so stay tuned.
LIKEWISE, AFTER some experience, we learned about a few "insider" tips, including "do's and don'ts," stateroom positioning, and just general information about cruise lines and ships. One of my "beefs" with all the newest travel websites (dominated by Tripadvisor), is that they have progressively become less user-intuitive to navigate as they have worked to dazzle us (and to sell us). Information we don't really need (especially the experienced cruiser) is front and center. Stuff you would think should be made easy to find, often is buried. You may need to dig some to find what you need. But for the most part, it is there.
IN 2013, when we discovered it as a resource, the primary place for this kind of organizing was a website known as "Cruise Critic." It touts itself as the largest and most comprehensive cruise site. That is probably right. First published in 1995, in 2007, it was acquired by Tripadvisor, which most likely explains its substantial reach. Of course, the Cruise Critic site has many other functions, being one of the most comprehensive "cruising" sites out there, with forum-type boards (with 100's of essentially uncensored reviews by passengers), as well as myriad information about cruises, cruise lines, ships and ports. For us, the most useful aspect of the Cruise Critic site has been what they call "Roll Call." In that part of the site, you can search for your cruise line, ship and date of the cruise and more than likely, someone has started a "Roll Call" for your cruise. This is usually done by a member who will be sailing on the cruise. Once a Roll Call is established, you can join in the conversation (or establish it yourself, in the unlikely event is has not already been done). However, as noted above, the "Roll Call" section is not anywhere obvious on the site. Fortunately, they have a search box where you can type in "roll call,") or you can try my link). Then just follow the directions to find your roll call.
IN ADDITION to general discussion about the ship amenities and the ports of call, one of the most useful features of the Roll Call has been to connect with other people looking to do one of the private small group tours. Most of the time, the tour operators have a set price (for example, $$ per group for up to 8 people). One person can book it if they wish, but the cost will be the same. So, it is advantageous to seek out enough people to fill out the group, or to ask to join a group that is looking for more people to fill it out. We have had great success, doing this both ways over the years through the Roll Call pages on this site.
[Insider Tip: Tours with drivers offering smaller groups (4 or less) often use small sedans. 4 good sized adults plus driver can be uncomfortable. We know from experience. 😓 Depending on the tour, and its length, we will often either look for 6-12 person groups. But at times we have cruised with other couples where we frankly don't want to share our tour guide 😎 (in other words, we want just the 4 of us). We have learned to book an up to 6-person tour - even though we will only be 4, and just understand that we will be paying more. It's a judgment call whether it is worth it].
WHETHER WE will continue to have such success may depend upon a number of factors. The 2021 Covid Pandemic (as it did with most aspects of our daily lives) resulted in major changes to cruising. Basically, for a period of just over a year, cruising essentially halted. We had at least 5 cruises cancelled during that period. We had credits on one line and kept trying to move it forward, only to have it cancelled. We were finally able to re-schedule a Baltic Cruise in late summer of 2022. But world events continued to conspire against us. The highlight of the Baltic Cruise was an overnight (essentially two days in port) docking in St. Petersburg, Russia. Until a crazed, dictatorial "president" of Russia got his "Hitler" on. It didn't take long before the St. Petersburg stop was eliminated. While still an interesting cruise it put a pallor on exciting anticipation many booked cruisers had. Indeed, that was demonstrated as more than 50% of the passengers cancelled the cruise (we went, had a great time, and think perhaps the less than 50% of normal passenger numbers may actually have been a benefit).
WHAT DID happen was the roll call on Cruise Critic for that cruise was, lacking a better description, anemic. There were virtually no seekers/takers for private shore excursions. Some speculated that the cause was a large amount of unused and accumulated "on board credits." Others of us think it was attributable to uncertainty, and a certain amount of "malaise" over the loss of the St. Petersburg stop. For whatever reason, the roll call was pretty disappointing. As we look at future cruises, it appears to be slowly heating back up again, and I would still highly recommend signing up and spending some time there.
THE CURRENT hotspot is - shockingly 😑 - Facebook. I have commented about this on both of my blogs. Originally, Facebook's founder envisioned the social media site as the next and best social media platform for college kids (a few oldsters may remember its predecessor, MySpace). Instead, Facebook has really become the darling platform of the baby-boomer generation. Millennials embraced it only briefly before moving on. But my generation seems to have wholeheartedly bought in. I confess I have both a personal presence and a page on FB. That doesn't mean I have to like it. 😈 I do find it a nice platform for my photos and for family and light social interaction. I try not to participate in the political madness there (and I totally do not care about your "Wordle" score 😏). Nonetheless, Facebook seems to me to have become the "Go To" place for an awful lot of people to get information and even news. 😕 Today, that is also true for cruising. Recognizing that you basically must have a FB presence today, the major cruise lines have their own FB pages/groups. Even Cruise Critic has a FB page. And, not surprisingly, private/public non-affiliated groups have now been set up. The FB equivalent to the Cruise Critic "roll call," are "Private Groups" specifically labeled by cruise ship and date. You have to request to join and be admitted. They then act in much the same way as the roll calls did (though in my view, kind of "FB-dumbed down").
THESE TWO sites should probably be the main places you go first to obtain relevant cruise "intel." Between them, you can learn a lot about the ships, the ports, the cruise line policies, current events (i.e., Covid protocols), and things like passport/visa requirements. They are also the place to get general tips on cruising and cruise travel. And of course, they will feature a lot of reviews by members/passengers. CAUTION: These sites (especially Facebook) are also a place to get a lot of misinformation. Remember that the posters are just folks like us, and often the information is nothing more than opinion, no matter how staunchly stated. Like anything else on the internet, you have to put on the common sense/BS/attitude filters on your searches. 😐 There will always be "fanboys" (and girls). There will always be chronic complainers. There will always be the occasional "entitled" person. But with judicious sorting, there is a lot of good and factual information along with a fair amount of misinformation.
THE OTHER place you need to go to and keep up with is your cruise line's website. Understand that they will be in "sell/promote" mode and will likely not report anything negative. Like the other sites, I find them generally hard to navigate when you are looking for something specific and useful. Like the other sites, they are designed to sell you things. But they are still often the best source to verify factual information that you may be getting conflicting information on. They are also the place you will probably go first, for a view at 10,000 feet of the ports of call. But don't stop there.
WE USUALLY start looking for things to do in a port on TripAdvisor. We then branch out to a couple of other places we have experienced. In a couple cases, we just re-contact a driver or tour operator we have already used. We have also discovered a couple of public general operator-networks who do a really fine job. One is "Tours by Locals." They are a Canadian Company whose advertising notes that they "hand-pick" local guides to match up with travelers. It is usually someone looking for a private to semi-private, more unique experience (while in Lisbon, Portugal in June 2022, for example, 4 of us went to the home of a local resident who cooked - with us participating - a typical family meal for the region). They say that they provide startup consultation and marketing materials (presumably specifically geographically target) for their network members. There is a very general section on how to "become" a Tours by Locals tour guide on their website. They also provide the locals with an online payment processing system. Tours by Locals is paid a commission - presumably as a deduction from the collected tour payments. The locals, by and large, set the prices themselves, as well as the itinerary. It is possible to arrange for customized tours.
THERE ARE also a few "free" walking tour operators. Perhaps the best known company currently is Free Tours By Foot. But there are others. In some cities there are alternatives, and we have found and used them. Often you will find them during your online searches and they may be just local or regional operators. Free Tours By Foot has a pretty wide "footprint" (see what I did there? 😀) in most major cities around the world, and a pretty sophisticated website. We have had a lot of success with a couple of these organizations finding and planning fun, informative and useful shore excursion tours. The word "free" is (should be) a bit of a misnomer. These tours are set up by a schedule and are limited to a manageable sized group (8-10 seems the norm) for walking around a city. There is no charge for these tours, but you are asked to "tip" what you think the tour was worth at the end. We have usually tipped anywhere from $40 (local equivalent) to $50 for the two of us (ocassionally more if we thought circumstances warranted), depending on the length and possible other factors. So, I suppose you could theoretically do these "free." I hope you are not that kind of a person. 😒The tour guides are usually local residents (they may not be native, but they live locally), who may be students, actors, or working in other part-time employment. They are generally engaged and very knowledgeable, and approachable. Some of them do it as a sideline. Others do it as there primary income source. There are also some you-Tube clips that you can watch to get an idea of how things work.
.jpg)
FOR PAID private tours, we usually find them on TripAdvisor (or on Cruise Critic or FB by joining already set up tours). If we are interested, we will then go on our Cruise Critic Roll Call or FB page and solicit joiners.
THE WORLD appears to be driven by the internet these days. Everyone has a presence somewhere. But don't neglect other, more traditional means of research and intel. I still often purchase guidebooks (my general favorite being the Rick Steves series). There is often a lot of easy-to-find information there and they can be carried along on the cruise, with pages dog-eared and information highlighted. Whatever you do, don't be afraid to dig a little bit. And along the way, don't forget to have fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment