Social Media Competition II

If you followed us during the spring on our NCL cruise to the Bahamas you might remember what a big deal Norwegian thought it was that we used Cruise Critic.  Because Jan arranged a "meet and greet" of people in our roll call Norwegian gave us VIP status.  They provided a place for the gathering.  They brought the entire bridge crew (well maybe someone remained to pilot the ship) and executive staff to say hello. 

We were curious if that approach to inviting social media input might filter its way into other cruise companies, specifically Princess, which we tend to use more often.  Nope!  The roll call for the upcoming cruise to the British Isles is eager to meet.  Jan asked Princess about it and they weren't terribly excited about helping. 

They have their own social media connection via Facebook with something called a roll call as well, but there isn't much passenger to passenger sharing of tour information which is what most passengers do with Cruise Critic's roll call. 

Disappointing.

Contis along the Mohawk

We did not ask Walter D. Edmunds or John Ford to join us, but Jan, Jessse and I took Kayaks up and down parts of the Mohawk River this afternoon.  There were 3,077 fewer passengers on each of our ships than the Crown Princess supports.  We're getting used to being on water.

Social Media Competition

Cruise Critic is a web site all about what the name implies.  One of the key features of the site is a message board.  Think Facebook except all about cruises.  The message board is divided into sections for each cruise line and each ship of that cruise line.  After a couple of clicks you can find people who are sailing on the same ship and intinerary as you.  It's called a "roll call" in Cruise Critic parlance.  Jan uses it to find partners who might want to join us on private tours.  Princess decided to start their own roll call within their Facebook page.  I'm not sure what the advantage is to them. I suppose it's easier to pitch products to your own customers inside that environment, but I wonder if people who use Cruise Critic, which is independent from any cruise company, will be quick to leave that bulletin board in favor of one that is owned by a cruise line?

Buy stock. Cruise for less.

Princess Cruises is owned by Carnival.  Quite a large company.  They own Holland America, Cunard, Seaborn, Costa and several others.  One of their marketing strategies is to offer an onboard ship credit to current stockholders.  The credit is scaled based on the length of the cruise. 

What's Our Ship Doing

Cruise companies keep their ships busy.  When a ship weighs 141 thousand tons, like the new Royal Princess, you pay big money.  Our ship, the Crown, cruised the Carribean during the winter and now sails various ports in Europe.  Currently it is starting a Scandanavian itinerary. 

Time Doesn't Exist

According to science that may be true, but the blog time stamps everything.  It was set, by default, to another time zone.  Now, it will reflect EDT until we arrive in London.  That way it won't appear as if I work on the blog at 3 in the morning.

Getting Ready

Jan shops.  I make sure the blogging tools are working correctly.