Only opinion that matters here is the Mods'.

Here's a FAQ on who owns Cruise Critic

http://chatter.princessonly.com/inde...ic,3368.0.html

Very, very interesting. And here I thought all these ads I have been getting as pop-ups was just a random shot in the dark ................;)

With Expedia, Hotel.com, hotwire and TripAdvisor all in cahoots, no sense going to all those websites independently looking for the good deals. Which BTW have left the station a few years ago. I rarely find bargains anymore on the online travel groups that beat the deals I get directly from the airlines, hotel or cruiseline.

Expedia et al homogenized themselves out of a marketing niche.

I was banned from CC a few years back "forever". I was so incensed I used my hardly exceptional IT prowess and re-registered a few times just to irritate the hell out of the guy who bounced me. Slightly different handle each time so it was absolutely clear it was me.

The background was a moderator who oversaw two different 6* cruise lines forums. I subsequently discovered that he had a very close relationship with one line and did everything to foster an nudge along good feedback and deleted bad feedback. He fostered a clubby atmosphere on that forum. He did the reverse with the other forum. It was becoming very obvious. I didn't face it down but commented about the different "atmosphere" on each and the differing tone of moderation.. Several long-timers explained through PM's about the "special treatment" he was getting from his favoured line. The other line didn't play ball. It was then that the penny dropped. And it was then that I was bounced.

I have reregistered .... but I can't think of anything irritating enough to do .... it still wrankles.

You are in good company. My banishment came because I complained about the quality of the ice cream served on Crystal ships. Reminds me of a little ditty about those who (ahem) live in glass houses ...... or Crystal ships - they are hard, brittle and deadly with their sharp edges. Not a fun ship at all.

It's a little dissapointing because it is clear that CC is successful because people genuinely believe in it's impartiality as evidenced in this thread. The reality is that people are "clubbed in" to the "role calls" and then the "meet ups" often overseen by the mod. Because of the nature of things mod cozying up involves apeing his line in the fora.

People go there for impartial information and most certainly do not get it at the level they think they are. Real shame as there is a place for what CC was originally.

Extremely true. And the atmosphere on CC can be very demeaning. Some regular posters on some of the forums are not only blunt, but have a "my way or the highway" attitude.

Well, in defense of CruiseCritic, but not Crystal, here's a cruise/thread that we were involved in. I didn't start the thread, but the title was perfect. In any event, I saw no attempt at censorship on the part of CC. But things may have changed since then.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=136835

The difference is that there are several Crystal defenders who post on CC who will tear you to pieces if you make a negative comment.

Several of those people hunt for first time Crystal cruises to get them to sign up for STEX (share the experience) bonuses awarded to the returning passenger on the same Crystal cruise.

It's not just the Crystal board. It's most of the lines. Say something negative about the defenders' preferred line and it's like attacking their grandchildren.

This is true. I don't understand why, but some folks are very defensive of their chosen cruise line. It's like they're proud of themselves because they picked to do business with a certain company. It makes no logical sense at all.

It's basic psychology, people seek validation for their decisions, then once they've recieved it (by clubbing together), attacking their values tends to be poorly recieved.

It ends up becoming like atheists trashing religious people or whatever - the arguement against is logical, but the counter arguement isn't based on reason.

There are significant differences between CC and FT. I have been on CC since its inception and always mind my Ps and Qs very carefully on it. The mods are the problem. They tend to be less experienced, less traveled, less employed, and less disciplined than their FT counterparts. Then too you have less sophisticated posters on CC. There are a lot of—please forgive me—housewives posting there, whereas businesswomen post here. Keep in mind, the cruise industry is significantly different (almost all leisure travel) from the airline industry (lots of business travel). That's going to mean the participants there and here have differing experiences and expectations. Personally, I much prefer the professionalism of the cruise/Caribbean forums here on FT to any forum on CC.

I think that any place YOU are would not be fun at all!

LOL

You got this totally right. No apologies necessary. Being both a housewife and a business woman. Or maybe a little less gender specific is to say FT is for the more independent traveller whereas, the CC traveller is more dependent.

Or that hoary old distinction, CC is for tourists; and FT is for travellers.