How representative are we?

[bassman67]

I got to thinking that there must be around 350,000 people cruise with P&O every year and maybe 200 of them contribute to this forum. Without going into the precise maths, we must be a very small percentage of the cruising population, so no wonder P&O take little notice of our opinions. Or am I way out of line?

[Kendhni]

No, you are probably not too far off with the maths there ... however 200 people can offer a reasonable cross section of wider opinion. You only have to look at the ads on TV where they say '80% of those asked say' (and in the small print it mentions 80% of 103 participants etc.).

What we have to do though is try to keep some level of balance on things. Some people will come on purely to have a vent ... sometimes because their expectations were unrealistic or just plain silly ... or maybe something went wrong and they are the sort that likes to make mountains out of molehills ... or possibly they are just posting out of spite ... but on other occasions people have genuine grievances that hopefully any cruise line would take note of.

[bassman67]

I'm hopefully in the majority, Ken, but in 12 years, we've never had a bad cruise. Sometimes the weather hasn't been up to expectations and port attractions were closed because of it as well, but we've always enjoyed the experience. Long may it be so!

[Kendhni]

Agree totally, bassman. In all our years of cruising we have had tremendous holidays ... have there been some issues ... yes .. but nothing more than very minor irritations.

[oldbluefox]

I am dubious as to how representative we are but what we do provide is a cross section of traveller with a range of cruising experience. When you consider how broad the range of cruising opinion is, whether it be ports visited, itineraries, dining preferences, cabin suitability, disabled travellers etc etc there is usually somebody on the forum who can offer an opinion or advise on what is most suitable.

[kaymar]

I have never really thought of the forum as being any sort of lobbying group, simply a place for an exchange of views or maybe to seek an opinion from those who have experience of something we plan to do.

It is possible that "someone" cast an eye over the original P&O forum (although how much notice they took of anything posted there is questionable) but this current one is not actually connected in any way to the company (yet) so it is very unlikely that any views expressed here will impact in any way on the thought processes of P&O.

Fortunately that does not stop this forum from being a useful discussion group and long may it continue to be so.

[bassman67]

My original post was based on the premise that only a small fraction of cruisers shared their experiences on this and other forums(fora?). I suppose that we, as a group, could be a representative cross-section of cruisers, but why do we do it?

[Quizzical Bob]

We are indeed a broad church. The range of views has always seemed pretty diverse to me.

[qbman1]

We have our share of keyboard warriors but I think, in general, we manage to encompass a fairly wide spectrum overall

[Manoverboard]

Between us all I would very much doubt if there are two many gaps in our experience base, the opinions on such experiences can only be yes, no or maybe

[Boris+]

Hi Bassman,

You ask the question (and rightly so) 'why do we do it' ....... well for my part - I asked (I needed to ask at that point) loads of 'daft' questions before our first cruise. People were kind and helpful and the end result was that we did take that first cruise, all went well and it's becoming a wonderful part of out lives.

As part of a thankyou to those people I try and chip in and answer questions other people might have (not that I know it all); and I still have the odd question to ask now and again.

So, I do it to encourage others, as I was once encouraged myself.

Em

[Dark Knight]

no forum is all encompasing, but as a novice cruiser the people on here and PandO forum have been superb and there is very little they don't know

[gfwgfw]

I frequently use TripAdvisor for researching manly restaurants

And what a variation of feedback I get for my efforts

I do think it is totally irresponsible when someone completely slags of a restaurant just out of devilment

We was very disappointed with a certain restaurant and I did write my feelings in a very polite and concise way, to which I got an equally polite reply from the restaurant owner

[oldbluefox]

'I frequently use TripAdvisor for researching manly restaurants'

With a physique such as yours I am not surprised Giant!!