[4] Cruise Passengers Share Their Gripes With CruiseMates.com.

Leisure, Business/Technology Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 16, 2000

Consumer surveys conducted by the cruise industry have repeatedly found that overall customer satisfaction with cruising vacations ranks among the highest of any travel experience. But CruiseMates.com, the independent Internet cruise magazine, has uncovered the things that really bother experienced cruise passengers the most.

CruiseMates Editor in Chief Anne Campbell asked readers to share their gripes about cruising, and she got plenty of replies-but not what you might expect, just lots of little, nagging aspects of the cruise experience that left many vacationers doing a slow burn.

The most common gripes of cruisers include:

-- Port lectures by cruise staff that tell passengers very little about the
destination they are about to visit, but instead concentrate on promoting the
line's shore tours (which cost extra) and on-shore shopping recommendations.
Moreover, "They need to state if they are getting any compensation for sending
their cruisers to certain stores," says one traveler. Others noted that in a
few ports, some lines don't allow passengers off the ship at all unless they
buy a shore excursion.

-- The policies of some cruise lines that prohibit passengers from bringing
liquor or spirits on board and drinking it in their cabins-forcing them instead
to buy all their drinks from the ship. "I should be allowed, as an adult, to
bring whatever I please to my room-within reason, of course," one passenger
wrote.

-- The growing trend among cruise lines to charge extra for many on-board
services and amenities-including dining in some specialty restaurants-while
still promoting cruise prices as being "all-inclusive." Especially grating to
many passengers is the practice of charging extra for soft drinks with dinner.

-- The persistence of the photographers in taking pictures and the increasing
price for ship photos, in some cases as high as $10.

-- The annoying ploy that some passengers use to "reserve" prime deck chairs
for themselves--coming out in the morning and placing a towel, or other
personal items on the chair to indicate to others that it is already "taken,"
although they may not return for several hours.

-- Smoking. Several respondents urged cruise lines to designate more ships as
totally smoke-free, or at the very least to restrict smoking to a few indoor
areas-or none at all.

-- The practice by shore tour operators of herding passengers into "tourist
trap" souvenir stands before returning them to the ship.

"The major cruise lines are generally very good about using passengers' comment cards to fix problems with on-board service," Campbell said. "But our readers' replies indicate there are some areas where the lines haven't yet caught up with customer demand."

"Our readers have gripes, but not about the things the media has been writing about," says CruiseMates publisher Paul Motter. "This is what is really on their minds, and it's obvious that the overall satisfaction level remains extremely high."

Cruisemates.com (http://www.cruisemates.com) is an online magazine and community where experienced cruisers can share their thoughts, and where novices and prospective passengers can read reviews of all the major ships. The site also features articles by prominent cruise journalists about all aspects of seagoing vacations.