EVER CHANGE YOUR MIND ABOUT A CRUISE BASED ON REVIEWS?

Agree completely.. Well said...those generalities can be disproven, but it takes having that open mind, and a reasonable degree of intelligence..its usually easier just to go with the flow...hmmm..we ARE talking about cruising only aren't we?

Actually, when someone uses the "it's Carnival" in the pajorative, I tend to be glad they'll not be on my cruise. They don't have an open mind about cruising and may have never been on a Carnival ship. I hope they have fun on their chosen line and other things in their life. Just glad I don't have to interact with them.

FWIW, several of years ago had a problem with my Port of Galveston parking account..we use the building right next to the terminal..yknow, the one with the old unuseable skywalk...closest parking lot there is..indoors...anyway, wound up exchanging emails with a man who turned out to be some kind of poohbah at the port..no names...even wound up speaking to him on his cell...we just kind of hit it off...told me all about the RCL construction plans before they even broke ground, and the updates to the existing CCL terminal coming soon, and the plans to use Terminal 2 "potentially" for NCL, but he told me they're still playing around with ideas...I'm sure by now they have a good idea about where NCL and CCL are going to be located...cruises are already scheduled, and there are parking issues to resolve...I get any info, i'll post it...

BTW CK, only problem I ever had with Galveston was/is the NEVERENDING road construction!!!! Last time we stayed on 3 instead...no real problems....when will you guys finish those roads?...in time for my great grandkids to cruise??? we stay in Texas City...not a bad chinese buffet there after a day on the road....

No We like carnival. We see reviews about cruise lines, we just read, as we will stay with Carnival. Get a gripe about a carnival ship, we ignore it, we live in Galveston and we cannot spend extra money and time going to another cruise line just because some one complains. We like wal mart.

It all depends on the reviewer...

Reviews from those here, whose opinion I've learned to respect (Yank, Auntie, OGW, AB, CQNH, etc) definitely bear more weight than someone who joined just to post a 3 sentence negative review.

Give me details, and legitimate situations to back up what you're complaining about. That is much more likely to sway me, than "Worst cruise in the world. Boat Sucks. Crew Sucks"

I changed my mind about sailing on MSC after a brief personal experience, followed by reading many reviews.

I usually give people I'm familiar with (especially present company) more credence than I would give to some random poster who shows up out of the blue.

However, if I have to rely on unknown posts, I look for patterns of common complaints made by many individuals. If multiple people, over an extended period of time note a specific "problem", then I think it's a reliable barometer.

I also look at the specifics of the complaint more than the complaint itself. As others have noted, there are a lot of people out there who aren't happy unless they have something to complain about. If someone writes a scathing review because the water for their tea isn't delivered to their table at exactly 205 degrees Fahrenheit, then I don't view that individual as a credible source of reliable information.

I just know that my taste isn't everyone's taste. What I love, someone else may hate, what they hate, I may love. It's good to give constructive criticism so that folks know what they're getting into, but I don't read too much into it.

I like to read the specifics; i.e. size of cabin, size of public areas, informative crew, etc. I can honestly say that I not really interested in sailing on the Mardi Gras (or any of that class) because of the size of the cabins and their bathrooms. So I can be influenced to some degree.

Before I went on my first cruise, I found another cruise website and was horrified by the reviews of the ship I was going on, I wondered what I had just put my hard earned money on. Being my first cruise, I didn't know what to expect. When we got to the port, a porter came running out and took our luggage, check in went quickly, and everything was wonderful the whole week. As we were disembarking, my wife said "Can we do this every year?" I concluded that some people aren't happy unless they're complaining, and some of them write cruise reviews.

So theres not much point in reading them? or writing them...at least as far as you're concerned?