Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
Thursday, December 8th, 2011
Hi,
We’ve got a new feature for you today. Many of you have been asking for a way to embed your countdown clock on your own (or other websites). Well, you got it!
<—– Here’s how the countdown looks. 
It looks great on any site such as a blog, or even as your signature on forum websites.
How can you get it? Its easy – a) Go to your roll call page b) click on ‘EMBED’ on the left side of page c) copy the html and paste it on any website.
Give it a whirl and let us know what you think! Better yet, send us a link (hello@meetoncruise.com) when you have your countdown clock up.
Enjoy,
– Faraz and Eddy
P.S. We’ve also added Facebook LIKE and SEND buttons to every roll call page (on the left hand side). We would love ya even more if you clicked on these and helped us spread the word about MeetOnCruise:) THANK YOU!
Tags: countdown, Countdown clock, embed countdown clock, post countdown clock, roll call countdown
Posted in How to, meetoncruise, New feature, Social Media, Technology | No Comments »
Sunday, November 6th, 2011
We started Meet On Cruise to make it easier for people who cruise to meet other cruisers. So far, that has meant joining roll calls and talking to others on your cruise. Or communicating on the forums.
Well, today we’re excited to launch what may turn out to be one of the most popular features on MeetOnCruise – On Deck. On Deck is a live chat hangout room.
Come by On Deck to chat real-time with other people who love to cruise. Just like on deck of your cruise, On Deck is simply another way to hangout and talk cruises with your fellow MeetOnCruise members. The biggest difference is it’s real-time. You can see who is online on MeetOnCruise right now and chat with them.
Feel free to share with your friends and family (note, they must be a member to participate in the chat). Of course, it goes without saying that all comments should be clean and family-friendly!
We’re excited to see launch the new On Deck page. Just like being out On Deck during a cruise is relaxing and a great place to just shoot the breeze, we hope that MeetOnCruise – On Deck becomes such a place for you – online.
We look forward to chatting with you On Deck.
Tags: chat, cruise chat, hangout, New feature, on deck, Social Media
Posted in cruises, meetoncruise, New feature, Technology | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011
Meet On Cruise Leaderboard This Week
Have you taken a look at your profile page recently? You may have noticed a section that says Points. MeetOnCruise now awards points for everything you do on the website (or app)! Lots of you have been writing fantastic reviews, sharing tips and uploading photos – and we wanted to recognize that. So, now you earn points for each and every activity you do on MeetOnCruise.
Specifically, here is the full list of activities and points:
Can you turn in your points for a free cruise? No (we wish!). For now, think of them as bragging points:) In fact we’ve set up 2 Leaderboards so we can all keep track of who’s got the most points. The first is a Leaderboard for total points (all time) and the second is a Leaderboard for This Week (the past 7 days). Congrats to jeter02, PRISSIEBEE, Frances, smith4x, jbbrissenden, bialys, kikids, jerseyshorebruce, mariane.moore1 and ladysummer for making the Top 10 this past week!!
Want to get more points? Its simple, do as many of the above activities as possible. Here’s an easy way to earn a quick 35 points: Post 5 photos, write a cruise review and comment on any roll call! Remember, you can comment on any roll call, regardless on whether you are on that sailing or not.
Finally, watch out for a new home page we’ll be releasing later this week – hint, the Leaderboard will be on it:)
We look forward to seeing your reviews, tips, comments and more. As always, thanks for being part of the MeetOnCruise community (email us anytime at hello@meetoncruise.com).
Tags: activity, leader board, leaderboard, photos, points, profile, reviews, tips
Posted in cruise travel, How to, meetoncruise, New feature, Social Media, Technology | No Comments »
Friday, July 22nd, 2011
We are very excited to announce that today we are launching our Meet On Cruise iPhone app! The app is complete and you download it right now here (click View in iTunes) or search for “meet on cruise” within iTunes. And yes, the app is FREE.
Those of you that are fans of our Facebook page know that we have been working on this app for the past few months. (more…)
Tags: app, app store, cruise app, cruise travel app, iphone app, iTunes, iTunes app store, mobile, mobile app
Posted in cruise travel, cruises, How to, meetoncruise, New feature, Social Media, Technology | No Comments »
Thursday, June 23rd, 2011
Several of you have asked how you can share your cruise countdown on Facebook…It’s here!
Now you can torture your Facebook friends by letting them know exactly how many days, hours and minutes till you sail off into the sunset on your cruise:)
How it works:
- Click on the blue “Share Countdown on Facebook” blue from the top of your roll call page
- You’ll be sent to Facebook, adjust your message and click Publish (see pic above).
You’re done. A link to your roll call with the exact days, hours and minutes will be posted to your wall! If you really want to torture your friends, post your countdown every day:)
Enjoy. Btw, there are over 200 roll calls on MeetOnCruise now – THANK YOU for helping us spread the word about MeetOnCruise!
Tags: countdown, cruise countdown, facebook, roll call, roll calls
Posted in meetoncruise, New feature, Social Media, Technology | No Comments »
Monday, June 20th, 2011
We just added a new feature to the MeetOnCruise roll calls – links! You can now add a link to another website or to other pages on MeetOnCruise (e.g. the port guides) in the roll call discussions.
How? Simple. Add “http://” or “www.” (without the quotes) before any website address and once you post your message the phrase will be turned into a link. For e.g. If you’d like to point folks in a roll call to the Bermuda port guide, simply type http://meetoncruise.com/ports/Bermuda.php in the comment box and we’ll turn this into a link automatically.
Enjoy this feature. One note of caution though, please don’t post any explicit, SPAM or outright self-promotion links as these will be taken down immediately. We want to keep the roll call discussions informative and fun for everyone! Questions or comments? You can always get in touch with us via email at hello@meetoncruise.com.
One last reminder, you do NOT need to be checked in on a particular roll call to participate in the discussion. So, if you just came back from an Norwegian Epic cruise and want to tell future cruisers what to expect, jump in to the discussions (currently there are 15 active roll calls for the Epic!) and feel free to post some links.
Faraz and the MeetOnCruise team
Tags: discussion links, links, roll call, roll call discussion, roll calls
Posted in cruise travel, meetoncruise, New feature, Technology | No Comments »
Monday, May 30th, 2011
Photo albums are the newest feature on MeetOnCruise! We all want to see each others’ photos from our cruises..and as of today, any member can upload individual photos into their very own album. Here’s how it works:
- Sign in and go to your profile page. Then scroll down to the photos section and click “Add”.
- In the small window, enter the name of your album, the ship you cruised on and the embarkation port.
- Next, you can choose up to 12 photos from your computer to upload to MeetOnCruise. Don’t forget to give them a caption!
- Thats it. Your album is automatically saved here: MeetOnCruise.com/pics.
TIP: Want to upload more than 12 pics to your album? Simply go through the above steps again and provide the same album name. We’ll group these together for you.
Some of our members have already been busy uploading pictures – this is one of my favorites from MeetOnCruise member Vister‘s cruise to Alaska.
Your turn – lets see your cruise pics!
As always, if you have feedback about the site, don’t hesitate to email us at hello@meetoncruise.com . Enjoy!
Faraz
Tags: albums, cruise photos, cruise pics, photo album, photo albums, photos, pics
Posted in cruise travel, meetoncruise, New feature, Technology | No Comments »
Monday, April 25th, 2011
“How many cruises have you been on? Which ships…and where did you go?”
These are questions many of us cruisers get. And typically, they are from first time cruisers looking to get some advice from someone like you that has several cruises under your belt. An easy way to answer this question is to simply point the person to your MeetOnCruise profile. The link is simple: http://meetoncruise.com/users/Your MeetOnCruise Username.
For example, here is member Doug999 from CruiseRadio who has been on a whopping 17 cruises including Carnival Fascination, Oasis of the Seas and Celebrity Eclipse: http://meetoncruise.com/users/doug999
And here is Heather who has been on 13 cruises including Norwegian Epic, Freedom of the Seas and Carnival Paradise (4 times!): http://meetoncruise.com/users/heatherlforrester
We just added a new page to make it super easy for you to update your cruise information. Here’s how it works:
1. Simply log in to meetoncruise, go to your profile and click the “Edit” link under Past or Upcoming cruises.
2. You’ll see a screen like this where you can easily edit (or delete) your cruise dates, destination, etc.
We hope this makes it easier to update your cruise info. First, log in. Then, go to meetoncruise.com/profile/my-cruises and update your info.
And next time someone asks about your cruise history – send ‘em to your profile on MeetOnCruise! Thanks again for your continued support!
So, how many cruises have YOU been on?
Tags: edit cruise info, how many cruises, number of cruises, profile
Posted in cruise travel, How to, meetoncruise, New feature, Social Media, Technology | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011
First, thank you for spreading the word about MeetOnCruise! The community now has over 1400 members and 119 active roll calls! The last few months have been great as the website has continued to get better – thanks to your feedback.
Second, we heard from a few of you that our 1MB limit on the size of profile pics was too small. Given all the new smartphones spit out pictures at anywhere from 1.5MB to 3.5MB (and some higher), this was clearly out of date. So, we’ve upped the limit to 4MB (which is the same as Facebook).
To add or update your profile pic, first log in, go to ‘Edit Profile‘ (click your username on top right corner of screen) . Then click ‘Edit Image’ and upload your pic. If you are already logged in, then you can simply go here. Funny pics are encouraged!
So, those of you without a profile pic – you know who you are – let’s see that mugshot:) We’re glad to have you as part of this community and as always, send your feedback to hello@meetoncruise.com – we are listening.
Tags: avatar, community, photo, pic, profile pic, upload pic
Posted in How to, meetoncruise, New feature, Technology | 2 Comments »
Monday, April 11th, 2011
Cunard Vistafjord
Recently, we’ve had several users ask for the ability to add a retired ship to their past cruises. As we all know, ships get bought by other cruise lines or they get renamed, or sometimes simply retire from ‘active duty’.
So, based on your feedback, we’ve now added several classic / retired ships to our database. You can now add any of these ships to your past cruises (through your profile page). Here are the retired ships we’ve added so far:
- Cunard Vistajford
- Carnival Holiday
- Norwegian Majesty
- Carnival Celebration
- Regal Princess
- Sovereign of the Seas
- Norwegian Dream
- SS Majestic
- Sun Viking
- Carnival Carnivale
- Carnival Festivale
- Carnival Tropicale
- Update: Added Queen Elizabeth 2 and SS Arcadia
It’s kinda fun to recall these ships and see how much the ships themselves have changed over the years. I mean, do you think that the designers of the Carnival Carnivale would have predicted that today’s ships would have surf pools, water coasters, or sports parks?!
Carnival Carnivale
What other classic or retired ships do you want us to add? Let us know! And keep the feedback coming – we’re listening.
P.S. If you want to take a trip down memory lane, check out ShipsNostalgia.com – cool website with images and commentary on classic ships.
Tags: classic cruise ships, old ships, past cruises, retired ships
Posted in cruise industry, cruise travel, cruises, meetoncruise, New feature, Technology | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
We started MeetOnCruise so people who love to cruise can easily meet other folks online. Well, until today, there wasn’t an easy way to invite your friends to come over and join the fun. We just added a new feature that makes this a snap! Here’s how it works:
- Go to meetoncruise.com and click on the Facebook login icon at the top
- Go to meetoncruise.com/invitefriends.php
- Select which Facebook friends you want to invite and click ‘Send MeetOnCruise Invitation’. That’s it!
We would love your help in spreading the word about MeetOnCruise. And let’s face it, MeetOnCruise will be a whole lot more fun with your friends:) Thanks in advance for letting your friends know about MeetOnCruise.com!
Tags: facebook, facebook friends, invite friends, invite friends to meetoncruise
Posted in How to, meetoncruise, New feature, Technology | 1 Comment »
Thursday, January 20th, 2011
We just released the brand new profile page (aka – Your Cruise Resume)! On this new page you can tell everyone which cruises you have been on (cruise history), which ones you are going on (upcoming cruises), your reviews, and much more! Here is a breakdown of the new features.
- Snapshot of You - works just like most any social network: folks can see your picture, a little About You, your “Stats” (cruises, reviews, etc.) and any contact info (including your Twitter and Facebook links) you wish to share. Remember, you can always change the privacy settings of your information by going to Profile > Settings. There are 3 easy settings for each piece of info – private (no one, except you can see), members, and everybody.
- Activity - shows a nice record of everything you have been up to on the site – comments, new reviews, roll calls, etc.
- Add Cruise History - easily add all your past cruises. Only the ship and date you cruised are required.
- Upcoming Cruise – add your future cruises by simply finding the specific cruise you are going on and “Check in”. We’ll automatically add this cruise to the “Upcoming” cruise section of your profile (the easiest way to do this is go to the home page, enter your ship and cruise date, then click ‘Continue’.)
- Reviews – view all your cruise reviews here. If you haven’t already, check out the new Review Page (video here.) Among other improvements, you can now review your embarkation port/city on the Review Page.
- Share - with one click, show off your cruise resume to your Facebook, Twitter and email friends.
- Tips – Have a quick tip about a ship (e.g. Go to the aft of deck 9 for the sailaway!)? Add it here.
- Photos – upload your cruise photos when you out a review, then show them off on your profile page.
- Videos – add the link(s) of your vacation videos on YouTube and we’ll link them from your profile.
Here are a couple of great examples of profiles – @AmyLee1178, @CruiseMan3000 and @Slara1961. So what are you waiting for? Go fill out your cruise resume or if you are a new user Sign up here!
Thanks and hope you all enjoy the new features. Leave a comment below to let us know what you think of your new profile page.
Tags: cruise resume, cruises, profile, resume
Posted in cruise travel, How to, New feature, Ship review, Social Media, Technology | No Comments »
Friday, July 16th, 2010
The last month here at MeetOnCruise has been a lot of fun. We released a bunch of new features and were covered by the LA Times. But, the coolest treat has been seeing this community grow. Seeing folks comment on the blogs, ‘check in’ to an upcoming cruise and reach out to others on their cruise has been really exciting! That’s what we built the site for!
As a way to show our appreciation to this community, we have got the perfect book for your next vacation. The timeless classic, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson in form of an ebook. You can download and read Treasure Island on your laptop, Kindle, Nook, Android phone, Blackberry and a whole host of other devices. And the best part is, it’s free. That’s right, free. No gimmicks, no strings.
We’ve partnered with the nice folks at fifobooks.com, an e-book marketplace, to provide Treasure Island ebook for you. Download it here!
Grab a rum drink on your cruise and kick back with Long John Silver, Black Dog and the rest of the crew and enjoy this classic book! And thanks for being part of this community.
Which other books do you like to read on vacation? Let us know in the comments.
Happy reading,
Faraz and Eddy
Tags: book, cruise vacation, ebook, Free E-Book, LongJohnSilver, RobertLouisStevenson, TreasureIsland, vacation
Posted in cruise travel, cruises, meetoncruise, New feature, Technology, travel | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 8th, 2010
While scouring through several cruise line websites (where they seem to hide information like an evil Easter Bunny), I took a break and read a story about a man that is suing British cruise line Ocean Village. This gentleman apparently burned his foot so badly, while walking on the pool deck that it eventually had to be amputated. Now, I’m not sure if it was the absence of sleep or just delirium induced by searches (on these cruise websites) that don’t find anything, but the first thing I thought of when reading this story was: “Did the cruise line’s website include flip flops in their packing suggestions?” Surely a suggestion of some poolside footwear would come in handy to a defense lawyer right about now. I don’t mean to make light of someone losing their foot, because there is nothing funny about an amputatee, but could a simple suggestion or packing list have avoided this tragedy?
There are a handful of questions that are relevant to most anyone going on a cruise. What drinks are included? What is the cancelation policy? How can I keep in touch with home while I’m gone? Can I use my laptop? What should I pack? These may seem like basic questions, but the answers are hidden like State secrets on some of these websites. I recently embarked on a quest to answer these questions. When I began this journey, I did so with the thought that it would be nice to have these answers for each of the top ten cruise lines, all in one place. This way someone could come on our site and be able to compare the answers across several cruise lines and help them make decisions as to which best suited their wants and needs. What I did not realize is that I was embarking on a game of “Where’s Waldo”. Are cruise websites so busy selling that they forget to inform their customers?! This task had quickly become the bane of my existence.
The good news is that the project is near complete. Soon, people like yourself and our British friend will be able to go on MeetOnCruise.com, look up the answers to these and more, frequently asked questions regarding the cruise line and ship you and/or he will be traveling on. Armed with this information you will know, for example, to pack flip flops (Again, missing foot… not funny, but really how do you not know that a pool deck is probably too hot for a bare foot?) Our hope is that making this information more readily available and digestible will help you, the cruiser, to be better prepared, plan ahead and ultimately enhance your cruise experience.
As soon as the FAQ section is ready we will update this post. As always, your feedback is welcomed and encouraged.
******************************UPDATE*******************************************
The FAQ sections are up for the following Cruise Lines: Carnival, Celebrity, Costa, Disney, Holland America, MSC, Norwegian, P & O, Princess, Royal Caribbean.
Tags: cancellation policy, carnival cruise line, Celebrity cruises, Costa Cruise Line, cruise lines, cruise ships, cruise websites, Disney Cruise Line, FAQ, Holland America, internet, MSC, Norwegian Cruise Line, P&O, pack, Princess Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, what should i pack, what's included
Posted in cruise industry, cruise travel, cruises, Social Media, Technology | No Comments »
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
Last week, Celebrity Cruises announced that their latest ship, Celebrity Eclipse will launch with an iLounge. An Apple store / internet cafe with “easy access to the Internet, inspiring classes and new products”. We love the idea. Here’s why:
- Museum Experience: Going to an Apple store is akin to going to a museum. It is an EXPERIENCE – in beauty, elegance, technology…and just fun. That sounds very much like the vacation experience cruise lines are selling. On that inevitable cloudy day on your cruise, where else are you going to be hanging out?
- Cool, hip: While the average age of cruisers continues to go down (see here), cruise lines clearly want to reach out to younger consumers. The iLounge gives Celebrity a way to do that – associating your brand with a brand such as Apple, makes you cool, hip. Remember the Mac vs PC ads?
- Affluent consumers: The price point of Apple products are typically above other competitor products. Sometimes way above. A Macbook Pro can easily cost $1600, while an equivalent [in specs] PC can be half that price. Yet, for those that can afford it, Macs are the way to go. Thus, Celebrity is attracting a more affluent consumer segment.
- Design and convenience trumps price: Apple consumers tend to value good design and convenience over price. I.e. no blue screen of death (PC owners know what I’m talking about). As prices for cruises go up due to greater demand (see Carnival’s recent announcement), consumers that value design and convenience over price are exactly the consumers cruise lines want.
- Learning is fun: I’ve always enjoyed taking classes at the Apple store. And what better way to learn iMovie or iPhoto than by bringing your cruise vacation digital video/pics to a class and learn how to put together a fun video or photo stream.
Great move, Celebrity. Although, one tip: type in “iLounge” into google and you get nothing related to Celebrity Cruises. You should fix that.
If other cruise lines were smart, they should, ahem, ‘adopt’ this idea. After spending $200 on a new iPod, that $9 daiquiri by the pool doesn’t seem all that expensive, does it?
Faraz
Tags: Apple, Celebrity cruises, cruise, cruise lines, ilounge, internet, mac
Posted in cruise travel, Technology | 6 Comments »
