New Website Feature: Reader Submitted Links for Meet Threads, Facebook Groups, Ports and More

From Facebook to online discussion forums, there are a plethora of online locations to connect with other passengers on your same Disney Cruise, but there is has not been central location to find all these links. Recently, it has been brought to my attention that some online message board forums have a policy prohibiting links to certain websites and some Facebook groups remove links that do not follow the group’s guidelines. While I do not understand the need to do so, I do accept each site owner has the right to set the rules. I could care less who links to who, so I developed a way for anyone to submit a link to a forum meet thread, a Facebook Group, a travel agency organizing a group cruise, a Pinterest page on fish extenders, some no-name bar in Cozumel where you had a good lunch or a family run jewelry store in St John were you found a replacement wedding band after yours drops 40-feet into the water while tying up a boat… Sorry, the point I am trying to make is that I do not care what websites gets linked.

Cruise Meet & General Links

You may have noticed a Find Your Cruise search on the left side of the page. To submit or find links specific to your cruise select the ship and the month and year the cruise sails.

DCLBlog Cruise SearchThis will return a page of each sailing for that ship during the month. Click on the date of the cruise to be taking to a summary page for that specific sailing. This sail date summary page is also a new addition, but is basically an extension of our itinerary explorer page with dates specific to this cruise.

DCLBlog Cruise Search ResultsFor this example, we are going to take a look at the September 14th sailing. There is a section labeled Helpful Links with three tabs; Cruise Meet Links, General Links and Port Links. The first two tabs will contain links specific to this sailing.

DCLBlog Cruise Meet Thread LinksThe Port Links will pull any links that have been submitted for the ports of call that will be visited during the cruise.

DCLBlog Cruise Port Links

To submit a link just click the Submit Link link and complete the form.

Port of Call Links

While looking at a port of call page you will see a Links tab. This is where you will find links specific to this port that you may find helpful when planning your day at this location.

DCLBlog Port St Thomas St John Links

I should note, all links will be moderated and will not display on the site until they have been approved. This may sound like it goes against my previous statement that I do not care what sites get linked, but it would be irresponsible if I did not check them first for appropriate content and value. The most important fact you need to know is that just because a link appears on the site does not mean we personally endorse the content.

If you are active on forums or Facebook cruises I encourage you to submit links to those pages so other can join in the discussion. Information is power, the more you know before your vacation can potentially make a what would have been a poor cruise experience an unforgettable cruise experience. Bottom line, I wanted to create an open directory of sorts, a central place to share helpful links to enable you to get the most out of your next cruise vacation. Hopefully, I succeeded, or at least developed something that will be marginally useful.

17 Replies to “New Website Feature: Reader Submitted Links for Meet Threads, Facebook Groups, Ports and More”

  1. Shelia A Adam

    This is fantastic! Thank you so much! I’m in a Disney Cruise Group on a Board that prohibits mention of FB!

    Reply
    1. Sheila Roberts Stirling

      Yes Shelia, many of us have suffered the censorship that you refer to over there. I have stopped going there for that reason. Plus, they also send you threatening emails. It’s beyond understanding!

      Reply
      1. Crystal Connors

        I have also decided to no longer give my support to DISboards, based on their poor decision to censor other Disney social media sites such as FACEBOOK. Maybe if they would update their message board to be more user friendly we would not feel the need to create groups on sites like Facebook.

        Additionally sending threatening emails to users is no way to keep traffic on their site. Its a shame, I used to go to their site almost daily for something, but now I refuse.

        Thank you for all you do and all the information you provide. My go to site for anything Disney cruising is your site. You Rock!

        Reply
    1. Scott Sanders Post author

      Thanks Les. The site evolves because of the feedback we receive. This latest edition is a prime example of reader feedback being used as inspiration for a new feature.

      Reply
  2. Sharon

    Wow Scott!!! You did a LOT of work for this upgrade and it’s great! Hopefully, we’ll get to take another Disney Cruise in the future (they’re getting to expensive) and will get to use the links!

    Reply
  3. Walt S.

    Scott. Keep doing what you are doing. Stay with the positive and encouraging things being discussed. That is why I don’t connect with those other Disney Cruise websites. Too much unnecessary, negative personal drama to get the necessary information you are looking for. You are straight to the point with things of interest and you keep away from conversation of conflict. Don’t change PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply
  4. Alice

    Hi Scott – I looked at my cruise (Magic June 18 2017) and don’t see a way to add links. I’m trying to start something for this cruise on two other sites (not a big Facebook fan but will look at that too) so it would be great to be able to link them here. Thanks!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.