I think milestones are kewl, and I'm guilty too, but after 10,000, it seems like only thousand marks are "important", as the century marks happen daily.
The newsletter was designed to help people out for the August Repositioning Cruise. It went over so well that I was asked to do it again for this cruise.
I agree with many that we are trying to get to know eachother and many of the postings reflect that. Exchanging quick greetings, quips, etc. make it fun. Posting for the sake of getting your count up, getting to a century milestone, makes it hard to keep up.
Definitely ask your questions Kathryn. I know at least for me if there is a serious question asked and a lot of posting going on, I will PM the person asking with the answer. I want to see everyone have a great time and if that one nagging question gets answered, that will help!
Maybe to alleviate the question problem, those posting answers could PM and post so those needing answers feel they got it! You mention splitting up to a Q&A and a "Chatter" board. This is basically what the DIS did by starting a Cruise Meets Thread. This is the "Chatter" board and the main Cruise Board is the Q&A. They moved the meets over here so the regular boards wouldn't get so cluttered.
Keep in mind also if you find that certain people don't post anything you are interested in, you can always put them on ignore. You will not see anything that they posted (except of course when someone quotes them).
I have seen the posts about the "DIS" people on other boards and all I can say is it is stereotypical to lump people into a group like that. Every person in the groups in the past didn't do what people are accusing them of doing. It's usually one or two people. Yes, they may be part of a bigger group, but that gives no one the right to lump them all together. I have been on 4
DCL cruises and have never heard anything bad about the DIS people. I have only heard good things from the crew.
There is definitely no "secret society" here. I know that I know about 10 people (tops) who I have cruised with before. Many of the people I have responded to, I have never met. Yet I feel like I'm part of this group. I agree, I have never seen anything quite like it on any other cruiseline. I think that's a good thing for DCL. Don't read the stories about other sailings. I will tell you I had a blast last August and we had a couple people (part of the DIS group) that I wouldn't want to admit I know because of the things they did. I consider them an individual and I avoided them. If you find the same thing happens here, I suggest doing the same. But give everyone a chance first. Don't make a predetermination of what people will be like until you meet them.
I think things did start to get a little out of hand. I'm sure I played a part in that. I know that most of us (and hopefully you too) are very excited for this trip and just to be on vacation. I have another cruise planned, but haven't even posted on that thread about it yet. Too much excitement for this one.