| Cruise Critic raising awareness

CRUISE review site and online
community Cruise Critic last
night celebrated its one-year
anniversary of having established
a local presence with 40
trade partners including CLIA
Australasia and major cruise lines.
Boston-based general manager
Mike Ewing was in Sydney for the
event, saying cruisecritic.com.au
was enjoying exceptional traffic.
“It’s so exciting for us to be part
of the Australian cruise market.
“The level of adoption of cruise
as a travel category in this region
makes it an incredibly exciting
place to be and to learn more
from the region,” Ewing said.
CruiseCritic.com.au is headed
up by Australian editor Louise
Goldsbury, who revealed the site
would soon receive increased
consumer exposure through a
new column to appear in News
Corp’s Weekend Australian.
Goldsbury also announced
Cruise Critic would launch a
localised version of the long running
Editors’ Picks Award,
already well established in the
United States and UK, in Oct.
She said the AU Editors’ Picks
Awards was aimed at reaching a
wider audience and boost traffic.
It recognises the best ships,
the best cabins, the best shore
excursions, based on Cruise
Critic’s team of Australian writers.
Goldsbury also indicated there
were plans to introduce an
Australia specific Cruisers Choice
Awards from next year.
“We want to get travel agents
using the site. Cruise Critic is such
a comprehensive site offering
a wealth of information. More
information than you can possibly
dream about,” she told CW.
“If you want to know if there
is a shower screen or a shower
curtain or if the orange juice is
fresh, you name it, from that
nitty-gritty stuff right up to
cabin categories and destination
information, it’s all there.”