Creating online maps for cruise reviews to share our experiences

With the busy lives that many of us lead nowadays it can be hard to find time to get away from it all so annual holidays are a precious time that can be a release from the pressures back home. Because of this we like to make sure that wherever we go is worth visiting and people that share their holiday experiences online can help us to decide where to go next. Asia is a huge continent full of interesting countries such as South Korea, Japan and Thailand which is why journeys with Seabourn Cruises and other companies that operate in this region are so popular. After returning from your holiday it is nice to be able to contribute to the online accounts of journeys around the world and with the help of free software you can create a map with hyperlinks to descriptions of the various places you stopped at along the way. People who are familiar with HTML may be able to accomplish this task without any help but for the rest of us such software is a great timesaver. Despite the popularity of the Mediterranean, operators like Thomson Cruises are still able to provide exciting trips to places that are new to many travellers and the reports that they post online can help others to discover these places as well. If you have never created an image map before you will be surprised at how easy it is and how they can bring holiday evaluations to life.

Coordinating your efforts

When making an image map by hand you need to know the coordinates of the points on the picture that you wish to use as hyperlinks. If you have just returned from a world trip with Regent Cruises then there could be many of these, which is why a lot of people find using free software an easier way to create their own maps. If however, you still want to do it by hand then any image editing software should show the coordinates when you open your picture with it and move the cursor around. You will need to make a note of the coordinates to include in the HTML. In order to take a round the world trip you will of course need a few months free time and Silverseas Cruises are also amongst the companies that offer such journeys. If it is not possible to take that much time off work then most operators can arrange for you to join and leave the ship at ports of your choice rather than stay for the whole journey. The vessels that undertake these long trips have all the amenities that you would expect and are almost like floating cities. When making a map of such a journey it is best to break it up into several images, so all the ports of call can be clearly seen. NCL Cruises are another company that can arrange for you to join ships at remote ports and have many interesting itineraries on offer.

Short trips

Some people may have formed the impression that ship-based holidays involve many days at sea which may put them off a little. There are however lots of shorter journeys where you never spend more than a few hours in between the various ports of call. Maps illustrating these trips can be found on the operators' websites and you can turn up many holiday reports with a quick search. Companies like Princess Cruises offer short trips from California to Mexico that last for 4 days and only feature one whole day at sea when you are returning to the port where your journey started. It would be a fairly simple task to create a map of such a holiday and link the ports of call to your thoughts and experiences, after coming home. Whenever making your own maps, be sure to check that the image maps you use are not copyrighted or you may be asked to remove them from the site they are posted on. With Fred Olsen Cruises and other lines you can take a trip around Norway and sample the delicious seafood from this country which would make a good subject for a trip report. Each point on your map could link to a page containing tasting notes to share your culinary adventures with others. To learn how to make these image maps by hand you could always have a look at the source code of pages featuring them and adjust the code to suit your own needs.

Where to go

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, whether you are travelling with Celebrity Cruises on a trip around the Canary Islands or taking a holiday on the other side of the world with any of the companies operating luxury liners, there are many sites on the internet where you can read independent reports that other travellers have written after going on similar holidays themselves. These are a great way to find out about various destinations and decide whether you may like to visit them too. Most of them do not feature image maps but your accounts will be much easier to follow if you include some. When P&O Cruises and other companies are putting together new itineraries they may well take into account the thoughts of past customers so it is worth making the effort to share your experiences. A search for information on image maps will turn up thousands of pages that contain helpful information on how to go about creating your first one, as well as links to many free applications to make the process much easier, so there is no need to worry about it being too difficult or time consuming. Other people will appreciate your contribution to the Cruise Reviews on the internet and you could end up helping them settle on a destination for their next holiday. Wherever you decide to go on your first sea voyage, it is sure to be an experience to remember and quite different from other types of holidays.