Reconsidering previous advice with an eye on updating that guidance, one element is quite clear: things have changed. Much of what was relevant information just a few years ago is no longer applicable. That caused a fresh look at the entire process from beginning to end.

Finding, Planning, Experiencing and other major thoughts about the process need another look. In the course of doing that, some significant trends included technology, a huge part of the travel-by-ship landscape. But this technology focus is not so much a matter being more automated, which it is. In this application, technology is creating new doors from which to choose. The result is affecting everything from booking to sailing. Let’s start with a wonderful new, free photography option available to all.

Get Ready To Rethink All You Know Of Cruises

Facial Recognition Software

Facial recognition software is nothing new. Odds are you have it on your phone or your photo storage program already. The technology groups together photos of the same person. Recently though it has become better at it to a point of interest for cruise travelers with a long sailing history, perhaps one that dates back to a time when cameras had film.

If you thought your facial recognition software via your smartphone was pretty good at it, try Adobe’s Lightroom CC.

Adobe Lightroom CC

This cloud-based subscription photo service starts at $9.99 per month and works seamlessly with other Adobe products you will probably want eventually if you go down this road. Transferring digital photos from multiple sources was easy, took some time but increased the number of people it found over 100 times more than with other facial recognition technology. The reason? Cruise crew photos collected over about the last 12 years. Before that, I shot film and have tons of prints as well.

Scanning prints into the system was a time consuming task but one that was well worth it. Here’s why:

Have you ever been on a cruise and thought “I think I have sailed with that guy before” ? Lightroom picks up faces from crowd shots, people walking off or back on the ship, on tours…just about any shot with a partial view of a face.

Eventually, I can see the day when this pays off big for seasoned cruise travelers who have been at it for a while.

1. Search for a particular ship, perhaps one you will be sailing soon.
2. Find someone who sailed it recently and has photos to share.
3. Copy their photos into Lightroom and look for it to ask “Is this____?”
4. If it’s a match, you sailed with that crew before and odds are they will be on the ship in a couple weeks when you are.

Take that one step further.

I’m following so and so on a particular cruise as I already do. Collecting the photos they post on Instagram, Facebook, etc you may very well be able to tell them “Say Hi to _____ who we sailed with in 1995.”

This also works for photos of other passengers on the ship or people met during our travels as well.

Give it a try: a free trial gets you started.