How much money does Active Captain save you each year?

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How much do you think you save using Active Captain each year?

  • >$1,000 per year

    Votes: 3 7.1%
  • Between $500 and $1,000 per year

    Votes: 5 11.9%
  • Between $100 and $500 per year

    Votes: 8 19.0%
  • <$100 per year

    Votes: 2 4.8%
  • I don't save any money

    Votes: 18 42.9%
  • It's a conspiracy that increases my slip rent

    Votes: 6 14.3%

  • Total voters
    42
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That was all you could find?????

Cruising the Golf Area, Bahama's, Caribbean etc. East Coast US, then my advice is to ALL cruisers visit www.noonsite.com and see what it gives to you, with the special thanks going to Mr. Jimmy Cornell.

I see almost no overlap between Noonsite and AC. Noonsite is a much higher level guide with customs clearance guideline from country to country, etc. Port info is very, very limited covering only major ports. For example, it only covers 21 ports in the whole US east coast. For anchorages, marinas, and hazards, there is simply no comparison between the two. AC has WAY, WAY more content. And everything in AC is geo-located on your chart with an off-line data base. How do I use Noonsite to check out anchorages in Tebenkof Bay, Kuiu Island, Alaska? It has zero info, and even if it did, it will have been a couple of weeks since I last had internet when you arrive at Tebenkof, so you can't access Noonsite even if you wanted to.

There is simply no comparison between the two.
 
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Reiziger and Semi, it's time to put it to rest. Frankly, I for one am tired of your nonsense rantings which have absolutely no rationale---save perhaps your own personal agenda. You have no data to support your allegations yet you are attacking a gentleman who has provided a great tool to part time and full time cruisers. If you don't like it, don't use it. If you think you are suffering financially, give up boating. I will continue to use AC as often as possible and I hope others here will increase their usage too; since you guys are paying for it, we might as well enjoy it. :mad:
 
Semi-hate to repeat, but indirect costs are in everything you spend money on. What kind of boat do you have? Where did you learn of it? In one of the mare than several publications your builder may advertise in? Or any of the boat shows the builder may have paid to show in? Or just direct through a broker? You paid for all that advertising that never reached your or affected your purchasing decision. And it gets even worse. The manufacturers of every single piece of equipment on your boat have built their advertising/marketing/overhead costs into each item on you boat. How did the builder come across that equipment? Did any of that indirect expense affect his purchasing decision? Maybe, maybe not, but you have paid for it. Did all of those companies figure the same profit into their pricing decisions? Maybe one budgeted a 10% profit but another budgeted a 20% profit. You paid. Your boat could easily have cost 15-20% less if you didn't have to bear all those indirect costs. In your world, it seems you are only willing to pay the direct manufacturing cost (plus maybe some profit?) for anything you buy. That is just a bit naïve.
 
And, what about fire departments. I pay for them and I've never had a fire. I pay for schools and I have no kids.


We asked our governament to arange things in the public domain with our tax money, i can't remember i asked Jeffrey anything.


Substitute other services. I didn't ask airlines to create themselves, but they did and I benefit from that (even though I rarely fly, these days). I didn't ask taxi companies to create themselves, but they did and I benefit from that (even though I rarely use them). I didn't ask hospitals to create themselves, but they did, and I benefit from that (even when I hope to only rarely use them; never would be good with me).


I'm glad I don't have to grow my own food, and I'm willing to pay for somebody else to do that.... and for all the intermediate costs necessary to get it nearby. I'm glad I don't have to cobble my own shoes, and I'm willing to pay for that... and for all the intermediate costs top make shoes available nearby. And so forth. Of course everyone is welcome to grow their own, cobble their own... and even then, they too would still be involved in making all that possible. Too bad, but I don't have much sympathy. I would certainly prefer a world where everyone pays their own way for direct-benefit services, plus a reasonable portion for indirect-benefit services, plus a much smaller portion of "society benefits" services... but if AC falls into that latter "all boaters benefit" category (a rising tide floats all boats higher), that works for me.


If I had known there was a Jeff who was capable of creating an AC... and that an AC could work as it does... I would have asked him to invent that. I'm lucky he stepped up. I don't see where AC costs me anything in indirect costs associated with rising prices in the marketplace. Haven't seen rising prices that could have been caused by AC, even though I have seen some slip fee increases that seem to have come about after a change in marina ownership... with or without some cash injection for infrastructure improvements.



Many of the internet forums are funded by Google's AdSense. I didn't ask for that either, but then again without that pesky advertising, many forums I appreciate couldn't exist. And that's just advertising money that would have been spend in some other media anyway.

-Chris
 
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With all due respect, the issue is what I and other non-users currently pay for you to use the resource. You versus someone else paying for what you use is the point. Put a price on the service and compete with the hard copy folks, for example. Pay for play. Be up front about it.

Have you ever had a slip at a marina with a swimming pool? Commercial swimming pools are quite expensive to maintain between employee labor, electricity to run the pumps, and all the chemicals. I'm guessing the all in cost of a swimming pool might be 20 to 50 times the cost of AC for a marina. Where's your outrage for slip holders subsidizing the cost of a swimming pool for the small minority who use it?

Ted
 
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Have you ever had a slip at a marina with a swimming pool? Commercial swimming pools are quite expensive to maintain between employee labor, electricity to run the pumps, and all the chemicals. I'm guessing the all in cost of a swimming pool might be 100 times the cost of AC for a marina. Where's your outrage for slip holders subsidizing the cost of a swimming pool for the small minority who use it?

Ted
:thumb:...had the same thought....also barbeque grills, recreation rooms, cable tv, wifi, etc...etc...

Hardly any of which I use when cruising, especially the swimming pools due to my snowbird migration. It's the local folks that take their 2 week trip every summer that get the most use out of these items, yet even less use than the dock condo "boaters".

Pulling in at dusk and leaving at daybreak, buying maybe $500 worth of fuel (maybe more than the many of the locals buy all year), using little or no electric, little water, using my own lines, causing no wear and tear at the marina, yet paying over $80 a night for the privilege of staying the night.....and who is subsidizing who?

Heck, I have had to pay full price at marinas in December when their water, electric and wifi were inop...when I suggested a price break....got the deer in the headlights look. " what, and have to raise the rates of my regular locals?" :rofl::rofl::rofl:...just kidding...but no price reduction either.

No, not clear in my mind.....

Sure there are times I feel like I am getting a good deal, and other times definitely not.

This rates up there in TF discussions of theory versus fact....like oil quality. Sounds good, till someone asks for facts.
 
Not a penny. Active Captain actually places a cost burden on non-users who in effect, are forced to subsidize the business without their consent. Advertising spent with Active Captain is paid for by end users...the boating public. Likewise if marinas are engaged with Active Captain, their expenditures are passed along to the end user...the boater.
This makes an assumption that paying for AC results in a net loss of profit to the marina. Not true if AC increases marina occupancy and therefore profits. Boating is not a zero-sum equation.
 
This makes an assumption that paying for AC results in a net loss of profit to the marina. Not true if AC increases marina occupancy and therefore profits. Boating is not a zero-sum equation.

That is the concept being missed. Marinas wouldn't pay us unless they saw a direct return. Here's the internal magic of how it all really works:

- Marinas who average 4 or 5 stars love ActiveCaptain because for the first time, ActiveCaptain show boaters their qualities in an honest way. Let's face it, if you see a paid ad somewhere about how wonderful a facility is, you don't really believe that your experience will look like the picture, any more than you believe the Big Mac you get will look anything like the TV commercial.

- These marinas that the community rates as good or great want to pay for a couple of reasons: 1) they want to make sure ActiveCaptain is sustained, and 2) the extra tools and analytics help them bring more boaters who otherwise wouldn't come.

This is a pure dollars and cents decision. Partner marinas easily make up the yearly ActiveCaptain cost between within a week to a month. We couldn't have a viable business unless we could show that consistently.

So if you're a 2 or 3 star marina, a couple of things happen:

- We will not accept you into the partner program unless you have a plan and budget showing how you intend to be a 4-5 star facility. This usually only happens if the marina management/ownership has changed. We turn down money every week from marinas who don't measure up.

- The community learns about your ratings and they divert their spending to other, higher quality marinas where they'll have a better experience.


So the idea that ActiveCaptain has cost any boater anything is absurd. It certainly has cost the poorer quality marinas and yards though who can no longer hide from the experiences they provide. In reality, that's who actually pays for ActiveCaptain.

Marinas can no longer fool boaters by buying ads to show how great they are. Now the community, us, tells each other and the result makes our cruising more enjoyable. I'd expect the results of forums like this are similar - it's the interaction and opinions of others that matter more than any advertisement or promotion.

A side benefit is that, because the higher quality marinas get a higher occupancy, they're making more money than before. So they are much LESS apt to raise their prices - why should they? In that way, ActiveCaptain is providing higher quality experiences to boaters while keeping the costs lower.

Q.E.D. :dance:
 
Have you ever had a slip at a marina with a swimming pool? Commercial swimming pools are quite expensive to maintain between employee labor, electricity to run the pumps, and all the chemicals. I'm guessing the all in cost of a swimming pool might be 20 to 50 times the cost of AC for a marina. Where's your outrage for slip holders subsidizing the cost of a swimming pool for the small minority who use it?

Ted

Yes, most of our seasonal slips have been at marinas with lots of amenities that I never use. I elected to pay the price. Different from being "taxed" for a commercial service that I know nothing about and/or won't use even if I do. Another poster remarked that he thought only the government could do that (tax). Well, that's obviously not true in the internet information world. And the old refrain "taxation without representation is tyranny" still applies. Sure it's a small point....but it all adds to the cost of boating. Again, this crowd are primarily users of AC and you're protecting your freebee. And many of you are doing it with great vigor, tossing out endless insults and derogatory comments. Unnecessary and pretty ugly stuff...."semi-hate"...and worse.... By the way BandB, I didn't specifically call you a fat cat...I said the mom and pops who have trouble just paying for their slip see the "big" boats traveling around the country as fat cats. That's just a fact...and it would include me. (Be careful about taking things out of context).

I'm not angry at all. I'm just trying to make a point on principal, and I'm a very tenacious person. Yup, this issue is all over the place in advertising funded sites. TF is a good example, and the folks who are involved with the business side have a serious financial interest in keeping it exactly as it is...."free"....while it's obviously a cost ALL boaters. The Boat Diesel model is more to my fairness standard. I'd like to see all of these boating related forums take that route. They won't go there because the profits aren't there. By the way, I still wonder why a thread like this isn't in the Commercial Market section. Sure looks like a marketing thread for AC (which I knowingly perpetuated....for a reason). Still...

As psneeld pointed out, there is indeed no way to quantify the costs (or profits) associated with these funding arrangements, but there should be. I suspect the numbers are much larger than any of you think, and I for one want to know. The only way to find out is to ask regulators to look into it. So that's the plan.

Bon Voyage, my friends
 
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We asked our governament to arange things in the public domain with our tax money, ...............................

I don't recall asking the government to supply free housing, free food and free cell phones (of al things) to those unwilling to support themselves.
 
Semi-hate to repeat, but indirect costs are in everything you spend money on. What kind of boat do you have? Where did you learn of it? In one of the ?.....shortened for space......

Semi planing....I don't think the first sentence was the way you took it....I did at first but then thought it out....

So in my mind, the hyphen there wasn't connecting semi and hate, it was there to separate a shortened version of your forum name and the hate goes with the concept of having to repeat something.

Could be wrong on this too....but I doubt it...:D
 
I don't recall asking the government to supply free housing, free food and free cell phones (of al things) to those unwilling to support themselves.

That's why "in a democracy" you can vote.....
 
As psneeld pointed out, there is indeed no way to quantify the costs (or profits) associated with these funding arrangements, but there should be. I suspect the numbers are much larger than any of you think, and I for one want to know. The only way to find out is to ask regulators to look into it. So that's the plan.

Bon Voyage, my friends

So who are these 'regulators'? Just curious.
 
Yes, most of our seasonal slips have been at marinas with lots of amenities that I never use. I elected to pay the price. Different from being "taxed" for a commercial service that I know nothing about and/or won't use even if I do. Another poster remarked that he thought only the government could do that (tax). Well, that's obviously not true in the internet information world. And the old refrain "taxation without representation is tyranny" still applies. Sure it's a small point....but it all adds to the cost of boating. Again, this crowd are primarily users of AC and you're protecting your freebee. And many of you are doing it with great vigor, tossing out endless insults and derogatory comments. Unnecessary and pretty ugly stuff...."semi-hate"...and worse.... By the way BandB, I didn't specifically call you a fat cat...I said the mom and pops who have trouble just paying for their slip see the "big" boats traveling around the country as fat cats. That's just a fact...and it would include me. (Be careful about taking things out of context).

I'm not angry at all. I'm just trying to make a point on principal, and I'm a very tenacious person. Yup, this issue is all over the place in advertising funded sites. TF is a good example, and the folks who are involved with the business side have a serious financial interest in keeping it exactly as it is...."free"....while it's obviously a cost ALL boaters. The Boat Diesel model is more to my fairness standard. I'd like to see all of these boating related forums take that route. They won't go there because the profits aren't there. By the way, I still wonder why a thread like this isn't in the Commercial Market section. Sure looks like a marketing thread for AC (which I knowingly perpetuated....for a reason). Still...

As psneeld pointed out, there is indeed no way to quantify the costs (or profits) associated with these funding arrangements, but there should be. I suspect the numbers are much larger than any of you think, and I for one want to know. The only way to find out is to ask regulators to look into it. So that's the plan.

Bon Voyage, my friends

Don Quixote, best of luck Tilting at Windmills!

quixote_1_lg.jpg

Ted
 
That's why "in a democracy" you can vote.....

And in a capitalist society you are free to vote with your wallet. No one is forcing you to use AC or stay at marinas that pay to sponsor AC. In fact with AC you can see who the sponsors are and completely avoid them if that is your pleasure.
 

Hey...I am the first to admit that it only takes one ember to start a forest fire....

Assuming that one drop of rain doesn't extingush it first....:rofl:

Then again I never envisioned conspiracy theories to catch hold on this forum...unless it has to deal with anchors....:D.....another non-provable set of theories......:socool:
 
As psneeld pointed out, there is indeed no way to quantify the costs (or profits) associated with these funding arrangements, but there should be. I suspect the numbers are much larger than any of you think, and I for one want to know. The only way to find out is to ask regulators to look into it. So that's the plan.

Bon Voyage, my friends


So, you think that "regulators" need to "look into it"? What "regulators? The FTC? What do you think they would be looking into? Do you think there is some kind of anti-trust issue here? I am afraid that you have completely lost touch.
 
Hey...I am the first to admit that it only takes one ember to start a forest fire....

Assuming that one drop of rain doesn't extingush it first....:rofl:

Then again I never envisioned conspiracy theories to catch hold on this forum...unless it has to deal with anchors....:D.....another non-provable set of theories......:socool:

Yep, maybe the one that dirt the whole forum with Advertisements of his product.

I kindly ask Commercial Members to stay in the Commercial Area of the forum when discussing their products.

I dearly hope that the forum management take care of this demand.


PS. I remember that Hendo78 left the forum ones because of a link in his signature..........
 
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Yep, maybe the one that dirt the whole forum with Advertisements of his product.

I kindly ask Commercial Members to stay in the Commercial Area of the forum when discussing their products.

I dearly hope that the forum management take care of this demand.

Mr. Siegel did not start this thread. He just came on here to clarify some things. If you see something that you believe is not "in the spirit of things", please hit the report button and it will go for review. Commercial members generally know and adhere to the rules. This is not his thread. And just because he comments does not mean it should end up in the commercial section. Ted is a member in good standing and I doubt he is up to no good with his intentions in starting this thread.

Ps...it is also against the rules to discuss how we moderate this forum. We do it for the betterment of the ENTIRE community...not just the wishes of one member.
 
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Mr. Siegel did not start this thread. He just came on here to clarify some things. If you see something that you believe is not "in the spirit of things", please hit the report button and it will go for review. Commercial members generally know and adhere to the rules. This is not his thread. And just because he comments does not mean it should end up in the commercial section. Ted is a member in good standing and I doubt he is up to no good with his intentions in starting this thread.

Ps...it is also against the rules to discuss how we moderate this forum. We do it for the betterment of the ENTIRE community...not just the wishes of one member.

Baker, if you read it again you see that i wrote; "i dearly hope" no value for other members in this.....
 
There's one word I haven't seen in this thread and that is 'free enterprise'. Jeffrey saw an opportunity/demand and went to fill it, rather successfully I think, and he is making money at it. I think that's called free enterprise. Some marina owners decided that partnering with AC would being in more customers, hence more money, and took the opportunity. Again 'free enterprise' as I doubt Jeffrey held a gun to their heads to make them partner with AC. I don't want to get political, but I bet I know who Semi is going to vote for. He needs 'regulators' to protect him from the big bad capitalists like Jeffrey and the marina owners.
Maybe if he ever ends up in an AC partner marina he can ask for a 'non AC user' discount.
Maybe we should put this thread on hold until Semi can report back from the 'regulators'.
 
Baker, if you read it again you see that i wrote; "i dearly hope" no value for other members in this.....

Baker is fully capable of reading what you wrote. Not the first time you've written the same. You are trying to govern the board. The moderators are very responsive to any suggestions or complaints made to them. Let's quote your full sentence, "I dearly hope that the forum management take care of this demand." As he said, you don't address forum management in the threads, and you most certainly don't make "demands." Your word, not mine.
 
There's one word I haven't seen in this thread and that is 'free enterprise'.

Wifey B: :confused: one word? free + enterprise = two. :rofl: I couldn't resist. One of the all time best quotes by a baseball player and they have more crazy quotes than any other sport was Joaquin Andujar. "There is one word in America that says it all, and that one word is, 'You never know.'" Source: Sports Illustrated (June 22, 1987). He also is alleged to have said his favorite word in English was "you never know".

Yes, I think there is opposition to free enterprise by a couple of members here. I have not the foggiest (and I'm talking the worst fog of London and San Francisco combined) idea where they draw the line. I can only joke about this thread, so thanks for setting me up. :)
 
That's why "in a democracy" you can vote.....
Sure, but when the folks getting the free stuff outnumber the ones supplying the tax dollars and they vote, your vote won't mean anything.

I recently read a quote:

When there ware more people sitting in the wagon than there are pulling it, the wagon t going to go very far.

To get back on subject and to be fair, I use Active Captain extensively. Not for hazards, but for marinas and anchorages. I don't stay at "sponsor" marinas because they are sponsor marinas, I don't even consider that.

Location and price are the two things I consider most. Amenities are a secondary consideration. If there's a link to the marina's website, I will check that out as well.

Active Captain has made the boating experience better for me.
 
Trying again. Damn iPhone.

Anyway, I can argue that noonsite will cause marina rate to rise more than AC simply because it lists so few. If everyone used Noonsite, then they would flock to the few marinas that noonsite list. Those marinas would become overcrowded and prices would go up.

It's just ridiculous to blame AC for imaginary increases in dockage while at the same time saying noonsite does not have a similar effect.

I think noonsite is very valuable, and only overlaps with AC by maybe 10% in the info and value that it provides. Each serves a different purpose.
 
Hey, just what the heck is "dockwa"?
 
Baker is fully capable of reading what you wrote. Not the first time you've written the same. You are trying to govern the board. The moderators are very responsive to any suggestions or complaints made to them. Let's quote your full sentence, "I dearly hope that the forum management take care of this demand." As he said, you don't address forum management in the threads, and you most certainly don't make "demands." Your word, not mine.

So now you answer also for other people, in my contry we call this "Arrogant"

Happy sailing......
 
So now you answer also for other people, in my contry we call this "Arrogant"

Happy sailing......

Doesn't change that you were making demands of the moderators. That would certainly seem to match my arrogance. You avoided the point of the message with name calling. Fine with me.
 
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