Think you can't get the "death penalty" for complaining too much about a cruise? Look here and see what happened to one couple. Note that this link contains another link to a competing forum. In this case I am allowing it since the story is of interest and all the stories I can find mention the other forum.

Frankly I support Royal Caribbean in taking this action. Cruise lines are constantly bashed on-line - including here - for trivial issues. Sure, some things these people griped about may be legitimate. But given the track record I also have to think there was lots of non-issues too. People need to realize that cruise lines are businesses, and therefore don't have to serve you if they don't want to. Wal-Mart serves trespass warnings to customers every day, telling them if they ever return they'll be arrested. Looks like Royal Caribbean is joining the club. In this case, the cruise line was simply saying "you know what, obviously we cannot meet your expectations so we quit. Go find another company and leave us alone."

It also shows that, without a doubt, the cruise lines monitor forums such as cruise-chat.

Another point - if you get individual compensation for something, something beyond what was offered to everyone on a cruise, you had best keep it between you and the cruise line. Really, it is not any different than when you settle a lawsuit or insurance claim and you have to agree to keep it confidential.

Very interesting article. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Thanks for sharing the article. Food for thought!!

Thanks for the info Dave but this only rise more questions for example:
How do they know who where the ones talking on their reviews??
For example on cruisereviews.com
You have to let them know your name
But in here??
How do they know who really is the one posting??
The only way will be if the site offer that info
or I am wrong??

quote:

How do they know who really is the one posting??

Because if you put down the cabin number you had on a cruise, and they see the user name for the cruise review, they then know who it really is and can follow all their forum posts. Example: I post a review under the name "cruise-chat guru" and say I was in cabin number 10. All they have to do is go to their records for that cruise and see who was assigned to cabin number 10. They would then know that "cruise-chat guru" was really me.

They could also match up the complaints on-line with the complaints listed in the letters they sent to the cruise line.

casanova - read the review - it tells what cruise she was on when and what cabin. Doesn't take long to look up records in computers.

o ok thanks for the fast response
I never think of that
but it's true even my self have gave my cabin number during a post I will be careful next time...

It is always wise to choose one's words carefully when posting on-line. Every so often we get a member here who thinks they can say anything they want, and will wrap themselves in the flag and give us the "freedom of speech" lecture. We have Terms Of Service for a reason, and really, the TOS are there to protect both the owners of cruise-chat as well as the individual members.

If someone posts on-line they can be sued if the post is slanderous, libelous, or violates a copyright. Some people just don't understand it, or don't want to accept it.

Similarly if I post a review of a cruise that contains a lot of petty complaints, and then start an on-line campaign against the cruise line, I shouldn't be surprised if they call me and say "no more cruises for you!".

We've all seen what we call "drive-by posters", who swoop in on the forum, post a tediously long-winded message that is all complaints and not one good thing, and think they have showed the cruise line a thing or two. Often we leave these alone since they show the pettiness of the poster. Sometimes we have to remove them from public view because, whether the person realizes it or not, the post could get them in trouble.

I believe that all of us know of at least one person who goes out of their way to see if they can squeeze a little discount out of every vacation. Most discounts are done acceptably but there are also the frivolous just trying to save a buck discounts. You've seen their posts on the forum and you may have had the pleasure of standing behind one of them in line at a hotel guest relations window as they plead their petty cases. It all boils down to business. RCCL and every other cruise line is interested in one thing... making money. There is nothing wrong with that. It's capitalism at it's finest. They provide a service that I want and I pay for it. I applaud Royal Caribbean's stand and I anticipate others will be receiving letters soon.

I think the more curious thing in the article is the fact that the other forum members took it upon themselves to write to RCI to complain about the compensation. NOW THAT'S being petty. If someone got what seemed to be very fair compensation, I'm not going to write and demand the same compensation.

I applaud RCI's actions also. Some people look for things to complain about just to see what they can milk from the cruise lines. That isn't right.

I would like to take this opportunity to state that my complaint about the long boarding process on RCI's Brilliance was actually a typo.

I meant to say that the long process was a Brilliant idea, as it afforded me time to review my paperwork and catch up my correspondence.

Furthermore, now that I think about it, my cabin number was actually 646....not 464 as I had mistakenly remembered.

quote:

If someone got what seemed to be very fair compensation, I'm not going to write and demand the same compensation.

I don't think that is what happened. My read of it is that the forum members complained that RCI was being too generous and weren't asking for the same thing.

Earlier, part of the MSNBC story didn't show up. Now it does and I see where RCI contacted Paul Motter at our sister board Cruisemates last year and asked that he modify a negative review. He didn't. As we all know, none of the forum staff can modify reviews posted at cruisereviews.com. Only Internet Brands employees can do that - at least at present. However, I want to make it clear that we will not modify any posts in the forum at the request of any cruise line. If IB contacts me and says something needs to be changed for legal reasons, that is different. But if a cruise line pressures us to change a post just because they don't like it, I will resign as an administrator of this forum before changing the post.

Hey Guys,

Do you think it would be fair for the cruise line to ask if they can post a response? Perhaps to give the other side of the story? We all know how habitual complainers are...they will always exaggerate the situation to make themselves look like the good guys and the cruise line (aka evil corporation) look guilty. Personally, I would enjoy reading their responses. My guess would be that they would more often than not, agree with the poster and only occasionally dispute the facts.

I would have banned them as well.

Take care,

Brad

I would welcome official cruise line representatives to the forum, as long as they knew they were under the same rules as any other member. Frankly it would be nice to have them out in the open and not lurking in the shadows.

It is interesting to note that the cruise lines appear to be starting their own forums. A nice idea but I really can't them being as open as we are.

Although they were compensated for their troubles it sounds as though they were complaining on any cruise they've taken hoping to get something back for their inconvenience's. Perhaps RCI's stance will set a precedence for all complainers.
Can you imagine sitting next to a couple like that in the dr?

Interesting story and situation. I support RCI. I know that at times I would like to ban some of my customers because they complain all the time but, they keep coming back....and complaining. We bend over backwards to make things right but to no avail. Honestly, I have come very close to telling them to hit the door.

Am I missing something? I've been on over 40 Royal Caribbean cruises, and only had a complaint on one ship. If a person finds fault, or has a problen every time they cruise on a particular line--why would they every book another cruise with them? I applaud Royal Caribbean for the action they took.

Sonny

A business has a right to ban repeat complainers. I have banned a few myself. There is always something wrong. The last straw with one in particular was when they demanded a refund for something that was already comped and they didn't even pay for it. I ran a history of their phone orders and it showed every order resulted in a complaint, and the next one being free.

The only problem I have with the article is a cruise line trying to exert influence on a cruise forum to modify a review.

Dwayne

quote:

Originally posted by Sonny V:
Am I missing something? I've been on over 40 Royal Caribbean cruises, and only had a complaint on one ship. If a person finds fault, or has a problen every time they cruise on a particular line--why would they every book another cruise with them? I applaud Royal Caribbean for the action they took.

Sonny

If there people actually had as many problems with RCI as reported I doubt if they would have cruises with them as many times as they did except to try & find something to complain about with hopes of getting compensation. They'll probably try their scam with NCL or Princess next.