Cruising Talk - View Single Post - Royal Caribbean Caught Infiltrating Review Sites With Viral Marketing Team

Ally · 03-10-2009, 08:57 AM

I just sort of blew my stack a little over at CC...again I am almost certain it will be deleted...

"I guess what this all boils down to is this...

Do members and guests want to read honest, unbiased reviews about ships & itineraries that are untainted by inducement (financial or otherwise)...

Or...

Do members and guests only want to read rosy reviews where virtually nothing ever goes wrong and everything is tickety-boo...with the real (albeit slight) chance that what they are reading is bought and paid for by a cruise line PR agency and done to make the cruise line look fantastic.

Now that this behaviour has been 'outed', there will always be the nagging doubt when reading a review of is what I read tainted by being written with inducement or is is written truthfully without inducement or embelishment?

And if I am being honest here, I am really annoyed....no...flippin' angry...that now this has come out into the open, EVERY site will get tarred with the same brush and that is downright unjustified and untrue. If this or other sites were lead to believe that reviews were legitimately written, fine...but if sites knowingly published a review that had been the fruit of inducement, that is morally wrong, it misleads cruisers who may decide to go on a specific ship or itinerary on the grounds of that review...and there are some first time cruisers who believe every word that they read, cos they have no experience of their own to compare to it.

I spose its a question of credibility really. I am disgusted that other sites could be tarred with the same brush IF the articles regarding this prove true. Both articles that I have read mention this site (CC) only but that won't stop people assuming the worst of every site. Mud sticks even if you are nowhere near the mud. Myself and my staff have worked damned hard to keep my site clean, yet thanks to underhand behaviour, chances are my staff and staff of every site will now have to prove that we are untainted by this disclosure, which I can say absolutely and categorically that we are clean and have not, will not partake in such behaviour.

If RCI...and any other cruise line....are using this sort of tactic to make themselves look good, well they might just shoot themselves in the foot, cos the sites that they have seen fit to infiltrate like this will get wise and will hopefully be less tolerant of it in future.

It would also be useful if owners and site admin did not accept free cruises or have any affiliation with any cruise line(s) as that takes away almost any chance of being unbiased."

03-10-2009, 08:57 AM	#15
Ally CT Guru Join Date: Jun 2006 Fav. Cruise Line: Costa Cruises Posts: 74,169 My Reviews: 13 My Photos: 1,260 Status: Offline	I just sort of blew my stack a little over at CC...again I am almost certain it will be deleted... "I guess what this all boils down to is this... Do members and guests want to read honest, unbiased reviews about ships & itineraries that are untainted by inducement (financial or otherwise)... Or... Do members and guests only want to read rosy reviews where virtually nothing ever goes wrong and everything is tickety-boo...with the real (albeit slight) chance that what they are reading is bought and paid for by a cruise line PR agency and done to make the cruise line look fantastic. Now that this behaviour has been 'outed', there will always be the nagging doubt when reading a review of is what I read tainted by being written with inducement or is is written truthfully without inducement or embelishment? And if I am being honest here, I am really annoyed....no...flippin' angry...that now this has come out into the open, EVERY site will get tarred with the same brush and that is downright unjustified and untrue. If this or other sites were lead to believe that reviews were legitimately written, fine...but if sites knowingly published a review that had been the fruit of inducement, that is morally wrong, it misleads cruisers who may decide to go on a specific ship or itinerary on the grounds of that review...and there are some first time cruisers who believe every word that they read, cos they have no experience of their own to compare to it. I spose its a question of credibility really. I am disgusted that other sites could be tarred with the same brush IF the articles regarding this prove true. Both articles that I have read mention this site (CC) only but that won't stop people assuming the worst of every site. Mud sticks even if you are nowhere near the mud. Myself and my staff have worked damned hard to keep my site clean, yet thanks to underhand behaviour, chances are my staff and staff of every site will now have to prove that we are untainted by this disclosure, which I can say absolutely and categorically that we are clean and have not, will not partake in such behaviour. If RCI...and any other cruise line....are using this sort of tactic to make themselves look good, well they might just shoot themselves in the foot, cos the sites that they have seen fit to infiltrate like this will get wise and will hopefully be less tolerant of it in future. It would also be useful if owners and site admin did not accept free cruises or have any affiliation with any cruise line(s) as that takes away almost any chance of being unbiased."