Heres a big surprise a group that sells out for profit how shocking.

When I go on my next cruise, I will DEFINITELY go with Royal Caribbean since they have the cleanest, most modern, luxurious ships on the seas! And the ports of call are all so exotic too. All this for such reasonable prices.

(Umm...do I get my free cruise now?)

So let me get this straight: you're in danger of being sued for writing a negative review (I think about that lady with the dentist a while back) and then there are groups of people who are paid to write positive reviews? So... is anyone going to tell the truth out there? At all?

Wait a second...the internets aren't always true...oh, no, now I'll have to think twice about my daily Harriet Klausner book recommendations!

When are companies going to figure out that this kind of deception will always eventually be found out and when it does it will cause a big negative backlash.

Most of the "omg they are sooo wonderful" posts are so obvious that they are schills. Or someone eventually outs the whole project and it blows up in their face.

The combination of businesses harassing people for giving negative reviews and attempts to plant whitewashed fake reviews is downright scummy.

Someone in marketing cooked up this idea and as usually nobody bothered to think of the consequences.

with many having over 10,000 message board posts on various Royal Caribbean topics

Good grief - these people must do nothing but take cruises and write about taking cruises...they wouldn't have time for anything else.

usernets

Fail.

So not surprised - I read Cruise Critic for awhile before/after I took my first (and probably last) cruise - there seemed to be a lot of over-the-top shilling go on there on a daily basis in the forums and reviews, totally ridiculous.

I wouldn't be shocked to find out that Carnival does the same or similar thing - who else gets defensive about a 25-year cruise ship still in service on a major line anyway?

Just one look at the mentality and the arguments on the first page of that thread pretty much the hard-core "cruisers" we've met. We had to take a cruise in order to tour the Galapagos Islands....we got the feeling that a lot of people on our ship took the trip in order to cross it off a list (and brag to other cruisers) than to experience one of the most unique ecosystems in the world.

FFS, maybe if companies would make this much effort trying to actually be any good, they wouldn't feel the need to have people lie about it.

Stories like this make me never, ever want to do business with companies that pull this sleazy crap. Are a few gushingly enthusiastic fake reviews really worth the huge amount of negative publicity that ensues when it all comes to light?

Well, I'm not a shill and I love Royal Caribbean. I based my choice of a cruise line on experiences that people I know tell me about. I was not disappointed by following advice of friends and acquaintances. I don't cruise often enough to get any special deals but RCCL will always be my first choice.
I have a feeling other cruise companies probably do the same thing. Other companies do, just look at the reviews on Amazon.

This is nothing new. Look at the car reviews in your local paper. They always like the car and only point out a very minor problem so they look unbiased. I feel that if the review site or publication is taking advertisement money the review is worthless. Also you very rarely hear that a movie is awful from the media because they fear they won't get the movie houses won't toss them an interview.

they spend all this money carefully monitoring their image in blogs and such on the internets, yet have iggy pop singing about shooting smack as their theme song.

...seems like an odd marketing approach.

@cookmefud: That song choice makes me laugh every time.

You want to the cruise critic people to go crazy?

Just suggest skipping the muster (safety) drill.

Yes, yes.. we all know it's for our own safety.

Where do I sign up?

It sounds like they sought out people who were already positively reviewing Royal Caribbean. (Or did I read that wrong?) It reminds me of how, when someone inadvertently mentions on tv/radio the excellence of Brand X, in return they get a year's supply of Brand X.

I can't fault them for wanting to reward/encourage people who are already spreading positive word of mouth about their company. It's slightly less insulting to the intelligence than just outright having PR people infiltrate message boards and blogs with obvious positive comments.

But then again, taking a cruise is my idea of my own personal hell, so it doesn't really matter to me who they pay off to try and improve their image.

@misterfuss: @Nate128: not in our lifetime

I really don't think they're doing anything terrible here. They're taking people who are already fans of their product, and they're giving them more stuff to talk about. They're not making anyone lie.

@I_am_Awesome: Well, sure if the intent is just to reward that one person. It becomes a problem when the intent was to create a viral campaign where Reviewer X gives a positive review, gets contacted, thanked and rewarded by Royal. Reviewer X then tells friend Y about this, who becomes positive reviewer Y and then contacted by Royal. And on and on...

Knowing how the advertising and PR world works, I can pretty much guarantee that was the intent given the number of rewards.

It's sketchy. Sadly, this is only going to become more common now that advertising and PR firms are catching on to the power of social commenters and reviewers.

@racordes: The big difference is that the paid reviewers on Amazon have a label that clearly mentions their status.

Many of them do identify themselves as Champions of the Royal Caribbean cause.

Reading the thread makes it sound more like a couple of Cruise Critic members are butt-hurt that they haven't been selected for the program.

Many identify themselves? How MANY is many? How about they HAVE to identify themselves, each and every one and time?

It's one thing when a company rewards positive reviews; it's another thing entirely when they come after the negative ones. I wouldn't be surprised if that's next.

Just let us have our opinions, marketers.

At least Royal Caribbean will let me take a cruise.

Because of my age, I cannot cruise on Carnival unless I take a parent with me (been moved out for two years), marry my boyfriend (dating for more than a year, no plans to marry, do like to vacation, though), or dump him and date someone older.

I honestly prefer Carnival. They are a little cheaper and they leave from the port I want to leave from. I just can't cruise with them.

Now we know the real story. I glad I sail with Carnival and I'm willing to tell everyone without being rewarded why Carnival is the best cruise line.

Thanks for the mention of my article that appeared on Tripso and ExpertCruiser on Friday morning. Obviously that's where this article came from.

Regards,
Anita Dunham-Potter
Cruise Columnist
Tripso/ExpertCruiser/MSNBC

My wife, and I are into cruises. We seem to be in the minority when we say we like Carnival much better than Royal Caribbean. The food is better, the entertainment more organized, and the condition of the ships much better.

It's too bad they got caught flaunting all of those pesky environmental laws, and dumping waste directly into the ocean. They even illegally modified their ships to do it.

This idiotic viral marketing garbage has sealed it for me. No more Royal Caribbean liars.

They locked that thread on Cruise Critic. It was a good read while it was going on though. Some of those people are a tad bit defensive.

I am a loyal Royal cruiser and am a bit jealous I didn't get "hand picked" but I have a low post count there as I mostly lurk. I just want a free cruise! ;)

I've been on two Carnival cruises and they were both wonderful.

When I did research on the cruises I wanted to take, I did my best to find out which ship my group would be sailing on and what the ports of call would be like.

When I read reviews I would be very selective about the ones that *gushed* Carnival love... The middle of the road reviews were very accurate.

It's easy to tell when people are dumping sugar into the reveiw.

Not only did Cruise Critic lock the thread but reading through the thread it was reported that the board admin. helped in the recruiting of the members by providing email information. Makes you wonder how independent the board is...

Your almost as bad as RCL you don't even give credit to the writer of the post you got this info from, Anita Dunham-Potter Cruise Columnist Tripso/ExpertCruiser/MSNBC

@evarga: You spend twice as much time *dining* inside those floating hotels than you do at a Port of Call. "Ecotourism" seems like more of an excuse to destroy several other ecosystems in the quest to view another one.

@loueloui:
Actually I have been on Royal Caribbean 4 times and Carnival 2 times, and I by far prefer Carnival, the royal caribbean ships are beautiful but the last experience on the Voyager left me flat, poor food, poor sevice and a hefty price tag.

On every Royal Caribbean cruise that I have been on, the Cruise director has bashed Carnival at some time while on stage, this has been happening since the '80s from what I have read and that is one of the reasons that Royal Cariibean loyals think that their cruise line is head and shoulders above the rest, kinda pathetic actually.

If you read that threat, you will discover the crazy kapo attitude of those who call themselves Royal Champions. Talk about being loyal slaves to their masters.

Two questions:
how old are you and are you good looking? Cause you know, I'm probably older haha

btw, that comment was directed at the chick who isn't old enough to sail by herself. just to clarify. :)

If you want someone to talk about your company, by all means, ask them, but don't expect quid pro quo. You're only hurting yourself because only shills will accept quid pro quo, and you want real commentary from real people.

I know marketers will fail to understand that last sentence.

I work in digital marketing. If any of my clients were doing this sort of program, I'd be heading it up. Unfortunately, in my opinion, RC did NOTHING wrong here. Here's why:

1. It wasn't RC employees or their PR agency who were doing the posting. It was influencers (the "Champions") to whom Royal Caribbean had provided free products for review

2. RC didn't try to stifle negative reviews from these people. The quotes taken from the marketing blog don't say that ONLY positive comments would be allowed from these people. If they had a crappy cruise, and it ruined their fandom, then they would post about it.

Yes, it would be nice if everyone identified themselves as being biased when they comment or post a review. But it's only actually WRONG when the writer is from the company in question, or from the PR agency hired by the company in question. This isn't "Wal-Marting Across America", or that girl from Nintendo's agency who released a viral video of herself hula-hooping on a Wii in her underwear. This is just RC assisting people who are already fans by giving them more product to talk about. If the cruises are legitimately crappy, then the reviews will surface to educate people, Champions or not.

Lack of transparency when you're promoting a product is a big freaking no-no, for exactly this reason. It's not established yet whether the posts should start with, "I'm with Royal Caribbean" or "I'm with the agency associated with Royal Caribbean", but either way, TELL THE TRUTH. People will always find it out anyways - whether it's Waking Up Wal Mart,

i posted a thread about this on cruise critic last night, and they pulled it pretty quickly. not surprising since cruise critic accepts advertising dollars from RC... they certainly don't want to bite the hand that feeds them. gah.

It's not just the "Champions." Many of those posters have a creepy vibe about their language regarding how many cruises they've been on...they sound like World of Warcraft players trying to level, or (worse and worse) MLM "associates" working on their "upline."

I go on cruises on a semi-regular basis - it's a good bang for your vacation buck if you do it deliberately on the cheap (ahem, and smuggle/loophole your own alcohol on board) I've never noticed the "rewards" programs that everyone is jargonesquely referring to on that board. I doubt they make much difference - save that if it's not your first time on board, you tend to get invited to the free drinks-ariffic captain's reception.

If you go to Cruise Critic and post info about this post, it will be deleted within minutes. Boy, they are a touchy bunch, those champions...

CONSUMERIST - The above is a little unclear to me. Are the posters aware that they are being targeted to influence their posts? If its a quid pro quo, then obviously the posts are tainted. But if its simply RCCL identifying fans, that have a following on the net, what has been done wrong.

There are loyalty programs everywhere, and they are all done to not only produce brand loyalty but also to generate good word of mouth. My wife is a frequent business traveler, and some airlines and hotels give her very special treatment. It influences her decisions, and how she talks about these co's. RCCL is just taking it to the next level.

I just want to point out that there are alternatives to Carnival and Royal Caribbean. I'm a heavy researcher when I travel, and I tend to discount cruise critic's reviews except where they discuss facts.

I know what I need and want in a cruise. I will probably pay far more attention to negative reviews than I will positive reviews.

@missdona: Are you kidding? Talk about dressing casual in the dining room on formal night. Or just mention the word "smoking." I also hear mention of the topless deck is verboten. There are much better places to talk cruising than cruise critic.

@LancelotLibra: Anita, you're awesome! Steve, the Royal Champion (more like the Royal PIA commenter) was wrong.

There may be alternatives to Carnival and Royal Caribbean, but Carnival and Royal Caribbean own most of those alternatives as well. However, I agree you - I pay more attention to the negative reviews. All positive reviews feel like fluff or press releases. Weeding through a few of the negative reviews is a good exercise, especially if you're good at determining which ones are real complaints, which ones are sour grapes, and which ones are written by the serial complainers (good for eBay and Amazon seller reviews too).

In my case, I don't mind if they're on the Cruise Critic cheerleading for their favorite cruise line. They just need to identify themselves as such so the rest of us can decide how to take their comments. Just one more reason why I don't visit Cruise Critic anymore.

I enjoy reading the Consumerist. I highly recommend going to their web site every day.

;-)

As the editor of the next largest cruise guide online I am posting this because of concern CruiseMates may get dragged unfairly into this controversy. The headline above says "sites" not "site."

CruiseMates does sell advertising to Royal Caribbean, and their competitors, but I have checked with our parent company, Internet Brands, and CruiseMates does not and has never participated in any marketing campaign like this. No site within Internet Brands (they operate over 20 travel sites) has ever done this.

It is my opinion that if a web site as successful as Cruise Critic is willing to let Royal Caribbean do this - at huge risk to the credibility of their own web site, then I can't really fault RCL for taking them up on it. I do question Cruise Critic's decision to allow it.

And in full disclosure, I am posting this not because I wish to diminish Cruise Critic. I am posting this, in my own name, CruiseMates and Internet Brands, because I value the veracity of our message boards so much. If you can't have at least a reasonable assurance that what you are reading in our boards is accurate, and not a paid solicitation, then I wouldn't even ask you to use our message boards.

http://expertcruiser.com/advice/paid-cheerleaders-does-royal-caribbeans-viral-campaign-cross-the-line/

There is also a thread on CruiseMates developing about this: http://www.cruisemates.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=606992

@glass_slipper: It's a shame about Cruise Critic, too. It used to be a nice site filled with helpful, friendly posters. Now, between the shills and a large group of regular posters who seem to have a permanent crappy attitude about everything, it's the last place I'd point out to someone considering a cruise. The site is a sewer.