USA Today Cruise log

The article directs to you an Expert Cruiser link, and among other complaints, it says the couple had sewage overflow in the bathroom to the carpet area. One of the people who commented on this article found the original review of the cruise and it said the bathroom had a sewage smell that was a problem, but never said anything about sewage overflowing onto the carpet.

This is the link to the review:

Radiance of the Seas review

I wonder why this was not mentioned in the review, itself if this truly happened. This casts doubt for me on a lot of their complaints. Royal Caribbean says this couple complained about 6 out of 7 cruises and for some of them, they were compensated whether RCI agreed or not.

Having a "black list" is common in most service industries. Hotels, cruise lines, airlines, even credit card companies. "The customer is always right" is not always true. There are limits and many people go well beyond the limits. Companies have a right not to do business with these people.

Frankly I'm surprised more people are not banned.

Really hope that Lines take back the control over such passengers from hell. RCCL dith the right thing "What comes around comes around" Poor NCL....

The truth is that RCI were clearly not happy with the public display of their complaints and compensation via the internet. What happened to 'freedom of speech'?

This quote from the expertcruiser.com link above, hits the nail on the head:

Cruising the message boards

Royal Caribbean is certainly entitled to ban whomever from their ships. Nevertheless, to ban someone for posting their cruise experience on an Internet message board raises serious questions about the lengths the company is going to keep negative reviews from public consumption. When I asked Sheehan if Royal Caribbean has an official policy on asking negative posts to be removed from Internet forums, he denied there was a policy.

Still, Internet postings are on the mind of Royal Caribbean’s top executives. In an e-mail obtained by Tripso, one Celebrity executive cites Cruise Critic’s message boards. “They love finding fault with Azamara even when things go great,” the executive complains. “How do we get over that?”

It appears that one step the company is taking to “get over that” is to intimidate posters of negative reviews and in some cases even going so far as to contact the publishers. Paul Motter, editor of Cruise Mates, was contacted by a Royal Caribbean staffer last November to have a negative review removed or at least amended.

In the e-mail, the staffer tells him the issue with the customer was resolved and asks if he can “make changes” to the posting. Motter did not take down or amend the review.

I asked other cruise lines about their rules and most said they have no policy at all towards Internet posts. A Carnival spokesperson, Jennifer de la Cruz, says the line has never banned someone for posting negative reviews. But the company pays attention to online discussions. “As a company we do like to maintain a feel for what’s being discussed online,” she says. “The message boards are a great source of consumer feedback.”

I wonder if Joe Koshuta has ever been asked by cruise lines to delete posts?

[ 05-26-2008: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
...I wonder if Joe Koshuta has ever been asked by cruise lines to delete posts?

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Malcolm, we have been contacted regarding posts but not because of negative reviews. In one instance it was because someone was representing themself as an employee of the cruise line and they were not authorized to speak on behalf of the cruise line. Another time, the VP of Marketing didn't like the fact that his cruise line had been categorized as "Premium" rather than "Deluxe".

Two weeks after returning home, the Morans received a phone call from Bill Weeks, an executive assistant in customer service. Weeks apologized for the couple’s treatment and offered an additional $500 to their 20 percent discount, the Morans were very happy with the offer. Again, Brenda posted her experience with Weeks on Cruise Critic’s forums.

Some board members felt the Morans had complained their way to an unfair discount and posted their displeasure. They felt that the Morans were teaching others how to “scam” Royal Caribbean. Some went so far as to contact Royal Caribbean’s president and chief executive, Adam Goldstein to complain about the Morans getting any compensation at all.

The message boards comments are what mattered. Carnival mentioned they also pay attention to the message boards as to what is said. If cruise lines want posts that they find offensive deleted on message boards, that's wielding a lot of power.
I don't have access to the message boards on that site, so I cannot access what was said. What was said was enough to rile up the other posters and send RCI over the edge.

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:

The truth is that RCI were clearly not happy with the public display of their complaints and compensation via the internet. What happened to 'freedom of speech'?

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You absolutely have "freedom of speech". That doesn't mean that Royal Caribbean or any other cruise line can't turn away your business. They are a company, not a government and they can refuse service to anyone if they choose to.

This being said, companies in general are out to make money so if they turn away your business, it's usually for a pretty good reason (not just a bad review on a message board). My guess is there is more to the story, and there usually is especially when only one side is reporting. I don't expect RCI to come forward with their side of the story, but I'm sure there is more than what meets the eye.

In this case, RCI did the correct thing in banning her. She started out with Carnival and bashed them. Moved to Princess and then bashed them. Next in line was Celerity where she complained about them. RCI was next in line. Now she is a NCL customer. Any bets in how long it will be before she makes the move to HAL?

Gordon

[ 05-26-2008: Message edited by: Atlcruiser ]

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her exploits are well documented on RTC, Brenda the Awesome1

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Oh, this is her? I remember her well from the old RTC days!

Best,

Royal Caribbean bans Old Brooklyn woman over Internet remarks

Brenda Moran describes herself in one online "profile" as a retired police officer - the origin of her "MACOP" screen name. State records show no one with her name has been a commissioned law-enforcement officer in Ohio. She did serve briefly as a volunteer "auxiliary officer" in Cleveland, with no arrest powers, no sidearm and no commission, said police Lt. Tom Stacho. However, he added, "we were forced to cut ties with her three years ago."

He wouldn't elaborate.

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As much as they ban those with big and negative mouths, they reward those with big and positive ones.

Either way, I'm fine with somebody being banned for being overtly attempting to either milk or damage the brand. But its a subjective standard, and in that, you have the issues that come out of this matter.

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Brenda Moran describes herself in one online "profile" as a retired police officer - the origin of her "MACOP" screen name.

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Originally posted by Globaliser:
I suspect that many people who recognise the screen name from other boards will already have formed their own opinions of her, even before this story!

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