Tuesday, March 10, 2009

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

From the Consumerist:

"Meet the "Royal Caribbean Champions," a group of fifty prolific posters to popular online communities that Royal Caribbean rewards with special access and free cruises in exchange for their frequent and positive commentary.... Members of the popular reviewing site Cruise Critic, one of the main targets of the program, are understandably pissed."

Royal Caribbean has a reputation among the travel agency community as being the toughest to do business with. As the Consumerist points out their arrogance knows no bounds. Failing to mention their affiliation with these cruise review "shills" without disclosing their bias, appears to be nothing more than standard operating procedure for this cruise line. Or perhaps a concern that their product is not up to the standards of their competitors. It certainly points in the direction that the very popular travel review sites are certainly not what they appear to be and are no substitute for the professional travel agent.