Raise your hand if you are a Royal Champion member. Ok please follow me to the secret prize room for your flat screen tv and baby pony.
Boy oh boy, does Cruise Critic and Royal Caribbean have some explaining to do. Early last week Tripso.com writer and MSNBC travel contributor Anita Dunham-Potter uncovered a secret bribery club started by major cruise line Royal Caribbean called “Royal Champions” that were basically paid shills for the company. Their goal was to flood popular travel sites like Cruise Critic with nothing but glowing reviews of the cruise company. In return for their gracious comments Dunham-Potter writes, “Royal Champions were rewarded with all-expense paid pre-inaugural sailings along with invites to events and cocktail parties hosted by Royal Caribbean executives.” Hmm? Talk about big brother at work.
Bill Hayden, associate vice president of marketing for Royal Caribbean International quickly contacted Dunham-Potter and explained that this story is simply not being explained properly and has been misconstrued to make Royal look bad. Hayden explained, “It’s really a focus group…We run information and ideas by them and ask for feedback.” Hayden would go on to explain that Royal does not tell the “Royal Champions” what to say on popular message boards like Cruise Critic and that they read both positive and negative comments.
To read the rest of this fascinating article and to even heard from one of the “Royal Champion” (how do I get that gig?), check out both her original article from March 9 and the follow up piece from March 13. I for one would love to pubicly say that I absolutely adore Royal Caribbean and their company is just fantastic. If they need to contact me, leave a message and I will surely contact you ASAP *wink wink*.
